Proud Redditor Shares Her Best Malicious Compliance Story Of How Her Boss Got Fired For Not Allowing Her Read Newspaper During Work Hours

"The Libraries were already getting frustrated before I even started"

Maryjane

• Published in Interesting
• November 5, 2023

Of course, finishing your task should be your first concern during the workweek. However, there's no need to do anything but sit around twiddling your thumbs if you've run out of things to do.

Even though many organizations place a high value on having employees tethered to their desks or posts for eight hours a day, it's imperative that we all take the breaks we need. While it may not be necessary to take an hour off to read a book when work needs to be done, taking an hour for lunch and a few more 5 to 10-minute breaks during the day can help prevent burnout and maintain our mental and physical well-being.

Knowing when to take a break is also beneficial. So you shouldn't be afraid to take a quick break when fatigue starts to set in when you're feeling exhausted from working on a particular task for an extended period of time, when you're hungry and need a snack, when you're feeling angry or stressed and need to clear your head, or you're finding it difficult to focus.

The OP works as the systems supervisor at a university-based group. It was a cutting-edge network for each of the university libraries, which did their book dispensing and receipt and also did the cataloging, which is quite complex.

The OP would arrive an hour early for work, go through the printouts, then restart the computer. While that process was going on, the OP would get a cup of coffee and sit down to read the news headlines.

The boss had an issue with the OP relaxing, and he got what was coming to him.

The OP pens down the headline

The Catalogue entry processing and various other batch processes ran automatically

The boss gave the OP a 'good talking to' and told her he didn't want to see her doing this again

The Computer will never be restarted to Online mode until these printouts are checked

The OP summarizes the whole story saying...

tl:dr: My boss caused me to stop working an unpaid hour each day and caused a major uproar at Universities across England and Wales. Which got him fired and me a promotion.

We've gathered some of the topmost comments from other Redditors for you to read through below

The OP's coffee would get sweeter

He was in the right place to learn

This Redditor has a similar story to share

This Redditor doesn't understand why the OP would work for free

Took a piece of the newspaper and taped it across

The part where the OP doubled down

This Redditor had a similar issue at work

Research has shown that even small social breaks, like chatting with coworkers, can be helpful because they foster a sense of camaraderie and belonging in the workplace. Taking breaks enhances our mental and physical health as well as our productivity, energy levels, and capacity to concentrate, and that is just what the OP was doing before the boss decided to meddle.

Redditors were very supportive of the OP's actions, so don't hesitate to share this post.

Maryjane