Factories often run on routine, but every now and then, a task lands on the wrong set of hands.

So when one machinist was told to paint a machine he had no interest in painting, that’s when he got a little messy just to prove a point.

Read on for the full story!

I’m not a painter, but you want me to paint some equipment. Ok!

Here in upstate NY, there is a well-known government/military contract facility that produces very niche but vital military assets.

Both my dad and uncle worked at this facility back in the 70s–80s as old-school machinists before CNC machines existed.

This huge, vast facility had a bunch of equipment in different states of use.

But then one day, his boss assigned him a task he dreaded.

One day, my uncle’s supervisor noticed one of these random pieces of equipment—a band saw, I think—was looking rather shabby and decided to assign my uncle to paint it.

My uncle, being a machinist, felt this task was below his position and ignored his supervisor.

He tried to push back as much as possible, but his boss wouldn’t let him out of it.

When asked why he did not paint the band saw, my uncle stated that he was not good at painting and that someone else better at painting should be told to do it.

The supervisor insisted that my uncle would paint the band saw OR ELSE!

So, as you can now guess, cue malicious compliance.

So he decided to make sure his boss regretted ever asking him.

My uncle followed through with painting the band saw as only someone who “is not good at painting” and doesn’t want to be doing it can.

First, just to waste as much time as possible, he did a meticulous job of painting every single surface of the entire band saw—including the blade itself and even the control knobs and the power cord.

He would stop at nothing to show his boss just how bad he was at painting.

But he wasn’t finished yet.

Even though the band saw was completely painted, there was still paint left over in the can.

So, what does my uncle do?

This is the most unbelievable part.

Not wanting to leave a half-used can of paint sitting around to go bad, he dumped the can all over the band saw, letting the paint run and drip all over the entire thing!

The next night, after inspecting the paint job, the supervisor called my uncle into his office to ask what he was thinking.

All my uncle said was, “I tried to tell you I’m not good at painting and you should have someone else do it!”

They wanted a painter, but they got a messy statement piece instead.

What did Reddit think?

At what point does it become just plain vandalism?

This user seems to think this boss deserved it.

This commenter wants more details on how exactly this malicious compliance was carried out.

The machine may have been ruined, but at least the message got through loud and clear.

If you want a painter, then hire a painter!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.