People Explain Their Masterful Malicious Compliance Revenge To Us
23. Complain About The Price? Pay More For Your Salad
“A few years ago, I worked as a cashier at a fast food restaurant. I don’t eat fast food, so I don’t know how it is with other places, but with this establishment, nothing was free. You want sauce with your tacos? That’s $.50, please. Substitute your sour cream with guacamole?
Sorry, you have to pay for that. You want ranch with your salad? That’ll be extra. All of these prices were very prominently displayed on a giant menu in the middle of the lobby, by the way.
Now, I was paid minimum wage. I, nor any of the other cashiers, could not give a darn about all that.
It also made the prices ridiculous, as a lot of customers naturally wanted add-ons. So, usually, we wouldn’t charge for most of those things, but we could only get away with that when our manager was not in the front, as she was the strict type.
Yell-at-you-in-front-of-the-customers-for-giving-away-a-free-sauce type.
On a slow day, an older woman walked in and ordered a salad. By the time it got to the register, she’d loaded it with a bunch of extras. To be completely honest, there was no rhyme or reason for what I chose to charge people for; it really depended on my mood.
Her salad was pretty accessorized, so I felt like I had to charge for something, but I was having a good day, so I just rang her up for the salad and extra guacamole and that’s all. It was something like $12.50. She immediately started to complain about the price.
I explained to her that it was $11.50 for the salad and $1 for the guac.
“That’s ridiculous. It shouldn’t cost that much just for a salad. Even $11 is way too much!”
“I’m sorry ma’am, but that’s the price that’s on the menu.”
“Why did you raise the price so high?
A salad should not cost that much.”
I tried to explain that I was only a cashier and did not, in fact, control the menus, but she would have none of it and only grew increasingly rude. Then, she dropped the classic, dreaded line.
“Can I speak to your manager?”
I hesitated, looked her in the eye, and said, “You don’t want to do that.”
“No, get your manager. Right now.”
So I went to the back and told my manager that there was a customer who wanted to speak with her. She came to the register with me, looked at the salad, looked at what I rang up, and immediately started going off about how I didn’t add the salsa, the chips, the house dressing.
I was used to this, so I just stood there and stared at the customer as my manager screamed at me. The customer stared back, dumbfounded, as my manager took over the register, corrected the order, and left without acknowledging her at all.
The salad came out to be around $16.50.
The woman paid and left without another word.”
22. Try To Avoid Our Seating Policy? Enjoy Your Cramped Table!
“I work for a chain restaurant as a hostess.
There are about 150-200 locations across the country. It’s a southern-style restaurant and we line dance. That’s just for reference. Considering this is not a small chain we have corporate policies that all locations have to abide by. One of those policies is that we cannot seat an incomplete party.
If you put your party in for 4 people we have to be able to count all members of your party before we take you to your table. This allows for all members to be able to order their food at the same time and have faster table turn out.
This policy has some guests grumbling but most wait until they have a full party. Except for this one lady yesterday.
She calls in for a party of 6 on our call-ahead waitlist. On the phone, we make sure to tell every guest that they need to show up with the entire party.
We send her a text to check in when the party is ready and she does so. We page her to come inside and lo and behold there are only 5 members. I tell her we need to see that 6th member before we can seat.
No issue there she goes back outside. 15 minutes later she comes back in and says they’re all here. I and my other hosts still only count five people. She makes a scene saying it’s ridiculous and I direct her to the sign on the host stand that clearly states our policy.
She said her 6th guest could be up to an hour late. I tell her no matter how late someone may be we have to stick to our policies (I said it more professionally but ya get the gist). She looks to her husband (presumably) and turns back to me and says “he’s not coming anymore, can we be sat now?”
Here’s the malicious compliance. Most people know tables come with the ability to seat in even numbers (2,4,6,8,10, etc.). She figured if she was a party of 5 and we sat her at a 6 top then her other party member would be able to sit. I tell her “ok no problem!
I’ll re-mark you as a party of 5.”
I sat her at a 4 top with a chair on the end. Boom! 5 top table for a 5 member party. Already limited space and no way could another member sit down. She asks to sit somewhere else and I tell her that the restaurant is packed and if she had renamed herself as a party of 5 earlier I would’ve been able to put her at a 6 top.
6 guy comes along almost an hour and a half later and tried to pull up a chair and my manager told them that more than one chair at the end of a 4 top creates a fire hazard. Sorry, corporate policies.”
21. Enforcing HR Rules Puts New IT Employee In Hot Water With CEO
“This happened quite a few years ago.
I started a new job in IT support. After a couple of weeks of training and orientation, I was put on my first early shift. IT support was always the first in the building to make sure all the systems were good before the working day started, so I was given my own key to the front door to unlock the building.
The entrance had a kind of “airlock” system. The outer door was unlocked but then there was another automatic door that needed a swipe card to open it.
Everything was fine for the first few days, entered the building, got on with my work. Then, this particular morning, as I unlocked the door, the head of HR walked up behind me.
I recognized him as he had sat in on my job interview. I said “good morning”, swiped my card, and walked in, he followed me.
As soon as we were in the building he pulled me up and told me I shouldn’t have let him in without him swiping his pass.
His argument was that he might have been fired the day before so might have been trespassing. (The swipe card system was not used to monitor people’s work hours or anything like that)
I apologized profusely and he said he’d let it go this time as I was new.
Fast forward 2 weeks, I’m unlocking the door and a complete stranger walks up behind me and tries to follow me in. I turn round and ask him to use his pass, he says he has forgotten it. I say then I can’t let you in.
Then he drops the bombshell.
“But I’m the CEO.”
I apologize and say sorry I only have your word for that and I’m under strict instructions from the head of HR not to let anybody in without a pass on pain of disciplinary action.
He got quite angry and said again he was the CEO.
I apologized again but left him in the “air lock” with a face like thunder and heard him shout something like “I’ll have your job for this!” As I walked away. Later that day, I got a phone call from the head of HR. I thought he was going to crap on me, but instead, he said that I did the right thing and he was going to get the CEO to apologize to me!
I did get a short email from the CEO to that effect later in the day.”
20. Great Manager Leaves? Sales Team Resigns En Masse
“Recently our original manager, who was fantastic, just left. One of the biggest things he did for our team was to keep the higher-ups from meddling in our day-to-day lives.
As long as we hit our targets, we could pretty much do as we please.
Want to work from home 4 days a week, no stress. Want to go out on the road and meet clients face to face instead of meeting over Zoom/phone, be his guest. Feel like closing all your deals at 2 am every night and not logging on until 3 pm the next day, why not?
Basically, do whatever, let him know, and hit the targets, it was all cool by him. You get the drift.
Because of this, our team works our tails off and constantly hits targets. With myself and a few others doing so well, we recently got promoted (personally I got the 2IC job to work with new manager, show him the ropes, train the new staff, etc).
However, the original manager leaves as he can’t take the stress from the higher-ups breathing down his neck about his management style. Even though we constantly make/exceed targets, they are unhappy as he is not doing it through their formula.
About a week or so after the original manager leaves, the new manager and pretty much another sales team are hired. New manager is essentially just a yes-man for the higher-ups.
Our super awesome workspace goes downhill, we are required to be in the office 5 days a week 9-5, given a set seating plan, and spend our time cold calling, not relationship building.
We do this for a few weeks, the older reps who worked for the original manager aren’t having the best time.
As not only are we now dealing with this shocking environment, but we also have to train new staff (and the new manager) on the systems, the product, meaning we really have no time to sell.
Then we have a meeting.
New manager starts going on about the importance of the new system.
As it will increase sales, which in turn will increase our commission.
Now we get to the good part.
The head office lady came down for this meeting (she doesn’t have much day-to-day in the sales stuff).
She is quiet until the end when she pipes up.
Saying how this company has room for growth, is willing to promote internally, uses me, and points out me and some of the older sales reps as examples. She then goes on to ask for the resignation of anyone who doesn’t believe her way will work by 5 pm the next day.
I and the other sales reps who were there with the original manager simply comply with her request and hand our notice periods in at the end of the next day.
Leaving the company with a sales team that consists of a manager that doesn’t know anything about the product or role, and a totally fresh team of newbie starters who have no idea what they are doing and will not get anywhere near the target for a long time.
Edit:
After I put in my notice, new manager called me and asked why I was leaving & that he was disappointed as he wanted to learn about the ins and outs of selling the product from me.
