New supervisor costs company $1.5 million: '40,000 catalogues... are the wrong size'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 9, 2026 3:00 PM EDT

A new supervisor entered this printing company and immediately started making changes. 

Employees tried to tell him what would happen but… he just wouldn't listen! 

You see this happen all the time: a new boss walks in full of bravado, and immediately begins instituting sweeping changes. The employees are stunned, but they feel they need to comply. That's exactly what happened to this poor print worker, who spent weeks trying to complete the impossible tasks their no-nothing boss was giving them. For example, he first requested that the brochures they were making be shrunk down. He had to try multiple different options just to get it to work! And even then, it wasn't very legible. No customer can look at a teeny tiny font and decide to order a product based off that! 

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  • Printing employee points out issue to boss.
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    Printing employee points out issue to boss.

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

  • This isn't just the kind of incident that happens to a knowledgable printing press worker, though. No matter what industry you find yourself working in, there are bound to be overzealous bosses who think they know best. Not the workers who spend 40 or 50 hours a week on the floors, running the place. No, no. The boss is completely sure that they know better than anyone what this place needs. 

    This worker is excellent at maliciously complying with this new supervisor's orders! They seem to have a good sense for knowing which things are and aren't in their control, and which issues are simply above their pay grade. They can argue with a manager until they're blue in the face… or, they can prove that their manager knows nothing, humiliating him in front of his own bosses. 

    Which option would make the employee look better? Of course, the second one! Read the entire story below — it's a smidge long, but it's totally worth the read. It's an interesting look at an industry that's almost entirely obsolete now (this story happened decades ago, when magazine inserts, catalogues, and brochures were all the rage). In fact, if you were a kid in the 90s, you might remember getting Toys R Us or Sears catalogues in the mail. They were brimming with colorful photos of toys galore. Many of us loved to take a marker and circle everything we wanted for the holidays, before handing that over to Mom and Dad. Great times! And thanks to this printer for being one of the many employees who made that happen. 

  • New supervisor cost us time, money, reputation and almost $1.5 million - malicious compliance

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  • Before that I helped my dad in his business doing the same thing (he dd a month after I turned 18.) So literally doing it since I was 14.
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  • Printed pages whirring off the press.
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    Printed pages whirring off the press. 

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

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  • The boss had a catch phrase, clearly!

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    Sears was in the big leagues back then. Today's version might be something like, "Do it like Amazon!" Mimicking your most successful competitor isn't the worst idea, but it's hard to read about all the ways he's wasting time, clearly have zero idea what he's doing. 

  • Malicious compliance step 2 - cover my bt. I KNEW there were issues with the size and weight, but he's the expert.
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  • It's just problem after problem with this guy

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    Or should I say issue after issue with this guy? Get it? Because it's a printing press? Ok, let's keep reading.

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  • This is shockingly late!

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  • Good heavens!

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    The company paid workers for weeks just for very little to be accomplished (and it gone done too late to really be effective anyway!)

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  • Print press worker is baffled by boss's design choices.
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    Print press worker is baffled by boss's design choices. 

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