'So I started dancing': Hotel managers install cameras to micromanage staff, night worker decides to constantly mess with them

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 9, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

This worker is utterly determined to mess with their bosses. As a night auditor at a hotel, they're used to the usual solitude of their work. Then one day, their bosses let them know that they were being recorded on camera. The work, u/Applejuice42, was not a fan of that, and decided to ask the internet what they should do to mess with their bosses. 

Bad news for anyone who dislikes being recorded: there's no escaping it anymore. Between security cameras and Ring cams, there's no point in having a dance-off with every camera you see. You might be recorded by dozens of cameras in a single day and not even know it. 

It's one thing to be recorded for security purposes or whatever, but it's a whole other thing when your bosses let you know they're watching you. That's bound to make employees uncomfortable: now that they know they're being closely surveilled, it makes them self-conscious. At least for this person, their annoyance over the situation gave way to some exceptionally creative little bits of payback! They detailed it all in a malicious compliance post, as well as an update using the previous advice that Redditors had provided. 

Next, the dean of this college insisted that some students clean up the science lab despite their deadlines, so the students decided to give the dean a tour he'd never forget. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10371564032
    via Juan Camilo Navia on Unsplash
  • 02
    Management is watching our camera footage. So i started dancing. I work at a hotel, night audit. Management has been complaining we don't do the rounds properly. The justification they use for that is checking our camera's which are only in a few parts of the building. If we aren't visible, the round was not done properly.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 03
    Technically thats a violation of the law, since you can only check footage in case of a crime. Long story short, i did my worst disco dances in the parking lot, gangnam styled the elevators, shaked my in the gym with fingers pointed to the sky, krumped the 3rd hallway and walked like an an egyptian in between. Of course, a haddaway finger point or three were included as well. I might get fired now, but wasn't worth it. If they complain, they admit to a felony. If they don't, i'm going to do this
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 04
    Update: Hotel management is watching my movements by rewinding camera footage. So i started dancing.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 05
    Original post here. Long story short, >Am night audit at hotel. >Management felt rounds were not walked properly based on camera footage. >Decided to give them a dance show to let them know i was keenly aware of them watching now. >Made a reddit post about it and you guys helped me come up with my next moves. So here's an update.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 06
    Before going to work today, I got a call from my supervisor. It came to his attention that it was inappropriate that I was now making my rounds in "an exaggerated way" and that i would "know what he was talking about". I laughed and said i was just dancing to make a statement.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 07
    Well "that ends now" he said. I promised i would stop... dancing that is. It took little effort on my part to make that concession, because thanks to you guys I had a ton of ideas of what other maliciously compliant shenanigans to pull next.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 08
    However, management hadn't been sitting still either. The first thing I noticed clocking in today, is that our security feed now has all interior camera's in full view, taking the spot of the garage, outside elevators, revealing more camera's than I initially counted. I can only see this as a challenge. Management is letting me know they have eyes everywhere. Glad to know I have their attention.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 09
    Because tonight, as well as the coming weekend, the theme is HORROR. First, I tried to do my rounds in erratic pathways. Then the parking basement, then the 2nd floor. from the 8th floor to the 5th, making sure to take the unmonitored staircases as much as I could. The idea is that I would seem to be in one place one moment, then appear out of nowhere somewhere else completely randomly.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 10
    Phase two was going down the creepy staircase where there was just 1 camera and after first standing still for a minute, frozen in motion. I stared directly into it for about 2 minutes. But no dancing. Nor more than the occassional deliberate "eyecontact". Still, sometimes my walking just seemed a little... off. Then it would go back to normal. Then off. Then back to normal again.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 11
    I also tried to give the impression that the camera's were bugging out by crossing a monitored hallway, walking backwards, then forwards, backwards and forwards again, at times freezing mid walk while making jerky, jittery movements, then walking twice as fast as if I were a lagging NPC (i know a bit of pop and lock, it helped!). I tried to walk a
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 12
    whole hallway backwards and forwards, but bumped into the door on my way back a few times so i'm afraid that one was a dud. Nevertheless, I carrued on. I tried to act spooked at an invisible "something" in the hallways. I threw up my hands in a defensive, startled "don't come near me" gesture, looking panicked, then sprinting out of
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 13
    the 3rd hallway. Finally, as my piece de resistance, I walked down the most monitored hallway, right up until the end, then stood with my facing just inches from a wall for a whole minute. Then slowly turned around and gave a deadeyed grin to the camera for another minute.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 14
    Now, aside from walking backwards and freezing a few times I kept my promise of not dancing. Of course if they ask me i will have but limited memory of my conduct I might just say something along the line of "maybe i'm coming down with something. I know i made the rounds, but the details seem a bit... hazy somehow."
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 15
    Thanks for all the wonderful ideas guys, i put them in action. Let's see what the weekend will bring when I work again. They have to give me two days off now i've been working 6-nights in a 7 day period. Whatever happens, I am ready to face the consequences. I may be a cog in a machine, but today I was a master of my own fate.
    via u/Applejuice42
  • 16
    Duchessofpanon This is hilarious. I don't understand how, if you're doing your job, management doesn't find it funny also. I would definitely appreciate the humour in an employee doing this and look forward to watching the next episode. "That ends now." What a tight
    via u/Duchessofpanon
  • 17
    aboutlikecommon Ooh, you know what's super-creepy? When people do that fast scampering thing on all fours... may take a little practice, though. What are your other plans? Maybe all slow-mo or fast forward? You could pretend to be obnoxiously conscientious by carrying
    via u/aboutlikecommon
  • 18
    out a 'white glove' inspection of the facilities. with a magnifying glass. Since dancing is now out, perhaps you could 'model' for the cameras, sashaying down hallways like they're runways, striking poses at the end of them (hands on hips, looking over your shoulder, etc.), and generally 'making love' to the cameras with smoldering glances.
    via u/aboutlikecommon
  • 19
    felix-dd Can you moonwalk? My vote is to do the entire rounds backwards. Like Tenet. Gas mask for extra effect but that's probably crossing the line. Bonus if you can figure out how to "drop" something in reverse
    via u/felix-dd

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dancing boss workplace-stories jobs job bosses work camera cameras workplace malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit malicious compliance reddit
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