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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/AurouraPlays on 2025-05-30 10:19:44+00:00.

Obligatory first-time poster and all that.

To understand what happened, you first need to understand two people: Susan and Jack. See, I used to work part-time at a burger joint that has a drive-through, and I was often the one at the window. Susan was a regular customer, and everyone there had an opinion about her. She's very particular, and has a tendency to snap at you if you don't do it right the first time without being asked. I was her favorite employee, though, because I would always take the time to chat with her if we weren't busy. She was actually quite pleasant once you got to know her, just a bit prickly.

Now, for Jack. He was the new GM, brought in to "fix the restaurant". Now, I don't think there was anything that needed fixing, but the owner disagreed. He was originally meant to be the assistant GM, but then the owner fired our old GM, and Jack was put in charge. He was a piece of work, the kind of manager you don't want to have. My favorite Jack Moment was when he pulled all the staff on shift into the back while we were still open to lecture us on not smiling enough. You know the type of manager.

On to the story. Now, one thing we had to do in the drive-through is put a numbered sticker on the car's side mirror. This sticker was used by the runners who took food out to identify the car, so it's very important. Susan, however, didn't like having the sticker on her mirror. She was convinced she would get in an accident if the mirror was covered even a little, and always insisted on having it put on the car door instead. This wasn't out of the ordinary, we put stickers on doors all the time when we couldn't reach the mirror. However, Jack decided he wasn't having it, and made a new rule that we could only put stickers on mirrors. I figured, okay, but if the customer asks for it, it should still be fine, right?

Wrong.

I got chewed out for putting the sticker on Susan's car door. I tried to explain to Jack why I did it, but he wouldn't listen. Eventually, he just huffed at me and said, "Look. You need to put the stickers on the mirror, not the door. No exceptions."

Well, fine then. Cue malicious compliance.

The next time Susan came in, I put the sticker on her mirror, as ordered. She was confused, as I always put it on her door without being asked, and snapped, "What are you doing? Don't put it there, I'll get into an accident." I explained to her the new rule, and that my hands were tied. I didn't want to get in trouble, after all. Then, I told her that it was Jack's rule.

I didn't get to witness the next part directly, unfortunately. However, I heard about it second-hand from my coworkers. Apparently, when one of the runners brought her food out, she stopped them and asked them to grab Jack. She then proceeded to give Jack the ass-chewing of a lifetime about his dumb rule. One particular quote that was relayed to me was "What point is there to force them to put it there? They can see it just fine on the door!" My thoughts exactly, Susan. Anyway, the rule was later amended that customers could request for the sticker to be placed on their door.

Sorry it wasn't as dramatic as most posts on here, but I wanted to share my bit of compliance.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/luisalyn_ on 2025-05-30 04:40:21+00:00.

A few years back, I was working in a small office where I basically did a bit of admin work, customer service, scheduling, you name it. I was kind of the unofficial catch all employee. My manager loved being in control but would never actually take responsibility when things went sideways.

One day, one of our longtime clients called in and asked to reschedule a major service appointment. They were super reliable, always paid on time, and honestly just easy to work with. I looked at the schedule and saw that with a bit of rearranging, we could make their new time work just fine, so I went ahead and made the change. Done and dusted.

Later that day, the manager stormed into my office like she had just caught me stealing company secrets.

She asked if I rescheduled the said Client without her approval. I affirmed and told her I’ve done that in the past.She then said from then on, I was not to make any schedule change without written approval from her. Email me. Every time. I want it in writing. Those were her words.

Okay then. If that’s what she wanted, I could play that game.

From that moment on, I emailed her for every single change even the smallest, most routine stuff. Appointment time shifts, when someone came back from lunch late, if a client called in to confirm something, if a tech was running ten minutes behind. Didn’t matter. I sent it all. And I waited for her written approval every time.

It didn’t take long before things started to pile up. Clients were calling back wondering why their appointments hadn’t been confirmed. Techs were waiting in the parking lot because I couldn’t officially send them to the next job without her go ahead. One poor guy waited 45 minutes because she didn’t check her email all morning.

After about two weeks of this nonsense, she came charging into my office, completely exasperated.

She asked why I was blowing up her inbox with all of that. I simply told her I was just doing exactly what she asked. You said everything had to be in writing, so I’m making sure I have your approval before touching anything. I said at the end.

She just stood there blinking, realizing she had created her own nightmare.

Let’s just say that little policy didn’t last much longer

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Fluffy_Fly_4644 on 2025-05-30 04:30:53+00:00.

So I work in HR, specifically handling expense reports. Nothing glamorous — I just process what's submitted and make sure it complies with our company policy. I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.

One of those rules is super clear: $25/day max for lunch. It’s in bold on the first page of the expense policy. That cap isn't flexible — it's a hard stop.

So when I saw an expense report a while ago that had a lunch item for $26.87, I flagged it and bounced the report back. I just asked the submitter to adjust the one item to stay within the allowed amount. Standard stuff. Happens all the time.

