Accused of stealing/embezzling electricity from employer

RosariusAU · 2026-02-26T23:06:17+00:00

It tickles me that you can run a 50W charger continuously for 24 hours for less than $0.50 per day, assuming that electricity costs $0.40 / kWhr, yet the opportunity cost for entire meeting involving multiple managers could be hundreds, if not thousands of dollars per hour.

Foe117 · 2026-02-26T22:58:38+00:00

Did you at least enjoy using the mechanical keyboard? I do find the clacking while writing soothing.

tapandown · 2026-02-26T23:26:24+00:00

Calling it "embezzlement" and asking for the committee and union rep was such a perfect way to force them to admit how silly the electricity thing was. Also props for showing up with a typewriter after that sign.

Brilliant-Orange9117 · 2026-02-26T23:05:39+00:00

I would ask them if they also pay for the charge employees use up answering calls on their phones.

funnystuff79 · 2026-02-26T23:09:02+00:00

I think it costs like 1 pound a year to charge a smartphone.

The meetings and the signs cost orders of magnitude more because someone was petty

bot_or_not_vote_now · 2026-02-26T23:19:11+00:00

My guess is none of them are any good at math. Cause for a standard 20w usb charger this would equate to about 160W-hr per shift. Assuming electricity is a nice even $0.10/kwhr that would work out to $0.016/shift. And over the course of a year of 5 days x 50 work weeks, that works out to the grand total of a whole ass $4. edit: typo

Tryknj99 · 2026-02-26T23:21:17+00:00

I mean, if they don’t want you writing novels on your night shift they can just tell you you’re not allowed to. They don’t have to come up with crazy reasons. This one doesn’t even make sense.

BigOld3570 · 2026-02-27T00:26:10+00:00

There was a rookie cop in Clearwater, Florida, who arrested a man for charging his phone under a covered shelter. Arrested him, took him to jail, and filed charges with the state’s attorney. They laughed at it and didn’t accept the case.

I don’t remember the name of the cop, but he was ragged on for a long time.

jamesholden · 2026-02-27T00:08:30+00:00

I had a boss say something in a morning meeting about leaving lights on in mechanical rooms. we are talking 40w of lights at most across a dozen rooms.

I say "give me a day to properly program all the water pump drives around property and I'll save you 10x the power the lights cost"

just the 7 small pool pumps used ~2800w when running, half of them ran 24/7. they could be programmed to ramp up and down and none of them needed to run at 100%.

Oystermeat · 2026-02-26T23:26:00+00:00

the real fun part is when your work claims part ownership of your book because you used the company's time and resources to write it.

Randi_Scandi · 2026-02-27T10:15:52+00:00

Someone was once charging an electric bike at work and one of our typical busy bodies asked the CEO at a site if that could really be ok or if people should’ve charged for it. I’ve never seen the CEO looked so fed up so quickly. He just said something to the effect of “I’m not even answering that”.

Also, if you could be charged for charging your personal phone or bike battery or whatever at work, should I also send my workplace an electricity bill for charging my work computer and work phone when working at home?

Masamune_ff7 · 2026-02-26T23:05:24+00:00

ryanair stopped their staff charging their devices at work in 2005

TepHoBubba · 2026-02-27T01:24:02+00:00

Now THIS is a nice example of malicious compliance. Well done.

jeepfail · 2026-02-27T02:13:36+00:00

Awful lot of corporate bootlickers here that don’t realize a majority of the security people out there are doing whatever they can to pass the time.

an0maly33 · 2026-02-26T23:28:49+00:00

Charging an iPad/laptop for a few hours a night costs, what? 50 cents a year? Obviously I'm exaggerating, but the point is it's essentially nothing. Come the fuck on.

Comfortable_Ebb_1333 · 2026-02-26T23:14:18+00:00

The typewriter is golden.

AndarianDequer117 · 2026-02-26T22:58:49+00:00

How fucking stupid. I would have gotten a lawyer immediately. I still would even after all this went down.

It would be like them telling you you're not allowed to poop in their toilets because you don't pay for the water to flush it. Or the toilet paper for that matter.

RedditFan26 · 2026-02-26T23:33:52+00:00

Did you include a newly created "pinhead boss" character for your new novel?

iceroadtrucker2010 · 2026-02-27T00:18:08+00:00

So they had no problem writing your novel on company time?

CommunalJellyRoll · 2026-02-27T00:07:41+00:00

You should be able to write a little porn at work.

