Efficiency is usually a prized quality, especially when someone's time is costing you a lot of money. In fact, when you work on a contract basis your clients are usually accusing you of wasting time or for charging time that wasn't worked or worked “appropriately” enough for the project. It's unusual to have the client accusing you of working too quickly and demanding that you take your time on something—unless the job is being charged at a flat rate and they're concerned about the quality of t…

Working with people who live in a completely different time zone than you do can become extremely challenging. You might be fine with it at first, thinking you would be able to find hours during the workday that works for both sides. But then before you know it, you are answering emails and setting up calls late at night because that is the only time you can get any work done with the other side. When an employee does find themselves in a situation like this, it is important to set up boundarie…

Protecting yourself should always be your number one priority in the working world. This story serves as yet another reminder of that fact, which applies to all industries, but in this case, we're talking about a diligent lawyer and his pompous client. This thread was posted to Reddit by Calledinthe90s , who recounted a story involving his client, Frank. Frank worked for a real estate corporation that was seeking money after one of its buildings collapsed. Frank was warned by the Original Poste…

This person had a strange request for her salon , and the salon wasn't happy to hear about her plans. If you want to antagonize your hairdresser before your cut, that's your prerogative, but it's not the brightest idea. You're at the salon to get a nice haircut, something you probably can't do as nicely on your own. The hairdresser has immense power over you as they cut your hair---they can make you look amazing, goofy, or somewhere in between. No one goes to a hairdresser wanting a bad haircut…

This is something that comes up now and again that anyone offering specialized services to clients will certainly resonate with. It's amazing how often a person or an organization will pay for services, products, and the expertise that comes along with them, only to refuse to accept the advice that they're paying for. And with ego-fueled hubris, they suddenly decide that they know what's best. The old adages might tell us that “The customer knows best” and that "The customer is always right in…

"Pfft, bye Felicia"

Every business owner had to deal at least once in their career with clients who disappeared without paying for the service they got. Some cases end with a happy ending, with the owner managing to find the client and get them to pay, but other cases remain unsolved, which means the owner never receives the money they were owed. This leads some business owners to find other ways to get back their money's worth, even if it means unleashing their most petty selves. Much like the owner in this Reddi…

It turns out that if you tell a contract worker to work fewer hours, they'll… do exactly that. So it's surprising that this client was under the impression that she was getting more for her money after trying to bully this worker. U/rentacle couldn't wait to share her malicious compliance story of “corporate stupidity” with the world.

The arrogant customer in our next story who tried to swindle his customer service rep over the phone, money-grubbing for an extra $200 credit on his Internet bill. But for the working man struggling to keep his cool over the phone, this customer presented a particularly satisfying opportunity for malicious compliance that only comes once every blue moon.

When making demands from someone who you're paying to provide you with a service, you'd do well to be certain that you know what those terms are. See, industries that work for clients on a contract basis have a habit of not notifying you that your additional requests will be incurring additional charges once the original terms of the agreement have already been agreed to. And why would they? You've already agreed to them, so it's fair to assume you already know the cost of what you're requestin…

Rich people always feel entitled to the servitude of others, but in this story, a construction guy shows his client who has all of the power on this job site.

It takes a thick skin to be your own boss, especially when you're working with the craziest clients imaginable. U/boobook-boobook knows that all too well after their run-in with a client who knew exactly what she wanted, no changes allowed. While we're on the subject of hilarious misspellings and misunderstandings, check out these very funny ones, like one person who tried to sound out “grand scheme” and instead wrote, “It is a very small issue in the gran stephen things.”

To work in IT, you need an elephant's skin. This person recounted their struggles as an IT admin at a tiny MSP… and it wasn't pretty. A former colleague of theirs, known for poor judgment, left behind a ticking time bomb: a client's infrastructure in shambles. The server ran an obsolete operating system, backups were faulty, and crucial data was stored on the same drive as the vulnerable OS. The client, averse to upgrades, exemplified the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality, even when p…

This boss underestimated his employee , and the employee is not complaining. What would you do if your job suddenly told you that you don't have to do work anymore ? You just come into work one day and your boss informs you that even though you aren't fired, you won't have to send another email or attend another long meeting. At first, most of us would be momentarily thrilled. You could spend your days sitting around playing games on your computer or reading a book. But after a little while of…

This designer got stuck with a ceaseless micromanager. That's one way to make a job completely unpleasant. A designer headed to the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit to share this eye-opening tale of an entitled client who got the website she deserved. With a client needing a website designed, it's typical for the designer to go back and forth with them numerous times. They designer will create a mockup, but the client will have just a few tweaks. Sometimes they'll say things like, “Wow, this loo…

Working at a call center that deals with computer support can be pretty tough. You get calls from all sorts of people throughout the day, and this employee has the stories to prove it. Once a customer gets transferred from customer support to him, his job in tech support allows him to access a customer's computer remotely to provide assistance on whatever they need. The guy who does this job has seen it all - from older customers who took 40 minutes just to set up a Gmail account to entitled cu…