“Our Chairs Were Taken Away So We Could Not Sit Down”: Mechanics End Up Costing Employer Thousands In Malicious Compliance

Sometimes management, the so-called ‘big wigs,’ feel like they know better than anyone. This is often quite annoying for everyone involved, but when the higher-ups feel they know more than a team of technical specialists, then we have a recipe for disaster.

Recently, an internet user shared a story of malicious compliance when he and his team of technicians were ordered to work a different way. Well, they got what they wanted and proved that old adage of “be careful what you wish for.” The story went viral and other users flocked to the comments to share their examples of micromanaging in places where it shouldn’t have happened.

While OP’s story ended up costing the taxpayer in the short term, at least it taught management to not interfere where they aren’t needed. Like a child burning their hand on a hot stove for the first time, this probably saved this office a lot of time and energy in the future. Unfortunately, sometimes ignoring a specialist comes with deadly consequences. In 2022, the LAPD bomb squad was planning to destroy a stash of illegal fireworks. This is normally done by remotely detonating them in a reinforced vessel. Why they don’t just drive out into the desert and enjoy a quick fireworks show is anyone's guess.

In this particular case, a senior technician realized that the vessel, or TCV, would not be able to withstand the explosion. His concerns were pushed aside by a supervisor who told him to “relax” and ordered the fireworks blown up in one go. On June 30th, the LAPD detonated the fireworks. The blast quickly destroyed the TCV and also took a significant part of the neighborhood with it. 17 people were injured and many others were displaced as their property was badly damaged. Fortunately, there were no deaths, but it just goes to show that even when dealing with literal explosives, managers somehow still think they know better than the experts.

There are some psychological factors at play when upper management decides, without merit, that it knows better. This phenomenon isn’t unique to managers. Psychologists call this resistance theory. The basic idea is that when a person is told not to do something, they see this as an attack on their freedom. Most people naturally resist, which in itself is not always a bad thing. The real issue arises when a person in a position of power can’t contain their natural impulse and disregards information from an expert. Managers do need to maintain some degree of authority, but there are countless examples of them taking it too far.

To look at this problem historically, we can go back to the medieval ages. In her book “A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century,” historian Barbara W. Tuchman writes "modern historians have suggested that in his [Richard II] last years he was overtaken by mental disease, but that is only a modern view of the malfunction common to 14th rulers: inability to inhibit impulse.” While it may be nice to know that this problem appears hard-coded into humans, it also creates the unfortunate implication that having higher authority does not actually make one less likely to do bad decisions. So the next time an expert tells you something that your gut disagrees with, respectfully ignore your gut. It wants you to be free, but it doesn’t always know what’s best.