A lot of jobs have very specific start and end times. Sometimes these start and end times can seem arbitrary, but when you’re a teacher, it really is important to be at work when you’re supposed to be at work.

Imagine showing up for work 2 minutes late, just 2 minutes. If your boss reprimanded you for being tardy, would you simply try to arrive on time in the future, or would you find a way to show your boss just how much you’re contributing that they’re really overlooking?

Let’s see what the teacher in this story does when he’s reprimanded for being 2 minutes late to work.

Was told to work my contract hours. Damage ensued.

Teacher here in inner city . Found myself coming in at 7::12-7:15 for a week or two, supposed to be there for 7:10.

My Daughter’s daycare is getting construction done so had to park across street and drop her off.

Got reprimanded and a mark on my file for not working during contractual hours; “you’re paid for working 7:10 to 2:22.”

Fine.

He usually worked late.

Once school is out at 2:02 I usually open up the weightroom and let athletes workout, give some advice (I was a college athlete and lifted a lot), and I watch them until about 3:15 when their coaches get there.

Kids love it, I love it, coaches love it, never asked for pay.

But my contracts done at 2:22.

He decided not to stay late.

One day. Only one day. I posted on our webpage that I wasn’t going to be there.

What happened?

That same day numerous phones stolen from locker room so cops came, weightroom door broke open, kids running through halls and ran into a teacher sending her to Urgent Care.

Time to get paid for what used to be volunteering!

Admin calls me in asking why I wasn’t watching them.

“I was told to work my contractual hours, I’m only paid until 2:22. I did this for fun, and it was unofficial.”

Next day whole district gets an email for a job posting “Afterschool Weightroom Coach.”

Admin asked me to apply. Now it’s costing them money.

Sounds like this is going to work out alright in the end. He might as well earn some extra money doing something he enjoyed doing anyway!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

He deserves to be paid for his time.

He really shouldn’t have been working for free.

This person rants about school administrators.

This person thinks it’s incredible how quickly the new position was posted.

Another person completely believes the new position was posted that quickly.

Nobody appreciates the work you do for free until you stop doing it.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.