Malicious Compliance

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/karondo on 2025-05-08 23:48:02+00:00.

Its my 40th birthday coming up so put in some annual leave, only 2 weeks worth. Not a lot but we have the ability to put in leave at half pay, ie 10 days off for 5 days leave but you only get paid for the 5 days leave. This is what I did.

Got declined, as "you have too much leave" so I will need to put this in as full pay.

So I refused. And put through one week a month at half pay for 6 months. Which was approved, as well as my 40th.

I was told by another person they wished they were my level of petty.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Black_Magic_M-66 on 2025-05-08 22:36:52+00:00.

Here's a two-fer:

My boss was the kind that wanted people to jump when he said jump. He was also totally clueless on how to do my job. He really wanted the billing to go out as fast as possible every month, because you know cash flow. This was the kind of boss that often would say, "what do you mean X", and I would, calmly list the definition of X. I don't think he ever knew what to do with that.

So, one time at the beginning of the month I'm working on billing (usually takes 3 days) when he comes in my office and says need needs this report done. I tell him it's gonna take a few days and ask him what sort of priority, "top priority". Ok, you got it. 3 days later, I turn the report in, and he asks me about billing. "Well, I had to put it aside to get this report done, but I'm back on it now". You could almost see the steam coming out of his ears. To his credit, he didn't blame me, but you could tell he wanted to.

Another time, at the end of the year, he makes a special order from one of our suppliers for six times our usual order. A month later when it's time to pay the bill, I told him I haven't seen it. He tells me, "he gives me all the bills and that it's my fault for losing it". I call the supplier. Turns out, the supplier never even put the order in their system - they shipped the product, but because it was such an unusual order, the sales person forgot about it. Now, although unethical my boss would love to have never paid this bill especially how much bigger it was since we ordered so much. I let him know, the supplier was grateful for us pointing out the discrepancy. My boss was speechless - a welcome occurance.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/StardustFrost on 2025-05-08 18:37:06+00:00.

New manager comes in loud, talking about “structure” and “consistency”. Suddenly no WFH, no flex hours, no swapping PTO. I asked to move two days. My cousin’s wedding, she just goes,

“Sorry, we can’t make exceptions to anyone. It wouldn’t be fair”

Alright then, I put in a request for all 23 of my unused PTO days. Straight through end of quarter. No overlap, no coverage. It got approved in like…10 minutes? Lol okay. Couple days later she’s in full panic mode:

“Wait who’s handling your workload?” “Dunno. I assumed you had a plan. No exceptions right?”

She had to cover me and deal with fallout. Stuff piled up, clients got pissy, two people quit. I came back to a new HR memo:

“Managers can now approve flexible PTO on a case by case basis.”

Turns out fair looks different when you’re the one getting screwed.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/JoWhee on 2025-05-08 22:03:54+00:00.

We have this salesman I’ll call him “Sam”, he is also an engineer. For those who haven’t dealt with this kind of person, he “knows “everything because he’s an engineer.

We have this client who is dangling millions in front of one of our OEM suppliers, and probably a tiny portion of that for us. I’ll never see a dime of it as I’m not on commission. Sam is. The client is really working the OEM on this to get everything perfect before they spend another cent, I get it, I would do the same, they aren’t being unreasonable.

Sam has “taken over” this client even though they were being serviced by another salesman. It’s not even in his territory or province for that matter, but he’s the senior salesman so whatever. I don’t care who gets the commission as long as we get the business.

This was originally a really small project that nobody was really interested in as it’s not a big seller or a high profit margin, we maybe get $2000/year for the service. The client was so impressed with the product that they want to use it in all their international sites, hence the millions for the OEM. We are a small local company so we definitely won’t be installing this worldwide, but hey they offer me the option to install this all over the world; I’m going. Sorry honey (wife).

I’ve been involved with this project from day one. I know it sounds arrogant but no one knows more about the entirety of this project than I do, a few people know more about one specific part but that’s it.

With this in mind I have made damned sure if anything goes wrong I’m ahead of it. It was my first solo project, it’s my baby.

A few weeks ago there was an issue with the physical installation of our product. The client had originally hired their own contractor to do the work, which is fine. We just commissioned it and set it up months ago.

The installation literally fell off the wall because it wasn’t installed according to our specs. This improper installation issue was signalled during startup.

I’m going on site for a maintenance soon, and the client reached out to me and CCd pretty much everyone who has ever been involved in the project and Sam, who hasn’t been involved until now, to ask if I can fix the installation issues.

I replied very politely, that I can’t do this kind of work as it will require an electrician and one other trade. I’m leaving this vague, but I’m a member of neither of those trades. I also signalled there is a health and safety issue in the space that requires correction by the client before I can safely start work, again I’m being deliberately vague here.

Sam emailed me privately to tell me I shouldn’t interact directly with the client or our OEM. This is not a great idea as techs are usually the point of contact for the OEM and client if something goes wrong, sometimes it can be fixed with a phone call. Naturally I forwarded him the original email from the client with my explanation. I also wrote “moving forward all my communication about this job will be going through you”

He thanked me as this is what (he thought) he wanted.

