Taking things literally

Moral of the story: don't mess with PTO

Typically, you might expect a little thanks or reciprocation when you do a favor for someone. It's polite, proper, and—most importantly—a sign of mutual respect. If the person you're doing the favor for refuses to acknowledge these things… Well, you should probably stop doing them favors. This employee consistently went out of their way to do errands for their boss during their lunch break. They never minded or thought anything of it; they were just happy to help out. That was until their boss…

A fine revenge

This landlord threatened legal action against their tenant if the tenant refused to let them show the apartment while they were still living there. The tenant did not want the grief of going through a legal process with their terrible landlord, so they caved under pressure and allowed the apartment viewings to occur. This thread was posted to the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by the tenant after they faced a long list of issues with their current landlord. This included the landlord stealing…

Conflict emerged when this neighbor's kid demanded that he receive “half the money” from a bake sale when he decided he was bored and wanted to go home early. He wasn't even willing to stay the full duration and put in the work in order to earn his part of the cash. The other kid responded that this wasn't fair and that they should split the money earned for the duration that the neighbor's kid had worked. This prompted the neighbor to march over to this family's house, complaining that it wasn…

It's important not to succumb to the sweet nectar of hubris. When we begin to think too much of ourselves, we invite the certainty that we will be made fool of.

This humble redditor's tale of retail hell has it all—the entitled Karen who makes demands minutes before closing and leaves a nasty review when she doesn't get her way. The unreasonable boss who expects the employee to do the work of ten people but chews them out if they log even 15 minutes of overtime. And the triumphant workers who show their boss the meaning of malicious compliance .

In this world, you get what you pay for.

There's nothing worse than a boss who has it out for you for weird personal reasons. In a satisfying tale of malicious compliance, redditor u/Vanna-Black explains how she became the object of her manager's jealousy, and how she was able to escape.

This military audio engineer was told by an outranking Sergeant Major that their help wasn't necessary for setting up a VIP ceremony. They did as they were told and "f-ed off" which led to the ceremony being a disaster.

When this patient walked up to the receptionist to try and make an appointment they were told that appointments could be made over the phone only, so they whipped out their phone and called the doctor's office right in front of the receptionist. Bureaucracies are an inertant force and dealing with them can be like dredging sludge off the ocean floor. Their entire existence serves to slow penetration and discourage inquiries from advancing any further than they need to. In favor of the reception…

What a bum

This incredibly rude Karen tangled with a customer service manager who had the authority to terminate her and her husband's lease. When she lost her mind, they lost their lease and their business instead.

“Why don't you just fire us then.” is an empty threat that you should never make, somewhere along the lines of “If you don't do this I quit” or “Why don't you just leave if you don't like it." When one makes such threats they're saying it thinking they're in a position of power. It's a power move and manipulation tactic to force a subordinate (or someone you otherwise have power over) into reluctantly accepting whatever terms you are proposing. By giving them an “out”, the person in power is ps…

If you haven't noticed, there's an epidemic of horrible bosses scamming their employees out of benefits, wages, and precious time. It's almost as if the managerial class as a whole is incentivized to rip off the working class as much as possible. How else is your boss supposed to become filthy rich? That money has to come from somewhere. Redditor u/ClubWag recently shared their infuriating tale of working for a lying, gaslighting boss who broke promises and cheated employees out of official pol…