7 unreal Malicious Compliance Stories (You Will Ever Read)
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In this brief guide, we will look at some of the best Malicious compliance stories there are on the internet, and at what Malicious compliance is.
Malicious Compliance
Malicious compliance is also known as malicious obedience, and this refers to the kind of behaviour of intentionally inflicting harm by strictly following the orders of a superior, especially in conditions where the superior or those around the person is being particularly difficult about the rules.
Malicious compliance usually happens when the person knows or intends that compliance with the orders will have an unintended or negative result.
In most cases, malicious compliance applies to situations where the order given is followed in such a way that ignores or otherwise undermines the order’s intent but follows it to the letter, which is the compliance part.
Malicious compliance is a type of passive-aggressive behavior that is associated with the following types of problems in the workplace:
- Bad management-labor relationships
- Micromanagement
- General lack of confidence in leadership
- Duplicative, dangerous, or otherwise undesirable work conditions.
- Organizations with top-down management structures with poor morale or leadership
- Lack of mutual trust in the workplace.
- Resistance to changes perceived as pointless
With that in mind, here are some of the best malicious compliance stories from Reddit.
Malicious Compliance Story 1
The worker in this malicious compliance story figured out a brilliant way to get his manager to stop calling:
“My boss LOVES to call me at 6:15 A.M. to ask me if I would LIKE to fill the shifts of the people who just called in sick.
This is an everyday thing.
I was bored and frustrated, so I decided to volunteer at 3:30 a.m. to call this same manager to ask if they needed extra help. He got super-pissed and tried to write me up for it. I showed the GM the time stamps of the calls I had received.
I dont get calls anymore.”
Malicious Compliance Story 2
Here is a malicious compliance story which features someone who did a rather shocking thing to respond to a particularly rude boss, and how it worked out for them.
If you are dealing with a boss or manager like the one in this story, you might want to look at some legal options for an abusive workplace.
“I don’t care if he is dead, put him on the phone.”
I was sent here on a recommendation from another sub with a story you guys might like. First time poster, on mobile, etc.
My father died on Father’s Day 2012. He was divorced and living alone, and I am an only child. So that means that I had to wrap up all of his affairs. This story centers around us trying to get his utilities canceled.
I called in to see what we had to do to get them to cancel. The lady I spoke with on the phone said to send in his certified death certificate. I sent in the certified copy of his death certificate the next day. The next month got another bill. I called again and a new woman answered. She said that because I wasn’t on the account that she had to speak with the account holder. I informed her that the account holder was dead but she wouldn’t budge. I had to make an appointment with a supervisor so she could speak to him herself in person.
I showed up at the board of public utilities with another death certificate and HIS ASHES IN THE CLEAR BAG that they returned his remains in. I plopped them down on the center of her desk and said when she talked to him to tell him that I loved him for me. The woman went pale, flew out her chair, and called the cops.
When they showed up she claimed that I had assaulted her. And yes my dads remains were still sitting in the middle of her desk with the death certificate. The cops questioned me as to why I would do that. I told them the story. The supervisor’s boss was called in and they all stepped away from the desk for a private talk. While they were talking the cops came over to talk to me. They said that I shouldn’t take human remains out in public, but there was no laws that were broken. I said that I agreed with them that it was extreme, but she insisted to speak with him in person. By then they were done talking between themselves. The supervisor’s boss kissed up to me and got it taken care of.
But the story isn’t over yet! I had to call back a few days later to get utilities back to the house in my name. When the person on the phone saw the address and my name, I was immediately put on hold. The supervisor’s boss that finally helped me got on the phone. She sucked up to me and waived all of the fees that come with setting up utilities. Just as the call was ending, she informed me that she was again so sorry for the employees lack of compassion. She said that the employee was terminated and again she is so very sorry.”
Malicious Compliance Story 3
In this amazing malicious compliance story there is no boss or workplace, but there is actually something better, which is kids! Look at how these parents and kids interact about their difficult food situation.