My dispatch called me as there are parts being shipped for the job that are supposed to come in this afternoon after quitting time: “Call Sam”

The client wants to know what time I’ll be there: “call Sam” I’ll admit I did text the client to let them know. They know I usually arrive at the same time anyways.

OEM called me about this “I’ll get Sam to call you”.

This isn’t going to affect anything except Sam’s going to be my relay. I’ll make sure Sam is on every call and teams meeting about this going forward.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/armikk on 2025-05-08 21:28:13+00:00.

Was reminded from a recent post. I worked part time throughout my studies (UK) on a zero hour contract at a club/pub/events venue. This was over a decade ago. They didn't let folk have both Christmas and new year's off, you had to work one of em. I joined and was made supervisor shortly after cause I had common sense and figures stuff out quickly. I went home for the holidays and when that time came the first year I just said I'd quit. And did, there was no issue with finding another almost minimum wage part time job. Reapplied in January as they were looking for staff. Rehired. Next holidays come around and I tell them the same thing. Same thing all over again. Next year, they just tell me please don't leave, just take whatever days off and we'll see you again next year. I'm also great friends to this day with my favourite GM from those days, though I went and got a job in my field.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/SpecialistFloor6708 on 2025-05-08 20:14:29+00:00.

This was at a department store in the 90s.

We worked on the loading dock, management treated us.like childern.

They hired a sketchy guy but we got along (pretty sure he was they reason we all had to take sexual harassmentclasses, too). One day there was an article in the paper, the guy had the same name so. We stuck it to the wall for him. Maybe he.gets.a kick.out of it.

So he went into the service elevator and wrote shiddy remarks about us.

We all got in trouble.

Their instructions to me were to "get rid of the writing."

So I found the worst color paint I could find in the store, like deep burgundy. I.decided i.didnt want to look at that color everyday, so i painted the inside of the elevator sky blue.

The next day, i was approached by the security guards. "Did you paint the elevator blue?!" "UH, ya". He looks around to make sure none of the bosses are around, shakes my hand and said. "That's the most passive aggressive thing I've ever seen, good job".

The weird guy eventually got fired for hanging upside down from the railing system we used to move clothes right in front of the visible security camera. Funny tape.

I sometimes wonder if it's still blue.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/detailsubset on 2025-05-07 19:47:33+00:00.

TLDR: manager sent me to a place with no work, did no work, manager angry and making threats that go nowhere.

I used to work for a Pharmaceutical compounding company. Pharmaceutical compounding factories are made up of several rooms of varing cleanliness, graded D–A (D being the least "clean"). These rooms are thoroughly cleaned each day but require special "deep" cleans at least once a month.

I was scheduled to work in the de-box room (grade D), where I would take drugs, diluents and devices out of their boxes, record the relevant numbers from each individual item before cleaning with 70% alcohol and sending through an airlock hatch into the grade C room.

However this day, the grade C room attached to de-box was being deep cleaned and couldn't be used until the next day, meaning there was literally nothing to de-box. I asked my manager where they wanted me to work, the conversation went as follows:

"Hi Lisa, since there's nothing in de-box should I go and help with the deep clean or go to unit a/b? (a different set of clean rooms)"

"What does it say on the schedule?"

"It says de-box but there's nothing in there and I don't want to spend hours standing around."

"If it says de-box then go to de-box."

"Lisa, there's a deep clean happening, there's literally nothing to do in de-box."

"There's plenty to do in there so go and do it, I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you, just do as you're told!"

So I went into de-box, the contents of the room were an empty bin, a bottle of 70% alcohol, some wipes and myself. So I cleaned the room with the alcohol, (it's a small room, it took 15 minutes) then stood still for two hours. Over the intercom, the people doing the deep clean asked what I was doing. I relayed to them the conversation I had with the manager, got a laugh and an "honestly, not surprising, Lisa's a bitch". I then proceeded to stand still for another hour.

After being standing stationary for three hours, Lisa barged into the room and hissed:

"What on earth do you think you're doing!?You've done nothing but stare at the wall for three hours! What makes you think you can get away with doing nothing when everybody else is working so hard?!!"

"I'm doing what you asked me to Lisa, you tol.."

"THIS IS NOT WHAT I ASKED YOU TO DO, I TOLD YOU TO COME IN HERE AND DO YOUR WORK!"

"And I told you there was no work in here to do and asked to go somewhere where there was work"

"THERE WAS WORK TO DO IN HERE WHEN I SENT YOU HERE!"

"No there wasn't, I wouldn't have asked for something to do if there was"

"GET OUT AND GO TO UNIT A. IF YOU EVER REPEAT THIS STUNT I WILL INVESTIGATE YOU FOR GROSS MISCONDUCT!"

"If doing what you asked is gross misconduct you should probably investigate this particular incidence."

At this point I walked past her and went and did my job in the other units. Later I was chatting to the supervisor who had been sat with her on the monitoring station. They told me that she had watched me on the camera for the entire three hours getting progressively more and more wound up. There never ended up being an investigation and that manager entirely stopped talking to me until she tried (and failed) to fire me for totally different reasons.

If there's any spelling or grammatical errors it's because the post got long and I couldn't be bothered to proof read it.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/No_Astronaut3059 on 2025-05-07 21:04:45+00:00.

