Malicious Compliance

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/LilMissYuna on 2025-06-27 04:17:56+00:00.

I was working part-time at a storage yard. The rule was always to check if anyone was still around before locking up.

One day my new supervisor pull me side. From now on, he says, “You lock the gat when you leave.

I asked, “Even if someone’s still in the yard?” He said, “Doesn’t matter. Lock it. Period.”

So a few days later, I saw him way in the back inspecting something. Didn’t say a word. Just locked the gate like I was told.

He called twenty minutes later, stuck and annoyed. I said, “You told me to lock it no matter what.” The rule quietly changed to. “Use your judgment.” And that’s exactly what I do now.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ScarletHotFace on 2025-06-27 02:58:38+00:00.

Back when I was in high school, I lived with my extremely frugal aunt while my parents were abroad. She had this obsession with saving on the electricity bill. Fair enough but she took it to the extreme.

One day, she caught me walking out of the kitchen and scolded me for leaving the ceiling light on, even though I was going back in less than a minute. She said she didn't t care if I was gone for 30 seconds. When you leave a room, you turn off every single light. Got it.

I started turning off lights whenever I leave a room and soon I got used to it. Later that week, she was cooking in the kitchen, and I was helping her grab ingredients from the pantry which was technically a separate little room connected to the kitchen. I stepped into the pantry, grabbed the oil, walked out, and turned off every single kitchen light as I exited the room.

She shrieked mid stir like she'd gone blind.

What are you doing? I’m still here.

I said, Oh....I thought you weren’t. You said turn off every light when I leave a room and my muscle memory is already getting used to it.

It didn’t stop there. Anytime we were in the living room and I got up to use the bathroom, I’d leave her in pitch darkness. Once, she was even watching TV and I just clicked off the power bar on my way out.

It took about four days of bumping into furniture before she said, Okay, maybe use common sense.

I still turned the bathroom light off every time she used it though because I wasn’t in the room after all.

Took a while before my muscle memory returned to normal.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/jylppy81 on 2025-06-26 19:47:02+00:00.

Compulsory notes: English is not my first language, but it is my son's.

This just happened less than five minutes ago...

My son is turning 9 tomorrow. We've had some trouble putting him to sleep during his summer vacation, and I was steering him towards sleep right now. I asked if he'd brushed his teeth and gone potty to get ready to bed. He said yes, so I asked him to "put your head on the pillow, please". He went to his bed, took the pillow, and held it in his hands, resting his head on top of it, and started heading towards the living room...

I couldn't do anything but laugh for a solid minute, and then went to get him from living room, and added to my previous statement: "Go to bed, and put your head on the pillow, please."

Moments like this make a dad proud!

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Mesoposty on 2025-06-26 18:43:00+00:00.

I’ve always told him no, and that I gave you a fair price. He always asks and I’ve asked him too not too many times . The other day he asked if we could do anything about the price when I handed him the receipt and I said “SURE!, let me rewrite the receipt “ I went to my truck and quickly rewrote it for 10% higher and took it back to him. He looked at me like I was crazy, I told him you asked if I could do anything about it and that all I can do. He asked for the original receipt and he quickly paid that one

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/VelvetXGlimmer on 2025-06-26 14:37:47+00:00.

I am part of a small hiring team at my workplace and I take my position very seriously. Sometime ago we were looking to fill a key role that required someone sharp, organized, and ready to work under pressure. We had a solid shortlist after several interview and then my department supervisor pulled me aside. He told me, flat-out, to hire one candidate in particular. Not because she was the best fit but because he wanted me to, i later heard through office rumors that she was an “almost-girlfriend,” basically Someone he had a thing for and was trying to impress. He said I should but just make it work and he will take the heat if needed.

I refused at first, showing him her results of the interview. She was one of the least ranked. She was late to the interview, vague answers, couldn’t explain basic industry terms. But he wouldn't listen and said it was a direct order. So, I did exactly what he asked, I hired her. Gave her all the support I could. Even offered extra onboarding help. Within a month, she accidentally sent a confidential client file to the wrong company. Then she once approved a purchase order for 10x the budgeted amount because she obviously didn't read through all those numbers. It was from one wrong to another. We lost a major client over the email slip. Another pulled back on their contract due to delays on her end.

