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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/brighteye006 on 2024-02-02 17:00:08.
English is not my first language so sorry for any spelling mistakes.
Years ago, when flip phones were the hot thing to own, i worked in a factory making paper.
6 people in each shift, constant watching the machine process, in case of wrinkles, tears or sometimes fire. paper dust in the air had the habit of falling on fast moving parts of the machines, and presto - almost instant fire. We usually several small fires every year, but nothing we couldn´t handle.
We had all worked there ten years or more, so the trust were high, that we did our worke and our floor manager ( John ) never had to direct us to do something, until one really special day.
Something to know about the factory - it was big. really big. So North of it, were a workshop with mechanics ready to help us and the other companies in the same building.
East of us were loading bay and ramps for trucks. South were another company that laminated and printed paper. West of us, were an area rented out short time. Sometimes a mess hall for showing products, and other times shop and warehouse for sport equipment. Everything under the same roof. This is where the problem began.
After one of the worst fires we had, i were on vacation - while my coworkers tried to keep the fire as small as possible until the firemen arrived. Three people ended up with smoke inhalation damage, and two of them were ok after a few days, Paul on the other hand, got lifelong damage. He could still work, but when a company repaired our floor, they used epoxy sealing of cracks - and Paul could suddenly not breathe. Teamleader drove him to hospital, and after inhaling Bricanyl, he could breathe again.
We now knew how badly damaged his lungs were and any strong chemical could kill him.
I had years of experience working with strong chemicals, so it never bothered me, something that would come into play later. Months after this, we changed workschedule and our shift only worked weekends. Sweet deal, with extra pay, only hassle were the burners that would dry the paper. They could sometimes be a pain to fire up, as the safe nature friendly LPG had problems to start in cold weather. No problems, while we waited for those to work, you could start the rest of the machines that were driven by electricity.
Do you all remember the warehouse west of us that sometimes got rented out ? Well, for some unknown reason, pressure perhaps, their ventilation pipe, were directly over the panels we used to control our machines. Sometimes we could smell leather of jackets being sold next to us, one summer they sold strawberries there and after work, we all went there and filled our cars, those strawberries were dirt cheap. One Saturday, someone had the bright idea to just rent the place for the weekend and spraypaint their big lawnmover. ( we felt the fumes right away ).
You guessed it, big rush to the hospital with Paul again, and i had a nice talk with the guy.
At this time, we were part of the European Union, and as i had worked with chemicals - i knew the papers you had to sign, the people you had to talk to and the documentation you had to bring with the chemicals , just to take the chemicals inside a factory. He had none of that.We talked with the company that owned the factory, and they promised to never let this happen again.
That promise lasted four months. When i arrived one morning, i saw that the chimney on the factory had no smoke. Odd i thought, as some of the earlier guys usually fire up the burners right away as they could be tricky. After changing clothes, and ready to open the door to the workplace, i felt it.
Nausiating strong chemical fumes, enough to melt wallpaper. I took a big breath, held it and rushed to the coffee room. that was sound proof and had rubber insolation at the door, but inside i still could feel the fumes. Half of the guys were there drinking coffee, the rest of the guys had taken Paul to the hospital again. It was really bad this time. Everything were shut down as nobody could work with fumes like that. They had opened up every door and window they could, but it would take hours before any work could be done. They have talked to a new guy renting the west area, and he had apparently spent the whole night spraypainting combine harvester, and all the fumes had gone directly to us.
Now we come to the Malicious Compliance part, finally.
While we are sitting there drinking coffee, chatting and waiting for the fumes to go away, in comes the floor manager. I have never seen John that angry, and while he never said so, i assume he got a call from the CEO that ripped him a new one as the numbers on the computer said we all were working and produced zero paper for an hour. John must have felt the fumes, but still chewed us all out, even after we explained about the fate of Paul. He was adamant that it wasn´t that bad, and every minute the machines doen´t run is costing the company money.So i stood up and said to the others, you two, stay and i go with John, to start up the burners. He followed me out, whale i casually chatted with him, trying to look so unbothered of the fumes that i could.
We had several panels to start, so i slowly walked to the first one. I felt the fumes, but i could handle strong chemical fumes, as i had done it before. It seemed like the burners were on my side this day, as they absolutely refused to start. Even when they struggle - they usually get the hint about what i want them to do in ten or fifteen minutes, but this day they were extra obstinate. When we got to panel number two, John looked a little green in the face, but as he wanted us to work in the fumes, let us do that. Same problem with the burner again, and i looked at my watch - we had been in the fumes over 30 minutes now. Even i started to fell dizzy and nauseous by now, not that you could see it on my face. I looked happy as normal while working on starting the machines. When we came to the third and last maching, John gave up. He were white in the face and said with a low voice - perhaps we could wait a while until the fumes cleared up ? Whatever you say, i said with a grin.
John never yelled at us again, and i had a warm feeleing when i think about that day.
Fallout:
On monday the “mud” really hit the fan, and safety in the place suddenly became priority number one. We had many visits from state departments. Sometimes in suits, and other times in white labcoats measuring this and that. Several machines had to be rebuilt with extra added security features. Work accidents went from five a year to just one, or numbers like that - i am guessing here. It had massive effect and it probably cost a pretty penny to fix.
Paul however, never got really well again - but he retired early and got a hefty compensation, not only the pay he would have recieved for the years he should have been working until pension, but also damages, both from the company, but also from a special pot of cash, the union had for moments like this. Not that it can compensate for lifelong asthma, and inability to run more than a minute.
Sorry for the long story, with small part of MC, but i wanted to get it off my chest.
TLDR: Floormanager tell me to work despite toxic fumes, so i do.