Malicious Compliance

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/savagejimmy23b on 2025-05-11 04:45:28+00:00.

See a few people calling in sick stories and this reminded me of a malicious compliance from my team. Many years ago now but the gist is there.

When I was managing a retail team I had a call from one of my team while I was in an early meeting with the company owner. I answered it and put it on speaker (just habit).

Me: "Hi Danny, what's up?"

Danny: "Hey boss. Not feeling well so won't make it in today." Now Danny sounds as chipper as can be. No croakiness or fatigue in his voice.

Me: "No worries. Thanks for the notice. Rest up. If you don't think you'll make it in tomorrow make sure you get a sick note clearing you for work if you can. You're clear on the policy right?"

Danny: "Will do. Hopefully see you tomorrow. Bye."

Hang up phone and go to resume meeting and boss starts grilling me. He didn't sound sick. What's even wrong with him. Your team mustn't respect you. Blah blah blah . Now while Danny wasn't our best worker he was up there and the team and customers loved him. And him calling in sick was rare. And honestly my feelings were a bit hurt by him telling me they didn't respect me. I wasn't long in that position but I worked my way up there and they all knew that.

Proceed to a debate that my team's stats were brilliant per what we were meeting about, that I disagree about them not respecting me because he didn't feel the need to put on a voice. And the reality was what was the matter was irrelevant. He's calling in sick, he's sick. He'd never given me a reason not to trust him. I thought that was the end of it. Not quite.

Next day Danny comes in and the boss immediately calls him and I into his office. He starts giving Danny "the talk". Commitment to the company, sick days are for when you're sick and unable to work, and how he didn't sound sick. Danny start grinning and just pulls up his sleeve showing a very recently bandaged arm. "I'm not sure how I should sound to convey this over the phone. Should've I coughed? How many stitches does it take to give me a croaky voice?"

I burst out laughing. Boss to his credit took it in stride (he was usually a pretty good guy). Danny obviously told the team about it too. Now whenever any of the team happened to call in sick when they knew I had a meeting with the owner it went like this:

Becky calls. Coughing and spluttering. "Sorry boss coughs again won't make it in today. Another fit of coughing Child has gastro so need to take the day off to take care of him coughing continues.

Mitch calls. Very croaky voice "Can't make it in. Twisted my ankle and need to stay off it for a few days"

Belle calls. Coughing, spluttering, fatigued voice. "Not sure I'll make it in today. Car won't start. Can I take TOIL to arrange repairs today?"

Queue the next staff all hands (usually beers and a bbq in the carpark and talking upcoming changes for the next quarter) where as part of that owner gives out a best acting award and also asked them to cut it out.

I'm worked there for quite a few years. I knew the owner personally before I started working there. While the owner and I didn't always see eye to eye he was usually a good guy, just had some bad staff and managers in the past and definitely needed more coffee that morning.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/LemonSlicesOnSushi on 2025-05-11 02:30:27+00:00.

I’m not sure this exactly malicious compliance, but here goes:

As a military officer, it was required to apply to retire 12 months out from your retirement date. I was in what I would call a mid-level manager job. I had about 40 employees and we had a $500M annual budget for our program. My team was really great with very professional and competent people and rarely any issues. We performed really well. They would come to me with their issues and over time I saw patterns and we would fix them. For instance, one issue we solved saved the organization $64M over a four year period. We had a lot of other smaller wins (a few million here and there), but that was a biggie.

My boss, who was bucking for General, was a jerk. For lots of reasons, but just a sour and unhappy person. About 7 months from my retirement in the following spring we decided to move my spouse and kids to my home town to be able to start the new school year. We had a house and just needed to move and get setup. I asked for three weeks and the boss would only give me two weeks. That only gave us a week and a half to get my family settled after the four day drive with kids, animals, etc. plus the furniture and everything to arrive just two days before I had to be on a plane back. So I was salty. Game on! I was prior enlisted and knew how to play the game by the book. It is important to note that I only missed about ten days of work in 23 years due to illness.

