Malicious Compliance

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/This_Pattern_4245 on 2025-10-23 02:31:16+00:00.

I’m an admin assistant for a small engineering company. I often help our junior engineers with formatting reports, printing large blueprints, etc. I do it because it saves time, and they always appreciate it. Our new project manager, Rick, decided this was not efficient and said from now on, all requests must go through him in writing. No casual favors, no helping unless he logs it officially.

So I stopped helping.

For two weeks, engineers were waiting days for simple print jobs and report formatting because Rick never submitted the requests. Clients started calling wondering why deliverables were late.

My boss finally asked what was happening. I pulled up Rick’s policy memo.

Rick had to sit there while my boss read it, looked at him, and said:

Then maybe you should start submitting requests, Rick.

We went back to normal the next day. I even got a coffee gift card from the engineers.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/insiderecess on 2025-10-23 00:23:45+00:00.

My field of work has a high turnover and high burn out rate. As a result, my company promotes transparent conversations with staff members to ensure we are all implementing self care, taking PTO as needed, and asking for managerial support when overwhelmed with tasks.

Last year, my work began to suffer. I was struggling losing two close family members suddenly, and was transparent in hopes they would understand why I was withdrawn and had lower productivity. My manager wrote me up as a result of my burn out, citing that I was using our 1:1’s inappropriately, causing stress among the team with my grief, and talking about being burnt out too much. The write up included every single 1:1 documentation of when I asked for help with burn out. Management instructed me to stop talking about burn out.

No problem.

I stopped bringing up burn out, being transparent, and asking support. About 2 months later, I request a 7 week leave of absence; citing extreme burn out and mental health issues. Management was shocked, and angry that I did not tell them I was struggling or burning out. I handed them a copy of my write up and said “The action plan I received stated I could not talk about burn out anymore.”

Management was scolded for inadvertently creating a hostile work environment where staff couldn’t ask for support. I got 7 weeks off and partial pay, and they had to cover my job for that entire time I was out.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/AliVista_LilSista on 2025-10-22 03:42:39+00:00.

Colleague works out a lot. He's a big ripped dude who clearly doesn't skip leg day. Anyway-- Boxing gym, Crossfit, HEMA sword and buckler classes, cardio, tai chi or something ... he does a lot.

He keeps all of his workout gear in two big workout bags. One has his fighting stuff, the other one has the rest.

Said colleague is going through a very high conflict divorce. I'd say "unfortunately" but he's dodging a metaphorical if not a literal bullet and I'm glad for him. She's super entitled and has "8th grade bully" type of mean girl energy. She is not a nice person. She not only knows this, but cultivates this.

They formally separated, and he moved out pretty suddenly because she got scary threatening and he escaped with his cats, his laptop and the clothes he c was wearing. No workout gear. No kitchen gear.

Getting stuff is increasingly complicated because he has a protective order against her. He can't go to the house when she's there, and has to get some sort of permission any other time. He can't just get his things. Even though it's his house. Everything essentially goes through lawyers or the courts right now. It's messy.

Now, all he wanted in the interim were his cats, his snake, his workout gear, his chef knives and some pans, and his electronics. Once the cats and python were safe he asked this ex-in-progress for his workout bags.

Ex hands over the workout gear bags.

Just the bags.

Empty.

He had asked for "my workout bags" .... and yes, he got his workout bags... technically.

I'm waiting to see if he gets the rest ever.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/AlienAnimaReleased on 2025-10-20 05:22:38+00:00.

A couple of years ago, I got shuffled out of the business side and into IT during a re-org. The official reason was “better alignment with software delivery.” The real reason? I’m expensive, I don’t do sales, and IT has a bigger budget. Also, and this is educated speculation, I kept not approving IT’s builds for not meeting specs — which, apparently, makes me “difficult” and not “solution oriented.”

So now I report to the executive I had previously challenged over the quality of his team’s work.

Since joining IT, everything has to be a ticket. Doesn’t matter if it’s a question, a clarification, or divine revelation — no ticket, no work. PMs handle ticket creation and prioritization, which sounds fine in theory, except my actual job is to consult with business analysts and developers. I know more about the rules, regulations, and use cases of our software than anyone in the company and my work doesn’t easily fall into a ticket as it’s more of a problem solving role for existing tickets.

Still, no ticket = no work. Bureaucracy over brains.

Clients — especially senior ones — tend to reach out to me directly because I can actually answer their questions. Normally, I’d just respond and, if needed, make a ticket afterward for tracking.

But management didn’t like that.

After one particularly “spirited discussion,” over delays to close low priority tickets in leu of responding to high priority client emails, my boss told me to stop responding to client emails altogether. I was to forward them to PMs, who would create, prioritize, and assign tickets.

I explained, patiently, that these emails often come from executives and need quick turnaround.

Boss’s response?

“Follow the process or we won’t know how overworked you are.”

