This happened 18 years ago. I no longer allow employeers to work me to death or overwork.
I'm an electrical engineer. In 2004 I was working for a small electrical engineering firm. Part of our salary was based on receiving quarterly payments. So when this guys extreme mictomanaging style caught up with him, customers left, people quit, (including one guy dancing on his desk.)
One project was way behind, so my micromanaging boss called me and said we were going to have to work a barn burner.
I was at the office, waiting for him. 6Pm, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm he shows up. We start working on Autocad.
It was more him standing behind me telling me where to draw a line and where to click. I would draw a line, and he would tell me to change the line. We would print out the page, then he would tell me to change the part back to the original place. If I clicked while he was talking, he would yell to stop clicking. We keep working to 1am.
We were on the phone with another engineer also during this. If he heard the others guys mouse click he would yell to stop clicking.
We worked until 7am. From there we went to a job site where he would yell at me to click my mouse, move the pointer, and stand behind me flapping his arms.
At the end of the day we went back to the office. We continued the night before process of me moving my mouse, him yelling, me printing out a page completely done only for him to change the part after three hours, and the page would need completely reworked.
We eventually got through the complete drawing set at 49 hours with no sleep. The drawings were due to the customer that day. His wife wanted to drive me home and hold onto my keys, (probably so they could force me to work the weekend and hold me hostage) I drove home all pissed off. I also refused to come in the following Monday…as compensation.
The drawing set due to the customer sat in his office the whole weekend plus three weeks after. They were not due at all or he didn't care and wanted to exert his dominance.
49 hours worked straight from an asshole micromanager boss/owner and no financial compensation. Don't let this happen to you.
What's your horror story of hours?
Brian