There's no shortage of stories about incompetent managers driving their skilled staff away with terrible ideas about how they should be doing their jobs, and this post recently shared on r/MaliciousCompliance is a perfect example. For those who want the TL;DR: basically, OP worked at a sales job where they had a fantastic manager who treated his staff like human beings and gave them the freedom to do their jobs in whatever way worked best for them. As long as everyone was hitting their targets,…

Nobody likes a boss who arbitrarily makes up reasons to berate their employees just because they're having a bad day and feel like taking it out on someone. When redditor u/bear-mc showed up to work wearing totally normal khaki shorts due to the hot weather, their boss used it as an opportunity to reprimand them. The boss demanded that OP “follow the dress code to the book," and OP complied…maliciously.

Horrible bosses are the absolute worst, but many disgruntled employees aren't necessarily in a position to quit their jobs , leaving them stuck in an indefinite 9-5 nightmare. However, when the opportunity to quit does arise, it can feel like the best day of one's life. In a r/MaliciousCompliance post, redditor u/Public_Pressure_4516 explains how their cruel boss seemed to get off on constantly reminding employees that they could get fired at any moment, without notice. When OP finally got the…

Everyone has that one coworker.

Love to see workplace camaraderie.

If you get promoted without a wage increase, is it really a promotion? Or is it just extra work ? Sure, the promotion might come with a better title, but a cool job title doesn't exactly pay tomorrow's bills. When redditor u/InterestedObserver20 was told by their employer that their new promotion didn't come with a pay raise due to budget issues, OP figured out how to use the company's own rules to get a 50% pay bump anyway.

When faced with annoying hidden fees lurking in the “terms of service” section of every account contract, most people will just begrudgingly pay the damn $50 and move on with their lives. But a small percentage of impressively spiteful people refuse to let them win. u/fredsam25 is just one example of the sort of person who will go well out of their way just to stick it to the man , even if it takes several years.

He was a good guy and you’re right, he became someone that I knew had my back.

Leaving in style

When the head of a company treats some of their employees with respect and others like garbage, do they expect those undervalued workers to just take it? When one CEO prohibited all the hard-working engineers at the company from attending their massive customer appreciation party (that all the sales employees were invited to, by the way), the engineers maliciously complied with the help of their VP.

Many working from home have clever methods to keep them from appearing 'idle'

Sometimes it seems like Karens are so determined to ruin some poor cashier's day that they're willing to ruin their own in the process. When an especially unreasonable Karen stormed into u/Available-Capital476 's workplace demanding that they override the 30%-off sale price on an item so that she could use her 20%-off coupon, OP maliciously complied. You should never miss an opportunity to teach a Karen a valuable lesson. Though, it seems like this particular Karen didn't learn a thing.

One day at work, redditor u/unitedstatesofLABIA wasn't feeling super hungry, so they agreed to help their boss with a few errands. Big mistake. It's easy to let these things slide in the moment, but the consequences of letting bosses cross boundaries—like using lunch breaks for work-related errands—can come back to bite you in the long run. That's why we have things like regulation in the first place. Without regulation, exploitation is inevitable.

Genius

At least he lets her draw

Since when do shift workers need to wait for permission before leaving once their shift ends? Are you going to pay overtime? No? Okay, bye then! When redditor u/Brooklynisqueerr gave their manager a heads up once their shift had ended, OP was rightfully confused when their manager seemed angry and annoyed. She even made up a new rule on the spot: "Next time you need to wait for a manager to let you go home." Instead of fighting with the boss, OP complied…maliciously.