Malicious Compliance

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Ancient_Educator_76 on 2024-03-06 19:01:25.

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Today marks the beginning of a new era. An era where a school district stands up for itself and thumbs it's nose to the one percent.

Today's MC is really a continuation of an original MC from two days ago, where a student demanded I let go of their phone, so I let go and let both his phone and a school window get damaged.

Originally administration was letting the parents know that there is no way that they will be paying the parents for a replacement phone in this instance. A security guard and 34 other students witnessed this kid take his phone aggressively out of the teachers' hand and subsequently launch it across the room. It was 100 percent the students' fault.

Administration was willing to drop it and move on, hoping that the family of this student would do the same. That was definitely not the case.

The parents of the phone-thrower demanded that the teacher (me, OP) pay for this phone, saying "You better pay for my son's phone!"

This is when admin of my middle school, with district backing, performed the best MC I've seen in a bit. I'm proud to be at my school district today.

The district has come to the conclusion, after investigating the incident, getting statements from students/witnesses/me/security, etc., that it was the students' fault that the phone flew in the air. The district agreed, however, to pay for the students' phone, as it was technically in a teacher's possession when it got damaged. It was an iPhone 12, so the check was probably around the area of $800.

Then administration did them one better by also sending the parents a bill for the window, to the tune of $1678 dollars. It wasn't a typical window, nor is it easy to replace. Once the teacher let go of the phone it was in the students' possession, so now it's the students' fault. I'm not sure if this is the argument they made, but I'm presuming this is their justification for it. Doing some quick math, it looks like they're paying $800 something dollars either way! Plus the student is in ISS for destruction of school property.

TM;DR (too medium; didn't read) - a student's parents demand the school district pay to replace a student's phone that he accidentally threw across the classroom. The district issues a check for the phone and a bill for the damage the phone did to the window, plus a destruction of property charge on the kid's school record.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/hbpfrost on 2024-03-06 17:26:48.

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Growing up I've always liked Germany and Japan, especially the cars (my favorites are Porsche and Lexus) and my moms ex husband wasn't into cars. He hated just about every piece of clothing I owned. I have mostly adidas stuff and a few shirts and hoodies with Porches and Lexus's on them. So one day, when I getting ready for my first day of school after the pandemic, mom's ex husband, who I'll call Keith (not his actual name but his actual name is so bad it might as well be Keith) stops me and looks at me dead serious and says "I want you to take off those raggedy pieces of shit and throw them in the trash along with any clothes you have in the washer" I looked at him, laughed, and walked out the door.

I thought I looked pretty good that day and it was made me really happy seeing my friends really hadn't changed since March. Then when I got home, Keith was stuffing all of the clothes from washer into a trash bag. I asked what he was doing and he said "I'm tired of you trying to present as rich. Take this bag out to the trash and don't take ANYTHING out of it" I looked at him and I kept repeating how he can't be serious. He said he was dead serious and went into my parents room.

I decided to see how much of my clothes I was going to lose, and to my surprise, it was just some socks, a pair of jeans, and 2 shirts. I was about to take them out when I noticed Keith threw his clothes in there too. He's a stereotypical step dad and doesn't do anything so there's no way he would've known my mom washed his clothes with mine. Then I took a moment to check some receipts in my room to see how much I'd be set back if I actually put this bag in the trash and I figured out it'd be around 40 dollars. Not much of an issue there.

So this is when the malicious compliance kicks in. I took the bag to the trash can and set it at the end of the driveway for trash day tomorrow (it comes at 6) So imagine Keith's surprise when he gets up at 6 to find that he has no clean work shirts, no clean socks, and no clean pants. It made him absolutely livid and he quite literally yanked me out of bed to scream at me. He pinned me to the wall and yelled about how his clothes were missing and I told him "Your clothes were in that bag and had you been paying attention, you wouldn't be in this situation" He just got up and walked away, struggling to find anything to wear.

He eventually came back, and very calmly asked to borrow a shirt and pants from me along with socks and a sweatshirt. I then proceeded to hand him each of the clothes he asked, but they were ones I didn't like and didn't wear often. He spent the whole day posting on Facebook and Instagram about how bad he looked and it was so funny that I couldn't put my phone down.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Anonymous0212 on 2024-03-06 08:21:23.

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I don't remember the exact circumstances now because this was back when I was a resentful, hormonal teenager half a century ago or so (fuck I'm old.) I think my mother was going shopping, and I wanted to go with her but she told me I had to stay home and do chores, including watering all the plants. I apparently didn't immediately react in a polite enough manner, so she reiterated in a louder voice, "you need to water ALL the plants!"

So I did.

Including her precious roses in the backyard.

In the middle of winter.

When she got home and let the dog out and noticed water-related evidence in the backyard that should not have been there she started shrieking at me, what did I do, how could I be so stupid, was I trying to kill her roses, etc., and I just looked her straight in the eye and said "you told me to water ALL the plants."

(And no, the roses did not die because it didn't get cold enough that night.)

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/WJB7694 on 2024-03-06 05:52:11.

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A long time ago I was waiting tables at lunch in a decent restaurant. We had iced tea that we brewed each morning and it was slightly orange flavored and this was on the menu as well as hot tea. For hot tea we had an assorted variety of Celestial Seasonings. A table of two women came in and one ordered ice tea but one of the Celestial Seasoning flavors. I explained that we only have one type of ice tea made and the others were listed under hot tea. I also explained to her that this is not something we are supposed to do and it messes us up because people expect free refills like it is the regular iced tea. She was not nice and was unhappy that I would not go out of my way to make her what she wanted. We were reasonably busy and this was not something we were supposed to do. I don't know where the manager was or if I was new to waiting tables and did not think to get the manager to talk to them. In a fairly bitchy tone she said she would go around our rules by ordering the hot tea and a glass of ice and do it herself.

I went to the wait station and filled a glass with ice and put it in the ice bin to chill, got a mug of water and microwaved it to boiling. I then brought the mug, the tea bag, the glass of ice and a straw to her table. About five minutes later I was taking an order from another table and the two women were frantically waving me down. As I expected the hot tea hit the cold glass cracking the glass and dumping all the tea on the table. I tried to sound stupid when I said "Maybe that's why we aren't supposed to do that?" as I cleaned up the mess. She never did get to drink any tea.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/fireice1992 on 2024-03-06 01:50:10.

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I read a thing on here earlier and it reminded me of my favorite MC I had the pleasure of being a part of.

About 10 or so years ago my father helped me get hired at the manufacturing company he worked at. I worked hard and instantly joined the union they had. After working there a few years I was working as an operator and I knew all the machines we had and was learning how to repair/maintain them all as well. The company loved to make the operators work a lot of hours, 60+ hour weeks but we managed and the union got us double time after 60 and anytime on a Sunday. The only caveat was we were allowed 1 weekend a month that we did not need to work and we all usually agreed on the weekend or drew lots.

One month we were crazy busy, every machine operator was working 7 days a week at least 12 hours a day, and we felt it. We came to the last weekend and assumed that meant no work and a much needed break. Until the plant manager posted that we all had mandatory OT again. We demanded our rep sort it and ended up having an all hands meeting.

