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malicious compliance

'Stay in your lane': Restaurant chef spars with manager over leaving his station to help with a crisis, cue malicious compliance

'Stay in your lane': Restaurant chef spars with manager over leaving his station to help with a crisis, cue malicious compliance

There are certain people you do not want to frustrate in a restaurant, one of whom is most certainly the lead cook. However, as in any fast-paced work environment, people can get hot-headed and conflicts can arise between folks who feel like they are stepping on one another's toes. This lead cook was often stationed in an accessible place in the kitchen so that everyone could easily access him and vice versa. However, on one busy night, the lead cook briefly left his station in the hands of a n…
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Client micromanages truck driver over delivery, trucker sends dozens of pointless photos for revenge: 'You want updates, I will give you all the updates'

No one wants to be micromanaged. Whether by a boss, a coworker, a partner, or even a family member, as an adult, we can handle things on our own. There is nothing more insulting than having someone constantly checking in on you to make sure you are getting things done. Well, that's just what happened to this truck driver when he was making a delivery to a client. He had to drive only a few hours and was running way ahead of schedule...
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'I gave her exactly what she asked for': Micromanager boss scolds employee for lateness, regrets it when employee stops working long hours

'I gave her exactly what she asked for': Micromanager boss scolds employee for lateness, regrets it when employee stops working long hours

You know your work environment is toxic if you have to describe your supervisor as a “tyrant.” This employee had one of those bosses that no one likes. Not a single person in the company is happy to see that boss when she walks in the door, probably because she had a habit of flipping out over any and everything. No one wants to have a micromanager boss , especially not one who is constantly flipping out. It's not good to have to be in a constant state of fight or flight over office work! And t…
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Overachieving employee raises KPI averages higher just so their boss misses a promotion: 'The entire sector didn't get raises that year'

They say the best revenge in life is success… That teacher who said you'd never make it? That bully in high school? Anyone who doubted you or tried to keep you down. Well, the best thing you can do is go on to prove that you're not as weak or insignificant as they're telling you you are. Of course, although not as often discussed, going on to leave a peaceable existence of mediocrity is also an acceptable option if that's what you prefer, though decidedly less exciting of a story. This employee…
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Manager insists on personally reviewing every job candidate Recruiter finds, lives to regret it: 'I never received pushback again'

When you have someone in your organization, or externally who your organization is paying, specifically to do a task… It makes sense to let them do that task; if you insist on your involvement and time being spent on that same task, all you're doing is double handling and wasting your own time and the organization's money. And, yet, so many managers struggle with this simple concept, refusing to relinquish even the smallest, most important things to those who should be responsible for them, bog…
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'You stepped out of the store, you don't get a refund': Clever customer uses loophole in store's return policy, infuriating the manager

'You stepped out of the store, you don't get a refund': Clever customer uses loophole in store's return policy, infuriating the manager

This manager may have been irritated, but the rest of us can applaud this customer's success at bending the rules for his own gain. Sure, finding loopholes and using them to one's advantage can sometimes lead to unruly behavior, but this time, the customer achieved something most shoppers can only dream of: a loophole within a store's strict return policy. This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by u/dubilendar , who shared that he had just bought a series of items fr…
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'If I am not employed there, the software cannot be used': Teacher wipes software from all machines before leaving for good after years of free extra labor

'If I am not employed there, the software cannot be used': Teacher wipes software from all machines before leaving for good after years of free extra labor

This is what happens when teachers are not paid fairly. It's no secret that your average teacher is forced to take on a number of tasks and responsibilities that go well beyond their job description and salary. The reality of the matter is that without their extra free labor, students and teachers alike will not have the proper materials for class to run smoothly. Naturally, this lack of fairness can lead to a whole lot of resentment from teachers who are taking way too much time out of their a…
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'Threaten to sue me? Go for it!': Divorce goes bad when ex-wife threatens to sue after squandering her finances

It's usually best to take responsibility for your own decisions and actions. Unfortunately, when you have a propensity for making bad ones, you're also more likely to not want to take responsibility for them, instead casting them off on the other people who had the misfortune of being in your immediate proverbial vicinity. Being eternally financially bound to one of these liabilities through other accountabilities is not a great situation to be in. But, as with anything in life, the best you ca…
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'Ended up putting in a two week notice... they acted surprised': Worker gives workplace 6 months notice, company avoids finding a replacement

