16 People Who Avoided Hard Work With Clever Shortcuts

From Redditor u/TonyMasters

A toothpaste company sent out cases with empty single boxes. The company hired an engineering firm to design a scale and alarm shutdown system. Empty cartons triggered klaxons, stopping production until the box was found and the system cleared. The company paid a lot but liked the failsafe; the engineers congratulated each other. Months later, engineers checked quality control. The toothpaste company reported zero error for weeks. A minimum wage hairnet worker did not react to the klaxons or computers. So, he aimed a large fan at the line before the scale, blowing the empty cartons off the conveyor belt. The problem was solved.

From Redditor u/codymreese

At my last job, a truck suspension shop, we inventoried every December. Someone had to count every washer and screw size.

For my first inventory, I suggested weighing one screw or washer, then weighing all of them and dividing the weight for the count. Everyone looked at me as if I gave them the universe's key.

Counting washers and screws went from a day or two down to just a few hours.

From Redditor u/explision

Worked in a huge hotel by the airport. We had a layover with over 400 people; I think we were three employees. They had buffet dinner then left for bed around 1 or 2 am. The rule was: we always went to the room, picked up as many plates as possible, and brought them to the cleaner. It took ages, and I wanted to go home.

I rolled out the cart and collected the plates, putting them on it. Guests watched and started putting their plates on the cart as they left. Suddenly, hundreds of people cleaned up their own things.

The duty manager saw it. I thought he would yell at me because the hotel was five stars.

He looked at me, smiled, and said, "That's why I like to hire lazy people; they find ways to finish work faster."

From Redditor u/wilksonator

I was a temp.

I got hired for the day to print 30 packets, each with 100 pages.

Why would it take a day? I asked.

They said, ‘Our printer does not collate pages, so it will take you a day to sort the pages into the 30 packets.’

Right.

It was a standard office Xerox printer. I found and clicked the 'collate' button in thirty seconds. I clicked the 'staple' button while I was there.

They printed everything by itself into stapled packets. I got paid to browse the internet that day. They thought I fixed their printer, so they gave me good recommendations for the temp agency, which brought more jobs.

From Redditor u/Daxos157

I work in a semi-warehouse. We track item locations constantly. Moving an item from location A to B required typing the locations. We do this hundreds of times a shift.

I went online to a free barcode maker site. I spent about 20 minutes making location barcodes.

Scanning barcodes saves me hours daily.

From Redditor u/UltraRunningKid

My boss hated Excel. He refused formulas because he couldn't trust them. So, we had to do all calculations by hand or on a calculator.

He gave me a spreadsheet once or twice a week. It took seven hours by hand. He told me, "Go to Starbucks or something and crank it out."

He thought since I pasted as values and he could not see the formulas, I did it by hand. I finished in forty-five seconds. I sent an email about the seven-hour delay and studied for the next semester.

Dude was famous for failing up in his career. On his first day of internship, he told me straight up he was a 'work harder not smarter guy'.

From Redditor u/NoCountryForOldPete

A co-worker had to get rid of a small junk fiberglass boat without a trailer. Other co-workers told him the time and money he would need. He just said, 'Oh, is that so?'

He took a day off and sat on his lawn with a cooler of beer. That day was garbage day. The trash guys arrived. He gave each one a cold beer and said, 'Hey boys, I have $50 for each of you if you help me quickly.'

They fed the whole 12ft boat into the packer, crushing two feet at a time.

From Redditor u/jaymeekae

I was a temp at a small office on a construction site around 2003. I stayed one day while the regular person was in training.

They told me I just needed to copy numbers from one program to another. I selected them, hit Ctrl C and Ctrl V. They stared at me.

About 60% of this woman's time involved manually typing numbers from one place to another.

From Redditor u/precipiceblades

I worked as a cashier during the holiday season at age sixteen. The supermarket sold drinks in boxes. We only had barcode scanners at the computer's front. No gun type scanners existed.

I was lazy and did not want to carry boxes to the scanner. I politely asked customers if I could cut the barcode from their box to scan and keep. Some agreed, some did not. Eventually, I gathered all the needed barcodes. I labeled them and kept them in a file for easy reference.

Another cashier got jealous of my smart move and complained to the chief cashier. She lectured me about scanning barcodes; she said it was dangerous. She told me to throw the items away and carry the boxes myself. I was young enough to do it, but older cashiers needed customer help with the scanner. Jealousy won out over common sense.

From Redditor u/PaddyPumpkin

I worked a summer at a mortgage company as an assistant to the underwriters. My job involved printing documents and then hole-punching them for folders. The company used a fancy xerox printer that did most of the work. Underwriters did not know how to adjust printer settings for hole-punching during printing. I showed them the process, and they strongly resisted it. This kept my job. The task that took all day took only about 20-30 minutes in the morning. They assigned me real tasks and offered me a chance to become an underwriter. They wanted me because I knew how to use their expensive printer. I was about to start grad school, so I politely declined. I believe they did not hire someone to replace me.

From Redditor u/FastWalkingShortGuy

A few years ago, I shared a room with a mechanically skilled guy.

Our top-loading clothes washer failed. The lid warped, so it stopped tripping the safety switch for the spin cycle.

He prepared to pull the washer out, take it apart, bend the lid back, and reseat the sensor for proper operation.

I told him to wait. I put laundry in and slid a quarter-inch shim under the lid.

It ran perfectly.

From Redditor u/cramias

A programmer outsourced his job. He paid Chinese programmers one-fifth of his salary for code. He spent his days on Reddit and watching cat videos. Reviews praised his clean code and called him "the best developer in the building."

From Redditor u/AngelusCaedo

In high school, we wrote four book reports yearly. A friend did his on every book in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit for all his high school years. We switched English teachers each year; no one noticed. I lacked the courage to try the same thing.Lord of the Rings booksHe submitted the same four book reports for the rest of high school. He switched English teachers each year, so no one noticed. I lacked the courage to try the same thing.

From Redditor u/Nametoholdaplace

Herding a yak with a drone is the best. Yaks run from it; they fear it. This surprises people because they have no aerial predators. We tried this a few times. It makes them uneasy and doesn't treat them well. Still, it works well and is easy. You can herd them over half a mile from inside the house.

From Redditor u/khaki53

I worked at a chain restaurant. In my last few months, we got those table ziosks customers could pay at. After every transaction, a survey happened. Managers added new performance metrics based on ziosk use and survey results.

One idiot filled out the surveys after customers left. He gave himself five stars for everything. This guy always ranked at the top of the servers. He is a genius.

From Redditor u/seancurry1

I read a comment. A college kid took an office job for one summer. He befriended an older lady at the front desk. She always needed help with Excel.

He found ways to help her. He wrote scripts that took much work off her.

By summer's end, he made her job simple. They decided they did not need her anymore. They fired her.