The plant manager screamed and told us we were all lazy and with what we make we should be begging to work more, and our union rep slapped down the contract with that part highlighted. The plant manager said, “let me make it easy for you louses. Any machine operator that is not here this weekend better find a new job!” We all looked at each other and nodded, confirmed the rep heard that and went back to our machines.

That following Monday, we agreed to turn them off or ignore all their calls for the weekend, our phones exploded. Apparently the union already started on them for wrongful termination and violation of the contract. Then we all said, “per our meeting you fired me so no I am not coming in.”

Funny enough we were “rehired” with a higher pay and the union demanded an amendment to the contract that limited work weeks to 6 days up to 70 hours a week. Topping off all of it, we came back that Thursday to a party announcing our new plant managers, because they fired all of upper management and brought in a whole new team.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Baileythenerd on 2024-03-05 18:58:29.

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In eons past, I was once a youth.

Growing up my parents were pretty big on teaching their best and only child how to do things himself. This, in parent speak, meant that I was taught chores very young- I have been helping do laundry, dishes, the lawn, and cleaning since early elementary school.

We all took care of the laundry, doing everyone else's along with ours when needed. So, there were rules in place- Any change found in the dryer became the property of the person unloading the dryer.

8 Year old Bailey was extremely distraught one day to find that my fortune of TEN WHOLE DOLLARS had gone through the wash, and was claimed out of the dryer by my dad. I. was. FURIOUS.

I demanded back the $10, but my lovely dad reminded me of the rules, it was his to keep- fair game. At this point I decided that I would be the only person to unload the dryer.

My parents were very pleasantly surprised that for months they never had to pull out the clothes and start the folding process (since I'd just grab the laundry and fold while binging Cartoon Network).

Eventually, what started as a desperate attempt to guard my various petty treasures gave way to the perfect opportunity for malicious compliance.

You see, this was the very early 2000s, my dad wasn't yet keen on keeping all his cash on cards. So he kept most of his money in cash.

On this particular day, he left $200 in his pocket, and, doing the laundry meant that it was mine! ALL MINE! I silently stuffed the cash in my tiny coin bank in my room, pleased with my lucrative haul.

Eventually, my dad discovered that he was short a large sum of money and tore apart his office and bedroom looking for it, before he recalled that he had left it in his jeans pocket. Despite my subtly, I was quickly confronted.

The rule was rescinded, and I was only allowed to keep $50, but again- to an 8 year old, this was a king's ransom. I had emerged, mostly victorious.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/bigcoconuts on 2024-03-05 15:40:00.

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I was attending my cousin's daughter's wedding. There was a snack bar at the entry area and lots of guests were congregating there, eating and chatting. Few people were getting through to the seating area. So my cousin asked me to get the snackbar shutdown.

I went there and told the people there to close it down. They said they would do it immediately after serving the people waiting. Ok. I headed back and told my cousin it would be closed in a couple of minutes. He's worried and says, "No, i meant immediately. They have to shut down immediately."

Alrighty then. I went back to them, they had already shut down. I went back and told my cousin with a straight face: "There were four people there. I knocked the plates out of their hands and told them to walk inside. I told them you told me to do it."

Shocked pikachu face.

My cousin is a great guy but he does get a bit worked up sometimes over the small stuff.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/mdlapla on 2024-03-05 11:08:17.

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Circa 2005, I switched jobs. The new job came with an awesome perk: 3 months working in Spain (I lived back then in Argentina) all expenses paid, earning my salary plus an extremely generous per diem.

For me, it was awesome, it meant that I would get pretty much the salary of a year in 3 months, plus the opportunity to visit Europe and travel for the first time.

The caveat was that the project was a nightmare. The consulting company that hired me had won a really big bank project and overpromised, we had to finish the project in a really impossible timeframe, that's why I was going there, it was kind of an "all hands on deck" situation.

When I arrived there, working hours were ridiculous. 9am was the starting time, and we rarely left before 11pm, sometimes even being there till 1 or 2 in the morning.

I had no problem with that, I was living in a hotel, the only people I knew in the city were in the project as well so we bonded over the situation.

My colleagues were also really supportive, they made a point that I wasn't going to work on weekend, and told me that "we work our asses off monday to thursday, but on friday afternoon, you're going straight to the airport, you have to take on the opportunity to get to know Europe, we'll get by".

The problem, as usual in this situation, was the project manager. We used to call him Sauron. He was a manager that took pride in saying "I started working in this company, I met my wife because of this company, I got married because of this company, I got divorced because of this company, I live because of this company". He was middle management, so... yeah.

Since hours were really long, and pretty much everyone was exhausted from the night before, the tech team (minus Sauron) used to stroll down to a cafe down the street at 9:15am, and have a hearthy breakfast while we planned the day ahead. Team leaders were included and it was kind of an impromptu and informal Scrum meeting we held.

One day, Sauron and I had a meeting with the client, in the office. While I was there, client said to Sauron "BTW, I'm gonna need this and that for this afternoon" and Sauron said "OK, I'll go down to the bullpen and ask someone for that, be right back, just keep on with the meeting and I'll join when I get back".

But he never came back. The meeting finished with me and the client, and Sauron never came back.

After the client left, 2 hours later, I went down and found that nobody was in the bullpen. Not a single soul. Not Sauron, nor the team. And then, I heard screaming from one of the meeting rooms.

I opened the door and found the whole team shouting at Sauron and Sauron shouting back. Sauron was furious because the team was at the cafe, the team was furious because he had no right to be angry about that since everybody worked an insane amount of overtime with no complaints.

And Sauron said: "I don't fucking care. You're hired to start your work at 9am, you have to be here at your desks at that time. That's what we're paying you bums for".

One of the team leaders, seeing that this was going nowhere, said OK and ended the meeting.

Sauron pretty much disappeared all day having meetings and such.

And then, at 7pm, we all left. Since Sauron asked us to work the hours they were paying us to work, we finished the shift and left. And we did that the next day. And the next one as well. We did it for a whole week. Sauron missed a couple of milestones and got an earful by the client and his bosses.

Sauron realised his screw up, he became docile and never complained about anything else, not the cafe meetings and not even aobut the seldom longer-than-usual lunch.

We did work a lot more hours than what he was paying us for, but the environment became more relaxed and Sauron made a point of trying to be at the bullpen the shortest time possible.

TLDR: At a project working an insane amount of overtime, the boss complains about people doing a relaxed cafe-breakfast-start-of-day meeting, so the whole project stops doing overtime until the boss stops complaining and basically disappears.

PS: I know that Sauron got away with what he wanted, we just wanted him to let us work the way we wanted to.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Ancient_Educator_76 on 2024-03-05 06:28:15.

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Here's some MC, as quick as it is violent.

I teach in the Valley of the Sun, in the fancy part of town. I can't afford to live there.

We have a new Gate to Gate cell phone policy where students cannot have there phones out at all, anywhere, for any reason. If I see a phone, as a teacher, I am authorized to commandeer the phone until security comes to pick it up. Fair enough.

I've decided way ahead of time that I wouldn't touch a phone unless I needed to. Especially during the initial confrontation. I simply say "Schmoopy Pie, please place your phone on the grey table adjacent my desk" and then I put a sticky note on it (I even make sure I only touch the phone through the sticky note as I affix it with their name on it). I then call security who picks it up.

This hasn't been an issue all year. The kids are pretty good about it.

But not this time.

