There is an opinion that any negative phenomenon exists only as long as others are ready to put up with its existence. And this does not depend on the scale of such a phenomenon - whether it be a bloodthirsty dictator, an overly picky boss in the office, or just a cobweb in the corner of the room.
But if in the case of a dictator, the initiative of a fairly large group of people is needed, then with regard to office dramas, then sometimes just one employee whose patience literally bursts is enough. And then injustice is punished, and we become witnesses of another instructive tale.
For example, like this one, described in the Reddit Malicious Compliance community, which has garnered over 16.6K upvotes and almost 300 different comments as of today. Despite the fact that this story took place about fifteen years ago, it remains absolutely relevant nowadays.
More info: Reddit
The Original Poster once worked in the maintenance department at a hospital and had a really nasty manager
Image credits: CMRF Crumlin (not the actual photo)
So, a decade and a half ago, the Original Poster worked in the maintenance department at a large children's hospital. The head of the department, let's call her "Karen", had a bad temper and constantly abused her official position.
Image credits: Jumpy-Conclusion4633
The OP recalls that during the two years she worked there, there were many unpleasant situations when Karen publicly called her subordinates incompetent, forced them to work in her house for free, and even bragged about how much power she had over employees. Needless to say, the staff responded to their boss in return.
Image credits: Jumpy-Conclusion4633
One day the OP refused to work at the boss' house for free, and her office problems began
The OP also admits that she was too young then and did not really pay attention to the antics of her boss - she simply agreed when she was asked to do something for work. For the time being, this saved the OP from nitpicking, but one day Karen demanded urgent help to pull down the dead trees in her backyard since she was having a pool installed.
Image credits: Jumpy-Conclusion4633
The OP flatly refused - and from that day on, she started having problems at work. Karen constantly found fault with her, and also kept on CCing her buddy in HR on emails to the OP, asking about the status of the projects she worked on. Of course, this constantly kept the woman in suspense.
Image credits: Jumpy-Conclusion4633
Six months later, when the OP was pregnant, her manager insulted her in a rather common situation
So half a year passed. The OP was five months pregnant and was in the office talking to one of her colleagues. Karen came in and demanded that the OP run an errand. The OP replied that she would do everything in a few minutes, and continued her conversation. At that moment, Karen, standing behind the OP, whispered, "I wish I could slap the s**t out of you." Both the OP and her colleague were shocked, but pretended nothing had happened.
Image credits: Jumpy-Conclusion4633
The OP decided it was time to act. She left the office, went to the employee health department and complained of a nervous breakdown during pregnancy. The nurse told her to lie down, take her vitals and write a formal report. After about an hour, the OP's condition stabilized and the nurse allowed her to return to her desk.
Image credits: Jumpy-Conclusion4633
The OP reported on the manager to literally all the higher-ups, getting her fired after all
When the OP turned on her desktop, there was an official letter from Karen demanding to explain why she was absent from work for an hour. The OP replied: "Because I was very upset by your request to slap the s**t out of me, being pregnant, I went to the employee health department and was there for exactly an hour." Moreover, she made sure she BCC'd Karen's buddy in HR and all of HR, her boss and his boss to make sure everyone saw it.
Image credits: carterse (not the actual photo)
According to the OP's words, she was called to the HR department half an hour later, while Karen's desktop was turned off and she definitely hadn't had time to read the OP's response yet. The head of the HR department told her to go home and gave her admin leave for 3 extra days. When the OP returned to the office, Karen's desk was already empty, and they never saw her again. And three months later, the whole department gave the OP a wonderful baby shower.
People in the comments praised the OP for staying cool and collected in a difficult situation
Most of the commenters were delighted with the outcome of this story and praised the OP for her ability to stay cool and collected in difficult situations like this one. According to people in the comments, it is the only power we have to maintain control.
Perhaps the only thing that people in the comments reproached the OP for was using the name "Karen" to refer to an obnoxious manager. However, the author of the post promised to improve and if she tells more other tales, perhaps other names will appear there.
If you are interested in more office narratives, then, for example, you could read this post of ours about an unusual job interview, and to easily recognize a bad person, you can look at our selection of netizens' opinions. And besides, we, as always, are waiting for you to leave your point of view on this tale in the comments below.