Hey guys, welcome back to our slash malicious Compliance, where an awful boss treats her employees like slaves.

Here is what happened.

Let's dive right into the video and the first one is titled Insane Karen Boss wants me to be her slave.

So I'm sixty seven years old and was involved in an accident at my workplace that led to a spine injury and confined me to a wheelchair.

I spent my career in logistics and operations, but after a long loyal stint with the company I had been hired out of college and the growing health issues from my accident, I retired a couple of years early.

I'm a man of the sixties and seventies, though, and we are not the kind to sit still at home and watch life go by.

It was miserable to think of my days spent doing little to nothing, and I'm pretty sure I near drove my wife insane with the constant anxious activity.

I was going to the grocery store a couple times a day in order to just talk to people.

One thing I hadn't really considered was a part time job.

But my wife is much smarter than me.

So she had everything in order and surprised me by presenting me with a job interview at a boutique pet grooming spa.

It was one of those shops that serves the clients who carry their fur babies around in their purses and throw extravagant birthday parties for their cats and well guys.

Obviously, I totally don't do that.

Well Now, I haven't worked with animals professionally, but I've always loved them.

For most of my life, I've had a wild assortment of animals filling my house.

If it weren't for the strain that taking care of various lizards, dogs, cats, birds, and various rodents placed on an old man in a wheelchair, I still would.

Now I just have two small dogs that my wife refused to part with.

I might have been an advocate for taking care of your own animals, but it couldn't turn down the chance to be around animals all day.

It was a lot of fun, and the team was mostly young kids, and we all got along well, and the customers grew to love me.

I stuck to the front desk for the most part.

I would answer the phone, do paperwork and scheduling, check clients in and out, etc.

When there wasn't a lot of customer traffic, I would help clean up a bit.

You might think I was used to hair after years as a pet owner, but oh my gosh, the hair here.

I couldn't really do the actual grooming, not that they needed me to the place was world staffed anyway, and I juggled appointments and customers around effortlessly to ensure efficient work.

I did have over forty years of experience in logistics, though after three years of part time work, most of the staff had learned the pos and appointment system from me, and my organization system ran the boutique.

Then our manager had to move across the state, and the regional manager decided to hire a woman aptly named Karen.

Even though our location was highly successful with spotless reviews, corporate took our manager's move as an opportunity to increase efficiency at our location.

So this was apparently an effort to correct underperforming boutiques, and they figured that with our manager gone, we would immediately crumble to pieces after being the highest performing location in our region before, and to increase efficiency, they brought in tyrants that had no experience in pet grooming and pushed extreme goals on them.

In the best of cases, distress would spread throughout the boutique and cause issues.

In the words, they were handing absolute power into the hands of people least prepared to handle it.

When Karen first inspected me and found that she had to look a bit lower and take into account my wheelchairs, well, she must have not liked what she saw.

I assume she expected my age to mean that I couldn't hear well either, because she didn't even try to be quiet when she mumbled, oh, we are accommodating splendid.

Hardly ten minutes spent in the building, and she had already made a formidable enemy.

Not that I was going to take this as any excuse to lash out against her or lessen my effort towards my work.

I took pride in what I had built in that boutique and wouldn't want to let down the multitude of regulars who came in expecting to see me either.

Karen did not need an excuse to lash out, though she had a decree from corporate practically begging her to.

Her strategy to increase efficiency was to destroy anything at anyone she saw as holding back the performance of the branch ours, pressured staff in ridiculous ways, micromanaged employees she viewed as underperforming, regardless of what their numbers reflected, and tore apart our organization system, only to never actually replace it.

We had our fair share of adult groomers who had been doing this work for a while, but we also had quite a few college students that came and went over the years.

Karen hated each and every one of these students and did not miss any opportunity to verbally abuse them for being lazy, tech obsessed, and generally everything that was wrong with the world.