As our security guard, "Dave", enters the room he seems to not be able to find this miracle hot pink sticky note affixed phone, so I reach for the phone to hand it to him. As I grab the phone to hand it the thirty inches until it reaches Dave's hand the student runs up like the bionic man and places his hand on his phone also, grasping tightly. I don't know why I hold on but I do.. .instinct maybe.

Anyway he demands that I let go....

"Let it fuqqing GO!" and the second he emphasizes that word I let go while he pulls as hard as he can. The phone flies across the room and breaks the school window... as well as itself. Both items are shattered beyond recognition.

The fall out is just starting to fall, but the kid was "What the fuq did you throw my phone for!??" Crying and lying at the same time... wonderful.

I said back in the heat of the moment "Hey man you told me to let it go.. I did. This is on you my guy!!"

Dave couldn't agree more. His parents? Probably could agree a little less. Administration was, surprisingly on my side about this.

The parents did contact administration about paying to replace the phone, but they flat out denied it. They said that the student committed a bear minimum of two acts that led to his phone being destroyed.

He 1) had his phone out and 2) clawed a teacher in the process of grabbing his phone he already relinquished to his care. and finally 3) destroyed a window

The fact that Dave was there to witness all this was very helpful in making sure the ultimate MC being applied had only negative consequences for the culprit.

I'll never understand why he, after ten minutes of the phone just sitting there, did he decide to all of a sudden come for it.

TL;DR A student demands I let go of his phone. Mayhem ensues.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/No_Yesterday_8836 on 2024-03-05 03:58:49.

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I was in middle school in the 90s. I loved growing up then and even though there were gangs in my area, I generally avoided trouble.

One of my classes had this big field trip planned and they had us selling chocolates to raise money for our trip. I was pretty good at it and was selling at a good rate.

I would take the bus (public transportation) to school and my stop was about 2 blocks from my home. I got off at my stop one day with my box of chocolates and there was this older kid (around 16-17), pretty big for his age hanging out there. He saw me and came towards me. This guy is clearly a gang banger. “Payaso” comes up to me and says “Hey homie where you from?”He was asking what gang I was from. It’s not the first time I get challenged like this so I just reply “I don’t bang man, I’m just a junior high kid” Payaso looks at my box of chocolates and takes it from me “what’s this?” I tell him it’s nothing, it’s something for school. He opens the box and sees a bunch of dollars in there. He grabs the bills (around $15, my sales for the day) and takes a bunch of chocolates as well.

“Tomorrow you’re going to give me $20 more. If you don’t, we are going to have a real fucking problem.” I walk away feeling scared and pissed off. I realized I’m going to have to pay back the lost money from my birthday money. And I definitely didn’t want to give this guy any more money. I think about it and decide I’ll get off at a later bus stop from now on and walk a little more just to avoid this guy. The next day this is what I do. I stuff my box in my backpack just in case and I exit about two stops later. I don’t see the guy and think I have solved my problem. Then I get to the liquor store a block away from home and who do I see but this overgrown idiot Payaso.

“Hey man, you didn’t forget about me did you?” I said “look man, I don’t have any money right now. I don’t even have my chocolates. I left them at home.” I shouldn’t have said that. “Ok, let’s go to your house and you’re going to give me the money or something else if you don’t got it.” I begin getting real nervous. My mom is at work and my grandma is home. I definitely don’t want to bring him home with her there. I glance at him and notice the tattoos on his arms. At this point I saw the perfect opportunity for malicious compliance. I tell him “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Why don’t you just let me go man” Payaso grabs me by the collar and says “I tell you what to do and you fucking do it. You understand?” I nod my head and tell him to follow me.

Now it’s time to give a little background. My neighbor, that lived in the house next to mine was a “Veterano”, a veteran of one of the biggest, most notorious gangs in the city. He was in his 40s and a real chill dude. He loved my grandma because she would often share plates of food she made with him and his wife, and he was fond of me because I taught his 8yr old boy how to play baseball. His son had a disability, a problem with one of his legs, so most other kids wouldn’t play with him but I often did. Let’s call my neighbor OG. OG always had a bunch of guys over at his house. He made sure they never caused problems and they were all respectful towards my family in particular.

Back to Payaso. The tattoos on his arms? I realized he was from the same gang as OG. I have a big smile as I’m walking home and Payaso asks me “Why are you smiling pendejo(idiot)?” I say “no reason” and keep walking home. As we get closer I see a bunch of guys hanging out at OGs house. Payaso narrows his eyes then smiles as he recognizes some of the guys. We get to OGs house and Payaso says “wait here pendejo, let me talk to my homies”

OG is sitting on his porch and Payaso starts greeting some of the guys and then heads towards OG and greets him in a reverential manner. OG notices me and says my name “Hey OP, what’s up?” Payaso turns to look at me and I say “Payaso told me to wait here. I have to go home and give him money.” OG stands up and says “Why do you have to give him money?” I say “Because he told me yesterday at my bus stop that the $15 and chocolates he took from me wasn’t enough and I had to give him more today” Payaso begins to speak “you know this kid OG?” OG gives him the scariest look I’ve ever seen and tells him to shut the fuck up. OG looks back at me and asks “Is this from the chocolates you are selling?” I said yes. OG asks me how many chocolates I have left to sell. I say about 50. He tells me not to worry, Payaso is going to pay me for the 50 I have left, plus 20 for the day before, and an extra 50 for my trouble. He tells me to keep whatever else I sell. He tells me to go home and Payaso would be back later with my money.

About an hour later there is a knock on my door and Payaso has an envelope and says “here’s $120 little homie. I fucked up. I’m sorry. Do you have Nintendo? I brought you some games” I just stood there stunned and thinking how I never would have guessed that getting robbed had so many benefits.

I didn’t see Payaso too many times after that, but whenever I did he would wave at me and never bothered me again.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Refresh98370 on 2024-03-05 01:31:22.

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Been lurking here for a while, thought it was about time that I contributed. As I reflected on my career in IT, I recalled this particular situation.

Back in the day, I was a field tech for an IT company. My teammates and I were contracted to an aluminum mill in the upper left-hand corner of America. The place was huge. It's the only place that I've worked as an IT guy where I had to put on a hot suit to go in certain areas as a part of my job.

So, one day, I get this ticket for a computer that wouldn't turn on out at the other end of the plant. So, I grab a power supply and head off in the golf cart. No joke, this place was so big, we had golf carts to get around.

Important later is the fact that we used paper tickets, with all the information for the call out printed on the ticket, with space for use to write what was done, etc. We'd bring the resolved tickets back to the manager, and he'd put the data in to a wacky Access database for tracking.

I get out there, and sure enough, the power supply is deader than mashed potatoes. I even tested with a multimeter to verify. I swap the power supply, machine powers up, I update my ticket, and off I go back to HQ. End of day comes eventually, and I hand off my fistful of tickets.

The next day around lunch time, I get some of my tickets back from the manager with a note: "Needs more detail". I point out to the guy that there is not much more detail to be had, using the power supply ticket as an example.

• test power supply (tests bad)
• replace power supply
• PC powers on as normal

He wasn't having it, though. He accepted the tickets back, but made sure that I understood that I needed more detail on my tickets.

Ok. Fine. Later in the afternoon, I get a call for a bad floppy drive. Perfecto.

