Manager instructs staff to maliciously comply with difficult client by only following their vague instructions word for word, prompting backlash: 'Why are your employees being so unhelpful?'

These employees were tired of playing guessing games with their most difficult client.

It's not easy to read someone else's mind, especially when it comes to a professional atmosphere. No one wants to make an egregious error on the job simply because they were attempting to "read between the lines." Best practices are always to demand specificity and clarity, not just from those who work for you but also from the people in charge of you. After all, how are you supposed to fulfill their expectations if you don't even know what the instructions are?

That's the predicament wherein this team of employees at a logistics company found themselves. After having to have endless conversations with a particularly vague client about what their needs were over and over again, their manager rightfully decided that working with this client was taking up far too much time than it should. It was taking time away from other clients and therefore hurting the business overall. So the next time around, the manager instructed their team to only follow the instructions that are given to them. Nothing more and nothing less…

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We have to acknowledge that this malicious compliance was enacted primarily by the manager, who was actually seeking to protect their employees from having to do way more work than they should be doing. Shout out to the managers out there, like this one who actually take note of their employees' difficulties and follow through when they are needed to step in!
"You said only reply with exactly what they ask? Got it."

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via Ok-Moose1591
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via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
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via Ok-Moose1591
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via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

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