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You’re a human being, not a maliciously compliant robot who follows orders exactly as they’re given to them. Without thinking too much. Without expending more energy than needed. Without considering the fact that they’re making life harder for others. But there are plenty of folks out there who actually take their instructions and follow them to the letter, doing the bare minimum, instead of looking at the spirit of what they’re asked to do. This results in some truly hilarious fails that are sure to perk up your mood.

And that’s also how they end up on the ‘Not My Job’ subreddit, a massive community of over 752k people, that’s dedicated to people doing their jobs, but not very well. It perfectly captures one of the many aspects of the human condition, namely, being super lazy and not giving a rat’s behind about how things end up looking.

Upvote the pics from r/NotMyJob that you enjoyed the most, let us know which ones stole your heart, and if you’ve got similar tales to tell, we’d absolutely love to hear all about your colleagues. Oh, and there’s more where all of this came from: you’ll find our first post about r/NotMyJob right over here.

#2

Got The Chatbot Working, Boss

Got The Chatbot Working, Boss

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Katie Lutesinger
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, now I have that song stuck in my head. Not that I'm complaining; it's an awesome song. :p

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In an earlier interview with my colleague, the founder of r/NotMyJob, redditor Ani625, told Bored Panda that the subreddit is all about people doing the bare minimum. And not an iota more!

“This results in the 'product' being far from neat/complete/usable, depending on what it is,” the founder and moderator explained to Bored Panda previously. And that leads to some truly bizarre and absurd situations which the ‘Not My Job’ subreddit is happy to share with the world.

#5

I Mean, It’s Important To Follow Safety Protocols

I Mean, It’s Important To Follow Safety Protocols

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Mohsie Supposie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You never know when you get stuck in your car for hours and hours. Good to have some cake to eat.

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#6

Previous Owners Built This House, Told Us There Was Insulation In The Roof. True Story

Previous Owners Built This House, Told Us There Was Insulation In The Roof. True Story

MomButtsDriveMeNuts Report

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Jo Johannsen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Laziness can be the mother of invention, however, most of the time it's the mother** of frustration.

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The subreddit will be celebrating its 8th birthday at the end of the month, on July 30, so if you like their stuff, go on and give them a quick ‘hi, congrats.’

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The entire ‘Not My Job’ project was started way back in 2013 all thanks to a single viral post on another subreddit. “An image of a dead animal painted over on a road became popular on another subreddit,” the founder said that the road painters were too lazy to do a better job. Things took off from there thanks to someone dropping a spot-on comment.

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#9

“I’m A Painter, Not An Exterminator.” -This Person Probably

“I’m A Painter, Not An Exterminator.” -This Person Probably

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Katie Lutesinger
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the insect world, this is a horror movie. "Oh my god, it's Darren! He's been mummified alive!" PAINTBRUSH: The Nightmare Begins.

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“Someone said the phrase 'not my job!' in the comments, and people seem to be interested in such an idea. I created /r/NotMyJob and linked the subreddit then and there, which got its first few subscribers.”

After that, “users kept on mentioning the sub all over Reddit whenever they saw such content, and the subreddit grew.”

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#12

Labeled The Sports Boss

Labeled The Sports Boss

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#13

Just Moved Into My New Apartment And Saw This

Just Moved Into My New Apartment And Saw This

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#14

Instead Of 2 A's And 2 E's, We Got 4 A's In This Happy New Year Balloon Pack

Instead Of 2 A's And 2 E's, We Got 4 A's In This Happy New Year Balloon Pack

amlozek Report

#16

Not Sure How This Made It Through Proofreading, Peer Review, And Copyediting

Not Sure How This Made It Through Proofreading, Peer Review, And Copyediting

fishsticks40 Report

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Daria B
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is why you should always colour code or highlight remarks, instructions and anything that's not part of the content. Otherwise, proofreaders might not notice. These are people working long hours on mountains of text every day....

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Michael Gaskell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or just use "add comment" does all that for you! And hides the comment offscreen entirely. Just remember to delete all before you send

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I wish I could live in the ocean
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't get it. I'm a little paranoid, so I would never write adjectives like crappy, stupid, shitty in work related documents our texts because everyone knows stuff like this happens. Why not just write "put xyz here", instead of "put crappy xyz here"?

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TheAnimalLady
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My Female Biological Parent does that because she's a narcissist who needs to put down others to make herself feel better. I wouldn't do it either so I'm guessing that you are a nice person 😁😻😃

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Bear Hall
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Don't worry if Gabor's paper got through and published ours will be okay, too. So from page 5 -16 sixteen just write anything you want, nuclear safety be dammed."

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glowworm2
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is definitely how we've all felt about citing our resources though.

