People Tell The Time They Complied To Get Malicious Revenge
19. Won't Let Me Come In Early To Set Up? Fair Enough
“So this happened back in 2015 through 2016. I (now 28F) was working as a phlebotomist in a local hospital and I worked first shift, which was from about 3 am to 3 pm. I loved to come in about 10 to 15 minutes early and just set up my cart.
Nothing fancy, just metal-wired shelving types and we had our own personal phlebotomist trays that we put in the top section of the cart. I didn’t always restock my tray before leaving my shift, so I’d typically come in early to organize it and get my metal cart ready.
(It usually took me maybe 5 minutes to put my tray on a cart and put the handful of tubes I needed back in place, then I’d spend the rest of my time waking up in the break room with coffee.)
Well, one woman (can’t remember her age) who came in to work a few months after I started, and I had issues. I found her lazy and rude. Examples: she would come in and snap at people when they tried to help her.
She would take a book with her during the morning rush (which was 3a – 6/7a) and sit on the floor to read and not come back to the lab to help after collecting her labs. She would hang out during the nurse’s celebrations and not come back for hours at a time.
She wouldn’t clock in until the last second and then she’d clock out the earliest minute she could. When it was time to start the morning rush, she’d get mad if someone took the stack of labs she wanted and she’d go demanding them.
She and I worked the same overnight shift, but I got tired of her attitude and switched shifts.
Well, like I said, I liked to come early and set up my cart before I clocked in. And she figured this out quickly, so she would try to hand me the stroke or trauma pager (something that needed to be handed to the next phlebotomist who was scheduled to take it that shift, but she’d try to give me hers even if I wasn’t scheduled for that one), but I refused, saying “I’m not clocked in yet”.
So, she just left it on my cart a few times without telling me, which led to it going off for a call to the ER, and I had to clock in early and when I saw her in the lab again, I told her to never do that again, the conversation got heated, which led to a meeting with me, the coworker, and our supervisor.
Our supervisor took her side and said “Just take it and if it goes off, you clock in and then I will adjust the clock in on the computer,” saying she’d shorten my time on the clock.
So I said fine.
I set my alarm for later in the morning and I started coming in the last minute I could to clock in at 2:59 am. Yes, it made me start my rush a little later, but the look on my coworker’s face when she saw me later (right before she was to clock out) as she was trying to hand me a pager I wasn’t scheduled to have and I already had the one I was supposed to, was priceless.
She complained to the supervisor, who tried to talk to me, but I said “Well, I’m not supposed to be here until 3, so that’s when I get here and clock in now. I don’t want my hours messed up.” She didn’t even try to argue.
The coworker was very upset. She even screamed through the lab, demanding someone take her pager, so she could go home. It was still 20 minutes until her shift was done.”
Another User Comments:
“I’d be super disappointed in your supervisor for trying to placate her just because she is likely emotionally draining to manage.” Sapphyre2222
18. Require A Doctor's Note? Okay, But My Doctor Will Give Me An Extra Week Off
What Doc says, goes.
“This took place back in 2019 when I was living and working in Lille in the North of France.
While I usually have no problems with my health and only needed a day off every year or so for health I had a less fortunate 2019.
On three different occasions, I needed one or two days to recover from minor illnesses. Stomach bugs, bad colds, or the ever-popular in France gastroenteritis. I suppose that’s kinda just a stomach bug but anyone who has lived in France as well as any other country will know it as a particularly French illness.
Probably all that unpasteurized milk! Mmmm cheese…
Anyway! Unusually for this story, my three bosses are actually pretty cool folks. The owner was chill but a bit distant. The center manager was awesome but not really my boss, more my manager’s boss.
We had a great relationship though. Then there’s my manager who was basically my mate but she told me when my shifts were. I’m still in contact with two of them years after leaving the country.
When we get sick they don’t usually require a doctor’s note unless an illness prevents working for more than two days.
However, because I was off a couple of times already this year the highest-up boss (owner) decided I needed to bring in a sick note. As a teacher, it wasn’t impossible to get my shifts covered but it was a nuisance for my manager.
I told them I only needed one day as I had a day off right after.
Getting a doctor’s note was a massive pain in the butt. I had to walk 15 minutes when I already felt like crap, wait in a tiny room for 90 minutes, and then explain my problems in my semi-fluent French.
Here’s the conversation:
Doc: “It’s just a viral illness, you’ll be fine in a day or two. You just need to rest and drink lots of water. You didn’t need to come here for this.”
Me: “My job asked for a doctor’s note.
Are you able to write me one?”
Doctor’s face changes expression to one of annoyance… But not directed at me/
Doc: “When do you want to go back to work?”
Me: “Er… Saturday?” (It was Thursday, Saturdays are surprisingly nice days to work as they’re always chill and the gym next door to work is empty after I finish.)
Doc: “Do you get paid sick days at your work?”
Me: “Ye…”
Doc: “You have the flu.”
Me: “What? You said I just h…”
Doc: “A viral illness. Flu is viral. You can’t work for a week and you’ll need a few days to recover once you’re better.”
Me: “I don’t need…”
Doc: “Here’s your note, you’re signed off until Monday.” (the Monday after next… 10 days)
Me: “Er…”
I’m not sure how to translate the next thing the doctor said. It was “vas-y, vas-y” which literally translates as “go ahead,” but he was more ushering me to screw off and using very familiar language which means he was talking to me like a child as we weren’t friends.
I called my manager and immediately explained the situation and said I could just not hand in the doctor’s note and she actually laughed and said “no, this is the perfect way to show OWNER that we don’t and haven’t ever needed sick notes.
Have a nice week off!”
I felt so bad. Then I started playing video games and that bad feeling just ebbed away.”
17. Come Up With A Ridiculous Policy? We'll Follow It To A T
“While I was in the Air Force we had a commander that was all about looking great to the public and nothing else.
He didn’t care for morale, personal time, or his troops in any way shape or form. In fact, he became our commander as a punishment when he was caught with a deployed enlisted member’s wife. He came from a family of a few 2 and 3-star generals and because he got in trouble he was forced to command our crappy squadron with a forced retirement at Lt Col after 2 years.
So basically, he hated us and we hated him the moment we saw each other (we knew how he got in trouble before he got to us and we didn’t take too kindly to it).
For context, I was Security Forces (police) and part of our job is manning the gates and checking IDs for people coming in.
There was always a morning rush from everyone coming into work at the same time that would cause traffic to back up. We would do things to try to get the cars moving faster but no matter what we did it was always a problem and of course, it was always the new Airman’s fault that everyone starts work at the same time so the gate guards always got yelled at a lot.
Well, our fearless commander got a hair up his butt and thought it would be great if we said a prepared speech to everyone when they came in to show how disciplined we are.
The speech went as follows:
“Hello -driver’s rank and name-.
Welcome to -installation name- home of the -aircraft the installation was known for- and the home of the -our squadron name-. Your ID will expire on (date), your vehicle’s registration will expire on -date on the sticker on their windshield-.
I authorize you to enter -installation name-. Have a great Air Force Day!”
Obviously, everyone besides the leadership knew this was the dumbest thing ever but the commander said we have to do it so we have to do it.
The young Airmen were complaining about it when we all got on the same page at the same time. We decided that we were going to say the whole speech as slowly and clearly as possible to make sure everyone heard us.
And we would do this to every…single…car with no exception. If the car had a passenger, we would repeat the speech with their information after doing it to the driver. If there was another passenger in the back, we would repeat it again.
When our own chain of command would drive through, they would try to stop us from saying it but he would keep their ID until we were done.
Morning traffic went from being 2 hours long to 4 hours because of how long it took to get in and created a lunch rush that never existed before.
Many times we were yelled at about how long it took, we were making everyone late to work, and how much they hate that speech so we would tell them this is per our commander’s request and his office phone number is public if you would like to talk to him about it.
The traffic got so backed up the local police had to direct traffic outside the base as the line of cars grew to a mile or two long. This lasted 3 days before the chief of police for the local city and our base commander let our commander know how they really felt about it.
When we were told we no longer had to do it, our shift supervisor told us he had never been so proud of us. Having the second highest ranking person on that base tell me to my face “that speech was so freaking dumb.
Never say that again” as he drove off is the highlight of my Air Force career.”
16. Don't Want To Give Me An Office? Then Don't, But You'll Wish You Did
“I got my first “grown-up” job while I was finishing my bachelor’s degree. I was just getting started in a highly technical and emerging field. Very few people back then were doing this kind of work, and I seemed to have an aptitude for it, which is probably why I got a job before I had any credentials.
The department I was hired for was brand new and had the potential to take customers from other departments, while also generating net new business. Interestingly, the other departments had been offered the opportunity to start the service themselves but refused, even actively trying to prevent it from happening.
