You really shouldn’t say something that you don’t mean that could cause an outcome that you don’t want to someone who will happily oblige you.

Retailers love to set rules and swear by them as if they had been written in stone since the dawn of time—and definitely not something they made up 15 minutes ago. These rules will blatantly disadvantage workers and be strictly enforced to the point where there is no nuance for grey-area scenarios. After all, being able to predict extremely obvious gray areas would require the managers to have the slightest knowledge of the business they’re supposedly running.

By far, the most common of these rules is the «No Overtime» rule that can be found in many a workplace. While management would lead you to believe that this rule is hard and fast, what it actually means is «No Overtime… except when we force you to work weekends and holidays because we didn’t hire enough people to handle yearly surges in business.» Predictably, again and again, year after year, the rule will conveniently vanish when you need it most and you’ll be forced to work overtime when it serves the business interest—yet, they’re still going to make it as hard as possible for you to claim overtime for the 30 minutes you were stuck with a customer who wouldn’t leave the store after closing. 

Still, while overtime can really grind you into the ground over extended periods of time, when you’re studying or just out of school it can feel incredible to work a lot for short bursts and make what feels like fistfuls of cash. So, when the chance presented itself and this cashier was told to work as much as they’d like… they obliged, earning tons through overtime over a short period.

This is a story that anyone who has worked as a cashier or in retail is sure to love, so read on. Next, read about this retail worker who faced off against a waffle-wielding Karen.