Employee gives boss a taste of his own medicine after a 'veiled threat'

With a push to return to the office, it's unsurprising that workers have gotten used to their home comforts and want to stick to their WFH setup.

A study recently revealed that almost 80 per cent of employees would prefer to work from home, visiting the office once or twice a week. A further 31 per cent never want to return.

But in some cases, WFH can result in overbearing bosses – and that's the experience of one Redditor who had the perfect shut down ready. Colleagues found it hilarious, but his manager was left "seething."

The employee explained how a serious meeting was held after people were logging on five minutes late while working from home.

"The manager is not impressed with our department logging onto teams at 8:35 while working from home when we're supposed to be clocking on at 8:30, he wrote. "This simply means that we're starting our workday at 8:30 and it takes a few minutes for our computer to load up, the same as in the office."

Subsequently, management sent a "veiled threat" at 5pm stating if "the issue [wasn't] fixed", everyone would be required to return to the office.

In a hilarious turn of events, the employee clapped back: "Noted, and I will observe the new requirements in future, but I need to finish on time today as my CV needs updating. Thanks for your time and goodbye."

He was since bombarded with calls from colleagues saying the manager is "seething that [he] threatened him."

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The people of Reddit had a lot to contribute, with one witty user quizzing, "What the hell is this guy's role? Babysitter or a manager/leader of people?"

Another compared the boss' behaviour to "telling a toddler to eat their veggies or they won't get any ice cream."

A third added: "From what I've read, it seems to me that a lot of middle manager types have found that they have little or nothing to do because people are working from home, and they're afraid of being laid off because it's obvious that their jobs consist of managing people who don't need to be managed."

It also raised a conversation around productivity. One person shared: "My entire team is in the office today, but I'm home because I had a lingering cough from a sinus infection last week.

"Guess who was, by far, the most productive person today? This gal!

"Now, let me stay home forever," they concluded.

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