Employee Teaches Manager A Lesson By Maliciously Complying To Her Rule About Clocking Out Only With Permission

After a long day at work, many of us want to go home, make a hot cup of tea, and unwind from the daily stress. But imagine walking up to your manager, telling them you’re about to clock out, only to hear them say you need to wait for permission to leave. Even after you're done with your shift.

While this scenario might sound absurd, this is precisely what happened to user Brooklynisqueerr who recently shared her story on Malicious Compliance. The author works at a kitchen appliances store and always gives her supervisor a heads up once her shift has ended. Yet, one day, the user felt seriously baffled after the manager seemed annoyed by her words.

It seems that the boss didn't want the employee to leave, so she made a new rule on the spot: "Next time, you need to wait for a manager to let you go home." If there’s one thing we know about senseless work rules, they can backfire in the most beautiful way. Read on for how the author maliciously complied and share your thoughts in the comments below.

We managed to get in touch with Brooklynisqueerr, who was kind enough to have a little chat about this whole incident. The author told Bored Panda that she decided to create this post on Malicious Compliance because she enjoys reading and listening to stories on this subreddit. "I wanted to make my own contribution to add to the fun," she said.

The user revealed that she did not expect her post to attract so much attention. In just a few days, the thread has amassed more than 23.3K upvotes and a few hundred comments. "I didn’t think people would find it as interesting as they did, to be honest," Brooklynisqueerr mentioned.

But it looks like many enjoyed reading about this absurd situation that the user had to experience at work. While some commenters started sharing similar stories from their jobs, other Redditors mentioned that the manager should discuss new rules with the employees first. "It always pays off to treat your employees like people and with respect," one user wrote.

"I spoke to my coworkers after my manager gave me that rule and they all seemed confused by it," Brooklynisqueerr added. One of them even told the author, "Yeah, that manager enjoys making up her own rules sometimes."

We were curious to learn whether there were any updates on the story. The user told us that nothing else really happened. "The rule was dropped and I pretty much went back to asking to go home when my shift was over. This was what we normally did and my manager has never made a comment about it since."

Brooklynisqueerr guessed that the reason so many people found the thread relevant could be because it’s always interesting to see how rules set up by the management backfire. "It’s a moment that everyone hopes to have, a moment where they can turn a manager’s rules back on them," she said.

The user wanted to add that bosses should not be snippy to people "with nothing but free time and expect them not to try and use it against you."

Rules should make your life simpler, not more complicated. Yet, according to CV-Library research, over 60 percent of Brits have worked for a company that carried out unnecessary and bizarre rules. Moreover, more than half of professionals were unhappy about having to abide by these rules.

The most ridiculous things that bosses in the UK were implementing were no food or drinks on the table, docked pay for being a few minutes late, and showing a doctor’s note for any kind of illness. As an employer, "you don’t want to make employees feel uncomfortable or untrusted by enforcing outrageous and unnecessary rules upon them," Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said.

"This could result in them leaving to find a more welcoming work culture elsewhere. So it’s important that you get the balance right."

The survey also revealed that over 67 percent of employees believed that their bosses did not have the right to apply such rules at their workplace. Biggins mentioned that the results from the survey are concerning. "To avoid any conflicts, you need to ensure that your company rules aren’t discriminatory or disrespectful towards employees in any way."

He continued: "You should think about running the rules by your HR department for a second opinion – this may flag up anything you missed." And, most importantly, bosses and managers need to have a conversation with their employees first. Otherwise, the workers could start feeling resentful or believe they’re being left out on purpose.