That’s the reason I ended up in a malicious compliance situation. The leaders of all the other departments conspired to prevent me from getting an office. I didn’t understand at first because at that age I didn’t imagine professionals did petty, immature things.
When I realized what was happening I knew they’d get exposed if I went along with it. So I happily did my job wherever I could find a place, which often ended up being in the mail room…. where lots of people would notice.
I hoped maybe the leaders would start to feel guilty or annoyed and change their minds. Or… they’d be caught by their bosses. Either way, the problem was solved for me without a fight.
Little did I know how well it would go.
I started to be well-liked by a lot of the leaders because I helped them with their computers. There was one leader who still inexplicably hated me. I never spoke with him, not even one word. But he continued to insist I did not need an office.
I wasn’t even “the level of a secretary,” according to him, which I took to be a dig at my lack of a degree. I heard about him saying that from a friend who was in the meeting when they talked about changing their minds.
It’s too bad for them they didn’t change their minds, because the President came through the mail room multiple times and finally stopped, clearly annoyed, “Why don’t you work in your office?!”
That was my golden moment. I had complied politely with not having an office.
I sweetly told the President, “I don’t have an office.”
“What?! Why not?”
“There isn’t room. No space available.”
“According to whom?”
“Mr. So&So.”
“But you’ve been working here for, what, 3 months? They could have found space for you by now.”
Ooooo the President was beet red at that point. I just smiled and said my understanding is there is no space. The President literally stomped upstairs to the offices of Mr. So&So. I distinctly heard the yelling from downstairs.
People outside probably heard it!
The President came and brought me upstairs to the conference room where the leaders were all seated looking down. There was a pile of keys on the table. I was afraid at that point. Was she having me pick someone’s office to take?
While that might have been sweet revenge it wouldn’t have been good for my working relationships with any of them.
But no. She handed me a key to the conference room and said, “This is your office.” She scooped up the rest of the keys, which I learned later were all their copies of the key to the conference room, and said, “Your office is the largest office on campus.
Even bigger than mine. Enjoy!” And she walked out.
That was probably the best Drop-the-Mic moment I’ve ever seen in my life. And the story ends with my compliance not only winning me that office but all the other leaders, except Mr. So&So, becoming great colleagues.”
15. No Per Diem Without An Overnight Stay? Fine, But It'll Cost You More In The End
“Worked for this company for over 20 years, all of it in a senior IT position. It’s a manufacturing company, our products are shown at a trade show twice a year.
Due to our using lots of tech toys to demo the products IT has to go to the show space days early to set up, fine-tune, etc. And after the customer part of the show is over, about 4 days of that, we have to stay behind and take it all apart, etc.
A senior member of IT, (me), has to go early each day to open up the space, turn on all the techy stuff, make coffee, and in general, get everything ready for the sales teams to come in for their 7 AM meetings.
This also means staying in the space until everyone has left and shut it all down and locked up.
The trade show is within driving distance of my house, (important for later), but due to having to be there at the butt crack of dawn to open up for sales to have meetings at 7 AM, I have to get up hours earlier than I normally would, (again important).
Company policy,
Almost verbatim here,
“If you have to travel outside of your normal territory and leave your house more than 1 hour before your normal time and arrive back home more than an hour after your normal time, then you are allowed a meal per diem.”
So for 20 years, twice a year, I have been turning in my mileage and daily per diem for meals for 7 or 8 days, and getting reimbursed without a word being said. Until 2 years ago.
2 days after I turn in my expenses I get a call, “sorry but have to deny all your meals because you didn’t have an overnight stay.” What?
I’ve been doing this for 20 years and never had a problem, when did this change and why wasn’t I told in advance? “Sorry just doing what the VP of HR told me.” OK.
So I head over to HR and ask what’s this about.
“Well it should have been this way all along, some managers were doing it, others not, so now it’s the same for everyone”.
Me – shouldn’t we have gotten a notice beforehand? Or a written addendum to the policy manual, since that is not what the policy says?
“Well it’s the policy now!” she says all angry and red-faced. (It’s been over 3 years now and still not in the written policy that is being handed out to new hires.)
Well alrighty then, cue the malicious compliance music.
Our travel coordinator is not an employee but a contractor that gets paid on commission so spending more means more money for her.
AND she does not talk to HR other than to get what the rules are. She also approves our expenses based on what the rules are. As long as we are within the rules, automatic approval and I get the reimbursement by direct deposit within a few days.
A month later I have to visit a customer’s location, a 2 hour’s drive from my house. I have about 4 hours of work to do. I used to do all this in a single day easily, but not anymore.
I let the travel agent know what customer I’m going to, and I will need a room for 2 nights.
A day to travel there, a second day to work, and the 3rd-day travel home.
So I travel there, do the work then drive home. I do not stay overnight, don’t even check into the room. But since I didn’t cancel I get charged anyway.
Instead of just mileage and 1 day per diem, it’s now milage, 3 days per diem, and 2 hotel nights. What would have cost the company about $100 now costs over $400.
And the next trade show, you guessed it, a hotel room for 7 nights of which I actually stayed in for 2 nights and only then because I went out with a customer for dinner and a few beers.
The rest of the time I went home.
I do this for all my travel now, especially if it’s within driving distance of home.
My travel expenses have gone up by 3 or 4 times what they used to be. Did anyone even notice?
NOPE, no one has said a single word, not one. HELLO, anyone home? Apparently not, I’ve even been given a decent raise. I should have slowed down and spent more of the company’s finances sooner. I might be CEO by now if I had.
lol”
14. Students Can't Pass Out Invitations To Only Some Classmates? It Doesn't Say Anything About Teachers Though
That’s one way to look at it!
“This happened about 10 years ago when my child was in Kindergarten in a school in a really small town in a rural area.
We were new to the area and I had met very few people and even fewer other parents as I had not had time to “mix” with parents at the one or two events the school had during the few weeks we’d been in the district.
With my kid’s birthday coming up, I knew this would create a problem when it came to having her first “big” birthday party that consisted of more friends than relatives.
The school had a policy that stated that if a child wanted to invite their classmates to a party via invitations handed out in class, they had to bring an invitation for every child in the class.
Dumb? Yes. Enforced with gusto? Absolutely. Parents were having parties for 20-30 kids every birthday. I’d already seen this with the one party we’d attended and, through conversations with the two other parents there, I learned of the school’s adamant enforcement of this policy (and that the parents hated it.)
I hadn’t even experienced it yet and was already twitching at the thought of 20-30 children my child may or may not like and possibly at least one parent for each arriving at my small home. I could also already hear my husband protesting the ‘invasion’ of his home by strangers.
To say we were a very private couple would be an understatement. It was NOT going to work, so I hatched a plan.
When my own child’s birthday party planning came around, I called the school and arranged a meeting with her teacher.
At the meeting, I presented her with a small stack of invitations made out to selected friends of my child. I explained the situation of me not having contact information for their parents because while social media is GREAT, most people don’t sign up as “Abby’s Mom” or “Zach’s Grandpa” and I was having a hard time getting the invitations out to them, could she please put the invitations into these children’s take-home folder that afternoon so that the parents could find them.
As she was trained to do, she told me she couldn’t only put them in the folders for a handful of students because it violated class policy on invitations. Being ready for this, I pulled out the school handbook and opened it to the page I’d marked containing the policy and used it to show her that while it says the STUDENTS may not pass out invitations to only a ‘handful’ of their peers, it says nothing about a TEACHER placing the invitations into a folder to be sent home at the end of the day without the students knowing about it during the day.
After a moment of thought, she took the invitations, chuckled while shaking her head, and told me she’d never had a parent actually schedule a meeting to try to get out of a school rule and win on a well-thought-out technicality and that she was going to remember it for a long time.
(Then she asked me if I was an attorney or paralegal, perhaps? I laughed and told her no, but I did play one in my divorce a couple of years prior. She said I missed my calling. I still talk with her when we run into each other now and then.
Great lady.)
The kids had a great party, I finally got contact information for parents when they called to RSVP and we only had to deal with a handful of people in my space. Wins all around!!”
13. Attempt To Drop Your Son From Your Policy? Your Logic Will Get You Dropped As A Customer For Fraud
“I used to work as a personal auto insurance liability adjuster and my job was to investigate accidents and coverages (determine who is at fault and what coverage they have). An issue we commonly run into is “undisclosed drivers” and many parents don’t add their kids to their policy to avoid a rate increase only to be stunned when we deny their collision since they essentially lied about the drivers in their household and depending on the underwriter, they can be dropped.
