'I tried to negotiate... then I realized what date it was': Teen maliciously complies with Dad's rules in order to attend party

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 13, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

This teenager wanted nothing more than to go to a party. But as they shared in a story all about malicious compliance, their dad "wouldn't let me go anywhere." 

Parents of teenagers have a hard job. Teens are notorious for getting into trouble, but they're also at a point in their life where they need to learn to be independent. As a parent, it's hard to know how much freedom your kid should have. Should they be allowed to stay out all night? Should they have to tell their parent everywhere they're going? That's up to each parent to decide. Strict parents raise great liars, though! 

This teen was begging their dad to go to a party, because no one wants to have FOMO over missing a really cool event. Their friends didn't even have a curfew! U/Olympus_XIII's father gave them ungenerous curfews, like demanding they be home at 10 PM following a movie that started at 8 PM. While discussing the upcoming party, the original poster's dad told them that they'd have to miss at least 90 minutes of the party. Luckily, the teen realized that the party fell on the perfect day. 

Next up, this group of D&D players were surprised when one player walked out at the end of a 4-year-long campaign. 

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  • 01
    'Dad gave me a 2 AM curfew... | complied'
    via No Revisions on Unsplash
  • 02
    Dad gave me a 2:00 AM curfew... I complied
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 03
    When I was about 16 or 17, like any other kid at that age, I desperately wanted to go to a party all my friends went to. All of my friends were older than myself, so they had no curfew, or were allowed to stay very late. My dad, however, was a pain in the at that time. Or at least, that was my perception. He wouldn't let me go anywhere, and when I was allowed to go, he'd give ridiculous curfews that held no
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 04
    account with the nature of the event. E.g. going to the movies at 8, but demanding to be back home at 10... that kinda limits your choices, right? And you don't want to be that friend who puts constraints onto the group.
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 05
    Sorry, I digress. Anyway, that particular day, I negotiated for him to give me a later curfew. After a while, he stated that 2 AM was the absolute latest I should be home. That sucked, because most of my friends had a 3 AM curfew AND the party was at least a half an hour bike-ride away. So this would mean I would miss more than 1h30 of the party (yeah, severe case of FOMO here). I tried to negotiate some more, but then I realized what date it was. Enter Malicious Compliance.
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 06
    You see, it was the last weekend of October, on a Saturday. I don't think this is the same everywhere, but in the larger part of Europe this means that Daylight Savings Time ends. At exactly 3 AM, clocks are set back one hour. So I went to the party, not by bike. I asked for a friend to drop me off, making sure that I would be there exactly on time. I made sure that my dad didn't hear me a minute too soon (because then, I would be almost an hour late!). At exactly 3 AM (or better: 2 AM for the s
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 07
    Needless to say he was furious, demanding an immediate explanation as to why I was an hour late. When I said I was exactly on time, pointing at his own radio-controlled watch, I could see his face turn all kinds of red, and an awesome mix of defeat and anger in his eyes. He sent me to bed, knowing I was right, and I complied, knowing I was very wrong. Nevertheless, it was an awesome victory!
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 08
    Edit: Some context on the curfew. 2 AM was definitely a reasonable curfew. Not exceptional though: it's very often something like 1AM for 16yo, 2AM for 17yo, and as of 18 you're legally an adult, so do whatever the you want.
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 09
    Edit 2: Thanks for the awesome reactions (and for the silver, wow!)! I always assumed this was the kind of story where everbody would know somebody who pulled this off.
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 10
    Edit 3: Holy ***, this kinda exploded overnight. Thanks for the replies, upvotes and even my first gold! And to all those. commenting what a sh*tty kid I was to my dad: of course this was an inconsiderate move to make. But first: kids will be kids. Second: this subreddit is called r/MaliciousCompliance. Not r/GoodyTwoShoes ¯¯\_()_/¯¯¯
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 11
    Edit 4: I live in Belgium. Judging by most the comments, the curfews mentioned in the story and in my first edit may look ridiculous for the average American, I didn't realize this. But really: these are pretty average for a European country.
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 12
    As for the "18, do whatever the you want": this comment obviously applies to curfews. Once you reach the age of 18, a lot of parents here don't give curfews anymore, yes, even when you're still living in their house. Basically: "Bring breakfast when you get home by morning, and don't do anything stupid".
    via u/Olympus_XIII
  • 13
    BentGadget I suppose there's a meaningful difference between "be home at 2 am" and "don't let 2 am get here before you do."
    via u/BentGadget
  • 14
    Colegdobrynin well done. if I had a kid pull that on me, I'd at least know they were safe and sober enough to come up with a scheme like that
    via u/Colegdobrynin
  • 15
    Spartelfant Did a similar thing once when organising a party. A couple of friends and I would rent out the local youth center each year and throw a huge party (~250 people). The youth center's permit allowed us to stay open until 2 AM. You can see where this is going I suppose... we went on partying until 2:59, then ended it at 2:00 :)
    via u/Spartelfant
  • 16
    It probably helped that our parties had a good reputation, even with the local cops. They stopped by earlier in the evening and they usually would also show up around closing, except that one year. We never figured out if they were simply busy elsewhere or if they were intentionally looking the other way.
    via u/Spartelfant
  • 17
    [deleted] "When you're young, you sneak out of home to go to parties. When you're old, you sneak out of parties to go home."
    via u/[deleted]

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