Two things happened. No more multimillion dollar savings ideas that made the boss look good came out of my office and it was time for me to take care of stuff I neglected over the years. In regular meetings, when asked where the next savings was going to come from, it was always crickets.

I knew I needed surgery for an injury I had and had some other medical issues I had been neglecting due to work and just life. I planned to take care of all that post retirement, as it would give me time to recover and figure out what I would do for a living because we couldn’t survive on just retirement. Since my boss wouldn’t let me get my family settled, it was time to take care of all my medical issue.

I made medical appointments to get checked out for all my issues. I had two procedures that had me out of work for a week each. But the cherry on top was I got surgery the day before Thanksgiving and the doctor had me on convalescent leave for 4 weeks. When you are on leave like that, you have to have a form signed by your boss and it indicates the address where you will be taking that time to recover. Of course I used my hometown address so my wife could help me recover. Boss was pissed and tried to deny the leave. It went to our version of HR and they said he had to allow it. That made him even more pissed.

In the end, I got to spend the holidays with my family across the country and only had about three weeks left on the job before taking my terminal leave (that he could not deny) when I returned. I didn’t want a ceremony or anything, I just rode off into the sunset.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Icy-Computer-Poop on 2025-05-10 15:28:41+00:00.

Edit: I am not an American.

I used to work as a researcher in an in-bound call center. I loved the work, and the company was FANTASTIC when I started. But after 4 years they got bought out by a big international corp (a pretty standard hack and slash corp = buy up a profitable company, strip it of all assets, cut costs, slash quality, make good money until our well-deserved fantastic reputation is destroyed, then sell off and move on).

Within weeks the company went from being fantastic to work for to just yet another shitty, tense work environment where the bosses take advantage of the employees. One quick example of how badly they nerfed the bonus structure - one particular bonus went from being able to earn up to a thousand extra dollars in 3 days to a single $50 Boston Pizza gift card. Previously all employees got paid varying bonuses under this scheme, but in the new system, only one person gets the gift card. And they had the nerve to get mad at us when the new, slap-in-the-face "bonus" failed to motivate anyone.

I was good at my job, and not to brag but I was the most productive employee on the floor. We were given 15 PTO (Paid Time Off) days to use every year, which according to our employment contracts and company handbook were to be used for sick days, mental health days, and other personal reasons. No explanation was ever asked for, use them as and when you will.

I always made sure to use up all my PTO by the end of the year as it didn't bank, previous management encouraged us to do so, and also there was no bonus for not using it. I followed the company rules, always gave plenty of notice, and only once left the team dangling with no notice (as I got seriously ill that time).

The new management takes over and right away they start trying to intimidate us into not taking PTO. I hear a lot of this from my fellow employees, how when they call in the supervisors have started grilling them, challenging them, saying they "don't sound sick", etc. A lot of intimidation and bullying.

So by the time I need to use a PTO day, I'm ready. I call in one day and tell them I won't be in tomorrow. They want to know "Why?", so I tell them I'm not feeling well. Their voice grows immediately cold, and they get a rude tone.

"You don't sound sick to me".

Being a smart-ass, I said, "Not even doctors try to diagnose illnesses over the phone" but they kept trying to push me. "Can you come in in the afternoon? You don't sound sick. You've been using a lot of sick days, way more than other employees."

I got tired of being treated like a criminal for obeying the rules, so I got a recording app for my phone. I live in a one-party consent area so it's perfectly legal to record phone calls. Next time I felt sick I called in to work.

Now they always began every call with a disclaimer "Thank you for calling XXX, for your information this call may be monitored or recorded for quality purposes".

I say hello, give them my name, and say "BTW, just so you know on my end, this call may be monitored or recorded for quality purposes". Because I am recording the call, and I think it's only fair to let them know. The supervisor gives a perfunctory laugh, then says"So why are you calling in sick? You don't sound sick to me. I'll put you down as sick for the morning but you'll be in for the afternoon."

I inform them that no, I am calling in for at least 1 day and will update if I don't feel better. She says "No, I'll put you down for half a day, you can call in again if you don't feel better."