She did not limit her age discrimination to the young staff, though, because her statement on accommodation was far from the only insult thrown my way.

Don't tire yourself out, Grandpa.

It must have been hard to work out all these new fangled computers.

Why are you always sitting down on the job.

If there was anything I'd learned in over forty years with one company, it's how to lower your head and push through the tough periods.

That did not stop the rest of the staff from slowly trickling away, though, even though it was getting harder for us to take care of of our normal workload.

Our regulars were not giving up on us just yet.

We had a Saturday come along that was the busiest day we had in three months, something like forty seven grooming appointments, a few walk in nail trims that I had to do to keep things moving, and a birthday event for a client's golden retriever.

There was actually cake decorations, dog guests, and a spa treatment for the birthday boy.

By the way, guys, that sounds like a place that Little Disney would love as well.

Anyway, to make it better, two front desk workers had called out with the flu, leaving me alone on the front desk.

Meanwhile, only two groomers had been scheduled to save the company precious pennies.

Karen, of course, was there, and she walked around and acted important, even though she had no clue how to do any job in the boutique other than yelling at us to do ours.

It was already an hour past the time I was supposed to clock out.

When I looked up and saw the time two pm.

I went to Karen and said, hey, I was supposed to leave an hour ago, but I can continue to stay later if you need the help.

I just need your approval for the overtime.

Karen was distracted by work she both didn't want to and wasn't able to do.

She waved off my comment and said, I need you to stay until closing.

I worked in logistics for a long time.

I was not going to accept half of the answer to my question.

See why A cover your assets.

That means that you will approve my overtime that will put me at eleven hours for the day in total.

I cannot do that o pee.

You clocked out an hour ago according to my records, But I need you until close.

You're salary anyway.

No, Karen, I'm part time hourly.

I'm not working when I'm not going to be paid.

Karen's side and actually deemed me worthy to focus on for a few milliseconds.

Stay and help us out.

I don't want you to come back to the boutique ever again.

I think we all know that asking people to work off the clock is the most consistently agreed upon worse thing you could do to an employee.

She later called me into her office again and called me a cripple that doesn't deserve to be working in such an honorable workplace and that I'm wasting everyone's time.

She demanded that I better work like a slave for her to prove my worth, else I might as well walk out the door, which would be better for everyone involved.

I was shocked at her outright hatred for me.

I wanted to be sure that I had this all properly understood.

So I want to make sure that I'm hearing this right.

If I don't work the rest of the day without pay, then you want me to quit.

Quit.

I want you to work for free, or I'll be firing euop.

Yeah right.

I went to the computer as I well as happily going along with her in saying request.

I went straight to our employee portal and filed an HR claim with as much of the incident as precisely described as I could get it, as well as some email documentation of early poor conduct.

I do keep records, and I also quickly hopped into word and typed up a resignation letter with a clear indicator that the hiring of Karen directly led to this decision.

Then I took off my name tech and said goodbye to Karen as I wheeled out of the door.

So the rest comes mostly in stories from the few workers that were still on pay roll.

Karen had no clue how to do anything with it pos system.

The groomers knew enough to get by, but with the workload hanging over their heads that day, they would need Karen to help with the grooming.

This was another absolute no in Karen's world.

She told a regular that the company didn't do loyalty points anymore, rather than try to help them access the rewards.

Not long after this incident, Karen got a call from corporate, who had been receiving a host of escalated complaints.

She proceeded to scream at the customers until they were all out of the door and locked the place up early.

A video of her rent later went viral, along with another video of her screaming a lecture at a college kid for being lazy while he was in the midst of bathing four large dogs back to back to back.

Karen was then on administrative leave by Monday, and by Friday she was gone for good.

The company claimed they would do everything in their power to rebuild trust in the employees and the community, but still the damage was done.

After I left, the last few full time groomers got poached by a local pet spa that had opened in the area recently.

The regulars had watched things go down hell, but it wasn't until I left that they fully knew that they wouldn't support this company anymore.

