In a recent post on the Malicious Compliance subreddit, Redditor u/ChiefSteward shared how he came up with a plan to outsmart this controlling company policy he was working in. He explained that his former employer used a points-based system to track attendance, meaning that you accumulate enough points and you're fired.
The fact that there was a train crossing leading to the facility, where occasionally, trains would pass, blocking this crossing, didn’t make any difference. “One night, during my years on third shift, I was stopped at these tracks and decided to wait. Eventually the train moved on. I raced into the parking lot, used my key card to zip through the turnstiles, and ran to the punch clock. My clock in time was 10:30PM,” the Redditor recounted.
But since the biometric punch clock didn’t want to scan his fingerprint, as it sometimes did, the author had no choice but to get to his assigned work area. “I told my team manager what happened. He said don't worry about it, he'd manually punch me in.”
Only after confirming the malfunction with front desk, the author found out that he scanned his key card at 10:30:22 PM. These 22 seconds of “tardy” not only got u/ChiefSteward disciplined by the management, but also inspired him to come up with malicious compliance that lasted way longer than he was late. 11 years, to be precise.
Image credits: Ono Kosuki (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Robert Linder (not the actual photo)
Bored Panda spoke with the author of this story, who preferred to remain anonymous. Referring to the former job, the Redditor told us that he worked there 17 years in total. “The coworkers were great, the Union was and continues to be a huge part of my life and a passion for me, and even some of the management team were pretty great to work with. And the ones that weren't... I was a union rep there for more than the past decade, so I could tell them what I thought without fear of insubordination,” he said and added that “it's a remarkable stress reliever, knowing they have to treat you as an equal.”
The author also said that the attendance policy was incredibly specific. “But, poor attendance was also a huge issue in the facility and that negatively impacts the lives of the people showing up to work every day with last-minute forced overtime. The rules were supported by the Union every bit as much as they were by the Company.”
Having said that, the Redditor added that he really loved working there. “There were some frustrating and stressful times, when I was the junior guy getting forced to take on some of that overtime every day for weeks on end, sure. But the job was definitely a good one.”
The malicious compliance plan was already in his head while he was still talking to the member of management who decided to issue him the attendance discipline, the Redditor said. “It was as obvious to me as cause and effect. Not a solution, but a rebuttal.”
“Some managers were amused by it. Others were irrationally upset by it because it didn't even really affect them in any way. Those are the types who get a managerial position that pays less with fewer benefits than the hourly crew makes just because they have to have that power, that authority over other people.”
Image credits: Berkeley Communications (not the actual photo)
According to the author, “calling in this way circumvented the system and took that power from them. Refusing to stop because I was following the letter of the collective bargaining unit stripped their authority.” However, he was never formally disciplined for it. “There was talk of it. Suggestions that the ‘situation might escalate if it continues’. But I always had a union rep with me, even when I was one too, and nothing ever came of any of it.”
The author of this post believes that standing up for yourself doesn't have to be pushing back or fighting against anyone or anything. “If you look for them, you'll find opportunities to stand up for yourself in ways that can't be countered or defended against. Maybe they're not as loud or aggressive as other methods, but they're so much more effective for their subtlety and your ability to maintain. Death by a thousand paper cuts,” the author concluded.
