'What on earth is happening?': Manager demands employee participate in the team group chat, employee complies, sending random messages in every language but English

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Aug 31, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Every employee has to deal with bosses' random demands that contribute nothing but make the boss somewhat happy.

For example, as a writer here at Cheezburger, I sometimes get a message from my boss saying, "Hey, can you take out this sentence from your copy?" or "Please add this meme", and I must comply. Even if I do not understand the nature of the request, I simply accept it. Most of the time, these requests are easy to complete–5 minutes out of your day, and your boss is off your back. Other times, like in the story below, the demand is more time-consuming, which can be quite annoying if you know they are also completely pointless.

When this boss told their employee that they had to participate in the team chat discourse, even if they had nothing to say, the employee was pretty annoyed. Why should they take valuable time out of their workday just to send random messages to their teammates?

But the boss asked, so the employee must comply. Luckily, no one said that they can comply maliciously…

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  • 01
    Ed بانيا لسلى
    via cottonbro studio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    Manager Says I Must Chat in the Group Chat … So I Do. In Every Language but English.

    So, I've been working remotely for almost six years now, but I recently joined a new company with a new team leader. I could tell right
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 03
    away this guy was freshly promoted, you know that vibe when someone's trying a little too hard to flex authority? Yeah, that.
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 04
    My job is to talk with clients. That's it. My team leader isn't even looped into those conversations, so honestly, I barely have any reason to
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 05
    chat with him day-to-day. Naturally, I don't really hop into the team group chat unless it's work-related or someone tags me directly.
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 06
    Fast forward to my third monthly review: all my KPIs were perfect. However, my team lead docked my score because I "wasn't engaging enough in the team chat."
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 07
    Apparently, saying good morning and joining in on non-work chatter was "required" to show team spirit. I pointed out it's not in
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 08
    the metrics, never has been, and in six years of remote work I've never once been penalized for not spamming greetings into a chatbox. His
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 09
    response? "As long as you're on my team, you need to chat. Even just a hello or goodbye." Cue malicious compliance.
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 10
    Every morning I started posting "Good morning" and every evening "Goodbye"... but in a different language every day. Monday Korean, Tuesday Spanish, Wednesday
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 11
    Greek... you get the idea. At first, my lead thought it was funny. Then the rest of the team joined in, but they were all using Google Translate, and, well... let's just say a LOT
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 12
    got lost in translation. Some sentences even got flagged by our system, and eventually the General Manager (his boss) had to ask what on earth was happening.
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 13
    Group of people pulling out their phones
    via cottonbro studio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 14
    Suddenly my team leader wasn't laughing anymore. He DMed me saying "Please just greet in English from now on." Then he threatened that if I didn't stop, he'd report me to the GM.
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 15
    So far? I'm three weeks in. Still greeting the team in whatever language I feel like. Still waiting for that "GM call."
    via purpleninjaxx
  • 16
    awkwards pun "As per requirement from management, I am wishing everyone a good morning/evening."
    via awkwards**pun
  • 17
    CoderJoe1 Time to do it in Klingon.
    via CoderJoe1
  • 18
    damlork say 'good morning' but add an extra 'o' to 'good' every day optional: take bets with your team on how many o's you will get to before manager gets annoyed
    via damlork
  • 19
    Illuminatus-Prime Good morning. Please be advised that the greeter is not stating that the morning is good, nor that it is morning everywhere in the world;
    via Illuminatus-Prime
  • 20
    neither is the greeter promising that this morning has been nor that it will be good, and that the greeter is under no obligation to provide goodness to the recipients' morning.
    via Illuminatus-Prime
  • 21
    CutePhysics3214 And if English becomes your thing - work your way through all forms of English, from the 10th century to today. And make sure you jump into the dialects...
    via CutePhysics3214

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Tags

boss workplace-stories employee manager job malicious compliance tales-from-the-workplace reddit story ceo overworked-employees workplace texting group chat Reddit company funny team
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