My team was FORCED to work a national holiday... and so we gladly did! | Reddit Stories

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[00:00:00]My team was forced to work a national holiday and so we gladly did. Oh, this sounds revengeful. This starts on Monday the 13th when I receive an email from a VP not over my department. Let's call her the bad VP. I'm told my team will be required to work on the 4th. I politely tell her no that our team has been scheduled off that day and people already have made plans. By the way, this comes from the lightning count one.

[00:00:26]And if you want to submit your own stories, go to the r/ok storytime subreddit. I'm Savannah. I'm Carly. And we are here to give some good vice goofly. We don't have all the answers.

[00:00:35]We'd only tell you what we would do in this situation, but you should let us know what you would do down in the comments. My team is the IT team. And as many of you know, it gets shafted every chance a company gets. Over the course of the week, I let my team know what's happening and tell them I've been reaching out to higherups to fix it. I also tell them that if their plans are ruined, I will make it right. Over three meetings, it starts to look like things will not go my way. In response, I send an email directly to the CEO. All of my higher-ups knew I was going to do this and encouraged it, saying he is very family oriented and would not allow anyone to work on a national holiday.

[00:01:09]Well, he's on vacation in the Bahamas until the 6th. His assistant informs me he'll look at this when he returns. So, I tell everyone it will be work from home and that I'll be setting my cell phone as priority in the call routing, meaning I'd get most of the calls.

[00:01:23]Honestly, I was expecting almost zero calls, especially since I had been asked to send out of a notification that IT support would be covering the 4th of July. I never sent that email. A day later comes another surprise. I'm told in an email that my employees will be required to be in the office and no one is allowed to work from home. They would be checking door badges to verify. I asked why and was told they wanted to make sure no one was playing video games. We normally work from home about twothirds of the week and video game playing is a normal occurrence at the office. So I walked into the bad VP's office. After a long conversation where she was losing the logic war, she told me, "It's just it. You guys don't have lives." Oh, right, right. I forgot. If I am an IT person, I don't actually have life outside of it. It's just it. That's it. That's all I do. My life is fix computer. I am computer it. I am hard drive. I am not kidding. Those were her exact words. I reported this to my VP who said, "I'll take care of it. It likely won't be until after the 4th. So, get creative." I know this man well.

[00:02:31]We've worked together a long time and get created is code for corporate messups. I asked the bad VP if she cared if we had an office party. She said no, as long as it didn't interfere with call flow and even suggested I use my new company card to cover it. Go wild," she said. "Pro tip, never tell me to go wild." It was now Tuesday, the 21st. I let everyone know what was up and asked who had plans for the day. Two people told me they were planning to shoot off fireworks with their families and the rest were planning barbecues with friends. I write an email to both my VP and the bad VP letting them know everyone had been informed. I mentioned that per my conversation with the bad VP, I'd be throwing an office party as a sort of apology to the team for getting shafted. The bad VP replied, "Thank you for your understanding. Yes, I would expect an office party if I had to work on the 4th myself. Go wild and enjoy your time. Use your company card if needed. Also, I shouldn't have to remind anyone no fireworks or booze on company property. Now, let me tell you about my office. A while back, the IT team was moved from the main corporate building into a smaller standalone building. It has a gaming break room, a decentsized gym, and a full soft drink bar. Out back is a large patio, and here's the important part. That patio crosses county lines the moment you step over a small creek. A creek that just happens to have a foot bridge over it leading to an empty field. I start making phone calls. Monday, June 25th, I call everyone into an early morning meeting.

[00:03:54]I explain that I'm going to make this right. I ask everyone to invite their friends and family. No one needs to bring anything. Food will be fully provided. I tell them to expect a real spread and that if they want to bring fireworks, they're welcome to. The fourth arrives. The entire day we do absolutely no real work. No tickets, no service requests. Seven calls come in, all from the same person, the bad VP checking to make sure we're manning the phone. The rest of us are playing video games and watching movies. 6:00 rolls around and food is ready. People were expecting hot dogs and maybe a broughtwurst. What they got was a full barbecue feast. Smoked brisket, spare ribs, smoked sauces, smoked turkey, all kinds of potato salad, klelaw, green beans with bacon and onion, potatoes, a gratine pizza from two different places.

