'Smelly' Engineers Get Disinvited From Company Party, Host Bigger One of Their Own and Expense Everything

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Aug 23, 2022 10:00 AM EDT

When the CEO didn't invite these engineers to the company party, they instead threw a party of their own with the help of the VP, charging it all to the company card. The decision to exclude the group did little but hurt company morale as the team ended up charging a bill that totaled "around $15,000" back to the company.

This short story of malicious compliance was posted on Reddit's r/maliciouscompliance subreddit by Reddit user u/clevercubed. They shared their story in a thread titled "Not allowed at the company party? Throw a bigger one and expense it!"

It's utterly ridiculous that this CEO even attempted to exclude a part of the company as a cost-cutting measure. Especially when the purpose of this party was to showcase the company's hard work and achievement. It's a common fallacy in the business world that the showiest parts of the business are the most important. Sales managers and business executives will always be biased in this direction because it's the part of the world that they know best and so they're always locked into that perspective. Really, if you're showcasing your business, the clients want to see how hard the guys in the background have been working to improve the product and service delivery.

Comments shared similar thoughts in the discussions that took place.

"Why the f- would you selectively exclude one part of your company? Especially the engineers? Way to destroy any loyalty you've garnered over the years." commented user yParticle.

"Because engineers and tech [are] always overlooked until they leave." replied user UsefulWarthog.