r/MaliciousCompliance - BOSS Rejected My Expenses, So I TRIPLED Them!

0:00Drippin' in gold? That's cool. Drippin' in Valvita's supremely creamy golden cheesiness? That's respect. Elevate your drip with Valvita's range of outrageously delicious dips and dishes. Shells, cheese, multi-blocks, and heat and heat queso that go all in on indulgence. Flex on your fam with a creamy cheesy masterpiece and go all in on what you love with Valvita. Respect the drip and satisfy your cravings. Bring home the drip with Valvita. Hello and welcome back to Karma Stories. I'm Rob and I hope you are having a wonderful day today. Today I have some stories for you from the malicious compliance subreddit. I don't have too much to add on today just to sorry for not being around. My computer actually died and so I ended up having to take three or four days where I couldn't record anything. Now as you all know I'm also looking after my wife so that's going on as well. Got the new computer in now, set up, ready to go. Let's just jump right in.

1:00This story comes to us from XTeacher is bored. Okay, I will cycle around all day instead of working. I worked for my local council doing work within the catchment zone of a river. The council office is not near where my work is and I only occasionally needed to go in, which was a lovely bike journey, but mainly worked remotely. Importantly when applying for my job I was told I would not be able to access work vans for the role and the role was remote with occasional days in the office. It's in my contract that I cannot access work vans, but also there was nothing stating that I needed my own vehicle for work. There was a change in the council and those in charge are ideologically against work from home as everyone is better in the office. I was informed I would need to check in at the main office every day. I arranged a meeting and emailed to explain my role and that most of my work wasn't near the office that I could only do what they wanted if I had a van, but I didn't think one was available. Meeting was turned down and the policy stated that all staff must start their shift in their base office.

2:05This was during summer and so I took the opportunity to do what I was told. Office was a lovely 16 mile bike ride from my home area of work and I would usually take about an hour and 15 to do it. So head into the office, find a desk and do the morning admin. Then back on my bike and back on the road to a site, would do an hour or so of work and have lunch and work for an hour or so more before cycling back to the office and then turning around. I was pretty fit, but the 60 plus miles a day was hard at first, but it didn't take too long to get comfy with it. Did take the bus a few times, but due to location requiring two buses each way, one west that took an hour because it went to every little village on the way, then changed and a quicker bus directly north, but that was slower than the bike ride. Took a couple of months, but eventually I got asked why I was completing so little work. A lot of accusations were thrown around, but based on my contract, communication where I pointed everything out,

3:05and direct orders from the top of the organization being followed, I was found to have simply done what I was asked, and then, quietly told, I could consider my base to be the site I worked out of, was great being paid to cycle around in the summer. Jumping down to the comments on this one we have one from a user called Gemini27, it says, Did you proceed to accidentally tell everyone else who worked there? I didn't need to, people noticed me arriving and disappearing and asked about it and proceeded to laugh away. Everyone was discussing how stupid it was to pay me to ride my bike for weeks and would ask me about it regularly, but somehow it took ages for leadership to catch on. Apparently I made the minutes of a meeting about the impact of BackTube the Office, but the ideology was so strong, they heard cycle in every day and thought it showed dedication, plus apparently mocked me not having a car, which was a distraction, not on the minutes. In fairness, me getting missed not working was a small issue in the grand scheme of things,

4:06the second in command who had come in needed HR to sit in on all meetings with his staff, as he had a habit of saying illegal things to people as threats. Poor HR lady had to send people out of the room to speak to him, and then just stop meetings and dress them down in front of the staff. Another commenter down below called still dazed and confused said, I'm in the UK, you can expend cycle miles as if they're fuel miles, at a lower rate of course 20 people miles. So if this was in the UK and your contract stated that your home was your office, those 60 miles a day could be expensed at 60 pounds a week. OP responded and said, I didn't even think to look into this. All I could think of on this one was that OP was doing 60 miles a day, their legs must have been amazing after that was all done. OP did kind of address that in the comments down below where they said that it was all gone now because they don't do the biking very much anymore. Monster Energy Everybody knows white monster, zero ultra, that's the OG.

5:09It kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing, but ultra is a whole line of now. You've got strawberry dreams, blue Hawaiian, sunrise, and vice guava, and they all bring the monster energy punch. So if you've been living in the white can, branch out, ultra's got a flavor for every vibe, and every single one is zero sugar. Tap the banner to learn more. New spring arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. Get ready to save big with up to 60% off rag and bone, Martha Jacobs, free people, and more. I didn't know no rack has a deed as. Because there's always something new. Join the Nordic club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. This story comes to us from Izzy of Albion. Had to comply before my boss would see that an idea was so stupid, it would prevent customers even entering the store.

