Hardware Store Employee Follows Manager’s Strict Break Schedule To The Letter, But The Rules Quickly Backfire
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Strict workplace rules can backfire when managers refuse to use common sense.
In this story, a hardware store employee faced threats of termination from the general manager.
He often missed his scheduled breaks because he was helping customers.
The general manager insisted that everyone take breaks at specific times.
So he did exactly that… and things got a little messy.
Read the full story below to find out more.
Take my break as scheduled? OK….
Many years ago, I worked for a large orange hardware dealer.
We had a spate of general manager changes over a short time, with five in six months.
Finally, the “permanent” guy assumed his position.
One of his first acts was to schedule everyone’s breaks.
This employee was threatened by the general manager about not taking his breaks on time.
He was very serious about this.
Even going so far as to discipline several people who didn’t take their breaks as scheduled.
Yes, I was one of those people.
He told me at one meeting with HR that if I did not take my break as scheduled again, it would be grounds for termination.
He did exactly what they told him, even if it meant leaving the customer hanging and waiting.
Cue the malicious compliance.
The department where I worked often required long interactions with customers to make sales.
So, in the middle of a sales pitch, I would stop, turn around without a word, and leave the customer standing there.
I did this several times, and other employees noticed and followed suit.
Guess what. Sales dropped, complaints increased, and I got called into HR.
He let them listen to their previous conversation when he was threatened to be terminated.
The GM went up one side of me, tap-danced on my head, and then down the other side.
He even referred to me as stupid several times.
When he finally stopped and took a breath, I reached into my apron and pulled out two small tape recorders.
I pressed play on tape recorder number one and played back his exact words from the meeting where he threatened to terminate me.
By the way, this is not illegal where I was from.
He walked out of the meeting after proving his point.
I then hit stop on tape recorder number one, rewound tape recorder number two, and played it for him.
It was the whole conversation with him threatening me again and calling me stupid.
He and HR were speechless. I didn’t say a word.
I picked up my tape recorders, got up, and walked out of the room.
Nothing was ever said to me.
A new memo was announced.
The next morning, a memo went up saying that breaks were to be taken as close to the scheduled time as possible.
Allowances for customer interactions would be permitted.
The manager soon moved to another store.
And several years later, I heard that he had gotten into a bit of trouble with HR there.
He sent the tapes to the HR office of the manager’s new store.
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I took copies of the two tape recordings.
I put them in an envelope and used internal mail to send them to the company’s head HR office.
Two weeks later, the position of general manager at that store became available.
And his name disappeared from company records.
Whoa! I’d say that’s some pro-level revenge OP did.
Honestly, managers should understand that customer service can’t always follow a perfectly timed schedule.
Threatening employees over unavoidable delays only creates more problems.
Good thing OP was quick and prepared to record the threat made to him.
Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.
This user shares their personal experience.
Here’s a valid point.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post customer wants a refund for his faulty brakes, but an inspection finds the brakes aren’t the issue.
Another one chimes in.
Finally, this one loves the story.
Sometimes, the rules need a break too.
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