Guy Posts Intriguing Story Of How His Company Tried To Falsely Accuse Him But It Turned Against Them
Interview
They say “find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” That’s Mark Twain, by the way, but others say it too.
Anywho, there’s more to it than just loving your job, though. Factors like colleagues, the work environment, salary and a bunch of other things do mean that your mileage in a company may vary.
Well, it was all fine and dandy for this Reddit user who spent over a decade working at a company that ended up being sold to someone who, more or less, ran it into the ground with their business choices.
The Redditor gives a detailed account of the rise and fall of the company he worked at for 14 years with a very satisfying dash of malicious compliance.
More Info: Reddit
New management means change, but this company’s way of changing things ended up turning against it as this one employee wasn’t having any of it
Image credits: Stephen Dann (Not The Actual Photo)
So, Reddit user u/nicklo2k (Nick), with whom Bored Panda got in touch, went to r/MaliciousCompliance, a subreddit dedicated to sharing stories of people conforming to the letter, but not the spirit, of a request, and told a lengthy, yet intriguing story of how the company he used to work for changed management and it all went downhill from there.
While it all sounds pretty standard as businesses go, it was actually the methods that triggered our story’s protagonist, who was one of the company’s best specialists and employees. Salaries were turned to wages and cut quite a bit, the more experienced staff was laid off to save on costs, among other things.
This Reddit user shared a lengthy story of how he ended his 14-year run using malicious compliance at a company because of its awful cost optimization tactics
Image credits: u/nicklo2k
You see, Nick was one of the few employees who wasn’t laid off, as he was supposed to teach a batch of newcomers the ropes. But one day the new boss sat him down and started accusing him of things he didn’t do at work. ‘Gross misconduct,’ she called it.
Image credits: u/nicklo2k
Despite being a role model employee, new management called him in to discuss ‘gross misconduct’, which ended up being a lie
Image credits: FTTUB (Not The Actual Photo)
This turned out to be a ploy to get Nick to settle for a smaller salary, or be fired. But he wasn’t having any of that. He maliciously complied to the rules of the manager’s own game with the help of his own legal knowledge as well as the help of a lawyer.
Image credits: FTTUB (Not The Actual Photo)
The catch here is that getting fired meant immediately losing a client—and hence a huge project and a big payout for the company. So, what started off as a 2 weeks’ notice of mercy offered by the management quickly turned into Nick’s rightful 12 weeks’ notice with all of the benefits intact. And this is all because he knew his rights and was the only one left who the clients could trust. The manager’s hands were tied.
Image credits: FTTUB (Not The Actual Photo)
Nick’s last 12 weeks were hard as management was pampering everyone with spas, while he was pushed to work hard
Image credits: Ondřej Odcházel (Not The Actual Photo)
For the remaining 12 weeks, Nick worked the same way he did for the past 14 years—”I didn’t coast. I didn’t slack. I didn’t badmouth the company on my way out. I continued to train new staff. I continued to deliver the product in my own, personal, exceptional way,” explained Nick.
Plot twist. Here comes the day after his last day at work, when, one, the replacement Nick worked hard to train said he quit immediately in solidarity with Nick, and, two, the manager received Nick’s legal letter against his unfair dismissal. And of course she couldn’t fight it because he had that key ‘gross misconduct’ conversation on tape, which was secretly recorded because it’s legal where he lived. Remember us saying he had legal knowledge and a lawyer helping? Yep, that’s how you win.
Image credits: FTTUB (Not The Actual Photo)
The whole thing blew up into a lawsuit and a settlement out of court. Nick left regardless, and the company continued to tank. “The business is still afloat, but barely,” concluded Nick in his post.
The story of malicious compliance with a satisfying ending drew quite a crowd, garnering nearly 49,000 upvotes as well as over 250 Reddit awards.
Nick told us that he wouldn’t change anything in how things were done: “I’m happy with how I handled things. I didn’t rush into anything. Everything I did I thought out and researched beforehand.”
People said that while the story was quite long for Reddit, it was certainly worth the read. Some praised his ability and skill at defending himself. This was besides all those who admired his work ethic.
Others liked the satisfying ending of it all, where the good guy stood up and the bad guy got some karma. It was not instant, rather slow karma, but karma nonetheless.
In the end, though, Nick ended up suing—adding fuel to an already huge fire
Image credits: FTTUB (Not The Actual Photo)
It’s been a couple of years since all of this has happened, so we asked Nick of there were any developments in the story, but no, nothing really happened. He did say that the old business looks like it has survived the pandemic as he saw the company advertising again.
Nick also shared some advice, should any of our readers end up in a similar situation: “Document everything. Even if it may seem unimportant at the time, it may be very useful to you down the line. Also, learn your rights. An internet search can provide you with a huge amount of information which you can use.”
