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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/luisalyn_ on 2025-05-30 04:40:21+00:00.

A few years back, I was working in a small office where I basically did a bit of admin work, customer service, scheduling, you name it. I was kind of the unofficial catch all employee. My manager loved being in control but would never actually take responsibility when things went sideways.

One day, one of our longtime clients called in and asked to reschedule a major service appointment. They were super reliable, always paid on time, and honestly just easy to work with. I looked at the schedule and saw that with a bit of rearranging, we could make their new time work just fine, so I went ahead and made the change. Done and dusted.

Later that day, the manager stormed into my office like she had just caught me stealing company secrets.

She asked if I rescheduled the said Client without her approval. I affirmed and told her I’ve done that in the past.She then said from then on, I was not to make any schedule change without written approval from her. Email me. Every time. I want it in writing. Those were her words.

Okay then. If that’s what she wanted, I could play that game.

From that moment on, I emailed her for every single change even the smallest, most routine stuff. Appointment time shifts, when someone came back from lunch late, if a client called in to confirm something, if a tech was running ten minutes behind. Didn’t matter. I sent it all. And I waited for her written approval every time.

It didn’t take long before things started to pile up. Clients were calling back wondering why their appointments hadn’t been confirmed. Techs were waiting in the parking lot because I couldn’t officially send them to the next job without her go ahead. One poor guy waited 45 minutes because she didn’t check her email all morning.

After about two weeks of this nonsense, she came charging into my office, completely exasperated.

She asked why I was blowing up her inbox with all of that. I simply told her I was just doing exactly what she asked. You said everything had to be in writing, so I’m making sure I have your approval before touching anything. I said at the end.

She just stood there blinking, realizing she had created her own nightmare.

Let’s just say that little policy didn’t last much longer