rSlash - r/Maliciouscompliance I Shut Down the Whole Company by Obeying My Boss

Episode Date: January 13, 2022

r/Maliciouscompliance In today's episode, OP works at a factory where she supervises a team of workers. These workers aren't allowed to start their day until after OP gives them directions. A new boss... joins the factory and decides that OP has to start each morning with an ultra-important mandatory meeting that OP absolutely cannot skip! OP happily shows up to the meeting, which means that all of her underlings just stand around for hours waiting for her to give them directions. The boss learns about OP's malicious compliance and QUICKLY changes his stupid policy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to our slash malicious compliance where OP almost gets crushed to death by a trash compactor. Our next reddit post is from a quiet borderline. My dad was visiting us for Christmas, and as usual, I got him to share some more stories about his youth, and he shared a time where he used malicious compliance to not only shut up one of his bosses, but also get him into trouble. Many years ago, back when my dad was a college student, he earned extra money for living expenses by working in a car manufacturing plant. The state at the time was a closed shop,
Starting point is 00:00:31 which meant that you had to join the union if you wanted to work unless you weren't executive. One of the rules that this union set up at Dad's workplace was that no employee could work certain positions unless they'd been trained for it. This included positions such as forklift operator and trash compactor. This was included in the contract and it was a no break rule. Enter George the manager.
Starting point is 00:00:54 Unlike many people in this thread, George was actually a nice guy, but to quote Joseph from It's A Wonderful Life, he is the IQ of a Jackrabbit, and he didn't always think things through. One Saturday afternoon, Dad came into work and George pulled him aside. I need you to do me a favor, son. The trash compactor is jammed, and I need someone to crawl in and unjam it. You're the smallest of us all, so it shouldn't be a problem for you. Now, not only had Dad not been trained for loading the compactor, but even he knew that
Starting point is 00:01:25 crawling in there would be a dumb idea. He said, uh, George, I haven't been trained for this position. George got all flustered and said, just do it! Dad then got an idea for some malicious compliance. He said, I'll do it, but is it okay if I ask one of the other guys to spot me just to make sure that I don't get squished? That'll be fine, just make sure the job's done. Dad then hit it to his union shop leader, Kenny.
Starting point is 00:01:52 Like George, Kenny was a decent fellow, but he was very protective of his workers. Dad told Kenny what had happened, and he asked Kenny to spot him. Q.K.K. Turning five shades of purple before storming into George's office. Dad told me that the whole floor went silent as Kenny unloaded on George for trying to make a poor college kid do something so effing dangerous
Starting point is 00:02:16 and that this will be recorded and written up. Kenny stormed out, leaving a frightened looking George quaking in his steel-toed boots. The compactor ended up getting fixed without someone crawling into it, and George always asked the people where trained for positions before asking them to do it. Ugh, OP, I don't blame your dad in the slightest. I feel like getting crushed to death like a piece of human garbage and a giant metal trash
Starting point is 00:02:40 compactor is a pretty terrible way to go. Our next way to post is from random place. So I did my apprenticeship with this company, and after three years, I moved to a standard ID position and a plant near my home. The first six months went great. Communication with my colleagues in boss were good until one day.
Starting point is 00:02:58 My boss wanted to talk to me about a few things, but one thing stuck out like a sore thumb. He asked me to pull out my time sheet where we log all of our work times. He told me to come in on time because I was late three times in the last two months. He said that he would check it regularly and he would get back in touch with me if it happened again. The funny thing is, I was one minute late on those three days because of traffic. I have to drive like 25 to 30 minutes and also I stayed late on those days. So he told me to plan better for traffic and he
Starting point is 00:03:32 once made the office exactly at 6. I was furious about this. It seemed like such a useless complaint just a way to keep me under control and to establish him as the boss. Normally, I like to come in at 5.50 so I can start my work at 6. And then leave around 1.50pm when my shift normally ends at 1.45pm. I would start working before 6 with easy work like mail and stuff and I worked a bit over time because I had to pack up. Now I just drink coffee and stand around while looking at my phone until it's exactly 6 o'clock and I log in. Not one minute early, not one minute late.
Starting point is 00:04:10 He wants me to work exactly at 6 o'clock? Okay, I will, but I'm also going to leave when my shift is over. I also pack my things early so I can log out exactly at 145 pm. And I never stay longer because I need to be on time. Overall, he lost work time because of his useless power trip. He never mentioned the change because he can't do anything about it. Our next reddit post is from Puzzlehead. My RA at my university recently confiscated some of my stuff that she claimed wasn't in compliance with housing guidelines. The RA's do a once-a-semester inspection of apartments to check for compliance with policy
Starting point is 00:04:47 and law. The apartment handbook specifically states that RAs will not seize property, but they will issue fines. But that didn't stop two RAs from taking my guitar amp in an extension cord. These items were unplugged, making them in accordance with the rules. I obviously argued with my RA and her assistant quite a bit. At this point, she was threatening to impose more fines for arguing and would call campus police for being disorderly.
