Good training teaches employees how to solve problems, while bad training merely teaches them who to blame.

What happens when inexperienced retail workers are ordered to stop asking questions in front of customers?

Instead of magically gaining expertise, one new hire began following that confidence-building policy exactly as instructed.

Check out how quickly the customer experience unraveled.

Leaning into the ‘no questions’ policy

I work at a retail store where each sale requires on average 10 minutes of paperwork, that’s if you’re fast and know what you’re doing.

This is where it gets bad!

Two months into the job, the boss told us new hires to “Stop asking questions in front of the customers. We look like clowns and customers lose confidence.”

The only training they provided was asking questions. They’d stick you with a customer and make you guess how to process the paperwork. If you got stuck, you’d ask for help.

They tell you what to click but not why. Then they info dump all exceptions to the rule they just gave you.

He knew he had to do something about it!

Malicious compliance: Stop asking questions and I take my sweet time (30-40 minutes) guessing my way through paperwork.

– I’ve undercharged customers.

– A customer actually walked out. “Call me when you all actually have time for me, because I can’t be here all day”

He did not stop there!

– A customer decided not to buy. The senior employee was mad I didn’t ask about shipping. “Yes, we usually don’t but we sometimes make exceptions. Always ask questions!”

– When I’m at the sales desk, instead of asking if we sell a product or accept an insurance, I just tell callers that we don’t. This saves me from doing the work of looking them up.

– When I’m working the reception desk, I waste time looking up obscure insurance policies instead of just asking a senior employee.

And finally the cherry on top!

– I’m not Latino but I speak some Spanish. Now when Spanish speakers call, I only respond in English. Before I would speak Spanish and ask for help if I need it.

Now because of the no questions policy, I don’t even ask my co-workers if they are free to take a call.

I feel bad for these people though. but not too bad, all they have to do is call back and hope I don’t answer lol.

YIKES! That sounds fun!

Why wouldn’t the boss train his employees first?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user knows how to tackle situations like these.

This user knows this must have been fun!

That’s right! This user knows this policy is INSANE!

Exactly! This user knows it is not a problem when someone has a genuine question.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who was passed over for a promotion, so got a job with the competition and quit immediately.

This user knows this system is just sad!

OP obeyed the no-questions rule by slowly guessing through paperwork, undercharging customers, denying services, and letting sales disappear rather than seeking help.

Queues stretched, callers received wrong answers, and senior employees complained about mistakes that proper training and basic questions could have prevented.

Management wanted workers to look confident, so OP delivered the serene confidence of someone being spectacularly wrong without requesting assistance.