Manager regrets dictating lunch schedules after employees maliciously comply.
Being micromanaged is the absolute worst. It creates more work for the person in charge and underutilizes the worker being micromanaged. If a bad manager is micromanaging you, you can either deal with it or comply until they move on or realize you're capable.
On a popular Reddit thread in the Malicious Compliance Subreddit, a person complies with being micromanaged, to the chagrin of their manager.
They write:
This happened at my previous job, where my manager was the definition of a micromanager. At this job, we had an hour for lunch, but the break room was small, so people usually staggered their lunch breaks.
It was an unspoken rule that as long as you didn't take more than an hour and your work didn't suffer, no one cared when you took your lunch. That was until our new manager, let's call him Dave, stepped in.
Dave decided that he needed to control when everyone took their lunch breaks. He created a strict schedule, assigning each person a specific lunch hour. My allotted time was right in the middle of my most productive part of the day, which was frustrating.
I decided to follow the new lunch schedule and take full advantage of my rights as an employee. Our company policy stated that any work done during our lunch break was considered overtime and needed to be compensated.
So, I started to 'accidentally' schedule meetings, calls, and tasks during my lunch break, making sure to document every minute of work meticulously I did. Then, at the end of the week, I'd submit a detailed overtime report to Dave, showing him all the extra work I did during my lunch hour.
Dave was furious but couldn't deny my overtime requests without violating company policy. After weeks of paying me extra for work I would've gladly done during my regular hours, Dave scrapped his strict lunch break schedule and let us return to our old system.
The internet hates bosses.
Fluffy-Mastodon says:
The first thing a new manager should do is nothing! Observe and learn the ways things work first.
Any_Significance_248 says:
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! I’ve had managers like this before and it’s very frustrating!
freeburnerthrowaway says:
Dave, the micromanager, needed to micromanage the micro break room. Makes sense.
einahpetsg says:
Putting people into a schedule for lunch without asking their preferences is asking for trouble. When I worked a job that needed staggered lunch we asked each in the team. Those who were awake early orefered an early lunch so they got an early lunch. People are capable of doing things without oversight.
Get your bag, OP! Overtime sounds so solid!