rSlash - r/Maliciouscompliance My Boss Wouldn't Pay Me, So I Sued Him!

Episode Date: July 25, 2021

r/Maliciouscompliance OP works for an absolutely terrible boss. He critical, egotistical, and utterly incompetent. Unfortunately, the boss is also the owner's brother, which means that he's not going anywhere. The boss ends up firing OP, because of course he does, and then the owner refuses to pay OP for the work that he's done. The boss said those magical words: "So sue me!" So... OP sued him! Get ready to pay up, boss! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to R-Slash, a podcast where I read the best post-term across Reddit. Today's subreddit is R-Slash malicious compliance, where your wish is my command. Our next Reddit post is from YUP, seen it. I live in an apartment above another apartment. Since we first moved in, we've gotten regular noise complaints from our neighbor below us, saying the noise from my four-year-old son jumping off furniture is driving them crazy. To be clear, my son is not jumping off furniture. He's just tripping and dropping toys because he's four and clumsy.

But still, we apologize and encourage him to be more careful. The complaints kept coming in regardless, so we bought thick foam mats to cover half our floor to dead in the noise. They're ugly and I hate them, but we want to be good neighbors. The complaints stopped, and we didn't hear anything for months until this morning. This morning I was dressing my son for school. He had gotten new shoes that light up, so obviously the first thing he did was stamp his feet to activate the lights.

He happened to be standing on the half of the floor that didn't have foam. I also happened to knock over the broom onto the bare floors I rushed out the door. When we got downstairs, the neighbor leaned out her window and yelled about how the noise woke her up, and it's ridiculous that we're so loud. I apologized and explained about the shoes, but she cut me off and said that it didn't matter and that we were being inconsiderate. I started to get annoyed and was explaining about the efforts we made to reduce noise, but she cut me off again and snapped.

Well, obviously it's not working. So I said, okay, then if it's not working, we can stop putting in the effort. Thanks, and I left. When I came back, I took up all the ugly foam mats and put them in the attic. Screw her. When G comes knocking to complain again, I'll just tell her to invest in earplugs. Our next reddit post is from Kabab Coder. I work at a grocery store and the machine that takes in bottles that have a deposit fee

on them was broken. The machine couldn't scan the bottle so the customers couldn't get their money back. A customer told me about it so I told my manager. He told me that I should take care of it because he was on break and the customer came to me. I told the customer that I couldn't help her and that she needed to come back some other time when it was fixed. My manager also told me that handling things that way was not acceptable.

I started to get a little bit infuriated so I decided to go back to the work that I was supposed to do. Customers kept coming to me with the same problem so I went back to my manager who literally told me, you're at work, when customers complain to you, it's your problem. I told my co-workers about it. They told me that that machine is broken before, and a mechanic is required to fix the problem. My manager got angry at me because I told him this. He told me that I had to find a solution to the problem, or he would fire me. I started thinking about what I could do to fix this problem, but I couldn't figure it out since I work at a grocery store as a 17 year old who's never had to fix something

like this. Then my stubborn side took over, so I decided to fix the problem my way. I took a broom and punched a hole in the seal that keeps the bottles from falling down. Then I put a big plastic bag on the other side of the machine for the bottles to fall into. My manager lost it and told me I had to undo what I had just done right now. So I gave my manager the plastic bag and told the 12 customers who were waiting in line that he would take care of them. My manager then sent me home because he was raging and yelling at everyone.

The next day I had to work again and the mechanic was there to fix the machine. He told me that I had broken the machine worse than it was before, but he had a laugh when he heard my story about my manager. I later learned that my manager got fired by his boss for losing his cool and that I handled the situation very well. Down in the comments we had this story from Big Davy. We had a drawer on one of the cast registers that kept getting stuck. It was an easy fix because a screw had come loose and needed to be tightened so it was flush again. For some reason, I, a forklift

driver, was tasked to fix it. Unfortunately, there was no screwdriver in any of the numerous toolboxes scattered throughout the store, but that shouldn't be a problem because we actually sell screwdrivers. The manager refused to authorize the $1 needed to buy a screwdriver and he told me to find something else to use. I suggested I could use the Warehouse Multi-Tool, complete with air quotes. However, since it wasn't the correct tool for the job, there might be some damage. He agreed, but he quickly changed changes mind when he saw me walking through the door with a 14-pound sledgehammer, and he let me buy a screwdriver. I fixed the door with the screwdriver, not the sledgehammer.