But apparently that ticked the guy off.

Fast-forward a week and he resubmits a $6,000 expense report — triple the original — loaded with all sorts of stuff he “forgot” to submit earlier. Starbucks runs, office supplies, home software, mileage from months ago, subscriptions, you name it.

It's all allowable, but clearly he was trying to make a point by adding these after I bounced his initial report.

Okay. You want to play games? Let’s play.

I went through every single line item with a microscope. If you want to give me extra work, then I will happily do my due dilligence and make sure I don't make any mistakes.

Then I noticed something interesting — daily parking at the client site. He claimed $30/day for every single day he worked there for the last 3 months. That’s about $1,980 in parking alone.

Except I remembered something from a past submission: he used to expense a monthly parking pass for that same location... for $210/month.

So I checked. Sure enough, he did buy the monthly pass — $210/month for three months. But now he's claiming the $30/day rate instead, which would net him a small profit.

Let me be crystal clear: that is fraud. That is not “being clever” or “playing the game” — that is literally expensing money you didn’t spend. He wasn't even subtle about it, so I can imagine it wasn't so much a calculated move as it was him trying to get “revenge.”

Then the cherry on top: one of my coworkers sends me a link to the top post on /r/MaliciousCompliance. I open it. It's him. Same story, same numbers, same parking “arbitrage.” He even brags about doing it on company time and getting a $6,000 reimbursement.

So thanks for the written confession, dude. Saved me some documentation.

I escalated the whole thing. Sent it to Compliance, Legal, and his manager, with screenshots of the Reddit post just for fun. I don’t know what’ll happen to him, but I do know this:

If you get pissy with someone just doing their job, and then try to get “revenge” by falsifying your expense report — maybe don’t write a public diary entry about it. Or at least change the numbers.

But hey, you wanted to play by the book. So let’s play by the book.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/HarryMason02 on 2025-05-30 01:43:51+00:00.

Hi long-time lurker, first-time poster. This happened a couple of years ago when I was working as a QA analyst for a mid-sized software development company. Thought some of you might enjoy it.

I was part of a scrum team working on a new feature for a large enterprise client. Our team was made up of the usual suspects: devs, a scrum master, a product owner (PO), and myself as the sole QA. Now, I’m a pretty thorough tester. I take pride in not just finding bugs, but documenting them clearly with steps to reproduce, screenshots, logs—you name it. Some devs loved me for it, others… not so much.

One dev in particular (we’ll call him “Mike”) really hated having bugs logged against his code. He had this passive-aggressive attitude where any issue I found was “user error” or “not a bug.” The guy had a serious ego problem and believed his code was flawless.

We were getting close to a deadline, and I was logging a lot of issues—nothing catastrophic, but enough to warrant attention. Some were cosmetic, others were functional, but all were valid. Mike didn’t like that I was “slowing things down.” During a sprint planning meeting, Mike went on a mini rant about how QA was “bogging the team down with unnecessary bugs” and how we “shouldn’t waste time logging minor issues that don’t block functionality.”

Surprisingly, the PO (who was also feeling the deadline pressure) sided with him. The decision was made: “From now on, only log critical/blocker issues. Everything else can be reported informally or ignored.”

I clarified: Me: “So you want me to stop logging non-blocking bugs? Even if they’re reproducible?” PO: “Exactly. Let’s focus on shipping.” Me: “You got it, boss.”

For the next two sprints, I only logged blockers—like, the app crashes or data corruption level stuff. Everything else? I kept to myself. No documentation. No Jira tickets. Nada.

The release went live… and all hell broke loose. Users were finding: * Buttons overlapping on mobile * Broken tooltips * Form validation failures * Inconsistent date formats * Slow load times on certain views

None of it was technically blocking, but it made the experience feel amateurish.Cue a VERY uncomfortable post-mortem with the client. The PO asked why none of these issues were found during QA. I just smiled and said:

“They were found. But per your instruction, I didn’t log them.”

Silence.

Mike tried to chime in, but the damage was done. Upper management got wind of the fiasco and mandated that all issues, regardless of severity, must be logged going forward. Mike was moved to a different team shortly after (not just because of this, but it didn’t help), and I got an apology and a “thank you” from the PO.

TLDR: Told to stop logging “non-critical” bugs because they were slowing down development. Complied. Product shipped with a bunch of “non-critical” bugs that pissed off the client. Suddenly, logging all bugs became important again.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/MealProfessional4540 on 2025-05-29 23:48:48+00:00.

So this happened a few years back when I was working at a medium-sized marketing firm. The culture was kind of toxic, with one of those “if you’re not burning out, you’re not trying hard enough” attitudes.

Anyway, I’d always eat my lunch at my desk—never left the office. I didn’t mind it, and it actually helped me leave work a bit earlier since I was technically skipping my break. My boss was aware and never had an issue. That is, until we got a new manager. Let’s call her Linda.

Linda was all about “efficiency” and “policy.” One day she pulls me aside and says:

“From now on, I need you to take your full 1-hour lunch break away from your desk. It’s company policy. You sitting at your desk makes the others look bad.”

