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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/No-Strike7448 on 2025-08-02 00:57:41+00:00.
So, a couple weeks ago my boss gave me a taking to. For reference I work at a very small independent neighborhood coffee shop. I know most of the regulars by order and the newbies I can generally give a good time to.
This particular customer, regular though she is, is absolutely garbage. Rude, entitled, belittling, disrespectful; you name it. Usually I try to give minimal interaction, but one day I apparently didn't do things just right
So I get to work one day, and the boss tells me he's gotten a complaint. Now, I've been there for almost 13 years, and aside from the growing pains of starting what is the equivalent of a coffee shop version of a dive bar, I have had complaints that I can count on one hand.
Anyway, he goes on to tell me that a customer has complained that I've been rude/dismissive, etc... I say, okay. I will definitely be mindful of things with this customer moving forward
Cue malicious compliance
Every. Single. Time. I have seen her since, she gets the absolute, over-the-top, stepford barista treatment. Think June Cleaver ratcheted up to 13. Just pouring on the 'midwestern nice' like a thick saccharine syrup.
I've been doing this for at least two maybe two and a half weeks. And, believe me when I say that it drives me absolutely out of my mind to do it. It takes so much energy to treat this human this way.
Except today.
Today I gave her the exact same treatment as I have been. Except today she made a crucial error. She let it slip that the way I talk to her is irritating.
When I tell you I haven't had such a rush of happy brain chemicals in almost a decade, it's not a lie. And, now that I know it annoys her, it'll keep happening. Because now, it's not going to take excess energy to do it. Now it's fueled by spite.
TL;DR: customer complained I was rude, so I'm "killing her with kindness" and she finds it irritating. Ergo, I will never stop
Edit: someone pointed out an error in my recollection timeline. Mea maxima culpa