Okay then, boss. Let’s follow the process.

A week later, I get an email from the CFO of one of our biggest clients asking for details about a customized build. Normally I’d get an estimate out in a couple of hours. Instead, I cc’d my boss and PM, confirmed I’d received the request, and politely asked them to create and assign a ticket.

A few days later, the CFO followed up: “We need this by Friday.”

I replied again — cc’ing everyone — apologizing for the delay and asking that the assigned resource take note of the urgency. (Knowing full well no one had assigned the ticket.)

Behind the scenes, I had already done the estimate and informed the client what was happening. Spoiler: nothing.

Suddenly, my boss is frantically pinging me:

“Why haven’t you gotten back to the CFO?!”

I calmly reminded him that:

1. He told me to only work on assigned tickets.
2. He was cc’d on every email.
3. He’d have to ask the PM for a status update.

There was a long, delicious silence before he finally replied:

“Okay… you don’t need a ticket for everything. In the future, if it’s from an executive, just respond and make a ticket afterward.”

Sure thing, boss. Glad we cleared that up.

I sent the estimate, everyone was happy, and peace was restored. And better yet, management now puts results over process.

Well the first part anyway, but peace and results? Well, that’s a malicious compliance story for another day.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/SilkPeachy on 2025-10-19 05:29:00+00:00.

My boss once announced a strict rule during training. NO phones out during work hours. No exceptions.

A week later, he called me three times during my shift to ask why I didn’t answer his messages. When I finally called back on my break, I said:

Sorry, I was following the no phone no exceptions rule.

He stopped enforcing that rule the next day.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Business_Wolf5599 on 2025-10-18 01:28:41+00:00.

I used to work in a retirement village with a communal restaurant/dinning room.

There was this awful family who despite being only a 15 minute drive away from the village would almost never visit their mother, we can call the mother Sam. Sam was kind. Sam's family were constantly neglecting to provide items such as clothing and most of Sams valuables had in my opinion been stolen by them. As they were the power of attorney for financial, personal and health matters nothing legally could be done apparently...

Fast forward to a hot Australian Christmas day. The village is hosting a Christmas lunch for the old people who didn't manage to go out for the day. Family's were welcome but you had to book ahead. The invitation clearly said to "bring a jumper" as the AC was very cold to cater for the constant opening of the dinning room doors with guests coming and going. Naturally Sam's family failed to book a seat and had to be accommodated last minute. Naturally they were the only ones without a jumper.

I got the privilege of finding them a place to sit so I dressed Sam in an extra warm nice outfit and set up the table under the big main AC vent.

10 minutes later Sam's annoyed son and daughter in law approached me and asked "can you please turn down the air conditioning it is too cold."

"Yep no problem I can do that" I said. And I did. I turned that AC down and extra 4 degrees (I think to 16 degrees Celsius if memory serves).

Sam's family left earlier than any other family and Sam was able to spend the rest of Christmas with people who spoke to her like she was a human being.

Edit: Jumper = sweater or jersey. We also used jumper cables to warm up the old people until the age care commission decided it was a crime 😉

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/bdb1518 on 2025-10-17 18:16:37+00:00.

At my job we have to make weekly videos showing that our trucks are stocked and clean. Most people usually send in about a minute long video, myself included.

One week, management sent out a note saying they wanted us to start making the videos more thorough. No time minimum, just “be more thorough."

So… that's what I did. I stocked and cleaned the shit of my truck and then moved on to the video itself.

No cuts, no edits, Just me sloooooowly filming my truck front-to-back while the sweet, sweet psychedelic sounds of Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” rang out in its entirety.. yes, all 17 minutes of it. The video starts when the first drum hit lands and ends right as the song finishes.

I'm a good worker and I'm probably about the last person they'd have expected to pull something like that, but I just couldn't help myself.

They probably overall they didn't find it quite as amusing as I did, but that's what I got.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/SailingSpark on 2025-10-16 20:30:59+00:00.

I was just reminded of something that happened to me back in the early 90s. I was managing a warehouse for a furniture company. We were busy enough to keep a small 12 foot box truck and a pickup running around delivering all day. Part of my job was also deliveries.

So, even though I was warehouse manager, I did not have access to the fuel credit card. It was kept locked up in the boss' desk. This particular day, the truck was down to about an 1/8th of a tank, something you should never do with a diesel, so I asked for the card to fill it up to make a delivery. The boss would ordinarily not have a problem with this, but he was out that day and I had to deal with the head salesman who decided that an 1/8th of a tank was perfectly adequate to make this delivery. I could fill it up when I get back.

So, make the delivery, and on the way back, the truck starts running out of fuel, it would die and I would restart and we could make it a mile and it would die again. I get it into the station and it dies as we coast in. Call the salesman, he huffs and puffs, and finally sends somebody out with the card about an hour later. We fill it up and she won't start. We ran her so low, we pulled air and the whole system needs to be bled.