When upper management started asking questions, my manager tried to dodge responsibility. But HR already had the hiring records. I made sure all instructions including his were documented which was intentionally incase a situation like this came up and it did. He was reassigned within the quarter. She quietly disappeared not long after. Turns out, hiring your crush isn’t as cute when the company starts bleeding money.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/DreamKitsch on 2025-06-26 14:15:00+00:00.

I helped my 10 year old daughter set up a lemonade stand in front of our house last weekend. She was really excited. She had a small sign, a cooler with ice, and a simple recipe consisting of fresh lemons, water, and a bit of sugar. Most neighbors were friendly and supportive. But then came one older woman from down the street who is famously known for unsolicited opinions and advices. She took a sip, made a face, and said, “Not enough lemons. Real lemonade should be more sour.”

My daughter looked a little sad, but we just said thank you and let it go. The next day, the same woman came back. Bought another cup. Same thing sip, frown and said the lemons still wasn't enough. I had to do something about it because my daughter became less excited about her little lemonade business, so i helped my daughter make a special batch just for the old lady. Less sugar, lots more lemon juice, and even extra lemon slices floating in the cup. Just as i predicted, the woman came back the next day. She took a sip and her face twisted like she bit into a whole lemon. She didn’t say anything this time. Just gave a small nod and walked away. She hasn’t come back since, I guess we blew her mind.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/PyroPhan on 2025-06-26 04:52:28+00:00.

In light of all the generic AI slop trash this sub has been flooded with, I figured I'd give my MC story that I've been holding onto for a while. It's been many years since I worked for the company this relates to. But if you have any knowledge of the industry than you know it's an acronym for Ahhhh, My Ride.

Being a private ambulance company, they acquired the contract to provide transport of patients to the hospital when they call 911. The city/county pays a flat rate in the contract to make sure that an ambulance responds and arrives on scene within 8 minutes and 59 seconds from the time of dispatch. On top of that, our company was allowed to bill the patients insurance for the transportation and cost of treatment. Given our location, that is a pretty reasonable criteria. Per the contract, we were allowed to have 10% of our response times to be what was called "Late Response" meaning we arrived on scene 9 minutes or later. This on-time vs late ratio was what we called compliance. 98% compliance, we're golden. 89% compliance... emails started going out and phones started ringing.

The thing is, we had to maintain DAILY compliance. We could have ZERO compliance from midnight to 3am, but as long as the compliance picked up and we met 90% or greater by midnight the end of the day, we were considered compliant. BUT here's the real kicker. Our management was the ONLY entity responsible for reporting compliance to the county. And that means numbers were scrubbed and fudged upside-down, left and right. They used special "delays" or exemptions that would drop the response times from the reports and consider them "outliers". Generally used for if an ambulance is delayed by a train crossing, construction, severe weather conditions... etc. But management abused these delays in their reports to maintain compliance.

Now, being responsible for the safety and care of critically sick or injured people you'd think that they would adequately staff the ambulances to handle the population of our service area and throw a little extra staff on top just to be safe and make sure they could handle anything that happens, right? Haha. No. They're trying to make money. If they can maintain compliance with less people, they did it. Hell, even if they couldn't make compliance, they'd use the delay exemptions to make it look like they were compliant. But, it's not like anyone was auditing them anyways.

We were simply understaffed. We constantly ran at what's called "Level Zero" in which the level refers to the number of ambulances available to respond to calls. If corporate had their way, if you could run a Level Zero constantly and still make compliance, we would be operating at peak efficiency, and the shareholders were happy. We were pressured to unsafely blow through stop signs and red lights, drive faster than reasonably necessary. Hell even our supervisor taught us the trick of using the cruise control to bypass the speed limiter on our trucks.

We were tired, over worked and spent more time driving in high-stress environments than the DOT would ever even let truck drivers get close to. We complained to the union, we tried whistlblowing to the county, but nothing changed. We'd had it.

The contract renewal was coming up. We had to be perfect with response times and look good so we could secure the next 4 years of service. But we all agreed. Enough was enough. We started following the laws regarding code 3 driving (lights and sirens) we stopped at every stop sign or red light, we drove no faster than we deemed safe for conditions... we sand bagged the ever living FUCK out of our response times and drove compliance straight into the ground. Unless the response was absolutely critical, every belly-ache and stubbed toe (which was 90% of our calls) we took our reasonable sweet ass time getting there. The exemptions couldn't even mask the failure of our compliance. 2 weeks in and many many meetings with supervision, they couldn't write us up for being safer and they started to staff more ambulances to regain compliance in time for the end of the month. It lasted a while, but I sought out employment elsewhere and haven't looked back since. I miss the job, but not the company.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/False_Ad_555 on 2025-06-26 03:32:45+00:00.

