rSlash - r/Maliciouscompliance Steal My Phone? I'll Get You Fired!

Episode Date: February 6, 2022

r/Maliciouscompliance In today's episode, OP is trying to purchase a new phone from a retailer. He pre-purchases it online and shows up in store to pick it up, except that the clerk won't give him the... phone. Instead, the guy tries to sell him the phone that he already paid for! When OP complains, the guy mocks OP and tells him to call customer support. So, that's exactly what he does and he gets the dude fired! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Business notifications getting out of hand, buried under an avalanche of customer emails, texts, and social media messages? Keep your edge with Thrive Small Business software and never miss a message again. Thrive offers one solution to communicate, market, and run your business, but simply, small businesses run better on Thrive. Get Command Center for free today at thrive.ca. That's THR-Y-V dot CA. Terms and conditions apply free plans have limited functionality. Welcome to our slash malicious compliance where O.P.
Starting point is 00:00:33 Tricks is boss and to giving him $20,000. Our next reddit post is from Peace and Greece. This was around 10 years ago. I've always been very technically minded and I'm able to read blueprints, construct complex devices, and weld. I took a high-paying job with a company that made several things for railroads. The job entailed most of my skills that I mentioned above. It was a very small department. In fact, there were only 2-3 of us. But we got along great and we challenged each other, which led to higher production. My supervisor was great as well. He liked to joke around with me, left me alone to focus on my work, and had my back when I needed him.
Starting point is 00:01:11 Fast forward three years later, and the owners buy a much bigger location and move the whole company. As you might expect, several departments got shuffled around. Yep, my department gets folded into a completely different department that has no clue what I do. At first it was fine, but things start to go pear-shaped pretty quickly. My new supervisor seemed good at first, but I quickly realized that he's a snake in the grass. For example, I had to help the prototype department assemble a new, lighter piece of equipment. So I'm pointing out issues and suggesting
Starting point is 00:01:45 fixes. The new supervisor is not happy. He keeps coming over, huffing, groaning under his breath, and standing over my shoulder. He finally interrupts and asks an angry voice. How much longer will this take? I respond. I have four more hours of work today, and eight hours every day after that. He looks puzzled, so I explain, this is my department, this is where I work, these are my responsibilities. So if it takes two months, that's how long it takes. Almost as if to get in the last word, he says, you work where and when I tell you to work, and he storms off. The next day I'm called into the office, and they force me to sign a letter that states
Starting point is 00:02:26 that I now work in my new Supervisors department. Fine by me. I watch from a distance in my new department as all the stock, hardware, parts, orders, etc. of my old department begin to pile up. And since I'm the only one who works in that department, or rather used to work in that department, the work just keeps piling up. Nobody is doing a thing about it. After about two weeks, my old department is a disaster.
Starting point is 00:02:54 Item for just being thrown wherever they would fit. Orders began missing deadlines, and the higher ups wanted answers. Sure enough, I get called into the office where the new supervisor blames me for everything. But he wouldn't let me get a word in. Of course, they fired me without any reason or paperwork. The look of relief on my new X Supervisor's face when I walked out was priceless. He had no clue what was coming. I left with a smile plastered on my face because I knew something that they didn't. I was the only person who knew how to build masks and ladder structures.
Starting point is 00:03:30 I relax at home for around two weeks because I knew that I would be getting a call from them. I ignored the first dozen calls or so. Then I answered, can you come back and complete some build and train some new hires for your departments? Sure, I say. For $20,000. Now that might seem like a lot of money, but it wasn't.
Starting point is 00:03:50 They made millions of dollars from these items, so there was really only one option. Pay me $20,000 or lose millions. Long story short, they went back and forth with me, but they finally conceded. I received $20,000 for two days' work, and they were helpless. The cherry on top was that my new ex-supervisor was fired for being a knitwit and costing the company $20,000. Our next Reddit post is from Phoenix, so at my work, if you're absent from work for pretty much any reason, you have to fill out an absence form.
