'Finish putting the delivery away before anything else... Cue malicious compliance': Gas station worker refuses to prep food after following boss's directions

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
May 18, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

When you've been in the workforce long enough, you know that what the boss says, goes, no matter how hard you might roll your eyes about it. 

In some jobs, you have bosses that make you question how they ever got the job in the first place. They're the boss who constantly does things that seem wrong in the eyes of the other employees. Sometimes it might seem like they have their priorities so backward, as was the case with this person, u/RScommitted. They shared this great story of malicious compliance which happened at their gas station job. 

The gas station this employee worked at was one of those more upscale ones that sells real food. Instead of getting a package of cupcakes and an energy drink for breakfast, you can get a hot meal at these places. How good that hot meal will actually taste still depends on the location, but this place made pizzas, which are hard to get wrong. Somehow, this dude's boss still messed that up, which customers were probably not happy about. Let's hope she learned her lesson for the next delivery day: not everything has to be the only priority, especially when you give your employees the agency to handle these things themselves. 

Next up, check out another delivery fail story: this customer demanded to be the number one delivery on the route, then made the poor truck driver wait for hours. 

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    RVEY LTD
    via Erik Mclean on Unsplash
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    Putting away delivery takes top priority - no matter what!
    via u/RScommitted
  • 03
    A while back I worked at a fantastic Midwestern gas station in the town that I live in. They were pretty short staffed when I applied and I was kind of desperate for a job, so I was really excited when I joined even part-time. I learned the ropes pretty quickly as there really wasn't too much that differed from previous jobs I've held. My
    via u/RScommitted
  • 04
    boss, we'll call her Helga (cause its such an ugly name), constantly complimented me on how well I was doing so quickly. It made me feel great! Soon after this, an opportunity for a full-time position became available (overnights, not ideal but full- time). I quickly accepted and began that training immediately. I
    via u/RScommitted
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    was trained partly by the assistant manager, who we'll call Brad. Brad had been at the store for a few years and showed me a few tips and tricks to make the nightly routine go by much quicker. The routine was pretty much the same every night: general cleaning of store, deep
    via u/RScommitted
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    cleaning of food/drink makers, restocking, and making breakfast in the morning hours. The only difference came on the delivery nights, which were twice a week. Now, on the overnights, usually only one person is on. On delivery nights, however, a second worker would come in part-way through the shift to
    via u/RScommitted
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    specifically help with putting the items away so that other work could still be done in a timely manor. Brad was usually that guy. The first few weeks went smooth as butter. One delivery night, however, Brad was sick and no one could cover for him. Not a problem, I thought, I could just do as much of the delivery as
    via u/RScommitted
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    possible while still managing to get my other duties done. I managed to get through a good 85% of it, mostly the cold goods and things that needed to be put in the refrigerator and freezer. The remaining items were placed neatly at the end of the food island and out of the way of any customers. I finished my morning
    via u/RScommitted
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    duties and waited for my relief. I felt good about what I had done and figured Helga would see my effort and feel the same way. No. I was wrong. Immediately upon entering the store, Helga saw the items still sitting on the floor at the end of the island. She didn't initially say
    via u/RScommitted
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    anything so I didn't think much of it. I waited the last few minutes to clock out and went over to the computer to do so. As I'm about to leave, Helga stops me and pulls me aside. She asks me why hadn't the delivery been put away as usual. I explained to her that Brad had not been in the night
    via u/RScommitted
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    before to assist me with the delivery and that I still wanted to be able to finish my other nightly duties, so I did what I thought was necessary and then I moved on. I explained to her that if I hadn't stopped when I did that morning food would not have been prepared and the next shift would be slammed making food
    via u/RScommitted
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    trying to get out basic stuff along with special orders that inevitably came every morning. She looked at me for a moment before going on a tangent about how "Delivery is the most important thing to worry about" and how I was wrong for doing what I did. I was
    via u/RScommitted
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    taken aback because I really thought I had done right, but apparently not. She concluded with "Next time finish putting the delivery away before anything else ". Cue malicious compliance.
    via u/RScommitted
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    I had to wait about a month or so before I could actually act on this unfortunately. My boss felt it unnecessary to have a second person helping on deliveries anymore. I could not give you the slightest reason as to why, but my time had come. On a nice Thursday night, the delivery
    via u/RScommitted
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    arrived approximately 2 hours late. I completed my other duties that could be done prior to delivery. After it was offloaded from the truck, I immediately began working on putting it all away. Backstory to this specific delivery. We had some electrical issues prior which ruined some
    via u/RScommitted
