'If I catch that you were slacking off or lying, you are fired': Law partner demands summer associate to update him on whereabouts at all times, malicious compliance ensues

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jul 11, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

This is what it looks like when justice is served. This law partner may have been working in the industry for decades, but his outdated way of approaching workplace dynamics became a major problem. It seems like he's the kind of boss who chooses one lowly employee to direct all of his anger and frustration toward, as if there is nothing said person can do to meet his desires sufficiently.

Unfortunately for this summer associate, they became the target of all his antics. Most of this unfair treatment was related to the partner's obsession with promptness. The associate was still in law school and would frequently be late to work because of a class. They had informed all partners within the firm and no one seemed to have a problem with the exception of the partner. He didn't trust the associate in the slightest and decided to challenge them by requiring them to update him on their whereabouts at all times. You can probably see where this is going…

Keep scrolling below for the full saga and for the fallout. For more stories like this, check out this post about a male Karen customer's comeuppance.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10372568832
    via Tingey Injury Law Firm
  • 02
    You want to know where I am at all times? Your wish is my command.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 03
    I've been lurking on this sub for a hot minute, and I saw a post that reminded me of my own MC story. Sorry for any formatting issues since I am on mobile.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 04
    This happened about 8 years ago, 1 year into just my first job / paid internship / clerking gig (idk what to call it). The firm that I worked for had a part time program for law students so they could work and gain experience while in school (very common in my country).
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 05
    I loved my job, I was very grateful for the oportunity to learn and grow and I really enjoyed the work I performed. The thing was I had classes both in the morning and the afternoon
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 06
    / night and my school was at a different side of the city (about 8 miles away that could turn into hours of traffic during rush hour in a city with 8 million inhabitants). So my days looked pretty hectic, as something like this:
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 07
    5:30-7:00.- get ready and drive to school. 7:00-9:00.- class. 9:00-10:00ish.- drive to work. 10:00ish-17:00.- work. 17:00-18:00.- drive to school. 18:00-22:00.- classes. Then I would try to study for 1 hour after class. And I would often eat while driving.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 08
    During my first year in the program I had more than prooved myself and earned my place. I was that 19/20 year old idiot, type A overachiver that knew no boundries. I had worked weekends, pulled all nighters, literally I would leave school at 10 f◉ pm and go back to work,
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 09
    worked full time in the summers without more pay, anything I had to do to keep the associates happy so they'd keep teaching me.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 10
    As I was wrapping my first anniversary there, the perfect storm of aweful rolled around. On the academic front I started a new semester and twice a week in the mornings I had a teacher who was awesome but would finish class 20-30min late.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 11
    On the work front, a new partner joined the firm, lets call him Mr. A◉ ], AH for short, and kind of took over as unnofficial managing partner. He was the typical old fashioned lawyer that should be extinct by now.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 12
    He could barely use Microsoft Word to type a contract and would pass out at the sight of an excel sheet. He had this weird obsession with punctuality while simultaniously being late to everything. Plus he moronically believed that by having a bunch of people warming up chairs he would magically make money, so instead of investing time on client
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 13
    development he would just spend endless time and effort on bullying everyone around the office. To make matters worse since other people spoke highly of me he decided to pay special attention to me.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 14
    Unsurprisingly, shortly after A joined the firm AC started struggling. Now he could've tried to get new clients, send quotes by the deadline and show up to meetings on time. But no,
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 15
    of course the firm was doing poorly because us clerks did not spend enough time warming up the chairs. So he became obsessed with us getting there by 10am, specially me.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 16
    The issue was that i could not get there by 10 because my teacher finished class late and there was no way I could drive across the city in rush hour in 30 minutes.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 17
    So A called a meeting AC with all the clerks and yelled at me in front of everyone because I was "always" late, more like 2x a week,
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 18
    but whatever. The fact that I had gotten permision form the program committee did not matter, the fact that I was working 6 or 7 hours everyday while I only had to work 5 did not matter, the fact that I would work weekends and late nights did not matter.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 19
    I tried to explain but he'll keep yelling at me and would not let me talk. Having had enough I left the conference room
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 20
    straight into the office of every member of the clerk program committee (1jr associate, 1sr associate and 1 partner) to say the same speech. "I am late because I have class, I have proven my commitment to the firm, but my education is important too, if 30 minutes late twice a week is too big of an issue feel free to fire me, but I am not leaving class early". Then went to my desk to do my work. I guess the committee informed other partners
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 21
    and word got around of what was going on (small firm) because as I was getting ready to leave for school AD came fuming to my desk and told me: "I know you are lying from now on I want to know were you are at all times, and if I catch that you were slacking off or lying, you are fired and I will make sure no one will ever hire you"
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 22
    So que malicious compliance... The next day I woke up extra early 5:00am sharp, took a time stamped foto and sent it to both his e-mail and phone, since I could not risk him not getting it and him not knowing were I was. I sent a time stamped photo every 5 minutes captioning what I was doing like it was my own personal social media
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 23
    platform of 1 follower. The cherry on top was that my teacher had worked with AC in the past and obviously did not like him very much, so he let me take photos during the class and diligently send them to A. I even went as far as taking a photo of the toilet door with the text "PC ■", and then at at the toilet flushing "all done".
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 24
    While driving since traffic was really slow I would send a photo and include how much I had moved during that time, sometimes it was something absurd like 100 ft. As soon as I sent a photo of me at my desk he shows up saying that he got the point and I could stop.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware
  • 25
    A couple weeks later he simply stopped bugging people and started working from home or locking himself up in his office. My guess is I was not the only one to complain and the other partner realized how dangerous he could be for the firm and asked him to back off.
    via u/Dramatic-but-Aware

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