Alrighty then.

The next day, I brought a picnic blanket and a thermos of soup. I left the office, went across the street to a tiny park, and sat there for exactly 60 minutes. Rain or shine, hot or freezing—I was out there. If I finished eating early? I’d just sit and read a book, staring at the office window.

After about two weeks, she calls me in again.

“I noticed you’ve been taking very long lunch breaks lately…”

“Nope,” I said with a smile. “Exactly one hour. Just like you told me.”

She didn’t say a word. Never brought it up again. I went right back to eating lunch at my desk.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/DressMedium4644 on 2025-05-29 18:47:46+00:00.

I (23M) have worked for a certain colored crustacean for a year and a half now. I bounced around between positions until they stuck me as a backup, which for context, means I finish the Par list and make more of anything we run out of. It also makes you the baker.

Now this specific chain was well known for their biscuits. Like I’d say most people just go there for them and not the actual food. So it’s pretty common to hear a server yell “down bread” on a half hour schedule.

Usually I can keep up with the demand and my par list. But one day our morning prep person dipped and I couldn’t come in early due to something personal. So when I got there it was a mess. No bread, no prepped food, just chaos. I get things under control until the rush comes in, by that point I’m swamped and I can’t keep up with bread because the line needs food constantly made. I was in fact asking for assistance and wasn’t given any. I got so behind on bread that our MOD comes to the back and tells me “whatever you’re doing for the line stop. Make the biscuits and nothing else for the rest of the night.”

Cue malicious compliance. I tell our line that I can’t help them anymore and that they’re on their own. I begin cranking out biscuits like a machine while the line struggles to keep up with the orders. It gets so bad that the same managers comes back and asks why we have 40+ minute tickets and no food has gone out. They calmly tell him it’s because they have me making bread and not getting them the materials they need. The manager asks me why I’m not doing my job and I explain that I’m only following his orders and only focusing on bread.

I think we had like 6 tables leave because their food was taking over an hour to get to them. Food went out cold, made incorrectly, missing components, the works. All because they made me focus on making the biscuits. I got called into our GM’s office the next day to explain what happened and why our sales were so bad. I happily explained what the manager told me and walked out Scott free.

About a month later all Backups have a baker and if a morning prep person cannot come in the managers are responsible until the backup can arrive.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/MariaellaBliss on 2025-05-29 16:32:13+00:00.

I lived on a terraced street in the UK where parking is a bit of a free-for-all. No driveways, no permits, just a first come, first served setup. Everyone sort of works around each other, unspoken rules and all that, until they moved in.

New neighbours at No. 12 decided they were royalty, apparently. After a few weeks of petty stares and passive aggressive comments, the bloke finally knocks on my door.

He said: Can you stop parking near our house? It makes it hard to reverse.”

I asked if I blocked his actual space..

No no, just don't park anywhere near our drive. Like, five feet either side at least, he said.

Now, keep in mind they don’t have a drive. Just pavement like the rest of us. He basically wanted me to leave a ten foot no car buffer around the patch of kerb in front of his house which he doesn’t own, because public street.

Told him politely that it’s a public road and I wasn’t doing anything wrong. He huffed and puffed and told me to do what I like but shouldn't be surprised if something happens to my car. Ah, there it is.

I printed out the local council’s parking guidance and highlighted the bit about public access and how it’s first come, first served. Then I made it my mission to never, ever park near his house again but not in the way he wanted.

Started parking outside my house (two doors down), then had mates, family, the postie, random people from Facebook Marketplace anyone park right in front of his place. Sometimes bumper to bumper.

He fumed. Tried to glare me down from the window. I just smiled and waved.

Couple weeks later, he tried to get the council involved. They came, looked, shrugged, and left. One of them even parked there.

He’s since stopped talking to anyone on the street, and now I park directly in front of his place anytime I get the chance. He wanted no one near his bit of road so now it’s never free.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/dartiss on 2025-05-29 15:38:21+00:00.

When I first joined a particular company, they had a number of offices in the nearby city. Because they wanted to, essentially, force us to work in whichever office they wanted, they added a line to my contract saying that I could work anywhere in the city.

Years later and those offices have gone - there's just the one. That clause is removed from contracts for anyone else starting at the company.

Then our department gets outsourced to another company. As part of a UK law, which makes transfer of people between companies easier, they have to take my contract as-is. Which they did. They then decided to re-allocate many of the people to other parts of their company, throughout the country, expecting you to commute sometimes hours away. Except me. That part of my contract, still present, meant that they could only send me somewhere in the local city. And they had no other offices there. So I stayed.

Years later, I'm insourced back and the company tries to send me the other side of the country for a few days to work. I tap on my contract once again.

There's something refreshing about being able to use a contract clause, initially added to force me to do something for them, against the company!

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ImpressiveChoice9674 on 2025-05-29 15:13:25+00:00.

