Malicious Compliance

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Living-Ad-4941 on 2025-08-15 11:59:25+00:00.

This one is actually pretty funny. I was doing training to become an instructor in a very very lax job where jeans are a requirement. I was doing training 3 hours away and they never told us we needed a collared shirt. I was just planning to wear black V neck shirts all weekend while teaching. However, the night before my 7am class, at 9pm they text us and said “you need to have a collared shirt for tomorrow.” I was like “ain’t no way you’re telling me this 3 hours from home.” Irritated I went to Targét at 9pm and said “I’m gonna wear a Hawaiian shirt just to be spiteful. They said collared, not what kind of collared.” So I picked up one and showed up with it the next morning, took off my jacket and looked my boss square in the eye and said “be careful what you ask for.” They all laughed so hard. The students loved it. They loved it. I loved it. And that’s the story of how I ended up with a Lilo and Stitch Hawaiian shirt.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/my-reddit-saga on 2025-08-14 20:36:54+00:00.

This is from way back when I was a teenager. I started an internship at a company that sold pet food and supplies in bulk. My role was simple, I was told to clean. So I cleaned. A lot the first day. They were very happy about my job that day.

By day two, I’d already spotted many red flags. The staff kitchen had no running water and apparently hadn’t for about a year I heard. That was just one out of many problems management didn’t care about for the staff. I also noticed how no one really talked to each other, they just worked like robots with their heads down. Anyway, I worked hard and cleaned up a lot in the store this second day.

On my third day, I decided to tackle some of the mess outside that had clearly been there forever like broken soggy bags of old pet food, busted buckets, I even put some empty barrels in a shed, and cut and removed overgrown weeds. I figured I’d make the place look good for customers.

That’s when a manager stormed over and said, annoyed:

“Why are you cleaning this up? You don’t have the right to do that. You’re not allowed to clean.”

I remember I stared at him for a second thinking for myself: My entire job was to clean I was told… but now I’m not even allowed to clean? Then what am I doing here then?

So I just said to him: “Okay. Bye.”

Then I turned around went and grabbed my stuff, left the work clothes and just left, and never went back again.

I was young, still living at home, and didn’t need any income, and this was only a internship. So I had what you might call “f**k you” capital. And I wasn’t about to waste it on a place that treated people like that. I was only there for work experience. Not to get mentally abused.

If this had happened later in my life I would have looked at it differently I think, I was a teenager when this happened with very little "real life" (work) experience. Some but not much.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/heavendancer on 2025-08-14 17:17:30+00:00.

My mother is toxic and likes to have unspoken rules for me that I never know exist until I break them. However, I have one time in my life where I broke one but decided she was going to eat her own words because I had enough.

A few years ago, her birthday in May landed on a weekday with Mother's Day that weekend. I was busy at work that week and was already working weekends and overtime. But I always made sure to remember her birthday and Mother’s Day. I bought her presents, sent her a birthday card and Mother’s Day card, texted her a happy birthday and Mother’s Day and even gave a very well thought out post on her FB. It’s all I had time for. However, I never heard a word from her. She didn't call me, nor did I get a text if she even received the present that I sent her. No thank you’ s, nothing. I was too busy to even ask about it and with her typical behavior of ignoring me I just didn't press her about it.

In December a special event came up in my life which I told her about several times. My sister had similar events, and my mother always remembered hers. So, when it came and went with her saying nothing, I brought it up over text. I was told that she "didn't realize it was important to me". I was upset and admittedly angry over once again being ignored and forgotten about. Cue her usual deflection in which she then turned the entire argument around on me and that's when I found out she did receive my present - 7 months later! She then told me, and I quote, "You didn't think it hurt my feelings when you didn't bother to call me on my birthday or Mother’s Day? Sorry but Facebook cards just don't get it and neither does texting;". Fine. Cue my malicious compliance.

For the next year she never got a text, a FB post, birthday present, Mother’s Day present, Christmas present etc. But she got her phone call on her birthday and holidays. Phones calls are the ONLY thing she received because as she said, other forms of communication and thoughtful gestures didn’t cut it.

After a year of this, my mother sends in her reliable flying monkey. My sister calls me to tell me that, "Mom doesn't think you love her because you don't send her presents anymore." I'd like to say I stood my ground but at the time I was still a doormat, so the malicious compliance ended. I'm no contact with my family now but to this day...it makes me proud that for once I used her words against her and set a boundary. She never said that to me again, so it was worth it! :)

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ChampionshipAlarmed on 2025-08-14 15:05:35+00:00.

The company I work for i renovating the building and we were moved to a different office building. It's maybe 10 more commute to get there, but not a big deal.

The new building has parking, but we did not get enough access-cards for everyone, so since I only come in twice a week I did Not get one. Direct boss said I can go to the front desk and they give me a card If there is enough room, which should Always be the case since we are all on a 1/3 - time working from home contracts. A little inconvinient but still not a big deal....