[00:04:38]excellent burgers and brought worse hot dogs for dessert. Cake, exceptional cookies, four kinds of pies and about 2 lbs of fudge. Friends and family started arriving around 6:00 to 6:15. Some brought booze, which I asked them to leave in their cars. I wasn't that crazy. A few weren't thrilled about it, but agreed since it was a free dinner for strangers. So, picture this. I'm outside with all calls routed to myself, surrounded by a ton of people just having a great time. Sparklers going off, firecrackers being tossed around the creek, kids running around, everyone eating well. My VP, not the bad VP, showed up with his family and brought water balloons for the kids and the grown children in attendance. Around 8:30, as it got dark, people wanted to do more than sparklers. My VP had everyone cross the foot bridge over the county line and off company property, and we set up a big wooden board as a launchpad. We fired off fireworks for an hour or two, then hung out for a while longer. Around 7:50, the bad VP called us asking for a status update. My exact words were, "Well, you were the only one to call us today. The rest of us are on the back patio enjoying the Fourth of July shindig." She simply said, "As long as there's no booze or fireworks on company property, I don't care." We all clocked out at 8. Nobody actually left until 10:30. People took home leftovers.

[00:05:50]A small group volunteered to stay and clean up, including my VP, and we had a good laugh about how this was going to make waves. He asked me how much it cost. I gave him a sideways look, which made him laugh. Tuesday morning, I submitted the expense report. I won't give the exact number, but I'll tell you this. Because of that party, new rules were put in place requiring any expense over $4,000 to be approved by the direct supervisor, the department VP, and reviewed by the finance department. The party cost over $6,000.

[00:06:19]>> I mean, that's all in. Is that just in the food? They only provided food, right? Unless they also provided some fireworks, but >> yeah, it's like if the stuff was provided like the games and stuff even.

[00:06:31]That's crazy.

[00:06:33]>> Crazy. You want to know what else too?

[00:06:36]Because they made them work a holiday.

[00:06:37]It's probably holiday pay.

[00:06:39]>> Yeah. Barbecue alone was the biggest line item. I didn't order from a low or mid-tier place. I ordered from a spot that has been on the top 10 barbecue list in the DFW area for 30 years. I've been there so often. I'm friends with the owner. The pies, cakes, and cookies came from custom bakeries. I had cases of every major soda, two full pizza orders from two different restaurants.

[00:07:01]The burgers came from an excellent local spot whose owner I also know well. He actually brought his kids out after hearing what was going on and he was also the one who brought the broughtwurst hot dogs, a recent addition to his menu. This was the most expensive office party in the history of the company. As for the CEO, he was outraged, not at the cost of the party, but at the fact that it was the only group required to work that day. When I submitted the log showing we received no real calls and no service requests, he had heard enough. He reportedly sent a scathing email about work life balance and the importance of holidays to every member of upper management. People expected me to be in trouble. The reality is other departments have pulled similar moves before, just not on this scale. The bad VP was admonished effectively and sent me an apology letter. I forwarded it to the team with a strong hint not to reply. Then my VP made sure the CIO and CEO were aware of the you guys don't have lives comment.

[00:07:55]Bad VP actually confirmed she said it in a meeting with her EVP. It did not go over well. The CEO came to our office and made his feelings known at volume.

[00:08:04]I've never heard anything quite like that in a professional setting before.

[00:08:07]By the way, I bet you haven't heard all of our episodes with stories just like these. You could just go to Spotify, Apple Podcast, iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast app and just search up Okay Story Time. And there's abundance.

[00:08:20]There's an abundance all for your welcoming eyes and ears. There's a little bit left. Do you have any thoughts? Yeah, I didn't think it was going to come back to you necessarily.

[00:08:30]It was going to come back to the VP who like said, "Hey, go for it. I'm making your entire department come in." So, I'm glad that they sorted that out in the end.

[00:08:39]>> Yeah. I mean, you went a little crazy. I would be a little worried. But >> I mean, to spend like over $6,000 on like a company >> Yeah.

[00:08:48]>> event. I mean, but if you got full permission, then technically they can't get you for any of it. It's true.

