'Don’t cheap out on your invaluable employees': Employee expected to work late, wake up at 3 AM, and drive 2 hours for a meeting? Cue Malicious Compliance!

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Feb 5, 2023 10:00 AM EST

Never mess with someone's sleep schedule! That's what this woman's horrible bosses learned the hard way when she refused to work late, and then wake up in the middle of the night and drive for 2 hours in the dead of winter in order to make an early morning meeting. Has anyone ever heard of Zoom? 

u/Sorrymomlol12 shared her story via this thread on Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit, and after learning that her boss wouldn't let her book a hotel for the night, she decided to book one out of pocket. However, she ensured that everyone would know about it because it would reflect poorly on the company. At a certain point, her bosses had to step in and pay for the hotels. The best part of the story? She didn't book cheap ones, but now that the company was paying her back after the fact, they had no choice in the matter. 

Keep scrolling below for the full story. When you're done, here's another one about a boomer Karen getting her comeuppance.

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  • 01
    Light - www. "You won't pay for my hotel? Ok I'll drag your name through the mud and you'll pay for a more expensive hotel" 31
    via Oswald Elsaboath
  • 02
    Font - You won't pay for my hotel? Ok I'll drag your name through the mud and you'll pay for a more expensive hotel M OC I promise I am the least petty person you'll meet, but this "ask" just took me over the edge. I work for a very large company, make very good money and work long hours often, which up until this point I've been totally fine doing. Night meetings until 10pm? Fine. Drive 2 hours to major plant multiple times a week? Alrighty. But this past week we had a global supplier team fly
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 03
    Font - I have two bosses, a direct boss man, and the big boss lady. We'll call them Joe and Jill. When discussing this trip from our global counterparts (25k each person), Joe and I talked to Jill about spending a couple nights in a local hotel so we could cut back on driving. She said "that's not necessary, you guys can just drive. I'll approve 1 night at a hotel so you can do relationship building with the Japan team."
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 04
    Font - I might have lost y'all already with the crazy hours and long driving, but I could MAYBE get on board with this, if it wasn't for Tuesday mornings. Tuesday mornings we have a couple critical global calls at the plant, and with the Japan team in town, we should really be there in person for collaboration. Myself, Joe, and Jill all agree on this. I pushed back on Jill and mentioned the Tuesday morning early calls. No dice.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 05
    Font - Y'all, the meetings are at SIX AM. On top of this, we have Monday night meetings till 9:30pm. So I'd have to try to quickly fall asleep after the night meeting, then wake up at 3/3:30 and leave before 4 to be there on time. Driving 2 hours in the dead of night. In January. In Wisconsin. After maybe 5 hours of sleep, if I'm lucky. There are 3 Tuesday mornings with the Japan team in town.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 06
    Font - So what did I do? I booked hotels Monday night anyway. Nice ones. Then proceeded to tell EVERYONE that I'd be local on Monday nights for relationship building. "That's cool the company is helping you cut back on driving!" "Nah, they wouldn't pay, but that's fine. I'm just paying out of pocket." I was honest, professional, but not shy that the company was not paying for this. I knew this would not look good.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 07
    Font - The first Monday night my poor Joe was getting ready for the trek home and said "Hey don't stay to late, it's a long drive." And I comfortably said, “Actually I got a local hotel, so I'm 10 mins down the road. But drive safe!" The longest, pregnantest, pause. "But, but Jill said we can't stay local while the Japan team is in town...?" "Nah she said she wouldn't pay for it, which is fine, I'm just going to pay for it out of my own pocket." YALL THE PAUSE GOT LONGER 404 DOES NOT COMPUTE
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 08
    "Are you visiting a local friend or something?" "Nope, just for work. I just found it to be a SAFETY CONCERN to drive at night after just a few hours of sleep, so I paid for it out of pocket. Oh and I told the Japan team we can get dinner a few nights on Monday since I'll be local." IS HAPPENING, BUT BUT BUT JILL SAID NO "Well... I can talk to Jill and see if we can cover it under company expenses since it work related. Have you booked yet?"
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 09
    Font - "Whatever you think is right. And yep, it's booked and non- refundable." The next day I got an email from Jill informing me that if I felt so strongly that it was a safety concern to stay local on Mondays, to expense the 3 hotel days through the system retroactively. The same way I would if I forgot to pay with my company card. I 100% knew they wouldn't make me pay (what should be) a company expense or punish me for making a good safety choice. Joe gets to stay local for the next 2 Monday
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 10
    Font - The sugar on top? Every time I drive to and from the plant, they pay me about $120 in miles. They could've literally booked me a cheap hotel for the same price. Instead they'll be paying for my $220 a night in hotels of my choice which I specifically picked in a fun area and upgraded to get a ton of rewards points. Don't cheap out on your invaluable employees.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 11
    Rectangle - Postcocious +1. 18 hr. ago If I worked that hard for a boss that stupid, I wouldn't.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 12
    Font - jackelram 14 hr. ago OP obviously enjoys job, and probably gets paid well. Otherwise, you're right time to find different employment.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 13
    Font - . yParticle +3 · 18 hr. ago This seems to fall under the category of "the least they could do". You're basically giving 24 hours a day to that company at that point-- they're getting a good deal only paying your salary and expenses.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 14
    Font - Sorrymomlol12 OP. 18 hr. ago I feel like I've been pretty tolerant on the asks, but don't mess with my sleep. I sleep from 10pm-6am. If I have to get up earlier, I go to sleep the equivalent earlier. I need 8 hours to function, and I won't compromise on that.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 15
    Font - It's actually my anniversary next Tuesday and while I'll agree to not wake up next to my loving husband on our anniversary, I will take that night off. They just straight up made a bad choice on not paying for hotels on Monday nights. And it made them look bad. I wasn't going to cover for them either. I'm getting better at pushing back, albeit politely. Because I do love what I'm doing, but call them out when they make genuinely bad choices. . Gotta
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 16
    Font - Pleasant-Squirrel220 +2. 17 hr. ago You would think companies would learn. The bad publicity of employee being forced to drive 4 hours daily on top of a full day with virtually no sleep. Then ending up as strawberry jam smeared on a highway under a lorry doesn't make good publicity.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 17
    Font - Pasdusername +1. 18 hr. ago Get them sirr/maammm Vote Reply Share Sorrymomlol12 OP. 18 hr. ago Ma'am! I think big boss lady sees me as a hard worker she can relate to, which is great, and I work really hard. But this was a ridiculous ask. A few nights at a local hotel was not a big ask, especially when they are paying tens of thousands of dollars for the Japan team to come out. A couple hundred on hotels? Come on man. Now (unfortunately for them) they'll have to spend a bit more. Im reall
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 18
    Font - Mysterious_Ad7461 14 hr. ago +2. This is always so wild to me. I work for a company that absolutely does not care what our hotels cost. 300 a night but it's convenient for where you're going? Cool, sleep tight. I had a guy tell me he could use a nap driving, so I told him to get a hotel "I'm good, I just want to get home tonight" I told him that's fine, just book it and take a power nap and leave again. Im not having you out driving tired over a few hundred bucks.
    via u/Sorrymomlol12
  • 19
    Font - Veriden You made them value you good stuff. However, dont think you should have had to do all that. +2 15 hr. ago .
    via u/Sorrymomlol12

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Tags

antiwork toxic-workplace malicious compliance work Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit toxic-work-environment
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