r/MaliciousCompliance - Shut It Down For A Week? OK! - Reddit Stories

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[@mattwho81]

If you punish an employee and they smile... be afraid, be very afraid. They know something you don’t.

[@57thorns]

If you sysadmin smiles when you reprimand them, you are clueless enough to not notice.

[@TOOTIREDTOARGUE]

knows this from experience 😈😈😈😈😈😈

[@SikkerWOW]

So true 😈😈

[@MTW11]

I always tell my boss, If I am being casual and look bored then I am doing my job right, If you see me running around and stressing, sh** has hit the fan.

[@klausstock8020]

That's one of the important things I was taught early in my professional career. "Never run. If people see you run, they know that something's wrong. They might even panic. And even if the roof collapses, move at the slowest possible speed at which you can still prevent harm."

[@Zante_on_google]

If an IT person asks for something in writing, take it as your cue to rethink the whole of your position.

[@Alblaka]

This. Client asked my team to implement a questionable feature. I went to our legal department, they advised me that it's grey-zone and I should probably advise client against implementing the feature at all, and only do it on express written acknowledgement of the legal grey-zone. So I advised the client and asked for a written confirmation. The feature died in the backlog because not a single person at the client was willing to put their name to the written confirmation (since that would have made them legally responsible).

[@Someone-dv7hw]

Yeah, not just from IT tbf... if anyone at any point in time pulls out a pen and paper and be like "you sign that you told me to..." it's a dead giveaway that whatever you're asking is something the other party wants to absolutely take no responsibility for, and thought it over thoroughly.

[@HostileTakeover2]

"Per project manager, maintenance is now scheduled for daytimes...."

[@metalema6]

Yeah, should have written "I have been ordered to do X by Y", just for this the whole story sounds fake.

[@AlexGFrank]

@@metalema6 at my old corpo job i've done exactly that when was unfairly blamed for issues with some nonsense external motivation spreadsheets. TLDR got called toxic for it and pulled into an HR meeting, lmao. Thankfully HR was understanding of the issue, but i didn't stay there for long anyways.

[@cajun70122]

There is one big thing that OP should have done: they should have let people know this was forced on them by the director and the new PM. This was not OP's choice, so the others in the office had no reason to be mad at OP, they should be complaining to the Director.

[@gazman50s]

she should also have bend told not comment on anything above her station unless asked. I wonder If something was going on between her and one or more of the higher ups

[@HichigoShirosaki1]

Director stayed home on purpose. He likely knew it was going to be a shitshow beforehand though perhaps not the full scale of it.

[@HichigoShirosaki1]

​@@gazman50sShe should have been told that she is not OP's manager nor is she HR so his employment is none of her concern much less give her authority to call a meeting over it.

[@a7hazen]

This is why you do everything over email. If it's not in writing, it never happened.

[@nvelsen1975]

Exactly. I've had to do this 'malicious compliance' as interim management for railway maintance. Always at night. Nights must be paid double, by law, so full workday at night = only show at night, take the full next day off and we're square again. Boomer manager basically forced me to always be there, put it in writing I had to do my work during office hours. No problem. I'll reschedule the track maintance I have to oversee. So a whole train branch is shut down for the full day for maintainance done at night. My contact at the railroads mails&calls me: Dude wtf? I just hear you shut down a whole branch and it's for THIS which we always do at night? it only takes 5 hours, it's routine, we do this 23.00-4.00 My reply is simple: Sorry, I'm forced to, here's the decision in writing, consult him about the why as I agree with you and disagree with him, but my hands are tied. Now, I've railway beams to replace. Later that day as the crew's replacing the steel rails, my submanager for that contracts call me: The actual CEO of the whole group, not the railway maintainance company that we work at, no the whole group of companies we're part with just came stamping in and your manager is now in an emergency meeting. Be careful man, SOMEONE is about to get sh/t spectacularly. Thanks, but I think I'm fine. Turns out it went from the railroad provider, to the government (that they have to report downtime to) who emergency-flagged it as a crisis situation and sent it up to the state secretary, who kicked it up to the transport minister, who basically told the state secretary to rain hellfire on whoever was responsible for shutting down a whole trainline for a day for no reason. This hellfire landed onto the CEO and board of directors, who in turn immediatly went on the warpath about who had dared to not just get them yanked off their golf course, but forced them to get sh/t on loudly by the government with threats of millions in fines and media stories about "Railroad gets shut down for a whole day, angry commuters, why is the government so incompetent?" Anyway, by 7.00 next morning I was reading the e-mail from my boomer manager that as per directors board decision, from now on I could work nights if I wanted to and I just had to bill whatever I thought was right, with Finance. Point is: If I didn't have his decision in writing and hadn't forwarded it in this 'I agree, but I am forced to' way, I would've lost my job that day. But if military work before that taught me one thing, it's to dig trenches to protect from incoming fire and cover your /rse properly. Said fire typically didn't come from angry CEOs, but it works regardless. 😉

[@PeterParker-tb7ce]

Best IT person is the one that looks like they are doing nothing and everything is running fine.

