Employee gets fired after never showing up to work, uses ex-boss as a reference, he maliciously complies: 'IF you can get Karen to work for you, you will be VERY lucky'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Apr 15, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

Let this story serve as a friendly reminder that who you use as a reference is very important…

Now, it should be mentioned that employers can actually get in trouble for making ill-advised remarks when they're contacted as references, so you know that when they do so, they are either holding a major grudge or they are 100% in the right. In this case, believe it or not, we are dealing with a situation in which the employer was being a decent human and was even so careful in the way he didn't recommend a former employee while still getting the proper message across. 

Of course, it's unfortunate if you don't have a decent former employer who can vouch for you when you're looking for work. That being said, it's like they always say: if everyone else is crazy, then maybe you're the one who's insane. Here, we have a former Karen employee who couldn't face the fact that she was the problem. 

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    Cheezburger Image 10493873408
    via Unsplash+ (Eduardo Ramos)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • The author of this story made a point to explain his leniency in the early days of this woman's employment. Perhaps she was in the middle of a difficult time in her life which meant she couldn't show up to her new job. However, once it became a recurring situation, it became clear that this guy had no other option but to fire her. Unfortunately when he did, he still couldn't get her out of his hair at first…

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    TL:DR neighbor/Karen takes advantage of our company with outrageous claims, then uses us as a reference. We get our point across with creative wording. Karen continues to use us a reference and was clueless we protected fellow business owners
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    Let's call her Karen, just because it fits. She came in and applied for a job and when I looked at her resume and application, I realized she knew some of my old neighborhood friends and schoolmates. She interviewed well, so I gave her a job. Told her to be in Monday at 9:00 a.m.
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    Monday morning, she is not in, she no calls, no shows. Tuesday, no call no show, I had now written her off. Wednesday, she shows up about noon. Claims she was in her basement Sunday night and
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    he accidentally knocked her out during his intense workout. She claimed her doctor told her she had a concussion and she should stay home for a couple days. She
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    had no doctor's note, no marks on her head, but thinking her story was so off the wall it could almost be true, I let her come to work the next day.
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    She worked Thursday and Friday. We paid at the end of every week and I gave her a check Friday, I also did NOT deduct the days she missed. She came to me and asked about the full paycheck. I
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    told her we were a family business and realized people had lives outside work. He tried to make sure people knew they were appreciated and tried to take care of our people. She teared up and thanked me and said we could count on her.
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    She worked the full next week, did OK. She seemed to fit in. Seemed.
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    The third week, she showed up Monday, but Tuesday was another no show no call. We did not hear from her for over TWO WEEKS! When she finally showed up, her story was the stuff of legends. She claimed her husband had forged divorce
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    papers a couple years previous. Thinking she was divorced, she moved back into her parent's house. She claimed her "ex- husband" was at her parents' house when she got home the last night she worked.
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    He told her he made up the divorce and the paperwork was phony so they were still married and he wanted to get back together. She claims she refused d her. She said it and he kidn took her until a couple days ago to get away from him. She wanted to come into work the next day.
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    She did not call the police and he wasn't arrested. There was nothing in the papers or on the news about any of this. She was not hurt (thank God!) She asked
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    if I believed her. I did not, but told her that I really needed someone I could count on coming in reliably everyday. I gave her a paycheck for one week (she had worked 1 day) and told her I wished her good luck.
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    I had already replaced her, and her replacement was one of the best employees we ever had. Here's the malicious compliance.
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    Cheezburger Image 10493874176
    via Unsplash+ (Eduardo Ramos)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    The next month, I come in to a phone message that someone from Company called for a reference for Karen. As my
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    secretary is handing me the message, she's laughing at the look on my face. I asked if she was kidding, she said she was not. She said she got a call from a man saying he was the owner of a company in the area and he asked about Karen. Then my
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    secretary asked if she could listen in on the call. (she was a pistol) She then goes and gets my partner and tells him I am going to call and give Karen a reference. Now he is in my office laughing too!
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    I call the guy and we make some small talk. I tell him what we do and he tells me what he wants Karen to do for him. I tactfully avoided answering any of his questions about Karen directly. I think he was beginning to suspect something.
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    Remember folks, employers can get in a ton of trouble for bad references.
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    "IF He finally asked my opinion of Karen, and what I said was, you can get Karen to work for you, you will be VERY lucky". He
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    heard what I said and how I said it. He repeated that back to me exactly as I said it. All my words were the right ones, it was my tone and intonation that got my point across. He thanked me and hung up.
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    Karen comes into the office a couple days later, she looks mad but is trying to be pleasant. She told me she is having trouble finding a job and mentioned she has used me as a reference. She
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    wanted to know if anyone from Company has called me (she knew they did). She told me she really want the job at Company. I told her I had been called and that I told the guy he'd lucky to get her to work for him.
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    My secretary confirmed that's what I told him, she told him she was right next during the whole conversation.
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    Karen smiled and thanked me and headed to the door, She said she wondered why she was having so much trouble getting a job. She asked if she could
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    continue to use me for a reference and I told her absolutely! I also told her I'd tell everyone the same thing, that "any employer would be lucky if they can get you to work for them."
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    She walked away smiling, happy and clueless.
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