Anyone who’s ever worked retail knows the special frustration of customers who make ordering feel like a guessing game.

So when one movie theater employee vented about it to his friend, the friend later visited the same cinema and forced him through the exact same tedious routine at the snack counter.

That’s when the butter pump became part of the punchline.

You’ll want to keep reading — this is a good one!

A friend gave me my malicious compliance

Years ago, as a student, I lived in a house-share with a good friend, and we both had part-time jobs to make ends meet.

Our protagonist is called Fred.

He worked in the local multiplex cinema, the first of its kind in our part of the UK.

Fred often complained about the customers at this particular multiplex.

One day, he comes home ranting about just how thick and unhelpful customers can be, and how they have to be prodded for every part of their order:

Fred: “Would you like anything else, sir?” — Customer: “Yes.”

Fred: “What would that be?” — Customer: “A Coke.”

Fred: “Diet or full sugar?” — Customer: “Diet.”

Fred: “What size?” — Customer: “Medium.”

Customers would behave this way about just about everything.

And so on it would go, through nachos, popcorn, etc.

I thoroughly listened and sympathized.

So, the next week my girlfriend and I go to watch a film, and it turns out… Fred serves us.

This person figures: Why not mess with Fred a bit?

He looks at me for a second, a second too long, and launches into the “What would you like, sir?” questions.

I take him down the entire garden path, having to be prodded for every answer.

I’m not the malicious compliance—he is, and he’s the hero.

Their humorous interaction continued?

We got to popcorn as the last item, and the very last question after I’d ordered one of virtually everything I could think of, and he’d maintained an utterly deadpan expression throughout.

“Sweet or salted?” — “Salted.”

“Would you like butter?” — “Yes, please.”

And off he goes to the machine with the butter pump.

Fred goes a little overboard with it.

He goes mad and pumps it like a mad man.

There must have been about a pint of butter in my popcorn.

He then thanked me and told me quite politely to enjoy my film.

Which I did.

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This left a lasting impression in more ways than one.

When I left, I had a huge popcorn-bucket-shaped ring of butter on my trousers where the bucket had leaked.

It still makes me smile, and we’re still very good friends.

Be careful what you wish for!

What did Reddit make of all this?

If it were this commenter, they wouldn’t have found the interaction near as amusing.

When you work for food, you make sure you get your money’s worth.

This frequent movie goer has a solution for the butter problem.

The friend played the perfect clueless customer, but Fred played the game even better.

The laughs flowed, and so did the butter!

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