Starting point is 00:04:23 It's not an overly complicated document, but it does ask you to give a liner to describe the reason for your absence. Over the whole time that I've been there, you've never needed to go into huge detail. For example, you could just write, I vomit it and I wasn't fit to work. That sort of thing. I was really sick. And oh boy, I mean really sick for the first time in years. And upon my return to work, I did my duty and filled out the form with the expected level of detail, then handed it to HR. Then later, I found a fresh one put on my desk with a post at note saying that I haven't described my illness in enough detail. Employees were now required to provide
Starting point is 00:05:02 a more detailed account of their illness. Grabbing a fresh piece of paper, I launched into a vivid recount of the stomach and bowel-based torment that my body had experienced. I described the texture of the vomit as it gushed forth, the slow, vile tide of bile and half-digested pasta that rolled across the bathroom floor as I lay there on too much pain to move. And the absolute agony that all of the contractions that a body feels from multiple bouts of vomiting. I added a passage about how I had to scoop the slop up with my hands and dump it in the toilet. My brow caked in cold sweat and my hands shaking.
Starting point is 00:05:40 I didn't forget to mention the putrid stink that happens when warm vomit splashes against hot water, and how the pervasive stink made everyone in the house gag. I stapled the story to the form and wrote, see attached in the section to describe the illness. As for consequences, well, nobody said anything to me at all directly. I heard from other sources that it did make some people in HR laugh, and it made other people feel sick. But I was leaving a week later, so I didn't really care anyway.
Starting point is 00:06:12 //Dunning the comments, we have this post from Samurai. I had a boss pull this years ago when I had really bad diarrhea. I told him that I'll save some in a Tupperware container with pictures to prove that it was real. I was never challenged again. Our next reddit post is from Proof Bathroom. Back when Dick still sold ammo, they had a great sale on Remington 12 gauge gun club shotgun shells. I shot traps, so I used a lot of shells. It was 40 bucks per flat, which is 250 shells, 10 boxes. The limit was 5 flats per visit. So I went in, got a cart, and asked a guy behind the counter for 5 flats. I noticed they had 2 pallets of flats still wrapping the floor that they were stocking. The guy said to just take the
Starting point is 00:06:56 loose boxes on the shelf. I said I'd rather have sealed flats, not loose boxes. So he rolled his eyes, cut the wrap, and put 5 flats on my carts. I went up and cashed out. The cashier scanned the top box 5 times, so 200 bucks plus tax. I put them in my truck and went back for 5 more. This time, the cashier didn't want to sell to me because of the limit. The limit said, per visit, not per day, right on their sign. I asked for the manager, who wasn't happy, but he finally said go ahead but no more today. Fine. I took my 10 flats home and stacked them in my garage. That's when I noticed the labels. These shells were magnum buckshot. The flats looked the same, the only difference
Starting point is 00:07:39 was the label. These shotgun shells sell for 500 bucks of flat. So about 12 times more than the flats that I thought I was buying. So I called the store and got the manager. I explained that I was just there and that I bought 10 flats. Yes, I remember you, he said. So I started off with, there was a mistake and I've got the wrong ammo. The manager cut me off kind of smugly. Sir, there are no refunds or exchanges on ammo once you leave. Okay, but the mistake is that I have the wrong shells.
Starting point is 00:08:10 Sir, you need to check these things in the store. You want to buy tin cases, so you have tin cases. I will not refund or exchange them. You bought it, so it's yours. It's store policy. I understand that, but you gave yours. It's store policy. I understand that, but you gave me. I am done talking to you.
Starting point is 00:08:29 Our policy is no refunds or exchanges. You should have known what you were buying before you bought 10 cases. Goodbye. So, okay. I kept the $1,000 worth of shotgun shells that I bought for $80. They really showed me! Our next reddit post is from Accomplished Week. This was a year to a go when Amazon Fresh was opening new stores in London. For anyone not familiar with them, you just walk in,
Starting point is 00:08:54 take what you want, and walk out. Your Amazon account gets billed because they use cameras and sensors. So I used one in White City after it had just opened. I went in just for the novelty factor and got a few things. I found a couple of pricing errors in my favor and a couple really big pricing errors. I did the decent thing and told Amazon, expecting a thank you. But I got a call from an IRA call handler, insisting I was charged the correct amount, and I wasn't overcharged and I wasn't doing anything back. I repeatedly tried and bane to say, no, you undercharged me, but she was having none of it so I just gave up.
