Boss Loses €5,000 After He Tells His Quality Control Officer to Lower Standards to Boost Productivity; Catches Backlash From All Major Clients

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Aug 12, 2023 9:00 PM EDT

The entire point of a quality control officer in a manufacturing plant is to ensure that the products aren't defective. Literally, the only reason this checkpoint exists is to weed out terrible products and prevent them from going to the client. So what is a QC employee supposed to do when their boss tells them to stop doing their job? Maliciously comply of course.

In this case, OP was a quality control man at a large auto part manufacturing plant. On a good day, he was able to push through hundreds of products to final sale and was rarely swamped with bad product, until a major glitch rolled along. One morning OP woke up to a pile of useless GPS machines, all showing the same glitch. Like his job requires him, he sent them all back on the conveyor belt to be fixed, but to upper management, that just makes the whole plant look inefficient– like their numbers are tanking. Oh no! So the clueless boss walked down to the factory level and told OP to stop doing his job, effectively saying 'who cares' to the rules and throwing caution to the wind. The boss pushed the broken products to the sales department and OP patiently awaited the backlash. 

Scroll for the full story on how one impatient boss lost thousands in refunded products, while also burning bridges with some major clients– all because he was too flippant to solve a simple problem and wanted to 'boost productivity numbers'. For more stories of bosses who seriously fumbled, check out this tale of a micromanager who brought the company to a standstill with a new policy, attempting to blame his employees for the loss– but OP had the screenshots to back himself up.

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  • 01
    World - QC Guy: "It's my job to check for these issues, I can't just ignore it-" Boss: "Do as I tell you to do."
    via u/canva
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/KaffenotCoffee 6 hours ago Not a defective product? Alrighty boss L OC
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 03
    Font - 9 years ago I used to work at a car parts manufacturing company, and I was making dashboards. We had many sections and dashboard types we made, from analog, to hybrid to fully digital ones, and this story takes place while I was stationed at the fully digital dashboards.
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 04
    Font - So, my story takes place while I was working on the cover part of the process. We had a small part of the cover that was made from a see through piece of plastic that displayed at
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 05
    Font - symbol for oil change (I think) and we needed to check it for any dots or imperfections. Any imperfection = throw it into a crate and send it to quality control. If they
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 06
    Font - deem it usable (which almost never happened) they send it back and you use it. This one time the team leader flagged me down
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 07
    Font - and told me "Hey, you're gonna get a light at that station so you can see the imperfections better. Anything you find, send it to QC. Leave nothing out!"
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 08
    Font - I'm like great, better work conditions (somewhat). So on I go checking the covers, but there's a problem.
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 09
    Font - Each and every single one of the covers was faulty. They either had dots in them, or lines, some were even torn/cracked. So I flag down my team leader and tell her this.
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 10
    Font - She asked me how many I found in the last hour, I tell her over 50. She looks at me, thinks for a bit, and smiles. "Ok, keep doing your job, just make sure
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 11
    Font - we hit our quota for the day." I look at her puzzled for a bit, but then realise what she's planning and smile as well.
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 12
    Font - So I go back and just do my job. In the next few days, crates upon crates upon crates pile up at my station, you
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 13
    Font - can barely get around at this point, so the QC manager comes down BCS they saw a dip in our productivity, since the team leader knew that we wouldn't be able to hit our
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 14
    Font - quota for the day, she just told me to my job, it's not my problem they sent us defective products. QC manager asks what the s tis all this. I just tell
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 15
    Font - him, calm as I can be, that these are all defective products, all of them have either dots in the transparent part or lines going through the entire small window. He's fuming
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 16
    Font - at this point, takes one from the crate, checks it, agrees it looks bad, and takes it to the QC station for checking. A few hours later he comes back and tells me it's fine,
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 17
    Font - to use them all and not to check for these kinds of defects. I tell him " but boss, I AM supposed to check for this issue, I can't just ignore it when it -" "Do
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 18
    Font - as I tell you to do, the QC approved it (which almost never happens) and it's good to use. Don't talk, just work!" Now I'm p sed but that's the kind of work it was. So I just do as he told
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 19
    Font - me to do, I stop checking for any defects. I just get a cover out, plop it onto the frame with the display, push it into the machine and press the button. Our productivity skyrockets. We
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 20
    Font - hit levels never seen before at our station, even the QC manager congratulates us for increased and record productivity, and "see how easy it was, you just
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 21
    Font - needed to do your job!" I'm grinning at this point, both from anger and from anticipation, BCS I knew that this is going to bite him in the as eventually.
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 22
    Font - Well, the moment of "it biting him in the a s" comes around, and he's not pleased. Did I mention that we made our dashboards for car manufacturers like fiat, Volvo and Kia? Yea, big
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 23
    Plant - shots, especially in my country. So the dashboards were delivered to the customers, and they were very p sed at the quality.
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 24
    Font - As soon as they plugged it in for internal testing, they saw the dots, the lines, the cracks, everything. It was messy. Over 2000 dashboards were sent back
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 25
    Font - to us, demanding an explanation for this sh ty quality and demanding a refund. So obviously, the eyes were pointed at the QC, who in turn, pointed his glaring eyes at me. He
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 26
    Font - walks down to me and screamed at me tf was I thinking making such bad products for the sake of productivity. I just smile
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 27
    Font - and say " but boss, you told me to ignore these issues, and to just do my job, so I did." He's not pleased but knows he's in a corner, so he had
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 28
    Font - to take the blame for his mistake. All he got was a slap on the wrist(apparently he's been with the company for a very long time and never
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 29
    Font - had any write-ups, this could have been his first) and I got off scot free. The company lost well over 5000€ BCS of the defective dashboards.
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 30
    Font - Never had any issues with the company again, BCS I knew how to do my fing job. The QC avoided me for the rest of my time there, and from what I've heard
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 31
    Font - from a friend who was working there for a bit longer after I left, he was very happy that I'm gone and that "p k is never gonna get a job with his attitude".
    via KaffenotCoffee
  • 32
    Font - MarginalGreatness 5 hr. ago It all came out nice this time. Next time get that order in writing! He could have thrown you under the bus saying, "I never said that".
    via MarginalGreatness

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boss quality control employee thread malicious compliance work factory story manufacturer Reddit manufacturing
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