I had a claim where a woman’s son who was not listed on the policy and was over 18, hit another car. In the state she lived in, she was required to have him on her policy (NJ) since that was his perm residence.
She had had him but removed him. She was one of those Karen types who felt she knew more than me.
I asked her why.
Her: He’s away at college.
Me: All year?
Her: No most of it and his college is out of state.
Me: Does he live in the dorms or off campus?
Her: Dorms.
Me: Where does his driver’s license say he lives?
Her: My address.
Me: He still needs to be on your policy.
Her: (condescendingly) No he doesn’t, he lives in the dorms for most of the year so he is not at this address for most of the year.
Me: Yes but when he comes home for his breaks like summer or winter break, doesn’t he use this car at your home?
Her: No he has it with him on campus.
Me: Oh so your son lives in the dorms but this car that he was driving he keeps with him on campus?
Her: Yes he needs it for his job and to get around.
Me: And is this car registered to him at the address of his campus?
Her: No the car is registered and insured by me in this state.
Me: Oh so even though he is not on the policy, he is still the primary driver and is keeping this car for most of the year at his college out of state?
Her: Yes.
Me: Thank you that is all.
As soon as I hung up. I did an underwriting referral for the car being garaged out of state since based on her logic: her son was not a resident of her household so that meant the car was not being kept at her primary address.
She was sent a letter by underwriting explaining that her policy was not going to be renewed and since we reported the accident to the insurance database, all new carriers would know her son needed to be on her policy.
She called her agent and we did a conference call and she was livid.
I explained that I had taken her side: she said he was not a resident of her address since most of the year her son was on campus but that because of that, the car was not being “garaged” at her address since the car was also out of state for most of the year.
She hung up in a huff after the agent tried to diplomatically explain the situation. As soon as she left the call he thanked me and told me she was his least favorite customer and he was now thrilled he wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore.”
12. Wait For Someone To Arrive? I'll Wait All Day If I Have To
“This happened around 2018, give or take a year. I was in my mid-twenties, in the US army infantry, and my rank was Specialist (one above private first class. Same pay as corporal, but none of the responsibility.) I was stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, which is a pretty small post.
Now for those of you not familiar with army life, we do have a day-to-day job. We have to do daily Physical Training every morning with our platoons, then go eat breakfast and shower before being back by 9 AM in uniform to do whatever menial task leadership tells us to that day.
Occasionally you get pulled away from the company for work details that higher levels of organization need to be done. For example: the battalion needs X done and needs Y soldiers to do it. So battalion tells each company to send Z soldiers, and each company tells each platoon to send N soldiers.
Details can last from an hour to over a month, and usually involve cleaning or organizing something. The thing is, sometimes details get lost in this game of telephone.
So one day my squad leader tells me I’m getting put on a detail for the next two weeks.
I’ll do PT with the platoon, but then at 9 I’ll report to this address and do whatever they need done. He vaguely says it’s something about a warehouse, but he doesn’t know what I’ll be doing. Roger sergeant, not a problem.
So next Monday after PT, I get dressed, put on my uniform, and head to the address. It’s not a 5-minute drive from my house (I’m married, so I’m out of the barracks.) I show up a few minutes early like a good soldier and see it’s a bunch of warehouses in a chain link fence, with a locked gate, with no one else around.
No problem, chill in my car until someone arrives.
915 rolls around and no one shows. I text my squad leader to double-check the time and address. He says yes, you’re at the right place and time, wait until someone arrives.
Roger sergeant.
1100, I’m still just screwing around on my phone in my car, with no one in sight. Text sergeant again, tell him no one has shown up. He tells me to be back after lunch, someone will come. Roger sergeant.
1300, come back after having lunch with my wife, still no one. Wait 30 minutes and text him again. The sergeant says that I’m supposed to be there for 2 weeks, but someone WILL show up, just wait. Roger sergeant, I’ll stop bothering you.
So I wait another hour and a half, and then the highest ranking person there (me) dismisses the detail (also me) for the day. The sergeant seemed sure that’s where I’m supposed to be, so that’s where I went, for the next two weeks.
I stopped bothering him and just showed up at the warehouse every day at 9. Every day I took my lunches earlier and longer, and every day I let myself go home sooner. By the end, I think I spent less than 2 hours a day at the “detail.” But the sergeant told me to show up, and that’s what I did.
About a month later, I get put on another detail. And by another detail, I mean the one I was SUPPOSED to be on to begin with. I spent 2 weeks with like 10 other soldiers, cleaning out the battalion’s spare storage warehouse.
My guess is either my squad leader was given the wrong date, OR the detail was pushed back a month from the original date, and my SL didn’t get the memo. No one ever seemed to question why I was needed for the detail I already did.”
11. Scold Me For Asking A "Stupid" Question? I Won't Ask Again
“Several years ago, I worked in a print shop. We did large format printing (Think larger than billboards, e.g. entire building faces) and high-quality art prints. (Basically, we were living in the niche the large companies did not want to bother with.)
Sometimes when a lot of work piled up I helped out by sticking brackets on the back of the pictures as they would hang on a wall and subsequent packaging of the product.
On the work card accompanying the job, the width and height of the picture were marked but a certain salesperson often tended to mix this up.
Not much of an issue if the motive is clear. You would just use common sense. But as I said we also did art. And… well… YOU might assume a certain way is up, but that might not be what the artist intended. And sometimes the motive was totally abstract and you had no possible way of knowing.
Even the width and height information (if correct) would not help because you could easily flip the thing 180° and see no issue. Trust me… The artist would have issues. So you would pester a salesperson if what was on the work card was correct.
He did not like being pestered.
Having had enough unpleasant back and forth myself with said salesperson, who, as an added bonus, was the big boss’s son. And having witnessed even more and unpleasant backs and forths (pluralization for comedic purposes) with the people doing this job regularly.
I had a plan that just needed the salesperson to screw up and the picture to be just right. Oh! And as an added bonus after sticking the brackets on, there was only packaging left. So the next eyes on the product would be the customers.
Cue malicious Compliance:
You think we are stupid because we do a trivial job? I show you stupid! And following the work instructions exactly to the letter I glued the brackets on so that a beautiful artsy picture of an English garden had the vegetation pointing sideways.
Due to the particular brackets in this picture, the customer had the total freedom of having the trees pointing left or right. I don’t judge your preferences. The only important part was to keep the work instructions somehow out of the trash until the package arrived at the customer.
Sure enough, the fuming customer calls the big boss. Fuming Big Boss calls the salesperson. Fuming Salesperson calls me. I shrug. In the meantime, sales person realizes his ******* and retroactively changes the work instructions to cover his butt. (Yes, we were at the “Hide your *******s” stage of rotten work culture at that point.) Everybody stomps into the shop floor, where I just pulled out a slightly crumpled-up work instruction that miraculously survived the weekly cleanup from under some stuff, which surprisingly contradicts the one salesperson is waving around.
Big Boss’s anger redirects and he has a “private discussion” with his son. You could quite clearly make out the key “discussion” points through the door. It did not change anything in the work culture. I left the company and the company failed soon after.
But we had a good laugh that day.
I like to think that salesperson now has to work in a real job environment without Daddy.
I hope the customer was compensated for the trouble I put him through. It was worth it.”
10. Pay Your Staff Less? Fine, But They Won't Stay For Long
“I’m going to try to keep this kinda vague because 1) I like the elected official as a person just not as a boss 2) I like what they are trying to accomplish in terms of policy and 3) I don’t want this to blow back on me because I’m still in this field.
I have spent most of my career working for elected officials. Over the course of my career, I have worked for elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels in progressively more involved policy roles. In between, I have done some higher paying private sector jobs, but I have twice taken pay cuts to return to public service working for electeds because I genuinely love the work.
The flip side of that is that it has been hard to afford to live in my area on that lower salary.
Earlier this year, I was still making less than my last job after two years in this office.
In early spring we were talking with one of our colleagues on the shared staff and she made an offhand comment about how our office had the worst pay of any office for our legislative body. She ended up sharing information about how much other offices pay their staff with our whole office.
Turns out she was more right than she knew.
Our office had some of the most experienced staff of any office and bar none the lowest pay even relative to less experienced offices that were less active. Our highest-paid staff other than our Manager didn’t crack the 40th percentile on our floor (despite 20 years of experience), I topped out in the 30th percentile for pay (with 8 years of relevant experience).
I would estimate the average is closer to 3-5 years of experience for my level of pay. Colleagues I had worked with previously who I knew had 3 fewer years of experience were making 20% more than I was with similar or less involved responsibilities.
So I did a full analysis of the pay on my floor relative to experience and set up a meeting with the elected to discuss salary… which did not go well.
