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malicious compliance

‘I put my key on the counter and walked out’: Bakery worker gets back at micromanaging owner, quits on ‘sandwich day’, leaving boss to make hundreds of sandwiches by himself

‘I put my key on the counter and walked out’: Bakery worker gets back at micromanaging owner, quits on ‘sandwich day’, leaving boss to make hundreds of sandwiches by himself

Working at a bakery is a dream come true for some, and honestly, what is not to like? The place smells like a literal heaven, and you get unlimited pastries. I might be exaggerating the ‘dream come true part’, because although the latter is true, there is still the pesky issue of the actual work. It can get repetitive, and the pay isn't great (in other words, don't expect to retire early), and to top it all off, you have annoying customers who have obviously never worked a day in their life, an…
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'My hours were suddenly gone': Upper management revoke fast food worker's hours despite being in violation of company policy; worker demands reinstatement

'My hours were suddenly gone': Upper management revoke fast food worker's hours despite being in violation of company policy; worker demands reinstatement

Call me biased, but managers are never ‘in the wrong’. It is always the employees who get written up for their manager's mistakes, and this story is as infuriatingly accurate to that statement as it gets. Why upper management punishes its workers via breaking the law is beyond me, but not enough workers are suing them for it, so until they do, management continues to get away with it. In this frustrating case, the OP was working at a fast food place in Oregon for about 9 months, when one day, h…
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'You can't use your phone': Company refuses to let workers without ‘management title’ to use phones; contractor stops working, employees follow his lead, costing company $100,000

'You can't use your phone': Company refuses to let workers without ‘management title’ to use phones; contractor stops working, employees follow his lead, costing company $100,000

Companies just don't get it. They simply don't understand that in order to work peacefully with the people they employ, they need to stop forcing employees to heed rules that are so out of place, it isn't even funny. When companies hire contractors, they take into account that this is no regular, run-of-the-mill employee who works on the company's payroll, receiving wages and benefits in exchange for following work guidelines. No, no, contractors are much different. See, a contractor is a separ…
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'Want me to work for my "interview"? Will do': Job candidate discovers their free writing sample was used in court case, sues the company that interviewed them

'Want me to work for my "interview"? Will do': Job candidate discovers their free writing sample was used in court case, sues the company that interviewed them

This job candidate was surprised when an interviewer asked for a free writing sample on an oddly specific topic. This person told their story to r/MaliciousCompliance, sharing the exact way they got back at this company who tried to avoid paying their fair share. You'd think a huge group of lawyers at a law firm would know better than to have shady hiring practices. When OP interviewed for a job there doing research and writing, they applied, but red flags began popping up almost immediately. S…
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'[I] didn't do a single lab report all year': Teacher changes grading policy, student maliciously complies to get out of doing work

'[I] didn't do a single lab report all year': Teacher changes grading policy, student maliciously complies to get out of doing work

The only thing smarter than a student who follows a grading policy is the student who finds a clever loophole. This school needed to adjust its policies after too many athletes were seen failing their classes. So what were the teachers forced to do? Well, instead of the classic A-F scale, final grades were given on a number scale, where the only failing grade was a 1 (you could not get a 0). Additionally, all grades for some reason could only count tests. Perhaps this was a short-term solution…
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"We want another server now': Waiter ignores customers for hours

'We want another server now': Waiter ignores customers for hours after they insult staff members

This waiter works at an upscale place where the customers are used to getting whatever they desire. As many waiters will tell you, working at high end restaurants can be intense, but it's worth it for the giant tips that some rich folks will leave. Part of the intensity is working with people who are used to snapping their fingers and immediately getting what they want. These customers aren't patient, and some of them view wait staff as beneath them. The customer u/grayson1228 served seems part…
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'Win win for [me], not the company': Consultant finagles freebee PTO days when manager insist they work on impossible days

'Win win for [me], not the company': Consultant finagles freebee PTO days when manager insist they work on impossible days

Sometimes managers can be a little… ditzy, to say the least. They request things from their employees that are not even possible. And that's exactly what happened to this consultant who posted their story on Reddit . This OP was working as a consultant at a firm they very much enjoyed. They had a pretty good relationship with their manager, so when they requested time off to travel, they didn't think there would be an issue. And initially, there wasn't. However, three days before they were supp…
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'Sorry boss, that's a managers job': Boss tells employee not to take on extra work, employee maliciously complies and boss's incompetence starts to show

'Sorry boss, that's a managers job': Boss tells employee not to take on extra work, employee maliciously complies and boss's incompetence starts to show

