When it comes to workplace requests, sometimes you must be careful what you wish for – especially if the people impacted by your request are against it.

So, what happens when a manager deems you the problem, even though you’re not, and stations you in a less-than-ideal location?

Do you go along with it quietly or find a way to make your point?

In the following story, a group of electricians is in this exact situation.

Here’s what they did.

Want the electricians to camp out in your area? Be careful what you wish for.

I worked at a major consumer products manufacturer as a maintenance electrician.

We handled electrical repairs and troubleshooting for the whole factory.

The front-end department started having production problems, and the plant manager was not happy.

Now, the front end was very dirty and noisy, so we, as electricians, didn’t want to spend a lot of time there, but we took our responsibility seriously and worked quickly to address electrical problems.

Well, the front-end supervisors decided that the electricians were the problem and requested an electrician be stationed there 24/7 when the real problem was the lack of mechanical maintenance on the machines and poor repairs by the mechanics. Our boss was absolutely no help, and he agreed with the request.

Not wanting to be there, here’s what they did.

Now, on to the malicious compliance, we decided to embrace the assignment with a twist.

Since we were required to spend our 12-hour shift on the front end, we started a log.

We documented every mechanical problem on every machine and brought that log to every production meeting.

Pretty soon, the production supervisors were getting called on the carpet about the mechanical problems, and then they decided that they didn’t need the electricians stationed in the front end.

Well, that’s one way to prove your point.

Let’s see how Reddit readers responded to these actions.

Some people have to learn the hard way.

Here’s someone who can relate.

This person believes the boss knew this would happen.

Here’s someone who had something similar happen.

The Production Managers must’ve regretted their request. Lesson learned.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.