'Yes sir!': Enlisted clerk blamed by officer for another officer's error, gets revenge by following orders

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Nov 17, 2023 12:00 PM EST

People love having someone to blame, especially in a situation where something has gone wrong, and they're worried about the finger being pointed at themselves. Rather than taking that risk, they're more than happy to scapegoat someone directly beneath them who is going to find it challenging to stand up for themselves against them. As the saying goes… "Sludge" only flows in one direction—and that's downhill.

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  • This enlisted man served as a clerk in the US Air Force. They shared how they worked in the mail room of their unit. They were generally well thought of and got along with everyone, which proved to be important when a delayed document earned them the ire of an arrogant officer, even though the delay had actually been the officer's boss's fault. The officer publicly berated them, calling them a string of highly derogatory slurs, which further pushed everyone in the unit witnessing the situation unfold to silently take the clerk's side. After being told to “work within timeframes” by the officer, they decided to comply, holding documents until the last possible moment they needed the officer's signing. Another great tale of military malicious compliance.

  • 01
    Posted by u/No-Language-7256 Work within the timeframes, yes sir! Back in the before years of 2009 I was an enlisted clerk in the Air Force. I was working in the unit's orderly room/mail room (the main administrative area) as the only full time worker and the temporary supervisor. I generally got along with everyone and if you were polite I would go above and beyond to help you.
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  • 02
    One day an officer (middle management in this part of the organisation) got cranky at me because a document he wanted was "late". It was late getting to him because his boss took ages to sign it. It was well within the actual deadlines, but not within the timeframe these documents usually take. He confronted me in the open planned office saying "What the were you doing all this time. Obviously this is time sensitive. Are you really that at your job that you can't get things done in their timefra
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  • 03
    I apologised, started to point out who the document was with, only to be cut off. "Just get things done on time. Don't be so f*&#ing stupid, you bleeping bleep." (As an aside, I was only publicly out for about 6 months at that time and the bleeps were extremely homophobic. I was still in the phase of trying to prove that I was a strong independent person who didn't need no HR to fight my battles. If this happened today I would report him and watch him drown in HR BS.)
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  • 04
    At this point the entire floor was rather quiet. I apologised again and said "Don't worry sir, it won't happen again." You see, one thing he didn't know is that I was usually getting everything done weeks, if not months faster than the actual deadlines. Another thing he didn't know is just how petty and malicious I can be, especially when insulted. So I made sure that everything going to Squadron Leader Bleeping Bleep (as he will be called from here)
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  • 05
    was done exactly to the timeframes they need to be processed in. What this effectively did was make sure that absolutely no paperwork made its way to his desk for the next few weeks. He did come around every now and then to check in on some paperwork and I always said the same thing "I'm tracking the progress of that and it has X number of weeks left to be processed. As such it's not a priority right now." (Another quick aside, my boss knew what happened and was fully onboard with what I was doi
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  • 06
    At one point when I was out on the mail run delivering paperwork to all his co-workers I overheard this snippet of a conversation. Nice Officer "Man, your work has been rather quiet lately. What's happening?" Squadron Leader Bleeping Bleep "I don't know, everytime I follow something up HE just says that it's not a priority right now."
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  • 07
    Nice Officer "Wait, really? But OP gets things done instantly...Oh wait, you were talking to OP a couple of weeks ago?" Squadron Leader Bleeping Bleep "Well..." Nice Officer "Oh man, you done f*&#ed up.” Unfortunately I had to move on at this point so I couldn't overhear any more. About a week after that Squadron Leader Bleeping Bleep came around to follow up on something else and I gave him the usual response.
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  • 08
    He then did something I wasn't expecting, he apologised to me! He said that he was sorry for how he treated me and had realised that he might have been out of line. At this point I said "Apology accepted, but before you go." And started pulling out paperwork from my tray handing it to him one at a time "This is all good to go, you just need to sign. This needs a decision and sent to either A or B, depending on the choice. This needs..." well you get the idea.
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  • 09
    His eyes went wide upon seeing the stack of paperwork. The last thing he didn't realise about me, I take my job seriously. Just because he was being an didn't mean I was gonna make the rest of the office suffer. I had several officers, higher up on the ladder than Squadron Leader Bleeping Bleep, come and
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  • 10
    congratulate me throughout the rest of the week for how I handled the situation. Apparently everyone heard what he said and they were all willing to back me up with HR if I went that way. They were even more willing to throw Squadron Leader Bleeping Bleep out of the metaphorical plane without a parachute when they realised what I was actually doing.
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  • 11
    The fallout, if you can call it that, Squadron leader Bleeping Bleep treated me exceptional nicely after that (even though I wasn't a fan of him for the rest of the time I knew him), as did all the officers in the office, including the new staff. The incident did help my reputation for years afterwards and opened up a few doors which eventually led to me to meeting my husband, so I guess I came out the winner in the end.
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  • 12
    Veblen1 It's great being so good at your job that your superior's superiors notice. Well done, air(person). Vote Reply Share 3lm1Ster Just an aside....it is acceptable to say airman as a gender neutral name for a lower ranked enlisted person in the Air Force. Same as sailor for the Navy and soldier for the Army. Vote Reply Share
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  • 13
    Feather_of_a_Jay Pulling out all of his finished paperwork to make it clear you only did it because he was an awful person was a really powerful move, love it! Probably made the point stick like not much else would've, and very much showed you shouldn't be messed with. Well done! Thanks for sharing, I loved the story. Reply Share Vote No-Language-7256 OP That was originally just to cover my own , but hey I wasn't the smartest cookie back then. Unintended power moves are still power moves I guess
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  • 14
    Cybermals The fact that this led to you meeting your husband is the karmic justice you deserve & we all need. Also, good on him for apologizing. Doesn't mean he's not a , but it's nice to see a story ending with "(s)he actually apologized". Vote Reply Share Dependent-Feedback35 officer I'm not sure I agree. The only apologised because he wanted something doing. Not because he felt his conduct was poor. He still deserves to drown in his own Vote Reply Share
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  • 15
    shakyhands42. One of the best things about being an officer is knowing this is going on and sitting back knowing that natural justice is going to work! Vote Reply Share Vote ... No-Language-7256 OP The best officers, in my opinion anyway, are the ones that realise the military is just a long string of compliances by everyone. Reply Share ●●●
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  • 16
    JanoSicek Corporal "Radar" O'Reilly, is that you? Reply Share Vote ●●● No-Language-7256 OP You think my smart assery made it to the lofty heights of corporal. Thanks Vote Reply Share
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  • 17
    MoonOverJupiter It's a seriously officer that doesn't realize they have a lot to learn from their enlisted support staff. This guy got schooled hard on basic (super, super basic) professionalism, but he could not have asked for the lesson any louder. Literally, haha! I'm so sorry you were subjected to that, but you are a class act. Well done! I am sure you also saved a whole huge mess of people in his future, from his supervisory abuse, both homophobic and generic. My guess (hope) is that it was
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  • 18
    DrSnepper 9 hr. ago · Don't usually upvote these, but someone who gets MC'ed and apologizes to the MC'er makes my day. Thank you for your service. Vote Reply Share
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clerk officer malicious compliance revenge malicious-compliance-reddit military Command military malicious compliance air force
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