‘Attendance is mandatory!’: Micromanaging boss forces entire team of employees to attend corporate Christmas dinner without their family

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
Dec 25, 2023 4:00 PM EST

Being cheap is the worst quality one can possess.  There are two kinds of cheapness: the kind that is endearing and has to do with being a financially responsible human being, and the one that is sometimes mocked and always hated.

The story below is an account of a clever worker who came up with the perfect scheme to get even with his cheap boss. The manager, today known as the Grinch. decided to steal Christmas and force the entire staff to attend a corporate dinner. But as soon as the frustrated employees see the dreaded four words, 'One drink each', the situation escalates quickly. And by 'escalates', I mean that OP, out of pure spite, orders the most expensive drink on the menu. I know, it's malicious compliance at its best.  So, if you're curious to know exactly what took place, check out the story below! And when you're done, check out a hilarious malicious compliance story about a malicious programmer here!

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  • 01
    TO DO DONE! "The party is for employees ONLY, no families allowed!" ons that, tot the 1-
    via Canva
  • 02
    Christmas/Employee Appreciation Party
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 03
    This happened a few years ago, but being this time of year it always makes me laugh to think about it. I worked at this place for close to 14 years, and I've always been the type of person to put up with a lot. We always had our
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 04
    "Christmas/Employee appreciation" party in January, as December was crazy busy. I had only been there a few months when we were told about when and where the party would be. A few weeks before, there was a memo posted in the staff room titled "The Rules of
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 05
    Going Out" (I kid you not). Basically it was the owners rules of how things were going to go down for our party. It went like this (she liked to use lots of capital letters and exclamation marks):
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 06
    1. The party is for employees ONLY, no spouses. 2. I will pay for ONE DRINK ONLY!!! 3. You can have an appetizer or dessert, NOT BOTH!!! 4. Attendance is MANDATORY!
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 07
    I thought it was funny, and laughed about it to one of my colleagues; they didn't laugh and told me that the owner wasn't joking, she was dead serious. Keep in mind that at the most, there would have been 12 people attending, and that she would completely write this off as a
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 08
    business expense, so why be so cheap? I didn't want to rock the boat so the first year I just toed the line. The next year the same memo appeared a few weeks before the party (pretty sure she just saved it to the computer and printed it off every year). The second year and
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 09
    the few years after that we still went out to a restaurant I thought, fine, you're going to be that cheap in "appreciating" all the hard work we do all year (plus not treating us very nicely)? Fine. Cue malicious compliance. Everyone orders their drinks before their meal, I get
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 10
    water. She looks at me and asks, "Aren't you going to order a drink?" I tell her yes, but I will have it with dessert as I can't drink without eating anything first (true). Everyone orders a glass of wine, a cocktail, what have you. We eat our entrees, then the dessert menu comes. I ask if they have a scotch
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 11
    menu; they do, and she asks to look at it when I am done with it (they also had those fancy coffees on there as well). I order my dessert, and look at the scotch menu and order the most expensive per ounce scotch they have (about $26 bucks an ounce at
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 12
    the time). I'm not going to waste my "one drink only" on a $7 glass of wine, I'm getting the most expensive scotch there is, and make a point of savouring it. "Mmm mmm! So good! I've never had this one before!" I get the death glare, but hey, I'm enjoying my ONE DRINK ONLY!!! Still makes me laugh.
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 13
    Edit: Wow, I didn't expect many replies to this! To answer some of your questions: no, we didn't get paid to go, didn't know that was even a thing! Maybe it's different where you are from but it honestly
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 14
    never occurred to any of us. Yes, this was a long time ago (like 15 years ago), and as to the price of scotch, lots of restaurants had a very limited menu so not a lot of choice. She didn't order herself a scotch, she just wanted to see the prices. And come to think of it,
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 15
    considering her cheapness, she probably didn't reprint the "rules", she probably kept that one piece of paper in good condition to repost every year. After about 6 years we stopped going out and it became a potluck (yay, I get to cook my own food to show myself appreciation).
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 16
    spez_mods_jail_bait. 12 hr. ago Mandatory attendance means you have to get paid.
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 17
    Techn0ght 12 hr. ago Boss wanted the Scotch menu... did she go cheap or get an expensive one herself?
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 18
    Mundane-District-565 · 12 hr. ago They NEVER specified an amount. Well played
    via u/betterwithgarlic
  • 19
    Corgilicious 9 hr. ago I bet next year the rules say, "one mixed drink from the well not to exceed $7." e
    via u/betterwithgarlic

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Like a Boss christmas festive corporate christmas special coworkers reddit story petty revenge dinner Horrible Bosses Reddit cheap malicious compliance reddit oddly satisfying
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