About 20 years ago I was applying for food stamps, and during the process I informed the caseworker that I made a few bucks a week collecting and returning 5 cent soda cans. She informed me that I had to call her and report this as it was extra income. So the next day I did, 9:30 a.m. "hi, this is me, I found a nickel can." 10:00 "hi this is me, I found another can." 11:00 "hi I found another can." That afternoon when I made my 5 call, she told me I no longer had to report my "extra income" I never heard anything more about it.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/SignificantLab3509 on 2025-06-26 03:30:17+00:00.

A few years ago, I worked in logistics for a mid-sized warehouse that shipped expensive industrial equipment. One of our newer managers—let’s call him Brad—wanted to “streamline processes” and said everyone needed to stop “wasting time double-checking outbound shipments.”

Now, the company policy clearly stated we were to verify model numbers, serials, and recipient info before shipping. But Brad, in his infinite wisdom, told us in a team meeting:

“From now on, you ship what’s on the top of the pick list. No questions. No double-checking. That’s the new standard.”

I asked for clarification:

“Even if the model or serial doesn’t match what’s in the system?” Brad: “Correct. Just follow the list.”

You got it, boss.

Fast forward two days. I notice a $12,000 part at the top of the pick list meant for a customer in Ohio, but the serial doesn’t match the order. I bring it up. Brad, overhearing, jumps in:

“Didn’t we just go over this? Ship what’s on the list.”

Cool. I slap the wrong serial sticker on it, scan it in, and ship it out.

Four days later, chaos erupts. Customer is furious. Wrong part, wrong serial, and now they’ve missed a major contract deadline. Refunds are demanded. CEO is looped in.

Brad tries to throw me under the bus, saying I should’ve checked. I pulled up the email from the team meeting summary he sent out…

“Employees are no longer required to verify serial numbers. Ship per pick list.”

Guess who got written up? Not me. Guess who got demoted two weeks later? Brad. Guess who got praised for “following procedure to the letter”? Yours truly.

Edit:

Apparently someone was so deeply moved by my use of punctuation they reported me to Reddit for “mental health concerns.” Just want to reassure everyone — I’m not spiraling, I’m just good at writing and bad at tolerating stupidity.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/louisiannamc on 2025-06-26 02:57:39+00:00.

A couple years ago, I was working for a corporation as an analyst. Company culture was that working insane overtime was bragged about and praised - when in reality, these people are working overtime because they do so much meaningless work that could be automated in a dozen different ways. I’ve always been very flexible with my time, because my management has been flexible with me - if I needed to take a long lunch, leave early for an appointment, etc. And I’ve always been very forthcoming about this. However, if I don’t have to work late, I’m not… I finish all of my responsibilities during normal work hours and wrap things up neatly at the end of the day to have a smooth start the next day.

I had been in this position for a little over a year and went into it knowing I was being severely underpaid, and I’m very confident in the output of my work - always got great marks on performance reviews and constant praise for what I was doing. So I felt deserving of a raise, and I requested it. (20% which is large, I understand, and I debated that for awhile because I knew I wouldn’t get the full amount. But this is how severely I was underpaid, and I knew 20% was the cap by our company’s policies.) I was immediately rejected any raise because I come into the office at 8 and leave right at 5 while everyone else works late and I never offer to help others out when they are overloaded (meaning they work late and I leave on time). The first part of this “feedback” actually came from someone else who worked on our floor, never worked with this guy in my life. My manager was all about perception > reality. Which I understand is general corporate culture, but that doesn’t mean it’s not bullsh*t.

Ok. I can change that. Around 4:30 everyday, I would ping my manager asking if there was anything she needed help with to finish out the day. I documented all of this in a word doc. Day in and day out, there wasn’t a single thing she ever asked me to do in addition to the work I was already doing. I would test things out and stay until 5:15/5:30 some days to see who all is working late. Very seldomly was anyone ever in the office past 5:05.