My response was along the lines of “as was clearly stated in the meeting, I do not believe in this structure so as per your request I handed in my resignation”.
That felt really good.
He then asked me to reconsider & offered to allow me to have privileges like WFH, flexible hours, road trips, and another pay rise. I think they realized how much of a mess it was going to be when no one knows what they’re doing.
I declined this offer as I don’t wanna work in a place like this.
I again said no, as I don’t wanna be above anyone else in the team, working in teams with preferential treatment never does well.”
19. Bullied At Work, I Used Sick Leave To Expedite My Exit
“So, last year after 3 years of unemployment and the last 2 of them trying to qualify for better work, after I passed only theoretical exams but not the practical, I decided to take a break and clear my head before I try again.
I was one month at home, bored as anything, and decided to take the first job I got from my Unemployment Services. I said from the beginning that I would try, that I am bored at home and that is not my first choice of work area and I will stay only as long as I am feeling OK.
A month ago, I said I will start to search for something else, but I will stay at least until they find a replacement for me. Everything was ok, work was good, but around the same time our team leader started to bully me. You have to do this and that, you forget this, you made a mistake and you have to cover it from your salary.
You are not finished with your tasks in that 8-hour shift? You stay until you are finished, without pay. I had enough. I found something better, and I gave them my notice. I tried to make it friendly, but my Boss (who had no idea that I wanted to go until he got my notice) said I can give notice only on Sunday and I have to stay 2 weeks after.
OK Boss. I said I will do it. I worked that day, and before my shift ended I started to complain about back pain and other stuff. After my shift was done, I didn’t give a fork about unfinished tasks, I said to the next shift that I’m sorry, I did my best, more I can’t do and home I went.
The next day I called my Doctor (a wonderful one who always covered my butt when I told him I needed a break from work, school, etc) and he told me I needed infusions for 3 days in a row, therapy, and at least 10 days I am not allowed to work.
I sent my boss all the details.
Aftermath: Today, my boss called, ready to end our contract early. Because it’s cheaper for him to end our contract than to pay me until the end of notice for my sick leave.
I tried to tell you, but you didn’t want to hear it.
And if you try to force me to do something I don’t want, well it won’t be cheap for you.
EDIT: Yes, my doctor covered my butt, but it was not fraud. I do have back pain and other problems caused by stress at that job.
I was ready to stay until the last day of notice, how he wanted. But that doesn’t mean I have to be physically there. I kept my part of the contract, even with that loophole in it.”
18. Forced To Use Personal Phone For Work Calls? Enjoy The Reimbursement Bill
“Some years ago, back when Skype was the most advanced meeting tool around, I was the most junior person on a team of five working on a large international project.
Though I was there to help with technical aspects of the job, a number of administrative tasks also ended up in my lap — things like scheduling and connecting meetings and so on — despite there being an administrative assistant on the team. That’s because the admin assistant was downright unhelpful and the team lead was frustrated with her and taking it out on the rest of the team.
For example, I’d been with the team for almost four months and they still hadn’t sorted out a desk or cube for me. I was literally doing my work with a work laptop sitting in a coffee shop and using my cellphone.
One day, the senior technical officer announced he’d have to go to a tiny Pacific Island state (Samoa, I think) for a week-long trip to sort out a mess on an older project he’d been involved with that had gone sideways and leaves for a 48-hour flight time to Samoa on a Saturday.
On Monday, the team lead sends everyone on the team an email saying we’ll do a weekly check-in call instead of a meeting on Wednesday afternoon and asks me to set up the call and connect everyone. I reply almost immediately asking if I can borrow someone’s desk for the duration of the call because otherwise, it would cost $6.50/minute for me to call Samoa from my cellphone, vs using a desk phone at work which all costs are automatically paid for.
He replies copying the admin assistant telling me to talk to her.
Over the next couple of days I ask the admin assistant:
- For a desk or a cube for an hour on Wednesday. No.
- Can she connect the call instead? No.
- How about me coming over, connecting the call on her phone and then leaving?
No.
- Does she have any suggestions? No.
It’s Wednesday morning and I don’t have a solution. So I call the team lead and he thinks I’ve been insufficiently creative and just snarkily replies, just use your phone. I remind him it’ll be hugely expensive, but he’s annoyed with the admin assistant and with me by extension and just says we’ll sort it out later.
Okay then. So I make the call from my phone, connecting all five of us. It’s supposed to be a 30-minute call. It ends up being over 70 minutes. And then the senior technical officer in Samoa says, by the way, I think I’m going to have to stay another week, there’s a contract dispute as well as a technical issue with the project.
No problem, we’ll do the same call again next week same time, same way, says the team lead.
I start right after that call by trying to find a way to call from a desk phone. No joy. I again plead with the team lead to let me just use someone’s office for an hour for the call.
No joy. So off we go to another 50-minute call on Wednesday.
The cellphone bill closed on Tuesday of the second week and I get it on Thursday, so on Friday, I submit an expense request for the $470-ish in charges, plus 10 percent taxes and fees.
My team lead’s manager immediately rejects it and sends a message to my team lead asking what happened here. Team lead tries to throw me under the bus. I reply with the chain of emails and make it abundantly clear that this is a reimbursable cost and they have to pay.
The manager is annoyed, but begrudgingly agrees, telling me it’s a one-time thing.
“Well, actually, we had a second call yesterday and that’s on the next month’s bill. That’ll be around $400.”
Had they let me use a desk phone for two hours, the cost would’ve been about $20 and it would’ve been picked up by the company’s central telephone budget instead of having to be paid out of the team’s budget.
I quit the team about three weeks later when the admin assistant started trying to assign me work.”
17. Arrogant Customer Rep Costs Company $80k Over Simple ATM Issue
“I’m a service engineer for a business appliance (ATM, self-checkout and others) type company. In most of our contracts normal wear and tear parts are covered however if a customer asks for them to be replaced or insists it’s a physical issue it’s not covered and they pay 150$+ an hour and for the parts.
I won’t go into extreme detail. However, the issue arose with the cash resupply people not following the program sheet to refill the machine and entering the wrong information.
I went out to a machine that is normally pretty quiet, not many issues and is well-maintained by on-site staff.
I went over the hardware slowly, enjoying the AC as I couldn’t fathom returning quickly to the heat of the southern sun. After verifying the hardware was good and checking the software and found no issues I called the customer to ask what they see, when the issue started, and what’s been happening.
I’m given a short history and asked to re-enter the cash amounts. I follow along and to no avail, the machine is still not working.
I’m now 3 hours into a call where I normally take an hour, including drive time. No clue what’s going on, I copy the log files and email them to our engineer support team and call the customer call center when the following conversation takes place.
Me: Hi this is OP calling about machine number. I’ve copied the logs and have Engineering Support looking at them and will return when they review them.
Customer Rep: wait, why are you looking at logs? Who said you can copy them?
Me: we don’t require approval to export log files as we are the servicing provider.
CR: well I’m looking at this machine and it’s showing the hardware is faulted. Maybe instead of letting you Level 1 people take such an advanced task, you should contact your Level 2.
Me: thanks, so to clarify, you want a level 2 to do what exactly?
I’m asking as the team senior level 2.
CR: you need to contact a better level 2 and replace any parts that affect this issue, the entire dispenser is faulted.
Me: ok CR.
You know where this goes right?
On hand I had 8 parts I could replace, but I called everyone on my team I wanted every part for this older machine we have available.
I then filed a form that allows us to receive part of the billing as a bonus. And I replaced individual parts from wiring to control boards over 10 hours. Patched software, new parts, the bill had to be pretty high at this point and the issue?
Persists.
I had the logs reviewed and got back that cash resupply team input the wrong type of cash, should be 10$ and they entered it as 50$. I called back in and not surprised it was the same rep as last time. I informed him of what was found in the logs and asked him to force the correct type from his side, he put me on hold for 15 minutes and asked in an irritating tone “you need to fix the hardware.” I informed him the entire unit was new, the software updated and he needs to do as I ask.
He insisted again that the dispenser had a hardware fault. So I hung up and called back, getting someone in another country and I asked him to check. Not surprised he said there is no history of hardware issues in a week.
I took to repeating my request and within a few minutes the machine was working just fine.
I got an email from someone in the billing department asking me to contact them immediately. We went over what was asked and said, and after some time they told me that the account manager will not approve billing this call, so I called my boss and was asked to mute my phone.
My boss patched the account manager into the call and asked him why he won’t bill the call.