So, truck gets towed to the repair place and bled. They put in a new filter just to be sure. Its out of commission for two days, so we have to rent a truck. So all told, we missed all the deliveries for the rest of that day, had to pay to have the truck towed, and repaired, and had to rent a truck.. all because the head salesman had to be a dick and not want to give me the card.

He got a serious chewing out over that, and never again did he give anybody any trouble about handing over the card. I wish I could say everything was roses over that, but he was always a dick and would find new ways to be a dick to us, but never with the fuel card after that.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Responsible_Bill_513 on 2025-10-16 20:02:52+00:00.

Daughter was working checkout at the local farm store and there's a small Amish community that comes into the store on occasion. Boss said to get the loyalty rewards new members number up.

Daughter starts asking all the Amish for their phone numbers and email to sign them up for the rewards. She hasn't been successful in signing up new members, but half of the customers in line are now chuckling at the efforts to sign up the Amish.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/GirlStiletto on 2025-10-16 16:03:38+00:00.

Not sure if this was malicious. But back when I was a field tech, one of my custoemers was a tall office building.

Purchasing was often super stingy approving maintanance and custodial quotes. It was always a fight.

There was some repair work being done on the HVAC (Heating/Cooling) system and one of the maintenance personnel asked the contractors to add a couple of extra shutoff valves leading to the executive floor.

Whenever purchasing would deny an HVAC maintanance request, one of the support staff would go into a crawlway and throttle the ball valve to the executive loop back by about 60%. This would restrict the flow just enough to make the executive floor too cold or too hot.

When one of the big wigs would complain, maintenance would just reply with "well, we need a new bearing assembly (or whatever). We put a quote in last week and we just are waiting for purchasing to approve it. But I'll see what I can do today."

An hour or so later, the quote qould be approved and a few hours after that, the valve would be opened back to almost full. Then opened completely when the new whatever arrived.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Ambitious_Exam_3858 on 2025-10-16 14:56:06+00:00.

I'm a custodian for an office building. I clean bathrooms, take out trash, vacuum, etc. I clean in the morning before the office opens.

When collecting trash, I'd occasionally find some loose papers under/behind desks, beside the trashcan, or otherwise on the floor. Since I'm not sure if these papers are trash that missed the can or important documents that fell on the floor by accident, I pick them up and put them on the corner of the nearest desk for the workers to either file them away or toss them. Better safe than sorry.

However, the manager did not like this habit. She came in early one morning, expressing disgust that "trash is being placed on people's desks." (obviously I never put actual trash like food wrappers or crumpled papers on desks). I explained my reasoning for my habit and expressed that I didn't want to risk tossing something important.

My manager told me that everything on the floor is trash and the workers aren't such immature slobs to drop important documents on the floor. I agreed and said I'd never do it again.

Flash forward several weeks. My manager came in early again and expressed concerns because a filing cabinet had tipped over the day and despite picking up the papers, they were still missing a few important documents. She asked if I'd seen them.

I reminded her that since "everything on the floor is trash", the documents were probably thrown away. She was irate, saying "but this was an exception since a filing cabinet fell over." I asked her how I was supposed to know that when I'm not there during the day and was otherwise not informed to look out for these documents.

That's when the situation dawned in this woman's eyes that she was her fault. She stumbled through some excuses before demanding I go to the dumpster and find the papers.

I told her that the office was opening in fifteen minutes and I still had work to do. She stormed off and said she'd start looking in the dumpster.

While I cleaned, I knew I'd face her again before leaving (my car is parked by the dumpster), so I thought of what to say to her as the final nail in the coffin.

Sure enough, when I finished my work and walked out, the manager and a few other wokers who'd arrived were rooting through the dumpster. When the manager spotted me, she demanded I come help.

I delivered my prepared line: "ma'am, my job description is to take out trash. Your job description is to ensure the safety and confidentiality of your clients' files."

I walked away to (in my head) a cartoon-esk villain scream of outraged failure from my manager.

A few hours later and I got a text saying there will now be a special inbox shelf for me to place any papers found the floor for the workers to go through.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Illuminatus-Prime on 2025-10-16 07:51:50+00:00.

(NOTE: This happened sometime during 2010, so while the events are accurately described, the dialog may not be 100% accurate, and some of the more 'colorful' dialog has been redacted.)

tl;dr: New Boss finds out that when a subordinate asks for something in writing, it's a good idea for him to stop and ask, "Why?"

• • •

New Boss asked me if two 120v loads in series across a 240v line pair would be alright.

(He had an MBA and a BS degree in GenSci. I had an MSEE.)

I told him, "No, you'll need either a 120v line or a step-down transformer, depending on the load".

He apparently asked around until someone else said, "Yes". Then he came back and ordered me to make the connection anyway. Why he didn't ask his "Yes" man to do it, I don't know.

"I'll need a ticket for that."