Eventually, my manager said I don’t need to be checking in with her at the end of everyday. I said ok no problem, but I just want you to know that you can always reach out if you need help with something, because I can’t be expected to know your workload if you don’t communicate.

Our relationship stayed very strained after that. I was desperate to leave the company, especially once the raise was fully rejected after receiving above average performance review for being in the job for only a year. Finally got another offer about 5 months later that was a 60% raise. My prior company offered me the same 60% raise and a promotion. Took the new company’s offer and have never been happier in a job.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/MonkeyWrenchAccident on 2025-06-25 22:17:40+00:00.

I had a manager who decided we needed a doctor’s note after a sick day. His reasoning was the note confirmed we were well enough to be in the office. Meanwhile we all knew it was just to give sick staff a hard time.

When he pulled this on me, I agreed and started packing up and told him i would contact my doctor and let him know when my doctor could see me. Then I started walking out. He asked me why i was leaving. I told him since i didn’t have a note, and i needed one to prove i was not sick and could work as per his instructions i needed to leave. I followed up with the fact that my doctor was in a different town, and it could be up to two weeks for me to get an appointment. All of which true.

He told me i seemed fine and not to worry about the note. He stoped asking others as well.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Massive_Celery_3395 on 2025-06-25 22:06:58+00:00.

So I work back at my old chick fil la part time again. I work face to face in the drive thru. You can normally see us wearing a green vest with 2 money pouches. Normally when we are busy and get a lot of cash orders we are suppose to swap out our pouches since it's

1. dangerous to have alot of money on you especially at nightime
2. We can only hold so much cash

As of monday are GM told us not to call over the raido for a cash drop since it was a waste of time and we needed to be pushing drive thru. Que malicious compliance it was super busy last night and I had a bunch of 100 bills. My pouch was so full I started having to fold the bills for space. Here is the fun part someone pulls up in a black dodge charger gets out of the car and proceeds to rob me. I had at least 700+ dollars on me. Our owner was PISSED that I had costed him 700+ dollars and asked me why I didn't have my cash dropped. I told him our GM told us we were not doing that anymore. Then as of today we now MUST have our cash dropped if our pouch is over 300+ dollars. Not only that our GM got chewed out and all day she was asking me spefically what my drawer count was. Funny how now she pays attention after losing money........

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/tomsackett on 2025-06-25 20:57:28+00:00.

One of my grandchildren has reached the age where they respond with "why?" to almost anything you say. They don't really really have a question, and don't really listen to the answer. I want to make them use their brain a bit more and put together a real question, so I have a rule: "No one-word questions."

This led to the following exchange. The grandkid asked for a popsicle. I told them that we're not having treats right now. They asked "Why?", and I responded "No one-word questions!". They then smiled and yelled "WHY WHY WHY?"

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/SmellyCat0007 on 2025-06-25 19:32:42+00:00.

Back in 9th grade, I had a teacher who was super strict. One day during class, I got punished for "talking too much" even though it was actually the guy next to me who wouldn't shut up. I tried to explain, but she cut me off and made me write "I will not talk in class" a hundred times after school.

So the next day, I decided to follow the rule to the extreme.

I didn't say a single word in class. Group activity? Silent. She called on me? Just shrugged. Asked if I understood? Nodded. I even ignored classmates during pair work.

She got super frustrated after two days and asked what was going on. I said, "You told me not to talk in class… I'm just making sure I don’t get punished again."

Let's just say the "no talking" rule became a bit more flexible after that.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/twinmom2298 on 2025-06-25 19:29:56+00:00.

This happened many years ago but I was just reminded of it last night by a former co-worker.

I got my degree in business with a paralegal minor. Worked as a paralegal for a few years before moving to a new city. Upon arriving in new city I found that legal secretaries got paid OT while paralegals didn't and with very similar base salaries and similar work hours at the end of the day the legal secretaries made more money. So I took a job as a legal secretary.

I worked directly for 2 attorneys. One (L) had a couple years' experience, knew I had education and experience to be a paralegal and utilized me as such. Other (B) was fresh out of law school and newly passed Bar Exam. He had a massive "I'm the lawyer" chip on his shoulder.