It was only when reading a post on r/talesfromyourserver that this memory popped up. It is going to be long because I like the sound of my own voice. Sorry in advance.

My first proper job was as a waiter (and later barman) in a hotel. Part of a global chain. Let's say Ttoirram.

The particular location I worked at had a few large, very valuable contracts, one of which was for employees of redacted (a big company) who would complete ongoing training locally. We would receive batches of around 20 to 40 of their staff for three months (weekdays / some weekends) at a time.

As well as allowing us to develop good, friendly working relationships with their employees, this meant they had an extensive per diem budget they could / consistently would burn through, and a large "end of training" party with each batch, including an open bar.

Shortly after I turned 18 (legal age for serving at the bar in the UK) I was put on shift for the next party. Although my supervisor for the evening was a super friendly, chill guy, the bar manager was a bit cantankerous. He also, understandably, wanted to ensure that these guys had a good time.

This was emphasised when I was being "briefed" for the party, whilst at the bar already serving them. I believe his exact words were "do whatever they want to keep them happy". I double-checked, as per the title.

As the hotel bar had licence to run 24/7 (if memory serves), my shift could end "whenever I wasn't needed", however my transport home (provided by the hotel) would be at set times. So it was that I found myself clocking out around 9.30pm (as per supervisor's instructions; he stayed on the bar) but with nowhere to go until the next transport. Or the one after, if I felt like it.

So all of a sudden, sweet, innocent me is at the bar but off shift (branded uniform items removed). With 30 or so people I had spent three months serving with a smile and being adored by (I was a cute, polite kid, what can I say). And my manager's words echoing in my ears like some sort of tempting-tinnitus.

"Do whatever they want..."

I had already been helping the party-people come up with innovative ways to get wasted on company-cash all evening, with methods such as shot-roulette, creative cocktails, timed pints etc...however now I couldn't refuse their very drunk demands to join them. I just couldn't. I even checked with my supervisor, who responded with a shrug and a "dzięki"*. And also I was 18 and indestructible.

It started with some tit-for-tat revenge from them. Shot-roulette, (more) creative cocktails, timed pints...

Then it got competitive. Guys I had been serving chasers to every night for months wanted to test my mettle. Ladies I had been graciously polite to when sober wanted to see if I was still polite after a one-pint screwdriver. I was also intrigued to find out, to be honest.

Which lead to the unforgettable (but blurry) experience of THEIR company's regional manager, accompanied by my manager, entering the bar at around 11pm as several of us reprobates were shooting £20-per-shot top shelf spirits at the bar and one of their colleagues was vomiting in a strategically available plant pot.

Of course, my manager and their regional manager were...not as impressed as you would hope. BUT. As the beration was about to start (from both managers), to my confused-wasted joy, one of my new BFFs stepped in. And then another. And another. Like some perverse wasted poets' society.

"Don't tell OP off. He is just following your instructions"

"Yeah! And he has just been the sweetest little man, haven't you?"

Hiccough "Sure, I guess...?"

"YEAH! We are having the best time, this wee lad is a champ!"

(Maybe slightly embellished, but not far off)

As their manager sees the affection they have for me, their wasted-wee-mascot for the night, and my manager sees the very lucrative contract being contingent on keeping them happy, I start to see everything all spinny, like on a fairground ride but with added bile.

"YOU CAN'T BLAME HIM, WE MADE HIM DO IT!"

As I stumble to the plant pot.

"You TOLD him to do it!!"

As I return a few litres of expensive hotel drinks back to nature. Well, to the plant pot.

"He has been such a delight the whole time we have been here!"

As I wipe my face on a hotel-branded cloth napkin.

I later learned my manager ended up comping a bottle of spirits from their (already mahoosive) tab to smooth it out with their manager, who apparently did see the funny side. My manager, not so much; he didn't address me directly for a few weeks, but I think that was more due to envy than anger.

My supervisor filled in some (unsurprising) blank spots for me a few days later when I was next in. Shortly before my manager's manager (head of food and bev) asked for a quick word.

Gulp.

"Hi OP! How are you finding the bar work? I just wanted to say, I don't know what you did at the party, but keep it up! Four separate guests (from the company) have sent in thank-you letters**. They must really like you!"

And that is the story of how I learned that sometimes the customer IS always right. Even when they are vomiting in a plant pot alongside you.

*I know positive discrimination / sweeping generalisation is still discrimination, but gosh-darn working with Polish barmen is an absolute joy. Polish prep chefs, not so much...

**Thank-you letters ~ positive feedback forms or emails.

(EDIT: Tweaked some wording I didn't love, added a letter or two and some brackets, clarified "thank-you letters" as it wasn't like the ones you used to write to elderly relatives after Christmas but that is how I made it sound)

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/OriginsOfEvil666 on 2025-05-07 18:28:58+00:00.

A few years back, I worked as a junior analyst at a mid-sized consulting firm. Our team was known for delivering quality work, often going above and beyond to meet tight deadlines. We had a flexible work culture, and as long as the work got done, no one micromanaged our hours.