Starting point is 00:05:13 So I said whatever and let her go with the intent of getting my stuff back somehow. I started by calling the housing office to express my grievance over the obvious theft, but they promptly told me to listen to my RA. I then called campus police who said the same thing. Since the local department's reroutes calls to the campus police, I couldn't get the actual police to help. My RA sent me a message saying that if I would swing by her door and fill out the proper paperwork, I could get it back. I said I wasn't home, but I would when I got back. So I knocked on her door at 4am. She opened, and she was extremely tired and confused as to why I was there. So I told her that I just got back from school after driving from home, and I was ready
Starting point is 00:05:56 for that paperwork. She handed me a paper and a packet to sign. The paper was an acknowledgement of my fine. The packet was the entire housing policy, which she told me to read through and then sign that I've read. She told me that I could turn them in tomorrow to get my stuff back, and I responded, nah, it's okay, I don't mind. Then I read through the entire 25 page packet in front of her, taking my sweet time.
Starting point is 00:06:22 Then I gave it back signed. After that, she got my heavy amp and cord and gave it to me. Our next reddit post is from Mark Beeman. So this story is stolen from my girlfriend. She works at a company that provides warehouseing, product prep, and direct to consumer services to other companies. She works in their office,
Starting point is 00:06:39 dealing directly with several key accounts, but she also has a few lines that she manages. The lines are responsible for prepping and building shipments. The line workers will gather in the morning and wait for their daily assignments from my girlfriend, as well as any other direct to consumer orders. This detail is important. The other office workers help manage some accounts, but they do NOT manage the lines, nor do they know how to.
Starting point is 00:07:03 She comes into work one day and finds out they have a new director, and he wants to start organizing, streamlining, etc. You know, the things the new important person does to make it look like he's giving it his all. His first order of business is to have a mandatory daily meeting at 8 a.m. with everyone in the office that will take no longer than 15 minutes. My girlfriend requested the meeting starts at 9 a.m. with everyone in the office that will take no longer than 15 minutes. My girlfriend requested the meeting starts at 9 a.m. instead, as the warehouse workers
Starting point is 00:07:30 will be doing nothing but waiting around for their assignments otherwise. The director, probably not wanting to look like he's playing favorites on his first day, puts his two of votes. And surprise, the other people want to start first thing in the morning, as they have nothing else to do at that time. So my girlfriend says, okay, if they want to start first thing in the morning as they have nothing else to do at that time. So my girlfriend says, okay, if they want to start first thing in the morning, that's no problem. On the next day, the meeting begins as soon as everyone arrives.
Starting point is 00:07:55 And as they gather and the director begins talking, they hear the various lines start calling my girlfriend's name over the radio in the distance. Five minutes go by and now people begin wandering into the office. Ten minutes go by and a small group forms. Fifteen minutes go by and more people have shown up just patiently waiting for her as she is ferociously tapping her pin on a clipboard. At this point the director pipes up with a less than sincere. Well, you look rather anxious so if you have have someplace to be, you can go if we're keeping
Starting point is 00:08:28 you. She responds with a candid and rushed, thank you so much, and runs away to take care of her lines and process consumer orders. The new director, after this conversation, spoke with the owner of the company. To his credit, the director later that day sought out my girlfriend and recap what she was missing at this meeting, which ultimately ran for over 45 minutes. He also explained that the owner of the company informed him that my girlfriend had the most responsibility of anyone in the office.
Starting point is 00:08:56 Generally can be relied on for anything, and is hands down his best employee. The meeting now starts at 9 a.m. Our next reddit post is from Draconaxe. December 24th and 31st have always been non-working days in our country, but this year our president announced that it would be a special working holiday. So it's up to the individual company to decide if people have to work that day or not. When our company announced that we would have a full work day on the 24th, the employees were not happy. We've never had to work on that day before, even since the oldest employee in that company started working.