One day named partner (NP) who was notorious for flying off the handle at mistakes assigns B to prepare some legal documents. Instead of saying "hey NP needs documents on this file to handle this issue" and having me do them he takes the time to actually dictate the documents. As I'm working on them I realize he's made a logistical mistake. He'd drafted the document in a way that would result in it not being legally enforceable.

I go to his office and explain "hey I was working on this and I noticed X and that's not how that works. You need to have it do Y instead or it won't be enforceable"

He says "I know what I'm doing and that's the way it needs to be done so just do it as I dictated it."

Yep of course absolutely. I went did it his way, reminded him when I handed it to him that we'd had prior conversation and that I'd completed the document exactly as he'd wanted it. He happily nods and off he goes to NP to give him the "finished" work.

Less than 30 minutes later NP is in B's office door way throwing a hissy fit that document was prepared that way. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT?!?!? YOU'VE LITERALLY MADE THIS DOCUMENT WORTHLESS!!!! " blah blah blah. I sat out in my cube and hid behind a piece of paper while NP told B to prepare the document exactly how I'd told him it needed to be prepared.

I wish I could say that going forward B listened to me when I raised concerns but he only lasted a year and in that time never lost the "I'm the lawyer you're not" attitude.

Meanwhile years after I left that job, joined corporate world and moved up in my career I was still close with NP who actually referred my company business and I attended his funeral when he past a few years ago.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/PerfectlyCromulentAc on 2025-06-25 07:58:52+00:00.

A fools errand, you may be aware of if you’ve worked in certain industries. Basically, new guy gets sent to purchase an impossible item, ie a left handed screwdriver, tartan paint etc, or an impossible task, check the mileage on a bicycle etc.

Quite common in the military, I didn’t really like it though as it’s not the sort of place you can always have a joke with them, you could know 100% they were joking, but you’d still play along with the impossible task because it felt like you had to.

I spent some time on this big overseas base, and I wasn’t exactly a newbie when I was there but still very young.

There was an NCO just above me who was a bit of a dick with stuff like this. I was heading somewhere and he asked me to go and sign off a small bit of equipment.

This was a fools errand. But the joke item is so specific to what we were doing at that certain time that it is very hard to explain why it would be a joke. So for this post I’m just going to say he asked me to get a ‘glass hammer’.

As I said this was a huge complex, you needed a vehicle to get anywhere. So I went to the stores and asked them, I wasn’t ashamed, as I said the joke was so specific to us that other units probably wouldn’t have even got it.

Then to the mechanics, then to the kitchen, then to Comms guys, then to HQ etc

I spent the whole day driving around the base, searching for this mystery item, having coffees and cigarettes, having a laugh with people in other units. Seeing areas I would usually not have an excuse to go.

He and the boys laughed at me when I got. They had spent the day in the cold working, I had spent the day cruising around having fun.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Illuminatus-Prime on 2025-06-25 02:04:24+00:00.

ts;dr: The capital of Nebraska is Lincoln.

This happened recently. I was installing a store-bought "burglar alarm" system (a security system bought on the cheap) for a friend of a friend, when they received a package from a Chinese-owned warehouse store. It was one of those HEPA ion-breeze air purifiers that flood the room with ozone. They unpacked it, plugged it in, switched it on, threw everything else away, and started to walk off.

"You're not gonna check the instructions?"

"I know what to do and I ain't stupid, so shut the f**k up!"

I silently finished what I was doing and went home, not caring that they had probably screwed themselves over by not at least saving the instructions.

A few days later, my friend showed up with the air purifier and gave it to me. His friend had told him to "get rid of it" because it was "broken". I found the instructions online. One important detail was mentioned.

"/!\ Please be sure to remove all packing materials from the filter!"

The removable filter was still inside its plastic shipping bag. Once the filter was installed right, the thing worked.

I got a new air purifier for nothing, and I'm not telling the former owner, either.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/coffeebrewcrew on 2025-06-25 01:43:24+00:00.

Hey all,

Posted a few weeks ago about pharmacy life and all the stuff we have to ask that got changed pretty quickly, and today we had another bout of MC… which is basically a repeat, but with more aggravation and technology.

We had a new push come through last week from my pharmacy manager and DM where we are “strongly encouraged to tell people about the + service and set it up for them.

I’m sure you see where this is going.

Again, it’s busy where we are. It’s summer, people are snowbirding down here, so business is still high, we’re fixing issues with insurance and still filling a good bit every day as well as doing all our usual inventory stuff - I really don’t have more time for stuff at this point.