Enter our new manager, Karen (not her real name, but fitting). Karen came from a corporate background and was obsessed with metrics and control. She introduced a new policy: every team member had to log their work in 15-minute increments using a new time-tracking software. She claimed it was to "optimize productivity," but it felt more like surveillance.

We tried to express our concerns, highlighting that the nature of our work didn't always fit neatly into 15-minute blocks. Sometimes, we had brainstorming sessions, quick client calls, or impromptu team huddles. But Karen was adamant: "If it's not logged, it didn't happen."

Fine.

I decided to comply—maliciously.

I began logging every single activity:

9:00 AM – 9:15 AM: Booting up computer and reviewing emails.

9:15 AM – 9:30 AM: Responding to emails.

9:30 AM – 9:45 AM: Coffee break.

9:45 AM – 10:00 AM: Team stand-up meeting.

10:00 AM – 10:15 AM: Bathroom break.

10:15 AM – 10:30 AM: Reading industry articles for professional development.

And so on.

I included everything: waiting for files to download, software updates, even the time spent logging time. I wasn't the only one. The entire team followed suit.

Within a week, Karen was inundated with detailed logs that painted a picture of a team bogged down by administrative tasks. Our actual productivity took a hit because we were so focused on tracking every minute.

After two weeks, Karen called a team meeting. She looked exhausted.

"Okay, maybe we went a bit overboard with the time tracking," she admitted. "Let's simplify the process."

Victory.

We returned to our previous system, focusing on deliverables rather than micromanaging time. Productivity soared, and Karen learned that trust and flexibility often yield better results than rigid control.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Wakemeup3000 on 2025-05-07 15:37:13+00:00.

Years ago I worked for a supervisor who just didn't like me. No reason why since I just came to work, did my job, and went home at the end of the day. But he decided that I was terrible at what I did and decided to performance manage me out of my job. Game on.

He wrote me up for some vague bullshit and asked me to sign it but since it didn't show any hard facts and data I asked for examples of this. Meeting ended with document unsigned since he didn't have an example for this. Tried it again with an example this time and I asked how often this would be reviewed for feedback, how the feedback would be given, and how the improvement or non improvement would be measured. He hadn't have a solid answer so again no document signed and the meeting ended.

The next time me had HR in the meeting and had all his documentation and the answer to my questions from the prior meeting. He decided to be so smart on how feedback would be given daily via email. I signed the paper and he gave a smug smile.

Next day comes along and shockingly there was zero feedback given. No email sent for the rest of the week. Get called into a meeting with boss and HR with a paper saying there was no improvement and I was being put on warning for termination and oops I'm sorry but can you show me the emails where feedback was given daily as outlined? There were none. Meeting ended.

Next day email sent with feedback. I responded with facts and data. No response. Day after email sent with feedback. Again responded noting that I hadn't gotten any follow up for the day before and responded to that day's email with facts and data. 3rd day I again noted that I hadn't gotten any answers to the prior 2 days questions and added facts and data for this one. Then I cc'ed the HR person and sent it back.

Apparently after much discussion boss decided that it was too hard to performance manage someone out of a job and my work was suddenly just fine after all.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Rarebird00 on 2025-05-07 02:50:51+00:00.

On March 27th 2025, the Utah house passed HB77 into law. The law prohibits displaying any flag on state property other than ones included in the official list ( so nothing except official state, country, city, tribal, or collegiate flags). Today, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall revealed three new alternate city flag designs, which were supported by the city council. They are the Sego Belonging Flag (combines city flag & progress flag), Sego Visibility Flag (city & trans flag), and Sego Celebration Flag (city & Junteenth flag). Because the designs would be official city flags, they would fall under the acceptable flags category.

News article with photos here: https://www.ksl.com/article/51308163/salt-lake-city-proposes-3-new-flag-designs-to-sidestep-new-state-flag-law-

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/OkMarzipan3163 on 2025-05-07 05:07:43+00:00.

While working for a utility, Safety/Security implemented a no- shirt-tailing policy for access doors...meaning you shouldn't let someone in w/out their access badge.

I usually show up earliest in my dept., but one day, I was running a few minutes late, which put me on the same elevator as our Chief of Engineering, who usually shows up in the 3rd place in the morning.

I showed off my badge, but not knowing whether he get laid off in the middle of the night, I wouldn't key the elevator to the correct floor. Hey big boss man, you'd better set down your briefcase, lunch, and your tote bag if you want the elevator keyed. Or, I'll just take the next one.

It was such a classic watching the eyes roll as he set everything down to fish out his wallet.

Hey big boss man, policy is policy!

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/CrazyAuntErisMorn on 2025-05-06 20:28:58+00:00.

I have a manger who is… well, I won’t say what I want to call him. He’s a thumbs down kind of guy. He is especially a thumbs down kind of guy towards women who work for him. We’re talking a gross nail beds, pink eye carrying, hit with a hammer and swollen with infection sort of thumb facing down kind of guy.

Here I am, one of the maybe 5 women in the department of 40-50 people.

Mind you, I have a supervisor I directly report to. The supervisor is always confused when our manager gets on to me about something and is just as surprised as I am. He is never approached first. He encourages me and tells me to keep my chin up.

The micromanaging has reached the stage of my manager wanting to receive a list of every single thing I do during the day.

