Workplace rules are about as arbitrary as they come, especially when they target personal expression.

One manager decided an employee’s industrial piercing had to go, but they didn’t expect her to come back with a clever workaround.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

My piercing bothers you? Sure I’ll listen to you.

On one of my first days, my manager said I had to remove my piercing (I have an industrial piercing, like this).

Since I had the piercing during my interview, and he was the one to interview me and didn’t say anything then, I said I wouldn’t.

He let it go for a few days, then told me again.

So she tried to fight it, but he was having none of it.

My reply this time was, “All of my colleagues have at least one piercing on the upper ear, so why am I the only one that has to remove it?”

He said, and I quote, “Does any of your colleagues have a stick that goes through the whole ear? No, just you, so remove it.”

It was then she decided to launch her maliciously compliant plan.

Right after the end of that shift, I went to my piercer and got a set of separate but matching piercings that I can wear in the single holes (which I only ever do while working).

The first time he saw me with the new piercing, he said that we’d been through the conversation plenty of times and to just remove the piercings.

But she knew exactly what to retort back.

To which I said, “See, you told me yesterday that the problem was I had one piercing that went through my whole ear. Now I don’t anymore, I have two separate piercings! All good!”

It’s so good to see him still fuming about it after months and not being able to do anything, since I’ve technically removed the piercing he wanted me to remove.

This employee did exactly what her boss asked — nothing more, nothing less.

What did Reddit think?

Just because your manager asks something, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to say yes.

For once, the customer isn’t really the problem here.

Some people really take their malicious compliance to an extreme.

Why are so many managers so against self expression?

It may have been a small victory, but it was one that made the workday just a little more satisfying.

She didn’t break the rules — she just bent them in her favor.

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.