So around 3-ish we have a customer come in. Mom that I know. Very nice. Also had a big family. She didn’t know we have an online platform. Guess who had to show her and kick off MC.

I took her down to the counseling window and she pulled out her phone. I then showed her what to download, how to set up her account and explain what to do to refill her scripts, check refills and show her how to have us request a refill.

Oh but wait. Remember she has a big family? Let’s make it a family account. Four more people to add that have scripts. Need names, DOB’s and address checks.

So, about 20-25 minutes later, everything is explained and set up and she’s asking me a few more questions when my pharmacist pops out and says “hey we really need you to get back in here” and so when I got back in soon after we had a quick talk, after we got the queue caught back up that went downhill after the time I was out there.

Pharmacist: “You can’t spend that much time with a patient showing them the + option.”

Me: “But the email/text you sent me said the DM WANTS us to be active in setting up the accounts and assisting customers. Are you asking me to not do what he’s asking now?”

Pharmacist: “We just need it to be faster.”

Me: “Then I won’t do it so I can be fast. You can’t have this both ways if a customer needs help and they happen to be slow. Should I email the DM and ask if he wants this to be another ‘use your best judgment’ like our last issue?”

Convo basically ended there, kinda pissed off the pharmacist but that’s not my problem. You tell me to do the job… don’t be surprised when I do the job. If you don’t like it, then don’t ask for it.

I’ll update if this changes in the future.

Edit: cleaned up some phrasing.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Melx_Portals17 on 2025-06-23 20:58:04+00:00.

So my dad (who has neglected me for my whole childhood) always asks me to call him on pass (pass is when my mom can take me out of my mental health clinic for a few hours. He lives in Europe, so his time zones are wildly different. Whenever I'm able to call him, it's always around 12-3am his time. Recently, there was an omnibus for a series I really like, and since he tends to send me money every time I call, I texted him, asking for the book. I would have just asked for the money,but he is the only one in my family who had an eBay account. I texted him, to which he responds with "[name]! Please call me! I'll pick up at any time!". Perfect! Now every pass, I call at the most awkward times, and wait until he picks up. Still never got my book, but sooner or later, I'm sure I will. Ps: I know this makes me sound like a bad person, but for context, my dad has done very severe forms of ab*se ("So why call him?" Cause my mom gets spammed from him and me calling stops him from spamming her)

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/JazrethMorn on 2025-06-23 18:20:48+00:00.

A few weeks into my new role, my manager sent out message to the team. “Please document everything you do throughout the day.”

That was it. No clarification. Just “everything”

So I opened a spreadsheet. I tracked when I logged in. When I checked email. When I got water. When I went to the bathroom. When I returned from the bathroom. When I adjusted my monitor brightness.

Each task had a time, a duration, and a description.

After about ten days, I got a calendar invite titled “Process clarification.” Apparently, they didn’t mean everything everything.

Now the rules is “log major task only.” I can work with that.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ChubbyBlossomPetal on 2025-06-23 06:10:36+00:00.

Years ago, I worked in housekeeping at a small hotel. It was one of those places where the manager thought running a tight ship meant micromanaging every second of your day.

One day, he decided that my cleaning method was too unconventional because I didn't strictly follow his exact room cleaning checklist in the same order every time. Thing is, my way was faster and passed all inspections. But he insisted I must follow the list in the exact order, no skipping steps, no improvising.

So on my next shift, I enter the first Room that needed to be cleaned. Step 1. strip the bed. I do it. Step 2. dust all surfaces. I do that. Step 3. vacuum. Oh, but there's trash everywhere from the previous guest. Nope, not until step 7. I skip it. Step 4. Clean the bathroom. There’s still food crusted on the nightstand. Not my concern yet.

By the time I’m on step 7 (empty trash and leftover items) the room looks like a war zone that’s somehow been half cleaned and then abandoned. But I stick to the order.

Guests start complaining that the cleaning looks weird or incomplete. I just explain that I have to follow the manager’s exact process, step by step.

Before the end of my shift, he pulls me aside, clearly frustrated.

Why does it look like the rooms are half done? He asked me

I told him I was doing exactly what’s on the list, in his order. No improvising, just like he said.