DMercenary · 2026-02-27T04:23:19+00:00

Oh god the high crime of embezzling fractions of a kilowatt hour. Literal fractions of a pennies!

Kind_Substance_2865 · 2026-02-27T06:15:23+00:00

Electricity is sold in units of kilowatt-hours. Depending on where you are, a kWh can cost between 10 and 50 cents. A USB charger typically runs at about 10 watts. This means it would take 100 hours to use one unit of electricity. Go ahead and dock 50 cents off my pay each month for 100 hours per month of charging.

Fit-Host-6145 · 2026-02-27T09:53:51+00:00

The typewriter move was absolute genius. It perfectly highlighted how petty their "electricity theft" argument was over literal pennies a day.

TrenchardsRedemption · 2026-02-26T23:18:27+00:00

They were concerned about a laptop charger than they were about a security guard who is writing a novel when he's on shift?

Strange priorities.

Svr_Sakura · 2026-02-27T02:22:47+00:00

You need to read your contract again carefully…

On some contracts anything made while on clock or using information from your job, legally belongs to the company. So if you do publish And make money, they can take it all in a case of malicious compliance of their own.

tomhermans · 2026-02-27T03:58:14+00:00

A guard writing ferociously on a mechanical typewriter..

Now that's a deterrent for burglars.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Rabid_Dingo · 2026-02-27T08:48:50+00:00

Early ipads only cost about $0.50 a year to charge.

With the new antennas (BT, WiFi, 5g, etc.) The price has gone up to about $1.50 for the year.

Yes. Total cost to charge for use over a year.

YMMV based on electricity cost and whatnot.

saveyboy · 2026-02-26T23:07:49+00:00

Would have been far easier to go after you for not doing your job. Or just ban personal devices.

zephen_just_zephen · 2026-02-26T23:05:50+00:00

Good for you to give them enough technical verbiage to stop them in their tracks and let them think.

Although, to be perfectly pedantic:

1) In English*, I believe the word for this would be considered to be larceny rather than embezzlement; and

2) In at least a few jurisdictions, the penal code for all these sorts of related crimes has been rationalized under the single rubric of "theft." E.g. in Texas, even if you were stealing electricity at your employer, it would be "theft of service."

US English, that is. I've been reliably informed and have verified that in the UK, "abstraction" is a perfectly cromulent term for stealing electricity.

CoderJoe1 · 2026-02-27T00:44:32+00:00

I would've turned off all the lights in the lobby to avoid seeing anything with their lights running their electricity.

techtornado · 2026-02-27T00:55:31+00:00

Your employer just spent about $10,000 to complain about $1/year used in electricity

SJ-redditor · 2026-02-27T02:02:10+00:00

Most phones going to use around 10w to charge. In 24 hours that's 240w hours. Electricity is sold in kilowatt hours. Usually between 10 and 20 cents for one kilowatt hour. A kilowatt hour is 1000w for an hour. It would take your phone being plugged in for just over 4 full days to use between10 and 20 cents worth of electricity. If you left it plugged in for a year and it was 20 cents a kilowatt hour, that's 73$, and if they need to hit 1000$for it to be a theft worth prosecuting, you'd have to leave it plugged in for over 13 and a half years(assuming the crazy expensive 20 cents price)

tillandsia · 2026-02-27T03:30:26+00:00

Roberto Bolaño, the Chilean author of the novel 2666, also worked a night security job so he could write.

Sweaty_Assignment_90 · 2026-02-27T03:54:51+00:00

for $10-15 you can get a portable charger for a phone

yeah, its dimb rule, but not a hard work around.

JorgeXMcKie · 2026-02-27T04:16:22+00:00

Nice! When I worked security at an office I was happy because I was the afternoon shift from 3-11 so I only had people for a couple hours and then I could study for college. They decided I couldn't read anymore. I was supposed to stare at a wall for 8 hours apparently. I quit and less than 2 months later someone came in after work (5-6), went up the elevator I sat in front of to the investment broker's floor, shot his broker and walked out. I chose a good time to leave

akg7091 · 2026-02-27T07:53:45+00:00

They actually accused you of stealing electricity just for charging an ipad ! And then called a meeting to discuss this ? Are they nuts ?

SmolHumanBean8 · 2026-02-27T11:50:31+00:00

Funnily enough, people seem to freak out when you say "ok, bet" and throw the book at them...

SlowPokeInTexas · 2026-02-27T13:11:43+00:00

Whomever that manager is has reached Hall of Fame levels of petty.

