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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/franktrollip on 2025-05-17 14:34:07+00:00.
Years ago I was working on an IT contract with a bunch of some of the worst managers I'd ever encountered.
Malicious compliance: we discussed renewal of my 1 year contract and they said no, I was too junior (it was one of my first IT contacts). BUT they set me an impossible task and demanded that I finish it in the few weeks I had until my contract ran out. I told them it was impossible but they insisted they only needed a temporary solution so I should be able to do it, if not, I'd face disciplinary action and they would give me bad references for not being able to do the job. So I complied and set myself to do it, but I'd do it with an extra bit of functionality - like a sting in the tail. Here's the full story:
They demanded that I develop a system for them which was way out of scope for what I was being paid, and job description. It would require a huge amount of effort and stress. They said I can't get paid anything extra for it because it was only a "temporary solution" and that at some stage in future they'd get "real professionals" to come in and set up a "real" and permanent solution.
I did it anyway, out of a misguided youthful sense of duty, and it was a massively good learning opportunity. But it took its toll on my mental health because of the bullying and threats, and zero gratitude when I delivered a fine product that surpassed everyone's dreams.
I saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs, and my system immediately generated colossal revenues and savings.
My contract ended and they offered me an insulting bonus (way less than even my monthly rate). Once again reminding me that this was only a temporary solution until they got a "real" project and dev team in place to build the real thing.
But I turned the tables on them. I'd made sure from the start that all my code was inaccessible and then I'd set a timer so that after a certain time period since my last log in, the whole system would stop working.
Instead, it would generate a continuous repeating error message "CRITICAL ERROR: Overclock collision: Temporary Solution no longer temporary"
I heard it caused them a massive loss of business because my system had worked so well they'd decided to keep it instead of getting something "real". But never called me up to offer thanks or rewards.
So when the director phoned me in desperation when it broke I just said there was nothing I could do as I was fully engaged at this time and had no idea what that error was about - must have been something they'd done. I was as friendly as can be but basically put the phone down asap and ignored future calls, except a few where I'd fake it like "sorry can't talk, just boarding a flight".
Am I evil. No. In all the times they contacted me they never once expressed recognition for my fine work, the huge benefits I'd brought them, and no regret for the disgusting way they bullied and threatened me while working for them. In fact, on the first call, the director still spoke to me in a bullying and threatening tone. He only started to get polite at the point where he realised I was about to put the phone down after telling him I'm currently fully booked.
That was one of my first ever contracts. They were so horrible to me. I was young and inexperienced so didn't know how to deal with the situation at the time.
I hear they finally got a "real" system, but it took 3 times longer to get it up and running than I'd done alone, and they'd hired 3 developers to do the work.