Sorry Boss, But Shift Happens

I manage a night shift team in the store warehouse. One afternoon, I get a call from my day-shift supervisor:

Supervisor: “Hey, you missed the training session today. We needed all the warehouse people there.”

Me: “That was at 1 PM. I was asleep.”

Supervisor: “You should have made the effort to come in. It’s mandatory. You’re the night shift manager and—”

Me: “—Okay… so if we scheduled a training at 3 AM, you’d come in for it?”

Supervisor: “Well, no, that’s—”

Me: “—Exactly.”

Supervisor: “…It’s just how the schedule’s been.”

Me: “Then maybe the schedule needs fixing. My guys aren’t going to come in for a training session when they should be sleeping, just like yours wouldn’t.”

Funny enough, the next round of “mandatory” training sessions suddenly appeared on the calendar… starting one hour before our night shift began.

We all made it on time. [Supervisor] had to be there for logistical reasons, and he looked absolutely miserable being awake that late.