Anyone who has had a job has probably, at some point, worked through their break—if you’re working in certain industries, you’ve probably worked through many. The integrity of the organization and your manager will be determined when they find out that you’ve had to finish your breaks to keep up with the workload or a rush of customers. Chances are they quietly turned a blind eye and pretended that it wasn’t happening; after all, the store has been understaffed for so long that it’s basically the expectation at this point that you won’t be taking breaks! The thing is, not only is this bad for stress and burnout, but those unpaid hours add up—fast.
After being informed by management that the decision had been made that his overtime—earned by working through his lunch break in order to finish a job—would not be approved (classic), this technician had a simple problem to work through… He had already worked that time—and he certainly wasn’t going to work that time for free—so if he couldn’t take overtime, that just meant that he would have to leave early! So, once he hit his 40 hours on Friday, he packed up and left, leaving the frantic company to pick up the pieces of their silly decision. They really couldn’t be too upset; after all, leaving early on Friday had been their suggestion!
