A Soldier Was Ordered to “Trim” the Base Overgrown Hedges—So He Followed Orders to the Absolute Literal Extreme
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When an instruction is vague, following it can be tricky.
The following story is about a former soldier whose superiors gave him unclear instructions.
While stationed in Germany, he was told to trim the badly overgrown hedges outside his apartment.
No one else had tried cutting them, so even if it felt unfair that he had to do it, he did it… in a way nobody ecpected.
Talk about malicious compliance. Let’s take a closer look!
Trim the hedges! Okay. If you insist.
When I was in the Army, I discovered that the best way to get even with incompetent NCOs was to follow their orders exactly as stated.
This would be followed by, “That’s not what I wanted you to do!”
“Well, that’s what you told me.”
“But that’s not what I meant!”
Eventually, they’d leave me alone.
This man was ordered to trim the hedges.
Onward to the malicious compliance.
While assigned to Germany, we lived in an apartment provided by the post.
In the summer, mowing the lawn rotated among the apartments.
When it was my turn, they decided that the hedges needed to be trimmed.
They were very overgrown.
So, he trimmed them to about 12 inches from the ground.
I pointed out that apparently no one else had been trimming them, as they were about 6 feet tall and growing wild.
They said, “Too bad. It’s your turn. You have to do it.”
I did. I trimmed them to about 12 inches from the ground.
When I was questioned later, I said, “You told me to trim them. I did.”
I wasn’t required to trim them again. Then again, after 2 summers, I don’t think they needed it.
Well, OP was told to trim the hedges, and he did exactly that.
After all, no one told him how tall or short the hedges should be, right?
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They should have given clearer instructions if they wanted the hedges shaped a certain way.
And the fact that he wasn’t asked to do it again means his lesson stuck. Good job, OP!
Let’s check out the comments of other people on this story.
Short and sweet.
This person shares a somewhat related story.
Here’s an honest opinion.
Another one chimes in.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a lifeguard who saves a child only to be confronted by parents angry about the paperwork.
Finally, this user makes a valid point.
If you don’t explain what you want, you can’t complain when you get something else.
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