Cog in the Wheel
A while back they got new keypads at my job that wouldn’t let you punch in if you showed up late for work. It would just say, “too late, see a manager” and then you’d have to go through the awkward process of telling your manager, having them follow you up the stairs, and they had to sign a late slip for you.
One day, I figured out a genius solution. If I put a nine at the end of my four-digit key (because it doesn’t overwrite the last key) I could punch in late without being penalized. Naturally, I exploited this loophole whenever I was too late for work. Eventually, they caught on to what I was doing and had a manager talk to me and tell me that if I showed up late three more times (three strikes) I’d be fired.
I think the only reason they didn’t fire me then and there was because they didn’t want to admit there was a loophole in the system.