[00:08:54]>> I would just be a little cautious going forward. But >> yeah, well now they have stopping point.

[00:08:59]But yeah, that's crazy. OP, I mean, you kind of just got a really nice party out of it and got paid for doing absolutely nothing and just like enjoying your time. How fun. As of now, she is no longer in the office. Her active directory account doesn't show the termination flag, so I can't say for certain what happened. What I can say is that whatever clout she had at this company is gone. The fallout so far, a new spending approval policy is in place. The bad VP status is uncertain and perhaps most importantly, there is no longer any push back on my request to return the team to a full work from home schedule. Wow, Nessia. Crazy OP. So, like just because like this whole thing blew up, now you get to like work from home. It's kind of nice. They're like, "Please keep it out of here."

[00:09:43]>> Yeah. They're like, "Get it. Never have it. Come back into this building."

[00:09:47]>> Crazy. But that's the end of that story and we got another one coming right up.

[00:09:51]>> Yeah. My boss locked himself out of his own system, but he made me do it. You pushed me to this point, bro. I'm a 30-year-old businesswoman working in IT services for a bank. I'm the go-to person for basically everything, but my specialty is first level support, administration, backup, and sometimes even networking. By the way, this comes from Lucy IHA. And if you want to submit your own stories, go to the r/ok storytime subreddit. And I'm Carly. I'm Savannah. and we're here to give good advice goofully, but we don't have all the answers. We only know what we would do. Let us know what you would do in the comments. Even though I'm not the head of my IT department. I carry basically all of the responsibilities that come with it. Unfortunately, my pay grade doesn't reflect that at all. I think of my boss as kind of lazy, if not outright incompetent. He even brags about making good money for basically doing nothing.

[00:10:40]I have a 40hour work week, but since the whole IT department is essentially my responsibility, I need to keep track of the servers and any problems that can come up 247. This is mostly handled through emails. When the server status throws a warning or failure, I get notified and then fix the problem either through remote desktop or by going into the office in person, even on my own time. I wouldn't mind this so much, but I don't get paid for it. And on top of that, I get blamed when something goes wrong. My boss's boss wasn't much better. Since it was a fancy bank, everyone was expected to be in a suit all the time to keep things looking professional, preferably with a skirt and heels. The only problem is that first level support involves a lot of behind-the-scenes work like crawling under desks to deal with cable management, working on server racks, and plenty of other tasks that get you dirty. As you can imagine, this wore out my business clothes fast. And on top of that, they were completely impractical and genuinely made my job harder. So, I switched to a comfortable hoodie and work pants that were better suited for what I was actually doing. When my boss saw me, he was furious and told me I couldn't walk around looking like that in his bank. I told him I needed proper work clothes for both situations since they're expensive and they get worn out quickly. He refused and I was not happy about it. One day, my boss's boss, the head of the whole company, called me. He had a plan. He wanted to create quiet hours, meaning he didn't want his employees working on weekends so they could properly rest. At first glance, you might think that that sounds nice.

[00:12:12]It wasn't. He just didn't want to pay overtime because he had gotten into some legal trouble over overtime pay. On top of that, some employees had strict deadlines and genuinely needed that extra time to get things done. To make sure nobody could work over the weekend, he told me, "Please make sure no one can access their emails or remote desktop over the weekend. no exceptions. Since we had a ticket system that allowed us to attach emails to tasks, I asked him to send me an official written work order. I do this for two reasons. First, I like everything documented. Second, it gives me something to protect myself with if the task I'm given turns out to be a problem, and it's exactly that habit that saved me. So, I sat at my desk thinking through how to get this done and what the implications would be.

[00:12:55]And then it made crystal clear what this order actually meant. The email came from my boss with the task, and sure enough, it said, "For everyone, no exceptions." I thought about whether I should write back and explain what this would actually mean in practice. After thinking it over, considering how I'd been treated as an employee, I decided against it. I got to work immediately and set up an automated process to block all emails and remote access from Friday at 6:00 p.m. through Monday at 6:00 a.m.