Once again I say no, restate my position, and tell them that is that. She gets really pissy and and starts insinuating that this might cause me to lose my job. "Why do you take so much more PTO than the other employees?"

I take what my employment contract says I am entitled to. No more, no less.

"Well, you should have a better team spirit, we'll have to review this with HR." Threatening tone, classical bullying playbook.

I'm off the next day, come in for my following shift. "Go see HR".

I sit down at Art's desk in HR (he's very much a corporate HR lapdog). He starts going on about how they're going to have to review my employment contract and consider whether or not going forward I am a "good fit" at XXX corp. Now in case I seem too calm in this scenario, bear in mind that, while I do prefer to remain at XXX for the time being, I do not care if they want to fire me. I'm very good at my job, I have had several job offers from competing companies, so the threat of being fired does not faze me.

While Art is berating me, I take out my phone, and start playing the recording I made when calling in sick. Art stops, starts to get annoyed, then realizing he's listening to a recording of an employee verbally berating and intimidating a worker for exercising their contractual, legal rights.

He excuses himself, and is gone for about 10 minutes, before returning, visibly angry but restrained. He tried to dress me down, scare me, intimidate me into thinking I had violated the law with an illegal recording. I told that, working as I did as a professional researcher, I had, to no surprise, done my research. And single party consent is all that was required.

He shifted gears, starting saying the recording "didn't count" because the supervisor thought I was joking.

"I wasn't."

"But she thought you were!"

"And she was wrong. So it doesn't really matter what she thought, Art. I told her the truth, she made a mistake, and recording my own phone conversations is 100% legal ... and admissible."

Art leaves, and returns a few minutes later, ever more red-faced. "You can go back to your desk".

I did as instructed, and that was all I ever heard again about using my PTO. Whenever I called in from then on they were always very precise and professional. Their tone was as cold as politician's promise, but that was a lot better than the bullying from before.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/rissearcher on 2025-05-10 10:57:13+00:00.

This happened years ago when I worked in a distribution center.

It was one of those days where they were trying to cram 50 peoples work into 25 people, which is typical in these places. I was tired of it and had sick time so I went to my supervisor before lunch break and said "hey I'm gonna leave after lunch". We usually told him when we're were going to do this so that over our lunch, he has time to move people around and cover the empty work slot.

Well, I was on a shit list with a person in upper management and they wanted to use this to burn me. They called me into the office the next day.

"You told him you were going to leave well before you left? How did you know ahead of time you would be sick after lunch? Sick time is for being sick only, so if you use it without being sick, you are stealing company time." And that's what they wrote me up for.

"So if I would have lied and said I feel sick, I'm going home immediately, I wouldn't be in trouble?" I asked, to which they actually replied "yes".

Cue malicious compliance. I told everyone at work (150+ people) that if you notify that you are leaving ahead of time, you will get written up for time theft. No one ever did it again. From that point on, it was "I don't feel good, I'm going home" from anyone who wanted to. Meaning their job position went unmanned for the 30 minutes it takes to restructure and reassign job tasks. Meaning every day, 2-3 times a day they would have to take someone from another job and put them in a backed up mess. Which led to more call offs.

It got so bad that the upper management started an intimidation campaign in which they would start saying things like "I'm starting to see a pattern" whenever people left early more than once in a year.

I now have a new job that is a million times better, but thought I'd share this here.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/wastew on 2025-05-09 23:06:53+00:00.

I work at a massive company in corporate. Great place but unfortunately was stuck under a micromanaging director who had random neurotic episodes

Our team was always burnt out because if mr. Director saw you leave your desk for any reason like to go to the bathroom, get water, or take a lunch break, he took that as you not being busy enough and would pile on even more useless work. And if you left a minute before 5:05 he got really upset. Oh, and forget about working from home (everyone else did)

Finally the time came for the big international trip I had been planning for years that was now possible after covid. I hardly took time off and slaved away the whole year while my friends on other teams enjoyed life. We were more pressured this year to always be working and not take time off. We had so much work we couldn't even take time off. I ensure everything is wrapped up first, plus it's december so most people are out anyway. Take my 1.5 week trip and had an amazing time

Fast forward a month and my manager (who reports to mr. Director) tells me that I need to watch out and not take so much vacation. He states matter-of-factly that I need to be more careful about using my days and I've actually run out of time to take off

What? We're checking vacation days?

