Now, this is impressive!

If your boss demands that you work some overtime, you might as well pack it in quickly, stack that paper, and then relax.

That’s what this Reddit user did and they told readers all about it.

Read on and see what you think!

You must work the weekend.

“I was an IT contractor for a company doing a large new project.

There were about 30 people writing code. We were allowed as much overtime as we were willing to work and I could use the money. I was working 12 hours, 5 days a week.

On the weekends, I would go racing, usually out of state. It was common on Thursday to get called into a meeting saying we needed to work 8 hours Saturday, 4 on Sunday. Most people would have 52 hours in total. I would do it if available putting me at 72 or 76 since 4 hours is stupid.

Other times, I would point out I would already be at 60 and had plans. I was given an exception the first couple times.

Really?

Then I was told I was not being a team player.

So I clarify: If I work 12 hours between 5 pm Friday and 9 am Monday, is that good?

Yes.

Well OK then.

I left the office at 9 pm on Friday. 4 of the 12 down. The race trailer was already loaded up and ready to go. I headed out in the morning for a 4 hour drive. After the race I headed back.

Since I was driving near the office and the parking lot was empty, I pulled in trailer and all around 3 am. I figured just badging in wasn’t enough to demonstrate compliance. I sent an email out to the group with every task I completed.

They weren’t messing around!

I completed everything I had been assigned. There was a white board with unassigned tasks. I sent an email that I was pulling a task, then another when completed.

I had my full hours in at 11 am.

I was being a smart ***.

However, I didn’t really expect the manager to get as annoyed about it as he did. A bit later, my contract was cut by that manager for my “abrasive personality”.

The fallout seems to have been against me, but not in the end. My contract was cut. I was told on a Thursday morning and given the next 3 full weeks notice.

Hey, no sweat off their back!

By Thursday afternoon, I had a job interview scheduled for Monday. By Monday afternoon, I had a couple more scheduled. I started a new position with no gap.

That is pretty much the malicious compliance. Below is the fallout from the retaliation.

The manager blamed the “abrasive personality” comment on the business. They are the people asking for and defining the project. I only worked with one. During my notice, I was working with her. I said something about someone else having to do the next phase. She says yeah, that sucks.

I tell her that I was told the business wanted me gone. Since she was the only business I dealt with… wavy hand motion.

She just got an angry look and stormed off. Her anger went up the org tree and back down my branch. Manager was told “I want OP on this project, deal with it”.

I had multiple people (HR, manager’s peers, etc) ask me if I wanted to stay. They would have to “make the s*** hit the fan” to do so. They didn’t want to do that if I was leaving anyway. I said I already had accepted an offer.

I just wished he had to be the one to ask me to stay. He was made to ask me if I could extend the notice period to provide training sessions on my techniques.

Me: “So you want my productivity, just not me?”

“Well, yeah”

“No, I am already scheduled to start a new position.”

During my notice, 12 people found new positions and gave their notice. The attitude was that if the company was willing to cut me, they could cut anyone at any time. They would rather leave on their terms. That was not a problem for coders at that particular point in time.

I was still working 60 hours a week during my notice period. On my last day, when leaving, the only person still there was that manager’s boss. When I said bye, he said he had meant to talk to me before I left. I sat down and talked.

I said you must be wondering why I would be working late on my last day. I wanted the section of software I was on to be working before I left so no one could blame me for it not getting done. I said I was the only one left in the last few months who was working on it. All tests had passed that day.

They realized that someone messed up.

Another section with similar work has 6 people working on it and is not done. He began to question the manager’s decision making. He thanked me and said he may reach out in the future.

A couple months later, someone reached out to me to see if I would come back. The manager’s contract was cut as were the other 3 people from his contract house.

An employee who was buddies with the manager was moved off the project. Apparently since the manager was also a contractor, he could not technically cut my contract. It was done by this employee.

I didn’t go back as my new “abrasive personality” manager and I got along great.”

Here’s what folks had to say on Reddit.

This person shared their thoughts.

Another individual weighed in.

This individual had a lot to say.

This person chimed in.

And this Reddit user had an interesting take…

Might as well pack those hours in and get it over with!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.