'It's wasteful': Dillydallying customer demands one—and only one—bag from retail associate, gets their wish

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Mar 23, 2023 12:00 PM EDT

We've said it once, and we'll say it a thousand times: When making a demand from an underpaid retail worker who would probably rather be somewhere—no, anywhere else than standing here listening to you, you'd better choose your words wisely. You might end up with exactly what you wished for—just… not quite how you pictured it. (The monkey's paw curls.)

That's what happened in this classic case of malicious compliance, which was shared to the popular Reddit sub of the same name by Redditor u/Laid-e_LOVE. The poster explains that they work as a cashier at a discount store, earning minimum wage. Their post gives the impression that they deal with no shortage of typical retail baloney during their time on the clock, including dealing with condescending customers who turn up their noses at the workers even though they would never last one day on the job.

Keep reading to see some screen grabs of the inspiring original thread or view the original thread via the attribution links below. For more like this, check out this customer who wanted a pet store worker to count out an entire bag of crickets for her and ended up with fewer crickets.