The Passive-Aggressive Dance With My Boss

You know, at this point I shouldn't be surprised that my boss is making me cut hours so I don't do overtime anymore.  And yet I found myself shocked and even angered that I was told to leave so that I would stay at 40 hours one week, and then to also be told last week to do the same even though I was taking days off and therefore, theoretically, he could balance out the hours I actually worked with paid time off so it would add to 40.  But no, for some dumb damn reason I can only work 24 hours last week.

The week before last I was in The Fourth Department all week.  Try as I might ... no, that's a lie, I was at work back there until all the work was done, I accrued OT -- not a lot, but enough so that I know he noticed.  He can be brusque, and I think he demonstrated that to me by the way he walked without veering from his path if we were about to cross paths, or by giving me the silent treatment until he absolutely had to speak to me.  To be clear, I am chafing most of all by the edict (that I am certain he is following according to the wishes of his boss or bosses) that I am not supposed to work overtime.  It doesn't matter how nicely my boss is treating me as he cuts my work shift short; I think I do good work but it takes some time, and I hate being told to leave my work so that I don't cost my company time-and-a-half.

So I have to admit I am dreading this coming week.  I am in The Fourth Department again all week.  And I know he's going to pressure me to just work 40 hours.  But you know what?  I think I can also play this passive-aggressive game.  I will not cheat to work past 40 hours.  But knowing that working more than 40 hours is an inevitability (or just about: One week earlier in the year I barely reached 40 hours because we had no work), I will not pop a blood vessel in order to leave at my appropriate time.  I know for sure that my boss is dreading my time at work in the Fourth Department this upcoming week, however, and I do not want to anticipate how he'll broach my overtime pay.  Hell, he might blindside me again and yank me out of that position for one day just so he can save our company ... what, $25 an hour he has to pay me in total, including OT?  Regardless of what happens, there is a burgeoning test of wills between my boss and I.  A part of me wants to stay and win this battle of wills.  Another part of me is a lover and not a fighter, and wants to take the course of action that kicks up the least amount of trouble.  I know which camp I'm in.  I think.  Maybe.