I worked at a big box retailer in a college town on their late afternoon/evening crew. Part of our duties was unloading the nightly delivery trucks.
We were all scheduled 40 hrs, but sometimes the trucks would take a little longer to unload. So, if we were due out at a certain time, but the trucks weren't fully unloaded, we stayed until they were.
If we hit OT, we were paid for it, so it wasn't really an issue… Until it was.
We got a new kid on the crew (let's call him Scott). Scott was nice and a decent worker, but he didn't work a full 40 hr schedule because he was a student. When Scott's shift was over, he was gone. Didn't matter if the truck was done or not.
It didn't bother us because we had enough guys on the team to cover, Scott was nice, worked hard, and we knew the deal when they brought him in.
Well, I was offered an opportunity to work a 2nd job at a nightclub in town on weekends. I could really use the extra cash. The problem was, one night a week, I would have to leave my 1st job an hour early.
I had roommates & friends on that crew and they all encouraged me to talk to the store manager (let's call him Mike). So I go to Mike and tell him I need to talk about my schedule… And before I could get the rest out, he tells me to take it up with my direct supervisor/assistant manager (let's call him Tim).
So I go to Tim and explain the situation. After some confirmation and talking with my team, he says I'm good.
Things were great for months, until one night we got an extra truck and the crew needed to stay later than normal, and the store manager happed to be there.
Mike noticed that I wasn't there, but saw me leaving. He asked the crew what was up, and they told him I left for my 2nd job. Dude was pissed. The next night, I got called into Mike's office to explain why I walked out on my shift and had been doing so for months.
I reminded him that he was the FIRST person I came to, but he didn't want to hear it. Told me to talk to Tim and Tim ok'd. Manager calls Tim in, and blasts Tim for letting me walk on a shift when they needed me.
But Tim had my back. He said it was one hr a week, I was still putting in 40 hrs and the team was cool with it. Besides, Scott only works two full shifts a week and leaves much earlier the other 3 nights. What's the problem with one hour?
Mike says that this was different because Scott was in college, but I was “only” working a 2nd job, so this job should be first priority.
Tim, God bless him, had my back. He asked Mike if had noticed any dip in production from my shift. Mike said 'No', so Tim asked him what the problem was… Mike just mumbled about keeping him apprised of things like this in the future.
TL;DR – Store manager was okay with a college student taking off early from shifts multiple times a week because he was a student and that was 'important', but pissed that I was taking off an hour early one night per week to 'only' work a 2nd job.