'Never mess with my money': Technicians band together against corporate for 'glorious malicious compliance'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Dec 5, 2022 8:00 AM EST

In this story, there's a happy ending for those who deserve one! This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by u/SirMizzuh, who proves to be a true man of the people, as they say. 

 

He worked as a technician for a small telecom company in a full-time capacity, but eventually they started to institute shady policies (i.e. enforcing double trips for every ticket, cutting employee hours, tracking their every move, etc.). They even held required meetings (and tried not to pay employees for those meetings), where they would go through every detail on their timesheets. If this isn't a setup for some Machiavellian malicious compliance, I don't know what is. Keep scrolling below to see how the Redditor and his coworkers banded together to get back at corporate. It's even more glorious when you learn what happened to the company at the end of the day. For more, take a look at this post about an employee who was CC'd about her own upcoming termination.

 

Thumbnail image from Unsplash.

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  • 01
    Font - r/r/MaliciousCompliance Posted A by u/SirMizzuh 8 hours ago Can't justify paying me? No problem. M OC Just before COVID I worked for a small telecom company that did contract work for a national cell carrier. We'll call them crap inc, and Big wireless. I was hired on as a full time employee for crap inc along with every other technician, and WE were not contractors (important later).
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 02
    Font - I was damn good at my job. I've been in the field for over 20 years, so I knew my stuff and most problems were easy enough to troubleshoot and repair. But sometimes we needed a second tech to help out with bigger issues which is understandable in our field. Crap Inc was shady, unbeknownst to us at the bottom of the ladder, but we were about to find out.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 03
    Font - About 4 months in, new orders came down the chain that from henceforth, "we were to do double trips on EVERY ticket". This ment we had to drive out with no parts, assess a problem, then make a return trip with parts to fix it. (2 trips = double pay for company). Even on simple things like pushing a reset button. TWO TRIPS...no excuses. Then they began cutting our hours, tracking our every move, and redoing our timesheets after submitting it. With the excuse of "employees are stealing time
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 04
    Font - The latest rule was a good one. "All employees must work a least 2 tickets each day in order to be considered for a full 8 hours of pay and 40 hours per week. No ticket, no pay." With this, they began holding mandatory bi-weekly meetings to go over every MINUTE of our trips, overlaying GPS data, timestamps, travel distance, etc. They docked pay for gas station stops, pee breaks, phone calls, everything. They even tried to not pay us for these very meetings because our "trucks were off and
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 05
    Font - Buddy, I'm not a contractor. I'm a full time employee. ...Enter glorious malicious compliance. See, the thing is, I don't take too kindly to people stealing from my paycheck and gaslighting me about it. And apparently the other employees felt the same way. give me one solid night of prep work and I'll beat you at your own game.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 06
    Font - The next weekend I held a meeting of my own with the techs, And after some explanation, we all decided that the company was absolutely right. 2 tickets, 2 trips, every minute accounted for. And the GPS data to prove it. Monday morning meeting rolls around, and every tech drove to the nearest site to have our mandatory 2 hour meeting. The trucks aren't at home, and running the entire time.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 07
    Font - Our daily Tickets come in and we drive directly to the site, idle for 2 hours while we "check out the problem". Then do our second trip to get the parts, as instructed, and spend 2 hours fixing it. (Drive time not included.) A Second daily ticket comes in and...what's this? I can't seem to figure out the problem. I guess I'll have to call another tech who only had one ticket to help me. Glad he was free. Let's ponder this problem for 2 hours while waisting fuel.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 08
    Font - Now we need parts. Looks like we both have to go get them. Return trip complete. Another 2 hours to kill...er fix the problem. -- Let's see how we did: First ticket. 2 hours assessment +1 hour travel time (GPS logged) 2 hour return trip+ 1 hour travel time (GPS logged) Second ticket 2 hours assessment +1 hour travel time (GPS logged) 2 hour return trip + 1 hour travel time (GPS logged) 2 hour Meeting x 2 (GPS logged)
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 09
    Font - Hey boss... Crap inc owes every tech 64 hours of work this week...let's check the math and GPS logs just to be sure. Oh, and for some reason the fuel expenses went up. But at least we have the GPS data you need for our extremely accurate power point presentation.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 10
    Font - *Update per request: Crap inc folded from embezzlement, misappropriation of COVID funds and sued by big wireless for "two trips, no excuse" amongst other things. There were a few jail sentences handed out. Not sure if anyone got a piece of that pie. TL;DR never mess with my money. I'll beat you at your own game.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 11
    Font - podo 7 hr. ago This company sounds like a lawyer's dream. I know fighting them with their own rules is fun and the point of this sub, but the setup is prime for a pro or even nuclear revenge if you push it.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 12
    Font - Not sure what area you live in for employment laws, but if their official policy is so clear cut and obviously fraudulent that they will be defenseless if you push them. Big Mobile would probably want a chunk of them as well, and likely has the lawyers to get it. Going to them as a group and asking for either direct empowerment or to make your own company doing the same work could be the ultimate power play.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 13
    Font - PrutsendePrutser +2. 5 hr. ago You'd almost think management could have seen this result coming from miles away if they had actually thought about the impact of those rules, and the many ways you can game that system. It literally always backfires
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 14
    Font - General-Educator-848 6 hr. ago It seems way to common that the person writing the tech manual has no experience in the field.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 15
    Font - G1-D3-ON +1-2 hr. ago I dealt with a contractor at my job who would do similar. Day 1: one guy shows up and spends all day "troubleshooting the system. Tells us he can't figure it out and will return with help. Day 2: Two guys show up and spend all day "troubleshooting" the system. They can't figure it out and will return with help.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 16
    Font - Day 3: Three guys show up and spend all day "troubleshooting" the system. It finally gets fixed. This wasn't a once or twice occurrence. It happened on every single service call. Eventually their parent company caught on to their shady dealings and sued them into oblivion.
    via u/SirMizzuh
  • 17
    Font - Es_Poon +1 16 min. ago I work in the industry and it is full of shady companies and shady employees. Especially on the construction side of things. Companies reporting work complete when they haven't even started and inflated quotes are common place. I've had crews submit close out photos of a build with safety violations clearly in the background along with evidence they are lying about installing per the plans.
    via u/SirMizzuh

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customer service antiwork employee malicious compliance Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit company
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