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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/DressMedium4644 on 2025-05-29 18:47:46+00:00.
I (23M) have worked for a certain colored crustacean for a year and a half now. I bounced around between positions until they stuck me as a backup, which for context, means I finish the Par list and make more of anything we run out of. It also makes you the baker.
Now this specific chain was well known for their biscuits. Like I’d say most people just go there for them and not the actual food. So it’s pretty common to hear a server yell “down bread” on a half hour schedule.
Usually I can keep up with the demand and my par list. But one day our morning prep person dipped and I couldn’t come in early due to something personal. So when I got there it was a mess. No bread, no prepped food, just chaos. I get things under control until the rush comes in, by that point I’m swamped and I can’t keep up with bread because the line needs food constantly made. I was in fact asking for assistance and wasn’t given any. I got so behind on bread that our MOD comes to the back and tells me “whatever you’re doing for the line stop. Make the biscuits and nothing else for the rest of the night.”
Cue malicious compliance. I tell our line that I can’t help them anymore and that they’re on their own. I begin cranking out biscuits like a machine while the line struggles to keep up with the orders. It gets so bad that the same managers comes back and asks why we have 40+ minute tickets and no food has gone out. They calmly tell him it’s because they have me making bread and not getting them the materials they need. The manager asks me why I’m not doing my job and I explain that I’m only following his orders and only focusing on bread.
I think we had like 6 tables leave because their food was taking over an hour to get to them. Food went out cold, made incorrectly, missing components, the works. All because they made me focus on making the biscuits. I got called into our GM’s office the next day to explain what happened and why our sales were so bad. I happily explained what the manager told me and walked out Scott free.
About a month later all Backups have a baker and if a morning prep person cannot come in the managers are responsible until the backup can arrive.