Nobody likes to be told what to do at their jobs by someone who clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about, right?

You know that’s the truth!

Today’s story is about a pair of experienced mill workers who could only go along with the program when their supervisor didn’t know what he was doing.

Check out what happened!

That’ll cost you.

“Cast: Dad, Roy, shop supervisor, general manager.

There was a piece of equipment needing fixed. This cost close to $300,000 back in the mid 1980s.

It was the original piece from when the mill opened in 1968 so parts were obsolete and Dad had to make them by hand.

Roy said the bearing burnt up and stripped some teeth from the main gear. From what he was saying Dad not only made the gear by hand he also made a puller to get the gear off because that bearing needing replaced was behind it.

Dad had gone to get the puller when the shop supervisor came over to talk with Roy. He asked how long the job would be and was told at least 5 days. 3 days to make or repair the new gear and another 2 days for tear down and set up.

Roy said Dad might be able to fix this one and if that was the case 3 days maximum.

The shop super asked why Roy was just sitting there and not taking the gear off. He explained where Dad had gone and what he was getting and he would be back in a minute or two.

Uh oh…

This was not good enough for the shop supervisor and he grabbed a sledge hammer and said, “If you just tap it with this it should come loose enough to just pulled with your hand.”

Dad had just stepping into the room and hollered for the shop supervisor to stop before he breaks something. I guess he looked right at Dad and smacked the gear.

I have no idea what it was made of but he hit it in just the right spot to break the gear into a couple of pieces. Needless to say, Dad and Roy were upset.

They walked into the office of the general manager and told him what just happened and instead of the 3 days they could have had it done in, it will now take the 5 or so days.

He was mad.

First, the shop supervisor is not to touch any tool unless passing it to the person using it and another is he is not to try any repairs himself under any circumstance.

The next day when Dad and Roy got to the machine there was a gear sitting there. The shop supervisor came over and said he had it flown in from somewhere in the states and it cost $20,000 because it was air expressed. Dad tried telling him that is the wrong gear and he will just build one he knows will work.

This guy was clueless.

Shop supervisor told him to use the gear he bought because he wasn’t going to waste that much company money without using what he bought.

Here is the malicious compliance.

Dad and Roy got the bearing changed and were done getting the gear into place. It was made from a different material, and a few other major differences. When they were all done the called over the shop supervisor and the general manager to show how the machine is “fixed”.

Roy and Dad gave the shop supervisor the “honor” of starting it up and show how well its working. with a big smile he started it up.

Yikes!

It ran well for about the first 5 minutes of the 15 minute test run when it started making odd noises. Before the shop supervisor could hit the emergency stop button there was a loud bang and lots of screeching metal.

Dad and Roy took the covering off and saw that not only the gear was destroyed but it was in tiny little pieces all through the machine. The main rod where the bearing got replaced had broken in a couple of places.

It would cost the company more money to buy the parts and fix this one than it would be to order one from Japan.

Within 6 weeks the Japanese workers brought the new machine but had set it up and get it calibrated. This cost the mill just under 3 million where it would have cost under 50,000 if Dad and Roy were left to fix it.

This guy was done.

Since the shop supervisor wasn’t part of the union, he was fired on the spot. When the mill fired him and wouldn’t even let him on the property, he had to wait for security to bring everything from his office.

Roy said the shop supervisor wasn’t made to pay back any money for his major mess up, but his name was blacklisted in the industry. He moved away within a month and as far as Roy knew no one had heard from him since.

Dad and Roy didn’t get any real bonus for the job but there was a little extra on their paycheck the next week. Roy said he can’t remember how much but it wasn’t a huge amount but it made a difference.

I love hearing stories about my Dad about work. He always had a warped sense of humor so any malicious compliance by him was usually a doozy. But it wasn’t just at work. Anywhere was not safe from him.

Too bad he isn’t hear to tell me more stories but I have memories of some and I hear more from people he was friends with or worked with. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I loved hearing them.”

Here’s what folks had to say on Reddit.

This person weighed in.

Another reader shared their thoughts.

This individual spoke up.

And another Reddit user had a lot to say.

Some supervisors just need to stay out of the way and let workers do their jobs…

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.