'Ended up putting in a two week notice... they acted surprised': Worker gives workplace 6 months notice, company avoids finding a replacement

This person gave their company half a year to replace them , and that still wasn't enough time. That's a generous offer! Most people give the usual two weeks' notice when switching jobs. It's the common courtesy to let your employer know that you're heading for the door, while also giving them time to strategize and start the hiring process for your replacement. U/Knowslittle wrote that their employer was making them do the jobs of three people . This worker was stretched so thin that it was be…
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'I was instructed to smile more': Tech support worker weirds out customers by maliciously complying with supervisor's instructions

'I was instructed to smile more': Tech support worker weirds out customers by maliciously complying with supervisor's instructions

This employee was confused by their boss's latest comments, and they decided to comply to the best of their abilities. For many women, being told to smile more is an unfortunate rite of passage. It's usually said by some older dude as the woman is working or just walking around, minding her own business. There's no winning in this situation. If you smile back on request, you feel degraded, and definitely not smiley. If you don't smile, they'll say something about kids these days, and why can't…
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Employee asked by new owners to teach their replacement how to do their impossible job: 'This guy got [a] full year's worth of training in a week'

Management doesn't have any idea what you do; let's just get that out of the way.
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'His friends are wheezing from laughter at this point': Customer tries to outsmart store policy, embarrasses himself in front of cashier and friends

'His friends are wheezing from laughter at this point': Customer tries to outsmart store policy, embarrasses himself in front of cashier and friends

You buy it, you break it … wait, that's not right. A lot of stores have the policy of making you purchase an item if you break it. It's often found at antique stores or vintage shops, or other shops that are crammed with fragile items. Some of them make you carry your backpack on the front of your body, or leave your bags up front, to make sure you don't accidentally swipe something off a shelf. Accidents happen, and sometimes things just topple to the ground, making for an irritating purchase…
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'Either do your job or hand in your resignation': Long-time employee calls boss's bluff, leads mass exodus

'Either do your job or hand in your resignation': Long-time employee calls boss's bluff, leads mass exodus

This boss felt confident in telling one employee to quit … but he didn't think they'd actually do it. In a story to r/Maliciouscompliance, this employee shared what happened when they worked for a company with high turnover and low pay. U/Catacombs3 wrote that it was a continuous cycle. People would be hired, trained, and could often hit their targets. But paying your employees a low salary means they can't be loyal to you: they're always going to be looking for someone else who can pay them mo…
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'If it's not in writing, it didn't happen': Employee uses written communication as defense when micromanaging supervisor's tries to get of them

There's a pretty simple rule of management that leaders should follow: Don't mess with something that's working. Whether that's a single high-performing worker, an efficient team, or just a general flow of business, messing with something for the sake of it is always going to end poorly. It's a similar premise to “let sleeping dogs lie” but in this case, it's more of "leave
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'The case was hopeless...': Lawyer saves restaurant owner from a rapacious landlord's iron-clad contract

Landlords are just about one of the only things that could make us root for lawyers. The lesser of two evils really comes into play when those two parties are in the same room together. The powerful preying on the weak is one of the oldest tropes in storytelling. What's not to love about a story like this? A wily lawyer who wants to do the right thing—but still doesn't work for free—coming to the aid of a desperate owner of a local restaurant (that happens to be the lawyer's favorite.) The cart…
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'I saw red, but then I had an idea': Woman engineer punishes her coworkers by agreeing to "get coffee" for them

'I saw red, but then I had an idea': Woman engineer punishes her coworkers by agreeing to "get coffee" for them

If you do something badly enough , you might not get asked to do it again. In the workplace, you've got to do this strategically. You want to mess up some basic chores in order to get out of them, but you also don't want to be viewed as being bad at your job. This is common in many workplaces. Even though we all do dishes every day, in the office, everyone conveniently “forgets” how to load the dishwasher. Other people will pretend they can't figure out how to work the printer, and someone else…
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