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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/my-reddit-saga on 2025-08-14 20:36:54+00:00.

This is from way back when I was a teenager. I started an internship at a company that sold pet food and supplies in bulk. My role was simple, I was told to clean. So I cleaned. A lot the first day. They were very happy about my job that day.

By day two, I’d already spotted many red flags. The staff kitchen had no running water and apparently hadn’t for about a year I heard. That was just one out of many problems management didn’t care about for the staff. I also noticed how no one really talked to each other, they just worked like robots with their heads down. Anyway, I worked hard and cleaned up a lot in the store this second day.

On my third day, I decided to tackle some of the mess outside that had clearly been there forever like broken soggy bags of old pet food, busted buckets, I even put some empty barrels in a shed, and cut and removed overgrown weeds. I figured I’d make the place look good for customers.

That’s when a manager stormed over and said, annoyed:

“Why are you cleaning this up? You don’t have the right to do that. You’re not allowed to clean.”

I remember I stared at him for a second thinking for myself: My entire job was to clean I was told… but now I’m not even allowed to clean? Then what am I doing here then?

So I just said to him: “Okay. Bye.”

Then I turned around went and grabbed my stuff, left the work clothes and just left, and never went back again.

I was young, still living at home, and didn’t need any income, and this was only a internship. So I had what you might call “f**k you” capital. And I wasn’t about to waste it on a place that treated people like that. I was only there for work experience. Not to get mentally abused.

If this had happened later in my life I would have looked at it differently I think, I was a teenager when this happened with very little “real life” (work) experience. Some but not much.