So first day there and the front desk Lady is very loud and very clear that THAT is not happening. Cards are personalised but parking spots aren't... This is in an inner city so no chance to just park in the street.. so I call my boss who redirects me to his Boss...who told me to park in our old office carpark (20 min walk) or a different location of our company (15 min walk) and enjoy a nice little walk... Pardon me? So I would lose 40 min of my working time? Can't start earlier or stay longer because I need to be home when kids come home from school...

So I spoken to a works council guy.. and he just told me to read my contract...

My workplace is in my contract as the old office. So my worktime starts when I reach this adress and ends when I leave there. So sure thing bossboss I park there and a nice little walk as working hours it is. Let's see how Long I can pull this of until they react. Can't really fire me since I am one of a handfull of experts in my country and the other guy quit 3 month ago.

So two weeks and 6 "work-walks" later, we get an E-mail regarding this problem from highest level boss. And suddenly day passes can be given out and everyone has to park at the current work location - even though they do not change the location in the contracts. (I live in a country where firing people is not easy) But the front desk lady I had seen before was moved to a different location.

My time sheets were revised 4 times now and show the walk as a business trip.

Boss Boss who would have retired in 8 month got the "golden Handshake" and will retired end of this month.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Hermit-Gardener on 2025-08-14 02:40:41+00:00.

Many years ago, I had a 1981 Ford Courier pickup that needed engine work.

After meeting with a local auto repair shop that specialized in rebuilding engines, I asked if they could look at the engine and get the truck operational again. After examining the engine, he said it needed rings, valve work, plugs, plug wires, and a list of other things. I asked if he could do what he suggested for $1,000 or less. The shop owner said he could do that, we agreed on the $1,000 maximum price, and I dropped off the truck.

A couple of weeks later, he called to tell me the truck was ready to pick up, and the bill was a little over $1,300. I asked what happened to my maximum limit of $1,000?

He said that once they got in, they repaired a few extra things while the engine was open, upgraded some components beyond what was necessary, and believed it was worth the new price. I told him that I was only willing/able to spend $1,000 and that is why I gave him the maximum.

He said that if I didn't pay, they would keep the truck.

The reason I had a $1,000 maximum was if repairs were over that, I was going to take the money and buy a newer used vehicle.

After a long pause on the phone while I did some fast mental math, I told him to keep the truck and I hung up.

He called back in about three minutes and told me to come and get the truck for $1,000.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Ancient_Educator_76 on 2025-08-13 18:36:26+00:00.

Hello all. I work as both a teacher and at your Arizona Hometown Grocer. After I finish teaching 4th graders I go work in the Deli department. There are tons of things to do: sweep and mop, take in the teas, the soups, tear down the hot case (which has about twenty items that get tossed out and have dishes needing to be done). I've developed a system where I work on the dishes as I go, and there is a bell to ring if someone needs customer service.

Some customer didn't like this daunting task of having to ring a bell to get my attention, so a new policy has been adopted by the store management team: No doing dishes until the department is closed!

This is a problem.

The deli department "doesnt have the hours" to pay us past our scheduled time, and on top of this, any time we work past our scheduled time in the departments counts as overtime. Double Whammy for them. I didn't believe this was the case, but either way, this was a logistical impossibility. I knew that I couldn't do the dishes after the department closes without, you know, going past closing time.

Enter MC.

I pace back and forth through the front of the deli, watching for customers as I clean the slicers and counter tops, the only things I could do for cleaning because they were within eyesight of customers.

I have about six customers from 4-7, walking past a 4x3x3 sink full of dishes piled past the top and spilling over. I keep thinking how dumb this is that I can't do the dishes right now, but resign myself to keep to my MC plans of only working on customer service until 7pm.

I keep tearing down stations and the dishes keep getting higher and piled more messily.

Ahh finally 7pm

I start doing dishes and I finish about 2.5 hours later.

I do this two more times during the week, and get pulled into the office, with the deli manager and assistant manager both there.

Assistant Manager says: "It appears that there's a bit of a problem here, because you shouldn't be taking 3 hours to do the dishes"

then deli manager chimes in

" "Yeah why don't you do the dishes during in between customers??"

I slowly look over to a very sheepish looking assistant manager who looks at me like they want me to shut pu.

I said that "management said I can't do dishes until the department closes"

This started an argument back and forth between Silvia (my deli managedr) and the assistant manager that turned so angry that I got uncomfortable

"This overtime hours isn't coming out of my department!!! Fix it!!"

the assistant manager yelled back at her "Look you're overstepping here. We'll take it out of mine this time... just OP, make sure you do dishes in between customers. "

I got close to 9 hours overtime that week. Maybe I'll get some new shoes :)

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/SubmarineRadio on 2025-08-13 12:00:32+00:00.

So I’m in the military, and anyone who’s served knows the sacred ritual of the urinalysis. It’s not just peeing in a cup, it’s peeing in a cup while being stared at like you’re about to commit a felony with your bladder.

Normally, the observer stands behind you, gives you space, and just makes sure you’re not pulling any shady business. But this time? Nah. This guy was new and clearly took “direct observation” to mean “make eye contact with the stream.”

He tells me, “Pants and underwear all the way down. Shirt up. Hands at your sides. No touching anything. I need a clear view.”