Manager: why do you think my area needs to absorb the cost of this repair?
Account Manager: your engineer was rude, and replaced too many parts?
Manager: do you have proof?
Account Manager: the rep sent an email.
Manager: with proof of him being rude?
Account Manager: I trust my customer reps, we don’t need proof. I’ve already sent an email to HR for dismissal.
I could physically feel my manager’s anger.
The line disconnected, and I got a call from my boss’s boss a few hours later to ask about the events leading to the end of the service ticket.
The customer rep call center was billed almost 80k, as their customer the bank who owned this machine billed for time out of service to both the call center and the cash resupply agency.
I had a bonus today over my usual 80 hours plus 40 hours OT’s usual paycheck. Also, that Account manager’s email is now grey in my inbox so I’m sure he was let go for some odd reason.”
16. Make Management Buy Hefty Rain Gear? Enjoy All Your Breaks Out In The Rain
“So back in college some 15 years ago… I was working at a big blue hardware store as one of the guys that did all of the extra loading that customers asked for (plywood, 20 boxes of tiles, a new fridge, etc) as well as collect the 7 different types of carts from the parking lot and bring them back to the proper part of the store.
Pretty basic job, but since it was a “warehouse store” it paid like $1 more than normal retail so the jobs were coveted a bit more than normal.
A bit of backstory before the MC. This all happened in Florida which is known for extreme heat and daily storms in the summer that last about an hour.
One day, a storm was clearing up, but still sprinkling and one of the head cashiers (who was my manager) said that it was clear enough and she needed all of the carts brought back inside immediately. I was annoyed and complained that it was still raining.
So cue malicious compliance – if I was expected to get carts in the rain I needed a raincoat per safety guidelines (we just had the annual safety training and this was something I heard during it). I figured just the paperwork to get a raincoat would be enough to let me wait it out until the rain stopped then I would go get carts sans raincoat and get to finish my mini-break, I mean who would actually care enough to get me a raincoat?
The other 2 guys just went and got started on carts, but the head cashier went to get me the raincoat – then came back with not a raincoat, but a full rainsuit with pants and boots, gloves, everything short of a hazmat respirator. After all – that is what the safety guy said was needed. Took me a few minutes to put it on, but then I went and helped clean up the rest of the carts in the parking lot while acting like a duck (bright yellow – for visibility is what I was told).
Well about 2 weeks later, there was a pretty bad storm, lasting a few hours. After the first hour there wasn’t much left to do inside and there were very few customers, so we were all just messing around in the break room. This was fairly normal as there weren’t many customers so once we got done with our work inside if there was nothing else the store manager asked for we were allowed to stay “out of sight.”
Cue even more Malicious compliance – which now was actually against me. Head Cashier comes in and asks for the carts to be collected as it has been a few hours so there are some outside. It’s raining cats and dogs, but no lightning, so we are ‘safe’ and able to work outside.
Well guess who’s the only fool who has a company-issued rain suit that is able to handle this weather? Store manager follows in and points this lovely fact out as well (he wasn’t too happy since it went against his staff supplies budget or something).
So I get to play in the rain for the next hour or so picking up the 4-5 carts that were taken outside.
This continued for the rest of the summer – any big storm I would dress up and just wander the parking lot while everyone else just sat in the break room until called for something inside.
Another guy actually liked it and asked for his own rain suit and we used to enjoy our water-soaked workdays.”
15. Punished For Efficiency? Guess I'll Just Make The Company Less Money
“I work in IT, and my first job was a tier 1 tech support agent for a call center. Our company had contracts with a lot of smaller ISPs and we would take a high volume of calls for various types of issues depending on who called in.
For me, 40 calls in a day was pretty normal.
Unlike most people who were just reading a script and collecting a check, I always had a vested interest in technology and also held some IT certifications which was not the norm here. I was really good at solving technical problems for customers and worked really hard.
After working there for a few months, management decided they wanted to start micromanaging the heck out of people and made up tons of strict metrics that they thought sounded good (but were not backed by actual data) to implement. One of their metrics is they wanted people to target a 12-minute call time with the customer, and anything over 20 minutes was really bad.
That sounds reasonable but they did not account for people who were really good at their job and resolved a lot of issues.
My call times would fluctuate between 6-7 minutes because again I was skilled at problem-solving in this area, and I resolved all of the customer issues I could.
It turns out that people who had under 9 minute call times would lose points on their rating because it was so much under the average. So my “scores” in the spreadsheet were failing because I was too fast. My supervisor was scored on his agents’ performances, so his score was also really bad due to the fact I was good at my job and scoring a “0” every week for average handle time.
The contracts we had with these companies we supported paid out to our company based on things like tickets created, issues resolved, number of calls, etc. So I was essentially making the company 2-3x as much as a slow agent per night I clocked into work.
However, because of our amazing performance rating system, my ability to do my job well was hurting both my score and my supervisor’s score and getting both of us in trouble.
They had a team of a couple of leads listen to all of my calls to figure out what I was “misleading” on or not doing that was in the process for our clients to make my call times so short.
But I had everything I was supposed to in all of my tickets and was resolving issues, so they found nothing. When we had our weekly 1 on 1 meeting after this had been going on for a couple of weeks, my supervisor specifically told me that he wanted me to do a worse job from this point forward because it would help both of us.
He wanted me to add in random small talk, resolve things slower, and type up my tickets slower. At first I was in disbelief and attempted to argue this, but then I was like “Ok if that’s really what you want I can do it.” So that night I talked to random customers about Destiny 2 and other nonsense and made the company less money because that’s exactly what they wanted!
And what do you know, I never got in trouble for call times again.”
14. No Halloween Costumes? You Never Said Anything About Wigs
“I’m a teacher, been teaching for close to 15 years. The first school I taught at was horrible. I loved my students but the principal was horrible. It should have been a red flag that I was hired after her first year at the school and she had like 30-plus spots to fill out of 110 staff.
A ton of people jumped ship because of how bad she was.
Not going to lie, the school was tough. We had trouble with gangs, illicit substances, fights, and pregnancies and it was just a school for 7th and 8th grade. There were some kids that were harder to reach because they were reacting to things the only way they knew.
We also had some amazingly awesome kids. I would have easily still been there today fourteen years later if it wasn’t for that principal.
I should also say that I am a white woman. The school had 1100 kids in it. Out of the 1100, there were only 11 white kids.
Out of the 110 staff, there were maybe 10 white staff members. Most of the kids were Hispanic or African American. The majority of the staff were African American as well, including the principal. I was some of the kids’ first exposure to a white person.
So the principal (who was a bully to students, staff, and parents) systematically took away everything that was positive from the kids and school.
The kids had to be in uniforms but on Fridays, they could wear jeans with their uniform shirt. She did away with that. She took away pep rallies. She took away field day. She once told us to be quieter while cheering for our kids at a soccer game.
The 8th graders would get a dance at the end of the year. She took that away. A group of my girls wrote a letter asking her why did she take the dance away from everyone, even the kids who don’t get into trouble and follow the rules and why not just tell the kids who get into trouble that they can’t come.
They were too scared to ask her in person and too scared to give her the letter themselves. They asked me to give her the letter. When I tried, she refused to take it from me, saying “if they have something to say to me, they can give it to me themselves.”
One year, Halloween fell on a Friday. At the beginning of the month when we had our staff meeting, she made it very clear that we were not allowed to wear a costume of any kind. Throughout the month she sent multiple emails reminding us that costumes were not allowed.
I show up that Friday in a dress that has a giant flower print all over it (I don’t normally wear dresses). I’d gone to a hobby store and gotten two giant fake flowers and made them into earrings. I also got a giant, red beehive wig….voila….Ms. Frizzle from the magic school bus (I’m a science teacher).
She calls me into her office. This is pretty much our conversation.
Her: Ms X, were you at the faculty meeting on blah date? (She has the sign-in sheet sitting in front of her so she knows I was there).
Me: Yes.
Her: Did you see my emails about no costumes?
Me: I did.
Her: Did you understand the emails where I said no costumes?
Me: I did.
Her: Why are you wearing a costume?
Me: I’m not. (I can tell by this point she is incredibly angry)
She gestures towards me.
Her: Then what is that?
Me: A dress… not a costume.
Her: What. Is. On. Your. Head?
I feign ignorance and touch my head.
Me: Oh this? Are we not allowed to wear wigs? Are you going to tell the staff?!?
