Customer complained that she wasn't greeted at the store, and it made it seem like no one was available to help her, so an employee complied with the demand: 'I proceeded to follow her around the store constantly asking'

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Aug 31, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Employees work for a company, not for every individual customer
 

Malicious compliance is a very fun concept that can even make you achieve great things, but it can also make you lose your job when done wrongly. With these stories, I sometimes feel as if the employees are looking for a way to get fired with cause instead of doing a cool comeback. It is one thing to do exactly what they asked you to prove some kind of point, and it's another thing to purposely mess up at your job just because you wanted to make a customer feel dumb. They may be dumb, but pointing it out is not a cool comeback. It's just reason enough to get fired.

The person in this story didn't get fired, and probably won't, which I'm glad, as I don't want anyone losing their job. But they should get reprimanded, as they drove the customer out of the business with their awful attitude. I, of course, do not agree with acting as the customer did. She was being disrespectful and pretending that the employees were assigned to a customer to follow around, which is insane. But to then, as an employee, bother the customer till they are tired of you and leave the store without buying anything is going too far. There is no reason to act like that when you are an adult. You are working. Behave as if you'd actually remember that.

Getting fired is, of course, not the solution. Here, this employee just needs to understand that work is not the place to be behaving like this, especially if you actually need your job. But this message is more to everyone who acts like this at work. Malicious compliance is a witty way to show that you were right all along, but it's also risky. Some bosses are not going to take it well the fact that they are being "played" by an employee. And others won't like the fact that you drove a customer out of the store, as it's losing business. So maybe cool it off with the malicious one and just comply with your job. 
 

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  • Had a woman come in the store while I the only active employee was busy attending to something else and therefore was not greeted or asked if she needed any help. This apparently upset her to the point where she tracked down the manager and complained and the manager immediately found me and told me her complaint. So. I proceeded to follow her around the store constantly asking if she liked this shoe or that one or what about these? I did this till she tracked down the manager again and complain
    via SpectacularSpidee
  • A retail employee working at a store. Photo is a representation of scenes.
    via Blake Wisz

    A retail employee working at a store. 

    Photo is a representation of scenes. 

  • redgatorade000 Lol was this at Nordstrom? I worked there during winter holiday season in a very upscale area and I used to hear about this type of complaint all the time
    via redgatorade000
  • PageEvening3333 Retail creates an impossible standard: leave customers alone and you're "ignoring" them, but approach immediately and you're pushy. A quick “Hi, let me know if you need anything" should count as service without turning shopping into a hostage negotiation.
    via PageEvening3333
  • Djaakie I feel this is an American thing? If someone immediately comes to me to ask if they can help I'll generally leave pretty quickly. Let me look first.
    via Djaakie
  • EffectiveVarious8095 Many years ago I worked retail selling stereos on commission. If we congregated it looked bad. If customers were approached they would run away. My solution was to look busy doing some chore like cleaning something. Customers felt comfortable approaching me, "excuse me, I see your busy but I have a question...".
    via EffectiveVarious8095
  • HigherOctive I briefly worked in a retail situation. In the end, it was mutually agreed that having me in a customer-facing role was not ideal. The entitled nonsense and rudeness of some people requires the employees to be able to enter a zen-like state, something I never could do.
    via HigherOctive
  • A retail store full of clothes.
    via Korie Cull

    A retail store full of clothes. 

     

  • busty_snackleford Maybe I'm just getting old, but I don't know if following a customer around harassing them till they leave is quite the flex you think it is.
    via busty_snackleford
  • TinyNiceWolf Depending on the "something else" you were doing, she might have had a point. A store could reasonably require its employees to immediately stop changing the paper in the register if a customer enters, for example. Since you reacted to her complaint with harassment, and it seems like you strategically omitted any hint of what you were busy doing, it's hard to give you the benefit of the doubt.
    via TinyNiceWolf
  • Brilliant_Cattle_602 This is what should happen. When out shopping with my wife we hate to be followed and "helped". We will actively say "we don't need help, we are just browsing" and then leave it the sales person keeps trying to help. Leave us alone or lose a potential sale. We will ask if we have questions or need help. We do not want the full history of anything we glance at. We do not want suggestions of similar items.
    via Brilliant_Cattle_602
  • wolfgang784 Part of the issue is that the behavior you describe is also how thieves act, so sales people still need to keep floating around every now and then and occasionally making contact in order to adhere to anti-theft standards. If its more than another brief "still doin good?" or "ooh nice pick" while they walk by though, just making you aware that they are in the area and paying attention, then yea that gets too pushy. But just making occasional contact again is required in every retail
    via wolfgang784
  • HigherOctive They used to have door greeters in Walmart. I haven't seen that for some time now, but you'd walk in and someone posted at the doors would say 'Welcome to Walmart.' When things got crazy at work and we'd just about had enough we'd just look at each other and say 'Welcome to Walmart.' The idea being that we'd quit and go do a (presumably) low-stress job like that.
    via HigherOctive
  • ryanlc It is pushy. And TBH, most of us yanks feel the same way when it happens here. When I worked retail (VERY briefly), it was thankfully not a major issue. Missy if the time we approached a shopper was because we were suspecting them of ongoing theft (and even then, we left that to Loss Prevention).
    via ryanlc
  • phaxmeone It's a people thing. I'm an American and don't want sales hitting me up until I've had time to browse. If they do hit me up I politely tell them not yet or now. I also don't like pushy sales or ones that ignore me all together. On the other hand if sales is busy I don't exactly complain if they make me patiently wait my turn to be served. Anyway fun story. There was sales event/trade show at the county fairgrounds that I went to one year. Standing in line to get inside I was approached
    via phaxmeone
  • how the different salesman approached the gig. A bit over half avoided eye contact, ignored customers all while sitting their BS'ing with their co-workers. They had no expectation of making a sale nor tried to make one. You could really tell the professionals though, hit you up when you walk in with a quick hello, ask if you have any questions, invite you to browse, quick follow up a bit later asking if you had questions yet then a thanks for visiting when you leave. All in all I recommend every
    via phaxmeone

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customer service employee malicious compliance retail
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