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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Foxglove_185 on 2024-02-22 00:03:31.

Note: This was done on mobile, so apologies for weird formatting. This happened a few weeks ago so conversations aren’t exact. Intentionally vague for anonymity, and the one name I do use is changed

I recently got a job at the same company my mom works at, and I ended up serving malicious compliance during my first week there.

Context: I recently changed jobs from a barback at a coffee shop to a production role in a small but growing company. My mom has been there for over a year, and what we do exactly isn’t relevant. I got the job because of my mom, because she recommended me, knowing I’m a good worker. I basically do odd jobs and cleaning, and support the other team members.

The basic structure for this place has my mom as my direct supervisor though technically my boss is the same as my mom’s boss. He’s not super important here, but there is also someone who’s basically overseeing production along with packaging, let’s call him Tom. Tom is kinda above mom I the hierarchy, but the company is also not super big on hierarchy. This story happened during my second shift at my new role.

Onto what happened. I had finished doing something, can’t really remember what, and I was going to go to my mom to get another assignment. I then saw she was talking with Tom, so I waited, though I was in their peripherals so they would see I was there. I was planning on waiting until they had a break in their conversation to ask her what she wanted me to do next, but then my mom noticed me.

She then looked at me and asked, “Foxglove! What do you think you’re doing just standing around?”

“I got done with [insert task here], and was waiting to ask you what else you wanted me to do. I didn’t want to interrupt you.”

“Well don’t just stand around! How about ‘hey supervisor person, I got done with [task]. Can you give me another task?’ Go do [different task].”

She then went back to talking with Tom. I just want to say here that she’s actually a pretty cool boss. Though this conversation may sound harsh, she was exaggerating for comedic effect, and she and Tom are chill, so he knew she was messing with me. But still, I saw a golden opportunity.

I went off to do my newly assigned task, and when I was done, I went straight up to my mom without hesitation. In the middle of her saying something, I interrupted;

“Hey supervisor person, I’m done with [task]. Can you give me another task?”

My mom looked at me, and she kinda looked annoyed, but then realized what she had said to me about 5 minutes earlier. She chuckled at little, and looked to Tom and motioned towards me, as if to say, ‘do you see what I have to put up with?’

She then asked me to wait a minute for her to be done with Tom, at which point she would assign me a new task. I waited out of earshot and got my next task.

Maybe not as dramatic as other stories on here, as the only fallout was me being told to use discretion on if I should interrupt her or not, but she didn’t even reprimand me, as I just did what she told me to. Even so, I’m still pretty happy with my own little malicious compliance.