[00:13:24]The weekend came. It was Saturday and I was completely relaxed because if you haven't caught on by now, cutting off everyone's email access means of course that I stopped receiving server notifications, too. And since my remote access was also blocked, I couldn't work on anything even if I wanted to. I was happy. It was still Saturday, midday. I was cooking a nice meal for my husband and me when my phone rang. It was my boss's boss. He sounded stressed and told me he couldn't access his emails. I needed a second to process it, then responded calmly. That doesn't surprise me since you ordered me to cut off everyone's email access with no exceptions. He was angry, very angry, and said that obviously didn't apply to him. I told him he had specifically said no exceptions and that it applied to everyone. He argued that wasn't how he phrased it. So, I read his own email back to him. He went silent for a moment. He had realized his mistake. I broke the silence and said, "Sir, if you'd like to keep your email access on weekends, that's no problem at all.

[00:14:24]Please send me a request and I'll take care of it first thing Monday morning."

[00:14:28]He pushed back and said he wanted it done immediately. I calmly explained that I couldn't do that since my own remote access was also blocked, exactly how he had ordered, and he hung up. 10 minutes later, he called again. This time, his tone was calmer. He asked if I could fix the issue right away and offered to pay me for the overtime. He also said he wanted me available at all times, meaning I should have access to my emails and remote desktop and that this would come with a significant pay raise. And by the way, you guys will always have access to full episodes with stories just like this. Go to Spotify, Apple Podcast, or iHeart Radio and search up Okay Story Time. I mean, good for you, girl. Yeah. I mean, I guess the push back was necessary. And honestly, it's really funny to like read someone's words back when they're like, "That's not what I meant." And it's like, "You said exactly that." And then they're like, they're like, "Bye." And they hang up and they come back like, "Okay, listen." So, I know I might have said that, but I actually didn't mean it at all. I need you on 24/7 and I'll pay you for it. I recognize this as the perfect opportunity. I agreed to his conditions and the pay raise, but only on the condition that my co-workers and I finally received proper work clothes, and he agreed. From that point on, my work situation improved dramatically.

[00:15:41]And it was mostly because I maliciously complied, knowing full well what the consequences of that order would be. And that's the end of that story.

[00:15:48]>> Wow, >> look at that. You even got your clothing that you wanted.

[00:15:51]>> We love malicious compliance.

[00:15:53]>> Heck yeah. Good for you, girl. But that's the end of that story. And we got another one coming up. My manager wanted me to do her job, so I did the worst.

[00:16:02]>> Good job, OP. My first job was at a fast food chain. I worked hard, impressed the store manager, and got myself promoted.

[00:16:09]At the time, I was still 17, so I was promoted to team leader with implication that I would get promoted further when I was older. By the way, this comes from packrat 2488. And if you want to submit your own stories, go to the r/ok storytime subreddit. I'm Savannah.

[00:16:23]>> I'm Carly.

[00:16:24]>> And we're here to give some good advice, goofly, but yet we don't have all of the answers. We'd only let you know what we would do in this situation, but you should let us know what you would do down in the comments. I was still in high school, so I worked the evening shift, which started at 4:00 and ended at 12. The evening manager was a good guy who also worked hard and as a result had gotten promoted to a store manager position at a different location since they needed a manager and I wasn't old enough. They hired a new manager who I'll call Karen. So Kieran is hired and starts shadowing the current night manager, learning the ropes. After 2 weeks, he departs and she is now set to take over. That's where the story really starts. I normally get in around 30 minutes early. One of my responsibilities is to make a position chart which tells the workers where they are working that night. I need to hand it off to the manager for approval before posting it. As I arrive, I notice one of our night shift workers is already there. We'll call her Jen. She is sitting in the lobby crying and being consoled by other employees. I always found her to be a bit manic, but she was a nice girl. She had a rough home life, so I didn't hold it against her. Come to find out, she had just had a large fight with her mother, which ended in her getting kicked out. Good reason to be upset. I asked her if she needs the night off. She said no, she needs the money. I can't disagree and head off to get started. For the night shift, the night manager typically runs the driveth through register after day shift leaves.

[00:17:43]There are a few reasons for this. First, this means that the manager has control of the drawer and money for the entire night. This eliminates the possibility of employees having short drawers.