My malicious compliance seems insignificant but oh boy does it make me feel better.

1. I slightly change the subject of every single daily email so they don’t group together in his inbox. When he wants to micromanage, he’ll have to dig.
2. I bloat the hell out of those emails with useless info. Things like “I asked someone a question” or “reviewed internal policy on xyz to ensure correctness” with next line as “I did xyz in compliance with the policy”
3. I have the line items very vague. Instead of “I closed the task of this ticket number with issue xyz by doing xyz” I’ll put things like “closed ”

Ever since I started this, he hasn’t been replying to them as much. I had no idea this would work as well as it does.

I’m a very detailed person and it’s going against the core of my being of sending such a terrible deliverable but damn does it make me smile.

Yes, I’m job hunting. Yes, it will be devastating for him to lose me doing the tasks alone that most businesses have an entire team on. Yes, am I excited to to send an email that only says “two week notice” then take PTO I have for those two weeks.

Edit: I forgot one. I schedule it to send after I know he leaves the office.

Edit edit: working on a bulleted list of all the amazing tips to make it even better you all keep giving. This is fantastic. I’ll have it here so we can all have a united accomplishment in malicious compliance.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Ugg225 on 2025-05-06 19:38:08+00:00.

Just reminded of this: My daughter was young, 10 or 11. We went into a subway restaurant. My daughter is a vegetarian, so we usually order that. But today there was a special on meatball grinders. They cost less then the veggie sub.

So I ordered a meatball sub, all veggies, hold the meatballs. They refused to make it since "meatball subs need meatballs in them." Ok... I will have a meatball sub, yada yada yada, meatballs on the SIDE. They gladly accepted my order and put the meatballs in a small container.After paying and as I'm walking out, I hear: "you forgot your meatballs!"

No I didn't. I reply.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/hellampz on 2025-05-06 19:09:47+00:00.

This afternoon i went to have lunch at a local Chipotle. I do not normally eat here, but it was convenient so i went anyway. I patiently waited in line and when it was my turn to take my order i told him i would like to order a chicken&cheese quesadilla, and extra chicken. The guy was like no problem i got you, and started making it. Thats when the over zealous manager stepped in and promptly informed me that this location does not make quesadillas and i would either have to order something else or go online and do a mobile order. HAHA. I was confused by this and so was the guy making my quesadilla. I asked her why and it was simple to make one. She stated thats the rules. I was kind of surprised she was making a confrontation over a quesadilla. Lol. So, i ordered a chicken&cheese burrito, warmed up. And made her make my rolled up burrito quesadilla. Lol. She was pissed and i could tell.

Lady, just put my quesadilla in the bag.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/happyjoim on 2025-05-04 04:19:05+00:00.

Background: do to medications and bad genetics I am not in any way regular. Anytime at a new job or new location I look for the most powerful toilet there to not inconvenience people you know those air pressurized ones that sound like a jet's going off those usually can survive.

Years ago I worked in an old three story building. 3rd floor employee bathroom has your standard low flow worthless. Anytime nature called I would make my way down the stairs to the lobby and use the more updated pressurized toilets and let me just say that with all of the supplements I take to make the job easier you could have days if not weeks of filler for the toilet in a matter of seconds. Of course new manager comes in not liking that I'm taking 30 minute toilet breaks walking all the way down to the lobby walking all the way back up he demands I use the employee toilet down the hall. Que:Malicious Compliance

Now you can imagine the problems this now causes at least once every two weeks toilet is stuck plumber stuck and not the best smell of course it shuts down that employee toilet so now everyone has to go down at least one floor to use someone else's toilet so everyone's taking more time he finally believes me that hey I don't have a doctor's note that I need a more powerful toilet because that's stupid but maybe just let me go down to the lobby to not inconvenience every single person here and make their rest of their day for two or three days more miserable

EDIT: Voice to text

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/mwood60 on 2025-05-03 17:56:38+00:00.

This all happened about 20 years ago when I was in 7th grade (12-13 years old for those not in the US school systems). I remember this day vividly, as it was one of my most rebellious actions against authority I had done in my school years.

My seventh grade science teacher was a curmudgeonly lady that we will call Mrs. Evans. Now, Mrs. Evans had no joys in her job of teaching preteens the foundations of science, but did enjoy sending students to the principal for minor infractions.

An easy way of getting sent to the principal was through dress code violations. Throughout the entirety of the school year with her, I’d seen Mrs. Evans send no less than 75% of the class to principal’s office for dress code violation, with most being the girls in class wearing shirts that were “too revealing” because their shoulders were showing, with the others usually being something easily fixed like wearing a hat.

I showed up to class in my standard outfit that I had been wearing up to that point in the school year, a t-shirt and jeans. However, being the outdoorsy kid I was, I had a slight tear on the knee of one of the pants legs.

Mrs. Evans honed in on this slight tear, and instructed me that I would need to be wearing jeans without a tear in them for her to be able to teach her class without distraction, and to go to the principal if I was unable to do so.

Being a smartass 13 year old, I decided to comply by going to my locker, getting my stapler out, and stapling the tear shut on my jeans.