The location that used to be the top performer in the region and was well loved by its community shut its doors within three months of me rolling out the door.

HR sent me a formal apology with a gift card and a written acknowledgment of discrimination.

I've never been one with thin skin, and I wasn't about to waste time in my retirement pursuing a suit, so I let them get away with it.

I did learn how much I loved working with animals at the boutique, even with the poor ending with the company, though, I decided to volunteer at a local animal shelter and run the front desk a few days a week.

There's not a Karen in the world that will work for Meaga animal shelter pay, but I would have done it for free.

And the next one is another fantastic malicious compliance story that you don't want to miss.

And if you enjoy these stories, please don't forget to like the video.

It would be amazing if we could reach one thousand likes and also post a comment because that helps me tremendously.

Thanks a lot for the support.

And the next one is titled take the chairs away from our work area.

We are gonna have this place up.

So I work for a major US airline for a long time, and at several airports there's an area behind the baggage counter where the bags get sorted for their respective flights after they've been checked.

We are on our feet most of the time, but we each have chairs at our workstations so we can sit and rest for a minute when there's a lull in bags coming down.

Every few years there will be a damn new manager who's going to turn this airport around and make it the best performing one in the system, and they all seem to have the same idea.

Take away the chairs so the agents are always standing at the belt.

Now, the agents in this area are generally on the senior side, as it's indoors and out of the elements, and we have done the job for a while.

We know how to do the job efficiently, and we really do our best to avoid eff ups.

But as long as human error is a factor, there will always be some taking our chairs does nothing but piss us off.

Their bes.

Excuse usually is framing it as a safety issue or a tripping hazard, so that's where we start.

Smaller or oddly shaped bags get sent down in a plastic tub so they don't jam the belt.

Maybe you've seen them.

We take them off the belt, stack them up on the ground for someone to come by and collect.

Not anymore, though, we let them pile upon the belt, making it a giant pain in the ass for the poor idiot collecting them, and they are complaining constantly to the manager.

We say, sorry, boss, they're a tripping hazard on the ground.

Next, we start following the rules.

Our employee handbook lays out very clearly what the company's expectations for us are.

In our job duties.

We are only expected to pull one bag per minute and take bags out no later than twenty minutes before the flight departs.

Maybe you guessed already, but those expectations are nowhere near good enough to actually complete these tasks.

So by the company's own rules, we were already going well beyond what was expected of us.

So then we start giving them the bare minimum one bag per minute twenty minutes prior.

The manager was pissed he and the supervisors were throwing bags, and us being unionized, we documented and grieved every single dime it appened, and the company a few days later had to pay our brought several thousands to agents for covered work delays across the board and one thousand, five hundred bags missed that day.

The next morning, the chairs were back in their spots and we continued as normal, and afterwards no one would give that manager at the time of day.

By the way, a lot of passengers got screwed over that day, but we were working exactly to the rules our company had given us, so you can blame the airline and not the agents.

The handbook was changed after a while, but only extending it to thirty five minutes prior instead of twenty.

It still won bag per minute last I looked.

Also, I was lucky enough to be a part of three of these events over the years, but this was the most satisfying one.

And the next one is another malicious compliance story.

It is titled you want to review every client interaction perfect?

Your inbox is about to blow up.

So I've been working at this small marketing agency for just over a year now.

It is my first real job after college, and I've been thrilled to have actual clients and responsibilities.

Well, I was thrilled until we got a new account manager, Debbie not her real name, obviously, and Debbie came from one of those corporate mega agencies where apparently they micro manage the living daylights out of everyone.

From day one, she had concerns about my communications style with clients.

But mind you, I've been praised by these same clients for being responsive and helpful.

Last month, after I sent what I thought was a perfectly normal email to our biggest client about a small scheduling change, Debbie called an emergency meeting.

