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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/commonly_known_BS on 2024-06-11 19:28:24+00:00.

First of all, English is not my first language so I apologise in advance for spelling and vocab errors. And I am not sure if this exactly falls under malicious compliance, but I wanted to share it anyways.

This story is kind of a short one concerning my mum. Quick info for the setup: the house she lives in now was formerly rented to our grandmother who died around the time my parents got divorced a couple of years ago. My parents had built the house in 1990 at around the same time as an older woman did on the neighbouring property. Let’s call that woman Rita. When I was a toddler, we lived in the same house as my grandmother but then moved. I still remember that something was always a bit odd about Rita and she was… particular. Her house smelled stale and of old shoes stored in a wet basement, and she had been a teacher before retirement, a strict one judging by her personality. Her whole property is fenced in and at the front gate there is no bell. As far as I know, you’d have to yell and hope she was home if you’d wanted something from her or climb the fence. This is something I haven’t figured out in 28 years yet.

Rita always had her own opinions and was strange when it came to cars from visitors or even vehicles from the plumber or handyman parked in the tiny cul-de-sac our houses were located around. When my sister and I got old enough to drive a car and we’d park at the side of said sul-de-sac or there was a birthday gathering, you could bet all your money Rita would get her car out of her garage on her property and park it outside of her fence as well. Everyone would have to squeeze their car around hers then. She does it to this day. Just to make a point, I guess.

When my grandmother died and my mum renovated the whole house to not have it remind my mum of her (our father had been pressuring her to get out of the old family house and move into the one our grandma died in barely 8 weeks before) Rita would give her unwelcomed two cents about how it was different from how it was for nearly 30 years. She would ask what my mum would do with the flowers and plants “my grandma had loved and tended to all those years” when my mum remodeled the garden as well and if she thought my grandmother would like the changes since the house and garded did not resemble its former appearance. You know, statements you just don’t want to hear during such a difficult time.

To cut this story short, Rita did many more things in her own form of demonstration of disapproval or she would phrase criticism like a well meant comment.

So, the day comes when my mum orders big metal plates (around 1x2 metres) with long stilts to hold them upright just at her side of the fence to Rita’s garden (the fence is low and doesn’t block the view). This sort of metal is supposed to oxidise as garden decoration and with a second purpose of creating a divider while the hedge was still growing. Here in Germany there are many regulations for everything, some more sensible and logical than others. One of them is that for such metal deviders to be installed, you need your neighbour’s approval when they are 2,00 metres high or higher and located between your properties. My mum had no intention of asking Rita because she would say no (not that Rita asked when she planted her stuff right at the fence and it grew into my mum’s flower beds) so a family friend dug up the holes, filled them with concrete, and errected the metal dividers at exactly 1.99 metres height. This way, my mum was complying with the laws and would have easily denied any accusation if Rita would have taken issue with the new additions. They were under the 2 metre mark, after all.

When I came over for a visit after their installation, my mum proudly showed them to me and told me why the exact height was so particular. We raised our wine glasses to this brilliant idea and each time I see the metal dividers, I am reminded of how mischievous my mum can be if she wants to and how Rita has to look at oxidised metal plates from her side of the fence.