Not Overtime without manager approval. ok!
It was mid May 2002. If that seems oddly specific, it’ll be clear soon. I(m22) was working for a certain US wall and/or mart based retail chain with a smiley face for a logo at the time. I was a sales associate who worked evening shift. In retail they are very clear about not being late so I always clocked in 5-10 minutes early and you can’t go home until the manager gives the say so as we had to clean up the store after close. Add in that hourlong lunches are too long, and I’d often take 40 minutes and then clock back in. This led to my working 9–10-hour shifts when only scheduled for 8. This was the norm and for the most part no one cared. It’s also important to know that this store vacillated between overtime for everyone when needed to OMG no overtime guys, knock it off! This was one of those no overtime windows and we were told “no OT without manager approval.” Ah, cue the MC.
May 2002 for those that don’t remember or weren’t alive for it, was the premiere of Star Wars Episode 2. This was a big deal to my nerdy Star Wars loving mind. But… management (or really their heartless scheduling program that I’m convinced spat out schedules without human interaction) scheduled me for that Friday. I was going to miss… Ha, no I was not. 156
I’d already had 4 shifts that week which means when I showed up for my 2-10pm shift I had already worked about 36 and a half hours. And no overtime meant that I had to leave before I hit 40 hours so as not to accrue any OT. I checked my hours when I clocked in, did some math on a piece of scrap paper in the Sporting Goods department and calculated exactly how long I had to stay. Then with only minutes to go I didn’t see a manager to ask for OT. They were often in the back or front end, rarely in the middle store where I worked, so I marched to the time clock and punched out. I gave my keys to a confused coworker saying I had hit forty. “Go to talk to <PERSON>” he suggested. “<PERSON>” is not a pseudonym; I just don’t remember their names 20 years later. Thus, leaving around 5:30ish I had plenty of time for a 7pm show. It was great.
On my next shift “<PERSON>” asked why I left early. I said that I had hit 40 hours and had to leave. “You should have asked a manager to stay.” It took all my willpower not to say that I didn’t want to stay but I’m sure my early 20s just above minimum wage body language betrayed me. I said something to the effect of “I’ll look harder next time” that neither of us believed and that was that. 329