I blinked. “You want a clear view?” He nodded, dead serious.

So I complied. Maliciously. I dropped everything to my ankles, lifted my shirt like I was flashing Times Square, and stood there like a statue. I made direct eye contact with him the entire time. No blinking. No shame. Just pure, unfiltered compliance.

He looked uncomfortable. I looked serene. It took me a solid minute to start peeing because, you know, performance anxiety. But I held the pose. I even asked, “Is this clear enough for you, sir?”

He said he’s only making me do it per the instruction at the command. He kind of just stared at the wall like he regretted every life choice that led him to this moment. After I finished, I pulled everything up, washed my hands, and walked out.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Icy-Computer-Poop on 2025-08-13 10:49:34+00:00.

I'm 24, living in my first place on my own. I'd rented a townhouse (this was back in the late 80s even when poor people could rent entire houses) and was putting myself through college. Not a lot of money to spare, but I was getting by.

The townhouse was not detached, and I had 2 neighbours whose homes were directly attached to my own. I got along fine with my southern-most neighbour (aka we said "hi" when we saw each other and that was about it) but the other neighbour, he had a chip on his shoulder. Generally rude if we bumped into each other, I'd say "hi" or "good morning", he'd ignore me, scowl, turn away, etc. Whatever, no big deal, I just took it in stride.

Being a struggling college student, I didn't have a lot of money for non-essentials. Most of the people in the neighbourhood poured weedkillers on their lawns every spring. I didn't do this, for several reasons. Most important, I think it's a shame to poison the local water table, and while I love a nice lawn, I don't think you have to cater to grass. I prefer a more natural look. Back then, that meant regular grass, but with some crabgrass and dandelions.

One day Bob starts berating me over my dandelions. "It doesn't fit the neighbourhood! Don't you have any self respect? You bring down the tone of the neighbourhood!" Every time he'd see me, he'd tell me I need to pour poison on my lawn (which I explained I couldn't afford and didn't want to do). At first I was polite as I wanted to be on good terms with my neighbours, but Bob started getting angrier and angrier, and more and more unreasonable, started calling me "poor white trash".

One day I'm coming home, parking in my driveway with some friends from school in my car. As we're getting out, Bob comes outside and shouts, at the top of his lungs, "GET RID OF THOSE FUCKING DANDELIONS!!!"

He looks over and now spots my friends getting out of the car, and he's clearly embarrassed, but he doubled down and started talking directly to my friends. "Did you know your friend is an embarrassment to the neighbourhood? How's it feel to be friends with white trash?" I had just about had enough of his anger by then, and I snapped back, told him to fuck off and mind his own business.

Several days later I get a knock on my front door. Open up the door, and it's a bylaw enforcement officer. Says he's responding to complaints of "noxious weeds" in my backyard, and asks to come take a look for himself (being a middle unit, the only access to my backyard was through the house).

I invite him in, offer him a drink of (which he gratefully accepts; hot day!) and take him through to the backyard. Lots of lovely white and yellow dandelions peppered over the yard. He takes one look, and gives a deep sigh. There were no "noxious weeds", which I knew full well, as I had long ago taken the precaution of checking with the city to see what was and what was not acceptable in the weed department. And I knew I was well, very comfortably, within compliance.

The bylaw cop apologized for wasting my time, said my yard was "Nowhere near" a problem. He left, and went next door to chastise my neighbour for wasting his time. I stood at my front door and listened, it was glorious listening to Bob sputtering and angry, trying to defend himself and vilify me, all to no avail. "My wife and I can't even sit out and enjoy our back yard, because of all those stupid dandelions!" Bylaw cop told him to stop harassing his neighbours and left.

But listening in gave me an idea. I knew Bob liked to sit out on his back deck in the afternoons, so I waited. As soon as I spotted him out there, I walked out into my backyard, ignoring Bob as I gathered up a nice bouquet of white-topped dandelions, seeds ready to disperse to the wind. We had a 4-foot high chain link fence between our properties, so the view between yards was pretty much unobstructed.

I stood at the fence, locked eyes with Bob, and started blowing thousands of dandelion seeds into his yard. The wind was at my back so the seeds were traveling quite far into his yard. He grew red-faced and started yelling at me.

"What's the matter Bob? I'm just doing what you asked, and getting rid of my dandelions."

He yelled more, and I just ignored him. After depositing several dandelions worth of seeds he went back inside. From that day forward, for the next several weeks, every single time I saw him out on his deck, I'd go out and send more dandelion seeds into his yard.

Eventually dandelion flowering season ended. I wanted to think that Bob learned a lesson about bullying. But he didn't. I'll post some of his other bullying attempts at some other time.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/messyjessie0 on 2025-08-12 21:03:47+00:00.

I (21F) work part-time at a retail clothing store while I’m finishing college. It’s your typical mall chain: overpriced basics, weird music, and managers who think “the customer is always right” even when the customer is actively shoplifting. One day during my shift, my manager Craig (40s, always smells like Axe and insecurity) pulled me aside and said, “Hey, I noticed you don’t smile much. You should really smile more—it makes customers feel welcome.” I said, “You mean be friendlier?” He said, “No, literally just smile more. Even when no one’s talking to you. Just keep a smile on.”

