You almost gotta feel sorry for the woman you’re about to meet in this story from Reddit’s “Malicious Compliance” page.

Well, at least I almost did, anyway…

But the person who wrote this story did what they felt they had to do!

The story started when this boss hired a woman named Karen for a job.

New hire misses MOST of the first three weeks of work, then uses me as a reference.

“Let’s call her Karen, just because it fits. She came in and applied for a job and when I looked at her resume and application, I realized she knew some of my old neighborhood friends and schoolmates. She interviewed well, so I gave her a job. Told her to be in Monday at 9:00 a.m.

But things quickly went south with this new employee…

Monday morning, she is not in, she no calls, no shows. Tuesday, no call no show, I had now written her off. Wednesday, she shows up about noon. Claims she was in her basement Sunday night and her brother was working out and he accidentally knocked her out during his intense workout.

She claimed her doctor told her she had a concussion and she should stay home for a couple days. She had no doctor’s note, no marks on her head, but thinking her story was so off the wall it could almost be true, I let her come to work the next day.

She worked Thursday and Friday. We paid at the end of every week and I gave her a check Friday, I also did NOT deduct the days she missed. She came to me and asked about the full paycheck.

This boss really did her a solid!

I told her we were a family business and realized people had lives outside work. He tried to make sure people knew they were appreciated and tried to take care of our people. She teared up and thanked me and said we could count on her.

She worked the full next week, did OK. She seemed to fit in. Seemed.

But then things got bad again in a hurry.

The third week, she showed up Monday, but Tuesday was another no show no call. We did not hear from her for over TWO WEEKS! When she finally showed up, her story was the stuff of legends.

She claimed her husband had forged divorce papers a couple years previous. Thinking she was divorced, she moved back into her parent’s house. She claimed her “ex-husband” was at her parents’ house when she got home the last night she worked.

And then she started telling some crazy stories about what was going on in her. life so the boss did what they had to do.

He told her he made up the divorce and the paperwork was phony so they were still married and he wanted to get back together. She claims she refused and he kidnapped her. She said it took her until a couple days ago to get away from him. She wanted to come into work the next day.

She did not call the police and he wasn’t arrested. There was nothing in the papers or on the news about any of this. She was not hurt (thank God!) She asked if I believed her. I did not, but told her that I really needed someone I could count on coming in reliably everyday. I gave her a paycheck for one week (she had worked 1 day) and told her I wished her good luck.

I had already replaced her, and her replacement was one of the best employees we ever had.

And that wasn’t the end of the story!

Here’s the malicious compliance.

The next month, I come in to a phone message that someone from XXX Company called for a reference for Karen. As my secretary is handing me the message, she’s laughing at the look on my face. I asked if she was kidding, she said she was not.

She said she got a call from a man saying he was the owner of a company in the area and he asked about Karen. Then my secretary asked if she could listen in on the call (she was a pistol) She then goes and gets my partner and tells him I am going to call and give Karen a reference. Now he is in my office laughing too!

So it was reference time!

I call the guy and we make some small talk. I tell him what we do and he tells me what he wants Karen to do for him. I tactfully avoided answering any of his questions about Karen directly. I think he was beginning to suspect something.

Remember folks, employers can get in a ton of trouble for bad references.

And all they could do was be totally honest…

He finally asked my opinion of Karen, and what I said was, “IF you can get them to work for you, you will be VERY lucky”. He heard what I said and how I said it.

He repeated that back to me exactly as I said it. All my words were the right ones, it was my tone and intonation that got my point across.

He thanked me and hung up.

And guess who showed up a few days later?!?!

Karen comes into the office a couple days later, she looks mad but is trying to be pleasant. She told me she is having trouble finding a job and mentioned she has used me as a reference.

She wanted to know if anyone from XXX Company has called me (she knew they did). She told me she really want the job at XXX Company. I told her I had been called and that I told the guy he’d lucky to get her to work for him.

My secretary confirmed that’s what I told him, she told him she was right next during the whole conversation.

Some people just don’t get it…

Karen smiled and thanked me and headed to the door, She said she wondered why she was having so much trouble getting a job. She asked if she could continue to use me for a reference and I told her absolutely! I also told her I’d tell everyone the same thing, that “any employer would be lucky if they can get you to work for them.”

She walked away smiling, happy and clueless.

Check out what folks on Reddit had to say about this.

One reader had a funny story to tell.

This individual said…just the facts…

Another Reddit user talked about what happened after they fired a thief on the job.

And this individual was surprised that someone used them as a reference.

This one is almost kind of sad…

But I guess this person really needed to be taught a lesson.