Workplace rules are meant to create order, but sometimes they just inspire chaos.

One micromanager became obsessed with tracking her team’s whereabouts, but when employees started getting descriptive about their bathroom visits, she learned maybe there were certain things she didn’t want to know.

Read on for the full story.

So you want us to sign in/sign out whenever we have to leave the area?

One day, my manager decided that she needed to track where we were at all times.

Therefore, she put up a whiteboard with all our names on it, with columns for sign-out time, sign-in time, and a reason why we left our desks.

I am sure you probably have an idea as to where this is going.

The employee did their best to comply.

It started out simply enough.

I needed to ask someone in another department a question (we didn’t have our own dedicated phones, just one phone for each department).

Like the good girl I am, I put the time I walked out of the department and who I went to see.

But it was clear they hadn’t gone far enough in the manager’s eyes.

When I got back, she was waiting for me and told me— quite loudly — that I didn’t put in WHY I had to go see that person.

Going forward, she said, I needed to be more detailed about why I left my desk. She made sure to say this in front of the entire team.

Cue my malicious compliance.

She wants to know detail? Oh, she’ll get detail.

I had to use the restroom, so I walked up to the board, put in the time I was leaving, and, for the reason, I wrote that I was going to the restroom and that I would be urinating and defecating while I was there.

Then, I walked out of the department and went to do my business.

My manager had stepped out to attend a meeting at the time.

The employee had inspired somewhat of a protest among her colleagues.

Little did I know, my team had my back.

They all went to the board, signed out, and put that they were going to the restroom — each with varying detailed reasons as to what they were going to do while they were there.

When I got out of the restroom, all my team members were there waiting for me.

The manager couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

We walked back into the department together, just in time to see our manager standing in front of the board with one of her peers.

They had both been in the same meeting.

The look on their faces was absolutely priceless.

Needless to say, the board was very short-lived. 🤣

This is a workplace, not Kindergarden!

What did Reddit think?

There are just some answers it’s best not to know the answer to.

If you’re going to be forced to overshare, might as well have some fun with it.

Let’s hope this predicament was a learning experience for the boss.

This story really paints a vivid picture.

When you push too hard, you just might get more than you bargained for.

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.