6:13From 1997 until 2024, I was a retail manager, mostly for a chain of record stores. I was widely considered to be one of the best managers in the company. Mainly because I worked very hard, was very diligent, hired good staff, and took great pride in my work. My branch ran like clockwork, so I was frequently sent to the other branches that were failing in order to get them licked into shape to install better routines and to retrain staff to keep it that way. The company even used in-store administrative paperwork that I designed because I found the existing stuff messy and inefficient. All this to say, my opinions were well respected, and any concerns I raised were well heated. Until... October 2001. I was asked to sign for a consignment of Tressel tables. That's how they were described. They were folding wallpaper pasting tables. I thought there must be some mistake, but no, it was addressed care of me and to my branch. The accompanying memo said that I needed to erect these tables, all 20 of them on the shop floor, and staple the accompanying plastic rolls of what I can only describe as trash bag plastic, both in quality and in smell but red.

7:26To the tops of them like tablecloths, there are a number of issues here. Firstly, what for? We have beautiful bespoke, powder coated shelving for all the CDs, etc. It's a slick, professional retail space. What's the deal with wanting it to look like a yard sale? More importantly, my store, at least the retail space, is small. Barely more than 15 feet by 20 feet in fact. And the middle of the room is dominated by a large, immovable rack unit, which houses the back catalog CDs. Customers already complain that the store is cramped. People in wheelchairs and parents with strollers complain that it's hardly navigable. So even one of these tables is going to provide a maddening and pointless obstacle, perhaps even a safety hazard, not to mention blocking access to existing stock. Just one. I'm supposed to erect 20. This is ridiculous. So I called my regional manager, I'll call him Greg, and asked him what this was about. In fact, I gave him my thoughts in the strongest possible terms, but he seemed to think it was a brilliant idea by our recently installed new owners and would get customers in.

8:36I pointed out that on the contrary, it was guaranteed to keep customers out since they'd sent me 240 square feet of tables and I only have 220 square feet of floor space. They couldn't get in even if they wanted to, and they would only want to out of sheer morbid curiosity. He simply could not understand the problem. I implored him to understand the numbers to visualize the absurdity of this. He couldn't. He said it had all been worked out and every branch had the exact number of tables they needed. The conversation got heated. I said he was stupid if he couldn't understand this. He ordered me to just get it done and that he'd be down first thing in the morning to check compliance. And yes, I vividly remember him using that word before slamming the phone down. Well, I was infuriated, but determined to show him the full issue fully if that's what he wanted. I stayed late alone and wrestled these tables into place, having to carry each one down a long flight of stairs since deliveries are made to the top level of them all, what they call the service deck.

9:43It took me over two hours, cost me my back and many cuts and bruises, but I managed to get 18 of them in place, complete with tablecloth stapled to them. My beautiful shot floor is now a three foot high sea of crappy red plastic with barely a single square foot of floor space to stand in. I made sure that there was a navigable path underneath since I still needed to set the alarm and get out. I did so, having to literally army crawl under the tables to the exit, just managing to get the shutter down and locked in time. The next morning, about 8.35 am, Greg was there as promised, having got there before me. He was standing in stunned disbelief, looking through our grill shutter at this scene. What have you done, he said, somehow in disbelief? Exactly what you asked for, exactly what we talked about yesterday. Wait there, I slid the shutter up and army crawled back across the floor to the alarm to disarm it. Before shouting back to him, that's what I have to do just to get in, what do you propose the customers do if they want to buy something or even look at a product? Should they walk on top of the tables or crawl underneath?

10:51Greg's eyes were like dinner plates as he stood helpless at the entrance. How he couldn't picture this in his mind yesterday, I don't know, but I think he sees the problem now. Actually, Greg, this is only 18 of the 20 tables, we could stack the other two on top if you want. If it sounds like I'm being more cheeky to my boss than a person should, it's because I had already decided I was going to resign in due course. I was done with this. He shook his head despondently, let's just clear this mess up, he started at his end and I started at mine. Annoyingly, the tables now won't even fold in half easily because of the plastic stapled to the top of them. I ended up using a box cutter to slice the joint while Greg angrily slashed at it with a car key. It took us at least 40 minutes to get them all folded up away, backup stairs, and the shop floor clear. The store opened late as a result with the resultant annoyed customers and Greg spent the next hour using my store phone to tell head office what a stupid idea it was and that they had to urgently rethink.

11:55Jumping down in the comments on this one, we have one from a user called that Mr. Bean, it says some people literally cannot visualize. Opie responded and said, I know, I literally said to him, it's 240 square feet of tables and I have 220 square feet of floor space. What do you not get? And he just couldn't understand. I asked him a couple of times if he was thinking of a different branch, but honestly I don't think there was a branch in the country that could have comfortably accommodated 20 tables like that. He wasn't the brightest, I have more stories about that actually. Well, somebody else commented down below this one and said, please do share and Opie put another quick one into the comments. So we'll call that our next story from the same Opie Izzy of Albion. No title on this one because it's a comment and it says one that springs to mind was when he was with us on one of his visits and it was just me and my colleague Pete working. Times were hard and we were on skeleton staff all the time. So just two of us in most days.

