The best malicious compliance is when someone actually learns a lesson from it, and it’s even better when their peers are the ones who teach them that lesson. There’s nothing like peer pressure to get through to someone!

In today’s story, a manager turns the tables on an employee who refuses to start work a few minutes early, but it’s his fellow employees who help him understand why he needs to change his ways.

Let’s read the whole story.

A little Malicious Compliance from a (now retired) manager

I was part of a security team for a large public building.

Since the building had to be available to the public for more than eight hours per day, we had two shifts. “Early Shift” 6:00am to 2:00pm and “Late Shift” 10:00am to 6:00pm.

I was the supervisor on the late shift. My staff consisted of me and six guards, including a guy I’ll call “Jersey”.

They had a good system going.

The building closed at 5:00pm which meant no more people could come in, but the employees and public inside could finish their business and leave.

At the end of the day, our job was to ensure the building was clear of people, lock all the appropriate interior doors, set the alarms and leave at 6:00.

Since it didn’t take seven of us to complete this, I would allow all staff except one to leave about 5:15 or 5:30. By then, 90% of the people were gone. The daily designated staff member and I could handle the closing tasks.

The staff would rotate who stayed with me each day and the system worked out well for all involved. This meant everyone was getting off work 30-45 minutes early every day (and getting paid for a full day).

Someone needed to handle a crisis.

One morning, about 9:30 we had a minor crisis in the building, and I needed a staff member to handle it.

I knew it would take most of the day so I didn’t want one of the “early shift” guys to handle it or it would incur overtime.

Two or three of my guys, including Jersey, were in the locker room getting ready to start their shift. I asked Jersey to grab his gear and go handle the issue.

He looked at me and said, “You know, technically I aint on the clock yet”.

I told him he was correct and to never mind. I grabbed a day shift person to handle the issue and the day progressed as normal.

Time for payback.

5:15 rolls around and I wander into the locker room. I see my guys all getting ready to leave, including Jersey.

I asked them where they were going.

They told me which employee was staying with me and that he was still at his post.

I glanced around the room then locked eyes with Jersey and said, “You know you are technically all still on the clock…. nobody leaves before 6”.

It was dead silent as I walked out of the locker room.

Jersey learned his lesson.

I have no idea what was said to him in the locker room, but I bet it wasn’t pretty.

We all stayed late that day, and no one said a word about it to me.

However, the following morning, Jersey was in my office waiting for me when I arrived. He said, “Hey boss, I’m sorry about yesterday morning, I was out of line. You won’t hear that from me ever again. Whatever you need, I’m here”.

We returned to normal operations after that and I had no trouble getting some one to step up on occasion. (As a boss, I will do whatever I can to take care of my employees, but I expect a little flexibility from them in return.)

It’s great that Jersey became more of a team player, but was the boss asking him to work before he clocked in? That’s not cool.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Employees work harder for good bosses.

Another manager shares his perspective.

This is true!

This person would’ve played it differently.

It is interesting that they were there early.

A good manager is hard to find.

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.