She herself was wearing a wig that day that I’d heard her brag about.
Oh she was MAD but couldn’t do a darn thing. All she did was tell me to get out of her office.”
13. Forced Lunch Break Leads To Unfixed Computer And Policy Change
“This was some time ago (probably early 2000s), but this event is burned into my brain. I’m sure over the years the story has been embellished a bit, but the core of the story is told exactly as it happened.
I’ve worked in K-12 Education technology for most of my 20+ years in my professional career.
When I first started I was the only technician for a small/medium school district (2500 or so students). During the time of this event, the Director of Special Education (SPED) was married to the Superintendent. I reported to the business manager who used to teach technology but was not a technical person.
For the most part, I was left to do my work and was not overly micro-managed. So I got into a habit of taking my lunch whenever I felt like it or even not at all. If I didn’t take lunch and there was no pressing work I would just leave a little early at the end of the day.
Of course I made sure all the schools were out before I left.
As time went on I got in trouble for leaving early. So I would take my lunch whenever time permitted – sometimes it was when there was only an hour left from work, sometimes not.
But I would chill at my desk and just mess around. The others in the office where my desk was reported me for messing around every afternoon. When I tried to explain to the business manager that I was taking my lunch she says something to the effect of “You can no longer take your lunch whenever you want, your lunch is from 12:00 to 1:00.” I say, no problem, message received. So starting that day no matter what I was doing, at 12:00 I would stop what I was doing and take my lunch.
If I was at my desk I would mess around, if I was at a school site, I would go sit in my car.
Fast forward a month or two later, at about 11:30 the Director of SPED calls and says his computer is not working and I need to come fix it right away.
I say sure thing, on my way. When I get to his office, he says please fix it and heads off to a meeting. So I start in on removing all spyware he had managed to collect (at this time all employees were local admins on their desktops).
About 1/3 of the way through 12:00 hits. I stand up and walk out of his office and tell his secretary I’ll be back in an hour.
Out to my car I go; expecting a phone call any minute and sure enough about 15 minutes in I get a phone call from the business manager (BM).
Here’s about how the call goes:
BM: I hear you walked out of the SPED Director’s Office without fixing his computer.
ME: Correct, it is my lunchtime.
BM: What do you mean, you couldn’t fix his computer first?
ME: I could have, but you told me that I could not decide when my lunch break was, that I had to take lunch from 12:00 to 1:00.
BM: Wait, that’s not what I meant.
ME: But that is what you said. If I stayed and worked on the computer and took my lunch at 1:00 or 1:30, I did not want to get in trouble for messing around when I was supposed to be working.
BM: OK, I’ll call you back.
She calls back about 15 minutes later asking if I can please go back in and finish his computer and from now on I can decide when’s the best time to take my lunch. And it was never talked about again.
It was nice being able to go home early when I didn’t take my lunch again.”
12. I Can't Work From Home? Guess I'll Just Take More Days Off
“I work in university housing. Running dorms on a campus is a seriously emotionally manipulative job that really plays up the, “We’re a family,” rhetoric to guilt employees into investing wild amounts of time, energy, and resources into this work.
To avoid burnout, one must take time away, but it has to be AWAY–as in, not just staying home–because we live where we work. Our apartments are inside the buildings we run, so if we stay home, we still haven’t left work. You’ve got to go somewhere else to really have some separation.
But we get lots of guilt to avoid us taking that time away from campus.
In recent months, taking time away has been made more and more complex by our supervisors. It used to be a request form that was either approved or denied the next day, and approval was almost guaranteed. Now, you submit a request form that must wait until the following Monday so it can be discussed in a closed meeting.
If you want more than one day off, once your request is approved, it is considered “conditional” and you must submit a written plan for what your staff will be doing while you’re gone, a draft of your “out of office” email, written confirmation that another employee will babysit your buildings while you’re gone, and a copy of preparation materials given to that person.
(To be clear, our areas absolutely do not need babysitters.) It’s a circus with the hopes that there will be so many hoops to jump through, we might give up on taking our time away.
Not me. I’ll jump. I’ve earned my time off and I’ll be using it, thanks.
I have a long-distance partner that I visit for 3-4 days every 6 weeks or so. He can’t take time off like I can, as he’s self-employed and if he doesn’t go to work, he doesn’t get paid. So when I visit, he goes to work when he needs to and I usually spend my day visiting with a long-time friend who lives nearby, or taking his dog on day-long adventures.
But all the work I do at my job right now can be accomplished remotely.
I want to take off 4 days for my next visit. I asked my boss if I could just request the time I’d actually be traveling as PTO, and then work remotely on the other weekdays/partial days during my trip.
I thought this might be okay, as it would keep me occupied, and I could keep up with committee meetings, student meetings, and project timelines.
My boss has never said so out loud, but I know she isn’t happy with me for taking regular time off.
It’s been setting an example to the rest of my colleagues, who have also started taking more time off (which they should 100% be doing.) Our department still runs smoothly and my buildings are the best managed on campus, she’s just upset I’m not being guilted appropriately to stay here all the time and keep working.
My boss told me that she would not approve me to work remotely, as I had to be on campus to do my job. Mind you, during that meeting, I was dealing with a cold and had been approved to work from home. I asked her why that was different than working from my partner’s office.
She told me that, because I live on campus, I could still be called upon to respond to an emergency if needed. I asked her if I ever would be called on to respond to an emergency, as I was sick and I was not our designated emergency on-call person.
She told me her decision was final but, if I still only wanted to take two days off, I could shorten my trip. I told her, “No, that’s fine. I just won’t work at all for those four days.”
Clearly, this was not what she thought would happen.
She replied that, even though I would need to take PTO if I was off campus, I would still be “more than welcome to attend committee and student meetings” during my vacation.
I told her, “No thank you. If I have to take PTO, then I will not be working during that time.
Thank you for answering my questions though.”
She’s been giving me the stink eye for the past week. I wish I felt sorry for her, but if you’re going to make rules, you should be prepared for the possible outcome that people might just follow them.”
11. Refuse To Believe The Experts? Have Fun With Your Broken Machines
“I had my own company where I had an excellent staff of 18 people. We did service maintenance on specific types of heavy machines for several locations. We were contracted by the company that makes them. This was part of their pitch when selling the items that they had free unlimited amount of repairs and service calls for the lifetime of the machine.
I had previous experience in this field and I actually helped them get into some very well-known companies. As a consultant, I helped install them. After installation, they wanted me to temporarily service them until they could find staff. So I gave them my rate card, and they paid it.
It was not cheap and it’s a very specialized field that I spent way too long going to school and giving up my life to gain work experience in. Also, anyone in this service maintenance field gets paid very well too. All my workers were overpaid and not one person quit for the entire 6 years.
Their business got to be so big, that I had to hire people and I had this “temporary position” for just over 6 years. About the last year and a half, my team took out some of the machines from the smaller companies as the companies never really used them as they broke down often and they were a huge burden.
Because they were on lease, the manufacturer got them back. We all started to somewhat talk about what was happening.
We discovered that machines made in the last few years were cheaply made (they were using a lot of out-of-country internal guts to keep things cheap and more profit for them).
They didn’t run the same, the fixes were not helping. We went back to the manufacturer and kept telling them what we were finding on-site. They were disbelieving us. We told them to come out. They would not. We told them that our time was taking twice as long to repair, still they didn’t believe us and told us that it was inaccurate reporting and we were gouging them.
As a result, they lost every small business owner and the larger ones were not far behind. So the manufacturer told me that when our contract was up, we would be done. It was fine, I was working too much both onsite and as a boss and I was exhausted!
The day comes to hand and transfer all the parts and extra equipment and we were all really kind and helping out with moving everything to their trucks. We were all very jovial and genuinely happy that the manufacturer was going to take the service repair and maintenance in-house because we felt that last year they were not hearing us.
Frankly, I think we were all done at that point. Of course, the owners were a bunch of sourpusses and barely got their fancy long-sleeved button-up with cufflinks shirts dirty. I should point out that the manufacturer, who was just three owners never could agree.
They were insistent that the machines better be in the exact state as when they arrived. So….we did. We went to each site a week prior and removed all the small repairs that held things together like duct taping a small hole in the back that when light hits it, it shows an error.
(Yeah, we had no idea why they had designed an Achilles’ heel to shut down a machine with a standard everyday beam of light but we used to call it The Star Wars hole). Since they didn’t believe us that we had to do these small little things to hold the machines together, we just removed it and let them figure it out themselves.
