Employee Was Yelled At By Her Boss For Leaving 3 Minutes Early Despite Finishing All Of Her Work
"Workplace culture is crazy."
Tiko Aramyan / Shutterstock A frustrated employee revealed that she was reprimanded by her boss for leaving just a few minutes early. In a TikTok video, Lexie Firment claimed that her workplace culture isn't very forgiving when it comes to leaving work early — even if their employees get their work done on time and have a few extra minutes to spare to beat rush hour traffic.
Firment was yelled at by her boss for leaving 3 minutes early despite finishing all of her work.
"Work culture is so funny," Firment said. "You will have a 50-year-old woman screaming at you because you left 5 minutes early or a whole dedicated staff meeting to [say], 'Hey, can we make sure everyone stays until contract time?'"
She claimed her boss tried to slyly comment on her leaving work three minutes early in the staff meeting. Firment questioned why it couldn't have been a private face-to-face conversation instead and pointed out that if her work is completed and it's a few minutes until she's supposed to leave, she should be able to.
"I might as well get a head start on my commute," she continued. "Lord knows I have to live 30 minutes away from where I actually work because affordable housing doesn't exist. Like, please just give me that."
She added that she was a loyal employee who often came to work 40 minutes early due to the commute. Yet, she had "grown adults yelling at [her]." Even if Firment's boss felt that leaving before her scheduled time was disrespectful and unacceptable, that conversation should never have become aggressive.
This type of behavior from an employer violates the trust that should exist in the workplace.
Micromanaging employees and scrutinizing the exact time they clock in and out isn't going to make them more engaged or productive. In fact, it will have the opposite effect. Constant monitoring makes employees feel like they aren't trusted to do the work they need to do and turn it in on time.
Of course, employees leaving work early without finishing their tasks is not acceptable. Still, in Firment's case, she specifically made sure everything was completed. Her boss's reaction would just make her fearful of possibly needing to leave work early in the future because of an emergency or other issues that demand her presence.
It doesn't help that employees are already fearful of taking time off as it is. According to the Pew Research Center, about half of those who don’t take all their time off (52%) say they don’t feel they need to take more. A similar share (49%) say they’d worry about falling behind at work if they took more time off. Some 43% of workers who don’t take all their time off say they’d feel bad about their co-workers taking on additional work.
Leaving work three minutes early doesn't hurt anyone, and for Firment to be reprimanded and yelled at is unnecessary and reflects poorly on the employer's leadership and management style. Those rigid rules have no place in the workplace and only make employees uncomfortable and unhappy.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.