'We wait even longer for a third tow truck to arrive': Service tech tries to reschedule appointment located on steep hill, gets themself and numerous other vehicles stuck

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 21, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

This service tech is used to driving to jobs in different neighborhoods, but they weren't prepared for this weather. 

In any job, if your boss has your back, it makes your life a lot easier. However, many managers think that their employees are always trying to be sneaky or deceitful. They have no trust in their decision-making abilities…even though they presumably hired them for such qualities. 

This person, u/EmuExternal6244, shared a story from a snowy day on the job. As a lead service tech, they usually drive out to 8-12 different homes per day, including jobs that "most of the other techs had no training to fix." On this day, that meant trying to reach a home in a difficult area to reach. Much like how you can walk a cow up a flight of stairs but not down them, the OP was able to drive down the hill… and not back up to the top. 

The OP told their excellent malicious compliance story, and then dropped into the comments to answer more questions about the tale (including details about their boss!). Then, these people told all about the the habits their neighbors have that drive them nuts, like one person who wrote that they let their dogs run free around the neighborhood. 

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  • 01
    Tire
    via World of Magic on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Driving down an Icy Hill: M OC I was a service tech who did scheduled calls to customers homes. We generally had anywhere from 8-12 jobs a day as we were swamped. As one of the lead techs I was also assigned jobs that most of the other techs had no training to fix.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 03
    Font - On this particular day it began snowing/icing and the road conditions began worsening. No issue normally as long as I could just avoid a few streets in town that have steep hills.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 04
    Font - I have a job in a newer area and when I get to the neighborhood I notice the house is at the bottom of a pretty steep hill on a dead end street. I park at the top and message my supervisor and tell him I would recommend we reschedule the job as the my truck would never make it back up the
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 05
    Font - hill. He must have been having a bad day but he goes off on me and demands I just do the job. The road conditions were not that bad. I took a photo of the hill and sent it, but he still demanded I do the job.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 06
    Font - I would also note that my truck is vital to the work and I could not have walked to the home due to the equipment in the truck that is required. Que Malicious Compliance:
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 07
    Font - I save the message and send it to my personal account. Getting to the customer home was no issue and I had them up and running in under 30 minutes. I followed my supervisor demands and did the job.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 08
    Font - Leaving was another issue. I could not get to the top of the hill with the truck. I quickly gave up once I determine it was hopeless.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 09
    Font - Me: "I am stuck at a bottom of a hill and unable to get my truck up it. My other scheduled jobs will have to be reassigned and a tow truck called to get me out".
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 10
    Font - Supervisor: "Try harder. Its not hard to drive on icy conditions". Me: "At this point I feel it unsafe to do so from this point on as I feel I could damage the homeowners property. See prior messages about the hill being too steep and my request to it rescheduled being denied".
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 11
    Font - At this point the supervisor calls me and I confirm I will not attempt to further climb the hill. He grumbles but knows me enough not to push me so tells me to hang on.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 12
    Font - I wait 45 minutes and he shows up in his work truck (much smaller and lighter than mine). He does not even attempt to go down the hill but walks. He tries for awhile to get my truck up himself but then accidently hits a mailbox. He gives up and calls a tow truck.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 13
    Font - With wintery conditions I wait another 3 hours for a truck to arrive. When they do arrive they also get stuck at the bottom of the hill (not sure why they even tried going down it). Now me and a tow truck are stuck at a bottom of the hill and this time the wait is even longer. They needed to bring in a specialty truck which turns out does not have a long enough chain to reach us at the bottom of the hill. We wait even longer for a third tow truck to arrive.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 14
    Font - Overall I arrived at the customer home around 9:30am and finish about 10:00am. I do not get up the hill until 7:00pm. 9 hours I was at the bottom of the hill with my truck running while I played online on my laptop. Instead of working in the wintery conditions outside I was toasty in the cab.
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 15
    Cheezburger Image 9824249088
    via u/Aggravated_Pineapple
  • 16
    Cheezburger Image 9824249600
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 17
    Cheezburger Image 9824249344
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 18
    Cheezburger Image 9824250112
    via u/Proud_Positive_2998
  • 19
    Cheezburger Image 9824250624
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 20
    Cheezburger Image 9824249856
    via u/crabby_cat_lady
  • 21
    Cheezburger Image 9824250880
    via u/Caddan
  • 22
    Cheezburger Image 9824251136
    via u/EmuExternal6244
  • 23

    One person had the correct answer to the OP's problem:

    Cheezburger Image 9824250368
    via u/HowardProject

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boss workplace-stories jobs job malicious compliance bosses work coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit workplace snow neighborhood hills ice Tech winter service industry tow truck
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