He stared at me, sighed, and said, Just do it however you were doing it before.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/zerothreeonethree on 2025-06-23 04:31:44+00:00.

Every so often, hospitals examine their financial reports and decide that their profits problem is staffing. Never the supply contracts, manager salaries, perks, redecorating the front lobby, advertising costs, or moving the admissions department to a new location for the 3rd time in 10 years. Supervisors at the psychiatric hospital where I worked were told "No More Overtime!" It wasn't a suggestion.

The problem was that the pool of qualified staff in the community willing to work there was not that large. As a result, some of our lower paid staff technicians worked 60-80 hours a week to bring staffing levels up to the required minimum, as well as make ends meet at home. Most of the need was during non-program hours on off shifts, which required routine safety checks, and paperwork.

One weekend, I had to replace 3 staff on the same night at short notice. I was able to get 2 techs from the in-house pool at regular rate. After spending 2 more hours calling every other staff person on the roster, I scheduled a full-time tech for overtime. I caught hell later in the week when timecards were reviewed for payroll. Nobody wanted to hear my reason for incurring overtime. "Don't do it again or it's going to be a formal reprimand." was the CFO's advice to me. Cue Malicious Compliance.

The next pay period, the same thing happened on a weekend. I needed 3 techs for minimum staffing on both Friday and Saturday, but nobody would take the shifts unless I gave them OT. Sorry no can do. I called the most expensive nursing agency in town and ordered 3 RNs at weekend rate with night shift differential for both nights. Agencies charge not only the staff salary but bump up the cost to make a profit since they incurred all the cost of background checks, training, and license verification. To make our lives easier and comply maliciously, I asked the evening and weekend supervisors do the same thing to staff call-ins for the rest of the schedule. All shifts were filled with nurses, even if a "1:1 sitter" for extreme suicide risk was needed. That required constant observation, but no medical skills. It just so happens this was required for a mandatory 72-hour psych observation hold initiated by the police that very morning. Once word spread to the regular staff that agency was getting all the hours, call-ins accelerated, and the agency was supplying almost half of the staff - all LPNs or RNs

When the pay period closed, the timecards and agency bill were sent to payroll. Salary cost for the 2 week period was over 300% the normal expected amount. The organic digestive matter hit the oscillating cooling blades at a high rate of speed in the CFO's office. The Nursing Director called me to explain my part in it. I simply told him in my sweetest voice ever that I had no choice. "My only option was to use the agency. After (CFO) threatened me with disciplinary action, I didn't tell him that a technician at time-and-a-half cost $4 less per hour than a pool RN at straight time, let alone an agency nurse. I could have saved a small fortune, but I guess his accounting degree is better than mine." Of course, the other 2 supervisors gave similar answers.

A new memo came out that day stating that OT was once again approved, provided certain "financial guidelines" were followed. The CFO went back to counting beans and we supervisors went back to doing what we did.

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/bestcrispair on 2025-06-23 00:55:21+00:00.

Years ago, I worked for a large newspaper when they acquired a lot of the assets of another large paper that went out of business. I was a temp in the HR office. It was sad to see so many people come in from the dead newspaper to try and work for the other paper.

My job was to gather the resumes, give them a handout of job resources, and to direct them where they could apply for all the benefits that they may be eligible for. When my boss, Larry saw me waiting outside the building in the morning, they asked why I was there so early.

I explained that I took the bus, so I could either take the bus that got me there early, or the one that would get me to work 90 minutes late. I opted to be early. Larry agreed, and they changed my hours to allow me to arrive earlier and leave earlier. It worked well, because I could get a lot done for the office before people arrived. When I left in the afternoon, a second temp was there for all the processing needs from the day. It was seamless. Larry called my agency and extended my contract from 6 weeks to 6 months. They wanted to make me permanent, but there was a process to be followed.

Larry sent a memo to everyone concerning my schedule, explaining my schedule needs. A manager above Larry, a man named Jack told him that he couldn't show favoritism to me, and I needed to comply with the assigned schedule, or be replaced. Jack then told Larry that there were no allowances for scheduling special needs of employees.The next day, my boss, Larry told me all this and asked if I could get a ride in the morning so that I could be in 'on time' versus early. I tried my best. I was unable to do so. He told me to just keep coming in early, but don't clock in until time. As for the afternoon, he asked if I could stay until normal time and clock out. I agreed, even though it would make me now having to wait a long time in the evening for the bus.