Our next writer posted from David Gray Photography. If there's ever an event going on at my work, I'm responsible for setting it up, which usually involves setting up sound systems, projectors, cameras, and ensuring that when someone plugs in their laptop, it functions as expected. For years, we had a lot of last minute requests. Some of them were literally along the lines of, we're having a gathering tomorrow with 300 people. We need audio and projector setup for 9am tomorrow, and for you to advance the slides for us.

Plus, this video in my PowerPoint presentation doesn't work, can you fix it? We know you leave work in half an hour, but can you set this up? Also, we've known about this for weeks, but nobody thought to tell you. So one day, me and the other people in my team complained to our manager, who agreed that it was BS. Our manager asked us to draft a policy that he could take to upper management and get them to sign off on. We did, and it was really straightforward. You have to give us at least five business days notice for events. All presentation material must be finalized

and playable without internet access, and you're responsible for advancing the slides because we're there to fix computer issues, not read your script and press buttons. Our manager took it to upper management who agreed that it was a good idea and they signed off on it and it was distributed to all the staff. We did have some people slip up, but they were held accountable and they promised not to do it again. One day, someone from Upper Management emailed us, let's call him Bill. Bill was holding an event for 600 people with a guest speaker who had to be booked weeks

in advance. The guests would need their laptop connected to the internet because they had YouTube videos to play. We had to set up a projector and wireless microphones because they were going to hand around microphones for people to participate. The speaker was due to speak Monday morning and this was currently Thursday lunchtime. There was plenty of time to set it up, but way less than five business days notice. Plus, we were double booked by someone who actually followed the rules. So, we said no, even though this guy was upper management, Bill was not happy. He demanded to know why we were refusing to set things up when there were at least 12 working hours

between now and the event. And all that was required was to power on the projector, turn on the mixer, turn on the microphone, and then set up the person's laptop when they arrived on Monday. Our manager listened to all the bills complaints and sent them this email. Dear Bill, my team has said no to setting up for this event, and I support their decision. I've attached our policy on event support. This is a reminder that you are prudent to this policy and you agree to abide by it. I've also attached general instructions on how to set things up yourself, best of luck. Bill managed to run the event without us, but he had to do a lot of the running around

himself, and he had a bunch of technical issues that interrupted the event. But at least he learned that if you sign off on the rules, you need to abide by the rules because he hasn't slipped up since. Our next breaded post is from Ock Lemon. When I was younger I worked as an engineer for a small company. The owner, Jake, let me know before I started that I'd be doing about 10 hour days, 6 days a week for 6 months. Also, I was expected to have a flexible schedule. Some days they wouldn't have worked for me, and other days I'd be expected to stay a few hours late. This didn't bother me too much, because I wasn't too tight for money, and I didn't mind staying behind a few extra hours occasionally.

I got to work, and I was told to follow the instructions of the owner's brother, Steve. He was an arrogant man, who always thought that he knew how to do your job better than you did. We butted heads a few times, but that was it. A few months into this job, I found a new job starting in a week that paid even better than this job. Later on that day, I had another disagreement with Steve. The situation was petty, but it was his response that really confused me.

It ended with him screaming in my face if you don't do what I say then you can effing leave. So I packed my stuff and left. Steve was a little confused. Apparently he thought that I'd just fall in line. He was too arrogant to apologize and I had another job lined up anyways. I decided to call up the owner Jake to tell him what happened because he'd always been chill. He told me that he needed me and I should just return to work. I told him that unless he controls Steve and made him apologize, there was no way I was coming back.

Jake refused, so I told him I'll send him my final time sheet. Two weeks later I started my new job. I still haven't been paid for my final week, so I called Jake. He told me, since you didn't give me notice for leaving, you owe me for lost product of work. He said that if I didn't like it, I should just sue him, and he recommended that I should just take the loss and move on. That was complete BS. A couple months go by until I finally find time to file for small claims courts. A few days after sending Jake my notice, Jake paid my money, including court fees and extra. He actually called me up to apologize for the confusion. He also

wanted to know when I could return to work. I had heard from one of my ex co-workers that because of the crazy work schedule, people would leave as soon as they were told they wouldn't have worked the next day. Others would leave when they realized how much of a jerk Steve was. Ever since I quit, they'd gone through about seven different workers, and they struggled to keep anyone from more than a week, I told him I'd think about it. I managed to string them along for a few weeks before he stopped calling me. Yo, Pete, I don't understand what the problem was. Why didn't your boss just take the loss and move on? Our next worddit post is from aggravating accident.