"I'll send you a ████ing email."

Once I got the email, I replied with my concerns, CC'ing the rest of my team and BCC'ing my personal account.

New Boss replied, "Just ████ing do it!"

Then I killed the breaker to that location and did the install. New boss stood by during the entire operation, scowling and scoffing at my every move until I was done.

"You may want to stand back for this, sir, just in case."

"Just ████ing turn it back on."

More scoffing as I went to the breaker box and flipped the breaker with a piece of wood. I heard a loud snap from down the hall, as if a sheet of plywood had been slammed against the floor. The breaker kicked back over immediately.

The new boss and another new hire were frantically trying to control the smoke from two burnt-out UPSs (APC 1500s, iirc). Someone tripped the fire alarm.

"What the ████ did you do?"

"Exactly what you told me."

"Well you ████ing did it wrong!"

"How so?"

"Tell me the ████ outside."

So we're standing around outside, while New Boss keeps shouting about how I tried to blow up and burn down the building. Fire crew shows up. About 20-30 (?) minutes later, we get the all-clear to go back inside.

(By this time, I had forwarded the New Boss's email to the C-levels and my lawyer via cell phone.)

A couple of C-suits showed up from the main building. We both got reamed and raked. New Boss tried to lay it all on me as if it was my idea. One C-suit asked New boss about the emails.

"WHAT emails?"

That's when he found out that when a subordinate asks for something in writing, it's a good idea for him to stop and ask, "Why?"

I got a "Meets Expectations" on my next review and received no merit raise for that year (only a COLA raise).

New Boss transferred to another site about 30 miles away, and New-New Boss showed up about a week later. More hilarity followed.

• • •

EDIT +1 Hour: Removed "LONG" from top of page; added "in series" to first sentence of main text; added "• • •" separators to beginning and end of main text.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Is_Adhd_Pyro on 2025-10-15 20:52:55+00:00.

I work maintenance for a fast food restaurant and when I started working maintenance I had a verbal agreement with the general manager that she would retroactively approve all my overtime because we were only allowed to have 2 maintenance people and 1 of them was the owners son who didn’t do his job and we couldn’t fire him. Things were fine the entire time she worked there and our store often scored the best of all the owners stores during inspections. Eventually that GM quit and on day 1 her replacement told me she would no longer approve my overtime. I had her send that to me in writing and from then on as soon as I hit 40 hours I would stop showing up for the week and turn off the work phone which often happened 3-4 days into the week. Now our store was opened 70 years ago so things break often. The first week the walk in broke but I was already at 40 hours so I didn’t know until 3 days later so we had to waste all our frozen product, and the next week the fryers stopped heating so we couldn’t make most of the stuff on our menu. Then we had a surprise health inspection and the store got red tagged. That was the final straw owner was going to fire me but after he talked to the old gm and I showed him the email from the new gm he fired her and my original agreement with the old gm is now part of the terms of my employment

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/iLiveForTruth on 2025-10-15 14:51:36+00:00.

My manager pulled me aside and said I was "making the rest of the team look bad" by consistently finishing my tasks early and helping others. He literally said, "Just do your job and stop working so hard."

So I did. I stopped answering questions, stopped offering help, and took the full, allotted time for every single task, even if it only took me five minutes. Team productivity plummeted. My next performance review suddenly had notes about "lack of initiative" and "poor teamwork."

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Money-Calligrapher85 on 2025-10-14 17:54:37+00:00.

This is not my personal story but one from my dad years ago. I dont remember all the details as its been years since i last heard the story so bear with me.

He worked in a company where they had to unload trucks with a forklift.

To draw you a picture, there was the delivery bay with a big offloading space and next to it was a small creek.

The manager was a person who was always stressed and never was able to give you a proper answer on where he wanted certain stuff to be unloaded.

So one day, it was a busy day again. My dad asked him where he wanted this pallet to be offloaded. So the manager busy as always said: „Just throw it down the creek“.

Thats exactly what my dad did.

When he told me the story the first time he couldnt stop laughing. Never again did he get such an answer out of that manager.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/m1sterwr1te on 2025-10-12 21:08:44+00:00.

Obligatory this isn't my story, but I was present for it.

Years ago, I worked for a well known chain of transmission shops. The owner/manager (well call him Jim) was a decent guy and great boss. We were also pretty successful. He insisted on keeping the shop clean, and a commercial was even filmed there.

The outside of the shop is painted a patented red, white, and blue pattern. Well, ours was VERY faded. The company is supposed to repaint them every few years. Despite Jim putting i request after request, corporate insisted it was fine. They suggested he could repaint it, at his expense, if it was so important.

So he did.

Jim.went to the paint store and bought several gallons of the cheapest, ugliest brown paint he could find and paid us out of pocket to paint the outside. I mean, this was the color of shit.

Then, he waited.