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    product and some back-ordering as well (which to those that don't know means that some items weren't able to come on the previous truck due to stock issues in the warehouses). So this delivery was HUGE. Like almost twice as many boxes as a usual delivery. But this is priority,
    via u/RScommitted
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    so I focused on it. It was about 20 minutes or so before the shift exchange when I finally got finished putting this stuff away (approximately 6 hours from start). But I got it all put away! I was happy. There was one problem. Breakfast wasn't made and nothing was prepped for the Friday sale we have every Friday
    via u/RScommitted
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    for pizza. Usually I would have had 10 or so pizzas prepared for the next shift so they can just whip them into the oven and start on other things. I also usually had the breakfast area full of fresh sandwiches and whatnot. But not today.
    via u/RScommitted
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    Shift change happens and Helga walks in with a smile on her face. She notices that this time there are no boxes on the end of the island and seems ecstatic! Until she walks a little further down the line and notices that there's not food in the warmer. She then goes to the kitchen to look in the
    via u/RScommitted
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    fridge and notices there are no pizzas prepared. Her face turned a shade of red I've never seen before and she immediately returned to the front and called me back. I complied and walked to the back with her, fully knowing what was about to come. She exploded at me asking why there was no food prepared
    via u/RScommitted
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    and that today is a busy day and that she wasn't going to stand for this kind of laziness. I let her finish her rant before I answered. "Well, the delivery was a bit bigger this time because of all the extra stuff and honestly I am surprised I got it done, but I got it done cause that's what you told me to do. I wish Brad would have
    via u/RScommitted
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    been here to help. This delivery was HUGE!". I clocked out after a few more minutes of her again telling me I was wrong and all that yadda yadda. I didn't really care to continue the conversation and I knew I had made my point.
    via u/RScommitted
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    I came back a couple of hours later to "buy some things for home". The poor kitchen staff were still struggling to get enough food out to satiate the morning crowd. But at least the delivery was put away!
    via u/RScommitted
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    [deleted] Never do 85% of a two- person job yourself, always. do 50%, otherwise boss thinks you can do the work of two people, which sounds like what happened here.
    via u/[deleted]
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    craic-house You had to go back for the outcome. I would have ordered a special pizza.
    via u/craic-house
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    tisonlymoi I probably would have said something like "For Sake, make your mind up, I do the job the way I think is right, you tell me I'm wrong, okay, but then the next time I follow your orders to the letter and yet I'm still wrong, think you can do better ON YOUR OWN you cover the next delivery shift, let's see how you get it done" ALL
    via u/tisonlymoi
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    DMeloDY Wow...just...wow... I mean, you had done more than most people would in that situation and she just gets angry! It's maddenig when you do your stinking best and get rewarded with a Honestly it's changed my attitude towards doing the best I can and going the extra mile.
    via u/DMeloDY
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    I work in retail and I have had a couple of jobs where I did my best as wel, go the extra mile. I would fix the printer while the rest had no clue how to even work with the thing. I would take the French customers because no one else spoke the language and we didn't want to see the customer leave like that. I would make sure
    via u/DMeloDY
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    our deliveries were done in time, in the right order and ready for the store in the color groups they needed them in even if it meant working fast and hard in an attic with no cooling during hot summers.
    via u/DMeloDY
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    In the end going that extral mile ended up not getting anything in return but always being 'used' by others and even yelled at sometimes. I was told I was not good enough, our shopmanager said you're not the 'right material', I wouldn't get a fixed/permanent contract but they would make use of me for as long as they could with my temporary contract.
    via u/DMeloDY
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    I guess I showed them what 'not being good enough' or 'not the right material' really meant. It got to the point where I no longer spoke French, only English for foreign customers if needed. I would take my sweet time taking care of the deliveries, and that printer? Yeah it's broken...ask a new one... (
    via u/DMeloDY
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    they were capable of breaking two new printers after I said I couldn't fix the old one and they got a replacement) Before that manager we were the number one store of our country, competing and doing well compared to all the others. She would have 'talks' with us, not appreciating what we did at
    via u/DMeloDY
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    all but rather talking all of us down. Afterwards our sales declined, most of my colleagues were given the same 'excuse' even though we were heavily understaffed. When I left we weren't even in the top 5 anymore. That shopmanager would be sent away to smaller stores. Her trainnee quit soon after because it became too much for her too.
    via u/DMeloDY
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    OP I hope you have found something way better where they appreciate you for who you are, your commitment and what you can do! They didn't deserve you! And I hope you are a lot happier wherever you ended up afterwards.
    via u/DMeloDY

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boss workplace-stories jobs job malicious compliance bosses work malicious-compliance-reddit gas station workplace malicious compliance reddit delivery
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