I grab a floppy drive off the shelf, and race out in the golf cart. Upon arrival, I do my normal test/diagnose/replace/update process, with the exception of adding excruciating details to the ticket.

1. Attempt read of two known good floppy disks.
   • insert floppy #1 in drive, attempt dir command, unable to read disk
   • remove floppy #1 from drive
   • insert floppy #2 in drive, attempt dir command, unable to read disk
   • remove floppy #2 from drive
2. Power down system by pressing the power button on the front-right corner.
3. Disconnect and remove monitor
   • disconnect VGA cable from PC
   • disconnect power cable from monitor
   • remove monitor to safe location next to desk
4. Remove top case from PC
   • remove left-hand case screw with 14 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
   • remove left-hand case screw with 16 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
   • after securing screws in safe location, remove top case by sliding forward.
   • secure top case to safe location, next to desk.
5. Remove failed floppy drive from PC
   • disconnect power cable from 3.5" floppy drive
   • disconnect data cable from 3.5" floppy drive
   • remove front-left screw from floppy drive with 12 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
   • remove back-left screw from floppy drive with 11 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
   • remove front-right screw from floppy drive with 13 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
   • remove back-right screw from floppy drive with 12 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
   • slide failed floppy drive forward to remove from drive cage.

etc. etc. etc

The process documentation went on like this, filling the entire front of the ticket, and continuing on to fill the back of the page. It was a thing of beauty. It took me about twenty minutes to write this all out, describing the replacement of a floppy drive in excruciating detail.

At the end of the day, I turned in my stack of completed tickets to the manager with a smile and a wave.

Next morning, as we do every morning, we have a quick team pow-wow to discuss any special items that need attention for the day, things to watch out for, things we missed previously, etc. Kind of like a scrum before there was such a word as scrum. During this meeting, the manager begins talking about proper documentation of tickets. He holds up my masterpiece, and plainly states that this is a bit much. "Just note on your tickets, in a quick and concise manner, what the problem was, and what you did to fix it."

Nobody ever got the business again for not being detailed enough on their tickets.

*edit for spelling

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Latter-Station2328 on 2024-03-05 01:11:18.

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I worked for a large brokerage firm in their mutual funds division. My duties included working on special projects for the controller, coordinating with the users on any issues that needed to be addressed and working on automating all processes. I loved my job and I was real good at it. As I had these various tasks, I had two computers so that I could run the programs that I was modifying while still working on other tasks.

As I stated I loved the work since I basically did what I wanted to do with minimal, if any supervision. Due to this I regularly came in early, sometimes as early as 7:00 AM, and staying as late as 7:00 PM.I easily did two to three times the work of anyone else. I was always the first one in and generally the last one to leave.

One day I took a lunch break, which was also rare as I brought my lunch and worked straight through. Unfortunately, I had some errands to run and I ended up getting back after taking an extra ten minutes. I was summoned to my managers office where he reamed for an hour over these ten minutes. I had enough of this, and I asked him if he realized how early I got in and how late I stayed. His answer totally blew me away. He said it doesn't matter how early you get in or how late you stay, only what happens between nine and five that counts.

Cue malicious compliance. I stopped going in early, I would take a walk or read a book until 8:55 AM. I would take a break mid-morning, take exactly one hour for lunch and another break in the afternoon. I would stop work at 4:45 PM and clean my work area. Exactly at 5:00 PM I would shut down my computers and leave for the day. He never said anything about this at he knew he brought it on himself. All that resulted from this is he lost over five hours of work a day from me. Not long after this I left for brighter pastures at an increase of total compensation of almost 100%. (It was possible as I went to a very high scale investment firm.)

Later on I found out that they had to hire three people to do my work. Like they say, you don't know how good you have until it disappears.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/P4ddyC4ke on 2024-03-04 22:25:56.

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This is from the summer between Freshman and Sophomore year, circa 1989 about 15yo. This is my best recollection of events.

One of my best friends was going on summer vacation with his mom and dad (only child) and they let him invite a friend to go with him so he wasn't alone. They were headed to see the grand canyon with the final destination being Las Vegas. We were driving from South Louisiana.

We were riding in a Lincoln Town Car for the trip, circa 1988. Similar Pic This car had the type of trunk where you'd close the trunk and it would latch about 2" above the deck and then a motor would pull it down the rest of the way tightly closing it. They would open it by hitting the trunk release which was a button in the glove box.

This friends parents were known to argue. We'll call them Mr. Friend's Dad (MFD) and Mrs. Friend's Mom (MFM). They would get into shouting matches just about anything. My friend had learned to just be quiet when this happened, but I didn't have to do that with my parents so I wasn't used to that.

They had planned to stay at little hotels on the way and we were probably somewhere in Texas the first night, when we arrived in the evening at our hotel. They popped the trunk by hitting the release in the glove box and we got out to start getting our bags to take them inside, but when they tried to lift the trunk lid, it was still latched. My friends dad tried hitting the release button again. He tried pushing the trunk closed again to start over, but the motor wasn't taking it down. He tried looking under the trunk lid in the 2" gap to see if he could loosen the latch manually.

Meanwhile, I had an idea I thought could fix the problem. I kept trying to say my idea while he was checking all of his fixes.

Me: "MFD, why don't..."

MFD: "Quiet! I'm trying to think here!"

After he tried a couple of things, the arguing started between Mom and Dad. They argued about,

"What are we going to do? We can't get our luggage. Do we get something to break it open? But then we can't keep it closed to travel. Should we call a tow truck?" etc...

I tried to give my solution and was shut down every time, ending eventually with a,

MFD & MFM "Shut up! Y'all go sit in the car." So, we did.

A few minutes later they came and got in the car and told us, "we're going to have to cancel the trip and just drive home through the night."

As it got quiet and I finally felt like I could talk, I said, "Why don't you just use the key?"

There was a notable pause as the idea started to sink in.

"Oh my goodness... that's so smart!" MFM said as they both hopped out trying the key.

The trunk opened right up.

They came back in the car after a couple minutes and apologized to me for yelling and told us we can get our bags and keep going on the trip. For the rest of the trip, the motor part of the trunk didn't work to pull it all the way closed, but we were, though able to continue. The trunk would latch and hold 2" above being completely closed and the key worked to open it. We just hoped there wouldn't be any rain in the desert.

We got to hike into the grand canyon for about an hour down which took 2 hours to come back up and got far enough we could barely see the Colorado River in a space between two crevices. We drove over the Hoover Dam and in Las Vegas. We stayed at Circus Circus which at the time had a kids section full of arcade games and other attractions. Every time MFD or MFM would win at the slots they'd give us more money to spend. :)

All in all it was a fun trip.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Cella_Life on 2024-03-03 17:31:24.

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I was at a $$$CoffeeShop and yesterday was one I will forever be grateful to my manager for.

A customer came thru ordering a blended beverage said beverage was modified to the point of being not even remotely what the original drink was. Can I also prefer r this by saying the drink was ordered at drive with a child SCREAMING into the headphones the whole time and customer did nothing to calm child just spoke louder.

So when customer drives up the drink with multiple modifications was missing one. It was a topping that was easily added on top but customer wanted the whole drink remade….. why I asked as we had a line and I had more drinks to get to.

