Manager said “If you’re on time, you’re late” and so I started showing up 30 minutes early… and charging them for it

A few years ago, I worked at a company where our manager was obsessed w/ punctuality. She had constantly say, “If you’re on time, you are late.” She wanted everyone there at least 15 minutes early and unpaid, of course and would shame people who showed up just on time.

I asked once if we had be paid for those extra 15 minutes, and she laughed like I told a joke. So I decided to comply. Maliciously.

I started arriving 30 minutes early every day, clocking in exactly when I arrived. When she confronted me abt it, I told her I was just trying to be really prepared “You always say 15 minutes early is the bare minimum, right?”

She tried to argue, but since I was hourly and our system logged every minute, payroll started paying me for all that early time. After a month, upper management noticed and asked her why overtime had increased for her team.

She backtracked so fast. Suddenly ON TIME was fine again.