_Volly · 2026-02-26T23:57:18+00:00

Well played!

Walker1940 · 2026-02-27T00:04:07+00:00

Had a friend. Very fast typist. Learned on a manual. Where he developed a habit of bouncing his thumb on the space bar while pausing to think. He said the electrics drove him nuts because they would space when he did that

nedwasatool · 2026-02-27T00:39:24+00:00

Typewriters are awesome! Did you manager give you the stink eye when you brought it in?

perquisition · 2026-02-27T03:00:59+00:00

This has to be rage bait! If you use the bathroom, is that water theft? Were you breathing too much in the common area, so Oxygen theft? Plugging in electronics at your place of work? Clearly you should be arrested for this scandal!! I can not fathom anything more dumb.

hermit22 · 2026-02-27T03:02:18+00:00

I work as a heavy duty mechanic but I work with the maintenance crew for buildings too. Such an odd thing to boast about in the morning meeting when someone with an ev calls wondering why there is no power in the parking lot in the summer. They turn them off for the summer.. to spite ev owners.

Beledagnir · 2026-02-27T03:41:40+00:00

Sounds like how my current job doesn't want my phone out for any reason, even when I'd need it to jot notes - so I carry a Roman wax writing tablet now. It's actually surprisingly fun.

drpottel · 2026-02-27T04:57:11+00:00

This is some company death spiral shit.

When a company is pissed about the pennies you’re using to charge a device, it means they are hemorrhaging cash.

Find another job. Quick.

0x7E7-02 · 2026-02-27T05:11:53+00:00

Petty AF!

CGAdam · 2026-02-27T07:17:34+00:00

What's your book about?

SecretScavenger36 · 2026-02-27T08:02:45+00:00

I must be a criminal mastermind then. I'm charging two portable chargers at work right now.

Usual_Speech_470 · 2026-02-27T11:39:34+00:00

Crazy management. I have an electric bike and the owner of the shop lets me charge my bike for free.

Em_the_Strange · 2026-02-26T23:09:21+00:00

OMG REJOICE! A NON AI POST! take my upvote good sir.

lol companies nickel-and-diming about something like their employees using electricity at work has to be the dumbest way of destroying their own productivity.

BodyIllustrious4141 · 2026-02-26T23:12:00+00:00

They should make this into a movie. 😁

PimpinWeasel · 2026-02-26T23:53:05+00:00

Did you at least thank them for contributing a couple of paragraphs to your novel?

soulure · 2026-02-27T01:10:14+00:00

Charging brick could work too, way to nickel and dime you guys

UnicornFarts1111 · 2026-02-27T02:19:27+00:00

I would have just used my portable battery to power the iPad. You can buy one that is portable, but large enough to run the iPad for 8 hours.

But, you got the problem resolved anyway.

pimpbot666 · 2026-02-27T02:21:20+00:00

How freaking petty of them.

I mean, an iPad charging up at 12 watts for an hour at most from a totally dead battery, and then cruising along at like 1-2 watts?

That’s probably under $1 a year in electricity. If you run a little heater fan under your desk to stay warm for an hour, that’s less electricity than your iPad and phone will draw all year long.

You might want to ask your union rep what the manager’s time is worth ‘dealing’ with this problem.

Mammoth-Variation-76 · 2026-02-27T02:55:09+00:00

Going to the big house for ~$0.86 per month. You could bring that number down about $0.20 if you unplugged 2 hours before your shift end.

Better_Sell_7524 · 2026-02-27T04:07:11+00:00

“This mfer is writing novels again. That doesn’t sit right with me” 😂

NoLUTsGuy · 2026-02-27T04:08:34+00:00

The employers are total idiots.

xeno0153 · 2026-02-27T04:14:21+00:00

I worked for a company that made $72,000,000,000 annually. They'd also get pissy if we used the outlets to charge our personal devices.

FukmiMoore · 2026-02-27T04:56:08+00:00

I learned to type on a typewriter. I can still remember the typing classes in school. It took a special type of skill to use a typewriter. I kind of miss them, however, I don’t miss what a pain it was to fix a typo.

Transistor_Wench · 2026-02-27T05:52:14+00:00

According to Apple based on average us cost of electricity a year of charging it only at work would cost 1.36$ / 12 kWh of power. So ridiculous. Now if this was on a sensitive circuit that shouldn’t be overloaded then yah, don’t charge it in that one socket, don’t plug it into a pc or network. But cost of charging? Ridiculous.

babiha · 2026-02-27T06:02:24+00:00

Get an alpha smart 3000. It uses three AA’s that last for months.

