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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/DiamondDust_1 on 2025-04-30 01:33:03+00:00.
Hi everyone! I wanted to share a story from my job.
I work at a place where we pack fruit. There are about 20 robots that fill boxes with fruit, and there’s one position in charge of checking that each robot puts the correct amount of fruit in each box.
To explain it a bit more, we basically have to check all day that the robots are doing a good job, making sure each box has the right amount of fruit and keeping track of which robot packed it. (Hope that makes sense.)
Obviously, since it's heavy machinery, sometimes the robots damage the fruit. So when I'm checking a box, it’s possible to find fruit that's been cut in half or otherwise damaged.
When I first started, I was assigned to that checking position. It’s pretty simple, count the fruit in each box and return it to the export line. But whenever I found damaged fruit, I used to write it down in a section of the control log called "comments", noting how many damaged ones I found. I also started reporting it to a woman from the quality team. She didn’t like that. She kept telling me that it wasn’t my job (which is technically true), but I thought it was important to say something when the damage was a lot.
One day, all the robots started sending out fruit that was cut into multiple pieces (no idea how). So I went to report it again. And this woman confronted me and said: "Your job is only to count. Count, count, count, and count. That’s it." She said it in a very rude tone and sent me back to the station.
Of course I thought: “She’s totally right.” So instead of getting upset, whenever I found damaged fruit, I just counted it like a normal one, closed the box, and sent it down the export line. That’s how I spent the whole day, just counting, nothing else. Until the export inspection team noticed there was a lot of damaged fruit already packed and ready to go.
The quality managers came to talk to me and asked why I hadn’t reported it. I just pointed to the woman and said: "She told me my job was only to count, count, and count. So that’s all I did." And I shrugged.
She started giving me hateful looks while the managers told her that this position does need to report damaged fruit and packaging issues.
At the end of the day, they moved me to another area (a much better one, where I now do quality too), and this woman can’t help but glare at me every time she sees me.
Wasn’t I just doing what I was told? Just counting?
Thanks for reading. Sorry if some parts aren’t super clear, I’m still learning English.