[@tihomirrasperic]

my father was an admin, and once they complained about him to director that he was not doing anything The director cut it off by saying he was going to pay for his coffee right away because it meant system work fine

[@NarwahlGaming]

Just like my grandpa's successful 'Elephant Repeller'*. [A joke jug mounted to a stake in the yard. We lived on Michigan. 😂 ]

[@cattythecat9161]

Yeah.... The admin is doing nothing and lazy as hell.... and you can fire him... yep.... untill they got an issue...all hell went lose

[@shadowscall7758]

IT and security/military suffer from the same problem. When everything is fine, people question why they are there/needed. Only when it goes to crap do they realize why.

[@SquirrelsTree]

If IT isn’t doing anything then everything is ok.

[@larrykeenan598]

I did electrical installation and maintenance for 25 years. I did my best to work around the offices and equipment, keeping as much power on as possible. I normally never had a problem with the owners or employees. Occasionally I would run into someone who was impossible to work with. In that case, I would shut down as much equipment and office power as I could and let them deal with it. The more complaints I got, the slower I went. Usually, after a day or so, even the biggest SOBs would figure it out and leave me alone to finish my work.

[@miciso666]

yeah as IT let us do our thing when we want. i love how OP even worked late from probably 1AM to 6 or even 10AM i learned from my uncle its a tough fucking job... but damn does it pay well. and u have the most random shit going wrong sometimes i love it. one day its just updates as usual and i play some handheld on the side. other days i cant get sleep for 2 days. because people fucked stuff up so bad, it needs a full reset.

[@notsure7874]

@@miciso666 doesnt pay nearly as well as it used to.

[@MrArthoz]

As a site engineer I always tell my trainee that we managers are just glorified traffic controllers, not slave masters. We make things smooth for everyone to work fast, easy, happy and safe. Go in do your job and have a great day. If there's a fight we'll be the impartial arbiter...yeah it's sad since I have to be emotional distant to everyone to be fair and professional. Head office once questioned why would I want our decision to include the opinion of humble woodworker, plumber and electrician, etc...citing their lack of formal education. I told them they are the ones who gets the job done and knows best. I often makes decisions after consulting everyone involved first to get a broader picture. I do my job where I'm good at usually structural design, calculating materials, ensure safe work practices and most importantly ensures every contractors do their job according to requirements and have them receive payment on time. Still have fond memories of chasing after foreman to get the review done with head office agent so they won't get delayed payment and enjoy their weekend.

[@nettewilson5926]

Nice

[@josephhurst4902]

18:23, Only thing that OP could have done to make the Compliance Better is when people called in asking him "WHY are you doing this to US?". Tell them how he used to do this over night so so as to Not mess with their Down Time, but PMS ORDERED you to do it with Directors Approval during Office Hours Only... So here we are. Bet both Director and PMS would be getting calls and PMS would be getting Complaints againsnt her since "I am only following Orders".

[@TheRussellStover]

New people who "know better" when they come into an organization. Does it ever occur to the employer on WHY they might be seeking a new job? Insidious Snake reasons?

[@annvictor9627]

Sometimes a person was fired, not for incompetence, but for pissing off a toxic supervisor.

[@RajaniIsa]

@@annvictor9627 Or they're just tired of the old job.

[@DerMarkus1982]

@@RajaniIsa ...because they couldn't run the place Burger King Style? ("Have it YOUR way..." 😁)

[@osohombre]

Having listened to countless Reddit stories, I’ve learned that there are 2 thing you should NEVER MESS WITH: IT department and trees.

[@jjvoich]

so much this lol

[@joperez1980]

Why shouldn’t you mess with trees?

[@jjvoich]

@@joperez1980 if you mess with someones trees, you usually end up facing tens of thousands of dollars. you pay for the life of the tree, not just the "value" of the wood of the tree

[@blue-pb7mn]

@@joperez1980 trees can be worth millions in a lawsuit. Emotional attachment to a tree, sentimental attachments etc...

[@nicholi8933]

@@joperez1980 tree law. It's a great subreddit.

[@lidge1994]

The most apt example of Malicious Compliance and I LOVE IT! He knows how things work, never any issues, no issues means nobody knows how hard he works, must be a slacker. Slackers should be punished, let's make him do it all during office hours so he can't take paid leave! Wait, what do you mean updating our entire system that you would stay the weekend for can't be done during a single 8:00-15:30 workday?? I'm so happy for the guy! Must've been cathartic! edit: Also, I agree, at the very least, the guy should've gotten compensation going forward for anything more then 2 hours past working hours.