I do billing at a mid sized office, invoice, payment logs, spreadsheets, real thrilling stuff. It’s not technically my job to answer phones, but when reception’s drowning, i usually help out, or…. used to.

Last week my manager goes “Let’s stick to what’s actually in your job description, alright? Just focus on billing” sure thing, sounds like less hassle for me. So that’s what i did, phone rings? Not my problem. Someone asking for help up front? Not my lane, i just kept tapping away at payable like it was life or death.

By day two our office manager’s practically spinning plates trying to keep up, my boss glances at me like he’s waiting for me to tag in. I just said “just doin billing, like you said” he just nodded. Hasn’t brought it up again and yep, that job description’s now taped to my monitor, front and center.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/sweetgurllllll on 2025-05-29 14:36:44+00:00.

I’m a cashier at a small hardware store. My manager, Dave, is obsessed with “efficiency.” Last week, he chewed me out for chatting with a regular about his DIY project. Said, “Stop wasting time with customers. Scan items, take payment, done.” His exact words: “No one cares about your little conversations.”

Fine, Dave.

Now, I’m a robot. Scan items, state total, bag stuff, no eye contact, no words beyond “cash or card?” Customers are confused. One old guy even asked, “You okay, kid? You’re usually so chatty.” I just shrugged and said, “Store policy.” Sales dropped a bit bcos our regulars love the personal touch. Yesterday, Dave got a complaint from a loyal customer who said the store’s “lost its charm.” He’s been glaring at me, but can’t say anything since I’m following his orders to a T.

Now he’s stuck doing damage control, and I’m just here scanning like a good little robot.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Leehblanc on 2025-05-29 11:54:12+00:00.

I've always been a malicious compliance kind of guy. I also follow the rules to the letter... but I tend to make them work in my favor.

My workplace has traditionally done early dismissal on the day before a holiday. Over 20 years ago, HR discovered that people were taking advantage... coming in earlier and leaving earlier, coming in later and working less time, etc. So the HR director at the time put out a memo via email that the schedule for the "half day" before a holiday would be a regular schedule. You were to come in at your normal start time take your normal breaks, etc. Most of the staff worked 8-4 and dismissal was at 1. There is also a rule that employees must be provided a lunch break after 6 hours of work.

I read the memo about the "regular schedule" and thought it was silly for me to come in at 8, take an (unrequired) lunch break at 12 (my regular schedule) and leave at 1. I would just work the 5 hours and jet. On the morning of the early dismissal, me and some others were discussing how it didn't make sense. I returned to my desk and hit "Reply All" to the email the HR Director sent out, asking if it didn't just make sense to skip lunch and work a straight 5. She and I had a history. I wasn't the best employee at the time, and I ALWAYS cited chapter and verse when they bent or broke a rule. Well, even though I was trying to be helpful and my idea would have actually worked out in the workplace's favor, I guess all she saw was my name and a question. She replied to "All" and in ALL CAPS "THERE IS NO DISCUSSION! IT IS A REGULAR WORK DAY. YOU START AT YOUR REGULAR TIME, TAKE BREAKS AT YOUR REGULAR TIME, AND LEAVE AT 1PM!!" This actually resulted in more lost time that the start-time shenanigans they were trying to eliminate. Now EVERYONE got an extra paid hour off, with the slight inconvenience of having to return to punch out. We're 10 minutes from a large shopping area, so that hour is a trip to the supermarket on the day before Thanksgiving, or stocking stuffers on Christmas Eve.

For 20 years, this policy was carried forward. On early dismissal days, we would come in at 8, take break from 9-9:15, then leave for lunch at 12 only to return at 1 to punch out. It was changed a few years ago to a policy where you only had to work 5 hours to accomodate the people who regularly come in earlier than 8, but we are still directed to take all breaks on a regular schedule.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/rusty0123 on 2025-05-29 11:08:12+00:00.

The moss garden gave me a chuckle, so I decided to share my neighborhood malicious compliance.

I live in a sort of pocket neighborhood. When I first moved here everyone was pretty chill. Mostly lovely older people. No HOA. As neighbors got older and less active, we took care of each other. Mowed others lawns, etc.

As people retired or downsized, a younger group moved in. New couples, children, corporate types. And the code violation complaints start rolling in.

Our town is not too bad. Grass has to be less than 12" tall, no brush, etc. But one weird quirk, if your flowers and plantings are not clearly marked as landscaping (like borders around flowerbeds), they are considered "lawn" and must be cut to under 12".

So suddenly, we had to dig up things like flowers planted along the sidewalk, or bulbs that bloomed seasonally.

Then one of the neighbors discovered that our state has a "wildlife habitat" designation for areas allowed to grow wild.

The only rule to apply for a "wildlife habitat" permit is that half your plants must be native.

That is easy compliance. Say if you have 25 trees, shrubs, and plants in your yard, you can plant 26 native flowering plants and now you're a "wildlife habitat".

Post your little state-approved sign, and the city code compliance can't touch you.

Every other house in my neighborhood is now a wildlife habitat.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/BIind_Uchiha on 2025-05-29 07:45:46+00:00.

