When rules are enforced unevenly, the people on the ground are usually the first to take the fall.

One parking lot attendant followed the rules a little too well and ended up tangled in a web of restaurant politics he never signed up for, but that’s hardly the end of the story.

You’ll want to read on for this twisty-turny tale of malicious compliance!

Restaurant parking lot was for customers only so I made the owner’s daughter go find street parking 4 blocks away.

Years ago I worked as a parking lot attendant for a high-end restaurant.

Parking was for customers only. Not even employees could park there.

I got chewed out by a manager one day because I let a cook who was running late park there (the cook apologized to me because I got in trouble).

But when they try and apply the rules to someone else, suddenly they were in the wrong.

One night the owner’s daughter (completely spoiled brat) showed up and I told her, “Sorry, customers only.”

She flipped out on me but, again, “Sorry. I was just yelled at by Tony (the manager) and he said CUSTOMERS ONLY.”

She wound up having to parallel park four blocks away and apparently scratched her bumper backing into a street sign.

Tony promptly showed up and fired me on the spot.

The story then moved in an unexpected direction.

A couple days later the owner called me and apologized for the whole thing. He said the whole situation caused restaurant drama because employees took my side. I did the right thing by letting the cook park there and then Tony overreacted by yelling at me.

He obviously knew I was being a jerk because I had been yelled at and wouldn’t let his kid park there.

He offered me my job back but I politely declined.

Then the truth really started to come out.

A couple months later I found out that the guy who replaced me got fired for taking bribes from people to park in the lot and never go into the restaurant.

Tony then got fired because turns out he was fudging sales numbers and stealing money from the till every night.

What a turn of events!

What did Reddit think?

Turns out the restaurant industry is full of surprises.

Some people will do anything to get ahead.

This commenter has an interesting theory.

In the end, the ones who bent the rules ended up paying the price!

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.