The story featured in this article was abridged for reader convenience, so if you want to read the whole thing, be sure to visit the original Reddit post here. Or you can read a similar story here. But before you go, why not let us know your thoughts on all of this in the comment section below!
there is an old business adage - drive in quality drive out costs ; she did the opposite and lost the good will she had bought.
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Abusive employers hate employees who know the law. And you should always know the law or at least consult with a lawyer, because most of the time, contracts are filled with illegal -or at least questionable- clauses.
This! If you know your rights, employers will rarely try to take you to task, as others will gladly take the abuse, instead. Knowing your rights isn't half the battle...it wins the war.
Load More Replies...
The real moral of this story is that you shouldn't invest or take over any business that you have no previous experience of true love for.
And if you take over a business *that is flourishing when you take it over* don't change anything until you've been running it yourself long enough to understand how it works. If it's making money there's no need at all to rush into things.
Load More Replies...
Same same. Won awards as a store manager for a corporate. HR got a complaint from a casual employee who claimed I stopped giving her shifts because she was a Muslim (I didn't know or care-she had actually taken on 2 other jobs). Long story short, Corporate served me a dish of BS without realising I knew HR policies better than they did, AND my sister is a bulldog of a lawyer AND i brought the union lawyer with me. Brilliant. I actually have the meeting recorded and play it from time to time when I need cheering up...
I have been in a similar situation. Had a boss who praised my work to high heaven until it came time for me to receive scheduled raises and IRA contributions. Then he literally framed me so he could "justify" not giving me what I earned. Besides the obvious pain of not getting what I earned, having someone scream things like "You filthy liar!!!" while shaking their fist in my face was quite traumatic. I cannot stress enough - nothing had happened, it was just a performance on his part for justification. And yes, I went to a lawyer after this (and other things) happened, but in my state if a boss verbally abuses and terrorizes you, it's only illegal if they're doing it because they don't like your skin color, sexuality, etc. If they're verbally abusive and horrific just because they're a psychopath, there's nothing you can do but quit.
A Principal did that to me over teaching holidays in Elementary Art class. He refused to let me do those projects. He insisted I tell my students not him. It was not the main part of my lessons, more of a reward for good work on the core stuff. It still matched the State Standards requirements. I called in UEA lawyers to his meetings. They were recorded. Yelling was not allowed. Office staff and anyone near could hear him. The parents were upset. It ended up on the 6 o'clock news. I made myself scarce when the news crews showed up. I let him know if he didn't like holiday projects (he said pumpkins were evil) he would be suited to Jr. High as they don't do holidays. He moved up at the end of the year. Those teachers ate him for lunch. He quit going to another profession. Just FYI he had told me in one of those meetings he had failed the interview psych test in another school district but was hired in mine. A lot more went on. You cannot force your religious views on a public school.
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i worked for the government with a director that had her daughter, her daughter's friend and a carefully selected few who were basically ass kissers in her circle. at one point, she liked me until i basically said 'no' to something that she wanted to have happen. from then on, it was something like this guy's experience. with the government there are all sorts of processes to get someone fired or officially demoted. i fought it with knowledge and evidence to her motives. after i won she still insisted that i did not prevail in spite of receiving back pay, retroactive promotion, etc. when i left she had implemented exit interviews. i did not hold back my responses and later found out that most of the government heads knew that her opinion of me was not to be believed.
I wish all employment disputes worked out this well. A close relative of mine has just been pushed out of his job with a bunch of lies and because they followed "proper procedure" he can't even argue against the accusations and all the evidence he could provide was on the company server, which they wouldn't give him access to. Then they said if he pursued the case and lost, they would sue him for 20 grand (which is apparently legal here) for their "costs". Multiple lawyers weren't able to help.
Very well done. I have a similar situation, where my landlord told me I have to move and have no rights. I called housing court and found out that I do, indeed, have rights. I'm happy to move, but not till I find a decent place (not easy). In the meantime, he's finding out that tossing (good) tenants and telling them they have no rights is something that he won't get away with - at least not with me. So I appreciate this story! (Oh, and btw, I had a convo with him where he stated that I was a good tenant. Yeah - I recorded it.)
Good for Nick. BUT his story is actually very common. Heck even Disney did it. They fired 400 long time employees to hire the same amount of people from India who would work for less than half of what they were paying the American workers in the IT departments. They said unless they trained the Indian workers for at least a month to do their work they would not get severance pay and would get bad recommendations from the company. Half said GFY and the rest for economic reasons stayed to train their replacements. THIS HAPPENS ALL THE DAMNED TIME and it is a shame new owners only look at immediate profits vs long term.