[@kenshinflyer]

Me to Project Manager: “There are no thoughts in your head. You just think you know everything.”

[@AnthonyGoodley]

Don't mess with IT people. Geeks make the world go around in ways you can't begin to fathom.

[@HappilyHomicidalHooligan]

And more importantly, they can REALLY FUCK THINGS UP in truly catastrophic ways when you Piss them Off...

[@luckystudios9703]

Specially if they play Eve online. That's evil level strategist we are talking about. Any IT guy is dangerous, but Eve online players aren't be be messed with at all.

[@princessmarlena1359]

“Ah-ah-ahhh! You didn’t say the magic word!”

[@IaeyanElyuex]

Don't piss off the wizard.

[@rpmillam]

@@HappilyHomicidalHooligan p0l o

[@Labyrinth6000]

“Project manager” already a major red flag there.

[@Warrickomega]

They should've been SACKED for causing that issue .

[@Ryanthusar]

@@Warrickomega - Director was boning her, that could be seen by the fact he told OP what needs to be done after having talked to her about it.

[@Justadeerthatgames]

not a red flag but it's the fucking red planet

[@jessejamesmanfred6319]

@@Ryanthusar she probaly was fired after the event or atleast moved to a different location

[@tihomirrasperic]

@@jessejamesmanfred6319 a couple of hours after the upgrade started, everyone knew who was to blame for it (not the system administrator) probably the lady was "very popular" in the following weeks, so much so that she most likely ran away on her own

[@albratgaming2348]

I am sorry but i would have been the person at the end saying "I don't want the old agreement. I enjoyed going home at the end of the day instead of doing copious amounts of overtime. I don't think less than a double time off after any overtime would be acceptable to me. Gotta love your corporate Project managers !" Just to hammer home its going to cost them for that fuck up and that it was all the project managers fault. (PMS)

[@notsure7874]

It's the directors fault too for not putting PMS in her place. "It's not your responsibility, your job, or your business to even think about his schedule. You're wasting time thinking about this instead of doing the job we hired you for. Mind your own business, do your job, or leave."

[@VRDejaVu]

@@notsure7874 Man, that one hits really close to home. Although it was not only because of that, it was more like the last straw, but i fired a guy that was constantly complaining about other's "vacation" times. The way things work here i can send literally everyone on vacation at the same time so person X's vacation has 0 impact on person Y's vacation but to this dude every damn time someone else didnt work 1 min was an apocalyptic event...

[@DinnerForkTongue]

@@VRDejaVu Pricks like that deserve to be sacked. You did the right thing.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

@@VRDejaVu Pricks like that deserve to be sacked. You did the right thing.

[@drl5002]

Op missed a golden opportunity to call out pms in front of everyone in the meeting for being too lazy to change her own toner. Pms: "You're at home while people are having computer problems " Op: "Computer problems? Like a couple weeks ago when you called me because you were too lazy to change toner on the printer? Is that why you're wasting everyone's time with this meeting?" I'd also mention in the warning emails how I'd normally do these updates after hours and on weekends so as not to disrupt other people's work, but I'm under orders to only work during business hours and any complaints should be directed to pms, hr manager, etc, basically any authority who backed this dumb idea.

[@G1NZOU]

Yeah, I would have added "as per new company policy, all updates must be done within office hours" to the email.

[@S_Black]

Could also have said that she should have done it herself "like everyone else". Throwing back her comment that everyone should be treated equally.

[@PrimeCypher]

This is exactly why I have a process for any new job I start: first, learn what is done and how it’s done in the company. Next, learn why it is done that way in that company. Once these two steps are done, I may then start making adjustments to those method, and suggesting improvements

[@nerfedmann]

Nah, just don't be an arrogant dick that's enough. Just ask around and don't talk like a Karen

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Most people just assume everybody does things the way they were done elsewhere. The concept that the same work will be different not just company to company but job to job can be mind blowing for some.

[@yuribacon]

Congrats! You learned lives most important lesson! Others might know things you don't! I really don't know why this is so hard for so many, especially in managerial positions. It's not the managers job to know the jobs of everyone below them, its their job to consult with them about their job, because they'd know their own job better than you.

[@nydydn]

As a sysadmin it's a dream job to be able to work only during work hours. But as with any maintenance, it has to be done when the least amount of people need the service. Same applies to road maintenance, KZbin or anything. You've got to be pretty stupid to ask maintenance to do their job by optimizing by MAXIMUM interruption of services. Nobody works odd hours because they like it.