Kids can often be difficult when their eating habits are concerned, so here are some tips that may help you out to get them to eat better
“You don’t want veggies in your chicken soup? Got it kids.
Kids are awesome at malicious compliance – but it is a 2-way street 😉
My kids can be picky eaters at times. My wife made some damn good chicken soup, but the kids were complaining that there were veggies in their chicken soup, they hate veggies, veggies make them sick, and they wanted my wife to pick them out of the soup. We tried to tell them that good chicken soup needs veggies to taste good, but they were being stubborn. I’m sure other parents can understand.
I told the kids “if you really hate the taste of veggies, I’ll make soup tomorrow, and you guys can make sure I only put stuff in you like.” They liked that idea, at the time.
The next day, I get the pot filled with water, all the typical soup ingredients out, and gathered the kids. I asked for their approval on every item. Chicken – yes, salt – yes, black pepper – no (gross, too spicy), celery – no (I can’t even stand the smell), onions – NO!!! It went on with that, with them rejecting parsley, bay leaves, and other veggies. The total contents of the pot ended up being:
— Chicken, water, salt, noodles
After the soup was done cooking, I served it up and they excitedly started to eat. A few funny faces later, and one of them said “it tastes weird, this isn’t very good”. I said “but I only put in everything you guys approved. I think, from now on, I should make the soup, right?”
They looked at each other and said “can we have mom’s soup instead?” Since that day, they haven’t complained about finding veggies mixed in the food. Sure, they almost always eat around a carrot or green pea, but they understand that it adds flavor.”
Malicious Compliance Story 4
This malicious compliance story is from an airplane, a place where some of the best malicious compliance stories seem to come from.
“I demand to be put in a seat that is able to recline”
“A few years ago I was on a flight from LA to Singapore (takes 16+ hours). I’m a tall dude – around 6’3″ (~190cm) – so I don’t fit very well in economy class seats. On most planes my knees are often very close or right up against the seat in front of me. This makes it impossible for the person in front of me to recline their seat, which usually isn’t a problem once the person in front of me sees how cramped I am in those tiny seats.
However for this particular flight, the man in front of me was not having it. He tried to recline his seat, but couldn’t because my legs were there. He turns around and sees what’s happening and asks me something along the lines of, “Do you mind letting me put my seat back?”
I respond with, “I wish I could but I physically can’t. I’ll do my best to give you as much space as I can, but it won’t be much.” At this point he starts to get angry and just starts pushing as hard as he can back on his seat. Needless to say, this was not particularly pleasant for me. I ask him to please stop, and he says, “I’ll stop when I can put my seat back.”
I decide I’ll just wait him out; he’ll eventually get tired. After about 10-15 minutes of this, he calls a flight attendant over and proceeds to demand a new seat. The flight attendant tells him there are no available seats and he will have to deal with it. He demands to speak to the pilot.
So the flight attendant goes up front to talk to the cockpit. Keep in mind that throughout this he is still pressing with all his might against my knees, with only short breaks to yell at the flight attendant. After a couple of minutes, the co-pilot (he wanted to speak to the pilot and wasn’t happy about this) comes back and tries to explain to the man that he can’t change seats because there are no other coach seats free. The man continues to demand a seat that is able to recline, give me an upgrade, this is unacceptable, making a scene etc.
The co-pilot finally gives in and says while looking at the man, “Sir, would you like to sit up in business class?”
The man stands up and mutters something similar to, “Fucking finally.” To which the co-pilot responds, “Sir, sit down. I wasn’t talking to you.” He turns to me and repeats, “How would you like a seat in business class?”
I have, to this day, never seen someone as furious as the man as I walked past him to my new business class seat (with free drinks).”
Malicious Compliance Story 5
Here is a malicious compliance story that hits all the right marks: it’s funny, smart, and super effective.
“A bar near me found a hilarious loophole to get around noise complaints and keep hosting live music.