My first day on the new schedule, the very boss that refused my schedule modifications, Jack, walked up to my desk. "I need these photocopies in triplicate." Before I could answer, Larry did. "She's not on the clock for another 20 minutes. She can do it after she clocks in between her regular duties."

Jack said "She's on the clock. She can work." Larry replied ever so sweetly. "No. She's not. You said no schedule modifications. She would have been on the clock, but she's not, now."

Jack asked to see Larry in the office. Larry agreed and I could hear raised voices. I kept reading my book, quietly, but watching the time. Just before I was to sign in, Larry called me in. "Effective today, you're to go back to your schedule that was modified." I nodded, clocked in, and made the copies before people began arriving. Larry would eventually climb the ladder there, taking over the position Jack held. I wish more bosses were as awesome as Larry! ❤️

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Quirky-Fix9203 on 2025-06-22 20:03:49+00:00.

When I was 18 my first job was at new ice cream place that’s known for making and mixing their own ice cream in shop, very popular at the time (not sure if they still are I haven’t had it since this incident 11 years ago)

My manager was only two years older then me and everyone that worked in the store was relatively young so you can imagine the politics and the way things where ran, lots of favoritism and what not, I informed my manager four weeks in advance the dates I needed off as I was going on a trip for my birthday, put in the request and got it approved.

Everything went as planned, enjoyed my couple days on vacation and my first day back there was a weird feeling in the air like something was gunna happen, little did I know it was to me. We had a staff meeting the day I got back which seemed to be centered around this new rule that even if we got time off and it was approved we where responsible for making sure our shifts where covered, at this point I KNOW they weren’t talking about me because I gave him FOUR weeks notice that I wouldn’t be here for those three days, the. Akes the schedules a week in advance so he had plenty time to figure it out.

The meeting ends and me and one other person where scheduled to open, I notice that a new person and my manager stayed behind as everyone else left but figured he was training, my shift was going well until about around the time I needed to go to lunch, a family of 6 people piled into the store and I began taking their order, out to the corner of my eye I see my manger in the doorway of the connecting back room giving my the “come here” finger, I apologize to the customers and tell them give. E a sec I gotta grab an ice cream flavor that wasn’t out from the back, I get back there and say what’s up I got a big family I gotta finish then need to clock out for lunch which he saw, what the hell could be that important they he had to interrupt, well it was him firing me for not having those three days covered, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, basically he said I was being let go because even though I had gotten approved for the time off I needed my shifts covered, I didn’t understand why I was even on the schedule to begin with if I had sent in the time off and told him four weeks in advance to avoid this situation in the first place! I knew he had messed up and probably forgot as I had seen him do that in the past, he told me to finish up with the family and I could leave, I was beyond pissed but put on my fake smile and went back to finish helping out the family, and wouldn’t you know it, it was their lucky day! They all got upgraded to extra larges, with any mix in’s completely free! All 6 of them, on the house compliments of my manager who just fired me, I clocked out, collected my tips from that overly happy family and have not been back since. In hindsight I should have probably made a bigger deal cuz he is the one that messed up, but the look on his face when I gave away all that free ice cream and told them to thank him for it was priceless, plus that job sucked

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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ikikr44 on 2025-06-22 12:57:02+00:00.

I learned how to bartend at age 19 in a wonderful corner pub. I worked here on and off for years- quitting for overseas travel and getting rehired each time I returned.

The manager who ran the place, and taught me to bartend all those years ago, was a wonderful mentor. And the owner was never there- I saw him in passing maybe twice, racing to the basement to count money and leaving without saying hello.

The owner at some point decided to change two things- he installed cameras and implemented a spill sheet. From his home he’d watch the bar (instead of , you know, sitting at the bar) and he’d call in periodically commenting on the regular patrons. I’m a good bartender, and responsible, but was so annoyed with his changes that when he reviewed the expectations of the spill sheet (date, product spilled, amount, reason), I decided to comply.

Most of the staff ignored the stupid spill sheet… but me? My few clumsy hours at work reached every wasted drop. 1/3 pint of beer lost due to foam. 1/4 shot of whiskey splashed out while pouring. I alone filled pages tracking all my spills.

Finally he told me I only needed to track drinks given away or full/large amounts spilled.