'This looks like a personal print job': Boss makes employees pay to use printer for personal use, employee catches boss breaking the rules

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jul 24, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

There's nothing more satisfying than proving to everyone in the office that your manager's pointless rules are... well, pointless. We all know that there are a number of "office policies" that apply here. Some of these include what time you come into the office, what time you leave, always needing to be at your desk, the endless remote/in-person work debate, etc. The degree to which these policies are pointless obviously varies from office to office and from profession to profession, but generally speaking, many of these policies are simply socially constructed disciplinary rules that have little to do with one's actual responsibilities.

 

This thread was posted to Reddit's r/pettyrevenge, but it could also easily serve as a perfect malicious compliance story as well. In this office, OP's boss frequently enforced a nonsense rule that if you ever needed to use the printer for personal reasons, you would have to pay to do so. Once, OP had to print their resume for an in-company interview. When their manager saw what they were printing, she disagreed that it was job-related and made the employee pay up. She claimed that this money would all be going to the Christmas party fund. That will be important later.

 

Not long after, OP discovered hundreds of pages in the printer announcing a sweet 16 party for their boss's daughter. Clearly, this was not work-related, and OP had a suspicious feeling that their manager was not abiding by the same rules. Keep scrolling below to see just how they managed to get some well-earned petty revenge on their boss. When you're finished, take a look at this post about the top 10 choosing beggars of the week!

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  • 01
    Output device - "I have to pay to print personal stuff at work? So do you, boss"
    via Mahrous Houses
  • 02
    Font - I have to pay to print personal stuff at work? so do you, boss Many years ago I worked for an organization providing front-line customer service. It was a decent place to work but our manager had lots of rules. One of the rules was that we could not do any personal printing with the printers at work. If we did, we were expected to pay $0.50 per page for black and white printing and $1.00 per page for color. I'm not sure who made this rule but the manager was constantly reminding us.
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  • 03
    Font - Our desks were not assigned. Meaning, any day you could be sitting at any desk, depending on your assigned tasks for the day.
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  • 04
    Font - One day, I was interviewing for another job within the organization (but at another location). Prior to the interview, the manager of the other location asked me if I'd mind printing a copy of my resume and bringing it with me as their printers were down for the day. I said no problem and figured I'd print it at work since it was work related.
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  • 05
    Font - I was sitting at a desk that did not have a printer at it. The closest printer was located between my managers desk and an employee desk. So I printed it and stood up to go get it.
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  • 06
    Font - Before I go to the printer, my manager got there first. My print job went ahead of hers. When she saw what I had printed she said, "OP, this looks like a personal print job." I explained it wasn't but she disagreed and said since it had nothing to do with our day-to-day work, I had to pay. $2.00 for four black and white pages. I begrudgingly paid up. I asked her what happened to the money and she said she always put it in the Christmas party fund. Alright.
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  • 07
    Font - A few weeks later, I was sitting at the desk with the printer at it. It was lunchtime and everyone except my manager agreed to go to a nearby restaurant for lunch. I had walked out our building and realized I forgot my wallet. So I quickly ran back in to get it. When I got to my desk, I could hear the printer going.
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  • 08
    Font - I was curious what was being printed as it was spitting out page after page. I quickly glanced at the pile and saw at least 100 pages printed in color, announcing a sweet 16 for Trista, our manager's daughter. It very obviously belonged to my manager. My manager came out of the bathroom a moment later and seemed shocked to see me standing there. I picked up the pile and passed it to her and told her our Christmas party fund was going to be getting a big boost. She said nothing but looked
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  • 09
    Font - A few weeks later, our district manager made his quarterly visit. He talked about the upcoming Christmas party and how excited he was for it. I decided it was time for some petty revenge. I raised my hand and said, "just wondering how much we've accumulated this year for the Christmas party from print jobs?" He looked so confused and asked me to explain what I meant. So I told him our manager's rule. He got really quiet and said he'd have to review this.
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  • 10
    Font - The next day my manager sent an email saying the printing rule was something she was misinformed on and would be abolished immediately. Me, being the little disturber I am, hit reply all and asked what would happen to the already accumulated funds? Someone else said we should have a nice healthy fund for a pizza lunch and everyone agreed.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 11
    Font - The next day I hear my manager ordering 10 pizzas for lunch. Also used her own personal credit card to pay for it all. Do I think she was pocketing the printing money all along? Absolutely. But it was fun making her sweat and then having to spend nearly $300 the next day to make up for it!
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  • 12
    Font - EDIT: $30 for a large pizza is very standard where I'm from. I ordered a pizza for supper last night and with tax, tip and delivery I paid $36. Our manager ordered us pizza from Boston Pizza (Canadian chain). Google them and you'll see their prices.
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  • 13
    Font - Dabeansprout. OP is an absolute freakin legend. These are the stories that get me through the work day 6.0k Reply Share
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  • 14
    Font - FrakTerra I mean if she was pocketing the print money all along from her employees that's major theft and she should fired and prosecuted. 1.8k Reply Share
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  • 15
    Font - FrakTerra I mean if she was pocketing the print money all along from her employees that's major theft and she should fired and prosecuted. 1.8k Reply Share
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  • 16
    Font - SchuminWeb. This exactly. Boss lady should consider herself lucky that she got through that with her career still intact. $300 is a small pittance compared to what could have happened. 522 Reply Share
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  • 17
    Font - brettyrocks A pizza party that was actually worth it lol 1.8k Reply Share
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  • 18
    Font - 4 [deleted] The real question is, did you get Pizza by Alfredo's..... or Alfredo's Pizza Cafe? 322 3 Reply Share
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  • 19
    Font - mike_pants This is the sort of MC success that keeps me subscribed. Your tale shall be sung in the finest beer halls and bowling alleys, OP. 155 Reply Share
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  • 20
    Font - halokost Where do you live/work that 10 pizzas cost $300?
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  • 21
    Font - Empatheater. What a perfect petty revenge post. Well written, easy to understand, actually petty but still infuriating, and the revenge was both satisfying and believable. it's rare that I finish one of these without doubting at least a line or two but this seems like it happened exactly like this. legendary work revenge and a post to match the quality.
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Tags

boss employee toxic-workplace malicious compliance pizza coworkers petty revenge toxic-boss managers Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit printer toxic-work-environment
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