I was told that aside from annual increments there would be no pay raises and essentially that I should be happy I had a job.
The fact that I had been loyal was irrelevant, as was the fact that anytime there was some weird issue we wanted to explore I was able to find a solution. Me making less than colleagues in other offices with less experience was not their problem.
I was told that if I wanted more pay I would have to find something new.
So after telling my colleagues about the ugly meeting I did exactly that. I started applying for other jobs in our government, found one that I was highly qualified for, got an interview almost immediately, aced the interviews, and 3 months later (the hiring process is a joke) started with a 65% increase in take-home pay.
After hearing about how poorly my salary meeting went, my colleagues didn’t bother having their own meetings and just started their own searches. Come to the start of the next legislative body after the elections, the only person left will be a new hire that started right before this nonsense went down and a new comms person who started right after I left. Anyone with institutional knowledge about how the body functions or any knowledge about the policy issues they care about has either left or has accepted a new position.”
9. Complain On Him For Reserving A Seat? But You're Doing The Same Thing
“We (my aunt and uncle, cousin, and dad) were on a long sightseeing ferry ride. It was a two-hour ride with one stop in the middle. We were the first to get on the ferry so all of us blocked the window seats in a straight line, it’s public transport and there’s no concept of reservation, it’s first come first serve.
We were sitting in the air-conditioned cabin and had the option of going out on the main deck. Just as we stopped in the middle, my dad went out on the main deck to take some pictures and enjoy the fresh air.
Another man gets on the ferry at this stop and takes my dad’s window seat, though there were a few other window seats left. My aunt and I told him a number of times quite politely that someone is sitting there but he only said, “I speak French,” and proceeded to not hear us.
My dad came back and told him he was sitting there, and this man called security and complained about my dad. The security told my dad, “Sir, this is public transport, seats cannot be reserved.” My dad said, “Alright,” and sat down next to him.
So the scene right now is, window-man-my dad-empty seat-aisle.
About ten minutes later, the man was about to step out on the deck. He left his bag on the seat and got up to leave, my dad asked him to kindly remove his bag.
He refused. So my dad refused to get up and move to let him out. My dad said, “You can’t reserve seats, you showed me the rule, kindly follow it yourself.”
He became very flustered and started clapping his hands and calling for security.
Security was also on the deck for the time being, but a barista was there. This man called the barista to help who didn’t understand French either, so he told them in Arabic that my dad was refusing to move to let him out of the seat.
The barista was flabbergasted and asked my dad why. I know Arabic so I intervened and clarified the situation, that is, the man was keeping his bag and reserving his seat, which he told my dad is not allowed. By this time, the man has sorta climbed over my dad, to go and call security, and my dad hasn’t budged. Keep in mind that my dad isn’t a small man and is quite big with broad shoulders and the sight of a tiny French man climbing around him was really funny.
The security came in and the guy is still feeding them part of the whole story in Arabic. When they came to ask my dad, he said, “You told me moments ago that reserving seats isn’t allowed. He was keeping his bag and going out to the deck, thus reserving his seat because no one would sit down in a seat with a bag in it.” The security told him he wasn’t allowed to do that and removed his bag.
Now my dad got up and told him that he can sit beside the window, my dad just wanted to prove a point, and came and sat beside me. The man was fuming and muttering, “Camera…police” and a number of colorful French words, which I know because I have a French friend.
He’s glaring at us as I’m writing this and guess what……
He isn’t sitting on the window seat anymore.”
8. Make Him Work At Least 60 Hours A Week? Fine, But He Knows Some Loopholes
“I once worked at a hotel where we had 4 people for the front desk total. 5 if you include the owner.
Myself, a gal named…
I can’t remember. Let’s say. Lucy. The assistant manager, Heidi, and the owner’s son Sulaiman.
I worked night audit 4 days a week. Monday-Thursday. 6 pm to 6 am. Hourly. I did late check-ins, deep cleans, rounds, ran audits, early checkouts, did laundry, and prepped breakfast.
Heidi would come in and handle checkouts from 6 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday. Salary. She did checkouts, kept breakfast going, and did laundry. After 1 pm she did check-ins.
Lucy came in at 10 am and worked until 6 pm Monday-Thurs, same as me.
Hourly. She did check-ins, customer appreciation (fixed any problems), oversaw housekeeping, and did laundry.
Sulaiman would come in at around noon on Friday, clock in, do some inventory stuff, and check in with maintenance and plant ops. Alternated between sitting in his office and wandering the building for 4 to 6 hours.
After he took over the shift and was alone, he would proceed to sit and watch TV in the lobby until midnight, doing late check-ins.
Then he would run an audit right at midnight, put out a special phone at the front desk that connected to his cell, and proceeded to go up to his suite-turned-apartment (no, he did not live on-site the rest of the week, that might have made all this excusable) and go to bed.
He would then get up at 5 am, go make breakfast, then nap in his office between checkouts.
He did this until 6 am Monday. Clocked in the entire time, even while he was sleeping. 66 hours a week, with overtime being 2x and his base pay being (he claimed) 2x ours, and his “on-call rate” (overnight) was 4x… We were paid 12 an hour.
So… I did the math on this once, hold on.
So 24 dollars an hour. He would work about 12 hours on Friday before going to bed at midnight, so $288 on his check. He then would spend 5 hours on call sleeping, at 4x pay.
So $480 to his check. Then he would work 18 hours on Saturday (which brings him to 35 hours total) at base, so another 18 at 24 base is another $432 to his check. He would then do another 5 hours on call at 4x pay, bringing him up to 40 hours.
He would then work another 18 hours until midnight Sunday night. He’s now in OT so he adds 18×48 for an additional $864 to his check. He would then go to bed at midnight again, wake up at 5 am, prep breakfast, and leave at 6 am when Heidi got there.
His last 5 hours of sleep were On Call OT, at 8x his base pay. 24x8x5= $960. His last hour was regular OT so another $48.
His take home every week for doing that was 288+480+432+864+960+48= 3,072
He did this because his dad, the owner, required him to be there at least 60 hours a week.
There were times he would call, have us clock him in, and then have us cover for him. He never did any laundry, ever.
At 12 an hour, he could have hired 5 more full-time employees and actually saved his dad about 200 a week and maybe I could have gotten to have a life.
But 12 an hour plus OT in 2016 wasn’t something I could turn down.
Look at that. My boss was actually performing Malicious Compliance against his dad. Whaddya know?”
7. It's My Job To Source It, Not Validate It? Gotcha
“I had an illustrious twenty-one-year career in the United States Army (USA), which miraculously concluded with an Honorable Discharge.
Twenty-one years and fourteen combat deployments produce a lifetime of stories. The overwhelming majority of memories are comical and worth remembering. Like the time I “borrowed” another human’s truck or the time I relocated an artillery display in my barracks room.
However, some memories are extra ammunition after a Live Fire Exercise (LFX); worth donating to Chuck and Barry. Memories are suppressed so well that they never happened. However, these memories can be unintentionally triggered.
I worked at The Bad Place before attending Assessment and Selection.
Working there was the sole reason for attending selection. The Bad Place (TBP) was a 3-Star Command and nursing home for dying careers. TBP was a mixture of the National Guard, Army Reserve, Active Duty, and Department of the Army Civilians.
It was essentially a foreign planet for a Soldier who had grown up in Regiment and the 82nd Airborne Division.
Overnight, I transitioned from Airborne Infantry to the “Equipment Tracking Officer.” It was my sole purpose in life to source Pre-Deployment Training Equipment (PDTE) for deploying National Guard and Army Reserve units.
These units would request specific types of equipment, and it was my responsibility to source at least two-thirds of the requested equipment.
I should mention, my boss at TBP was the Department of the Army Civilians (DAC). I had ten years of service under my belt, and it was the first time my direct supervisor was a civilian.
Now, I have no issues with civilians, but I do have issues with horrible leadership. Mike was horrible. Mike was a dirty diaper, full of crap, and always on my butt.
Side Note
OP: I feel the need to mention TBP recently moved!
Reader: Moved?
OP: Yes! Deep South one day, and the Midwest the next.
Reader: Aliens?
OP: Nope. Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).
Reader: What?
OP: The Army decided to close some bases and expand others.
Reader (Puzzled): Oh! So, what’s this have to do with the story?!?
OP: There “were” two Active Duty Soldiers and two Department of the Army Civilians performing the duties of Equipment Tracking Officers in the Deep South. None of them moved, and all continuity was lost.
Reader: Okay! There had to be some kind of transition though.
Right?
OP: Yes! All four of them spent countless hours informing me how terrible of a human Mike was via email.
Reader: Oh!
Story Time Again
Dear Reader, I had no earthly idea “what” my job was, or “how” I was to perform it initially.
