This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/octohippo on 2025-11-20 15:12:19+00:00.
The fallout just happened and this compliance seed was planted a couple weeks ago.
My boss likes to send tasks via email, but to a group of employees and tell us to figure it out as far as who will do what. To further complicate it, when someone does volunteer to do a task, he will then tell you to make sure it’s okay with the rest of the team.
This annoys me to no end because it is incredibly non confrontational, inefficient, and fosters a lazy working environment where one person does most of the work.
We get an inquiry to create a new training curriculum. Boss sends normal email to myself and another lead asks who wants to do it. I don’t reply because I don’t want to do it. Boss meets with me in-person and said he wanted me to do it and had me in mind when he sent the email. (Why didn’t he just assign it to me!?). But he does his typical, run it by the other employee first. You already know.
I send the email asking the other employee and make sure to cc boss on it. An important note, because of this dynamic, employees have learned to just not reply to any emails. Even if it is to approve of the coworker taking the task, for fear of somehow being roped into the task. Shockingly, the other employee does not respond.
My boss just left my office panicked because not only did this one not get done but now there is another order. I’m swamped because I have been volunteering for his other email tasks that could warrant their own post. He realizes he is too much of a coward to force his other employees to do it and is now having to work both orders on his own.
Friday Eve got a little better.