Okay, Craig. You want smiles? You got it.

For the rest of my shift—and every shift after—I smiled. But not like, normal smiling. I smiled wide, with too much teeth. I smiled while folding jeans. I smiled while sweeping. I smiled while telling a Karen we didn’t have her size. I smiled at customers until they asked, “Are you okay?”

One guy legit said I looked like I was about to snap. Another asked if I was in a cult. A little kid started crying when I greeted her at the fitting room. Coworkers caught on and joined me. We started calling it “Smile Mode.” By the end of the week, it looked like a haunted mannequin showroom. Craig finally told us to “tone it down.” I asked sweetly, still smiling, “Oh, I thought you said to smile more?”

He didn’t bring it up again.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Arokthis on 2025-08-12 02:44:10+00:00.

My 32 year old housemate has a daughter that will be 8 in October. Housemate took daughter and 9 year old stepdaughter out for a drive to alleviate some of their cabin fever. They stopped somewhere and she allowed them to buy some of those cheap plastic recorders, AKA Satan's flutes. (IYKYK, IYDKYDWTK!)

As soon as I saw the damned things, I told the girls they could only be played outside or I would break them in half.

The almost-8-year-old proceeded to stand right outside the OPEN door and let rip for a minute or so before her mother snatched it from her and said "Okay. You're done for the day." and slamming the door in her face.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/TenNinetythree on 2025-08-11 20:42:33+00:00.

I am in rehab from a brain edema and even though I live in. Ireland, my PT used inches to tell me to adjust my position and I, as a German immigrant, found it confusing, so, given that I experienced that I get further if I make people laugh, I said: "I only do metric or traditional Burmese Units!"

From the next session on they told me to adjust my position "a couple of let thit!"

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Magnolia on 2025-08-11 03:45:14+00:00.

I used to work for a tech Contracting Company that pinched pennies. This company recruited a handful of people for a Large Tech company, and got away with paying below market wages because they targeted new grads and let us all work remotely. I was fresh out of college and just thankful to have a job, especially one in my field.

My company's travel policy covered airfare (cheapest option only!!), hotel costs (very low cost cap per night), and a small per diem for food (one decent dinner would eat up most of this). (Their "travel policy" actually started out as "we will not reimburse you for anything but will also fire you if you don't show up", which is a different story for another time!).

Most everyone on my team was out of state and would require a flight to get to the office on the rare occasion us remote workers were required in office (3-4 times a year). I was, however, fairly close to the office, and whenever I traveled, would just drive my car. The gas costs were minimal and I liked having a car with me. And my company was happy because I could get cheaper hotels that were slightly farther from the office, and they didn't have to pay for airfare! (Flying was technically possible for me -- would have been several hundred dollars though).

After one trip, I mentioned to a manager at Large Tech that I wasn't getting mileage reimbursement for driving my personal car, and she flagged it to Contracting Company, and forced them to change their policy (which was very kind of her, but was not my intention!). So I got a retroactive reimbursement for mileage for that trip, which ended up being just over $100 for a week and a half of travel. Nothing crazy -- I was glad to have it, and was happy that would be the policy going forward.

But when planning my next trip, Contracting Company mentioned their travel policy had been updated. No more reimbursing mileage for personal vehicles, but now car rentals were covered if the worker was located within 500 miles and would be driving to the office. And they recommended I rent a car for this trip, since they figured it would be cheaper than getting a flight.

I asked if I could just drive my car and get reimbursed like last time, but they declined and said it was the new policy.

Since they wanted to save money, and I'm such a team player, I went with their recommendation and rented a car for my next two week trip. The only car within policy was a tiny sedan, the cheapest option.

I was 21 at this point in my life, maybe 22. Car rental companies have a daily surcharge for drivers under 25. So the total cost for just the car ended up being close to $800, before the cost of gas. Which was actually more than before, since this tiny sedan was not actually fuel efficient at all, compared to my personal car.

After the trip I submitted my receipts for reimbursement and got pushback due to the cost. Just company policy!

They did pay me back after about a month or so. And they told me next trip, I could drive my own car again, and they'd reimburse for mileage, and would be updating their policy again to reflect this. But then the pandemic happened, and all in-office visits were cancelled.

I now am lucky enough to work at a different company that has a very generous travel policy, and treats its employees very well overall, which I appreciate more fully than some of my current coworkers, I think.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/al1cewillson on 2025-08-10 21:30:45+00:00.

I (18f) work part time at a small retail store. One morning, I came in early as usual and started unpacking boxes so we could get the floor stocked before opening. My manager walked in, saw me working, and said, “Don’t start until I tell you.

Alright then.

So I stood there, leaning against the counter, watching the boxes sit untouched. She chatted with another employee, checked her phone, and wondered around for a good 40 minutes. Finally, she looked at me and asked, “Why isn’t anything done yet?”

I smiled and said, “I was waiting for you to tell me to start.”

She just sighed and told me to get moving. She never gave me that rule again.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/my-reddit-saga on 2025-08-09 20:37:13+00:00.