[00:17:53]Second, this also puts the manager as the person interacting with the customers. I lived in a college town, so drunken guys drive-thru all the time and just want to chat up the pretty face behind the register. Third, it gives the manager the least amount of responsibilities as far as cleanup. So, given what I know, I make up a position chart and place Karen on the register and Jen on a fryer where she can get help if she can't focus. I walked to the office to hand off the chart to the night manager and was surprised that he wasn't there. He normally is in at least an hour before shift to make sure everything is ready. That's when I remembered this will be Karen's first night alone. I groan inwardly. This is going to be a trial by fire kind of night. The day manager is there, but no sign of Karen. It's now 10 minutes to shift and even day manager is wondering what's up. I fill day manager in about Jen. Show her the chart and ask if it looks good. She agrees and I said I'll post it for now and Karen can sign it when she gets in. I just finished posting the position chart when Karen shows up looking frazzled. She heads for the office without a word to anyone.

[00:18:53]Meanwhile, people start getting into position and ready for the shift. Few minutes later, Karen walks up, pulls my position chart, and replaces it with a new one again. She walks off without a word. According to the new position chart, Jen is working the drive-thru, and Karen is working nothing. Her name isn't there. She has another employee working two positions and the whole shift working effectively one person short. What the f? I head to the office where Karen and day manager are talking and ask for some clarification. I explain there must be a mistake. Karen, no. That's right, me. But you're not in a position and worker is working two positions. Well, how am I supposed to be in charge if I'm in a position? Dayshift and I just stare at her blankly.

[00:19:33]Dayshift says, "You need to be in position. You are accounted for in the labor calculations." Karen says, "Well, I have six years of management experience and I have never needed to fill a position to get the job done.

[00:19:44]Things are going to change around here, but we do things my way now. Now, she just spent the last two weeks shadowing a manager that walked her through every step of the job. She knows she should be in a position and why. This shouldn't even be a question. She just wants to spend the shift sitting in the office and everyone knows it. At this point, dayshift manager and I are sharing horrified glances at each other. I tell Karen that she'll need to go get people moved around if that's what she wants because it's her plan. She gives an exasperated sigh and heads that way. I turn to Dayshift and plead with her to call the store manager and let her know what's going on. She agrees. I head back to the line and start working. After a short time later, Dayshift pulls me aside and says that the store manager said it is Karen shift she is in charge.

[00:20:26]She makes the decisions. Then she leaves for the night. The shift proceeds to implode in a spectacular fashion. Less than an hour in, the employee working two positions is so far in the weeds that orders are taking three times as long to get out. The drive-thru is backed up and the guy stuck at the window waiting are trying to flirt with Jen who is having none of it and getting more annoyed by the minute. As the wait gets longer and longer, the people are becoming more and more irritated as they get to the window and they are taking it out on Jen. Things are starting to get out of hand and Karen is nowhere to be seen. I go to the office to let her know we need help and find her watching a portable TV. I start to tell her what's going on and she cuts me off. She tells me get back on the line, do my job, and stop bothering her. I was about to try and explain when I just thought, "You know what? Screw that." Cue malicious compliance. I turn, walk back to the line, and watch the situation unfold. 30 minutes later, a car at the window is giving Jen an earful about how long she has been waiting. She calls her worthless, and Jen goes off. She takes the large strawberry milkshake next to her, chucks it at the lady, and calls her a fat, ugly seaw word.

[00:21:29]>> Oh my god.

[00:21:30]>> Oh, Jen. Jen. Jen, you got to calm down, girl. You got to calm down. You can't redo that to passion. But Jen, Jen, I know that you've had a bad day today, but you cannot be throwing milkshakes at the customers. I'm so sorry. The lady and the inside of her car are covered in pink goo. Everything went so silent you could hear pin drop. Then the lady starts screaming. Jen closes the window on her and walks calmly to the back. The lady peels around the front and comes in the front door screaming for a manager.

[00:22:01]I go and knock on the office door. where Karen appears looking pissed and annoyed. She tries to snap at me, but I tell her she has a customer at the front asking for the manager. Karen rolls her eyes and heads towards the front, oblivious to the crap storm that is waiting. I went and found Jen huddled in the back crying again. I tell her to get herself together and head back to the front when she's ready. I head to the line where the now purple-faced lady is screaming at Karen about dry cleaning and upholstery cleaning. And I want that girl fired. At this point, I can see that Karen has finally realized that things have gotten way out of control.