12:56Not our fault, we staffed every man hour they could give us, but Greg still had this company policy in his head that there needed to be two staff members behind the counter, the checkout and one staff member on the shop floor to greet customers at all times. Obviously, this is no longer possible with just two staff. Obviously, right? Not to everyone. In this moment, by the way, it's like 902 AM. There isn't a single customer in the store. Greg is standing next to the counter, looks at me, busy behind the counter with Pete getting things set up for the day and says, who's on the shop floor? Like he's expecting an answer. Um, no one, I replied, but there must be someone on the shop floor at all times. Okay, I shrugged. I'll go on the shop floor. So I'm straightening CDs and such. Remember, there are no customers and Greg says to Pete, who's behind the counter? Pete looks around performatively and says, just me, Greg. But there must be two people behind the counter at all times. Pete and I both look at Greg like he's insane for a silent second. He doesn't seem to be joking. So I returned to behind the counter. Greg is satisfied for a moment. Then says, who's on the shop floor?

14:08So I can't take it anymore. I said, Greg, there's two people here. Two, unless you're going to count yourself, your three staff policy isn't going to work. It requires three staff. Again, we have two. How did that happen? He says, like I don't beg him on a weekly basis for more man hours, so we can at least cover lunch hours. It's insane. This is a policy from probably 15 years before. The mathematics so simple, a dog could do it. Now render it impossible. Again, Greg can't see it. He just had a complete blind spot for real world circumstances when it came to stupid head office policies. This is a common problem in retail, I think. If I remember any others worth telling, I'll be sure to post them. Well, if you ask me, it sounds like Greg is one of those people who could have a post in the stories about Kevin subreddit because they just don't seem to be all their upstairs, but they're in a role where they need to be able to think.

15:08I understand that some people might not be able to visualize something, but when you give them hard numbers like 240 square feet of tables with 220 square feet of floor space, that should just click in based on the numbers themselves. Especially when you consider that this was a regional manager. This story comes to us from Large Meat Feast. Angry Boss refuses expense claim and tells me to read the policy for guidance. Ingline 2015, I was sent on a week long mandatory training course through work. I already knew the subject backwards, but my boss wanted me to get the certificate to prove to upper management that his team was 100% certified. I was told that a train ticket would be booked as with a hotel bed and breakfast only. I'd have to pay for lunch and evening meals, but I would be able to claim up to 5 pounds per day for lunch and 11.72 pounds per day for evening meals. It was a really strange value, but I could eat easily within that limit.

16:08On the last night at the hotel, my food bill was 11.75 pounds, three pounds more than allowed. However, seeing as on the other nights I'd barely spent 10 pounds, I chanced that I could talk the finance people into approving it as the total spend would still be less than allowed for the week. The Monday I returned, I completed the expense form with the receipts and handed it to my boss for approval. An hour later, I was summoned to his office. He flatly refused to sign off on the expenses as I had overspent. When I tried to explain that it was by three pens and that on the Monday night I had actually underspent by two pound fifty, I was lectured as to the reasons that the limits were there and to read the policy. He sent me back to my desk and told me to resubmit. Q malicious compliance, I read the policy regarding expenses, then I read the staff handbook and then my contract. As it turned out, I could claim for the following.

17:08Reasonable costs for calling my family in the evening, no receipt required. Five pounds per night for being away from my family, no receipt needed. One off, 30 pounds for being more than three hours travel offered as an incentive. Regardless of time spent on course, it was equivalent to 40 hours. My standard was 37. Traveled to and from the venue was classed as being in work, that was overtime as it was out of hours and double for the Sunday. Friday, as I was late home, was considered an overnight stay. I resubmitted making the adjustments and highlighting the sections of the policies, where I had expected around 75 pounds in expenses, with the extras in the policies I claim for an extra 100 pounds, then filled in the time sheet for the travel overtime, which granted me an additional 150 pounds or so. The boss called me back into the office and tried to tell me that he wouldn't sign off on it, but I referred him to the policies, and simply told him that if he refused, I go above him, and maybe submit a formal complaint about him.

18:11I did take great satisfaction in reminding him that if he hadn't told me to read the policies, then I'd have never found out about all of the extras. Yes, I did inform every one of my work friends. Yes, I did get all the claim funds in my next paycheck. Jumping down to the comments on this one, we have one from a user called subjective assertive, it says, 12 pounds for an evening meal, even 10 years ago is bloody tight. When was that policy last updated? Opie responded and said, I don't work there anymore, but the place I now work for has a 45 pound per evening meal expense and 20 pounds for lunch. I love stories like this, where the Opie says that they told all of their coworker friends exactly what they were doing, so that they could go and claim all their expenses against the company as well. Everybody really should spend some time reading their company manuals and know what they are entitled to. The company is not going to tell you because they want to try and save that money, so figure it out for yourself, get everything you can back from the companies you work for because they owe you.

19:20Alright, we're going to go ahead and make this a shorter one today. I hope everybody enjoyed this episode, and if you did, make sure to follow us on your preferred podcasting platform. If you're on YouTube, if you could drop a like on the video and hit that subscribe button, I'd really appreciate it because it really does help us out. I thank each and every one of you for watching and listening, I hope you have a wonderful day, and we'll see you tomorrow. My branch ran like clockwork, so I was frequently sent to other branches that were failing in order to get them licked into shape to install better routines and to reach...