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Danieletc
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No, cite one of the dozens of other papers on the subject.

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Beth Dezarn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

100% me making notes in all my college papers. Thankfully, I never left one in accidentally.

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Iapetos
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's why you highlight those things in colour. I like to use "TODO", "DEBUG" and "COUNTERFEIT" tags in all of my work so that by the end of it, I can just CTRL+F these annotations and fix everything that needs fixing.

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Potato
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or just use comments. Then you can jump straight to each comment in the review menu.

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TheAnimalLady
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I believe they are saying: While the mating preferences of female fish (who they stay near) MAY control "schooling" (directions a group of fish swim) and "shoaling" (group just 'hanging out'), they DON'T think that it's likely. And that they'd recreated research others have done to test the theories. 🐟🐠🐡 It's only a tiny part of a research paper, so I could be wrong...but as I write this for you it suddenly sounds like a man saying what a woman wants doesn't matter.

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k1ddkanuck
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lmao. Tobler et al and Plath et al would be feeling pretty happy right now I'm sure. If this got past peer review and was actually published, that's a nightmare.

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Anna McHugh
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Probably peer-reviewed by Gabor, who has a sense of humour and an alibi

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Esther Evans
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah...to be honest, if they didn't hi-lite that area, my eyes would have slid right over it...LOL

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TheAnimalLady
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

IKR, because it's full of long, technical words that most people don't use. It's like reading monotone 🥱😴

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Jace
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Probably because proofreading is a dead art. That's not necessarily a "not my job dept" issue, though it does literally result from companies and organizations deciding to eliminate as many jobs as possible and make the remaining people do all the tasks of the eliminated job positions. It might not be malicious or even lazy. Just a failure of resource allocation, for a lack of resources.

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#17

Proud Of The Local Crew And It Only Took Them A Month

Proud Of The Local Crew And It Only Took Them A Month

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Andy Acceber
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from The Lion King popped into my head as soon as I saw this. 🎶

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#21

The Chosen One

The Chosen One

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cybermerlin2000
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Boss said try again. He then got sacked by him for gross sexual misconduct

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#22

Finished The Road Surfacing, Boss

Finished The Road Surfacing, Boss

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#23

Best Before

Best Before

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Nick_Mallory-
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You decide when it expires😂 You can live for future generations

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#25

Straight Lines Painted Boss!

Straight Lines Painted Boss!

-acid--rain- Report

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Jihana
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It might look funny but that's just a stretch of road to test new paints.

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#27

It’s Not My Job To Dress The Mannequins

It’s Not My Job To Dress The Mannequins

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#28

Trained Everyone Up On The Security System, Boss

Trained Everyone Up On The Security System, Boss

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#29

I Asked For Extra Cheese. It Might Have Been His First Day

I Asked For Extra Cheese. It Might Have Been His First Day

OMGLMAOWTF_com Report

#30

Wrote The Cleaning Instructions Boss

Wrote The Cleaning Instructions Boss

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#31

Beware Don’t Take Your Kids Here On Sundays

Beware Don’t Take Your Kids Here On Sundays

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#33

I Mean He Was Just Told To Put An Image

I Mean He Was Just Told To Put An Image

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chi-wei shen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He has relatively long hair, just not at the top of his head.

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#35

Installed Anti Theft Tags On Collectibles Boss

Installed Anti Theft Tags On Collectibles Boss

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#37

Cleared The Snow, Boss

Cleared The Snow, Boss

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Samantha Lomb
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's the driver's fault. There is usually a sign asking for cars to be moved so the parking lot can be cleared

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#38

Installed The Stove, Boss

Installed The Stove, Boss

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#39

Finished The Fence Boss

Finished The Fence Boss

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#40

Application Was So Good, Took Them 6 Years To Read It!

Application Was So Good, Took Them 6 Years To Read It!

IntroSpecktive Report

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#42

All He Wanted Was A Nice View And Fresh Air

All He Wanted Was A Nice View And Fresh Air

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Damira Balent
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is near my house in Petrčane, Croatia. What makes this even worse is that house is on the beach, and it has unobstructed view to the sea. Uh, "had" unobstructed view to the sea 😂🤦

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#43

Put The Store Capacity Sign Up Boss!

Put The Store Capacity Sign Up Boss!

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#44

Face That's Too Handsome It Doesn't Need A Mask On

Face That's Too Handsome It Doesn't Need A Mask On

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#45

Moving To A New House. This Is Where The Last Owners Had Their China Cabinet

Moving To A New House. This Is Where The Last Owners Had Their China Cabinet

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Neil Bidle
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At least you can paint to match, that rail looks like it doesn't even match, let alone line up

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Note: this post originally had 85 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.