I investigated a case once, turned out the supervisor set the employee up, accusing her of theft and firing her. This stuff is real because people can be terrible to each other.
there is an old business adage - drive in quality drive out costs ; she did the opposite and lost the good will she had bought.
Load More Replies... Abusive employers hate employees who know the law. And you should always know the law or at least consult with a lawyer, because most of the time, contracts are filled with illegal -or at least questionable- clauses.
This! If you know your rights, employers will rarely try to take you to task, as others will gladly take the abuse, instead. Knowing your rights isn't half the battle...it wins the war.
Load More Replies... The real moral of this story is that you shouldn't invest or take over any business that you have no previous experience of true love for.
And if you take over a business *that is flourishing when you take it over* don't change anything until you've been running it yourself long enough to understand how it works. If it's making money there's no need at all to rush into things.
Load More Replies... Same same. Won awards as a store manager for a corporate. HR got a complaint from a casual employee who claimed I stopped giving her shifts because she was a Muslim (I didn't know or care-she had actually taken on 2 other jobs). Long story short, Corporate served me a dish of BS without realising I knew HR policies better than they did, AND my sister is a bulldog of a lawyer AND i brought the union lawyer with me. Brilliant. I actually have the meeting recorded and play it from time to time when I need cheering up...
I have been in a similar situation. Had a boss who praised my work to high heaven until it came time for me to receive scheduled raises and IRA contributions. Then he literally framed me so he could "justify" not giving me what I earned. Besides the obvious pain of not getting what I earned, having someone scream things like "You filthy liar!!!" while shaking their fist in my face was quite traumatic. I cannot stress enough - nothing had happened, it was just a performance on his part for justification. And yes, I went to a lawyer after this (and other things) happened, but in my state if a boss verbally abuses and terrorizes you, it's only illegal if they're doing it because they don't like your skin color, sexuality, etc. If they're verbally abusive and horrific just because they're a psychopath, there's nothing you can do but quit.
A Principal did that to me over teaching holidays in Elementary Art class. He refused to let me do those projects. He insisted I tell my students not him. It was not the main part of my lessons, more of a reward for good work on the core stuff. It still matched the State Standards requirements. I called in UEA lawyers to his meetings. They were recorded. Yelling was not allowed. Office staff and anyone near could hear him. The parents were upset. It ended up on the 6 o'clock news. I made myself scarce when the news crews showed up. I let him know if he didn't like holiday projects (he said pumpkins were evil) he would be suited to Jr. High as they don't do holidays. He moved up at the end of the year. Those teachers ate him for lunch. He quit going to another profession. Just FYI he had told me in one of those meetings he had failed the interview psych test in another school district but was hired in mine. A lot more went on. You cannot force your religious views on a public school.
Load More Replies... i worked for the government with a director that had her daughter, her daughter's friend and a carefully selected few who were basically ass kissers in her circle. at one point, she liked me until i basically said 'no' to something that she wanted to have happen. from then on, it was something like this guy's experience. with the government there are all sorts of processes to get someone fired or officially demoted. i fought it with knowledge and evidence to her motives. after i won she still insisted that i did not prevail in spite of receiving back pay, retroactive promotion, etc. when i left she had implemented exit interviews. i did not hold back my responses and later found out that most of the government heads knew that her opinion of me was not to be believed.
I wish all employment disputes worked out this well. A close relative of mine has just been pushed out of his job with a bunch of lies and because they followed "proper procedure" he can't even argue against the accusations and all the evidence he could provide was on the company server, which they wouldn't give him access to. Then they said if he pursued the case and lost, they would sue him for 20 grand (which is apparently legal here) for their "costs". Multiple lawyers weren't able to help.
Very well done. I have a similar situation, where my landlord told me I have to move and have no rights. I called housing court and found out that I do, indeed, have rights. I'm happy to move, but not till I find a decent place (not easy). In the meantime, he's finding out that tossing (good) tenants and telling them they have no rights is something that he won't get away with - at least not with me. So I appreciate this story! (Oh, and btw, I had a convo with him where he stated that I was a good tenant. Yeah - I recorded it.)
Good for Nick. BUT his story is actually very common. Heck even Disney did it. They fired 400 long time employees to hire the same amount of people from India who would work for less than half of what they were paying the American workers in the IT departments. They said unless they trained the Indian workers for at least a month to do their work they would not get severance pay and would get bad recommendations from the company. Half said GFY and the rest for economic reasons stayed to train their replacements. THIS HAPPENS ALL THE DAMNED TIME and it is a shame new owners only look at immediate profits vs long term.
I investigated a case once, turned out the supervisor set the employee up, accusing her of theft and firing her. This stuff is real because people can be terrible to each other.
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