Saying something dismissive to try and prove your superiority is bound to backfire when those you thought you had under your boot comply with the meaning—but not spirit—of your words. This is malicious compliance, and if you've spent some time here or on the popular Reddit sub that gave these stories a rise in popularity, then you know of it all too well. Heck—if you've spent some time in a toxic workplace under a tyrannical boss, you've probably watched one of these stories unfold. This Reddit…

Workplace culture might be changing with more woke millennials taking on managerial positions, but there are still completely toxic environments that make you want to quit immediately. For example, when you get a toxic boss who acts like a child and pretends you didn't just hand in your resignation later… That is exactly what happened recently to one woman who posted about her experience on TikTok . She said she handed her boss her resignation letter and he took one look at it and simply said,…

Finance is probably one of the least “metal” things out there. In fact, finance workers are probably a direct antithesis of rock and roll singers.

This may be one of the best malicious compliance stories we've read to date, and the reason for that is the novelty, hilarity, and downright relatability of the details. A tyrannical boss had taken her reign over a government department where she was less than kind to her employees, OP included. At the time, OP was a technical writer and had been slowly transferring an old employee handbook into a modern and actually useful doc (ex: one page with policies and links to useful websites, like Offi…

In the U.S., each state has their own employment laws to protect both employers and employees. Unfortunately, employers are the ones with all the money, so things tend to fall in their favor over the hardworking employees. Recently, a woman shared her quitting saga on her TikTok. She worked for a non-profit that used business practices that she said “did not align” with her ethically. The work environment became more and more toxic and her and her entire team had had enough. You can see this ha…

Bosses really know how to put you in the mood to work.

Everyone watch out!.. The fun police are on patrol. We all expect to have to maintain some degree of professionally at work, but we're all still human beings, and part of being human is wanting to—you know… enjoy things. We're already trading a significant portion of our existence for the means to eat and keep a roof over our heads, so is that really too much to ask?

Why is it that the people who do the most work never seem to get noticed? This is 1000% the definition of a toxic working environment, and yet there are still tons of managers and bosses out there who wholeheartedly follow that. As if your job is only to make them look good, and if you stop trying to make them look good then you're fired, but if you work harder to make them look good, then you can stay right there exactly where you are with no promotions or raises and definitely no acknowledgem…

Some people think that their continued manipulative or abusive behavior will go unchecked. Often, they've been getting away with it for so long that why would they have any expectation otherwise? Well, whether it's finally writing an attitude check that's too big to cash or simply pure karmic justice… it catches up with you eventually. This horrible manager finally got her just deserts for her continued harassment and micromanaging of a team member. The team member had joined the company in a l…

It's nice to feel valued for your work and know that your employer understands that you're important to their business, though you might hope it wouldn't take handing in your notice to find that out. You might also prefer that this was communicated to you in a way other than through your old boss calling your would-be new employer to accuse them of “poaching." Alas, some people just don't know how to communicate properly. Maybe they never learned, maybe they just don't care… maybe they aren't e…

Having an aggressively abusive boss will make your working life intolerable, and this negativity will likely bleed into your personal life and make that worse as well. Unfortunately, especially in some industries, bad behavior from the bosses is almost an expectation, with egotistical CEOs and owners unleashing wrathful attitudes on workers lest they forget who is in charge. This user, Redditor u/EAwithOddTasks, shared their story to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit. While the post didn…

Workplaces seem to have this idea that younger workers will be just fine being underpaid for their work. They're young! They have no mortgage and have “relatively little” expenses compared to us mature adults! But when you're living in a city where the rent and cost of living are well outside of the wage that you're earning, trying to make a start on the career you've waited so long to begin, it feels like anything, but like you have the "no expenses" your older coworkers are expecting—especial…

It's amazing the lengths that people will go to place blame on anything but themselves, especially when that person is an old employer seeking to blame you for their own mistakes. It's no secret that, after you leave a toxic workplace, everything will be blamed on you—but this company has taken it to another level. This worker, Redditor u/NimboStratusSuck shared their story to Reddit's popular r/antiwork subreddit, claiming to have been contacted by a previous employer who was seeking to get cr…

Give some people even a shred of power, and they will preside with an iron fist… devoid of any sense of justice except the whims of their own stupid ego. They'll generally not be overly concerned with anyone else's needs or wants. All is well—just as long as they have their own way. There's nothing inherently wrong with having to make changes to a schedule or roster; as a manager, that's just part of the job. Still, there are ways to do it and ways not to do it if you care a shred about the peo…

Everyone always thinks, “oh it would be so nice to work with my besties!” But those who have been through that before know the potential disaster that it can become. You have to realize that just because you are working with a group of friends, doesn't mean there isn't going to be a hierarchy, and if you're friend group can't handle that workplace culture, it is most likely going to fall apart—both the business and the friendship… That is exactly what happened to one recent Reddit poster. She w…

Sometimes you have to wonder what someone was thinking when they made a decision like this, but the reality is that they probably weren't thinking at all. We've all had a boss like this: the type who blows their top over nothing and with no warning at all. Who knows why they ended up like this, but for some reason, they have a stunted emotional regulation. Just the path in life they took, I suppose. Still, one just wonders. Wonders how it reached the point where their only gratification on this…