Starting point is 00:09:31 And most employees already had plans set up for that day. After back and forth meetings with the union, the company finally gave in, and agreed to have only a half day of work on the 24th. The employees were still not happy, but we took it as a win. Now to the malicious compliance. Each department and our company can choose any day and December to celebrate their Christmas party. The party can last half a work day, and the employees will still be compensated as long as the party is held in the office. So, today is December 24th, and we're going to have our Christmas party. As agreed, Department Christmas parties are on company time so it'll be credited as
Starting point is 00:10:10 if we're going to work. Merry Christmas! Our next Reddit post is from Adam Bomm. I used to work in a small office area and we had a simple coffee setup for those who liked to drink coffee during the work day. There was a list and when the current coffee supply was running low, the next person on the list would bring in a bag of coffee for the office. There were ten or so people on the list, meaning that one person would have to bring in coffee every other month. It had worked out rather well, and everyone was happy with the setup. Enter Coffee Karen. It's her turn to get coffee, and she brings in a pound of coffee from some local hipster coffee bar. It was good coffee and everyone commented on our coffee selection. The thing is, this
Starting point is 00:10:50 was high end designer coffee and cost about 20 bucks per pound. When that coffee runs out, the next person on the list decides that they didn't want to be outdone and they got a pound from a different bar with a similar price point. Again, it was really good coffee and everyone comments on that person's coffee selection. This cycles through about four more times until it's my turn to bring in coffee. While I do enjoy a fancy cup of Joe, the normal for me is just whatever is about
Starting point is 00:11:16 six bucks a bag at the grocery store, which is what I bring in and put by the coffee maker. About an hour later, coffee Karen comes storming to my desk with a bag of coffee in her hand like it was some chunk of roadkill that she found on her way to work. Did you bring this garbage? She has the bag pinched between two fingers and is holding it in my face. Yeah, it was my turn to bring coffee.
Starting point is 00:11:38 We don't drink this garbage anymore here. She dropped it on my desk and sneered at me. You'd better go someplace for good coffee or we're gonna cut you off and she walked away. Well, okay, I'll do just as you say. After work I took my coffee and went home. I passed by a coffee house on my way home and go in. It was a nice place. They made it look like a bar but they served coffee instead of alcohol. I ordered a house coffee and I was able to talk to the barista because I was the only one in the place not glued to a phone. I told him what had happened at work and what I was planning, which was to get a pound of his coffee, take it home, keep the good stuff and put the cheap coffee in the expensive bag. The barista,
Starting point is 00:12:21 who turned out to be the owner of the place, laughed and said that he loved the idea. So, I got a pound of the house coffee and the guy even threw in a few extra empty bags. Keep going with it man, I like the idea, he said. The next day, I bring in my pound of cheap coffee in the bag from the coffee bar and everyone is telling me how great it is. Coffee Karen came to me and said, no, isn't this better than the garbage you brought yesterday? Never bring in cheap coffee again.
Starting point is 00:12:51 I agree, and tell her the coffee from the bar was amazing. I just failed to mention that the coffee she was drinking was the same that she turned her carer nose up to the day before. Later that week, I went back to the coffee bar to find the owner to tell him what happened. He loved it, and said that when I ran out of bags to come back and get more from him. I asked him why he was supporting my awful coffee in his packaging and he said, well, they don't know good coffee from bad coffee, right?
Starting point is 00:13:17 So, if they like the coffee, then they may come in here and get even better coffee and then decide to buy more of it. Free advertising for me, it must have worked out for him because I saw a few of his coffee cups at work over the next few months. As for me, I got to wake up every morning to a nice cup of coffee. Our next reddit post is from Chaos Music. My nephew is really into online gaming. He knows that I am as well, so he thought that I would appreciate this story. Sorry of some of the details are funny, but I heard this story from a hype
Starting point is 00:13:47 active 16-year-old. Companies that do online gaming are starting to push back against toxic players that make the game less fun for everyone by issuing bands for racist comments, threats, etc. Depending on the game, it might start with a warning, then a 24-hour ban,, then a 7 day ban, then a permanent ban. A lot of these games are free, so a permanent ban player could just create a new account, but all progress and benefits they earned are lost. So, it's still a big deal. This one game in particular has a forum where players can discuss and appeal bands.
Starting point is 00:14:21 So, one day, a person posts complaining they received a 24 hour band for what they considered a minor offense, like saying butts or boobs and they asked people to check the chat logs to reconsider the temporary band. Their response? We check the chat logs, and over the course of that single gaming session, you made several racist, homophobic, and sexist remarks, as well as threatening to go to another player's home and punch them in the face. We're not sure how we missed that.
Starting point is 00:14:51 The 24 hour ban is overturned. Your account is now permanently suspended. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. And then down in the comments, we had this toy from Chris the welder. I used to browse the suspension and band form on Microsoft's Xbox 360 forum years ago. Man, some of the posts were great. One of them was like, I demand that you unband my son's Xbox. He said nothing wrong.
Starting point is 00:15:19 I watch him every time he plays. Blah blah blah. The response? Your son was exposing himself using the Xbox camera while playing Uno. That was our slash malicious compliance and if you like this content be sure to follow my podcast because I put out new Reddit podcast episodes every single day.

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