Worker Gets Chewed Out By Boss For Spending $20 On Chicken Noodle Soup, So She Costs Them Thousands In Malicious Compliance
Corporate policies help keep things fair, transparent and standardized across organizations that can employ thousands of people around the world, but we can’t ever forget the human factor. When one person on Reddit was reprimanded for a “generous” tip to waiters who noticed they were sick and took care of them, they decided to stop playing nice and use the company’s own policies to cost it hundreds of dollars.
Actions like these are called “malicious compliance”, and they are a popular and fitting act of revenge when workers are forced – usually against all common sense – to toe the company line. Read on to see how this guy’s story turned out and to see what other stories people shared in response.
Exceptional service often deserves exceptional tips, but gratuities can also lead to problems if you’re on a company-compensated work trip
Image credits: MargJohnsonVA (not the actual photo)
One worker was treated with extraordinary kindness by waiters while on a work trip, but the tip they left as a token of gratitude got them into trouble
Image credits: Kelly (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Sebastian_Studio (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Pressmaster (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Eureecka
As mentioned, accountability in a corporate setting is important. The frustrating thing, however, is when bosses fail to consider the human element in the situations they encounter. Considering a $10 tip excessive purely on the basis of percentage was completely absurd, especially because the total was so small that the worker wouldn’t have even been required to report it.
Furthermore, it was a reward for exceptionally kind and considerate service that, in all likelihood, made a meaningful impact on the quality of the worker’s performance during their trip. We’re sure that even the reluctant tipper would be moved by a gesture like the one the worker received! Traveling while ill can be extraordinarily difficult, so we can only imagine how welcome they were to receive off-menu chicken soup.
The author stuck around to clarify a few questions that commenters had
Though the excessively strict corporate manager was a bit of a bummer, the kindness of the waiters in this story really restored our faith in humanity. Let’s take a moment and appreciate how nice they were to remember a returning customer, recognize that they were sick, and decide to make something off-menu – chicken soup – to help them feel better!
From a practical standpoint, rewarding actions like these is precisely the sort of thing that a corporation can do to vastly improve the public’s perception of it and its products. The manager could have seen this as an opportunity. Instead of penalizing the employee, they could’ve sent an inexpensive gift basket (including branded merchandise, for example) to the restaurant staff. Instead of coming down hard on a clearly dedicated worker, they would’ve had a big internal and external PR win instead.
Corporate expenses are always a sensitive issue, so plenty of commenters had their own stories and insights to share
That boss absolutely sucks. When I travel for work, I get a Per Diem of $60 per day for food. That amount is deposited into my checking account and I can use it as I wish without having to submit receipts. I can choose to spend $20 at the grocery store and pocket the rest, go to a nice restaurant, or go hungry and donate the entire amount to a pet rescue.
fasting and saving dogs? win win my dear.
I appreciate the first comment noticing that this person was likely (and then confirmed) Gen-X. I have noticed that we Gen-X'rs are definitely the ones who were raised and 'trained' for life to put in that 'extra' and bend over backward for work/company... but then, jackholes will be jackholes and a bunch of them in power decided "ooh, let's take advantage of them and instead of rewarding hard work, we'll just grind them into dust" and NOW you're hearing complaints of "people these days don't want to work" - no... 'people these days' are the consequence of not appreciating what you had and decided to be ungrateful, self-entitled tw*ts about it.
I'm gen x. I give 100% if necessary. but I'm no idiot, and my sacrifice has a cost. if not rewarded (economically) sacrifice will decrease. significantly.
This right here - as long as I've been working, I've averaged about 60 hrs a week. When I was on hourly, the company paid, no complaints. When I went to salary, the pay was going to be set according to my hourly annual base... and I suggested that wouldn't work and provided several years worth of income tax forms to prove why - so salary got set at what I would have made working 60 hrs a week, which I continued to do. After 4-5 years, when I noticed raises weren't forthcoming, I got a lot more flexible with those hours... I never work less than 40, but I don't lose sleep if it's not a bunch more.
Go ahead and say who we all know these people are: Millennials and gen z. It's ridiculous. 😤
Boomers trained Gen-Xers to be their wage slaves. Millennials saw what they did to you and changed course, and Gen Z leapfrogged the millennials.
In otherwords, millennials and gen z are a bunch of lazy, narcissistic individuals wanting everything while performing little or no work at all. If the job has to do with actual manual hard labor instead of inside on a computer posting on social media, you can forget it. What happens then? Supply chain issues and labor shortages because those 2 age groups have no morals or and the government has changed enough over the years to cater to the lazy rascals.
Wait staff and cooks make things off the menu for people who have shown them respect
That boss absolutely sucks. When I travel for work, I get a Per Diem of $60 per day for food. That amount is deposited into my checking account and I can use it as I wish without having to submit receipts. I can choose to spend $20 at the grocery store and pocket the rest, go to a nice restaurant, or go hungry and donate the entire amount to a pet rescue.
fasting and saving dogs? win win my dear.
I appreciate the first comment noticing that this person was likely (and then confirmed) Gen-X. I have noticed that we Gen-X'rs are definitely the ones who were raised and 'trained' for life to put in that 'extra' and bend over backward for work/company... but then, jackholes will be jackholes and a bunch of them in power decided "ooh, let's take advantage of them and instead of rewarding hard work, we'll just grind them into dust" and NOW you're hearing complaints of "people these days don't want to work" - no... 'people these days' are the consequence of not appreciating what you had and decided to be ungrateful, self-entitled tw*ts about it.
I'm gen x. I give 100% if necessary. but I'm no idiot, and my sacrifice has a cost. if not rewarded (economically) sacrifice will decrease. significantly.
This right here - as long as I've been working, I've averaged about 60 hrs a week. When I was on hourly, the company paid, no complaints. When I went to salary, the pay was going to be set according to my hourly annual base... and I suggested that wouldn't work and provided several years worth of income tax forms to prove why - so salary got set at what I would have made working 60 hrs a week, which I continued to do. After 4-5 years, when I noticed raises weren't forthcoming, I got a lot more flexible with those hours... I never work less than 40, but I don't lose sleep if it's not a bunch more.
Go ahead and say who we all know these people are: Millennials and gen z. It's ridiculous. 😤
Boomers trained Gen-Xers to be their wage slaves. Millennials saw what they did to you and changed course, and Gen Z leapfrogged the millennials.
In otherwords, millennials and gen z are a bunch of lazy, narcissistic individuals wanting everything while performing little or no work at all. If the job has to do with actual manual hard labor instead of inside on a computer posting on social media, you can forget it. What happens then? Supply chain issues and labor shortages because those 2 age groups have no morals or and the government has changed enough over the years to cater to the lazy rascals.
Wait staff and cooks make things off the menu for people who have shown them respect