So we cleaned all of our little machine hacks that kept the machines running and left.
So we wiped our hands up with them and had a goodbye party that lasted all weekend! It was so much fun and I enjoyed putting it together.
About two weeks later, I get a call from one of the owners who whined to me that they couldn’t keep their in-house staff on-site because repairs were taking too long, they were confused, tired, and they were refusing to do that much work.
And, every machine had a problem that they couldn’t resolve in time and that all customers were complaining. So they asked me, just me, back to work for them. He offered me minimum wage. After laughing for way too long, I said no.
As an update, which is now about 7 months later, he called me today and begged me to help out with it.
All the major companies, except for 1 are backing out and they want to rid themselves of the lease. He wants me to help him hold on to this last company. See, one of the things they did was that they started to charge for service calls, which were free and unlimited prior.
No one is happy with them at all! (I said no.)
Edit: I should mention that the owners fought all the time. Couldn’t agree on anything. Fought in front of us, fought through emails, and fought on the phone with us. It was confusing because one would say one thing while the other said another.
The last year and a half they kept fighting with me that we were not being compliant to their requests but that was hard as they constantly could not agree. Which I consistently pointed out all the time. They claimed that I was charging too much and lying about the amount of hours we were spending (as we charged by the hour).
I would like to mention that I don’t want it ever to seem like I don’t know how hard someone who gets minimum wage works as I helped out a friend this year and accepted minimum wage. I hadn’t worked in a year and my friend was in desperate need and I didn’t have anything to do as I was just enjoying semi-retirement.
It was all he could afford and I was willing to do it until he could find a replacement. It was a great cashier job. I interacted with customers all day and I loved it. I had it for about 4 months and I went back last week to train two people and didn’t charge my friend a penny.”
10. Young EFL Teacher Proves Their Methods Despite Overbearing Boss
“A little bit of context: I moved to Barcelona, Spain when I was 18 and got a job (after a terrible internship) teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language, the degree that sent me out there) in a private school just outside the city.
My boss was an elderly woman, we’ll call her Rosie, whose only purpose in life was to show her control over every student, teacher, and staff in this school. It was a very small school, only 4 or 5 teachers including me, a receptionist, and Rosie, whenever she deemed the school worth her time.
Whenever she visited, however, she would make our lives difficult and, for some reason, she did not like me.
I was the youngest out of every member of staff there but, because I was a 6″ heavyset woman, I really did not look my age, and acted with a level of professionalism that my age didn’t matter, anyway.
Firstly, she demanded that I not tell any of my students my age, and told me to lie because I was too young (even after presenting my passport and ID at my interview, she only found out I was 18 AFTER she hired me). Fine, fair enough.
I taught a lot of age groups, including two full classes of teenagers who probably wouldn’t respect me if they found out I was only a few years their senior.
The trouble began when the weather started getting hotter. Even though we would teach in the evenings, Spanish weather grew increasingly hot and, because Rosie didn’t allow me to show my tattoos, I was forced to wear jeans or full-length trousers to hide them.
(She didn’t have any problem with another teacher’s two sleeve tats, only a small inscription I had on my ankle and a medium-sized dragon on my shoulder). The classrooms were fitted with AC units, which we naturally assumed we could control, as the remotes were kept on our desks.
Being a UK citizen who needed to get used to the heat, I normally had the AC running throughout my lessons, which sometimes took 3 hours with little to no breaks, so the rooms would get stuffy and overbearing if the AC wasn’t on. Rosie found this out and, at random points during my lessons, would walk in and grab the remote, turning the AC either off or to 25 degrees c.
She wouldn’t acknowledge me, or my students, and (because my classroom had a HUGE glass sliding door) would stand behind it and watch me. It got annoying.
I was also never allowed to speak Spanish in my classes, only English (I was learning Spanish, but also was the only monolingual teacher there and Rosie shoved many Beginner levels at me), but that problem ceased after a while when I began to understand more and more of what they were saying.
Rosie then decided that my teaching method, which students would account was friendly and chilled out, but would get the job done, wasn’t following the syllabus (it was, I just found more creative ways to teach other than reading from a PowerPoint like the other teachers) and demanded I simply read from the book.
Fine. Whatever. So, that’s what I did.
My teenagers, who at this point I had grown a really close and amazing relationship with, knew exactly what was going on. I told them what was about to happen for the next couple of weeks, and they agreed wholeheartedly.
So, I began. My students would arrive early or on time, and immediately went about opening their books to the next chapter needed to be taught. The books were set out where you can read the information and have quiz questions on the next page to see how much you’ve learned. My students WIZZED through these in record time, even the slower students only taking about half an hour to complete the FULL chapter (which would have been taught over the space of one week).
When everyone was done, and the questions were filled out correctly, I would then begin my normal teaching, incorporating games, quizzes, videos, and even songs into my lessons so the students could fully understand the material along with having fun at the same time.
Needless to say, Rosie was upset.
She asked me into her office and told me I wasn’t listening to her, and that I needed to use the book. She said she would be watching my next class to make sure the book was being used, and I agreed, leaving her slightly confused.
Next class, the students came in, completed their mandatory book work and I continued my lesson, making sure the students knew everything that was being taught. I even, as a petty revenge, got them to sit a test I had written about the last month’s worth of material and went through the answers in class.
Rosie was gobsmacked when almost every student got 90% and up.
Rosie always tried to undermine my teaching methods even after that, but when the report cards came in and she saw my class had gone from an Intermediate English level to Advanced in a matter of MONTHS (they had been Intermediate for the last 2 years studying at the school), she never questioned my methods again.
I left after a year there to move back home for family reasons, and I heard from a few of the teachers who carried on working that all of my students either left when I did or dropped levels in English because they were put into HER class.
My last petty revenge before I left was to let every single one of my students know I was only 19, leaving my teenagers shocked and amazed I had kept it a secret for so long (they immediately added me on Instagram and keep checking in to see how I am, even 4 years down the line).”
9. Engineer's Cost-Cutting Plan Backfires
“I work on major construction projects and the Powers that Be are always looking to “optimize costs” (read: pay less for the same stuff) and they rarely pay attention to the old adage of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
So, recently, we had a large amount of pipe that needed to be moved out to site.
The normal way to do this is to collect the pipe from the supplier, move it to a laydown/storage yard, and then bundle it up into smaller loads that can be sent out to the construction site. You will see why this is if you read further.
In this instance though, Dave the Clueless Engineer had other plans. In Dave’s infinite wisdom, the pipe would be moved directly from the supplier to the Right-of-Way (ROW) and would thus save time, minimize damage (no double handling), and all of the extra transport costs.
I strenuously objected because Dave’s plan was about as sensible as installing a screen door on a submarine to keep the fish out.
Needless to say, Dave’s plan was accepted with enthusiastic acclaim and Dave got many pats on the back for his thriftiness and cost-saving vision.
Yours truly just sighed.
Now, in the rural parts of the state where we are running pipelines, the ROW is often a dirt track in between fenced-off paddocks where livestock graze or crops are grown. There is quite limited room to place pipe on the ground and even less room to maneuver once you add in the vacuum lifter truck required to unload the transport truck.
Dave, of course, didn’t consider anything I said on this to be pertinent to the matter at hand.
So I send out a final “Are you sure???” email to all and sundry. “Yes, we are sure, just get it done.”
OK then.
There are about 30 truckloads of pipe to unload.
This cannot all be done in a single day so I organized for the first four truckloads to be sent out on day #1 along with the vac lifter.
Truck turns up at the ROW and the vac lifter starts unloading pipe and laying it down beside the trench where the pipe would be buried. The pipe is 21m (69′) long (or about the same length as the truck).
The unloading operations were therefore:
- Move truck into position
- Stop truck, driver exits vehicle and moves to side of cab (safety regulations)
- Vac lifter moves into position, picks pipe up, puts pipe down then moves away
- Driver re-enters truck, moves truck one truck length along the ROW
- Repeat
By contrast, to unload pipe into a laydown yard, the operations are:
- Move truck into position
- Stop truck, driver exits vehicle and moves to side of cab (safety regulations)
- Vac lifter moves into position, picks pipe up, puts pipe down into storage pile
- Repeat unloading until truck is clear, then moves away
- Driver re-enters truck and drives off happily
With all of the messing around at the ROW, unloading 40 lengths of DN250 pipe (10 inch) took about 5 hours as opposed to maybe 1 hour for the other option.