This happened a long time ago, about 13 to 15 years ago. I had just started a job at a government agency, where I was responsible for a big fleet of cars. My duties included driving the vehicles to various places like repair shops, tire companies, glass repair shops, and inspection centers. I also performed simple repairs myself, like replacing some light bulbs (not all). In addition to all of that, I hand-washed and cleaned every car, both inside and out, refilled the windshield washer fluid, and made sure all the required items were in each car.

Washing a car inside and out, checking the fluids, and making sure all the necessary equipment was present took a minimum of 45 minutes and a maximum of about an hour. About a month into the job, my boss decided I was taking too much advantage of my flexible working hours and told me that I had to stop working precisely at 4:00 PM. So I decided to follow my boss's rule to the letter.

As the days went on, and if it was after 3:15 PM, I didn't think I had enough time to start washing and fixing another car. So instead, I did other small tasks like sweeping the floor or restocking the supply room. After a few weeks of this, my boss noticed that fewer cars had been cleaned and fixed in total. So he called me into a meeting to ask why. That's when I brought up his policy that I had to leave at exactly 4:00 PM and that I shouldn't be "taking advantage" of my flexible hours.

The boss suddenly realized why I had been "taking advantage" of the flexible hours before—I was simply working smart. Some days, I would go home a little earlier after a car was finished, and on other days, I needed an extra 5 to 20 minutes to complete a car. It wasn't a daily issue, but it happened often enough that the boss's new policy created a problem. So After the boss had been thinking for a moment, he said that we should go back to the way I was working before. He apologized for his poor policy and admitted that he was wrong. I ended up staying at that job for about two more years, and we got along well for that entire time.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Primary-Ladder8310 on 2025-08-09 00:38:55+00:00.

If you've seen my other posts in this sub- Reddit, they all seem to do something with trucking. Trucking and diesel mechanics which was my entire adult careers. I think truck driving is mostly about compliance and malicious compliance. I hope this fits here.

In high school I went to tech school for auto mechanics. Since I was little, I always wanted to be a mechanic. Upon graduation I went directly to work as a mechanic. The work didn't bother me so much, but I hated the shop, One day I realized the best part of my day was the test drive. So, I thought being a truck driver would be the perfect job for me. So, I worked towards that goal. Soon after my 20th birthday I got a job driving a truck.

I loved the open road! Back then Pennsylvania used the class 1, 2, 3, license system. Class 1 was for 18 wheelers. Class 2 was for large trucks over 30K lbs. gross vehicle weight; Class 3 was passenger vehicles. The company I worked for had 2 delivery trucks and I was driver #2. All was great, till....

About 3 and a half years after I started Pennsylvania decided to go with the Federal Commercial Driver's License. The classes all worked the same, with differences. Instead of 1, 2, 3, it is now A, B, C. Class A is 18- wheelers, Class B is all other trucks over 27k lbs. And Class C was passenger vehicles. Class 3 and class C vehicles only needed a regular driver's license to drive them. All other classes required extra testing to get the proper license. Once you had your truck permit you had to be able to get a truck and licensed driver to test drive and practice with. Then take the driving test. Followed by the written test, to get your license. I have a problem. I don't know another CDL driver, nor anyone who will allow me to borrow a truck to take the test. My only other option is to enroll into a truck driving school. At 20 living on my own, that was not an option. Our trucks were originally rated at class 3 because they had no air brakes and weighed 28k lbs. The company chose this route so they could pay drivers less. However, with the Federal class system, our trucks are now class B requiring a CDL

So, the characters. There is me (OP). A 20M truck driver. Fred 40ishM (the company part owner) John 30ishM (my manager under Fred).

Pennsylvania had a 3-month deadline to get your CDL, or you cannot drive. One day John asks me "Are you going to get your CDL"? I say "I don't know. Is the company goanna pay for it?" "I don't know" said John" "Lemme talk to Fred". At this point I am the only driver they have. John and I work together well. I have a great working relationship with everyone in the company, and our customers as well, well, everyone but Fred. Fred bought into to the company a year ago. From day one he had an issue with me. He always assumed I was doing the wrong thing but never had true cause. Since day one, he would only speak to me if he had to. No small talk, no smile.

A month passes and I do not get an answer one way or the other. Till Fred asks me one day. "Are you going to get your CDL"? I say, "Are you paying for it"? "No" he says. So, I reply "No" as well. Another month goes by, and Fred and I have the same conversation. But this time Fred asked," What are you going to do for work"? I looked at him dead in the eye and said, "This isn't the only job"!

The malicious compliance. What I knew that Fred apparently didn't realize was that in just over 2 weeks they could not deliver product unless they hire someone for a lot more money to drive. So, they were going to have to comply to my demand or lose 85% of their business!

With almost 2 weeks to go till the deadline John says to me," On Saturday take the company pickup, drive to Harrisburg, and get your permit. You will be paid for your time"! I found a few weeks earlier that if I drove the same truck for 3 years, I could get a waiver of the permit. As long as the company owner is willing to sign an affidavit that I drove there 3 years or more, I could skip all of the driving portion, get my permit, then take the written test and get my CDL. I did not tell Fred that. Instead, I went to the other owner of the company and had him sign.