I was shocked as we were repeatedly told that we should not log our days in the system because they aren't checking. It's an "honor system". And nobody cares how many days you take if it's reasonable

I ask what should I do differently? I always check well in advance and add it on your calendar. Should I start logging my days in the system? How is that possible if I have at least a week left? (I keep track myself)

He won't give me a straight answer and is super vague

Okay. Since we're now tracking vacation days, I'll make sure I log everything in the system

I went in and backlogged all of the days I had ever taken off prior years. Weeks upon weeks of PTO. Even needed HR approval since some were so long ago. Manager had to go in and approve every single request since it notifies you and requires you to respond. Going forward I submitted everything. And yes, I had plenty of PTO left

Manager starts getting annoyed. Says that I really don't need to log time off. I stop him right there, "but I thought I was taking too much vacation? We all need to be sure that we're being truthful about the honor system"

He doesn't know what to say

Later a teammate tells me what really went down. Turns out one day, Mr. Director decided that his team was taking too much time off. That all the useless work he assigned was "not getting done". He had one of his tantrums and started freaking out and tracked down every day off, doctor's appointment, sick day, etc. that our team of 8 people had taken going back at least a year. He was checking calendars, digging up emails, asking other people if they saw us this day or that. Even though he had told us time and time again "you don't need to log your days, we're not checking"

But because Mr. director was a B-cluster narcissist, he was much too busy and important to take up his concerns with us lowly employees directly. Or to talk things through like an adult and get all the facts first... but not too busy to account for every hour I wasn't at work

This would be one of many "infractions" that came out of nowhere. Mr. director was also an extremely difficult person to work with. Other teams did not want to work with our team. He treated people poorly and I can't tell you how many people flat out hated him

And guess what? Nobody had used anywhere near all their PTO. There were zero performance concerns and we were an extremely high performing team due to the constant fear of setting him off. I always asked for feedback and got nothing

Yet coworkers with planned family trips were getting pressured into pushing them back again, and again, and again, because mr director needed them there sitting at their desk in case something important came up! Meanwhile mr. Director made sure to use more than his allotted PTO days and frequently took week-long trips

I made sure to use the rest of my PTO days since they were now being tracked. Mr. director actually tried to stop it, but I threatened to take it up with HR since I had plenty of time left and he backed off

Thankfully I escaped that team and moved internally. I was doing so much work, much of it technical for a non-technical team, that nobody knew how to do it. Mr director was frantically reaching out to me and demanding me to fix stuff. Even though I spent my last 2 weeks documenting and transitioning over everything. I chose to ignore him, and it felt great

My old teammates still there are miserable. The people that replaced us are already trying to leave. One guy, who'd been with the company for years, completely left the company a month after joining this team when realizing his mistake

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/NCDeuce00 on 2025-05-09 18:21:39+00:00.