No big deal, driver doesn’t care because he gets paid but the other 3 trucks scheduled for unload can’t get in because there’s not enough room in the ROW for them to get past each other and there’s only one vac lifter because the site crew typically don’t try to unload 160 lengths of pipe in a day.
No big deal, the other truck drivers don’t care because they’re getting paid too.
So now that truck #1 has been unloaded, the driver asks where can he turn around and gets told that there’s enough room about 14km (8.5 mi) down the ROW. So off he drives, turns around, and then receives a call on his radio when he’s about halfway back.
Driver #1 has reached his maximum allowable driving hours for the day. This is a legislative requirement and cannot be exceeded for any reason. Driver #1 has to stop his truck and get a federally mandated minimum 10-hour rest period in a room with a bed (not his truck cabin).
It’s getting dark soon and Drivers #2, #3 and #4 are in the same predicament. Our site crew has spare space at their camp and picks up each of the drivers (who each leave their trucks where they are parked) and goes off to sleep.
Next day, same thing.
We’re a bit more efficient so we manage to get truck #2 and half of truck #3 unloaded. Driver #1 finally gets past and drives off. His job is done.
Day 3, same deal and we clear the remaining loads. Drivers #2, #3 and #4 have all had to sleep a second night and drivers #3 and #4 will have to sleep a third.
Now, not only has this cluster held up the ROW operations for 3 days but contractually trucks have a certain demurrage period. This period is how long the truck will wait to be unloaded and is typically 2 hours. After that, there is a charge per hour.
In this case the hourly rate was $130.
Driver #1 was held up for 46 hours: $5,980
Driver #2 was held up for 70 hours: $9,100
Drivers #3 and #4 were held up for 94 hours: $24,440
Site crew daily rate for operations (working or idle): $24,000 x 3 = $72,000
Total for Dave’s brainstorm: $111,520
Dave was moved to a less demanding role in line with his experience and skill set.
He is no longer in charge of anything and is back performing the sort of boring work normally assigned to a graduate engineer.”
8. How I Cancelled My Gym Membership Against All Odds
“Once upon a time I, like many people after the new year, joined Planet Fitness with my partner (now wife).
We did not go to the gym, and this continued now that we had a gym membership. After a year or so had gone by of not going to the gym, we decided to go in one day just for something to do. They wouldn’t let us in due to the card that we used for my wife’s membership had expired and “our account was due over $100”.
They agreed that we could go in as long as we got it under $100.
We paid the remaining amount and canceled her membership, switching mine to a premium membership so that we could both get on using mine. After probably another year of them collecting my money for little in return, I joined the Army as a way to escape the ever-rising cost of family health insurance.
I thought “this is great, now I have a reason to work out, and I’ll use my Planet Fitness premium membership that lets me use any of their gyms around the country.”
However, upon moving to our first duty station I found that 1: I worked out every morning with a group of people outside 2: There are several gyms on base, usually nicer than a Planet Fitness.
So I went to cancel my membership, here’s where they really annoyed me.
“Oh, you have to cancel in person at your home gym or by writing a cancellation letter via 1st class mail to your home gym.” The problem being that my home gym was over 700 miles away, and I didn’t want to wait long enough for them to get the letter and process it.
I left and began my Planet Fitness contract research.
Armed with knowledge, I returned to the closest store the next day.
“Good morning, sir.”
“Oh, good morning. Can you help me out? I don’t necessarily want to pay for the black membership anymore, but my home gym is in Ohio.
Can I change my home gym to this location?”
“Of course, sir. I’d be happy to assist you…” Once all the exchange of information had been completed, I dropped the bomb. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Yes, actually. Since this is my home gym now, I’d like to go ahead and cancel my membership.” Her jaw actually dropped. She called a manager to give the overrides or whatever he needed to do.
He got the whole story, looked at me and said that I would have to wait 24 hours since I just changed my home gym.
I obliged his request and came back the next day. I’m happy to say that it’s been almost 5 years since my last gym membership.”
7. I Can't Clock Out Until A Manager Clears Me? I'll Use That To My Advantage
“So to get started some context I work as a technician that does jobs in residential homes.
We get several jobs on our routes at the beginning of the day. After we are done with our jobs we send a message to our manager and the route service rep. If I am done early and another tech is running behind they will send that job to me.
If there are no jobs left to be covered we are cleared and we can head back. We also work 4, 10 hr shift days. With the option to pick up a 5th day for overtime and choose between a half or a full day.
Now to the story.
I like picking up 5th days for a little extra overtime. On one of the days I picked up, I had a family dinner I didn’t want to miss, so I made it a half day. It was a busy day and I didn’t get to my last job till about 2:30.
Lucky for me the customer wasn’t home the job was rescheduled. I messaged my manager and route service rep that I was done. I was cleared by the service rep but not the manager. I didn’t think much about it since I was meant to be off 2 hrs earlier, and they never add more jobs to you after your scheduled shift. So I just headed back to the office and clocked out and made it to my family dinner.
The next day I worked I opened my work phone to find a message from my manager an hour after I clocked out that day stating “you are not allowed to clock out unless cleared by a manager.” At first I was like oh crap I must have forgotten to add him to the message.
I checked and no I definitely added him and it shows he saw the message. So I took a screenshot of both messages and thought to myself. Alright, I’ll maliciously comply. If I don’t get cleared I won’t clock out. So every day since then I made sure I was cleared by a manager.
Honestly most of the time all managers are really good at being on top of this so I didn’t think I would ever get to take advantage of this malicious compliance. But about a month later I finally got my chance.
On this fateful day, it was a busy one and it was winter and we were getting some bad snow.
I had several big jobs and was behind schedule. Finally after finishing my last job at almost 8 pm I messaged my manager (same manager that gave me that rule) and the route service rep that I was done. I started heading back, wanting to get out of the snow and get home.
I got home at about 8:30 and I still wasn’t cleared by my manager. So I didn’t clock out. I messaged him again and asked him if he can clear me so I can clock out. No answer. I sat and debated how much I could milk this.
After all I do get paid hourly. Well I didn’t want to abuse it too much, so I ended up calling him just before 9. He picked up confused. I told him I’ve been waiting for him to clear me. Still confused he responded, Yeah of course I cleared. I remind him that he instructed me to not clock out until after I was cleared by a manager, then I thanked him, hung up, and noted in the message thread I called the manager and was cleared.
It’s been several months since then and to this day that manager still sticks to everything he says and to this day I still milk an extra 15 to 30 minutes of pay every time a manager forgets to clear me before I remind them.
Well that’s my story.
Sorry for no crazy outcome. That manager isn’t a bad manager just micro-manages a bit too much from time to time.”
6. I Have To Pay Using The Machine? If You Say So
“It legitimately pains me to write this one because I love this barbershop… My barbershop. I go here all the time along with my sons. Always great haircuts. Always.
Today’s malicious compliance has to do with trying to simply pay the bill.
One gentleman gave me my recently-updated Cable from Deadpool 2 undercut, great as usual. My son got his crazy 16-year-old cut. His cut took a lot longer (like three more people got their cut) than mine so I waited until both of ours were done to pay.
Then it was time to pay as my son walked toward me. I checked his cut out with cash in hand as I heard a man yelling “Sir!!! Sir!!! Hey you need to pay!!!”
Okay.
I started to walk towards him with my clearly visible cash, but he wasn’t looking at me.
He said “You can’t not pay you come over here and pay right now now!!!”
I tried handing him cash.
He slapped it out of my hand.
Like assault slapped my hand so hard two of the bills fell out.
Then he said “You need to pay at THIS machine!!!!” Slapping his hand hard on the machine.
I was annoyed at this point, and embarrassed because I could feel the awkwardness in the air.
Enter malicious compliance.
I was livid. According to a forgotten comedian, that’s four degrees past annoyed.
I decided, hand still stinging, I’m choosing today to stick up for myself.
I slapped my money the way he slapped my hand directly on his machine.
I kept picking the machine up (scanner) to look for a hole to put my cash into.
I tried flattening it, bending it, folding it whatever it took to shove this money into the machine.
I really hammed it up, Ala OJ Simpson sticking his tongue out trying to put a glove on.
Then it finally happened…
The man finally lost his mind:
“Why did not you tell me it was cash!!! Why whyyyy!”
I could have argued. I just stood there staring, knowing he would spin himself into a tizzy.
