'You don't understand business' : Employee reports mechanical manufacturing problems, gets ignored by terrible boss, leading to malicious compliance and loss of $300,000 in company profits

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Mar 17, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

The person with the most mechanical knowledge is usually the person who is running the machine, but this boss didn't seem to think so. What led to this mess was the fact that this same boss refused to do regular maintenance on the (expensive) machine, so it began breaking down, as expected. An employee tentatively approached him, explaining that the company was going to lose a lot of money if they didn't shut it off in order to fix it. This advice fell on deaf ears.

Moreover, Mr. Boss Bigshot told OP he 'didn't understand business'. Instead of taking those (untrue) words to heart, OP decided that this situation deserved some good ol' malicious compliance. What ensued was a very expensive mess, resulting in the loss of nearly $300,000 in company profits. OP did not tell his boss 'I told you so', therefore I'll say it. HE TOLD YOU SO.

Scroll down to read about the hilarious event. For more stories like this, check out this Karen customer who believed it was her right to dictate what hotel employees did with their lives after they were off the clock.

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  • 01
    Motor vehicle - Malicious Compliance Eventually the grinding sounds hit and the machine shut down. They freaked out a moment trying to fix it but it was no good. They moved the mold into a different machine, had to rerun all the parts, and remember that $500 an hour they lost for the machine being down? Well instead of being down 24 to 36 hours costing them about $18,000 the machine was down 3 weeks costing in production $252,000 plus another $45,000 for a new motor. Clearly losing almost $300,0
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 02
    Font - r/r/MaliciousCompliance Posted by u/New_Wealth2432 9 hours ago Malicious Compliance S OC
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  • 03
    Font - So reading some of these reminds me of my time in a plastic manufacturing plant and how I was told I didn't understand business. We had bought a machine brand new for $750,000 us dollars and it was making us a fair amount of money. My bosses didn't want to do the regular maintenance on it though so as expected it began having issues. I was running the machine one night and noticed it began leaking either oil or hydraulic fluid, can't
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 04
    Font - remember which. I immediately told my boss we needed to shut it down because not only was the machine getting worse but it was starting to spray fluid all over the parts. I was told no, this machine had to run or we would lose $500 an hour. I suggested placing the mold in another machine but I was told no, and further told I didn't understand business.
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 05
    Font - Well as expected it had more problems which I reported but was told they might take the parts despite being covered in the fluid, and not to worry about the machine now spraying fluid like a bad horror film sprays b d. I asked if he was sure they wanted it to keep running they looked at me and firmly said yes, so I did.
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 06
    Font - Eventually the grinding sounds hit and the machine shut down. They freaked out a moment trying to fix it but it was no good. They moved the mold into a different machine, had to rerun all the parts, and remember that $500 an hour they lost for the machine being down? Well instead of being down 24 to 36 hours costing them
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 07
    Font - about $18,000 the machine was down 3 weeks costing in production $252,000 plus another $45,000 for a new motor. Clearly losing almost $300,000 makes way more sense than $18,000. They're right I don't understand that kind of business.
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 08
    Font - MusicalMerlin1973 +2.8 hr. ago Yep. It's amazing what manglement can and will do to sour themselves in the foot.
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  • 09
    Font - Once upon a time I had transitioned into product management. It was a good career path if I had been allowed to continue, but company reorganized internally after. Oh well. Anyways, I was learning how to do product pricing and how much we make for defense product and for commercial. Illuminating stuff and a nice break from writing software.
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 10
    Font - So. This new knowledge in hand I see a presentation for the product going to a top 5 account for the company. Our biggest commercial customer. We were getting defense gross margins. Went to my manager - product manager for that line and pointed it out saying we would lose the customer. His response:
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 11
    Font - senior management wouldn't allow bringing the price in line with expectations for commercial accounts. It had to make up for an old bad previous commercial deal we had with another customer that was from before my time in product management. For a product that was eol shortly.
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 12
    Font - Oh yeah and we didn't have a long term contract with top five customer. Some time after the svp responsible for blocking the price reduction goes to visit said customer along with the account representative to finally negotiate the long term contract. The conversation went along these lines: "Hey! So good to see you. Glad you could make it! By the by, we designed you out"
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  • 13
    Font - Bye bye, top five customer. ✩ Vote Reply Share PsychoEngineer +2.7 hr. ago This one hits way to close to home for me lately.... Vote Reply Share
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  • 14
    Font - New_Wealth2432 OP. 9 hr. ago Oh and I chatted with some of my former coworkers and learned these kind of decisions would help them lose several lucrative contracts and are barely holding on last I heard. I got out in time in my opinion. Reply Share Vote
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  • 15
    Font - MajorNoodles +2.7 hr. ago Mal: "You told me those entry couplings would hold for another week!" Kaylee: "That was six months ago, Cap'n." Vote Reply Share
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  • 16
    Font - Monkey Breath66 9 hr. ago And this is exactly what is wrong with most management and especially how business is managed in the United States. Not that it doesn't work this way worldwide, but we seem to be especially talented at it. Always obsessed with short-term returns instead of long-term stability and profitability.
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 17
    Font - ($(-2) +1.9 hr. ago Maybe you didn't know business, but it's painfully obvious that the boss didn't know anything about the importance of lubrication in a high pressure mechanical device. BonbonStella Vote Reply Share
    via u/New_Wealth2432
  • 18
    Font - baka-tari +1.9 hr. ago Dang. Don't listen to the guy who runs the machine - what does he know about how it should work? Sure, I don't have an MBA, but I can definitely see when someone's making a bad decision. Vote Reply Share
    via u/New_Wealth2432

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Tags

FAILS manufacturing-company company-profits toxic-workplace malicious compliance delusional-boss oil plastic-manufacturing-plant production Horrible Bosses machine terrible-management
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