Saturday comes, I get on the road at 4am to be in Harrisburg DMV by 5:30 or 6am. When I get there, I am surprised. The line for the DMV runs out the door and around the block! I estimate when they open at 7:00am I will be about 500th in line! It took another 2.5hrs, but I walked out with my permit. Now for the test!

To Pennsylvania's credit, they had a firehouse in every county as a temporary CDL testing site. Due to the volume of people who needed testing. I tried to get into 3 different testing sites, but they were packed and closed before I navigated the line to get in. After that my office called around to reserve a spot for me. Finally on Thursday afternoon I get a call to get to a particular testing site in one hour, and I have a seat to take the test. The problem... I was an hour and a half away from the site! Well, I floored it, bent a few laws, but I got to the site as they were closing the doors, and got in.

To get a CDL you must pass the general truck test, and the air brake test. Then you can take the test for endorsements on your license. They include Tanker, School bus, Passenger (bus), double busses (think long bus that bends in the middle), double and triple trailers (commonly seen behind Fed EX and UPS trucks), and lastly HazMat (for trucks hauling hazardous materials over 50lbs.). I was there to take two tests; I took all but one! I took every test but HazMat. I was the last person to walk in and sit down with my test. I was the first to leave. As I was walking out I heard one guy say to his friend "I guess he failed", In the back of the room was a computer that graded your test and gave you the score right then. 80 and above to pass. Fingers crossed my test was ran through the computer. I passed all tests with my lowest score being an 87, each test scored individually!

That Saturday same deal. Take the pickup, drive to Harrisburg, get my license. But this time I left at 3:00am and good thing I did. This time I was about 300th in line. It still took about 2 hours once I got inside. By the time I came out with my license the line was over 1500 people and growing.

All in all. Over that 2-week period I got about 25hrs of overtime, a CDL, and a pay raise. I left the company about a year later; I continued to drive trucks for the next 11 years. Before becoming a diesel tech. Having a CDL was very helpful through my diesel career. In most cases having the CDL got me to the front of the line and/or increased my starting salary. In some shops I worked I was the only tech legal to drive a truck on test drives!

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/danofied on 2025-08-08 20:46:47+00:00.

i (16F) work as a lifeguard at a small/medium sized waterpark, we basically scan the water all day other than lunch/rotation breaks so most of us get upset pretty easily if anyone starts acting assholish

yesterday i had already had a “rescue” (not real- just to test my response) so i was already irritated and cold and i was positioned at the lazy river with 4 other lifeguards who were all also teenage girls

these two boys, prob 12-13, came and one of them started asking for our names and numbers/“flirting” and just overall trying to get a reaction out of us, i told him he had to stop because we were working and it wasnt funny so he left reluctantly

about 20 mins later he comes back in w/o his friend (who was in a surrounding chair watching) and starts bobbing his head in and out of the water while making gargling noises, all the other guards he passed just ignored/laughed but i was tired of his bs so when he passed me i asked “are you drowning?”, he goes “i think so” so i blew my whistle and jumped in and pulled him out

he was pretty mad and seemed embarrassed and started screaming that he wasn’t pretending to drown he was “just trying to go in and out” (whatever that means), i saw him talking to a foods employee who im assuming is his brother but whoever it was knocked some sense into him

he apologized and didnt bother us again lol

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/cynical-mage on 2025-08-08 12:46:37+00:00.

The background here is that during work, I had an accident that damaged my back; slipped discs that didn't resolve, and subsequent additional damage due to unnatural wear and tear from compensating poor posture and gait. I had a fit note that cleared me for light duties.

Now, most of my store team were (and are, these guys are my family even years later) incredibly supportive of my various limitations. Depending on whether I was having a good day or bad, they'd shuffle things around. We did that for everyone, we worked to accommodate whoever needed a helping hand, just to clarify that I wasn't given special treatment. My main difficulty is standing still; sitting, walking, moving, those are fine. On a good day, I can stand at the self checkouts for a couple of hours (with some pacing). On a bad day, not at all. Good days I can work delivery or backstock, bad days I did decarding, facing up, put backs, writeoffs and sitting on tills.

However, one colleague was not. She considered it drastically unfair that everyone worked around my damage. So much so that she went above everyone to file a complaint to the store manager that I should be forced to do self checkouts too.

Sunday evening, a charming message was sent to the work WhatsApp group by one of the lower managers stating that going forward, 'having pain here so you can't do self checkouts, having pain there so you can't do delivery, will no longer be accepted. Unless you have a fit note, you can't refuse to do your tasks.' I was scheduled to work on the Monday, thankfully a closing shift, so I had a narrow window to work with.

Monday 8am, the stars aligned; I was blessed to snag a telephone call back from a GP. If you're in the UK, you'll know how hard it is to talk to a doctor, let alone see one since the plague. It's a nightmare. Anyway, I explained the situation to her. And she was furious. Emailed me an amended fit note to hand in to work.