So this happened last summer, and I still chuckle about it.

I live in a pretty cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood with a notoriously annoying HOA. They’re the kind of people who will measure the height of your grass and fine you $50 if it’s “over regulation.”

Now, I’ve always kept my property neat, but we had this one board member, Rick, who took his job way too seriously. He’d do these random patrols around the neighborhood, taking photos of violations like some kind of parking lot vigilante.

One day I get a notice in the mail: “TRASH CANS VISIBLE FROM THE STREET - MUST BE KEPT OUT OF SIGHT AT ALL TIMES.”

Mind you, I kept mine at the side of my house, next to my fence. Not on the curb, not in the front yard—just barely visible if you were really trying. But apparently, that was too much for Rick.

I called to ask for clarification. I asked, “You mean just not on the curb except on trash day, right?” “No,” Rick said. “They must not be visible from the street at all, regardless of where they’re stored.”

Alright, Rick. If it’s total invisibility you want… cue malicious compliance.

I went online and bought a giant trash can-shaped cover that looks like a hedge. Yes, they exist. It’s basically a fabric wrap with printed shrubbery on it. Then I placed it exactly where it was before—side of my house, slightly visible—but now camouflaged to look like a bush.

About a week later, I get another note.

But this time? It was a thank-you from the HOA for “taking initiative to beautify my property.” Rick apparently walked right past my “trash bush” and didn’t even notice it.

I left it there for months. Eventually, Rick must’ve caught on because I saw him stop his car, back up, and just stare at it. He never said a word.

But the rules say “not visible,” and, well… if he can’t tell it’s a trash can, then it isn’t, right?

Sometimes, playing by the rules is the most fun you can have.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/SilxKareN on 2025-05-29 06:35:02+00:00.

I live in a neighborhood with an HOA that loves making rules for the sake of making rules. They sent me a letter saying my front yard lawn (a mix of grass, herbs and clover) was too wild and not in compliance with neighborhood aesthetic guidelines.

Specifically, the letter stated:

The front yard must be uniformly green in appearance to match the neighborhood standard.

I guess they expected boring old Bermuda grass like everyone else. But they said uniformly green, not grass, right?

So I complied, maliciously.

I ripped up the existing patchy grass and replaced it with over 50 different species of moss from a local nursery and some online specialty stores. Shade moss, rock moss, fern moss you name it. Some bright green, some deep forest green, some almost velvety in texture.

It took a few weeks, but now my yard is a soft, surreal, undulating blanket of lush green mosses. And guess what? It’s completely uniform in color from the street.

The HOA hasn’t said a word since. I think they’re too confused or afraid to admit they don’t know how to argue with it. Meanwhile, the neighbors come by to touch it and say it’s the coolest yard on the block.

Mission accomplished.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/maris_sa on 2025-05-29 06:15:41+00:00.

So this happened a few years back when I worked at a small chain retail store. I was a part time shift supervisor, which basically meant I had all the responsibility and none of the pay.

We had this new manager, who came in like a hurricane. She was super into structure and rules and wanted everything to be done exactly how corporate outlined it. Fine, I’m all for structure, until it becomes absurd.

The issue started when we began getting inconsistent shipments and corporate would update our hours week by week. One week, we would close at 9pm. The next, 8pm. The posted hours on the door weren’t always updated quickly and I would sometimes use discretion to keep the store open a little later if I saw customers still browsing. You know, customer service.

But then Becky pulls me aside one day and said I was not being consistent. These were her words: I don’t care if there are 20 people in the store. If the schedule says close at 8, you close at 8. Lock the doors at 8 sharp. Don’t use your judgment. Follow the schedule no matter what.

Then she sent me a mail about it, just to remind me.

Cue malicious compliance.

That Friday, the mall was doing some late night promo thing and we were packed. Our schedule said 8pm closing, though. So I did what I was told.

At 7:55, I got on the intercom and announced:

Attention shoppers. The store will be closing in 5 minutes. Please bring your items to the front.

People were confused, other stores were staying open late. But I followed orders. At 8:00 sharp, I locked the doors. We had over 30 customers still inside, most with full carts.

I made them all check out or leave. Some were pissed, some just left everything behind. We lost a lot of sales.

The cherry on top? Becky showed up at 8 to check how we handled the crowd and was livid to find the store dark and closed. She tried to throw me under the bus but I had her email printed out and highlighted where she said

Do not use discretion. Follow the posted schedule exactly.

She got a formal write up from the district manager and from that point on, I was encouraged to use my judgment again.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Own-Lie8787 on 2025-05-29 02:09:26+00:00.

So, back circa 2000 I was a freshman in college. I didn’t have a wealthy family but got good scholarships from grades, but I still had to work 20 hours a week to make ends meet. I ended up working in the school cafeteria as a dishwasher, this position paid extra compared to other student positions and I got a free meal each shift. There were a couple full time staff supplemented by us students, they of course got the clean side of the conveyor belt washer (these guys were all great, very nice to us students). The other 3 spots (first spot on conveyor to pull silverware/cups/garbage, second conveyor spot rinsing/stacking dishes and the person loading washer) were typically students.

