Imagine working as a park ranger at a national park when a tourist asks you for a recommendation for a nearby restaurant. How would you answer the question if you were not allowed to recommend one restaurant over another?

In this story, one park ranger is in this exact situation. He tries to explain, but the tourist he’s talking to is determined to get a direct answer. He thinks he came up with a clever way of wording the question, but he’s not going to like it when he figures out the answer.

Keep reading for all the details.

Malicious compliance in a national park

Park rangers are pros at answering questions, and we’re usually quite happy to do so– even the ones you hear over and over.

“Where’s the tree that you drive through?” “What’s that sign say on the side of the cliff?,” “Are the ice caves accessible yet?” and the one you hear more than all the others combined, “Which way are the rest rooms?”

On the occasions when the questioner has a chip on his shoulder, it’s really not worth letting it get to you. Just do your job and move on; there will be someone much nicer to talk to before very long.

At least, that’s what I always told the eager young rangers I hired and trained over the years. It’s good advice and I mostly followed it myself.

He shares an encounter with a man who was hungry.

However, I do remember a gentleman who started to get on my nerves back when I was working at a small eastern park renowned for both its history and its scenery. This fellow wasn’t interested in either right then – he just wanted a bite to eat.

That’s reasonable enough, and I pointed him in the direction of several nearby establishments.

The problem arose when he asked which one I thought he should go to.

Unfortunately, for a bunch of reasons too complicated to go into here, we were strictly forbidden to recommend one local business over another.

The guy wasn’t very understanding.

I apologized and explained that I couldn’t say one way or the other, but that wasn’t good enough for our man.

He blew his top at me: “That’s nonsense– I pay your salary!” and so on; you know the drill.

I apologized again, then let him rant a bit more, and just as I was about to smile and turn away, he came up with an idea that I’m sure he thought was pretty darn clever.

“Well, where do YOU go for lunch? Can you tell me that at least, or is that something else you have to keep secret?”

He answered honestly.

“Thank you, God,” I murmured silently. “I owe you one.”

“Sure, I can tell you that much at least. I usually go to a place called the Power House, and I can tell you how to get there.”

He puffed up in triumph as I gave him detailed directions out of town and down a dirt road to the abandoned hydroelectric plant where I liked to park and eat my brown-bag lunch.

The road’s a bit rugged in stretches, but there are some mighty fine views of the river and I hope he enjoyed them.

It’s not like he lied. He explained WHERE he goes for lunch. The fact that he brings his own food is a different matter entirely!

I bet the hungry man was frustrated when he figured out it wasn’t a restaurant.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person shares a funny comeback.

Another person has been in a similar situation.

This person is baffled by the tourist’s lack of decision making skills.

I sure hope people don’t really ask these questions.

Pushing for an answer won’t get you the answer you’re looking for.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.