That afternoon, I cheerfully went in and handed it to the duty manager for the shift, who read it and then promptly started pissing herself laughing before letting me get started.

A 3mth fit note that prohibited me from any lifting, pulling, standing, anything remotely strenuous whatsoever, and stated frequent, regular breaks. Effectively barring me from allllll the tasks I did on good days.

Apparently that colleague blew a gasket; filed a complaint with the area manager, who dismissed it, whereupon she told him she'd go to HR about this, as well as his inaction, and was promptly told that this would constitute harassment and disability discrimination if she insisted.

Well, you did want a fit note 🤷‍♀️

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/dye-area on 2025-08-03 03:48:34+00:00.

I'm a door greeter at a local shopping centre, and the bosses on up high have allowed me to play my own music (up until now it's been the same 15 or so songs for the entirety of every shift and if I have to hear Too Sweet by Hozier one more time I'll cry) while I stand there. The one caveat? Each and every song I submit to the playlist must be approved by the managers or whomever that task is delegated to.

Now i have a large, unique and eclectic music taste across basically all genres, so my playlists are BIG. Very big. 12 hours+ levels of big. If they want to tell me which songs I can and can't play, they can trawl through all 12 or more hours of my playlists and I will submit multiple, with songs shared between them. Gotta make sure the playlist remains compliant of course.

It feels good to waste their time and even better to introduce them to new songs

EDIT: After reading all your comments on this I have realised that it would not actually be the malicious compliance that I estimated it to be and would infact just be me ruining it for others. Thank you all for your input and I will instead be submitting a handful of songs every week or so

UPDATE: I told my manager what the plan was (turns out he's actually super chill) and he said that while it definitely would lead to having the choosing music idea scrapped, it would be kinda funny and he wants some music recommendations from me. I let him know that now I'll send in a handful - like 4 or 5 songs a week and build up the playlist over time. So technically happy ending for everyone??

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ChampionshipAlarmed on 2025-08-06 11:08:07+00:00.

The company I work for i renovating the building and we were moved to a different office building. It's maybe 10 more commute to get there, but not a big deal.

The new building has parking, but we did not get enough access-cards for everyone, so since I only come in twice a week I did Not get one. Direct boss said I can go to the front desk and they give me a card If there is enough room, which should Always be the case since we are all on a 1/3 - time working from home contracts. A little inconvinient but still not a big deal....

So first day there and the front desk Lady is very loud and very clear that THAT is not happening. Cards are personalised but parking spots aren't... This is in an inner city so no chance to just park in the street.. so I call my boss who redirects me to his Boss...who told me to park in our old office carpark (20 min walk) or a different location of our company (15 min walk) and enjoy a nice little walk... Pardon me? So I would lose 40 min of my working time? Can't start earlier or stay longer because I need to be home when kids come home from school...

So I spoken to a works council guy.. and he just told me to read my contract...

My workplace is in my contract as the old office. So my worktime starts when I reach this adress and ends when I leave there. So sure thing bossboss I park there and a nice little walk as working hours it is. Let's see how Long I can pull this of until they react. Can't really fire me since I am one of a handfull of experts in my country and the other guy quit 3 month ago.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/No_Bait on 2025-08-05 16:04:47+00:00.

Once upon a time, I worked for a boss who would try to passively micro manage my work. For context, I was the manager of multiple locations and I would handle everything that is related to the store i.e the cash, vendor invoices, profits and everything in between.

When I first took up this position, they expected me to learn everything on my own, no proper training, no one to reach out to if I was stuck at something. However, gradually, I picked it all up and mastered every single entry and transaction.

When this manager started seeing my progress, he started asking me all the unnecessary "why's" and "How come this and how come that?". Then he started questioning my accounting and said "From this point on, I want pictures of all the transactions that you handle" say no more..... For the next few months, I would bombard his phone with every little transaction detail and tag him in everything that I was doing. If something's not taken care of and the upper management questions me, I'd simply say "I asked my boss but he never responded".

Eventually, this boss called me one day and asked me to stop sending him pictures because his phone is now lagging due to low storage and that he has to spend a lot of time deleting those thousands of pictures.

I know this is not even close to some of the posts here but malicious is malicious I guess.

Thank you for reading 😊

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Watching20 on 2025-08-04 21:24:36+00:00.

I once had a job where I did network support for a corporation in a city that supported a manufacturing plant in another state. That plant started operations at 7 every morning and the software and data connections had to be up and running when the plant started or they couldn’t do their business. So, I made it my job to make sure I was there at 7 every morning.  Because of this I would leave around 4:000 pm in the afternoon. One day somebody had some network problem at 4:30 and I was not there to answer questions.  I’m not talking about problems at the plant. I’m talking about one person in the office had trouble with their terminal.  The next day I was given a lecture that I had to stay until 5 every day. I tried to point out the reason for the early arrival and departure.  But the manager, of course, couldn’t understand this logic. She wanted me there until 5 because her friend had issues getting her terminal to work at 4:30 one day. 

