'The store is in violation': Store employee protects themself from new bosses who tried to make them quit

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 4, 2024 5:00 PM EST

This person realized their job wanted them gone, and they decided not to go out without a fight. That's partially thanks to their union, which had their back through the entire debacle. 

One worker found themselves at an uncomfortable crossroads. They really enjoyed the work they did, and found that they were learning so much from the varied types of work. But then a new company bought them out, and the OP realized, "They didn't have a ready-made place for me to fit into." 

The company tried to belittle them into quitting. In order to avoid the hassle of firing someone, some businesses decide to try and make that employee as miserable as possible in the hopes that they quit. They did some openly hostile things toward this dude, such as writing them up for spending about 20 minutes of their shift assisting police officers. At least the OP, u/PunkThug, didn't bow to the pressure to quit. Instead, they figured out exactly how to get even. 

Check out the entire story below, plus comments from people who loved the tale. Next up, this father was always pushing the speed limit and getting tickets, so he came up with an incredible loophole. 

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  • 01
    There was an attempt to fire me for malicious compliance. L OC Long-time lurker first time poster. Apologize for being on mobile, it's a very long story, and TL;DR at the bottom
    via u/PunkThug
  • 02
    So, in 2012, I found myself working as a over night maintenance laborer for a family owned collection of properties. Two shopping complex, a winery, a few warehouses, ect. But most of the time, I was working keeping a grocery store built in the late 60s functioning. Worked my way up to night maintenance manager and loved my job.
    via u/PunkThug
  • 03
    I was getting the kind of education you can't buy; hands on electrical one night, plumbing the next, welding after that. All taught to me by 3 men that could build a house, up to code, single-handedly. And we all got along great! It was the first time in my adult life I had real responsibilities and I was respecting myself because I respected the job I was doing. The owners were all people that truly cared about their employees and they proved this when, in 2017, they sold the Main grocery store
    via u/PunkThug
  • 04
    the company that bought us (I won't say their name but think the opposite of "dangerous path") does not employ an in-house maintenance team. Something breaks, they outsource the fixing of it. So they really didn't have a ready-made place for me to fit into like the other department managers. The store manager also did not like that I was making $18 an hour, 6 bucks over a new hire rate. Thus began the systematic (what I saw as) harassment and what has been later confirmed to me as standard opera
    via u/PunkThug
  • 05
    ● Making my 35 year old ass a bag boy. (Jokes on you; I love doing easy work for good money) Writing me up for spending 20 minutes talking to the police about an accident I had seen while returning carts (I thoroughly enjoyed the district manager apologizing to me for that) Cutting my hours down from full-time to 24 hours a week ( which is completely allowable, but as the second most senior member in the store, everyone below me has to get their hours cut first).
    via u/PunkThug
  • 06
    • No, you can't force me to take a salaried manager's position. • Yes, you can make me a cashier (a position you know I do not want) but you have to give me the $3 pay bump And on and on and on, in addition to the many broken verbal promises and out-and-out lies. I became very well-versed on the union rules, my specific contract rules, and how to protect myself. 7 Union arbitrations in my first 5 months, all ended in my favor.
    via u/PunkThug
  • 07
    Meanwhile, the assistant managers love me. I can cover any department because I've done most everything and I'm a quick learner for what I don't know. Anything breaks down in the store (it was falling apart before they bought it) if I can't fix it, I can at the very least make a detailed work request so it gets fixed sooner. I become the go to cover guy, filling in any position that needs it.
    via u/PunkThug
  • 08
    Which at long last brings me to my malicious compliance. The store was not doing well, sales wise. About a year-and-a-half in, they couldn't get a closing butcher. So, the night manager taps me to work in the meat department for 3 hours every night just to close it out and clean it up. In the department there is a bandsaw that's used for cutting meat with bones in it. It's a pain in the ass to clean, so after reading the department manual I realized you were not to use that piece of equipment if
    via u/PunkThug
  • 09
    Now I 100% had been trained on that bone saw. I knew how to take it apart, fix it and put it back together. But that training was with the old company and I had been informed many times that the new company only thought I'd been trained when they had trained me. Perfect! I can close down the bone saw earlier and get it cleaned. If any customer needs me to cut meat with a bone in it, I inform them that I hadn't been trained on that piece of equipment. Shouldn't be an issue: This is late night and
    via u/PunkThug
  • 10
    This goes on for months until finally I'm called in to the manager's office during the day. Turns out one of the customers I had informed that I could not use the bone saw was a secret shopper. The store manager is writing me up for failure to complete my duties. She's also writing it up as 'malicious' failure (I forget the term they use; it's basically two write ups instead of just one) and that coupled up with my previous write up (I was 15 minutes late once; thats on me) gives her the three w
    via u/PunkThug
  • 11
    As I have done so many times in the past with this woman, I invoke my right to Union representation and declined to talk with her until after I've spoken with them. At this point I'm thinking "they can't bust me; I was following the written directions" but oh no!!! it got so much sweeter and so much worse. While talking to my union rep it quickly becomes clear that the butchers are a completely different Union. The store is in violation of the butchers Union contract by having a non-union employ
    via u/PunkThug
  • 12
    So first my union fights the write- up, wins and gets me paid for the four/five days I missed of work. They then get me a lawyer who tells me I am not to speak with any store manager in any capacity, due to The butchers Union complaint against the store. 2 weeks off, fully paid, for me; I can't very well work at a store where I cannot speak to my bosses. I then get two more days off paid while I speak to the various Union reps for my testimony. the store is fined ($50,000 is what I was told) for
    via u/PunkThug
  • 13
    anymore. Her replacement only accepts the job if his bonuses are not tied to the store's overall performance, so he doesn't mind I'm overpaid. As icing on the cake, no one really liked her so I'm damn near a hero when I get back TL;DR: After the store manager finally figures out a way to fire me, it turns out she's been breaking the rules and she loses the store. I keep my job, get almost 3 weeks paid time off and still work for the company.
    via u/PunkThug
  • 14
    Bungalow Hole The power of union membership everyone. Only thing stronger than corporate money.
    via u/Bungalow Hole
  • 15
    Dudeness77 I cannot count the times my union has saved my ass when management wanted to fire me over something that a simple write up would have accomplished (about a third of which was really my fault)
    via u/Dudeness77
  • 16
    MnstrShne Damn unions. How are big shareholders supposed to pay for a car elevator for their 2nd vacation home now? 11 Reply Share PunkThug OP In the words of Bill Burr "how big does your f****** yacht need to be?!"
    via u/MnstrShne

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