So back in the late 80's I started as a driller helper at an engineering firm small but very family like not part of any corporation. I learned the ropes and when one of the drillers quit. I was tested on all the rigs. We had 3 main B53, B50, and a B40 Unimog these are all-terain carriers for soil exploration and monitoring well drilling. I passed all testing and was promoted to driller. Drillers were guaranteed 40hrs week, if not on the drill we got payed to sit around. That got old real fast for me, so I started doing some tech work. Breaking concrete test cylinders, the hanging out in the lab learning and doing laboratory work sieve studies, hydrometer studies, elasticity tests on soil. Even started riding with and doing tech work. Would also run plans around to different dot offices and such. This went well until the owner decided to retire and sell the business. Next thing you know a management firm was buying us and called their first company meeting to layout their expectations. 1st thing they took away was the driller guaranteed 40hrs. If you didn't have a drilling job you waited at home till you did. No work no pay, lol. We'll they went around with all the department heads and discussed individually. After that they asked for questions. And every department asked what about ncdeuce00 the new managers answered what about him? And every department head lists all the things I was helping with. (I was really kinda surprised because I was just doing these things to stay busy and make the day go faster.) Well these managers flat out said ncdeuce00 is a driller. That's what he was hired for, that's all we want him to do. Well that did not sit well with any of the departments and the meeting started getting a bit rowdy and the other drillers grabbed me and did the hasty exit. We left and went to our local watering hole we had a few barley pops and quite a few laughs. After a couple of hours most of the others came by and were really disgusted with this new management. We then went home. I got a call to come in for a drilling job 3 weeks after I received my last full check. I already had another job and the other drillers had also. They were surprised none of us were willing to just sit and wait. I visited the new office a few months later and found out they had to outsource all the drilling, sell off the drills, and hire 4 more people to fill positions that I had been working. Oh the stories they shared during my visit. Steep learng curve. And I guess maybe not really malicious compliance, but a whole lot of Karhma delivered.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/BarryTheBarstand on 2025-05-09 13:08:13+00:00.

Many years back I was working in an office for a company in one of their satellite sites. In general, for your day to day, you only needed to use one system as it did everything that you technically needed. But it didn't do everything you actually needed.

Now I was an older employee and was there before the new shiny bespoke software got rolled out, which meant I had login details for the old system which was still the backbone of half of our head office work and fed into what we saw.

This was really useful as it meant I could login and access loads of information that we actually needed, information that some faceless exec had decided to exclude from the new system. So for the next three or four years and I would log in every couple of days and download a report or two, giving us buying reports, stocking issues, and more, that I could then share with the rest of our site. It wasn't confidential information, and while we could do without it, it definitely made life easier having it. Think of it as the difference between getting a drink in the middle of the night with the lights off... But it's a damn sight easier with the lights on.

Anyway, we'd never had an issue and no one had complained, until one day one of the department managers found out I was downloading reports from a system that she was adamant that only her team needed to use and she contacted IT and had them revoke my access. And annoyingly, she did so without letting me know, which meant when I logged in the next time... Well, I didn't and just got an error message.

Locally we had no idea what had happened, so a quick email to IT and got told that Karen had had my access blocked. So, then it's a quick email to Karen to find out why and all I got was a short and curt "you don't need access, if you need to know something you ask my team.". I figure there's two reasons for this, one being she's a power hungry pain in the arse that likes to control people, and two is she'd been trying to expand her team and I guess if you make 20 satellite stores run through her then you create the workload you need to take on two or three more people so you can give your best friend flexible working hours... Allegedly. Oh... three reasons actually, she really hated me after I called her out once and humiliated her in front of the company directors, to which she lodged a complaint to HR demanding I be fired, only for the CEO to tell them to withdraw it as I hadn't done anything wrong after I named him as a witness to the event.

So.. malicious compliance time. Those reports I downloaded, granted it was only two or three reports, and only two or three times a week, which doesn't seem like a big amount, but those reports helped resolve 50 plus complaints and enquiries per day. So now, I guess we have to email her team each time.

I told the rest of my team to run every query through me and I would email her team. One, because I didn't want anyone else to get in trouble as I knew this was going to make her explode. Two, because I could field the queries to make sure each one was unique as we did get duplicate info requests and if they've told me once I didn't want to upset them by making them tell me twice. And thirdly, because I'm a dick, I wanted her to know it was me.

She managed a week. By day three she had contacted my manager to complain, and by day five (because I hadn't stopped, we still needed questions answered) she had a meeting with HR and I got a "cease and desist" request, asking if I could send a single email at the end of each day with all the queries in. It turns out, if you email six people up to 50 emails a day, at some point someone misses an important invoice and a whole shipment gets delayed, or worse, gets cancelled.