From now on, I need to approve all client communications before they go out, she announced, with that big smile that fake managers use when they are being unreasonable but pretending that they are helping you.

Everything emails, phone calls, text messages, meeting agendas, send them to me first for a review.

When I pointed out that this would slow down our response times, she just waved her hand dismissively.

It's about quality control, better, deb right than fast.

Fine, you want all communications?

You got it?

Debbie.

So I started that very afternoon.

Every single thing.

If a client asked what time a call was scheduled, I drafted an email response and sent it to Debbie, awaiting your approval on this time confirmation.

If a client texted asking for a quick file, I would screenshot at an email Debbie, please approve my response to this text message.

I even created a special fold in my drafts called awaiting Debbie's approval and set up an automated counter.

By the end of day one, I had sent her seventy's approval requests, and by the end of the week it was over one hundreds.

The best part, though, I stopped answering my phone when clients called.

Instead, I would let it go to voicemail and then email Debbie.

Client X called about why my proposed response is attached, Please approve Afterward.

Two weeks, Debbie was getting drowned.

She would fall behind on approving my communications, which meant clients were not getting responses.

They started escalating to her directly, which doubled her workload.

The breaking point came when our biggest client email both of us complaining about delays.

I responded to the client with I have forwarded your concerns to Debbie for approval of my response.

Once approved, I will get back to you promptly next morning.

Debbie stopped by my desk, cloking, exhausted.

I think we need to adjust our approval process, she said, trying to maintain her corporate dignity moving forward.

Just use your judgment for routine communications.

Only send me things that involve project scope, timeline changes or budget discussions.

Are you sure, i asked innocently.

I have about thirty draft responses waiting for your review right now.

She visibly crunched.

That won't be necessary anymore.

I've been happily setting emails without approval for two weeks now.

Debbie barely makes eye contact in the hallway, and honestly, that's fine by me.

The best part, though, my quarterly review is coming up, and all those approval emails are documented proof that I've been trying my absolute best to follow company protocol.

Sometimes malicious compliance is the best teacher.

And before we hit the video, let's read one last funny story from our slash Malicious Compliance.

It is titled drive an eight ton back hoe five miles down two lane highway at fifteen miles per hour.

Okay, dokie.

So I worked for this horrendous a hole when I was ninetyeen for eight bucks per hour, and he hated that I work two other jobs.

I never missed a shift, but he would let me work late on purpose, knowing I would only get four hours of sleep before school, just so I might quit one or both of my jobs.

Anyway, I show up to work for my four pm shift and my boss tells me to take the back home down to ABC Business because we have a crew of ten guys ready to load gear onto pallets and I need to put them on the truck.

Well, you know, the thing is, ABC Business was five miles away and the tractor only goes fifteen miles per hour top speed.

So I'm like, are you sure?

It's only a two lane road most of the way, and he cuts me off and says quit, arguing if you say another word, you're fired.

I was mad.

I don't take this respect kindly, and it certainly was not worth eight dollars per hour.

So I get about twenty minutes into my drive and he starts blowing my phone up.

The tractor is loud, so I played it off like I did not hear the phone back before people mostly put their phones on vibrate.

I get about halfway there and I realized he was probably talking about ABC Business's old location that shut down six months ago, and it's only about one mile from the origination as opposed to five miles.

So what do I do?

I drove the rest of the way and kindly called my boss back to inform him the location was empty and nobody showed up.

Of course, he meant the old location, and although he suspected me of malicious compliance, he choked it up to incompetence of a nineteen year old kid and sent everyone else home with two hours pay.

He was so furious because he couldn't yell at me for being dumb, and I got the rest of the night off after my long drive home, pulling over every thirty feet or so to let people pass on the highway.

Little winds awl we get sometimes and I savor this one even twelve years later.

And yeah, guys, I hope you enjoyed the stories.

I will see you again tomorrow, and please don't forget to check out my playlist on the left if you cannot get enough of my stories.