The answer was it didn’t have enough caramel drizzle. Now the drink doesn’t come with caramel drizzle. It was ordered with extra caramel and I did put a ton on the top as well as put caramel around the cup which is already EXTRA. I was told they wanted extra extra sooo….

I coated the inside of the new cup. The caramel was so thick you couldn’t see the drink. I also added a 1/4” to the bottom just in case.

And added EXTRA of the other topping requested and gave. 1/2 container of it on the side per my managers instructions.

Now this was my 3rd to final drink I made cause it was my day off and I came in to help and the time I agreed to stay to was past and the second time I agreed to stay to was also past.

I was doing 1 last task of wiping down the cafe and clocking out. In comes customer. Customer is so angry. Cause customer said they didn’t deserve to have an employee get mad and fill their cup with 1/2 syrup. Manager tells them well what do you want? You got extra caramel it wasn’t enough and you get extra extra and it was too much. You’re gonna have to explain what you are wanting.

Love my manager

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Mousetro on 2024-03-03 13:46:19.

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So I have dyslexia and English is my first language so please be kind with grammar errors.

I have always been the type of person to follow malicious compliance and to be a little petty even from a young age.

If this is re-posted on any other platform please leave a link in the comments.

I feel this story is a bit of Malicious Compliance with a sprinkling of petty revenge.

So in the mid 90's I joined my Dad's company helping in the office. When I first joined the team there were about 12 main people in the business. So everyone knew I was my dad's son. My dad has always run businesses in a relaxed environment wanting workers to call him by his first name. So because he was my dad I called him dad (duh). So after a few weeks my dad pulled me into a meeting asking me not to call him dad while at work. So I obliged wanting to placate him. So I started calling him Steve ( not his real name but I like Steve and Steve is a cool name.) after a few day's he again pulled me in to a meeting. This time he asked me not to call him Steve because it sounded weird for me as his to call him by his first name. So I asked him if I should call him Mr Summer's ( not his surname/last name) He said no that it was to formal for him. So I asked him "Well what I should call you?". He told me to figure it out but not to call him those. So here comes my very petty side for the next +/- 20 years while I worked for the business till I left. Inside and outside of work ( I.E. when I saw him at home or out at dinner) I called him boss. He kept on asking me then to call him Dad which I refused. The day I left the business I immediately reverted back to calling him Dad. It took him about 6 years after that for him to ask why I stopped calling him boss and started calling him Dad, When I gave him my answer he was shocked he never put 2 and 2 together. Which shocked me more than him because I was sure he figured it out. My dad is very technically inclined but sometimes misses things that are right in front of him.

I have a few other stories which I might post sometime.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/sarcasticallydances on 2024-03-03 09:50:55.

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I work at a hotel as front desk, not revealing who or what company. But we have a policy of "give the same energy as your guest is giving you" so we are allowed to be sassy within reason. We can easily tell the customer to come back when they're feeling nicer when they're being unpleasant or rude and refuse service until they want to behave.

I got my first Karen in this industry tonight. I let her inside the locked doors with a child after seeing her and her partner exit the vehicle that just pulled up to the doors. The door relocks behind her automatically. This is how I knew they were together. There is a landline outside that connects to the front desk so people can ask to enter when the doors are locked. I can also see everything on camera and watched them pull up to the doors.

The woman complains that her mobile check in didn't work. As another note, our policy is to take a deposit in case they wreck the room. It'll be returned to them after their stay as long as they haven't destroyed or taken anything. It's possible mobile check in didn't work because she didn't have a card on file that was operational. For mobile check in, you get a mobile key, so of course if the deposit didn't take during mobile check in, she has to be checked in by me. We don't want them wrecking the room if the deposit can't be taken, so no mobile key for you until I get that deposit.

So I'm checking her in and of course it declines her card. She jammed her card in again and the card reader fell over and started restarting. I tried to go to another computer but it was pointless as it took 30 seconds for it to come back online. The entire time she was complaining about how long it was taking. It rejected her card two more times. She was pissed and kept saying "there's money on it, I don't know what you want me to do". I told her she would need to use a different card. She got mad and put the new card in way too early so it didn't charge her card. She kept saying it was ridiculous and how she was so tired and this is taking way too long in a very rude tone. I was pretty fed up at this point. Then she said "this shouldn't take this long this should be quick".

At that point, the front desk phone started to ring signalling that someone was at the door needing to be let inside (we lock the doors at night for safety reasons and have to let those without a hotel door card inside ourselves). She asked me "are you going to get that?". She wanted me to stop checking her in and go answer the door for her husband, even though she had just asked me to check her in quickly moments before.

I was fed up. So I told her "I'm sorry ma'am, you wanted this done quickly. It'll have to wait." I said in a very firm and final tone. She was sputtering, making random syllables as she didn't know what to say to that, as I "quickly" coded her card keys, put them in her hand, and then answered the door for her husband who had no idea what was going on.

I told them to have a good night and they quickly left the lobby. She seemed embarrassed.

Please be patient with your hotel staff, they can't control when your card declines or if the card reader messes up because you're jamming your card in like a tired toddler.

Edit: For those who don't understand, I made Karen wait on me to check her in before I answered the door for her husband, thus making her husband wait on me and making her too embarrassed to form words because she kept saying making random syllables like she was shocked I wouldn't do as she asked the minute she asked. I'm not going to run around at the snap of her finger. You just asked me to check you in quickly. I'm going to comply with that maliciously and make your husband wait. I'm not going to stop doing that just to unlock the door.

The whole thing took less than 2-3 minutes. It was a quick check in, I complied with everything she said, and my tone of voice greatly pissed her off which is why it's malicious. I'm not going to let her order me around just because she's tired, and can't use a card reader properly. She didn't like that I made her husband wait at the locked doors. When I told her I wasn't going to stop checking her in just to walk 40 feet over to the doors, stand in front of them, let the doors open, and then come back.

It wouldn't be very quick if I did that, now would it?

Edit x2: I knew it was her husband because she handed him a key card and he was driving the car they arrived in. I watched them drive in via camera. And it was completely visible from the lobby him getting luggage from the car she just exited.

For those who don't know, there is a landline in the landing area, which is the place right before the entrance (with a bench) but technically inside because it is between two automatic doors (the innermost is locked). It's there so that anyone who can't get in (because they don't have a key card) can connect to the front desk and ask for entry. I can view them on the cameras before opening the doors. So I watched them arrive together, which is why I can safely conclude he was her husband, or brother, though I'm pretty sure that was her husband because they had a child with them. That is usually the case. This is how I know the two were related in some way and staying together.

Also, this is compliant because she knew her husband was on the landline. If not, why would she demand I go get it? She also wasn't specific in what I should get because she could be referring to two things; the door or the phone. Both of which were connected because it was her husband calling to get inside because again, the doors don't just unlock when I went to get the door for her when she first entered. I can let people in without unlocking those automatic doors, it's a safety feature we have.

The husband was handling the luggage which is another reason I know they were staying together in some fashion. And why he needed to call the front desk to get inside.

Edit x3: thank you all for asking detailed questions so I can tell this story better, I just worked 8 days with 8 hours shifts so I'm not entirely coherent.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/VextaleBrooke on 2024-03-02 03:29:15.