Making matters worse, I would quickly learn Mike had no earthly idea either. Mike only knew what Z (Final Product) looked like and was mentally unaware of the other twenty-six letters in the alphabet. Mike was less useful than blinker-fluid and football bats.
Fear not Dear Reader, it only took three months of working from 0500-to-2300 to garner a nascent understanding of my roles and responsibilities. Thankfully, I had wonderful counterparts at sister organizations. Furthermore, they were all equally aware of how useful Mike was.
Fast-Forward Four Months
The section was still composed of exactly one OP. I was twenty-five percent of the total allotted manpower performing one hundred percent of the duties. “If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute,” was my battle cry.
Life was grand. I developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and automated matrices to assist me. I was even starting to catch errors from the department that validates equipment requests.
Note: Remember, it was my duty to source two-thirds of the equipment request.
I had a very unpleasant one-way conversation in August of 2011. Captain (CPT) Richard Cranium was requesting I provide three Rhino Buses for training. Dear Reader, I kindly explained “why” fulfilling this request was unfeasible. Problem solved, right? Nope! I then received a call from Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Richard Cranium.
I then received a call from Colonel (COL) Richard Cranium. The issue quickly became a self-licking ice cream cone of chaos.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
OP: The Bad Place, G-4 Equipment Tracking Officer, this is RANK OP speaking! How may I help you Sir or Ma’am?
Caller: This is Major General (MG) Richard Cranium from the California National Guard.
Side Note: Civilian Readers, the Major General is the “Boss” Jerk Head for ALL National Guard Soldiers in the state of California. OP does not get calls from General Officers (GOs).
Ever!
OP: How can I help you Sir?
MG Richard Cranium (Angry): I am calling to enquire as to WHY you will not fulfill our equipment request. IS IT NOT YOUR POLICY TO PROVIDE TWO-THIRDS?
Dear Reader, I was now a bit agitated. I had clearly explained the issue to the Company Commander, Battalion Commander, and Brigade Commander.
I now have an irate God-level Commander on the phone and two Courses of Action (COAs) are cycling through my mind. I could kindly explain “why” this request was absurd, or I could go full Regiment OP.
Slot Machine OP
Pulls lever.
Wheels spinning.
Still spinning.
Regiment OP.
OP: Sir, I clearly explained to the previous Commanders “why” I cannot fulfill their request, and provided other options…
MG Richard Cranium: I DON’T WANT OPTIONS RANK OP! I WANT MY THREE RHINO BUSES.
OP (Time to Get Fired Attitude): Roger Sir. Well, as I told the previous Commanders, there are only five Rhino Buses that exist on Earth! Three of them are deployed to Iraq, and the other two are in Afghanistan! Do you wish for me to forward this equipment request to Forces Command (FORSCOM/Four-Star General)?
MG Richard Cranium: Oh!!! That won’t be necessary RANK OP!
OP: Are you sure Sir? I mean I can…
MG Richard Cranium: No…Did you explain this to…
OP: Every single one of them Sir.
MG Richard Cranium: Disregard!
I have some phone calls to make.
Dear Reader, the world was right again. At least I thought it was. It appears the Major General was slow to contact his subordinate leadership. The Colonel had contacted Mike demanding I supply his unit with Rhino Buses.
One would think a simple explanation would suffice for Mike, but one would be wrong. Commonsense is an elusive fickle creature for Mike. It was like trying to explain what number the letter purple tastes like.
Mike: DID YOU TELL A UNIT THEY CAN’T HAVE A PIECE OF EQUIPMENT?
OP: Yes Sir!
Mike: WHY?
OP: Because there are only five of them, and they are all deployed to Combat Zones!?!
Mike: WELL, YOU NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET THEM!
OP Brain: Ah? Is this man freaking serious?
OP Brain (Laughing): I think he is!
OP: Like call the Pentagon and ask them to redeploy them from COMBAT because some unit needs to TRAIN with them?
Mike: IT’S NOT YOUR JOB TO “VALIDATE” EQUIPMENT. IT’S YOUR JOB TO SOURCE IT.
DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND???
OP (Lip Service): Roger that Sir!!!
Dear Reader, when one door closes; check for an open window! I had over ninety units on my desk and thirty-thousand pieces of equipment to source for the month of August. It didn’t take long to find a window to crawl out.
I found a unique request from an Infantry unit. They requested a plethora of equipment and it all made sense, minus four pieces of equipment.
OP Brain: Pretty sure those four pieces of equipment need to be on a different type of request. Right?
OP Brain: Yeah, but “IT’S NOT YOUR JOB TO VALIDATE IT.”
OP Brain: Oh! Right!
Dear Reader, I sourced it. All four of them. It was not an easy task either. I literally had to scour the entire country for available inventory.
I made phone-call-after-phone-call to make this request happen. None of the items were collocated. They would need to be transported from the far stretches of the continental United States, and failure was not an option. I had fulfilled my responsibilities.
I source the equipment and turn it over to Mike for signature. Mike’s signature magically allocates funding and authorizes the transportation of said equipment.
Dear Reader, “crap” typically rolls downhill. However, this specific request defied the Laws of Gravity.
Crap was going to roll uphill. I crawled back through the window and waited a month for the fallout to ensue. Truth be told, due to my heavy workload, I had forgotten about my magnificent accomplishment. It was another horrible day at work, until I received a magical phone call.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
OP: The Bad Place, G-4 Equipment Tracking Officer, this is RANK OP speaking! How may I help you, Sir or Ma’am?
Caller: Hello! I am Sergeant First Class (SFC) Ricky Bobby. I am the Long Range Surveillance (LRS) Platoon Sergeant for UNIT NAME.
OP: Hey Ricky. How can I help you?!?
SFC Ricky Bobby: Well I am looking at four helicopters, and I am told I need to sign for them!
OP (YES-MODE): Let me look at your request…
Shuffling Noises!
OP: Yes!
You requested two UH-60L Blackhawk helicopters and two UH-47 Chinook helicopters correct?
SFC Ricky Bobby: Yes, but I requested them for SPIES (Special Purpose Insertion Extraction System) and FRIES (Fast Rope Insertion Extraction System) training. (Laughing) I am not a pilot!
What the heck am I supposed to do with four helicopters!?!
OP (LAUGHING): I mean, once you sign for them, they’re yours. I suppose you could try to fly them?!?
SFC Ricky Bobby (LAUGHING): Freaking Army! Suppose I could.
OP (Laughing): Don’t worry man! I’ve got your back. I have already coordinated with our Aviation Validators to support your request. I will give you their number.
SFC Ricky Bobby: I’m ready to copy!
OP: 867-5309.
SFC Ricky Bobby: Thanks man!
OP: Call me back if you have any issues, brother. I will walk upstairs (G3/Operations) and get this sorted so you boys can do SPIES and FRIES.
SFC Ricky Bobby: WILCO (Will Comply) man!
Dear Reader, not only does crap roll uphill, but crap rolls uphill faster than I expected. I had just hung up the phone and was departing for lunch.
I didn’t make it five feet before I was beckoned to Mike’s office. There are four chairs in Mike’s office. One with a loadbearing capacity of at least four hundred pounds, and four normal-people chairs. I was awkwardly surprised to find it was already standing room only.
The G4 Colonel, Deputy G4 (Civilian/DAC), and G3 (Operations) Colonel were already in Mike’s office.
Mike: It seems we have an issue RANK OP!
OP Brain: “We?”
OP: Really? I am not aware of any issues Sir.
Mike: Well UNIT NAME is at Fort Hood, and the Battalion Commander is wondering why one of his Platoon Sergeants signed for four helicopters!
OP (Shocked): Did they request four helicopters? I can go get the equipment request…
Mike: I HAVE IT. RIGHT HERE. IN MY HANDS!
OP (Puzzled): Okay! Did they request…
Mike: YES. THEY DID.
OP: I don’t understand the…
G4 Colonel: THE ISSUE IS, we needlessly shipped four helicopters across the United States…
G3 Colonel: There are already helicopters at Fort Hood. Helicopters, AND PILOTS, there to support SPIES and FRIES training!!! THEY ARE THERE SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS TYPE OF REQUEST!
G4 Colonel: RANK OP. Did this request not look odd to you?
OP Brain: Hysterical Laughter!!!
OP: Absolutely Sir!
Entire Room: SHOCKED FACES. Just baffled-as-heck!
G4 Colonel: Then why did you source it???
OP RETELLS ENTIRE RHINO BUSS SAGA !!!
OP: Sir, as I understand it, IT’S NOT MY JOB TO VALIDATE.
IT’S MY JOB TO SOURCE IT. Mike made it very clear on multiple occasions.