Upon return to class, this was not good enough for Mrs. Evans, Keeper of the Dress Code. She repeated her previous instruction, and said that if I returned without the torn jeans being replaced I was to go to the principal.

Cue compliance #2: I went straight back to my locker, got a pair of scissors out, and cut off the entire leg of the jeans with the offending tear (much to my mother’s later dismay).

Upon my re-return to class, Mrs. Evans was quite unhappy. The rest of the class was now properly distracted from her doing, much to her chagrin. But, Mrs. Evans was the Keeper of the Code for a reason one supposed. She cited a line in the school handbook stating “no frays on any clothing allowed”. This time, I was sent to the principal.

I had never gotten in too much trouble in school, was in a lot of advanced placement courses, and played football and track for school, so my record was pretty clean. The principal was confused as to why I was sent, until I told him I’d just come from Mrs. Evans class, which told him enough after he saw one pant leg normal, with the other pant leg completely cut below the knee.

He told me to please just wear my gym shorts and have this be the end of it.

Cue compliance #3: I returned to class wearing my gym shorts for the day… wearing them over the offending jeans. Mrs. Evans, keeper of the code, decided this warranted a call to the principal from the class phone to report me and get me into further turmoil.

However, I think the principal was just done with getting his time wasted that day. After Mrs. Evans got him on the phone and spoke her piece, there was a long silence while he assumably responded to her. She then hung up the phone, her face slightly flushed, and proceeded with the lesson.

I never once got called out on any dress code violations by the Keeper of the Code for the remainder of my middle school years.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Any_Pudding1541 on 2025-04-30 07:17:37+00:00.

So long story short; my company got rid of Voluntary time off last year. I have been with the company for 5 years and have always enjoyed going home early when there is no work to do.

However, now we have to use PTO to go home early. I work 12 hour shifts and love to get some extra sleep, plus my current financial situation is very unique and i dont need the extra hours.

For the last 2 days i have been unable to do anything at work because of a work related maintenance. I cant do anything at all. But i have to use PTO to go home? I have directly brought this up to the person in charge of allowing VTO and they said that there is always something to do. (I cant do anything because of maintenance)

Que malicious compliance: I have been sitting in the break room watching shows for two shifts in a row now. Im on the 4th season of righteous gemstones and ive only just started watching it and have only seen it at work. Some people might think this is a dream to watch movies at work but i would much rather be outside and get extra sleep than be stuck bored at work for 12 hours.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/DiamondDust_1 on 2025-04-30 01:33:03+00:00.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a story from my job.

I work at a place where we pack fruit. There are about 20 robots that fill boxes with fruit, and there’s one position in charge of checking that each robot puts the correct amount of fruit in each box.

To explain it a bit more, we basically have to check all day that the robots are doing a good job, making sure each box has the right amount of fruit and keeping track of which robot packed it. (Hope that makes sense.)

Obviously, since it's heavy machinery, sometimes the robots damage the fruit. So when I'm checking a box, it’s possible to find fruit that's been cut in half or otherwise damaged.

When I first started, I was assigned to that checking position. It’s pretty simple, count the fruit in each box and return it to the export line. But whenever I found damaged fruit, I used to write it down in a section of the control log called "comments", noting how many damaged ones I found. I also started reporting it to a woman from the quality team. She didn’t like that. She kept telling me that it wasn’t my job (which is technically true), but I thought it was important to say something when the damage was a lot.

One day, all the robots started sending out fruit that was cut into multiple pieces (no idea how). So I went to report it again. And this woman confronted me and said: "Your job is only to count. Count, count, count, and count. That’s it." She said it in a very rude tone and sent me back to the station.

Of course I thought: “She’s totally right.” So instead of getting upset, whenever I found damaged fruit, I just counted it like a normal one, closed the box, and sent it down the export line. That’s how I spent the whole day, just counting, nothing else. Until the export inspection team noticed there was a lot of damaged fruit already packed and ready to go.

The quality managers came to talk to me and asked why I hadn’t reported it. I just pointed to the woman and said: "She told me my job was only to count, count, and count. So that’s all I did." And I shrugged.

She started giving me hateful looks while the managers told her that this position does need to report damaged fruit and packaging issues.

At the end of the day, they moved me to another area (a much better one, where I now do quality too), and this woman can’t help but glare at me every time she sees me.

Wasn’t I just doing what I was told? Just counting?

Thanks for reading. Sorry if some parts aren’t super clear, I’m still learning English.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/tawnyfritz on 2025-04-29 21:47:04+00:00.

Edit at the bottom!

Our yard is wild. I mean that in the real definition of "living or growing in the natural environment". We have no "lawn". We aggressively remove and prevent invasive and noxious species of plants and ensure that what grows is native to our area and drought resistant. The wildflowers that grow are things like Lupine, Blue Flax, Spiderwort, Black eyed Susan, and Sunflowers, among others. We have natural elements like driftwood logs to retain water and we even have an elk skull in the yard to act as a shelter for critters. There are a plethora of birds, bees, bunnies, and other wildlife. More wildlife than any yard in the area, as far as I can tell. It's beautiful and alive, but definitely not a manicured lawn with perfectly cut grass and landscaping.