Sure enough, two weeks later corporate called in a huff. The shop is supposed to be red, white, and blue! Jim reminded them he was allowed to paint the shop at his own expense. They never said what color.

Within a week after that, a crew was sent out and we had a pretty, new paint job.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Starr12 on 2025-10-12 16:32:32+00:00.

tl;dr manager says non-negotiable policy, demonstrates that when they won't work with me after a family member dies and then tries to negotiate when I decided I couldn't handle the job.

I started a job at a local answering service a couple years ago. Decent place with fun coworkers and patient clients. I told management at the interview that I couldn't handle early shifts at 8am because I had been working late shifts for almost fifteen years and couldn't get up that early any more. They insisted on a month's training on the early shift and I told them I would try my best because I wanted the job.

They also made me sign a "late policy point system" paper. It was usual management BS. points per minute-late, lose time off and other benefits based on points per month, too many points and you're terminated. Typical "managers dealing with some one else who can't manage their time and every one's getting punished for it." type of non-sense. The "big rule" in bold at the bottom of the paper relevant to the story was that a no-call no show to a shift would result in an instant termination. Fine, what ever, I don't have problems showing up on-time.

At least, usually I don't. I told them I took issue with it because super strict policies like this usually backfire on everyone, and the employees get the worst of it. I asked them if this would be in affect while I was training and they said yes, it's "non-negotiable" and that if I didn't sign, I wouldn't get the job.

Fast forward two weeks, and my room mate is freaking out, driving my anxiety insane, and I'm dealing with a death in my family. I was seriously depressed, and getting no compassion from the new job on the issue, but they loved my work effort and kept telling me so. I'm answering calls and handling issues as effectively and quickly as some of their experienced employees. I even provided much needed insight into one of their clients, as I had worked directly for them previously, and knew what was going on at the other end of the phones.

Eventually the stress caused me to crash. I went to bed one night and slept through my alarm until 5 in the afternoon the next day, all the way through a shift. effectively a "no call no show". So I just started looking for a new job, didn't call them up or try to show up the next day, nothing. What was the point? I was terminated. and that was non-negotiable.

Eventually they called me and told me to come pick up my paycheck, and when I did the manager who made me sign the late-policy paper came out, holding on to my check like she was implying she wanted answers before I got paid. She started grilling me on what happened and why I didn't call to apologize or work with them on keeping my job. She was genuinely confused on why I didn't try to negotiate against a non-negotiable policy.

I took my check directly out of her hands and told her "You made it clear in the paperwork that I was fired, and that was non-negotiable."

I still think about her response, as she tried to reach for my check. "But you were so good at this!"

edit: I don't have troubles with being late, I had hoped I had made that clear in the story. At my current job of 8 years, I've been late less than 5 times. and it is a 4am job that gave me time to adjust. I disagreed with the rigidity of the policy, not the with practice of being on time.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/AeonFinance on 2025-10-12 14:02:58+00:00.

Ok I will get this right this time.

10 y ago. I worked under a manager who could best be described as old-school old-battleaxe. It was an hr office (I do not work in hr anymore and this is probably why) . I was an intern starting a white collar hr corporate job after 10 y of blue collar work. I was excited to be in a climate controlled office. I dreamed for years for this and put myself through university by my bootstrap. I would do anything for air conditioned office. I just broke my back a year prior and had a difficult time finishing my final year.

She was known across the office for being impossible to please and for running through staff faster than the copier toner. Nobody lasted more than a year, I was told.

From my first day, I was on her radar. I make occasional typing mistakes because of medication I was on that affects short-term memory. I always ran spellcheck and proofed my work carefully, but she treated every minor error like a personal failure.

She would scold me for the smallest things. Once she gave me an hour-long lecture about professionalism because I wore a blue shirt instead of a white one. I wore a sweater to a client meeting because their thermostat was broken and it was -20c outside. I got shouted at by my supervisor for wearing the sweater harder than I did on any work site. Every day felt like inhaling glass shards.

Then came the instruction that broke the camel’s back.

She told me I needed to deliver a daily oral report on every client file I managed.

These weren’t short updates.

She expected me to know every number, every email, every call from memory. Word for word what was said. If i even got one word out of the transcript off.. i was not fit to be there.

She said,

“From the moment the sun rises on this office to the moment it sets, you are to report everything that happens in these reports” She knew I had a memory-related disability from a past concussion. She knew it would overwhelm me.

So I decided to take her words literally.

That night, I opened Excel and began logging everything. Every keystroke. I wrote it all down. I even practiced my delivery so I could recite it perfectly.

The next morning, when she called me into her office, I began:

“Walked from my car to the building. Opened the office door with my right hand, moderate pressure. Entered the building. Greeted the receptionist. Made a coffe in the keurig for 25 seconds. Sat at my desk. Adjusted my chair. Started computer. Open excel. Began typing reports, ensuring keyboard sound remained within acceptable volume to avoid disturbing senior management arriving 45 minutes after 9am...."