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I was 5 years old when my mom went to the store in which before she left told me "Not to unlock the door nor open it for anyone" and I waited for her to get back by playing with my cat named Snuggles McCuddles FluffyPants for I forget how long in turn when mom returned from the store I continued playing with my cat completely ignoring my mom each time she asked me "Can you please unlock and open the door because she left the key to our house in the kitchen?" which she was getting extremely extremely mad while shouting at me "JUsT unlock and open the door already or else I'll FuCkInG ground you!" until my sister(12yrs) at the time had unlocked the door for mom then a few minutes after my mom calmed down she asked me "Why didn't you unlock and open the door for me when I asked you to?" In which that's when I simply stated with a sweet little smile on my child face "Well you said to not unlock the door nor open it for anyone and that's what I did mom😇" resulting in my step dad snickering at this all the while my mom just stood there speechless as if trying to process what I'd said.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Used-Register3714 on 2024-03-02 03:14:45.

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Not sure if this is the right place but...also new to Reddit, but I needed to vent, sorry for the wall of text. My manager, oversees 16ish people, completely forgot that I had PTO one morning last week. We had spoken about it the day before too because I had to change the time of my doctor's appointment. The morning of my appointment I wasn't going to clock in till I got back. However, when I got back I found out that he had assigned me to cover part of someone's shift, call center, because they were out sick. I had him asking (we use microsoft teams) me to call him in our full group chat, and also DMing me in the same chat we used to discuss the time of my appointment changing and his approval, where I was. The person who oversees that the phones are covered messaging me telling me I was to be on phones and my managers boss texting me asking where I was. I finally called my manager, video call and I recorded that too, and reminded him that we had spoken about the time of my appointment being in the morning. He then asked me to text him reminders everytime I have PTO now. Well, he's about to learn. I have 2 more days coming up in April and I will clock in for 15 minutes each day to send that reminder text. If I have to do his job of reminding him I am off when there are multiple ways for him to remember then they can pay me.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Brewthirty17 on 2024-03-02 03:14:34.

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Back in the early 2000's my friend and I were at a bowling alley, as we went out to leave he couldn't get his car started. I asked if he wanted me to look at it since I have been working on cars since I was 14, and he said no, that he knows as much if not more about cars than I do. So the tow truck arrived they asked me to steer as they pushed it out of the parking spot. I got in, put it in park, started the vehicle, backed it out, and asked the tow truck driver if he wanted me to drive it onto his flatbed or if he wanted to pull it up. Everyone including the tow truck driver burst out in laughter. My friend was LIVID...Why didn't you tell me that was the problem, I said you told me you were more experienced than me and didn't need my help. From then on he never doubted my automotive knowledge.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/GiveMeYuna on 2024-03-01 14:55:11.

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Back during the 90s in the UK, when you’re in your final years of Secondary Education, or you could call it “your GCSE years” the the schools did something called “Work Place Experience”.

This was basically where you find a job where you spend 2 weeks experiencing work after you leave school. Even then, I found it pointless for many reasons.

In my case, I couldn’t find a job that would accept me so the school went looking and found one for me. To make note, I wasn’t the only one the school had to help on this.

Well, the school found me a placement at in the office at a dedicated mechanics education school. Basically, it was a mechanics shop like any other, but where the mechanics working on your car/van are students training for their mechanics qualifications.

While I was there, I wasn’t allowed to do much. Like they didn’t want me there at all, so I was given menial tasks. Deliver documents to offices next door. Fetch coffee. Use the Franking machine. And other stuff.

It was like they just volunteered me to do stuff they didn’t want me to do. However, when it came down to it, it was mostly simple, easy jobs. Apart from fetching coffee from the staff kitchen.

They had this little room which was called the “Mail Room”. It wasn’t big. I could stand in the middle of the room and touch all four walls.

There was a desk attached to the wall and a shelf above it with a bunch of mailing bags. The usual stuff you’d find in a mail room of an office.

In this case, there was Franking Machine in the middle of the desk with two baskets to one-side used for placing mail ready for franking. One for 1st Class postage and the other for 2nd class.

For those not in the know as to what a Franking Machine is, you’d have better luck looking them up, but I’ll give you the footnote. When you get mail and you see in the top right printed markings instead of a postage stamp, that is where the franking machine comes in. Businesses can go to Royal Mail and bulk buy postage or whatever. I’m not exactly sure how it works.

The Franking Machines print those postage details onto the envelopes instead of a person going through the hassle of removing postage stamps from the stamp books and making sure to stick it in the correct place on the envelope. With the machine, the job is done quickly.

So down to the malicious compliance.

As you have figured out, this compliance was with the Franking Machine.

I was taught how to use the machine. It was already preprogrammed with what to print. All I had to do was select whether to print 1st or 2nd class postage.

Then I would slot an envelope into one side like I was swiping a bank card to pay for groceries. After the envelope enters the machine by a certain amount, the machine activates and pulls the envelope through.

I soon found out that this machine had a temper. Sometimes it would take its time pulling the envelopes through, other times it’d yank the envelope out of your hand and shoot it against the wall. Surprisingly, with an intact properly printed frank mark.

One day, I was told “Go do the mail” and so I did.

I slotted an envelope into the machine and it did its usual. However, with one new result.

It had sliced open the envelope. As in you can remove the letters etc. from inside the envelope like someone had just opened their mail with one of those letter opener knives.

I grabbed the envelope and went to my boss.

The following conversation isn’t exact, but you get the idea.

Boss - “What do want? Surely you haven’t finished with the mail already.”

Me - “No. I’ve barely started.”

Boss - “Then go and finish it.”

Me - “I can’t. There’s a problem with the Franking Machine.”

Boss - “There’s always a problem with it. Just go back and finish posting the mail.”

Me - “But it’s slicing the envelopes open.” I tried to show her the sliced envelope.

Boss - Ignoring the envelope she said, “Just frank the mail will you. Or is that too difficult of a job for someone learning how businesses work?”

Me - “OK, but it’s not my fault if something bad happens.”

I turned and returned to the mail room. Along the way I grabbed some paper and wrote on it that I apologise for the damaged envelopes, that the machine was slicing them open and that my boss refused to listen to me about it.

Then I proceeded to put envelope after envelope through the machine. Every one came out sliced open. I must have done a couple hundred of them for 1st class alone.

Once done, I didn’t put them in mail bags. I just neatly piled them at the side of the machine with the letter on top.

About half an hour before the end of my shift, someone came into the office carrying several of the envelopes and my letter.

I quickly found out that he was the boss of the business. As in the highest position.

He’d apparently stepped into the mail room with a few of his own letters for franking and found the pile.

After arguing with my boss, and me being blamed for it like I was snooping into every envelope to see what I could find.

So I volunteered to show what was happening.

My boss and her boss grudgingly accepted my offer so I grabbed a sheet of plain paper from the nearest fax machine and a fresh envelope.

Putting the paper in the envelope I asked Big Boss to seal it as confirmation that’s it’s sealed.

I then led them both to the mail room. At arms length so they can both watch me, I gently slotted it into the machine until the machine took over.

Sure enough, the machine coughed out a freshly sliced envelope.

Then my boss tried telling me off for not telling her only for me to say that I tried but she refused to listen. I only did what I was told.

I was let off in the end.

The next day, the machine was unplugged so nothing was getting posted.