I just remembered something kind of funny from about 13 years ago. My sister was married to someone who I'll call Major Dickhead. This guy was a mooch. He would brag about how much money he made while constantly hitting you up for small loans. I know of one person who gave him a $25,000 loan and never saw that money again because they were too nice to sue family. Anyway, Major Dickey got pissed when I wouldn't loan him $40,000 and he'd been punishing me by not letting me see my nephew and niece.

Major Dickey wasn't my nephew's father, but he was my niece's father and they both still lived in the same house. When we arranged a truce by me apologizing, Major Dick had allowed me to once again send gifts for birthdays and Christmas. However, I was only allowed to send arts and craft stuff. So for my extremely active 4 year old nephews Christmas gift, I included a box of 1,000 stickers. I made sure they were all shapes and sizes, ugliest hell, and most importantly, they had

terrible reviews because people reported that they were almost impossible to remove. I hope that douchebag still finds those stupid stickers every so often to this day, and he thinks of me when he does. Well, gosh, OP, if you're giving your nephew arts and craft stuff, then you should have given them a whole box of glitter too. Our next reddit post is from Ugly AF. I used to work at a popular ice cream shop, and I didn't mind hooking up a customer if they asked me nicely.

It was customers who were rude, snappy, and demanding that I didn't care for. But they're the customer, and I was providing a service. While this isn't specifically aimed towards one customer, I loved when they demanded, for example, I went a milkshake and you had better make it right. Because that's exactly what I did, to the very last detail. I pulled out the recipe book and I read every step out loud as I meticulously measured every ingredient to the exact serving size. I made sure the customers saw everything so they

would know that I wasn't cheating them. I was also very precise. If I scooped 4.1 ounces on a required 4 ounce scoop, I would take the tiniest bit off. When they would say, add more ice cream, make it thicker, or something else. I didn't form them that their exact words were, you better make it right, and then I can't make it any better than what the recipe book is actually telling me to do. If they wanted extra, then I would give them the exact amount that's allowed, and they would be charged for it. In the end, they got their 100% correctly made item. It might not be exactly what they were hoping for, but it was exactly what they asked for.

I remember when I was working at Subway as a teenager, the angriest a customer ever got at me. And maybe it was justified because I was being kind of snarky, you know, honesty. So like, right, when you make a sandwich, first you cut the bread, then you put on the meat and the cheese, then you move over,

then you move over to the toppings, like lettuce, tomato, and so on and so forth. And then finally you have the sauce. So I went through the entire sandwich making process. And I was at the final step, which is the sauce. So I've got the sandwich open in front of me. I've got the meat on the bottom of the sandwich. And I've got the toppings on the top of the sandwich.

And it's like spread open, you know, like an open-based sub that I haven't closed yet. And the guy says he wants mayonnaise. So I start to I start to like empty the mayonnaise along the meat and the cheese side of the sub, but he stops me and says, could you put it on the other side instead? And I mean, if I were a good employee, then I would have said, sure, no problem, sir, and I would have just done what he asked. However, I was not a good employee. I was a smart-ass teenager with a sense of humor, so when he said that, my immediate thought is, what differences it make. If I put it on the top or put it on the bottom, then when you close it, it's all going

to be on the same side anyways. So I look at this guy, and I know that my facial expression is just showing complete and utter disdain for this guy Like are you really this much of a freaking idiot that you don't understand that when I close the sandwich It's gonna be like all in the same side anyways because Like what difference does it make? I'm like, sir. It doesn't make a difference once you close the sandwich It's all gonna be the same. That guy got so pissed off. He started asking for a manager that he didn't want me to make the sandwich anymore blah blah blah blah blah blah. And like yeah, I mean I guess he has a point.

I kind of gave him a snark for no reason, but still. That's like getting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then complaining that the peanut butter is on the top. Bro, just turn your sandwich upside down. It's all the same. It doesn't make any difference. That was our slash malicious compliance. And if you like this content, be sure to follow my podcast because I put on your Reddit podcast episodes every single day.