I continued like that for almost the entire hour interrupted. She tried to interrupt, but I reminded her gently that I was “reporting everything that happens..."

When it was over, she just stared at me.

A week later, HR called me in (yes hr does have its own hr) I explained the situation exactly as it happened, that I was following her directive word for word. I had detailed documentation (by this time I wrote down EVERYTHING that happened in that office). They agreed it wasn’t sustainable. Within a month, I was transferred to a new department. I was laid off 3 m later because that boss quit but I got a good reference.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/UncleCoyote on 2025-10-11 17:03:15+00:00.

Never, ever stop being petty. Never EVER let something go, or let it die, or let people say you are doing it for attention or karma; pettiness does NOT have an expiration date, and as long as you keep pettiness in your heart all year round, it will never leave you.

A while back I posted a story about a Wrench, and my father, and how he teased me about losing it. Here's the original link if your into backstory and lore:

The Original Story

Today, is Dad's birthday, and while he only asked for gift cards, from me, he will always get one, extra, tiny little gift.

A Craftsman, 7/16, ratchet end wrench.

Why?

Because it will never NOT be funny. But at this point, I feel that I am a large shareholder in Craftsman Tools.

This year's present:

TL:DR - My father, many, many years ago jokingly accused me of losing a wrench. Sick of the teasing, I warned him he'd get that wrench every Father's Day, Birthday, and Christmas for the rest of his fucking life. I keep my promises.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/neverregretlife on 2025-10-11 06:26:37+00:00.

This happened years ago when I was babysitting a friend's kid whose elementary school aged. We had spent most of the day inside, he watched Power Rangers for awhile before playing his Playstation. He liked to drive around in GTA.

After about an hour, I told him he should go play outside since it was such a nice day, and then I went to the kitchen to grab us bottles of water to stay hydrated. When I came out of the kitchen, he was standing on the porch outside, looking through the screen door while still playing GTA.

I told him its not what I meant, but that he wasnt wrong and did listen, so he could keep playing. I made sure to be much more specific after that. I think I still have a pic of him I sent to his dad for proof.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Optimal-Tax-7577 on 2025-10-11 03:22:35+00:00.

So, this is a story about my 1 year old and how he is working on his malicious compliance. Today we visited grandma (my mom) and he loves to play everywhere and she lets him. He stopped at a coffee table and grabbed a wing shaped metal ash tray (clean and only decor) and started to hit the table with it, he likes the sound. My mom comes in and says "Grandma doesn't like when you hit the table, remember? Please don't hit the table". He looked at her, smiled and stopped immediately; he then sat down turned to look at her with a grin and started to hit the floor! I swear he was saying "I listened, you never said don't hit the floor" with his eyes.

I was watching from the living room, and was impressed, he listened and found the loop hole. My mom was trying so hard not to laugh because he was obedient but smart. I was very proud but also concerned about my future and how I will need to be careful with my words when giving him instructions or orders.

Maybe other parents have experienced this or might be common for toddlers but he's is my first and I was impressed

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Myrddn_Emrys on 2025-10-10 16:57:32+00:00.

This might be a bit long but it needs some set up.

TLDR: New manager decided that Python was the only language to be used in a C/C++/C# software team. Productivity drops to zero. Manager is no longer around.

Preface: Please don't bash any programming language in the comments. This is not a post about the merits of various programming languages. It's just a story of what happened.

I worked for a VERY long time at a small company that created some niche products. The company had a lot of scientists and engineers around to develop and refine the products this company made. Over the years, the people in the science and engineering departments changed but I still stuck around. They paid well and I got a lot of time off. I also only had to work 40 hours per week, which was nice.

My job in software was to support the production of equipment. I wrote custom software that calibrated and configured the devices. At the click of a button someone could run the software with minimal human interaction needed. When I started I was the only developer. By the time I left, there were four developers. That should give you an idea about the size of the company. Not large. But profitable.

At the beginning of my time at the company, each piece of software was originally developed by a scientist or engineer. Each and every one had their own pet language they preferred to use. They would start the software and, when they felt that it was ready for prime time, they would hand it off to me. I would then make it actually ready for use. This included things like error handling and streamlining the user experience. Also finding the massive amount of bugs that were in the code. This also meant that originally the company used dozens of different programming languages.

Towards the end of my time with the company, they had decided they were going to mostly focus on Windows computers. So we used primarily C derivatives (C, C++, C#) and web technology (Javascript, HTML, CSS, PHP). There were other languages floating around but this is what we mostly used. All four of us were proficient in these languages and I was the only one that could handle the edge cases of old programs from before this consolidation. By the time of this story, we had been using these languages for nearly a decade.

For most of my time at the company, we had worked under the Engineering department for a person that wasn't really a software manager. So we were left to run ourselves. One day the company decided they needed to hire an actual Software manager. So they found one that came with excellent credentials. He had a lot of experience managing software teams. He actually came in and didn't change things right away, for which I was grateful and held out hope that it would all work out.

