Bosses who want to stick their fingers in places they’re not required seem to be a tale as old as time, and OP’s boss learned that lesson the hard way.

At least, we hope that he did.

OP does an IT/cybersecurity job that requires a cellphone to use as part of authentication. His company does not supply cellphones to lower-tier employees.

I (33M) work in IT Cybersecurity, and my work has been on a big multi-factor authentication (the SMS codes from your phone or authenticator apps type thing) push to better secure our systems.

As a result, basically every system or software requires a phone to access.

Like many other places, my work does not supply phones to its workers unless they are sufficiently far up the leadership chain.

His boss, in all of his wisdom, sent out a memo reminding employees they are not allowed to have personal electronic devices on them at work.

Friday, my boss sends one of those directives that bosses always do, to try and be “commanding.”

He tells me that personal device use at work is not permitted, and specifically cites mobile phones as an example.

Cue malicious compliance.

OP did not hesitate, just deleted all of the programs and authenticators off his phone and sent in a ticket requesting desktop version of the app.

Which, of course, did not exist.

To comply with the directive, I uninstall all the MFA code applications on my phone that are needed by work, and submit tickets for getting the desktop versions.

IT Fulfillment’s response? “Uhhhhh… What desktop version?”

The boss tried to backpedal but it was too late to fix the damage that had been done by deleting all of the data.

Boss is backpedaling, but it wouldn’t matter at this point, as the tokens for the MFA apps are gone.

For extra irony, Boss rushes approvals for software installs, but gets stuck in the new software approval process he created.

OP ended up coming out on top, and there wasn’t much his boss could say about it.

End result?

I spend Friday browsing the Internet while he runs around rushing software approvals for the MFA desktop apps we need.

Reddit is likely to give this guy a virtual high-five!

The top comment states what should be obvious.

And this person says OP could not have responded better.

When they think they’re smarter than us, it’s best to let them prove themselves wrong.

Because this is not how good leaders behave.

Other people knew exactly what OP was talking about here.

OP so calmly and quickly picked the right response.

I mean, hats off to him!

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If you liked that post, you might like some of these wild stories about weird situations at work. 👇👇👇

New Manager Creates An Insane Lunch Break Plan, So Employee Fights Back By Scheduling Meetings And Raking In The Overtime

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Guy Goes On A Crusade Against Pants Because He Actually Read The Employee Handbook. – ‘I’m changing back into my shorts.’

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Their Boss Demanded They Serve All Customers No Matter What. So This Grocery Store Worker Got A Lot Of Overtime.

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