The day after that, there was a couple of piles of postage stamp books which of course I had to stick on the envelopes.

When I returned for my second week there, I was shown how to use a brand new machine.

This new machine was a dream. Just imagine you had spent 10 years driving the same car until it was falling apart and then you finally upgraded to a new car that is so new, the mileage on it was still double digits.

Until I left that place, I was still given menial tasks, but my boss never ignored me again.

A few years after leaving school, that business closed up shop. The building then got taken over by a big brand tyre company that also did MOTs, alignments etc.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ActiveAd5869 on 2024-03-01 12:48:42.

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I work for a courier company which hires employees as independent contractors to skimp out on paying tax and benefits. I work diligently but I lost any goodwill towards them for the aboveformentioned reasons. They also require us to wear high-vis clothing while delivering.

We pride ourselves on next day delivery. One courier can deliver to upto 50 different business in one day.

The way deliveries work is that the sender hires us to deliver to the reciever. The reciever has no clue which company was hired to deliver it to them. The only way the reciever would know would be by looking at our uniform.

I live in an area where it frequently gets cold and windy. I have a waterproof hi-vis jacket but there's one catch - It has my old companies logo on it. As I already lost all goodwill towards my current employer, I just wore that.

I have been delivering for my current company for the past 3 years, and in that time, I've had countless recievers remark on how good and speedy my 'company' is. I've even seen a few reviews for my old company from business clients I've delivered to in the capacity of my current employer.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Twas_Inevitable on 2024-02-29 21:57:01.

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So this is happening right now actually. I'm working from home and hear some yelling outside. I login to my home security camera and see our residential homeless junkie out on the street yelling. His ex-wife won't make him a sandwich. He's out on the street yelling "Call the cops on me, I don't care! Fuck you bitch. You should be making me a sandwich."

So anyways, I did what he said and called the cops. Here is his getting arrested. Great idea, dude!

E: For those wondering why some responses mention rent, I removed some context so I stop getting comments from people who think they know everything. It was just flair and not required for the story so I removed it.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Odd-Zone4359 on 2024-02-29 21:17:54.

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Warning This is holism AF. This is also a throw away account. any one who knows me will be able to ID me from this story

I have a hobby that I turned into a small bossiness, its not a lot of money but its kind of nice and its a thing that I enjoy doing. Over the last 5 years or so I have developed a reputation as a man of my word, and some one who provides a great product at a fair price.

I live in an area that has a lot of vacation homes around a lake, these homes are owned by people who have $500k or more to spend on having a place on the lake to go on weekends during the summer.

Mary and Steve were two of these people. Mary and Steve own a couple of business, they are known for treating people fairly, even people that they have fired will tend to acknowledge that they had it coming.

Mary Stopped by my shop back in September, she wanted to hire me to do some work for them, for Steve's Christmas gift. I could do what she wanted me to do, I gave her a price tag of $5,500. She agreed instantly. we shook hands and I went to work, I got it finished up December 20th, just in time. I had to take a few days off from my regular job to make it happen. Marry was thrilled at the results. She went to get me a check and she wanted to wright it out for $11,000. Double what we agreed on. I declined telling her the $5,500 was what we agreed to, and that's all I was going to take.

On December 26th rolls around, and Steve shows up thanking me for his Christmas gift gushing over the craftsmanship, then complains I wouldn't take the bonus money that I was offered, I explained to him " Mary and I agreed on the price, and we shook hands on it. a deal is a deal."

Steve says to me "well at least, let me buy you and your GF dinner.. 21 times" He had a big shit eating grin on his face. I should have know he was up to something. I thought about it, thinking local restaurants, and agreed. then he said "My choice, any place I chose all on my dime" in hind sight this should have clued me in to the fact that he had something up his sleeve. I smiled laughed and said ok.

The entire month of January went by I didn't hear any thing from Steve and Marry, which is fine were not exactly in the same social circles. At the end of January, all of a sudden my GF just got supper happy, like giddy, I knew she had a secret she was keeping from me but I wasn't sure what. she told me pack my bags for a valentines day trip we would be gone for 10 days, and bring my passport. we would leave on the 10th of February, (19 days ago).

we got to the airport and who would you guess was there, Steve and Mary. I was shocked as shit. Steve said he had a "debt to pay", and he "owed us 21 meals, at time and place of his choosing" and he chose Rome over valentines day. I tried to say no, he threw my words back in my face, " a deals a deal"

The 4 of us spent the next week in Rome Italy. Steve and Mary paid for our flights, hotel room and 21 meals. all of our tours and and transport was on us. We got back home on the 22nd of February. We had a great time.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Zipzesty on 2024-02-29 05:38:40.

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To start off the story, I'm a cook and have been grinding away at my career and culinary school for the last 1.5 years. I worked at one restaurant for a little over a year and quit due to the stress a new manager was giving me. After that I told myself that I wouldn't take a new restaurant job until the end of school or unless it was stable, organized, and stress-free. I was out of work for around 3 months when an old supervisor from the previous restaurant "Joe", who I thought had retired, called me about a new restaurant he was opening with a friend "Tim" who is the owner and investor. I originally told him I'll come talk to him but I'm wary about working as a cook again. When I went to talk with Joe, he told me I would be his Sous-chef and would be a manager. Also I was being paid $15/hr and would get 1 day PTO for every month. This doesn't sound good to anyone who has a normal job, but working in a kitchen that's not corporate, this is huge.

Fast forward to opening day, it's only me and Joe in the kitchen cooking, with 2 guys helping us prep but they have no real experience cooking, and the place is full. Apparently, Tim had called everyone he knew and told them to come by. We make it through day one barely and I tell them that we need to readjust before we get smothered tomorrow. They ignore me and we continue. Day two, Tim is practically on top of the 2 guys helping and micromanaging them to the point that they quit right before dinner. That night was terrible and we had multiple tickets over an hour and tables walking out. It doesn't help that the blame is being put on me and Joe for how it went even though it's a giant menu and only 2 of us. Most places with such a large menu and being that busy have 6 to 7 cooks to handle the workload.

I had told Joe and Tim very firmly that we should close for lunch on day three and prepare for dinner or we were going to get destroyed again. I was again ignored. So I get called in early day three, having just woken up and having to rush in right away I hadn't eaten anything(relevant in a bit). We were non-stop busy for 8 hours, I was running around so much and prepping so much food to order that I literally couldn't stay on my feet anymore and collapsed. I didn't pass out but came close. My blood sugar had gotten too low due to overtaxing my body(I'm not diabetic but i guess this can happen when your body runs out of fuel. Idk thats what a nurse friend told me) This is when Joe and Tim finally realized that maybe we needed more cooks and a better plan before we reopened(what I had been saying for 3 days).

We closed down, hired more cooks and retrained for a few weeks. This whole time Tim kept telling us that if we couldn't handle the job, we were easily replaceable. Also all these cooks we were hiring, Tim would say they are some "real badasses" and that they would do my job better than me. They were useless. Not to say they were bad cooks, but they had only worked in one place for years and didn't know anything other than what that previous place cooked, which was nothing like the food we had. I constantly taught them how to do things and easier/faster ways to get food out, but to Tim I wasn't doing anything important because he couldn't imagine me teaching them anything due to their "badassery".