Mike (Angry): RANK OP do you realize you just cost the Army over one hundred thousand dollars to ship equipment WE DIDN’T NEED TO SHIP!?!
OP: Sir…
G3 Colonel (angry): NO MIKE! YOU just cost the Army over one hundred thousand bucks!
Mike: Sir…
G4 Colonel: Mike! It is YOUR signature that authorizes the allocation of financing and shipping. Did you tell RANK OP it’s his job to the source?
To not validate anything and only source?
Mike: Sir, I did, but…
G4 Colonel starts walking out
G4 Colonel: Mike! Let’s have a meeting. In my office.
OP Brain: Oh! That sounds bad.
OP Brain: Yeah, but Mike. Not us!
OP: Right!
OP retreats to desk.
Side Note: I know the G3 Colonel. We had worked in the same unit when he was a Major.
G3 Colonel follows OP.
Sits on OP’s desk.
G3 Colonel (Laughing Hysterically) HOW IN THE HECK DID YOU DO IT?
OP: Do what?
G3 Colonel: Find four helicopters?
OP: I called everyone. I leveraged my network of contacts, and made it my mission…
G3 Colonel: What did your counterparts say about the request?
OP: They have the same sentiments towards Mike.
G3 Colonel (shaking his head): Honestly? That’s impressive.
OP: Sir, I was going to get crapped on either way. So I decided…screw Mike!
G3 Colonel: Yup. Screw Mike I guess.
Dear Reader, thank you for reading my Petty Army Revenge (PAR).
I have good news. I no longer worked for Mike after that interaction. Other misdeeds (Stories) came to light after that encounter. I had a long desk-side meeting with the G4 Colonel and fully detailed my relationship with Mike. It’s nearly impossible to “fire” the Department of the Army Civilians, but it was easy to move me.
The G3 Colonel found a more suitable position for an Infantrymen. It also sucked, but he gave me ample time to prepare for Assessment and Selection. I was at TBP for eighteen horrible months before I found greener pastures. I could lament on all the horrible things, but it’s not worth it.
Why? At least I know where to go if I ever need four freaking helicopters!”
6. Say We Can't Park In Front Of Your House? Fine, But You Can't Be Hypocritical
“This situation happened a couple of years ago when I would meet up at a friend’s house every Monday evening to play board games with him and a now-married couple. We are going to say that the friend’s name is Matt.
Matt lives in one of those neighborhoods where the houses are really close together and there are a million cars parked on the street.
One evening, we were wrapping up for the night and just chatting when we heard a knock at the door.
It was the neighbor across the street and he was very upset that someone had parked in front of his house because that spot belonged to him. The car belonged to the married couple who quickly apologized and said they were leaving shortly.
They rushed to get their things together so they could move the car and avoid conflict.
However, I had a different reaction. I thought it was extremely rude for him to knock on our door and demand us to move.
I told the neighbor that there were no assigned or claimed spots and that you could park wherever you wanted. Obviously, you park in front of your own house or the house that you are visiting if you can but otherwise just park wherever there is an available spot.
He didn’t seem to have a good counter to my argument but still continued to argue that he didn’t want us to park in front of his house.
Most houses on the street have enough room for one street-parked vehicle on one side of their driveway while the other side was often unusable due to it being too close to the neighbor’s driveway.
In the best case scenario on the shorter side, you would have a small spot that would be partially in front of both houses. Due to the odd shape of Matt’s lot which was narrow in the back and wider in the front, he had a lot more space in front of his house on one side than most other houses (enough for 3 cars).
This is where the malicious compliance comes in. The married couple gets into their car and leaves complying with the neighbor’s wishes. Matt decides to give in as well and plays along with the neighbor’s “rules”. He points to the three vehicles nearby and asks “whose cars are these and why are they parked in front of my house?”
The neighbor looked dumbfounded and after a moment of silence, he admits that two of those vehicles belonged to his family. Matt replies, “so according to your rules, you should not be parking in front of my house”. The neighbor looked stunned as his rules were actually going to hurt him much more than they would hurt us.
Matt only had to worry about his and his roommate’s car which would both fit in his driveway. He only needed street parking when people would occasionally come over. The neighbor had a full driveway and 3+ cars on the street that he needed spots for on a daily basis.
He didn’t have enough street spaces that would clearly belong to him using his rules.
The neighbor walked away in defeat but apparently argued more with Matt after I left. A few years ago, we canceled our in-person game nights and I’m pretty sure the neighbor continued to park in front of other people’s houses which is what everyone else does there anyways.”
Another User Comments:
“In Chicago, we have something called “dibs.” Where if you shovel out a spot in the winter, you can “claim” it by leaving something in the spot even if your car isn’t there. Usually like a lawn chair but people get creative.
I’ve seen pics of stuffed animals, inflatable Thomas the Tank Engine, tables, etc. It’s illegal but you kind of just go with it unless you want your tires slashed. I think they have it in Boston too. I’m not from here so I think it’s ridiculous to be entitled to public parking spaces but luckily I also don’t drive.” sudosussudio
5. Wipe Our Hard Drives? I'll Delete My Personal Backup As Well
“This happened around 2010. I work in IT for a state agency. Since it’s government, our leadership positions are mostly appointed by the governor, rather than being promoted from within.
As a result, we had a director of IT who knew nothing about IT. We’ll call her Karen.
Karen came from a completely different unit, and due to a union dispute over a hostile work environment, she was reassigned to our unit, rather than fired. This frequently happens with appointees.
They do not like to fire them because it makes the governor look bad. Unsurprisingly, the unit began going downhill after she took over because she was extremely emotional and tried to micromanage everything.
My normal job duties involve computer repair and networking, covering multiple offices.
I volunteered to help the main capital office create our computer software image, naively thinking it would help me get promoted, but all in all, it was just tedious and was starting to cause me to fall behind in my normal duties.
I had been working on the image for about 6 months, updating it when needed.
For those who aren’t IT savvy, an image is a snapshot of the computer hard drive, fully loaded with all of the drivers and software already installed. To do this manually would take 4-5 hours on every computer, whereas using an image would take about 40 minutes.
We work very standard hours, M-F, 9-5. On Thursday at 4 PM, we get an urgent message from Karen, stating that we all must report to the main office Friday morning at 9 AM and to bring our USB drives. We were told that if we didn’t bring the flash drives, we would be sent back to go get them.
She didn’t say why.
Obviously, I wasn’t happy about how unprofessional it was to give such little notice about a meeting that requires a 2-hour drive one way and to reschedule my entire day of meetings for PC repairs. I called some associates to work in our main office to find out what was going on.
Apparently, Karen had convinced herself that IT support MIGHT have “bad stuff” on the drives (completely on a whim, mind you, they didn’t have software to track it). The plan was to collect all flash drives, wipe them and then give them back, without telling us.
The sheer stupidity of this idea was off the charts, considering we kept all of our important troubleshooting tools on there plus the image.
Since I did the imaging, my flash drive had all of the source files for the image.
All of our software, drivers, and multiple versions of windows, along with the complete documentation of how to set it all up. We had no backup policy, but I did keep a personal backup of the drive.
Cue malicious compliance.
I was not happy about how Karen did not tell us what was being done or why. I deleted my personal backup and decided to just play dumb and came to the meeting and turned in the drive. Surely, they would be smart enough to say something, ANYTHING, before doing this… but nope.
Sure enough, they were wiped without our consent or knowledge and then given back to us.
A few weeks go by and they ask me about how things are going with the image. I simply tell them that it’s been erased by Karen without my knowledge, so unfortunately, there was nothing I could do, and I’m not about to recreate it all from scratch.
Most of IT support lost their copies as well during that meeting and all the networking team had was a backup from years ago before I took over. Honestly, at this point, I was sick of volunteering my time for nothing in the main office, and it was making my normal job much harder, so I was happy to wash my hands of that.
Needless to say, Karen was mad, but she couldn’t do a darn thing about it, since it is THEIR job to create backups and manage them, not mine. They had to recreate the image and documentation completely from scratch (dozens of hours of work).
Karen was eventually reassigned to another unit and things got better in IT after that. I’m kind of like a folk hero in that agency now, everyone was very happy to have Karen gone.”
4. Check The Radar? Got It!
“Way back in the dark ages I was in the military as an Aviation Electronics Technician. One of our jobs was to perform preventative maintenance (PM) to make sure the electronics in the plane didn’t fail prematurely. One of the hardest things to check on an old C-130 is the radar since you had to raise the radome to access the radar antennae.
