'Don't ever work after you've clocked out': Reddit's unanimous advice to a 19-year-old deli clerk

A post on Reddit’s r/jobs from a 19-year-old on their very first job described starting a part-time deli clerk role at a grocery store and working their first closing shift alone, scheduled from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. When 8 p.m. arrived and the duties weren’t finished, they stayed until 8:20 p.m. to complete everything, then clocked out. On the way out, a colleague from another department told them to always clock out on time regardless of whether the job is done.

“I’m 19, and this is my first ever job, so I don’t know what the standards and norms are,” they wrote. “Is this a normal thing to do? Would you just leave even if you didn’t complete your tasks?”

What Reddit said

The thread was unusually unified for a job advice post, with almost every comment landing on the same point, approached from different angles.

The core principle: never work without being clocked in. “Every minute is paid,” one commenter wrote, pointing to the legal dimension that the original poster may not have considered. “If you stay and work off the clock, the employer is liable for labour violations. You get hurt, and workers’ comp says no coverage off the clock.”

Several commenters outlined the two legitimate options: either stay later on the clock, or clock out and leave. “Never clock out and keep working. Never let your manager clock you out,” one wrote.

One commenter pointed to overtime as another consideration: “You may get in trouble if you are accruing overtime by working over your shift.”

Another user raised how reaching out to someone more senior may be beneficial, saying: “Never depend on what another worker says for the rules. Always confirm them with your manager. Just say ‘another worker told me this, but I wanted to confirm with you. What do you want me to do?’”

For a 19-year-old on their first job, that is not an obvious thing to know. It is exactly what experienced colleagues are there to pass on.

Read also: ‘I can never take leave’: Night shift worker forced to cash out unused PTO seeks advice