Then came the fateful day. One day he pulled us all into a conference room and told us that company would be making a shift. One of the scientists was complaining that they couldn't understand the software we were writing and needed to be able to edit it. So, instead of teaching the scientist C and such, we were going to, shift 100% of all new code to Python. Starting immediately. Any new code written needed to be in Python.

I brought up the fact that none of us knew Python. I was told that we could take classes in our own time on our own dime if we wanted. I pointed out that learning a new language would slow down our delivery of software. Python isn't hard so I had no doubt we could get there. But we had libraries written of common code that we just plugged in when needed. None of those could be used. In fact, we had to figure out how to plug Python into existing programs that needed updates. Any updates had to be done in Python. And, not only that, all our code had to be "Pythonic". Meaning that it had to be done in the proper way for Python and not utilizing techniques that would technically work in Python but weren't necessarily the "correct" way in Python. Any code we did write had to be submitted to the complaining scientist to verify that it was "Pythonic". Which most of it wasn't.

So, we did exactly as we were told. All of us stopped writing in any language except Python. Everyone stopped working and started writing very simple programs to figure out how Python worked. I was working on a plug-in for an existing program to try and resolve some U/I issues. However, I really struggled with this because the U/I was written in C# and the new code had to be in Python. When I brought this up, I was rebuffed and told it MUST be done in Python. So I was trying to figure out how to change an existing C# U/I by using new Python code.

Our productivity dropped to zero. Not a single bit of software made it to production for the few months this manager was around. After a few months of nothing at all getting done, he decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities. We weren't told that they fired him. But I'm sure that's what happened.

After he left, they brought in a new manager that saw the issue right away and shifted us back to working in C and web languages to support existing software and took a much more sensible approach to software. We were to support existing software in the language in which it was written. Any new software we would discuss the choice of language. If it was small, then we would use Python. If it was large, then we would use what made sense, until we were proficient in Python. And new hires would be trained in Python. We could also take classes during work hours and the company would pay for it. Also, the new manager pushed back on having anyone in the science or engineering departments be able to work on the software that our team supported. The would have input and have to sign off that the science was correct, but no editing ability.

Productivity returned to normal. Several new small programs were released written in Python. All the existing software ended up having Python ripped back out of it. All was right with the world again.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/blueboy714 on 2025-10-10 14:40:00+00:00.

Before I retired I was manager and programmer in a department located in the US. I would program, manage, assign projects, create timelines, answer questions that my staff had, etc.

The company I worked for decided to consolidate the US and UK programming departments and the new boss decided have only managers in the UK oversee the programmers in the US. This meant that I was only supposed to keep programming (I had the most experience among all the US/UK programmers) and no longer needed to do the management side of things (but I still got the same pay I used to).

Due to a 6 hour time difference between the US and UK that meant that there were only 2 or 3 hours each day that we overlapped. This left the rest of the day for my old staff to either wait until the next day to ask their new boss or come to me and I could answer immediately.

The latter made more sense so they could keep working - but eventually the UK managers complained to US/UK boss that the US staff wasn't coming to them to help and were still coming to me - which the UK managers were having a conniption about.

My boss told me to stop helping my old staff when they asked me questions and that they needed to ask their new manager. So it was time for malicious compliance...

I went back to only programming and when my old staff came and asked me questions (usually in the afternoons US time since the UK was done for the day). I told them I was told to no longer help them and they should ask their new UK manager the next day or send their UK boss an email with their question. I told them it was time for malicious compliance - since the US programmers knew exactly what would happen.

So my old team started deluging their UK bosses with questions, problems, etc. and then had to wait until the next day or 2 to get answer. Within 2 weeks the US team was missing deadlines, etc. and the UK managers had to answer for why their team was missing deadlines. After a couple more weeks my boss and the UK managers came to the realization that due to the 6 hour time different there should be manager in the US (which is exactly what I told them weeks ago).

Finally my boss asked me if would like to be a manager again and I told her I was happy just programming and didn't need the other work. They ended up giving me a raise in order to get me go back to managing the US programmers.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/parodytx on 2025-10-09 19:54:55+00:00.

One of my many HOA stories when I regrettably was a member for the longest 2 years of my life was regarding decorations. All of our homes had a porch and rules regarding front of house "decorations" - the R&R said you could only have one decoration. Fine. I had no desire for any decorations at all in my front lawn.

We DID put 2 nice chairs on our porch to use on pleasant evenings with a sunset potential. We received a notice regarding our "violation" of having "two decorations in front of our house and the R&R only allowed one, and we had 24 hours to comply."

Alllllllllllllllllllrighty then.