First quarter goes good, we’re a bit short handed but the group I usually worked with got on well and we all learned which spots we were fastest at - so when busy we’d all go where fastest to keep from getting overwhelmed. When slower we’d rotate to break up monotony.

Second quarter rolls around and someone in management decided we needed a “dish room supervisor”, enter new hire “Kevin”.

Kevin is a lazy jackass, he would spend 1-2 hours eating and would only come in to yell at us before disappearing. We all hated him.

Well one night it happened, Kevin decided he was going to order which spot we worked at. Of course he did this on a shift we were shorter than usual and somehow managed to put all 3 of us in our slowest spots. I of course tried to explain why we had been in different spots and should stay there. Kevin was having none of it, told me to shut up and do as he said or quit.

So I did, I said I was done and walked out. His expression was priceless. Even better when I changed and came back for dinner he was having to work himself in the first conveyor spot (close by tray drop off) so I made sure to smile at him.

I apologized to my friends for dipping out on them but they understood, they didn’t last too much longer either but Kevin apparently treated them nicer afterwards.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Conscious-Star6831 on 2025-05-28 23:27:42+00:00.

In my previous job, for the first several years I was pretty happy. But my manager got progressively more and more micromanage-y (or maybe it was the same amount, and I just got sicker and sicker of it). The demands and deadlines also became untenable, and I was finding myself extremely stressed all the time, and dreading going in to work most days.

Anyway, at a recent company town hall, one of the speakers said something to the effect of "if you don't love getting out of bed on Monday mornings and coming to work, you should go do something else." So shortly thereafter, I accepted a new, remote job that pays more, and at least for now, I'm happy there. Does that count as malicious compliance?

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/flintygooch on 2025-05-28 22:36:03+00:00.

Hello friends! I am new to this subreddit and community but was delighted to find myself here. Allow me to share my story:

About a decade prior, I was working as a manager for Gamestop (yup, that one). At the time, I decided to take a leap of faith and dye my hair blue. It looked great! I loved it, my colleagues loved it, customers loved it, and everything was hunky dory.

Cue the arrival of a customer survey, and a POSITIVE one at that: "The blue-haired dudette is awesome!" Let that sink in.

The next day, my district manager is in (he rarely stopped by, maybe once every two months) and pulled me aside for a chat: he'd seen the survey, and his response was an ultimatum to dye my hair back to a "normal" color by end of week or face repercussions.

Not only was I flabbergasted at this (I mean, come on, it's fucking GAMESTOP of all places, in the 2010s, where the nerds reign supreme and having blue hair could only help business), but I was determine to one-up him. Back in those days, I dabbled in cosplay, and because of this had an arsenal of wigs at my disposal. So, I proceeded to show up to work for the next month alternating between three wigs: a short brown bob, a long and kind of matted blonde one, and a wavy red one.

My supervisor was fucking furious, but because the colors were "natural" there was nothing he could do about it. Continued this until I decided my blue hair days were behind me.

Here's a hoorah to anyone else who has had the luxury of reveling in the sweet, sweet victory of malicious compliance.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/JudgeAffectionate841 on 2025-05-28 21:18:56+00:00.

I was a Lieutenant in the Army in the early 1990's. I was assigned to the training office at the staff level. Every 3 months, my Sergeant-First Class (SFC) and I had to put together these slide shows for our Battalion Commander to present to our Division Commander (DC). This is how our unit received approval for our budget for training.

This was before you could do a Power Point presentation. The slide shows were printed on acetate and we had several dry-runs with our Colonel (COL) and the Co Commanders before the actual presentation. The company's monthly calendars were included. One time our COL didn't think the calendars looked full enough and insisted more training be added. The problem was the calendars were actually full. It was just the way the calendars looked when printed.

After the COL harping on the calendars after the 3rd trial run, my SFC came up with a brilliant suggestion. (I was very lucky to work with him.) I implemented it and the COL approved the slide show and we proceeded with the briefing for the DC. Later, one of the Co Commanders and my direct supervisor asked how I solved the calendar issue. I said that SFC suggested I increase the font to make everything look fuller and that is what I did. It worked perfectly and got the COL off the calendar issue.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Khamero on 2025-05-28 21:09:11+00:00.

I work on the railway, and to put it simply was assigned to a project to check all incoming trains to the railyard during specific times. Now, for safety reasons for everyone involved, we need to tell the area control office when we are fiddling with a train, in case someone else is doing work on it (Bad times if we engage the brakes while someone is working on them for example). We get told that we should call in when we start checking a train, and once when we are done. So far, so good.

The control office however, were not prepared for how many train we were gonna check, and we were a handful of people, calling in twice for every train. Alot of calls, basically, but it worked.