The upside... Within a couple of months, her team was "restructured", with different members being given regional coverage. Turns out, the reason her team looked so busy is because they would count one job done by one person as being six jobs, one for each person because they were all included in the same emails. Turns out you don't need a bigger team if you're honest about the work they do. And secondly, the reports I downloaded, each person in her team now has to download them themselves twice a week and send them out to the stores in their region. The other stores had just decided that now they couldn't find out, there was no reason to know, and answered queries with "I don't know" for years, so we accidentally made their services better too.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/MatrixF6 on 2025-05-09 07:40:04+00:00.

I went to a “for-profit” film/photography school and was a student worker (PT) in the “equipment check-out” (think camera, audio, lighting, etc… rental) department.

My primary job was repairing damaged equipment, and I was good at it.

One of the best managers I have ever had knew I was about to drop out of school in my last year because I couldn’t afford it any more, so she offered me a promotion to full-time (which would allow me to take my final 6 classes at no cost (though I’d be working full-time).

When she approved my promotion (which included my pay-rate doubling!) I started working full-time. After a few days, she left for a 3 week cruise (a family vacation she had been preparing over a year for.

With her on PTO were now only 2 FT employees in the dept. The rest were PT student workers, and none of them did repair work.

I’d been working FT for 2 weeks, and she had been on PTO for 1, when paychecks came out…

Mine was 1/2 of what I was expecting. They had not raised my pay-rate.

I went to HR on my lunch break to dispute/discuss, and HR was next to useless. “I’m sorry, but your promotion has not been approved yet.” “These things take time.” “It might go through at the end of the month (2 more weeks). “This is not personal, it’s just the regulations.”

I didn’t get mad. I didn’t yell. I simply told the HR rep that I needed to think about it. So I walked around the rest of my break and thought.

After that, I went back to HR. And told them this:

“For the past 2 weeks, I have been working FT, and repairing equipment at the level of a trained technician. As you have stated, my Full Time position is not yet authorized, and as such I can only work a maximum of 24 hrs per week. It’s Wednesday afternoon, and I have maxed out my hours for the week.

I’ll be going home now. I have a dog to walk and a pool to swim in (I was house sitting for my manager. Did I say that she was awesome?). I’m not quitting. I’ll be back for my regular shift next Monday, and I will be working 24 hrs/wk, at the level of a ‘student worker’.

I’m sure the pile of broken gear will still be there waiting for me.

Please understand, there is nothing personal about this… I’m simply following the employee regulations.”

At that point I left the campus and drove to the house, walked the dog, and had a swim. Just before 5pm I got a call: “Matt, can you come in tomorrow morning at 8am. We have some papers for you to fill out to finalize your promotion.”

Long Story Short:

HR/payroll refused to put through a promotion to FT, that my manager had approved. I refused to work FT until my promotion was approved.

My manager loved hearing it from HR when she got back.

Edit: seems like a common question is: “Did I get the back pay?” Sadly, the answer is no, because the official promotion paperwork (contracts, employee handbook, etc…) had not been finalized and approved. ;(. But I did end up staying there for around 10 more years.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Commercial_Search364 on 2025-05-09 04:17:38+00:00.

Years ago I worked for this complete psycho at a semi public service type place. Moody, arrogant (my first week there, she must have mentioned having a PhD/doctorate/I’m a doctor at least half a dozen times), and the biggest goddam snob I’ve ever met. We had flexible work hours, spread of hours between 7:00 am & 6:00 pm, signing on in 15 minute increments. If I had a really good run in traffic, sometimes I’d get there in time to sign on at 7:30 or 7:45. Well, psycho Dr didn’t like that, and said I couldn’t start before 8:00, despite everyone else in the office being allowed to. I explained that sometimes if the traffic was good I got in earlier than that, but she wouldn’t have it. Told me if I got in early, I could read through my work emails but I couldn’t sign on before 8:00, so basically she expected me to give 15-30 minutes free labor. Yeah, nah, screw that. So if I got in early, and the weather was nice, I’d sit outside, or if it wasn’t, I’d sit at my desk and read. My Kindle. Or play on my phone. And didn’t switch my computer on until bang on 8:00. Her boss came by early one morning wanting to collect something she’d left in the office for him, and of course the office wasn’t open and she demanded to know where I was. I reminded her that I wasn’t allowed to start before 8:00, which I could tell royally pissed her off, but there was nothing she could do about as I had the email trail to back me up. Small potatoes in terms of malicious compliance, but it made me feel good.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/BrainWaveCC on 2025-05-09 02:26:40+00:00.