Last summer, we got a notice from the county that our yard was in violation of some county ordinance. My husband called the number on the notice and got a very "over it" employee who let out a big sigh and said he had gotten like 30 complaints from one person for the entire strip of road that we live on. Keep in mind, you can't "batch" report an area. You have to file reports house by house. So someone had the time and energy to pull up Google maps and file a report for about 30 houses for "overgrown weeds."

I checked the county ordinance and made sure everything we had in our yard was in compliance. Things like "purposely cultivated," which our wildflowers definitely were. We planted specific species of seeds and we remove whatever's not native. None of the wild plants block any sidewalks nor do they hang over onto any other properties.

Now knowing that it was someone with way too much time on their hands, I did some reading and learned that my yard has everything needed and then some to qualify as a National Wildlife Habitat. So, I filled out the form, paid the fee, and got my certificate.

My husband called the county employee back who said "Send me that certificate." He looked it over, thanked my husband for the new information he can use in the future, and closed our case.

I now have signs on my yard that announce the property as a wildlife habitat and the birds and bees get to keep living happily in the wild.

EDIT: Thank you for the overwhelming support for my little act of rebellion. I'm so so happy to see how many people are excited about wild yards! Long live the bees 🐝

That said, I'm getting some real weird hate in my inbox. IDK why this seems to have activated some negative feelings in some people.

Let me clear a couple things up... The county doesn't have HOA style restrictions. They're pretty fast and loose with the ordinances. The certificate/sign simply shows that the wildness is intentional and not just a neglected yard. It offers no legal protection, and I never claimed it did. The county employee liked that he had something to show in the event someone keeps complaining. So far, we haven't had any more issues and it's been over a year. I don't really worry about resale value bc I want to live in my house in a manner that brings me joy. I can easily reverse anything we've done if I need to sell for some reason. The house is paid off tho, so not likely to do that any time soon lol

I don't feel comfortable sharing photos of my yard (and someone demanded proof I own a house?). I'm really sorry, I would also want to see photos. I have just had some weird issues in the past and don't want to end up doxxing myself. I'm sure most of y'all understand 💜 I'm so happy y'all are interested in having a wild yard, as well.

🐝 🌺 ❤️

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/wi11iam26 on 2025-04-28 14:03:23+00:00.

Years ago I worked as a laborer in a food production company. Kind of a mom and pop size production/distribution facility. We made all types of foods and sauces. One of the more mundane steps to a particular sauce was opening and emptying large cans of tomato sauce into a large mixer. Pretty simple, just open, pour and toss the can. One of the higher ups decided we were wasting a lot of the sauce by not thoroughly cleaning out each can. We're talking probably 20-30 oz of tomato sauce per batch which was probably around 2-3% waste. I get it, every cent counts. The problem was the solution they came up with was to use these rubber spatulas to clean out the extra sauce from these metal cans. It didn't take a scientist to see that this would not work out well with the cans being sharp and cutting into the rubber leading to rubber going into the sauce. I tried voicing concerns but was shut down. I assume they just thought we were lazy and didn't want the extra work. So we do as we are told and start cleaning the cans thoroughly. Sure enough, about 10 cans in we notice our spatulas missing large chunks of rubber. I hand one of the spatulas to my supervisor and he takes it to his boss. On cue, he comes back about 2 minutes later and says don't worry about scooping out the cans anymore. That was my first taste of, 'maybe being a manager doesn't mean you have all the answers'.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Obvious-Secretary151 on 2025-04-28 12:30:38+00:00.

I am 15 years old and work as a soccer referee. I will normally arrive 10-15 minutes early to a game, which is plenty of time to check in players from both teams and make sure the field is in proper playing condition. One game I showed up to, as an assistant referee(AR). My center ref, 18 years old, let’s call him Dave, told me that all refs have to arrive 30 minutes early to every game. I know this is not true, and stayed silent.

We reffed the game as usual, and returned to where we put our stuff at the end of the game. Dave told me that because I didn’t arrive 30 minutes early, he would mark that I didn’t show up, basically telling me that I wouldn’t get paid for the game we just worked. I complained that this was a rule that he made up. He left the game without saying anything else, figuring that would be all.

Note: If you referee without any ARs, you get paid like 5$ more. I think this was Dave’s plan.

When I got home, I made sure to sign up to be center referee at every game where Dave was an AR. Poor Dave showed up to his next game 15 minutes early, which is absolutely unacceptable. I said nothing the whole game, but only marked him absent, which means he wouldn’t get paid. This went on for a week and half until his paycheck came in, and he was about 120$ off of what his total should’ve been. (I did make sure every game that Dave was less then 30 minutes early)

Dave emails one of the main referees(who run everything) to see what the problem was. One of the main referees, let’s call him John, told Dave that he wasn’t there, so he wouldn’t get paid. Dave put two and two together and realized what I did. Emails were sent between Dave, John, and I, until John had the full story. Dave was fired for making up rules, and I got paid for the first game with Dave. Don’t take advantage of young people.

Take that Dave.

Edit: Don’t take advantage of people, not just young people.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Milled_Oats on 2025-04-27 22:37:15+00:00.

Years ago I was a union delegate for a hospital that underwent expansion. More services , more beds, an extra operating theatre etc. before the expansion opened the usual fight between the unions and management started over staffing.