Day 2 however we got new orders - we are to use the railyards own mobile app, where they make a list of all the trains we check and we just check in and out of the app. Super good for us since we can see if anyone else has entered that they are working on a train in the app. Super good for everyone involved!

Until day 3, when we left our list of trains for the day at the office, now with new personnel who proclaimed that they certinly did not have time to enter that whole list of trains into the app. Fair enough, we know we are a drain on their resources, and tell them thats fine, we will just call in when we start working on a train.

Now, we could sometimes call in and say "I'll be working on train XX, then YY, and later ZZ." and they would just check us into all of them since the trains just sit there most of the time if they are not being shunted or repaired (we could work around cleaners and other personnel safely), but not now. Now we call separately for the start and finish of each train. You can hear the control office people start figuring it out, they complained to our project manager, who basically said that we were clear to just phone in according to the rules. It took half the shift before the message came in that all the trains were in the app, and just use the app for all of it.

Apparently it was faster to just enter our list than taking oh so many calls for something rather trivial in the grand scheme of things.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Any_Caterpillar720 on 2025-05-28 21:00:34+00:00.

Not fired or anything, but how did you guys get these happy endings where your supervisors or managers backed off lol

I work for a start up lab. We are a relatively small operation and usually do contracts with big pharmas and a nearby university. Of course our clients and the FDA come by once in a while to audit our lab spaces, but we’re not and usually don’t do GMP.

When you hear GMP labs, think documentation, like a wholeeeeeeeee lot of documentation.

Which brings me to my new boss. He worked for a nearby pharma company, and his company does GMP. As a result, he HATES the way we document our experiments here. It’s puzzling, because one of our clients was his former employer, and they are always ok with it.

One day, he dug up a lab notebook of an experiment I performed like 18 months ago, and used it as an example of how to NOT document things. It made me very upset and honestly depressed for a couple of days, so I strived to make him regret doing that.

I went out of my way to document unecessary details and observations. I turned what was normally a 5 page experiment to 16-17 pages on average. He’s our boss now, that means he has to check our documentation before we send it to our clients.

I’ve basically turned what was a 30 min review into a 2 hr review. Given that he has to personally check every single website to see if I had the correct CofA, lot number, equipment IDs, etc. Even my former supervisor thought that I was being childish and petty.

I started seeing him staying late and reviewing my work as I walk out of the building with malicious glee. And it stayed this way for a couple of weeks before he called me in yesterday and told me that he notices me “taking the necessary steps to improve the quality” of my work and that he’s “proud” of me.

Like broooooo what do I even do lol, it’s actually a massive pain in the ass to do this, should I keep this up?

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/JadePrincess24 on 2025-05-28 20:26:42+00:00.

When I worked in the non-profit sector (director of a homeless shelter), they paid me salary. BUT they expected me to log everything I did throughout the day. I did this for the first couple of weeks of my job - vague stuff every hour or so. It would be things such as "client intake" or "meeting with volunteers." An hourly log is reasonable.

The micromanaging board member who was in charge of "overseeing" my work (keep in mind, they hired me to be the executive director... so they needed to trust me to know what the hell I was doing lol) decided they wanted more details.

I am petty, so, I decided to be extremely detailed. For the next two days I logged EVERYTHING down to the minute. Everything from "rolled my chair to the filing cabinet to pull resident discipline files" to "went to the bathroom to relieve myself." Every 1-5 minutes was logged for those 2 days.

On the third day, no more log required. LOL. The micromanager was none too happy about it. She questioned why I felt the need to log my bathroom breaks. Her general sentiment was "you know what we meant." But did I? I had done it their way- a reasonable way. But, that had not been good enough. I was kind enough to point this out... which only set her into a tailspin.

I am in the southern US, so all I got from her was the typical southern "Well I never!" And a walk away huff/puff lol.

Win!

Non-Profit Sectors are the absolute worst micromanagers!!

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/totem-fox on 2025-05-28 20:25:42+00:00.

Back when I worked in retail for a stupidly cheapass localized chain, I was the fresh meat department supervisor once my boss got fired for inside job theft. Part of the stupidly outdated training manual was that every half hour the person in charge of the department (myself or an assigned employee/manager/assistant manager/obnoxious corporate toadie) should make announcements for sale items and whatnot.

Now did I initially do everything to the outdated training manual? No, given that I had only one day of formal training (pre-2020 pandemic) and was expected by corporate to know everything. But when I was trained, the guy in charge said no one actually follows the training manual to the T except corporate. No shit sherlock.

After adjusting to the position, and while I was also simultaneously the de facto warehouse manager for 3 years, corporate starched suits come in every now and then, eventually frequently every week, and bitch about me not doing announcements to pick up sales when there's literally three markets around our location within walking distance of less than half a kilometer.

I didn't care, of course, until they threatened to lower my hourly rate. Which, as you guessed, was an empty threat because full-time supervisors can't be docked pay.

Edit 1: at the time, there were no available part-timers to fill either position because corporate couldn't afford to hire more on due to renovations, plumbing, and heating issues, so I wouldn't be fired anyways.

