You can't command respect that you haven't earned, and just the mere fact that you're someone's superior doesn't mean you've earned anything. After all, there are plenty of people in positions of authority who have achieved that position for all the wrong reasons—usually because another person with a misunderstanding of leadership has granted it to them. You'll come across plenty of these authority figures in your life who wield their authority with impunity, demanding respect when they don't d…

People love having someone to blame, especially in a situation where something has gone wrong, and they're worried about the finger being pointed at themselves. Rather than taking that risk, they're more than happy to scapegoat someone directly beneath them who is going to find it challenging to stand up for themselves against them. As the saying goes… “Sludge” only flows in one direction—and that's downhill.

It's no secret that petty power begets petty tyrants, but there's something about a petty tyrant who is very aware that they're not quite at the top of the food chain that causes exceedingly terrible behavior. For example, it's often that store managers are the chillest people in existence, being at the top of the immediate food chain with nowhere really else to go; they tend to take things as they come and are easygoing to subordinates. Meanwhile, assistant managers have a much higher chance o…

Gyms aggressively seek to enlist as many members as possible, seemingly with the hope that none of them will actually use the facilities provided. Instead, keeping members paying monthly to keep the gym's barcoded tag on their key ring like some expensive subscription-based accessory. They just as aggressively prevent you from ever canceling your membership, ensuring that the entire engagement unravels with the same clarity and certainty as riddling with a sphinx. It's not unheard of for gyms t…

There's always a bigger fish when it comes to the chain of command—well, almost always. But trust a Petty Officer to think that they're a much bigger fish than they really are and foolishly overstep in the wielding of their authority. This newly enlisted seaman ran afoul of a “Karen” clerk, who also happened to be well… connected with senior enlisted personnel. He starts off by explaining how this happened during his time serving in the Navy way back in the late eighties. The then-newly enliste…

If you're going to approach leadership with the attitude that everyone should obey everything you ask without question—you should probably think twice about every command that you order. Because when your subordinates follow every command without question or thought, you might end up with some results that you didn't anticipate. It's no secret that this attitude is often prevalent in the military… and for good reason too. After all, the last thing you want is to have a soldier decide to go off…

There's no stronger way to learn something than through experience gained through repeated attempts and failure… and there's no better way to get this experience than through learning basic skills when you're a kid who is time rich and made of dang near literal rubber. So, you might think that growing up in a certain geographic area and spending lots of time outdoors would make you more qualified to make judgments about that geographical area than some random military officer. After all, there'…

Military kids can all agree that moving sucks. After packing up your belongings for the 15th time before you even hit 8 years of age, the whole process starts to become numbing and the idea of a forever home becomes more of a fantastical dream than a reality. However, for some army brats, their dreams come true when their parents get stationed in a long term, or even forever, location.

Sometimes the only way to make sure a job is done (and done right) is to do it yourself… Even when that job is taking a sledgehammer to the department copier to ensure that it's well, truly, and undeniably broken—whatever it takes to get the pencil pushers off their butts and get something useful accomplished. This hardened division lead shared their story on Reddit's r/MilitiousCompliance subreddit, a community for sharing malicious compliance from within the military. They report that they we…

Hopefully, this sergeant will thaw out his attitude before the next time he asks for a favor from someone he has been treating like absolute garbage. It's really not that hard to be nice to someone—or at least decent—and deciding to hate them for a petty tribalist reason, like being a fan of a rival sports team or a member of another branch of the military, is downright insane. It's the kind of thing that works ok as a low-budget melodrama TV show plot or between two kids on the playground—but…

This military wife commanded her husband's soldiers to salute her and the stickers on her vehicle, which led to a little tom-foolery from the soldiers who maliciously complied with their orders (as grunts are wont to do.) As commenters have pointed out, what is it with the "Military Wife as an entire personality" stereotype? I suppose it's not an entirely unique phenomenon—people will build a personality around the darnedest things. I'm not preaching from a pulpit here; I do it too. If you had…

If there's one person you don't mess with… It's the person who is in charge of the books. This person has the capability to rock your world in ways that you really don't want it rocked. This was especially true in a time before the internet when there wasn't a thing called a “digital backup,” and often, backups weren't a thing at all. Even if the documents were important enough, were used, and did exist—they'd be at another physical location and would have to be mailed, which could take weeks .…

It's important to choose one's words carefully, especially when those words are the only thing standing between some thirsty grunts and their choice of drink after a long hard day. This is a classic instance of malicious compliance being executed, where the number of something has been specified, but the size of each item has not. Another instance where this same premise plays out might be a parent telling their child that they can have “just one” candy bar before the child returns with the lar…

It's often the case that the most effective soliton for an unreasonable demand involves following that demand to the letter. If you refuse to comply, you're likely just going to cause yourself even more annoyance and trouble, but if you maliciously comply, you have the added benefit of leaving the command-giver to either discover their error on their own or crash and burn in a blaze of glory. Either result will have the desired effect: Getting them off your ass. This is how it was for Reddit us…

Nothing receives a coordinated response quite like an overly-stupid directive, especially when that directive is passed by a superior who everyone already intensely dislikes. Usually, there has been a long road of headaches caused by micromanagement before the subordinates reach this point —so the superior has it coming. When you're in charge, it's important to be specific, fair, and rational with your commands, especially in the military — where following orders is incredibly important and dri…

Some people just can't be trusted with a single shred of power. As soon as they manage to find themselves with even a semblance of it, they don't hesitate for a second to wield it over every person they possibly can with a stupid fury. I wish that I could say that these people don't succeed but, based on the stories we see, that's often not the case. It's as if these people have never once stopped to consider or care about other people and the effect that their actions have on their lives. Let'…