A bar in my town used to host live bands all the time, until one of the neighbors complained about the noise. It turns out the zoning rules didn’t allow them to have live music and they almost got shut down. The bar owner read over said zoning rules and notices that the wording forbade them to have live music indoors… but they could have it outdoors. So they moved the stage to the patio section, where it would be even louder for the neighbors, and still be legal.
They still have live music sometimes, but not nearly as often as they used to. Don’t want to push their luck, I guess.”
Malicious Compliance Story 6
Here is a malicious compliance story that actually shows the type of entitled people who most often seem to get stuck with malicious compliance incidents:
“Customer at subway “wants to speak to the manager”
I worked at a subway that didn’t have any authority/managers, just a couple minimum wage base level workers. I don’t remember what this particular customer was mad about but she was arguing with me and didn’t like the answer I gave her. She asked to speak to the manager, and there not being a manager I decided to promote myself on the spot and replied with “manager speaking, how can I help you.” This did not make her very happy because she realized she was not going to get a different answer and asked for a phone number to call. The owner has specifically told us never to give his cell number to customers so i gave her the store number. She gives me a shit eating grin thinking about how much trouble she’s about to get me in when the phone behind me starts to ring. I will never forget the face she gave me as I answered the phone, looked her in the eyes, and asked her how may I help you.”
Malicious Compliance Story 7
Here is an amazing malicious compliance story that is sure to make you feel like everyone should find such smart ways of figuring things out for themselves.
“I don’t work here anymore…..hey, boss, got an opening?”
Worked for a Medical Transportation company that had a contract with Medicaid.
One of their many rules was that you could not provide any assistance to the patient INSIDE of their house.
One elderly lady had an old house with a very small foyer that you had to climb three steps to get to the main floor. The only other entrance was around back and up two and a half flights of rickety steps to an old deck that opened into a bedroom.
Upstairs. She’s in a wheelchair.
Common sense says take her in the front door, up three stairs and she’s home on the level she lives on.
Medicaid says take her up the outside stairs, dump her in the bedroom upstairs and let her worry about getting down to the living room level.
We ignored their policy and took her in the front door anyway.
A random inspection by a random inspector showed that we were not in compliance.
We appealed, the inspector came out and saw the different options and decided that we had no case for appeal. Take her up the outside stairs.
Nope. From then on, when the driver arrived at her house, he would get her out of the van in the sidewalk, and then get on the radio and tell the boss to shove his stupid job.
Now that he was no longer an employee, he was free to assist this lovely person into her front door and up the stairs.
Once finished, they would come back to the van, tell the boss they’d reconsidered, and ask for their job back.
Boss was ALWAYS understanding and took them back, but very carefully noted the 10 to 15 minute break in their employment, to show that the company remained in compliance.
Aftermath: We had contests to see who could have the most dramatic “I quit” scene.
Medicaid noted our activities, but couldn’t put a handle on how to stop it.
Malicious Compliance achieved!!”
Conclusion
In this brief guide, we looked at some of the best Malicious compliance stories there are on the internet, and at what Malicious compliance is.
If you have any malicious compliance stories of your own, we would love to hear them, please feel free to reach out to us with them!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Malicious Compliance
What is a Malicious Compliance synonym?
While there are no particular malicious compliance synonyms, some popular synonyms for malicious compliance include spiteful, harmful, hateful, ill-disposed, wicked, bitter, despiteful, evil, felonious, malevolent and malignant.
How do you deal with malicious compliance?
To deal with malicious compliance, you can try the following tips:
Try to talk to the employees about outcomes and show belief in the person.
Try to give them short instructions.
Listen critically to the employee.
Try to keep an eye out for behavior like that so you can tell where you are going wrong.
What does malicious mean?
Malicious means having or showing a desire to cause harm to someone. Another possible meaning of malicious is to be given to, marked by, or arising from malice malicious gossip.