Now older C-130s have lots of flight hours, which means they also have lots of landings and takeoffs. The radomes are humungous and heavy. I’m talking like 8′ high, 7 feet wide (Don’t hold me to those numbers – this was a long time ago.) There are 4 screws (top left and right, lower left and right) and a hinge on top so it can be lifted. Getting those 4 screws to line up on a slightly twisted and bent airplane can be difficult.
VERY difficult. It usually takes 4-6 extra people pulling on straps to get the darned thing aligned.
Also, in my service, there is a usually friendly rivalry between the electronics types (tweets) and the mechanics (nosepickers) and metalsmiths (riveters.) I say usually, but at my new air station, it was well beyond the friendly stage to the point that the riveters and nosepickers wouldn’t even acknowledge the tweets and visa versa.
I had just checked in from a heavy maintenance overhaul facility and was placed on night check (the 4-midnight shift.) This is the shift where most preventative maintenance is performed. I replaced the two tweets who had previously been assigned to night check.
Once I started working the shift, I quickly found out a couple of things. First, these two were either lazy or had everybody buffaloed. The workload that had previously been assigned to both of them, I was able to accomplish in about a half shift. So I started asking for more work.
The other thing I found out was that they were the epitome of tweets that couldn’t stand the mechs.
I was not a fan of that game and quickly became friends with mechs by helping them when they were shorthanded for major jobs.
All of the tweets vs mechs nonsense stopped the night check Chief came out and saw me up on a check stand on my hands and knees holding the weight of an aileron (Another very big piece that forms most of the back side of the wing.
It’s used to turn the plane when it turns in the air.) The chief bellowed “Who’s the new guy on the check stand?” “That’s the new tweet we’ve been telling you about!” “Well don’t let him screw anything up!” That’s about as close to a thank you for helping or OK he’s accepted as it came with that guy.
But I never had a problem with the mechs again on night check.
When I asked for more work, it began. The two previously assigned guys started rumors that I was doing shoddy work, and even worse, pencil-whipping my work (signing it off but not performing the work.) The Chief in charge of assigning my work caught wind of it and decided to perform a test to settle the rumors once and for all.
He assigned me to performing radar PM. OK not a problem I completed it, signed off the paperwork, and completed my shift.
The next day I was met by my Chief, and several other people, including the 2 smirking tweets that were assigned to night check.
I was accused of not possibly being able to complete the radar card since I didn’t ask for extra bodies to close the radome.
I had also heard the rumors that I had been pencil-whipping my work and knew immediately what the Chief was up to with the radar PM.
And I wanted to make those two idiots look like dummies, so I just took the assigned work (with a smile.)
Then, I went to the Night Check Chief and told him I had to crack the radome tonight and asked for some help.
He said no problem. Saying that radome was a jerk is an understatement. It took us most of the night and me buying the beers after work to get it done. But it was WAaaayyyy worth it.
The fallout: Back to the next day.
After being outright accused of pencil whipping, I innocently asked what the Chief was talking about asking for bodies to help me. They work the day shift. Why would I ask people to help me on the night shift? The Chief replied because it takes extra people to close a radome.
I again asked innocently, but why would I ask the day shift to help me on night shift when the night shift has plenty of people that can help me?
“What plenty of people? There’s only you and you couldn’t possibly close a radome by yourself.” I smiled inward and said I never said I did it myself.
Plenty of people were the mechanics. The two idiots both said they would never help! I looked at both of them and said Yet they did. And I don’t like being accused of being a liar, performing shoddy work, or pencil whipping my work.
Where did those rumors come from anyway?
Everyone just sort of stared at the two idiots and the Chief said, be right back. Don’t leave, anyone. A few minutes later, he returned and apologized for keeping me from my work.
He had confirmed my story with the night check chief. And we were all dismissed except the 2 idiots.
I didn’t see those two much after that. But that was a fun tour of duty for me!”
3. Announce "News" To Your Staff? I'll Make Sure The News Picks It Up Too
“This was a while ago when I was working in a community-based organization. We provided end-of-the-line shelter for people and did rights advocacy in a medium town (100k). The salary was low but okay, but most employees were there because they believed in what we did.
The main problem was the manager. She didn’t act accordingly to the set of values the organization was based on, she was grossly overpaid compared to employees, took everything personally, made sure we were cut off from the administrators, and created an atmosphere where people feared retribution.
We were unionized, but after a few months, I realized no one was ever filling complaints (even for trivial matters) because they feared she was going to lash back at them. Turns out she had done it to a few people in the past. Once I figured I wasn’t going to stay there much longer, I decided to sign all the complaints I could (according to the union I could sign anything I witnessed even if I wasn’t the target) and figured I would see them to the end and leave.
That way administrators couldn’t claim not knowing and there was a chance for my colleague to have a better work environment.
So, of course, the next few months were a living heck. She picked on me regularly. Still, most people sided with me (at least privately, most of them fearing she would do the same treatment to them if they declared it publicly).
One morning, she calls a staff meeting and explains that a large number of complaints have been filed in the last months (looks at me) and the cost to settle them or to pay the lawyers to fight them might bankrupt the organization and everyone is thus at risk of losing their job soon (insert ominous music).
Panic ensues. My colleagues are crying, they’re calling their SOs, a lot of people are BEGGING me to take them back stating she got the lesson, and some of them are genuinely mad. In my opinion, it was obviously bullcrap made to turn them against me.
I mean, the sole emergency housing of a 100k city (annually filled at 115% capacity) would be closing for a dozen complaints where I’m not even asking for pay in any form, over legal fees which are usually budgeted in advance?
Come on, it’s basic fear-brewing schemes.
Normally, I would have questioned it during the meeting or tried to reason with them afterward. But that time, I decided to comply with the narrative and treat it as true. I left for my break and did what I would have done if we were really closing: appealing to the public outrage to help us fulfill our mission.
I called the news. Told them verbatim the morning announcement, the service hole it would create in the community, the job impact it would have in the city, etc.
The local news picked it up. They called the manager and administrators about running the story, questioning how come there were enough complaints to threaten a 35-year-old pillar of community services, asking what the complaints were about, etc.
Before 4 pm that same day, we had another meeting to explain that we must have misunderstood the first meeting, as the organization was in no way shape or form in danger of closing. Surely we must have misunderstood.
Moral of the story: let those who brewed the pee drink it.”
2. Demand Me To Go To My Class? Will Do
Sounds like someone’s got a power surge.
“So, I went to one of the government schools in Sri Lanka. In 2015 I joined my school media unit as a sound engineer.
At first, I was the only sound engineer and we didn’t have a separate club for it. So, after a year, I gathered my friends and started a radio club as a sub-club to the main media circle, then we also managed to conduct an annual radio broadcast of my school after more than 10 years of it last being conducted. To be honest, the first one was a mess but I gained a lot of popularity in the school for this and my sound engineering services.
A perk of being a member of my school media unit is that you get to break a lot of rules officially. Bring your phone and laptop to school, missing periods, stay overnight at school, and come to school in colored clothing.
(For clearance, in Sri Lanka, government school students have to wear specific white clothes to school and it is prohibited to bring electronic items to school. We also had to have an appropriate haircut and have to clean shave our beards when they started to grow.) To be honest, I actually liked breaking those rules since I got this official pass as a media unit member.
In my senior year, my classmates hated me for this as by that time I didn’t even go to class. I also encountered many incidents in those years, but I am going to share this specific incident in this story.
So, this happened in 2018, and by that time I was well-recognized as a senior member of the media unit and I was also the president of the radio club. That means I got to skip classes all the time and for this, some of the teachers hated me.
So each year, our school’s Sinhala literature club organizes an event called Sinhala Day. The event is usually held in the school auditorium and if the organizers didn’t hire external sound services they have to get us, my club to manage sounds for the event.
As usual, I got called by our teacher in charge to inform me about this club giving the radio club to manage the sounds for their event. As by this time I also had a trained junior batch in the club.
So for rehearsals, I assigned them to manage the sounds while I and a few of my friends decided to manage sounds on the event day as it is a big responsibility. But there was a media competition at another school on the same day, so my friends had to go to that competition in the morning meaning that I have to work alone until they come back from the event.
So, rehearsal happened without any incidents and the day came for the official event. There is a rule in our school to only host these kinds of events after school hours. This is mostly because the sound of the event can bother ongoing classes.
This means they also have time to do a final rehearsal during school hours. Usually, students of the club who are organizing the event stay overnight the day of the event to set the stage and decorations. And we, the radio club, come around in the morning to arrange the sound setup.
Usually, while we are arranging the stuff, final rehearsals also go on.
So, on the event day, I had to set the sound in the morning. But, when I went to the auditorium in the morning the stage is still being set up by the organizers so I informed their president to send a message to me once they are done.
