Some managers are nice enough, others… not so much. A Redditor who used to work at Home Depot has shared a story of how carrying out an ill-advised order from a manager who made no effort to accommodate a serious pollen allergy got the callous jerk fired, and commenters are pleased to see karma doing its job. Bored Panda even reached out to the Reddit user for comment, which you can find by scrolling down!
The story was posted on r/MaliciousCompliance, a subreddit for stories about deliberately following instructions that one knows won’t end well just to stick it to the person who gave them.
Image credits: William Brawley (not the actual photo)
A Reddit user who goes by tortellini21, while working as a cashier at Home Depot in high school, was ordered by a manager, “Bob”, to cover the garden department. Bob was unmoved (to put it nicely) when asked whether he was sure he didn’t want to staff the department with someone who wasn’t severely allergic to pollen.
Lacking a doctor’s note and driven by spite, the cashier went and gave it a try anyway.
Luckily, it just so happened to be audit day, and the regional manager wasn’t too pleased to see a cashier trying to serve customers while covered in rashes and throwing up under the counter.
Check out this Redditor's story of "malicious compliance"
Image credits: tortellini21
Fortunately, this time, the case was clear-cut enough that the regional manager shut it down right away, but if you’re in a situation where allergies are interfering with your work and your manager isn’t taking it seriously, they could get into legal trouble.
Many countries in North America and Europe have defined severe allergies that can prevent one from breathing or doing their job as protected disabilities. A manager who just wants to cut corners and not have their will questioned will probably want to avoid a lawsuit.
Here's what commenters had to say
Still, if you have severe allergies, having a record of them will probably make things easier for you when negotiating for accommodations.
Bored Panda reached out to tortellini21 for comment and lessons learned: “This experience has made me realize that not every person is fit for every job they want to work. I got lucky that Nick was there when he was, but I also have learned to be my own self advocate. I stand up for myself a lot more now,” says the Reddit user, who we hope stays far away from huge greenhouses packed with flowers now.