He totally did, but not in the way I could have expected. He ripped my money, threw it in the air, yelled, and walked away pushing barber chairs that other people were sitting in. Everyone was yelling back at him. It would have been more entertaining if I wasn’t worried this dude was going to end in handcuffs by day’s end.
I didn’t stay around to find out.
And yea, both barbers got an eight-dollar tip. They have to sweep it up now though.
To those who will most assuredly ask: I have decided not to press charges as of yet. I really have no intention of doing so.
I really have NO idea if I’m going back. Maybe I’ll make a joke of it, waving my cash in the air upon entry. The other barbers there really didn’t seem to react in a way that indicated this was anything new.
Update: how the turntables….
So I go back and forth about what to do, because we’ve been coming to this barber exclusively for the last eight months or so, minus an occasional touch-up here and there at great clips (I know). I decided to call and, well, I don’t know what I was going to say or even start.
Luckily I didn’t have to say much. As soon as the barber answered (not the angry one) he was all apologies. Profusely apologizing.
“Ever since Oma passed our father has not been the same and we’ve talked about this with him. We’ve talked about this with him.”
He added a bunch of other age-related excuses that garnered my sympathy and made me look at things in a new light. Well the light has been shining the whole time I just had my eyes opened, I suppose. I should have seen the clues.
He took five times as long, easily, as everybody else. They have his chair way back in the corner away from the front window. There were signs I clearly ignored. Being an aged individual myself I didn’t want to pigeonhole this guy based on his salt and pepper hair.
But I should have taken a step back instead of clapping back at a sixty-plus-year-old.
I’m definitely chalking this one up as a mulligan. For both of us.”
Another User Comments:
“I get that he just lost someone but if he is this nonfunctional and all the age-related excuses?
You should consider not going back despite the guilt trip. He hurt you, made a scene, tore up the money, and going back doesn’t mean he has taken the time to grieve or is safe. This is unacceptable. Grief or not. Right now there’s no one in this world who hasn’t had a lot of loss.
If he is this far out of ability to use coping skills due to age should he be near sharp objects? Should you let those near you? His loss is horrible and it’s not something anyone wants to experience but it is also not an excuse to literally assault someone.
There is no such thing as too old to know better. That’s insulting. There are however medical reasons and those tend to come with a removal of sharp objects.” FirebirdWriter
5. How I Outsmarted My Stepdad's Punishment
“As long as I could remember, my sister (who was 2 years younger than me) would come up and hit me for no reason and often started fights with me. My parents started telling me that I would just have to hit her back because I’m stronger, so she would stop once she realized I would hurt her worse.
Fast forward to me being 16, my sister was 14. We’re sitting on the loveseat in the living room with my stepdad across from us, asleep on the couch at 3 pm. She hits me because I won’t get up and get her a drink. I hit her back.
She screams because I don’t usually hit her back. My stepdad wakes up and starts yelling at her for being loud and demands to know what happened. She said I hit her. He then turns his anger to me. He yells at me, “If you want to mess around, you can write 5 pages front and back ‘I will not bite people’.
If it’s not done before dinner, I’m gonna take your phone and books.” I made it clear that I hit her, not bit her, but he got even angrier and screamed, “If you think you’re so smart, then write 10 pages front and back!” He went back to sleep on the couch.
I wrote 5 pages front and back….
“I will not bite people unconsensually.” “I will not bite people without asking first.””I will not bite people because they are not food.”
… along with some other ridiculous things I don’t remember. I finished 5 pages before dinner (miraculously) and he read over them.
He went red in the face.
“I thought I told you 10 pages!” he raged.
“You said 10 pages if I think I’m so smart. Which I don’t,” I innocently replied.
“This is not what I told you to write!!!”
“Yes it is. You said to write ‘I will not bite people’, and that’s exactly what I did.”
My mom got home at that point and overheard. Coming to investigate, she flipped through the pages and laughed. It made him angrier as he answered her questions on the assignment and she took my side, still chuckling as we started making dinner.
Edit: To clarify, I am a woman.
Also, my sister and I are both adults now and safely moved out.”
4. Angry Shopper Mistakes My Car For His And Gets Revenge On Himself
“This is more malicious non-objection than malicious compliance, since my “compliance” consisted mostly of not stopping The Idiot from doing the stupid thing (albeit at his own request).
A few weeks ago, I found myself parked next to a car that was (as far as I could tell) identical to mine. Same make (Subaru), model (Outback), color (muddy green), and probably same year, although I’m not an expert. Close enough, probably. It’s a popular car.
I pass them all the time.
My car has a largish parking lot ding on the driver-side rear door panel. No idea how it got there. Probably some kid opened his door a little too quickly/forcefully and it smacked into my car. These things happen.
No need to get worked up about it. I’d been meaning to get it fixed, and I’m a little sorry that I didn’t do it because it would have saved The Idiot a lot of grief. Self-inflicted grief, to be sure, but still.
Enter The Idiot.
Bog-standard middle-American dad. Nothing special about him. We’re both exiting the Walmart with full carts, and he’s about 100 feet ahead of me. As we approach, I’m thinking it looks like he’s heading in the same direction. I even plan on jokingly saying “nice car!” in Subaru solidarity.
But I will not get that opportunity.
I should mention here that I’ve already clicked my clicker to unlock the car. It’ll be important later. Kinda wish I hadn’t, tbh. That would have spared The Idiot some grief too.
This is the point where The Idiot notices the large ding on “his” car’s door.
And he takes offense at that. To be fair, that ding is pretty ugly. The paint is gone where the tip or something from whatever hit it was centered, and there’s a scratch leading off to one side. I think it kinda looks like a spoon in the middle of a small/shallow cereal bowl.
So anyway, he gets really mad. Like screaming things like “son of a jerk!” and “it’s a freaking brand new car!” and stuff. I think he looked up at the windshield, hoping to find a note or something – but this all happened so fast that my brain might be making up details to fit into the blank spots.
I’ve actually slowed down a bit by now because it’s uncomfortable being around really angry people. And to be honest, I was super confused about what was going on. For a second, I actually forgot which car was whose. It didn’t make sense for him to be hopping mad about MY car having a dent!
I think my brain was going “wow – two exactly the same cars getting huge parking lot dings in them! What are the odds?”
But you know that weird twisting feeling where you re-orient yourself from the confusion and snap back to reality? That happened. I realized that he had made the same mistake that I made.
And so I did what anyone would naturally do – I called out “hey – it’s OK. That’s my car!”
Which backfired. Spectacularly. The Idiot must have thought that I meant “That’s my car’s door that smacked into yours!” Which only made him madder. He started yelling things like “what the freak!?!?” and more of “it’s a freaking brand new car!” and more of the same.
I tried to explain, not exactly easy from a distance and definitely a lot harder when someone is raging at you.
And that’s when he opened the driver-side rear door on MY car (i.e. the one with the large ding). And then he slammed it into HIS car.
Hard. It made a dent (took a little paint off the edge of my door too, but I didn’t notice that until later). So at that point I yelled “Hey! Stop that!” Which only made him more upset, because he responded with “Oh you don’t like that?
Shut the freak up!” Or words to that effect. I’m paraphrasing here.
So, I guess in a nutshell that’s my malicious “compliance.” I did exactly what he said: shut the freak up and let him slam my car door into his car a couple more times.
And I let him try to kick it too. There wasn’t enough room between the two cars for a good Chuck Norris roundhouse, so he had to be satisfied with a weak-sauce knee to the rear quarter panel. But kudos for trying, Idiot. You gave it your best shot.
I wish I was some kind of heroic Viking warrior who could come to the defense of his property. But my flabby behind wimpy dadbod isn’t up to a fight in a Walmart parking lot. So I backed my cart full of ice cream and frozen tater tots right the freak out of there and started booking it back to the Walmart, intending to ask for help from a security guard.
I sincerely regret that because I did not get to see the moment when the scales fell from The Idiot’s eyes and he realized that he had been beating the life out of his own car. I can only imagine that it was one of the most epic epiphanies of his angry life.
And to compound my disappointment, he exited the parking lot in the opposite direction, preventing me from seeing the extent of the damage he had done. I didn’t get to applaud either.
This whole episode took maybe five minutes, tops. Probably less. But aside from a little lost paint on the edge of my door (that was probably going to have to be replaced anyway), I was fine.
Him, not so much.”