[00:22:32]She is trying to calm the lady down, but she is having none of it. Eventually, Jen comes back to the line, and the lady starts in on her again, calling her all kinds of nasty things. Karen just stood there and let the woman berate her. Jen just kind of deflated in front of us.

[00:22:44]Watching her crumble like that just broke something in me. I walked over to Jen and said, "Just quit. You're better than this job, and you can do better."

[00:22:51]She looked up at me for a moment, then smiled. She lifted her chin, walked to Karen, said, "I quit." handed her name tag to her and walked out. Karen started apologizing to the lady who now seems slightly mllified. Then Karen started badmouthing Jen to her, saying how she was a terrible employee and how we were all happy she was gone. That's when I decided I was better than that job, too.

[00:23:12]I looked at Karen and said, "The only terrible employee here is you." And I walked out. Two other employees walked out right behind me. We all met with Jen in the parking lot and went to an IHOP where we sat and speculated on how Karen was getting along. Jen told me that was the first time in her life anyone had ever stood up for her. The next day, I got a call from the store manager asking for an explanation. Apparently, Karen had struggled the entire night with service. Afterwards, she had been there most of the night trying to clean and prep for dayshift and had done a piss poor job. Story she had given the store manager was that Jen and I had planned everything with the intent to set her up because we didn't like her and wanted to see her fail. By the way, we like you and you like us, right? So, you should listen to full episodes of stories just like this. Go to Spotify, Apple Podcast, iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast app and just search up Okay, story time.

[00:24:00]There's a little bit left here. Any final thoughts?

[00:24:03]>> I feel like the manager is going to realize what went wrong real fast and you and Jen are not going to be getting in trouble.

[00:24:10]>> Yeah, >> cuz you voiced your opinions pre-shift.

[00:24:12]>> Yeah. No, they you literally called the person in charge and was like, "Hey, she's not doing anything." They're like, "Whatever. She's in charge." Well, none of us can work like that.

[00:24:19]>> Yeah.

[00:24:20]>> So, bye. Karen had basically blamed the whole incident on Jen and I. The store manager told me she was investigating to get all sides of the story. So, I told her. Few hours later, she called again and informed me that Karen was no longer employed and asked if I would be coming in that night. I asked if Jen was getting her job back. She said no. The whole shake debacle wasn't something she could overlook. I said then my answer is no. She was surprised. She tried to negotiate with me. I told her my price was Jen getting her job back. She said she couldn't do that and that was that.

[00:24:49]Wow. I will say I think Jen throwing the milkshake was a separate thing and maybe she shouldn't have gone back to that job and you probably still could have gone back if you wanted to. But I'm here for this like standing up for Jen. I'm guessing this is probably just like McDonald's or whatever. Like >> that's what it sounds like.

[00:25:06]>> And you're 17. You're about to be 18.

[00:25:08]You can go do whatever you want. Like this is like nothing. So if you want to stick up for your friend, freaking do it. If you're wondering how Jen turned out, I married her. What? Stop. Fight. I take it back. You should never have thought to go back to that job.

[00:25:25]>> You stand up for Jen.

[00:25:27]>> Okay. I seriously thought that gave me chills. I really thought I was like, "Okay, are they going to like get together after this or something?" But like maybe not. A >> they're getting married.

[00:25:37]>> Oh, you had a little crush. We are very happy and have four children.

[00:25:43]>> Sorry. This became the best story ever.

[00:25:45]>> A wait, this makes you so happy. This is the best malicious compliance story ever.

[00:25:51]>> Could you imagine if you like actually stayed there? Just was like, "No, I'll be treated like crap."

[00:25:56]>> And that's why you never listen to our advice.

[00:25:58]>> Yeah, that's a wonderful outcome. I'm so happy that that happened. Like look at you sticking up for yourself and then getting >> like rewarded by the universe.

[00:26:07]>> Wife.

[00:26:08]>> Yeah. A wife in the process. Okay. O, >> I see you. But that is the end of that story and the end of this episode. So if you love us, make sure to subscribe. We love you and see you