Starting point is 00:09:31 Naturally, after the call, I changed my commute for a 5 minute longer route so I could go there each day and buy only the items that were priced wrong. Suffice to say, I haven't had toiletries for a few years. Also, I'm now sickened by a pricey cheesecake brand and a certain type of cheese. And OP clarifies that he was basically paying about 2% of the actual price for these items. So instead of 5 bucks for a cheesecake, he was paying 8 cents. And for an entire block of cheese, he only paid 9 cents. For the toiletries, he only paid about 6% of the actual price, so 50 cents instead of 10 bucks. Our next Reddit post is from a horse as no name.
Starting point is 00:10:11 This happened a couple of days ago in Hollywood, Florida. I traded up my phone for the holidays on AT&T's website and I arranged to pick up at my nearest store. The receipt I had for the pick-up said that my phone was being held until December 30th, so I go in on the 29th to pick it up. I had to get to work, and I wasn't going to be available to leave work during business hours, so it had to be then. I was hoping the whole process would take like 15 minutes, but it didn't. I get there, and the worker, Allen, tells me that my phone wasn't available because I'd waited too long and they'd canceled my pick up.
Starting point is 00:10:45 Even though I hadn't held the next day to do so, I show on my email confirmation and he shrugs his shoulders and he says that they canceled the order because they counted the day that I placed the order as one of the days towards cancellation, which is obviously stupid. Then, he offers to sell me the phone that I was trying to pick up because it's impossible for me to pick up the phone that was being held for me. I just want to get my phone, so I agree to go through the purchase process, and as it turns out, I'll have to pay for the phone again, and then get AT&T to refund me for the original order. This was major BS, but again,
Starting point is 00:11:21 this was the only time I had available to pick up my phone. I asked for the phone number of someone I could speak with about what was going on, and he tells me I need to speak with customer retention, and he gives me a phone number that he pulls off a list. So we go through the process, and by then I'm late for work. Allen tells me that he's having problems selling me the last unit of the phone that I wanted to purchase. He tries to upsell me. I tell him that I just want the phone that I ordered, and he tells me that he's having
Starting point is 00:11:50 some trouble because the system is not letting him sell that unit. Apparently, it's the last unit he has, so he needs to take extra steps to sell it to me. So, next he gets on his phone and tries to make some phone calls to unlock the unit. Meanwhile, he leaves me alone long enough to find out that the number he gave me was BS. It led to a non-working extension for AT&T and it would just stay on hold. I went to Google and discovered this by finding the actual customer retention phone number and calling that.
Starting point is 00:12:20 So now I'm speaking with the customer retention specialist and I explained to him what's happening over the phone. The retention specialist confirms that, yes, my phone is available for pickup, and it has not been cancelled. Meanwhile, on Alan's phone, I can hear Alan speaking with someone on AT&T, and the person he's speaking with says over the speaker phone. I can't allow you to sell that phone, It's being held until tomorrow for customer pick up. So I asked the person on Alan's phone to repeat that and confirmed that, yes, Alan was trying to sell me the phone that I'd
Starting point is 00:12:53 already purchased and was there to pick up. Then I asked the customer retention person I'm speaking with if he heard the other individuals comments. The customer retention person confirms that he heard what the other AT&T rep said. And the retention rep asked me to confirm the store number that I'm located at and the name of the person I'm speaking with. At that point, Alan, upon realizing that I'm speaking with customer retention and that they heard everything that he's trying to do with my phone, he tells me to leave the store and that he's going to call the cops if I don't. The customer retention rep on the phone hears him kick me out of the store. So I didn't get my phone that day, but I did have it delivered to my house next
Starting point is 00:13:35 day by UPS, which was nice. And I did get to have a conference call with a regional manager from AT&T, along with a supervisor at customer retention, and a manager for third party dealer locations while the customer retention specialist confirmed everything I was telling them. I didn't get my phone that day, but I did ruin a douchebag's career and that was way more satisfying.
Starting point is 00:13:59 Okay, so I've never worked retail, but if I had to guess, what's happening here is that Alan didn't wanna just hand over the phone because there was like no point, there was no benefit for him for just handing over the phone. But if he could sell the phone that OP was trying to buy originally, then he would probably get a commission. So my guess is that he was just lying to OP, hoping to swindle him and to buying the phone that he'd already purchased so that he could take his cut. And yeah, he did get a cut. He got cut from the job. Our next
Starting point is 00:14:29 reddit post is from a long string of numbers. I'm a young person working in a backroom position at a retail store. I've been working there for about a year now. My management when I started was excellent, and as a result, I'm very well trained. I never got written up, I'm always on time, and I consistently do things well above my well trained. I never got written up, I'm always on time, and I consistently do things well above my pay grade. I fill in for my supervisor in the backroom sometimes, and I can even run it by myself if need be. Also, I trained our newest supervisor in her position.
