Workplace procrastination is not an unusual phenomenon.
Whether it’s the overall culture of the place that makes it hard for you to concentrate, colleagues that don’t miss an opportunity to chit-chat about everything and anything – whatever it is, chances are you’ve dealt with it yourself.
It could be anything: chronically scrolling through social media hoping to find yet another dog video, spending hours looking at that sparkling white ceiling, or simply engaging in non-work-related activities that are bound to get you in trouble.
Sooner or later, we’re all going to get overworked – and when you can’t afford to go on temporary leave, sometimes life calls for creative solutions, even if it means putting off your deadlines and hanging around the water cooler for a tad bit longer.
However, there’s a limit to everything, and abusing your work’s assets can lead to unnecessary issues that might make other members suffer.
More info: Reddit
You know what they say – “make friends with IT, not enemies”
Image source: hackNY.org (not the actual photo)
“Leveraging my job description to put an end user in his place” – this netizen turned to Reddit’s r/MaliciousCompliance community to reminisce about the time he put a computer-misusing salesman back in his place. The post has received over 15K upvotes and 347 comments discussing the story.
Salesman abuses company’s computers, so IT guy installs restrictions, leaving him with limited access
Image source: pancubano159
The man began his post by revealing that he used to manage a Cadillac dealership’s network a few years ago, and there was a sales worker who liked to study computers in his spare time – however, according to the OP, this meant that the guy knew way too much to be “absolutely dangerous.”
Image source: pancubano159
The OP would get constant complaints about the employee bunking down at a specific floating desk and locking it out from anyone’s use but his.
Naturally, the man reached out to his management hoping that they’d be able to sort the issue out, but – surprise, surprise – they didn’t want to do anything about it and blatantly hinted that the problem was his responsibility.
It’s unfortunate that the higher-ups couldn’t care less, because it is said that the guy was bypassing many security features.
Image source: pancubano159
But, as we all know, there are boundaries to everything; so, when the author got incredibly tired of all the daily messages complaining about the guy, he decided to take initiative and handle it on his own.
Since the author was dealing with an above-average user, he thought it’d be best to go to the furthest extreme. He took the machine, imaged it to the same image as the floating desk and let his creativity take over.
Image source: pancubano159
Once he was done, he brought all the changes and purchase requisition for the locks over to his bosses to approve, which they did with no question. He introduced it as a “necessary security measure” and didn’t forget to mention how it was in his job description to do so.
The OP then spent an early Monday morning placing all the changes. Afternoon rolls around, and the infamous salesman shows up, and although the man was off the clock, he decided to stick around and see the consequences of his tasty malicious compliance.
Seconds went by, and the office was blessed with: “I can’t log out,” “I can’t boot my USB,” “I can’t do anything at all!”
Image source: pancubano159
Image source: Aine (not the actual photo)
The man was pumped to see the guy walking around the sales floor hopelessly, with nothing to do. However, there was also a bonus part – whenever a different sales worker complained about the changes to the company’s software, all he needed to say was that it was necessary due to one of their colleagues misusing the computers; and although he wasn’t allowed to mention his name, everybody knew exactly who he was.
Fellow Reddit users shared their thoughts on this story