Because of the sub this is listed on, I guess you know what happened. I started working 8 to 5. It wasn’t two weeks before there was a problem at the with the plant communications at 7:00 am.  I got the call around 7:00, all I could do was say “I’ll be there as soon as I can, but I just got out of bed so it’s going to be about an hour.”  Nobody got fired over this and nobody had to eat crow and tell me to return to arriving at 7. But not a single person ever said anything about me leaving at 4:00 again.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/NoAdhesiveness5280 on 2025-08-04 12:24:34+00:00.

So my job is going back and forth with allowing OT the past couple of weeks. One day I’d get told no OT the next yes you can have it but only if approved. Back to no OT I was getting sick of it. So not wanting to get in trouble and knowing I had to stay later sometime during the workweek I left 20 minutes early so I could stay later when it was needed. Today I got talked to about leaving early the day before and how there was still stuff to do. I explained why I left and how I just wanted to avoid getting in trouble and suddenly they finally gave me an actual answer. That I can get up to 3 hours OT per week. Funny how malicious compliance is needed to get actual answers

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/l__o-o__l on 2025-08-03 21:10:19+00:00.

https://local12.com/news/nation-world/fine-pennies-coins-paid-pays-20000-thousands-tens-thousand-city-clerk-town-county-government-funny-video-watch-money-land-illegal-fines-pay-fair-stunt-floor-pour-pile-hundreds-dollars-bank

PALERMO, Maine (WABI/CNN newsource/WKRC)

Contractor Kirk Sherman told reporters he bought a waterfront property on Lake Sheepscot in April of 2024.

"We actually approached the town before we bought the property about what could be done on it," Sherman said. "He stated that we could do a six foot meandering path for 100 feet, then the next into the next 200 feet we could fill in 1/10 of an acre."

Robert Kurek, a selectman of the local Palermo government, said, "What we got was a 20 to 12 foot road built with a bulldozer, basically. The area, the 250 feet, is also an area that that cleans the water that that different wildlife use and things like that and you start to compact that soil. You know you can affect the the health of the lake."

Sherman did disrupt the wetlands, as determined by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, but if he rectified the issue fast enough the department would not punish him. However, it was still up to the municipality to decide if they wanted to pursue punitive action.

"Within a day of the notification, we'd hired the people that we had were supposed to," Sherman said. "We'd contacted DEP. We've done exactly everything the D.E.P. asked us to do, and the D.E.P. is fine with it, they didn't write a violation or even give a fine."

Sherman was fined $20,000 by the city of Palermo, which he delivered by dumping 12,000 pounds of pennies onto the floor of the Palermo Town Office.

"I'm paying it, and I just want them to realize that they weren't fair with us," Sherman said. "So this is our kind of one fun way of saying, 'Here's your payment, good luck."

Kurek didn't find the gesture "fun," saying, "While we can't speculate why they did what they did, we find it very unprofessional on their part. And we believe everybody that deals with the town ought to deal with the town in a respectful manner."

The city said it was considering adding a handling fee for forcing the town clerks to count the change.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/No-Strike7448 on 2025-08-02 00:57:41+00:00.

So, a couple weeks ago my boss gave me a taking to. For reference I work at a very small independent neighborhood coffee shop. I know most of the regulars by order and the newbies I can generally give a good time to.

This particular customer, regular though she is, is absolutely garbage. Rude, entitled, belittling, disrespectful; you name it. Usually I try to give minimal interaction, but one day I apparently didn't do things just right

So I get to work one day, and the boss tells me he's gotten a complaint. Now, I've been there for almost 13 years, and aside from the growing pains of starting what is the equivalent of a coffee shop version of a dive bar, I have had complaints that I can count on one hand.

Anyway, he goes on to tell me that a customer has complained that I've been rude/dismissive, etc... I say, okay. I will definitely be mindful of things with this customer moving forward

Cue malicious compliance

Every. Single. Time. I have seen her since, she gets the absolute, over-the-top, stepford barista treatment. Think June Cleaver ratcheted up to 13. Just pouring on the 'midwestern nice' like a thick saccharine syrup.

I've been doing this for at least two maybe two and a half weeks. And, believe me when I say that it drives me absolutely out of my mind to do it. It takes so much energy to treat this human this way.

Except today.

Today I gave her the exact same treatment as I have been. Except today she made a crucial error. She let it slip that the way I talk to her is irritating.

When I tell you I haven't had such a rush of happy brain chemicals in almost a decade, it's not a lie. And, now that I know it annoys her, it'll keep happening. Because now, it's not going to take excess energy to do it. Now it's fueled by spite.

TL;DR: customer complained I was rude, so I'm "killing her with kindness" and she finds it irritating. Ergo, I will never stop

Edit: someone pointed out an error in my recollection timeline. Mea maxima culpa

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/xSwizzleStickx on 2025-08-01 19:43:09+00:00.

I've trained my toddler to do exactly that for diaper change. He lifts his bum, I take care of business, he puts his bum down, and I close up shop.

He's not exactly a fan of diaper changes, especially when he was in the middle of play time, so today he decided that he just wouldn't put his bum down. I would press him down, but once I took my hands off his hips to do the flaps, his bum would go right back up again.

To be fair, it wasn't exactly malicious, but it was definitely a pain in the... bum