If you think a tiny mouse can’t ruin your day… well, you’d be right if it was in the Tom And Jerry universe. Watching those two run around after each other is always entertaining—and nostalgic beyond belief. But I digress.
Now, one mouse might not be a problem, but when you’re counting 17 within a very short time frame—now that’s a problem. A full-blown infestation that, if not taken care of, might end in tears for both the tenants and landlords.
But not everyone thinks it’s a problem, and needs a bit of a slap in the face with malicious compliance to understand the brevity of the situation.
More Info: Reddit
What do you do with 17 mice in your home? Probably pack them up and bring them to the landlord
Image credits: pokemonprofessor121
Well, OK, not 17, but still, at least one—it's enough proof of an infestation, and a good way to "conform to the letter, but not the spirit, of a [ridiculous] request"
Image credits: pokemonprofessor121
And all of this because some maintenance guy didn't want to call a professional exterminator, or couldn't handle patching more than 2 holes
Image credits: pokemonprofessor121
Redditor u/pokemonprofessor121, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for an interview, recently shared a story of malicious compliance.
Back in late 2019, OP started getting uninvited visitors—their cat Athena began bringing mice as gifts. This immediately prompted calls to maintenance, who, at first, were willing to investigate and do something about it. Something meaning patching up 2 holes and then getting frustrated with the problem persisting.
So, instead of calling a licensed professional to get rid of the situation, maintenance had a light-bulb moment: why doesn’t OP just bring in the mice into the main office so “they can study it, and figure out where it’s coming from.”
OP and their partner immediately picked up on the questionable rationale of that statement. But, at this point, when both maintenance and the landlord didn’t want to move forward with a proper solution, OP had to take initiative.
It didn’t take long for OP to find some specimens for maintenance’s “research”, and so they were soon delivered to the main office. As you might have guessed, the landlord wasn’t thrilled to get a very fresh batch of proof that there really was a mice problem in the building.
The best part is that not only was the landlord a witness to the proof, but there were also some prospective tenants who saw it all go down. OP even talked to them while the landlord made one screamy phone call in the background. A professional was called over—he found hundreds of entry points for mice to invade. And maintenance was fussy about 2…
Needless to say, the landlord ended up having to call in a professional, who found 100s of locations where mice were coming in
Image credits: pokemonprofessor121
Needless to say, problem solved now. I guess thanks to maintenance for their unorthodox idea, but also thanks to Athena the cat for helping with the mice hunt.
OP just couldn’t pass on the opportunity to share the story with the Reddit community, since it gets laughs every time they tell it to others. And since its posting, it has been going viral with over 5,000 upvotes (96% positive) and a couple of Reddit awards.
“Honestly, I think the landlord and maintenance team thought we were either insane or over-exaggerating,” recalled OP. “They didn’t think there was a problem at all, except that we were calling about mice 2-3 times per week.”
“We assumed when asked to deliver the mouse to the office, this was the landlord’s and maintenance team’s offer challenging us to ‘prove it.’ Which we certainly did. They had professionals at our door within 24 hours and they were at the complex all day.”
Image credits: Ludovic Bertron (not the actual photo)
Incidentally, incomplete repairs and lack of professionalism are very common problems among landlords and maintenance crews. In the long run, it becomes more costly to keep up the duct tape/WD-40 solution train going when the ceiling is about to collapse due to all the negligence.
This is besides other problems like poor communication, delays in services, damage to property, among many others. And we’re not talking about other issues like snoopy landlords that need a good camera to keep at bay or those who keep raising the rent beyond any reason. The list goes on.
But not all is lost. Tenants have rights like any other citizen on this fine planet of ours, and so there are appropriate solutions in dealing with pesky building services: “There are so many apartment managers that do the bare minimum or less to take care of their building and tenants, I know in our city (Madison, WI) we have a tenants’ rights resource center that supports people with all kinds of maintenance and legal issues.”
So, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think you would have taken it a step further and probably would have accidentally let the mice loose in the main office building? Let us know in the comment section below!
Folks found the story quite entertaining, sharing their own stories, joking around, and asking questions with the post author's active attendance in the comment section
