They’ll Pay For That Lesson

I work at a store that sells kitchen appliances and other kitchen-related stuff. Normally, when we’re supposed to leave or go on break, we’re supposed to tell our manager.

I was helping a long line at cash and had already been there for eight hours and assumed they had someone to cover me. I wasn’t allowed to use the walkies to ask to be covered to go home, so I quickly found my manager and told her my shift was done.

She got really pissy with me.

Manager: “Could you really not stay a few more minutes?”

Me: “I thought you had someone to cover me. I can stay if you want.”

Manager: “No, no, just go. But next time, you need to wait for a manager to let you go home.”

Record scratch.

This was never a rule; I asked other people who’d worked there for years and they agreed that it wasn’t a rule.

I worked again a few days later and the store was empty. My shift was over, and I was about to ask to go home. Then, I remembered what my manager had told me.

I continued to wander the store and slightly fix shelves, making sure I was near my manager. After a couple of hours or so, she said:

Manager: “You’re still here! Why haven’t you gone home?”

Me: “You said I need to wait to be told to go home.”

My manager looked at me as though she was mentally kicking herself.

Manager: “Just go.”

I clocked out, and that’s how I got paid an extra 30$ for doing literally nothing.