Folks…this is the good stuff.

It’s the kind of story that will bring a smile to your face and make you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Or maybe you have thought of this and you’re a genius…

Either way, it’s a satisfying story about a customer who got tired of the games his bank was playing, so he decided to pull a fast one on them.

Let’s take a look at what happened!

Bank wants to play stupid games? Then lets play stupid games.

“I live in South Korea but I work for a US Company in South Korea.

And because I work for an American company and I’m one of the few employees of my company that is American in South Korea, my company doesn’t issue me this letter that basically says I’m employed in South Korea.

So this means I have restrictions on my Korean bank account.

There are rules about this kind of stuff…

I can only withdraw 250,000 won (About $216 a day) from an ATM and if I go in person to a teller I can only withdraw 1 million won (about $870) a day.

This normally doesn’t present a problem for me. I also can’t have a debit/credit card, I get a “bank book” which is kinda like an electronic check book that’s a physical thing you carry (FYI, I use my American bank for most of my day to day spending).

But…it did once.

I signed a lease for a new apartment and the deposit was 10 million won (about $8,700, yes this is normal for Korea) so I transferred the money from my American bank to my Korean bank and I went to the bank in person to transfer the money to my landlord.

I get there and the teller tells me I can only transfer 1 million per day. My first idea was to ask my landlord if she’d be cool with me transferring her 1 million won a day for 10 days, she doesn’t like that idea.

So I’m sitting there arguing and the bank manager comes out, he’s a nice enough man and speaks good English. Basically he says because of my type of my account there is no way I can transfer more then 1 million a day. So I need this money and I’m thinking and the light bulb goes off in my head.

A ha!

Me: “If I close my account do I get my money?”

Manager: “Yes, we would give you the cash”

Me: “And if I close my account can I open a new one?”

Manager: “Of course”

Me: “Is there a waiting period after closing my account to open a new one”

Manager: “No”

Me: “Fantastic, please close my account”

Manager: “Sure, I will need your bank book and we will destroy it”

Hands them my bank book and they destroy it

Signs some papers to close the account

Bank manager closes the account and gives me all the money in the account in an envelope

Manager: “Anything else I can help you with today?”

I smile, pull out my passport.

Hey o!

Me: Yes I’d like to open a new bank account

Bank manager looks at me, and it dawns on him what I just did, he laughs, shakes his head and goes “Sure, not a problem”

I opened a new account, deposited 10,000 won and left with my deposit in my pocket

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I believe this qualifies for malicious compliance because I followed the banks rules and it resulted in them having do more work.”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person weighed in.

Another reader shared their thoughts.

This individual was amused.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a contractor who flew along way and spent 3 days on a fix only to find a breaker that needed to be flipped.

And this reader weighed in.

Nice work, fella!

And I also appreciate the fact that the bank manager thought this tactic was pretty funny.

Hey o!

This was a clever way of getting around the rules!