Starting point is 00:14:57 If you're wondering, I didn't take the supervisor job because it required changing my shift time. I knew all the fine details of the job, and I was a team fine details of the job, and I was a team trainer as well. Basically, I was a supervisor, but without the pay raise. My managers moved on to greener pastures, and their positions were filled by new management. The new management does not compare to the quality of the old management. Our store manager, Karen, is the worst manager I've ever had the
Starting point is 00:15:26 displeasure of working for. She loves workplace politics, acting snaky and micromanaging everything. Whenever someone suggests a solution to a problem, Karen would rather take a less effective route just so she can be the one in charge. When she messes up, instead of admitting it, Karen blames anyone but herself and makes it their responsibility to avoid looking dumb. Karen doesn't help when she's needed, rarely does her job, takes personal phone calls all day, and sits in her office on her computer. She's rude, inconsiderate, and incompetent. All in all, Karen is an awful boss. I tried to make peace with Karen at first, but we quickly started bumping heads and our
Starting point is 00:16:08 relationship is shaky at best. We're cordial with each other, but Karen wanted me to abandon 100% of my authority while still running the back, which couldn't happen because other workers come to me for direction a lot. Karen and I don't speak to each other unless absolutely necessary. Karen screwed up. One day in the back, we finished with a group activity. Simply put, I had the pee.
Starting point is 00:16:33 So once we were done, I told my supervisor, I needed a quick bathroom break and I went to the bathroom. The second that I began my business, I got called on the intercom by Karen to come to the back room. Ah, I finished up quickly and got back to the stock room. I was gone about two, maybe five minutes, tops.
Starting point is 00:16:52 When I walked in, Karen immediately started interrogating me on where I'd been and what I was doing. I told her that I went to the bathroom and she continued asking me like the answer was gonna be different. Eventually, Karen said this absolute gem to me, which she couldn't have known would change the course of our time with this company forever. Karen said, you need to use company time more wisely and do your job.
Starting point is 00:17:20 Okay, remember how I said that I was basically the backup stock supervisor at this business? My list of self-appointed management duties was actually pretty long. Training new people, fixing damaged items, fixing packaging, training the supervisors, doing paperwork, delegating tasks, giving instructions to people, taking garbage out, cleaning the stock room, the list goes on and on. When Karen said this to me, something clicked. You see where this is going. I stop doing all of it.
Starting point is 00:17:50 All that managerial work went right out the window. Do my job. Okay, I'll do my job. Not your job, not her job, only my job. That's what you ask me to do, right? Direct your own team. do your own paperwork, train your own supervisors, because I'm just a lowly wagie, right? Yep, my stockroom fell apart really quickly.
Starting point is 00:18:16 Suddenly, the entire room was in disarray, new people weren't being trained, faulty product was put out, and my new supervisor had no idea what to do other than follow my lead, so that also meant that none of the paperwork got done. The garbage stopped being taken out, people in the stock room didn't have direction, the floors were dirty, I wonder why. It was a mess, and management couldn't say anything about it because those were management's duties and not my problem. I know that Karen knew what I did, but all she could do was silently fume about it, suck
Starting point is 00:18:51 it up, and actually do her job. She got pissy with me after this and tried giving me fewer shifts, but that didn't last. Management finally had to help out in the stock room. I have never been so satisfied with myself, all because Karen couldn't accept that I had to help out in the stock room. I have never been so satisfied with myself. All because Karen couldn't accept that I had to pee. What are you gonna do? Fire me for doing my job? Yeah, right. Man, I hate corporate America. I really, really do. This company had a star employee, and they couldn't promote this person as supervisor because that would require a shift change, which OP couldn't do. But like, so, they couldn't just pay OP extra money anyway to make them effectively a supervisor
Starting point is 00:19:30 but still keep the same shifts like what's the problem? Why is there have to be this unnecessary, stupid red tape for every single thing a corporation has to do? Instead of just paying their star employee a few extra bucks an hour to keep them happy, they decided to let them be unhappy and let their business fall apart. 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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