People who blow things out of proportion usually regret doing so when you begin playing along.

So, what would you do if a client suddenly accused you of mishandling sensitive documents and insisted they couldn’t trust your word?

Would you politely try to calm the situation?

Or would you turn it around and take it to the extreme?

In the following story, an engineer finds himself in this exact scenario.

Here’s what happened.

Blow a minor incident out of proportions? Don’t mind if i do!

I work as an engineer for a company that assigns me to various client projects.

For one such assignment, I was added to a project that wouldn’t start for a few weeks, so in the meantime, I stayed focused on other ongoing work.

A few days before the project was due to begin, the external project lead sent me a ZIP file containing technical documentation, including diagrams, requirements, and other relevant materials.

I skimmed through it briefly, then moved on with my day.

Nothing unusual.

A couple of days later, I got an email from the external company’s scheduling manager saying that “a document” had been sent to me, which apparently contained some confidential company information, and asking me to delete the email.

That’s it. No file name, no explanation, just a vague “please delete it.”

She did not want to believe him.

I shrugged, deleted the ZIP file, and replied asking if they could resend it without the problematic part.

Then I forgot all about it.

That is, until I got a call from the most condescending, passive-aggressive person I’ve ever dealt with, the scheduling manager from the client’s side.

She went on a 30-minute tirade about how the previous project lead never should’ve sent me that document, how serious the situation was, and, most memorably, how she couldn’t trust that I had actually deleted it.

I quote: “I can’t just take your word for it. I’m not just going to trust you because you say so.”

When he turned it around, she changed her tone.

Right.

So at that point, I figured, “I’m done with you. If you’re going to act like I’ve just been handed nuclear launch codes, then I’ll treat it like I’ve just been handed nuclear launch codes.”

I said, “You’re absolutely right. I’ll contact our Security Operations team and report a formal security incident. They can coordinate with your SecOps team, and together we can do a full scrub of all relevant mail servers to ensure the document is completely gone. It’s really the only way to be certain.”

Suddenly, her entire tone changed. “Oh no no no, that won’t be necessary. It’s fine, I believe you!”

At this point, she couldn’t get off the phone quickly enough.

She practically stumbled over herself trying to shut it down because escalating this to both companies’ SecOps teams would’ve turned it into a bureaucratic nightmare: incident reports, compliance reviews, and probably someone getting thrown under the bus.

I politely reiterated that I really didn’t mind escalating it if it would give her peace of mind.

She very quickly decided she had had enough peace already.

We ended the call, and life moved on.

If you act like I’ve compromised national security, don’t be shocked when I offer to treat it like a national security incident.

Yikes! It’s funny how fast she changed her tune.

Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit have to say about it.

This person wouldn’t have allowed her to get away with that.

According to this comment, they love the malicious compliance.

She did back down pretty easily.

Such a great thought.

That lady was something else!

After her reaction and then backing down so quickly, they should’ve gone ahead and reported the issue.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.