It usually takes 2 to 3 hours to arrange the sound setup and balance sounds so I told them to finish this up at least 4 hours before school ends (We have 8 hours of school). Literature Club president agreed and apologized for the delay.
I said it was fine and went to the media room. They somehow took more than 5 hours to complete the decorations. When they send the message to me I was almost angry because this means I have to arrange all the stuff by myself within less than 3 hours because they will also do final rehearsals.
But I didn’t show it to them I just went to the auditorium and started to arrange the audio setup.
Now I forgot to mention the teacher in charge of this literature club. He teaches Sinhala for junior classes and is well known for his terrible attitude.
He easily gets angry and is known for punishing his students even for small stuff. So, while I was arranging sounds this teacher came into the auditorium. Usually, when these types of events happen, some kids who are not involved come and stay in the backside of the auditorium to skip classes.
So when the teacher came in, he saw these kids in the back and went to chase them away. I didn’t care much as I am on official duty here. So I continued on with my work.
After the teacher in charge chased the kids off, he turned to the front of the auditorium to see me just standing on the stage.
I remember I was thinking about a way to get cables managed around the decorations. I actually saw him looking at me from the corner of my eye looking at me with an angry face, but I shrugged it off as I am here for their day.
When I was about to go into the room where we stored sound items, he shouted “Hey you, where are you going? Go to class right now!” I turned to see him now on the stage, staring daggers at me.
To be honest, this is not the first time I got into situations like this where teachers mistake me for a kid skipping classes. Usually, when I tell them why I am here, they understand and leave me to complete the job.
So, I said, “I am here to set…” He didn’t let me finish the sentence before he started to yell at me for skipping classes and for me to stop lying about it. Then he ordered me to go to my class before he punished me.
Now, I was tired and I only had less than an hour before I should finish up. I was already angry about it when he came so when he yelled at me like this I only just got madder. Right now he was really close to my face yelling stuff at me.
I again try to explain only to get slapped in the face mid-sentence. Ok, now he’s done it. I was so angry and I tried to keep my composure, but they only led me to have tears in my eyes.
I looked around to see some junior kids who came for final rehearsals are also looking at this. I felt ashamed. This never happened to me before.
Then I had a thought. If you want me to go to the class then I will.
I knew without sounds they can’t do the day. And as the only sound guy in school today until my friends arrive after school hours, they won’t be able to find someone else to do the work. So you want me to go to my class then that’s what I am going to do.
I left. I locked the sound room, took the key, and went to the media room. Then I left the key in the locker, took my bag, and went to my class. Even my teacher was surprised to see me in the class as they all knew I won’t be able to attend any classes during today.
My teacher asked me why I am here, but when she saw my expression, she just told me to sit down. So I sat down quietly and waited.
30 minutes before school ends a member of the literature club came running into my classroom.
He excused to the teacher came to my desk and asked me what the heck am I doing. I was angry, but in a calm voice, I said: “Your teacher in charge told me to go to the classroom. So I came to the class.” He was confused at first. Then he asked, “So, are you done setting up?” I said no and told him that he didn’t let me finish up.
The guy was freaking out. He begged me to come to the auditorium as in another hour they have to start. I just looked at him and said sorry I am in class. He just looked at me, sighed, and left the classroom.
Now I was feeling petty as I know they are going to freak out because without sounds the event is ruined.
A few minutes after the guy from the club left the teacher in charge of my radio club came to the class and sat down next to me.
She asked me what happened. I explained everything to her. She somehow managed to calm me down and took me back to the auditorium. The teacher in charge who slapped me was not there by that time but the president of that club waited and apologized to me and begged me to set up the sounds.
These guys are actually really nice and I didn’t want to ruin their day so I agreed and began to set up the stuff. The president even sends me a few of the organizers to help me. So, I managed to set things up and balance sounds just a few minutes before the first invited school arrived. Then my friends came and took over as I was really tired by that time.
I also informed them what happened and they got angry too, but I told them to do their best. I took a half an hour’s nap in the media room and came back.
The event went ok. There were a few technical issues as I didn’t get to check everything out, but nobody blamed me.
Their teacher in charge was there too, but he didn’t make eye contact with me.”
1. Ask For A Serious Offer? They'll Give You One Alright
“This happened around 5 years ago. I was working in an early-stage start-up as a software developer. The former developer quit before I entered and I was his replacement.
One part of the offer was becoming a partner with some shares of the company at one point.
I showed a lot of initiative, always giving new ideas and trying to improve things. One important detail is that my only boss at the time was the CEO.
After around 4 months they hired a guy who was a friend of the Founder of the company and he had pretty good references since he worked before in one of the biggest companies in that country. So, this guy started being my boss now and his background is from another field, so he didn’t know anything about the technology, software, the language we used, etc.
Anyways, I instantly notice his presence, since before him, the office was pretty quiet and after this guy came in, he started making calls all the time or talking with the CEO in front of everybody. Our office was only one room, so it was pretty hard to ignore it.
Before this, I was always overworking arriving at the office around 9 and working until 20 or so, simply because I loved the project. But, after I noticed how loud the presence of Mr. New Boss was, I started going pretty early in the morning, so I could work at least from 7:30 am to 10 am until Mr. New boss comes in.
The best about this, was when I was leaving at 17:00, he was always shocked because the first days he saw I had a different schedule. Since he got in charge, EVERYTHING was a TOP PRIORITY. We had a few meetings where I explained to him my point of view about this, but it didn’t change much.
For you to understand the kind of changes he was doing, here is an example. We had the typical TO DO list with 3 statuses: TO DO, DOING, DONE. He changed this to a TO DO and DONE only because this would save time.
So, I didn’t know what the mobile developer was working on and if he needed something from my side right away looking at the To Do list. I had to manually ask him and also update him when I needed something from his side.
Well, after a few months with Mr. New Boss onboard, I decided I needed to be a partner or leave the company. I explained this situation to the CEO and to Mr. New Boss and basically said that I did a lot of things during this time, they loved my work, so I needed to be a partner as the offer specified at the beginning of the contract.
CEO told me: “we will get back to you with an offer,” Mr. New Boss nods.
In the meantime, I was doing some interviews with a company in another country and I received an offer that was 3 times my current salary.
CEO and Mr. New Boss called me after a few days to have a chat. Mr. New Boss showed some papers with some vague information and then started talking about how important it is to be a partner. It is not a 9 to 17 job, making reference to my schedule (which I changed since he entered).
And then he said a lot of nonsense about compromise and no weekends, and non-paid extra hours, and so on. He finished his speech and the CEO didn’t say a single word. Mr. New Boss asked me what do I think about that, so I answered: “Mm I think I was waiting for an offer with numbers and I don’t see any.”
MNB: “Well before that happens we need to see you are actually willing to work as I mentioned before. Staying later than 17 for example.”
ME: “I am not. I am giving you my 2-week notice right now. I already have an offer waiting for me in another country.
MNB: “Yeah, sure. No worries, I understand.”
The CEO said nothing.
I came back to the office and tell the new company I’ll take the job. And in 2 weeks I’ll be moving there.
The next day, Mr. New Boss asked to talk with me and he offered me a 10% raise.
I told him, no thanks, I already took the other job.
Two days after that, the same story. He told me that he thinks he can get me a 30% raise. I laughed unintentionally (because he was still trying to convince me) and said “no, thanks man!
And don’t keep trying, because it is useless.”
MNB: “Okay, sure… So… Let me ask you something if you don’t mind.”
ME: “Sure, boss.”
MNB: ”How much did they offer you?”
Without him even finishing I answered “300%”
MNB: “Ok, nice.”
He stopped trying to convince me after this talk. I still had one more week at the company so on the last day, the Founder appears (he was on top of the CEO by the way). He called me for a chat and went straight to the point.
F: “Can I offer you anything for you to stay?”
ME: “Not now, I am actually traveling tomorrow.”
F: “Okay, I am sad things went this way. If anytime you want to come back, talk to me directly. I can help you with relocation, flight tickets, and whatever you need. Doors are open.”
ME: “Thanks, I appreciate that.”
So, I start working in the new company and I still help the old one in the transition for a few hours a week (paid, of course). They hired a new guy and he needed some help.
MNB: “New guy needs some help, installing the LANGUAGE WE USE.”
ME: “Hmm, let me see if I understand. The new guy is a LANGUAGE WE USE Developer and needs help installing the LANGUAGE WE USE. Is that correct?”
MNB: “Yes.”
ME: “Interesting… Sure boss.”
So I helped this guy with a few things and after a few days, I completely finished my collaboration with them and focused 100% on the new company.
A few months later, Mr. New Boss quits. Two more months, Mobile dev quits, New guy quits, CEO quits.”
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