Gyvon · 2026-02-27T09:31:43+00:00

Man, that company must be hurting if they're getting pissy over a nickel's worth of electricity

Thatdudewiththestuff · 2026-02-27T12:58:14+00:00

On a long enough timeline, all reactionary changes to policy eventually revert back to the original policy.

fakesambinder · 2026-02-27T13:33:11+00:00

so where can we find your book?

Mynewadventures · 2026-02-27T13:35:23+00:00

Thank god you had a typewriter...................................................

LeahInShade · 2026-02-26T23:54:09+00:00

Bringing in a typewriter was SUCH a power move though! You da GOAT!

blinkenjim · 2026-02-26T23:14:51+00:00

You, sir, are a genius.

my_clever-name · 2026-02-26T23:19:10+00:00

What a petty company. If you need any personal electronic device to do your job, stop using it immediately.

bobhand17123 · 2026-02-26T23:27:02+00:00

Well, you had to go around your ass to get to your elbow, but as long as the scenic route was sufficiently scenic, whatever, right? That’s what I think, at least. 🤪

Lumpy-Click-9535 · 2026-02-27T00:06:15+00:00

‘s wild like who cares if ur writing, management really gotta chill with their drama

phallic-baldwin · 2026-02-27T00:15:26+00:00

2 words: power bank

Acceptable_Group_249 · 2026-02-27T00:24:29+00:00

This is crazy. But nice work.

linklen2000 · 2026-02-27T04:10:05+00:00

I am surprised they didn't outright fire you for being distracted from your job which relies 100% on paying attention to surroundings. If this story is true

DicemonkeyDrunk · 2026-02-27T04:52:30+00:00

You think it’s your right to write novels at work ?

berlenba · 2026-02-26T23:09:33+00:00

If you are a security night guard, I would probably want you to be doing that instead of writing a novel. That’s the equivalent of doing other work when you are getting paid to guard stuff. Unsure of your day to day, but can’t blame management for not being a fan of you having your attention divided. The electricity crap is stupid though for sure

Shadowfalx · 2026-02-27T01:13:47+00:00

So... How's the companies book doing? You worked on it at work, so I'm sure you understand when they take possession of your intellectual property, as most companies have rules about how any intellectual property you generate at work is the company's property.

DeadS1eep · 2026-02-26T23:55:11+00:00

This isn't malicious compliance. More like a petty work feud that you kinda beat on a technicality.

patpatpat_pat · 2026-02-26T23:33:54+00:00

Didn’t happen

Manic_Mini · 2026-02-26T23:58:30+00:00

The real issue isn’t the electricity used, it’s the fact that you’re writing a fucking novel while on the clock.

Rocky5thousand · 2026-02-26T23:35:41+00:00

This isn’t malicious nor compliance.

votemarvel · 2026-02-26T23:40:28+00:00

You are working security. How aware are you of your surroundings when you are focused on your writing?

Why could your work colleagues not have charged their phones before coming to work?

Fullm3taluk · 2026-02-27T08:20:47+00:00

Why would they get angry at management and not you? I had a gatehouse job and we all charged our phones whilst on 12 hour shifts if one person had took the piss and banned it for the rest of us they wouldn't have lasted much longer.

cokendsmile · 2026-02-26T23:12:36+00:00

I’m sure, everyone working in the nightshift would have been sick and tired of Typewriter’s clicking sound

Wyshunu · 2026-02-27T01:01:50+00:00

"For some reason, a manager had a problem with me writing novels while on my night shift. They called me to HQ for a meeting and there I was accused of stealing. Stealing electricity for my laptop."

Um, maybe because they are paying you to be security, meaning you are *supposed* to be watching the premises, not writing a novel? You are stealing - you're not doing the job they're paying you to do.

SuperlativeChrono · 2026-02-26T23:54:34+00:00

This seems more like pilferage than embezzlement but I can be pedantic at times...

LeMansDynasty · 2026-02-26T23:46:23+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/F7xlqSK4go4

nxrcheck · 2026-02-26T23:17:47+00:00

How about you do your job instead of a personal project while you're on company time.

stromm · 2026-02-27T00:17:15+00:00

I hope they fired you for negligence (of duty) because you were significantly focused on writing non-work required content.

And maybe even theft of wages because you were doing something of value while being paid by your employer.

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