I removed both chairs from the porch. I searched for hours online for the most obnoxious decoration I could find - because the R&R made absolutely NO mention of WHAT the decoration could or could not be, only that you could only have one item. I ended up with an at least 7 foot tall blow up sphere, with an obnoxious nekkid mermaid-like thing floating inside it, flapping like one of those wind-man devices at a car dealer.

I also posted a small sign stating "Surveillance Camera in Operation. SMILE!" to curb any vandalism ideas.

The HOA BOD went absolutely NUTS. I received no less than 6 letters in 2 days about how inappropriate, vile and other various adjectives my "decoration" was, and that I was obliged to remove it. I responded with a certified return receipt letter with the appropriate section of the R&R highlighted and invited them to return mail with the exact language that my decoration was in violation of, and failure to do so with continuing violation notices would result in legal action on my part against all the BOD members.

This went on for about a month, and finally my lawyer buddy sent them a threatening notice on their letterhead stating that depositions and full financial disclosures from each and every member would be demanded for discovery purposes in my damages lawsuit unless I received an acknowledgement of their errors and a formal apology.

They waffled for about a week then caved. Got a written apology published in the HOA newsletter signed by all the BOD members.

The next HOA meeting resulted in a rules change that porches were excluded from the decorations restrictions, and that all lawn decorations needed to be smaller than 4 feet in height.

Many of the homeowners came to thank me for my resistance and results.

Like I said, moved after 2 years for my job and never considered an HOA since - every realtor we worked with that was absolute no-way rule #1.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Durwyn on 2025-10-09 16:42:12+00:00.

The following is an old story from years ago, but I thought it would be worthy of sharing here.

I (now 53m, then around 20m) used to work for a now defunct electronics retailer called Circuit City in Southern California.

The staff was paid on a commision basis and were pressed daily to sell our extended warranty packages as a way to increase revenue.

To explain how the "Extended Warranties" work is to explain how the company made most of its income by scamming not only the customers, but also its suppliers.

How it worked is thus.

When a customer comes in and wishes to purchase a product, they are offered an "Extended Warranty" so if anything happens to the product, they simply bring it back and it would get "repaired" by an onsite department. If it could not be "repaired", it would be replaced.

The room for the repair department was a 5x5 foot closet with a shelf and customer service was instructed to carry the product into that room, put it on the shelf and return 15 minutes later to pick it up, bringing it back to the customer with the unfortunate information that it could not be repaired, but would have to be replaced.

The customer would then leave the store with a new product and the store would send the product back to the manufacturer as defective, never having inspected it in the first place while at the same time taking a full credit on the product and receiving full credit for it.

So the company was able to minimize the cost of labor, while simultaneously receiving income from both sides, the supplier and the manufacturer.

Now, here's where the story begins.

I worked as a salesman on the floor in the department that sold the items that could not be clumped together neatly, such as sections for televisions, stereo equipment, kitchen appliences, laundry machines, refrigerators, etc.

At the time this included Walkmen (the precursor to the IPod, which utilized cassette tapes), Minidisc players, CD Walkman, and Desktop computers and accessories such as monitors, printers, and various other items that attached to computers.

This was prior to laptops being ubiquitous, so all these items were bulky and heavy.

One day a guy came in in ratty clothing, sweating from head to toe and stinking like he hadn't showered in a week.

The other salesmen, and women, decided he was not worth their time, and I got instructed to "help him" while security was called to escort him off the premise.

I found out, he was in the shop to get a replacement walkman, as while out for a run, the one he had had failed.

I walked him over to the shelf that had all the portable music devices, and, after listening to what he was looking for, did not direct him to the most expensive product we sold, attempting to upsell him, but providing him with the most affordable option for what he was looking to purchase.

He even asked about the "Extended Warranty" and I told him to not bother with it.

He paid for the Walkman and left before security could arrive, and I made maybe $2 on the sale.

For the next 2 weeks, I got hounded by the other salespeople and managers that I was not pushing the warranties enough, depriving myself of the sales income that comes with it, thus losing money in the process.

About 2 weeks later, when I arrived at work I was told there was a customer who had come in, asked about me, and left, telling them he'd return when I did.

After a few minutes of being on the floor, a man, the same one that had been sweaty, arrived in a full suit, expensive at that, flanked by two others in business suits, asking for me.

Turns out, he runs multiple private schools and was looking to purchase "a few" computers for them, without all the extended frills that were unnecessary.

Now, the computer sales, at the time, were the crown jewels on the sales floor, and if a salesman sold one, they were king of the hill of the salesforce that week.

This guy wanted 10 of them, for his students to use, and I was personally requested by him to be the one to make those sales.

I walked him through what we had and the final bill was over $15k! Blowing away the next biggest sale that year by $10k!

When it came time to pay me, and hand me the biggest check that store had written that year, the staff decided to hold a ceremony in my honor and asked me to speak to encourage others that there was money to be made.

I said only 4 words. "Thank you. I Quit," and walked out of the ceremony got into my car, and drove home, never to go back to that store again.