Malicious Compliance: Frustrated Technology Teacher Destroys Fifty Computers Following Boss's Poor Choice of Words

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Mar 10, 2022 11:00 AM EST

This tech instructor, u/Personal_Lavishness4, worked as a volunteer at a private high school in the 90s, waited patiently for the school to approve a budget to put him onto salary, and adequately introduce computers to the school.

Unfortunately, this technology wasn't a priority for the old hats running the school, and they found every reason not to approve the budget.

The school director was notoriously tight and thought that he had struck a bargain when he convinced a bank to donate their old computers to them. The problem was that these weren't personal computers or "PCs" we know them today. These were bank terminals that did not play nice with a kid looking to learn how to use an operating system for the first time. Essentially, the bank had just offloaded their old trash onto the school, and the idiot director thought he had scored a deal.

The lesson is the same that we often see in "Malicious Compliance" stories… You really should choose your words with care when you're threatening someone.

Alas, the director hadn't learned this lesson. When confronted with the uselessness of the terminals he had authorized, he uttered the following.

"I'm sure they can be helpful in some way. They must be worth something. Figure it out…because if you can't, we're going to have to throw them away."

"Throw them away?" the Instructor must have thought to himself, "Well, don't mind if I do!"

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For more compliance of the malicious variety, check out this story where teachers maliciously complied when asked to attend a video training session during their holiday.

Thumbnail Image: Alex Motoc