So then I came up with the idea of adding disclaimers and warranties, but only when the starched suits were around. After the most over-the-top stupid voice announcing, I'd always end each with a disclaimer like "We are not held liable for any side effects after purchase, including headache, nausea, fever, itchy and watery eyes, foaming at the mouth, and seizures" in the most menacingly pleasant way.

Funny enough, I'd also make some whacky sales pitch just to comply with the very-fequenting suited idiots. Such as "Today and tomorrow only, get boneless chicken breasts for $.99/lb! One time offer, exclusions may apply. Offer may change without prior notice and this store exclusive." And I'd say the disclaimers really fast like those radio car commercials.

Eventually the stooges stopped asking me to do announcements to their annoyance after about a month. Ironically, all the successful stores never were bothered by corporate and never really followed the training guides anyways, just the boss's orders. Now, no one does announcements, and I left last month anyways. I heard from the former co-workers that the customers miss the crazy sales pitches which was a breath of fresh air against a really bad shuffled playlist from corporate radio, and the boss-approved discounts due to the bankruptcy of the main supplier anyways, effectively ruining sales.

Tl;dr: don't force antiquated tactics on someone who knows how to run the department he was trained in, or suffer prolonged auditory drawback damage.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/EverybodyWangChung52 on 2025-05-28 19:42:52+00:00.

Teacher here in inner city . Found myself coming in at 7::12-7:15 for a week or two, supposed to be there for 7:10. My Daughter’s daycare is getting construction done so had to park across street and drop her off. Got reprimanded and a mark on my file for not working during contractual hours; “you’re paid for working 7:10 to 2:22.” Fine.

Once school is out at 2:02 I usually open up the weightroom and let athletes workout, give some advice (I was a college athlete and lifted a lot), and I watch them until about 3:15 when their coaches get there. Kids love it, I love it, coaches love it, never asked for pay. But my contracts done at 2:22.

One day. Only one day. I posted on our webpage that I wasn’t going to be there. What happened? That same day numerous phones stolen from locker room so cops came, weightroom door broke open, kids running through halls and ran into a teacher sending her to Urgent Care. Admin calls me in asking why I wasn’t watching them. “I was told to work my contractual hours, I’m only paid until 2:22. I did this for fun, and it was unofficial.”

Next day whole district gets an email for a job posting “Afterschool Weightroom Coach.” Admin asked me to apply. Now it’s costing them money.

Edit: since some of you seem to be butthurt that this isn’t real and “how could they post a position so quickly” here’s my response to a comment below;

It’s a long story, we actually used to have a dedicated strength and conditioning coach. He quit last year because, you might guess, was sick of dealing with my admin. They posted the position but no one wanted it and I wasn’t qualified (needed a CSCS). So I unofficially took over because kids wanted to work out which I applaud them for. The new position posted was a revised posting with lowered qualifications so I could take it

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/celtic_echo on 2025-05-28 19:24:59+00:00.

So, around 20 years ago I worked in credit control for a large international pizza company. I (both then and now) wore a pentagram on a chain around my neck. It wasn’t visible all the time, just occasionally depending on the top I was wearing. An older Karen type didn’t like me (genuinely no idea why, just seemed to dislike me on sight) and she decided that as a Christian, my “satanic” symbol pendant was offensive to her. I was pulled into a meeting with management who asked me to not wear it as it was offending ‘someone’s’ religious ideals. I asked if the wearing of other religious symbols were similarly offensive and was told nobody had made complaints about anything other than my pentagram. I explained that as a practising Pagan, the pentagram is as much a symbol of my religious beliefs as a cross would be to a Christian. I explained the difference between the pentagram and the hexagram, but was asked to not to bring my religion into the office. I said ok and left the meeting to be met with smug Karen saying “this is an office, not a fashion show, keep it for home!”. I said ok and went back to work, knowing my moment would come. 3 days later, she wore a silver cross necklace to work. I promptly went to our manager and explained that as I’m not a Christian, I find her outward expression of her faith offensive. I said that it’s a workspace, not a church and why should every non Christian be subjected to her jewellery.

Obviously, I’m not remotely bothered by others wearing crosses, rosary’s, turbans etc. What other people wear is none of my business, but if I can’t wear a pentagram, why is her cross ok? Suffice to say, the “no religious symbol” rule she wanted only 3 days beforehand wasn’t to include crosses. After a few meetings with HR, I was told that my pentagram was ok after all and Karen was told to back off!! I only wish I were petty enough to wear an enormous pentagram every day I continued to work there.

Edit to add more context/answer questions

UK based but international chain that has been mentioned in comments.

Credit control needed as company had a lot of franchise stores that were only allowed to buy supplies from head office where I was based.

I left the company before she did, so not sure how much more bother she caused others, wouldn’t surprise me to know that she kept creating baseless and nonsensical issues for other people though!!

Pentagram was worn with one point up, not two.

HR were not involved to my knowledge, just direct managers.

I am AWESOME at dinner parties - thanks for asking, random commenter!!