When I was in the military, my military occupational specialty (MOS) was power generation equipment repair -- or generator mechanic for all the civilians.

I was trained on the mostly 5kW and 10kW generators, but when I get to my permanent duty station, they only had a few scrawny 1.5kW and 3kW generators that we occasionally used in the field.

Once our motorpool captain found out that I was computer savvy, he had me in the office doing reports and memos and other computer related work. After a while, they even sent me away with another sergeant for a week of training to manage a new application to track vehicle repair work in the motorpool.

Things were good for a year or so, and then we had a change of leadership in the motorpool, including me losing my immediate boss (the sergeant who had trained with me). The Sergeant First Class (Big Sarge) was known for doing shady stuff, and they wanted me to be comfortable with a lot less accuracy on reporting through the computer system. I didn't feel like being setup to be the scapegoat for the nonsense I knew they were doing.

Due to my lack of cooperation, Big Sarge took me away from that work, and put me back on generator duty, "because that's your MOS." Even when we had nothing going on with generators on a regular basis, that's all they had me working on each day.

Well, things were fine with the computer stuff for almost two months, until it came time to do all the end of quarter reporting. And none of these dummies in the new clique had ever been trained on the system. So, they fumble around for two or three days, and then Big Sarge tells me right at the end of a motorpool formation that I need to go and help them run the reports -- while we are still in formation.

Me: "I don't know how to do that, Sergeant!"

Him: "What do you mean? Of course you do!"

Me: "It's not my MOS, Sergeant!"

Him: "Drop!! Give me 50, soldier!"

He dismissed everyone else and left me out there until I did the pushups. He was heated, but didn't say anything else to me that day.

The next day, he called me aside, privately, and asked if I could please help them out. "Sure," I said.

He treated me a whole lot better at that point, and I did run the reports they needed.

Totally unrelated to this incident, I was transferred to HQ company about 3 months later, and then all his guys had to report to me for these motorpool reports. That was a whole other barrel of laughs, and Sarge always swore I somehow orchestrated that, when I have absolutely zero power, clout or influence to make any such thing happen.

But his boys were unable to get away with anything any more, once I was in charge of consolidating the motorpool reports for the whole battalion.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/No-Baby-1455 on 2025-05-09 02:08:15+00:00.

This happened years ago with my two oldest children but to this day still makes me giggle anytime I think about it. My daughter was about 9 at the time and was going through some phase where she was just plain mean (yes, there were consequences and it didnt last long thank goodness). Her little brother was about 4.5 and she had recently began relentlessly yelling at him and bullying him. He was the most tender hearted kid and it broke my heart. One day I heard him snap at her, "You're mean, Im gonna make you stop." She said, "No you cant, try me!"

For added context, after this happened I told him I heard what he had said and I was proud of him for standing up for himself. He swore up and down he would make her stop, I didnt think to ask his master plan, I just told him we never get physical, and that we dont hurt people when we are mad. He just grinned, said okay, and walked away.

Fast forward to that night I told them to go get their pajamas on when I heard a scream from my daughters room that I have only heard in horror movies. I ran back to my daughters room with her nonstop shrieking and my son standing in the corner grinning ear to ear. I asked what was going on, and then I saw it, a giant pile of poo on her pillow. He looked her dead in the eyes and said, "You said try me. I betcha you wont be mean to me no more! Mommy, I didnt hurt her, just like you said." I couldnt even attempt to discipline because I was trying to hold back laughter. It worked, she became much nicer to him. They are now 17 and 12 and to this day if she gets sassy with him all he has to do is say, "dont make me get your pillow" and then they both start laughing.

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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/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/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/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/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/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/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/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/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.