We went in really well prepared and management took it well offering staffing we wanted. We had a final meeting with about 40 people In the room, HR , department heads and the various unions. We get to a department I will call ABC and the department head say we don’t need any extra staff except for nurses. I argued you have more space and more beds and you need more cleaners , wardsmen admin staff etc.

He fires back “ I stake my reputation on it that we don’t need any extra staff”. I ask the minutes record this specifically. A meeting is set down for four weeks after the hospital expansion opening. We let him have his way knowing he wouldn’t be successful.

Guess whose department turned into a complete farce? Nothing terrible just lots of little issue. At the next union meeting again with all people Previously present I read out the list of issues department ABC has. I then read out the last minutes with him stating they didn’t need any extra staffing and that the department head had staked his reputation on it. I then asked the head of ABC to justify all of this. He couldn’t.

I asked him as he staked his reputation on this and the outcomes have been poor , what does that mean? He gave no answer. I look towards the CEO and said you were here last time and buck stops with you. He agreed to review the situation urgently.

The union placed the hospital into formal industrial dispute at the meeting over the lack of staffing in department ABC.

The next day the CEO sends out an email stating after a brief conversation with the head of department ABC, he has chosen to seek different career opportunities.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/DevLegion on 2025-04-27 13:29:08+00:00.

This is a 2 parter, my initial Malicious Compliance probably contributed to the cause of the 2nd. And it all happened roughly 2 years ago.

I used to work for the local church as a grounds keeper (and other odd duties). One of the odd duties was going upstairs to brush/vac the open floor. It wasn't an odious job but getting up the very old, worn and uneven stone stairs was a pain with a vac, brush, bucket, etc.

One of the first times it happened I noticed several of the brackets that held the thick rope 'hand rail' were either loose or came out completely if you weren't careful.

I reported this and was told the Parish Council had known about it for 3yrs. I kinda got annoyed about it at this point because if it came out when you had the vac on your back (it had a rucksack harness) and you slipped it's a hell of a fall backwards. Not to mention the thousands of tourists that used to go up those steps, it could lead to serious injury.

I also said that I was marking the date and any injury caused by the stairs I'd immediately advise H&S.

I said to my immediate boss that I wouldn't be going up them until the issue was fixed. She seemed a bit shocked but said she'd say something at the meeting.

True to my word, when asked to go to clean I refused.

Weirdly the issue was fixed within a month or so.

Roll on a few months and I was called in to a meeting with the Parish Council's Employee Contact.

Long story short, in the 1st I was told my job was secure. I was asked to come in for a 2nd meeting a month later (agreed at the time of the 1st meeting) and was told I was being laid off at the end of the year (this was August). I did win a discrimination case against them but that's a different story and not malicious compliance.

There's been an ongoing joke about the Parish Council saying we didn't have to work in the rain.

I'd been asking for general work and rain gear since I started working there the previous year but wasn't too bothered because I had plenty of old work clothes from previous jobs.

After the Employee Contact informed me that I was being laid off and was "unemployable" and a year of asking for rain gear I'd had enough. So every time it even drizzled I went inside. If it stopped, I came out.

Thankfully my colleagues fine with this, they knew the score. As it was coming towards Autumn I did less and less work.

I just sat with my feet up. This carried on until the end of October where I just booked the rest of the year as holiday.

Additional info: I was on a disabled work scheme via the government so it was documented what I was and wasn't capable of. This also was adhered to even more strictly than before and if any job even looked like it might fall under the umbrella of the "if he thinks it's too much, he can say no" rule.

All in all, I helped my colleagues as much as needed but my work load dropped massively as I started to go inside to avoid the rain and refuse to do the jobs I didn't necessarily have to.

EDIT:

By making sure my immediate supervisor brought up the issue with me refusing to work until the stairs were fixed in a council meeting, it made sure the problem was recorded in the meeting minutes. So proved it was a known problem.

EDIT 2:

Because rain gear wasn't provided with the necessary protective clothing I was not legally required to work in any weather but dry.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/PM_Teeny_Titties on 2025-05-05 16:45:56+00:00.

Not my story, but needed to share.

A friend of mine is the GM for a manufacturing facility, and he reports up to the corporate level. The corporate VP of Operations was a big stickler about following the rules, especially related to security. This isn't a bad thing, but he would often try to set up chances to catch employees in security violations for write-ups. Things like holding open the exterior door for an employee so the following person didn't have to badge in.

My GM friend gave his notice recently, and one of the things the VP demanded was to be added as an admin to all security systems, including the badge/lock system. VP meant to set an expiration date of the GM's account. But accidentally deleted it outright, which also removed any permissions he assigned, which included all current employees.

Well, the team showed up the next morning to find that no badges worked. My friend told everyone to clock in as normal using their phone, but wait until the badges worked. Because entering the building without an authorized badge went against security rules.

Their shift started at 7 AM, but VP wasn't online until 9 AM. He freaked out when he saw that there were no machines running, and then had to figure out how to add everyone back to the door badge system. Apparently, the VP isn't a real tech guy, so it was 10 AM before everyone was added back. They all sat in their cars and would badge in once the VP sent an email.