'I reached a complete breaking point over donuts': New hire forced to buy everyone donuts during his first week, maliciously complies and scares off annoying coworkers

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 31, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

Usually, newly hired employees are given a break during their first week. The first few days are typically about getting settled in, meeting your coworkers, and adjusting to the company culture. However, here, we have a new hire who was almost immediately tasked with buying donuts for everyone at the company. 

Apparently, there were two annoying coworkers at the office who chose different people each week to pick on and bother incessantly until they gave in and got everyone donuts. You would think they would avoid picking on the new guy at the company at least for a few weeks, but these coworkers had zero shame. Instead, they framed it as a hazing ritual. This understandably frustrated the new hire, who gave in and bought everyone donuts but who left a special surprise for the two annoying coworkers. 

Keep scrolling below for this tale of malicious compliance. For more content like this, take a look at this post about another difficult Karen coworker.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10396423936
    via Bethany Newman
  • 02
    It is MY day to buy donuts for the entire office as the new person?? Well...OK.... M OC
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  • 03
    As the "new person" at my job, I was told multiple times that I was expected to provide donuts for the entire office. Normally, that's not a big deal... but two people in particular were r and relentless
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  • 04
    about the donuts all week. Others joined in also. Apparently, these people recently extorted two boxes of Krispy Kremes from someone else.
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  • 05
    Examples of the behavior - mentioned buying donuts 20+ times, name calling, interrupted meetings, powered off my computer (losing my work), refusing to answer legit work questions until I buy donuts, on and on.
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  • 06
    Here's the problem, I was hired in as a Sr., 30 years old, and I was not necessarily loving the idea of being told to buy donuts over and over.
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  • 07
    Hazing really did not seem appropriate at this point of my career (or for anyone else). I didn't want to be a "bad sport" my first week, so I played along. I politely said that I will not have time this week but will get to it eventually. In
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  • 08
    terms of the workforce, I was mature, but I was not very mature as a person overall. I needed a creative way to address this problem.
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  • 09
    On my way to work, I decided to pickup a cheap bag of small powdered hostess "donettes" donuts at the gas station.
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  • 10
    I distributed the donuts one by one, desk by desk, making sure to do so bare handed from the bag. I presented the donuts extremely politely, careful to mask my passive aggressive "U" to the whole forced donut process.
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  • 11
    The reaction from the staff was a lot of the "deer in headlights" looks. People had no idea if I was a "really nice, but clueless" person,
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  • 12
    or if I was totally saying "U" to the entire donut idea. Most people took the "safe" choice of being pleasant in return. Some people tried to refuse, but I mentioned the "big deal" about buying donuts, and still left a donut on every desk.
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  • 13
    I had originally considered providing a donut to everyone except the last two idiotic pushy people. I started verbally setting it up where they would not receive a donut. However, these two idiots
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  • 14
    were still openly verbally complaining about donuts, as adults. I could tell that this was not going to go away - they could not take a hint to back off.
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  • 15
    My idea to passive aggressively snub them was no longer good enough. This had to be more direct.
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  • 16
    I decided I was 100% done with these guys, regardless of the consequences. I told them I had another idea.
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  • 17
    I grabbed a plastic knife from the breakroom, and cut the remaining donut in half the long (horizontal) way, so I still had two circles. The yellow cake was now visible. Then -
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  • 18
    the most brilliant idea of my life. A new way to hold donuts. One donut on each middle finger, with my middle finger in the center hole of each donut.
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  • 19
    I stopped at both desks. The first guy had his choice of two half donuts on my middle fingers. That's right, I was able to give him a double donut middle finger. He now understood that I was completely done with his he never grabbed a donut. I but
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  • 20
    explained the donuts are actually quite tasty, and urged him to take one, but Im sure I looked like a complete psycho. I was no longer able to stay in character.
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  • 21
    The good news - his refusal to take a donuts from my middle fingers ALSO allowed the opportunity to provide the last guy a double donut middle finger!! I mildly snapped, and had a : fake grin on my face. I looked him right in the eye. Double Donut middle fingers up, no longer saying a word.
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  • 22
    The reaction of the last person is best described as completely frightened. That's right, I reached a complete breaking point over donuts, and scared the out of someone. Anyway, after this incident, I was never asked to buy donuts again.
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  • 23
    EDIT BELOW due to more responses than I expected, and I cannot reply to all. Thanks for reading and the (mostly) great responses.
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  • 24
    For the possible donut hazers, I don't know how to explain it further. These guys were way, way over the top. This was not normal office behavior. In fact, these guys were in trouble with management also. This is not a normal "team building" this was two total idiots that pushed and pushed.
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  • 25
    I do not need you to go back YEARS to try and retroactively change my behavior. This was a "malicious compliance" story that I thought was humorous enough to share, nothing more. I snapped, and acted crazy,
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  • 26
    but I'm quite happy now in a good career and this was YEARS also. It's all good now!! I do not need career advice here. Again, all good. In no way am I saying that I acted properly lol. In fact it was terrible office response, but I wasn't fired. I ended up taking another position 3 months
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  • 27
    later. Some of the people in the office actually appreciated that I stood up to these idiots, so it was "team building" in a way. There's definitely different ways I could have handled this, but it's over now. Even if I handed it differently, generally "nice ending stories where nothing happens" are not considered malicious compliance. Is that really what you were looking for here?
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  • 28
    I've purchased food/etc for the office many times since. Ive had team building exercises. I've never run into idiotic hazing like this since back then. Again thanks for reading. I did not intend to annoy anyone that does FRIENDLY or NORMAL team building. That type of thing would not have caused me to snap, that's very normal. OK. Signing off.
    via grillbuster5

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terrible coworkers donuts workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job malicious compliance work coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit company toxic-work-environment
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