Sometimes, bosses become so reliant on their employees' contributions that they don't even recognize how hopeless they'd be without them. This boss clearly became threatened by how much extra work her employee was taking on regularly, so the two had a meeting where the boss told the employee not to take on any manager's responsibilities. Normally, this would actually be great advice. There is no need for an employee to work that hard and not get paid extra for it. However, that's not exactly wh…
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'He told me to turn [his TV] back on': Cable customer service rep gets even with customer by complying to their demand that they cancel their service

The original poster of this thread points out that working in customer service at a call center isn't quite the enjoyable gig one might imagine… But really, it's hard to imagine anyone holding the belief that working in a customer service call center is a thrilling job… rather, quite the opposite. The images that a call center evokes are synonymous with the most bland and beige of existences. Anyone who has worked in customer service is already all too familiar with how difficult people can be…
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'I had the pleasure of calling them back to tell them': Customer service manager cancels services after customer's accidental reveal

'I had the pleasure of calling them back to tell them': Customer service manager cancels services after customer's accidental reveal

This woman made one key misstep while talking to a customer service representative . Calling customer service is not a task anyone looks forward to. Usually, you're contacting them because of a broken electronic or a warranty issue. Or perhaps, like this woman, you're calling about your broadband service. While customer service via phone has improved vastly over recent years, it's still a slog to wait around on hold for hours, especially if they're playing hold music. Worse still is when they p…
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'I can do this in my head': Teacher makes student show his work, tells him it should take up the whole page, cue malicious compliance

'I can do this in my head': Teacher makes student show his work, tells him it should take up the whole page, cue malicious compliance

We all remember the people who would do mental math in class all the time. You know, those kids who thought it was cool that they could do double-digit multiplication in their heads. Sure, it could make them seem intelligent, and perhaps they are. But it also makes you straight-up obnoxious, and in some cases (like this one), your work can be straight-up wrong. Not to take us down a mathematics rabbit hole, but do any of us remember that point when algebra became hard? That point of no return w…
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'HOA came down to our house to personally ask us to remove the sign': Family devises HOA workaround to avoid 24-hour sign rule

'HOA came down to our house to personally ask us to remove the sign': Family devises clever HOA workaround to avoid 24-hour sign rule

This family will not be stopped by an HOA. The whole concept of an HOA is designed to benefit HOA members, not the people who live in the neighborhood . We all want to just decorate our properties as we see fit. If you're an adult who owns a property, why should anyone else tell you what to do there (not counting things outside the law, obviously). If you want to plant sunflowers, put in a nice swing, or support your favorite sports team with a sign or a flag, there's no reason you shouldn't do…
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'You don't want to SEE these anymore? No problem!': Supervisor tells employee to stop being late, employee relays his words verbatim to HR and now no one ever gets reported late

'You don't want to SEE these anymore? No problem!': Supervisor tells employee to stop being late, employee relays his words verbatim to HR and now no one ever gets reported late

If you have never heard of “malicious compliance," let this tale be your introduction to it. What it means is that you do exactly what you are told, I mean eeexaaaactlyyyy. You take every word literally. So if your boss says they don't want to see you being late anymore, then say “no problem!” and just stop letting them know you're late. Because they said they didn't want to see you being late anymore. None of those words told you to stop being late. You get my drift here? This Reddit story is…
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'After a week with no electronics, it finally happened': Father takes son's devices, makes himself late for work

'After a week with no electronics, it finally happened': Father takes son's electronics, only to have the punishment backfire on him

It's your job as a parent to try to raise your kid right. You try to instill good values and push them to be kind, hardworking, and to follow the rules. But of course, kids definitely do not always follow rules, especially when they're young. This person remembered a funny tale from when he was in elementary school . He did something to annoy his father, though neither of them can recall what the incident was anymore. So u/Zylly's father decided the best course of action was to take away all hi…
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'It was one of the most epic epiphanies of his angry life': Guy finds a ding on ‘his’ car, destroys the identical model parked next to it as revenge before realizing he was beating up his own car

They say that guys who are obsessed with cars are the male equivalent of a horse girl. Obsessed with something that's taken over their whole personality, car guys are often a little too protective of their vehicles, which can lead to some spicy parking lot altercations. In this story, one car guy shot himself in the foot (big time) when he misidentified his precious vehicle.
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'I didn't come in early': Shrewd supervisor gets back at employer by working scheduled hours

Agreeing to something only to find that the terms of that deal have changed is an altogether disappointing experience. And why wouldn't it be? An expectation has been set that hasn't been met, and usually not in your favor. While sometimes you might fight and argue to reach the terms of the original deal… Sometimes, all you can do is pray that the deal isn't altered any further. Even though the terms of employment shouldn't be like making a deal with Star Wars Darth Vader—well… sometimes it is;…
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