Another User Comments:
“Honestly if you file a police report they should ask Walmart for the video evidence of the parking lot and you can get photos of what he did to his own vehicle. While I think you said it was only a little paint from your door, chances are he is going to file a hit-and-run claim to get his insurance to fix it.
Filing a claim can also protect you if he tries to do something weird. You don’t have to press charges but you should probably get the report filed. Plus people need to learn to control themselves.” Frost890098
3. Neglect Your Pool? Turn Your Hair Green
“I used to sell pool and hot tub chemicals. A part of the job is testing customers’ pool/hot tub water to see what chemicals they need.
If you don’t take care of your pool or check it often, you need a lot of chemicals to fix the mess you’ve made. Particularly if you use chlorine pucks. They generally have such a low pH level that it burns away at your heater coil and causes you to have copper in your water.
Well a couple of years ago a customer came up to me to test their pool water. It was a complete mess and it had a bunch of copper in it. This isn’t the exact conversation because it was a while ago, but these were the main points.
Me: Yeah the main issue is your pH is so low it’s making your chlorine less effective, and you have copper in your water.
Customer: Yeah just get me the stuff I need to fix it.
I go and grab all the chemicals he needs and put them on the counter.
Customer: How much is all of this going to cost?
Me: Around $250.
Customer: I’m not paying that much. Is all of this really necessary?
Me: Yes. You won’t be able to hold chlorine. And you need to get the copper out. If you oxidize copper with a shock, it’s going to stain parts of your pool and can even tint your hair green.
(If you have recently dyed blonde hair)
Customer: My daughter is having a pool party next weekend and I just want the pool to have chlorine for then.
Me: Yes, and you need all of this to make sure you’re good to go.
Customer: Can you just put everything away and only give me the chlorine?
Me: Fine. (I’m not going to argue. I don’t work on commission.)
Fast forward a couple of days and the customer’s wife came in. It was subtle, but you could tell her hair had a funny tint to it. She asked for all the chemicals that I recommended to her husband and she paid with zero hesitation.
The husband never came in ever again and his wife took care of the pool from that moment forward. The next time the wife came in, it looked like her hair had been dyed the original blonde color she used to have.”
2. Strictly Adhering To Per Diem Rules Costs Company Hundreds
“Years back, I worked in regional sales. My base was in Portland, but the job had me traveling to Seattle on a regular basis. We had a small branch there. It had been downsized, leaving me with the responsibility to manage their existing accounts. The business was on a long, downhill slide, but that’s a story for another day.
When I made these monthly or so visits, the drive was far enough that it required an overnight stay. The unspoken rule was, stay somewhere decent, but not extravagant. Knowing that the company was suffering a bit, I chose a national chain hotel that had several advantages; it was clean and safe, within walking distance of the branch office, offered a continental breakfast, and free parking.
Free parking is not all that common at hotels in Seattle.
We were also given a per diem for each of three daily meals. I chose the hotel based on the fact that I would not need a breakfast, and therefore saved the company money by staying in lodging that offered a free one.
That worked well for me, because I’m not a huge breakfast eater, and when I was up there, I liked to maximize my time with branch personnel, and our customers. I had to pack a lot into short, 2-day visits.
On one trip, I had to get up very early in the morning to begin a particularly packed day.
I skipped both breakfast and lunch altogether. I simply didn’t feel that I had the time to waste. Plus, Seattle is big, traffic is bad, and often there were many miles between customers.
I’d started out at 7 am and finished about 6:30 PM. I was tired, but even more famished. I went to a nice, but not overly expensive place for dinner.
When I got the bill, it was about 10 dollars more than my dinner per diem limit. I figured it was no problem since the total was only about 10% more, and still far below the daily allowance for all three meals.
About a week after I got back, the branch manager in Portland barked at me; “Come into my office!” I hadn’t a clue what I’d done wrong, but the look on his face told me he wasn’t pleased. He pulls out my expense report and says, “What’s this charge for dinner?
You know that’s more than you’re allowed, right?” I think he expected me to fall on my sword, and beg for mercy for having violated policy. I did the opposite.
I said, “Please understand that I never charge for breakfast, although I could. Also on the day in question, I skipped lunch as well.
So, the total, while above the limit, is still far below what I’m entitled to for daily meals.” He grunted. He still wasn’t happy. I continued, “I know the company is struggling. That’s why I choose to stay where I stay. It’s affordable, has free parking, and free breakfast. If you look back, I’ve never charged the company for it, and only about half the time for lunch.”
He knew I was right, but he decided to show me that HE was the manager and that I had to adhere strictly to the rules. “Well, that’s all well and good, but the per diem limits are clear, and you are never to exceed them again.
I don’t want to see another expense account like this on my desk ever again! Is that understood?” He peered at me over his glasses with a stern grimace. I said, “Perfectly!” and left his office.
From that day forward, I charged the maximum allowed per diem for each and every meal. Over the next several years, it cost the company many hundreds more than it needed to, but since reason and accounting skills weren’t my manager’s forte, I felt more than justified for strictly adhering to the rule, and was a richer man for it.”
1. Sexist Customer Demands Male Expert, Gets Schooled By 'Annoying' Employee
“I used to work at a retail tropical fish store, and weird as it is, we were very well known. We used to provide the aquarium with rare fish and people used to drive from 2-3 states over if they were true “fish people” to come buy from us.
I (at the time 17F) was an expert in tropical fish and koi. In fact, it was my job that summer to be the koi and outdoor pond point person, and my job was not only stocking the ponds, but managing all the plants, caring for them, and knowing every bit of information and all the prices of the various koi and goldfish we had.
I knew diets, temperature ranges, places of origin, special breeds, I knew it all. They even would call me with questions on my days off.
That clearly did not matter to one customer though. He came inside the store and asked for some help with koi outside.
I happily agreed as I was the only person not on my lunch break.
Now this guy frankly seemed put off by me offering to help. So instead of buying anything, he decided to quiz me for 20 minutes about the koi, goldfish, and pond plants to try to get me to admit I didn’t know something.
I answered every single one of his stupid questions (some really were stupid) and at the end of the 20 minutes he had the audacity to say “Can I talk to someone who KNOWS THINGS? Like a MAN?” Full emphasis in tone on those words too.
“Sure you can,” I say with a fake smile. “Let me get ‘John’ for ya.”
Here’s the malicious compliance. “John”, name changed, was 75, retired, annoying as heck, and crazy. My boss didn’t even want him to be hired but he owed John a favor. Now John is an expert in goldfish, but he hates koi and outside ponds.
John also as I said, is really annoying, and crazy but he had a soft spot for me so we always would chat.
I went inside to find John and explained to him that this customer wanted a man to talk to. John asked me why he wanted to speak to a man when I was the pond point person, and I told him that he clearly just didn’t like that he was speaking to a girl.
John nods knowingly, gets this EVIL grin on his face, and goes to help the customer.
5 minutes later I hear a man yelling in the parking lot. I run outside and find the customer screaming at John and cursing him out
“What is WRONG with you?
Does nobody know anything around here? I WILL NEVER COME BACK! You’re all horrible and know nothing about fish, and you’re a terrible employee.” (or something to that effect)
I watch the guy hop into his car, slam the door & drive off.
I ask John what happened. He said “oh yeah no every time he asked me a question I said ‘hm, not sure… good question though, I could go get OP and ask, she’s really our pond expert’ and apparently he DID NOT like that.”
Customer, if you read & remember this, screw you.”
Another User Comments:
“When I was 21 I had a summer job driving a bus around Banff for a group of hotels. It was free for the guests staying at any of our 5 hotels in Banff. I had my class 4 license, which is required to drive those 24-passenger shuttle buses.
I looked like a young fun loving guy, because I was. I pulled up to a group of people who were flagging me down. This happens when guests see me, but they aren’t at a stop. No worries, I pull over. I open the door and Karen looks right at me with that open mouth gasp that is so signature of Karens.
“Well! You are most certainly not old enough to be driving this bus.” We kinda just stared at each other through the open door. I didn’t know what to say. Someone else pushed past her and said “looks fine to me” and sat down.
She stood there at the door and pulled out her phone. “I’m calling the hotel to be sure that you should be driving”. All the other guests on the bus sigh. She wasn’t finished finding the phone number when someone on the sidewalk outside said “Wow look!
An eagle!” She stepped off the bus for a second to get a look, I closed the door and left her there. Next bus is in an hour. Don’t know if there was even an eagle. Never heard anything about it.” grantbwilson