At this point I was starting to get a little annoyed at Tim but I figured it would work out... until I got my first check. It was $10/hr. I was very confused since I was suppose to get $15, but was told that everyone was on a "trial pay" until they proved themselves, but that I had also proved myself and would get $15 next time. Over the next couple weeks I spent a lot of time at the restaurant, almost always being the last one out at night, trying to improve our issues and efficiency. Even to the point that my school work suffered and I got notices from my instructors that I was at risk of failing. I spent all my time making sure everything was done properly and fixing issues so that Joe wouldn't have to deal with it as he was there from 7am to 8pm most days.

Then my next check came around. At this point I was broke and had been overdrawn on my account for days. So I needed that money right now so I wouldn't get another overdraft fee. I was pretty surprised when I saw it at $10/hr still. Tim told me it was a mistake and if I could wait for my check for tomorrow that he would fix it. I couldn't so I said he can fix it for my next check and it would be fine for now.

Another few weeks go by and I keep getting more and more annoyed with Tim. Almost everyday I'm being told "you're the boss back here. If you can't handle it, I'll find someone who can" for the smallest issues that came up before I got in that day.

About this time we got a new cook that was so incredibly lazy that I'm honestly not sure how he keeps his job. Everytime there wasn't an order, he was sitting down on his phone, or just wasn't doing anything. I told him multiple times to prep, but he told me Tim said it was fine for him to be on his phone when there wasn't an order. Extremely abrasive to work with and complained about everything anyone did to Tim. The one day I worked with him on the grill he complained to Tim that he did all the work and that I kept running off. Except that, while I had to do orders, I also had to assign prep to the prep cooks and teach the other new cook how to do the fryer station. I did most of the work on all the tickets at the grill too, due to him not realizing orders came in when he was on his phone or decided he wanted a smoke break without asking me to cover. Then at the end of the night, he did a little bit of cleaning and said "I finished my closing, my uber is here so I have to leave". I told him that he wasn't done because everything was still out, but Tim overruled me and told him he can leave. Shockingly, I didn't get out until late due to the extra cleaning I now had to do and Tim kept telling me "why does it take you so long to clean" "I wanna leave already, hurry up".

I'm just gonna fast forward to my last day now as this is already longer than I thought it would be.

When I got in, there was barely any prep done for my station, so I did as much as I could and hoped it would be slow. That whole dinner service I kept having to prep breaded items to order and pick up slack from a guy who had stomach issues in the middle of service and was running to the restroom every 15 minutes(I don't blame him, we've all been there). Joe sent the lazy cook back to help me (because he kept messing up on the grill), and he decided that because I had to keep running off to prep stuff that he would be in charge of the kitchen. He kept calling the wrong items, calling things twice or three times, sending food that wasn't ready, and then burnt an order in the broiler when he decided that he needed a smoke break while there were still orders and didn't tell anyone.

At this point of the night I was fuming with anger. While Joe was about to leave that night I told him that I was probably quitting if my check wasn't right or if the cook complained to Tim again because I was doing my job. Joe told me "I don't blame you. Just remember you owe us nothing and if anything, we owe you." Cue the timing because that's exactly when Tim comes out and starts yelling at me because the lazy cook complained to him about me. Saying stuff like I'm not a leader because I should have prepped to lead by example and that I was taking my time with orders. I had to calm myself down before I told Tim "everything that came out of my station tonight, I had to prep in the 2 hours I had before dinner started or prep to order due to lunch shift not prepping. How can you expect me to prepare 35 items in 2 hours. I told Lazy cook to help, but he said he didn't do that because he was a line cook, not a prep cook" this is when Tim called out Lazy cook and he started saying all about how he saved dinner and I was a terrible leader for not prepping, and said it with a lot of theatrics. I told him that everything he cooked tonight, I prepped and even Joe asked Lazy cook "how many times did OP ask you to help prep and how many items did he messed up that OP had to fix" Lazy cook shut up after that and sulked back inside.

Again Tim said something like "you have to be a leader and if you can't, I'll replace you. I've got all these badass cooks lined up ready to work here(he doesn't) and we can get one to do your job". Then as we were going back inside, Tim told me that "maybe Lazy cook doesn't like you because he wants your job".

This is when everything clicked into place in my head. He had been complaining to Tim, and not Joe, about me for things I never did, because he wanted my job and was trying to get me fired. If he complained to Joe, he would tell him that he's full of shit and send him home for trying to bad mouth me for fixing other people's mistakes.

While I was cleaning, I thought really hard about how I wanted a job that didn't stress me too much and how my schoolwork has been lacking. I told myself I would sleep on making a decision and come back the next day with what I was going to do about staying or not.

As I was leaving I asked Tim for my check and again I was shocked. My check was still $10/hr. I asked him if it was a mistake and if he could fix it for me tomorrow. Tim said "well, that's not how it works. Me and Joe have to have a meeting before we give anyone a raise". I said "I w...

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Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/MaliciousCompliance/comments/1b2roli/owner_told_me_to_quit_and_so_i_did/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Stratton_MTB on 2024-02-28 23:51:38.

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So I've worked at a outdoor retail store for a little over two years now. The employee turnover rate at my job is pretty high, with most only lasting a few months. Thus, I have become one of the more knowledgeable and employees and I work primarily in the bike shop. Now, the bike shop manager also happens to be head bike tech, meaning he is often busy repairing and building bikes. He has taken a liking to me and as such, I do most of the part ordering, repair check ins, and restocking and merchandising of the department floor.

One of the few employees who has been working longer then me bought himself a brand new fat bike last spring. He lives in a small apartment, and so he stores his bike at the shop, as the bike shop manager, and store owner allow. However, it is meant to be stored in the warehouse, not on the shop floor itself.

Well one day we got a large order of bikes that we wanted to put on the floor. I went and asked this employee if he could move his bike to the warehouse or if I could for him. He told me, "yes you can bring it to the warehouse, but I don't want dirt on the tires. It needs to stay shiny and clean for the winter. Also please put it in a corner or something where it won't get dinged or scratched." Well, I am a kind and accommodating coworker, however, I don't fancy having to carry this large bike the 500 feet or so to the warehouse. So I decided that I'd make sure that no one would scratch his bike.

In our warehouse, half of it is dedicated to back stock, and the other half has our paddlesports department. In the back stock side, half of that is large shelves like you'd see at Costco or other large grocery stores and the other is bike racks for our stock that won't fit on the floor. The top of these shelves are usually left empty as we don't have a forklift, and there usually isn't enough merchandise to facilitate needing that extra space. This open space 20 feet off the ground is where my malicious compliance took place.

Carefully I climbed the ladder to the top of the shelf carrying his bike on my back. Once up there, I carefully tied it to the post that was left up there and stood it up on some cardboard boxes so as to not dirty the tires. I then climbed down, and moved the ladder. I then continued about my work and finished the merchandising.

My bike shop manager has a great sense of humor, and so when he went to the warehouse to grab a bike in for repairs, he about lost it when he saw what I had done with the bike. He came back into the store laughing his head off and agreed that is was a justly earned prank. My coworker who owned the bike, on the other hand, did not find it quite as funny. He is shorter then me and so he could not reach high enough when on top of the ladder to get it down. When I left in the fall for school, it was still up there, and I imagine he will have had to get another coworker to get it down for him.