Management Asked Employee To Keep A Ridiculous Schedule, So They Taught Them A Costly Lesson

There’s nothing quite like when the people making a schedule never have to work the ridiculous hours they demand of others.

And it’s even more fun when they actually have no idea how to do your job in the first place.

OP worked at a place with two full-time bookkeepers.

Several years ago, I was a bookkeeper for a huge home improvement store.

As a bookkeeper, I arrived at 5 am to prepare for the store opening and/or stayed until 11 pm for closing.

For some reason, they started scheduling the same person to close (at 11pm) and open (at 5am).

There were two of us, but for some reason, the scheduler and management would have one of us close and open the following day. (We had a part-timer who worked 4-6 nights a month because she was in school. She did not open)

The other bookkeeper closed and opened without complaining. But for me, that was absurd! Leaving the store at 11 pm and returning at 5 am is unreasonable.

We spoke with the scheduler and management to no avail.

They thought this was silly and simply traded shifts.

So, whenever the schedule came out, we switched if one of us was scheduled to close and open.

The scheduler and management noticed but kept quiet because someone was there to do the work, although they continued scheduling us to close and open for years.

New management said that was no longer allowed.

Eventually we got a new scheduler and manager who wanted to flex their authority over all departments and demanded the other bookkeeper, and I work the printed scheduled hours.

We maliciously complied.

So, OP called in sick and the other bookkeeper didn’t answer their call – and no one knew what to do in their absence.

The following schedule had me closing and opening. I closed and called in the next morning. They tried calling the other bookkeeper, but she did not answer (I asked her not to respond).

The part-timer could not work because she had school. No one else was trained in bookkeeping (not even management). This meant they needed to contact me for instructions on opening the store.

I was paid a minimum of 15 minutes for each call they made. If the call exceeded 15 minutes, I was paid a minimum of 30 minutes. You get the picture.

By the end of the day, I was paid for a full day.

After that day, neither the scheduler nor the management said a word about which bookkeeper was working, regardless of the schedule.

Simple and beautiful. I bet Reddit agreed!

The top comment says that scheduling would be illegal in some places.

This person doesn’t think much of that management in general.

You’ve gotta stand up for yourself.

Things like this definitely don’t inspire employee loyalty.

Some people say there are other ways to game the system.

I would not have done this, either.

Totally absurd to try to force it.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.