[@thecornettmultiverse]

The moment she asked for the printer toner, that's when i would have gone to the big wigs and went "Look, someone clearly didn't get the memo on how IT works around here, she needs educated quick, or you're NOT gonna like what comes next." If someone has that much of a disconnect about that kind of procedure right off the bat, it needs quashed as soon as possible; it should NEVER have gotten to the stage where IT was put in a position to force his point about how ridiculous PM's requests were, ESPECIALLY considering the tenures of all parties involved.

[@taylor914ce]

That is why you must never piss off the IT people.

[@C0lon0]

Any person doing any "maintenance"

[@ruukes4770]

As an IT person I agree

[@OZARKMOON1960]

New contract negotiation is a great idea. Another? Telling everyone who is fussing about the downtime that it was all because of PMS - she insisted EVERYONE have fixed work hours. Let them all hate on her while they cannot get anything done!

[@barelyasurvivor1257]

I would have said in the first e mail "Following the new rules from the Director and the PM ,no overtime is to be allowed by IT, and IT must now only work from 8:00 to 3:30 period ." "No Exceptions allowed" All IT Maintenance will now need to be done between the hours of 8 to 3:30 " "IT Maintenance may take the organization offline for a few days at a time ,every 3 to 4 months " (Well I guess that would have given the MC away ,so probably not )

[@tcrpgfan]

@@barelyasurvivor1257 Corporate would hate that last bit, and force the PM and Director to revert to the way things were previously as soon as the situation resolved itself if they weren't fired.

[@tihomirrasperic]

don't worry, within 1 hour or 2 maximum everyone knew who was to blame especially since he never did upgrades during business hours

[@shadowscall7758]

IT and security/military suffer from the same problem. When everything is fine and they are doing their job, people question why they are there/needed. Only when it goes to crap do they realize why.

[@arthurwintersight7868]

It's like watching a paramedic and a firefighter sit around doing nothing for two straight hours, when they're in uniform. That's actually a good sign.

[@Ironnerd63sChannel]

This reminds me of my own workplace. No malicious compliance, just a "why are you telling me what to do when I've already worked out how to do it". New store manager is assigned to us after the old is promoted to corporate (it's the Bullseye store, y'all). At the time i actually met the woman, i was cleaning carts as we were in a pandemic. I greet most people, at least with a hello or good morning, but i avoid interrupting people who are on the phone or listening to headphones or something, just to be polite. If they ask me how I'm doing, I'm honest and say that I'm tired. I get a lot of responses from that, much more than if I say the generic happy employee "I'm doing great! How are you?" Y'all know the one, that fake one that doesn't distinguish the employee from the others at all. I'm honest because i know the Bullseye store is about welcoming guests and being friendly and more like family. I'm honest with everyone, especially family, so it made sense to me. So this new store manager lady comes up after watching me for awhile and starts telling me that since I'm the first person most of them interact with, i should be more peppy (yes, she seriously said peppy) and happy and energetic so that they're in a better mood when they shop. I told her that i understand where she's coming from, but that I've already tried that. Quite honestly, i get a lot more honesty from the guests when I'm honest with them, and more responses in general since I catch them off guard. I've even had some say they appreciate my honesty. The end of the conversation is a bit fuzzy but she's never told me to change my greeting since, so i think either she knows I'm a headstrong passive-aggressive employee who thinks he knows better than the store manager, or she knows i actually bothered to test different approaches to be better at the job xD either way, she's still a micromanager and it's frustrating for a fair number of the staff

[@bahamutbbob]

My assistant store director is a micromanager that finds it physically impossible to leave on time. None of us want her to work late, for various reasons, but the earliest she will leave is 30 minutes late. Usually it's an hour or two late. I have never had another manager, store director, or assistant store director that was that consistently bad at their job that they have to leave late every day. I hope things are going well at your store. Working grocery during the pandemic really killed any passion I might have had for the job.

[@tomgauntlestrange]

I would have refused to go back to the old agreement without a significant pay rise and the project manger being sacked.

[@shockthetoast]

Unfortunately that's the flip side of it being almost impossible to fire someone where they live - it was job security for them, but also for the project manager. But they definitely should have asked for the pay raise.

[@HichigoShirosaki1]

​I would say losing nearly an entire week of productivity for the whole organization is an extremely good reason to fire someone.

[@nydydn]

​@@HichigoShirosaki1it is indeed. I also live in a country with strong work security, but that only means you need strong reasons to fire someone, not that you can't.

[@ricksaburai]

@@HichigoShirosaki1 considering how the old director was in cahoots with pms, they were probably screwing each other. No way old management would think this was going to be a good idea.

[@Ac3ofDr4gons]

@@ricksaburai I was thinking that she somehow had dirt on him and was using it as leverage to get what she wanted, but your hypothesis might also be correct.

[@Kyanzes]

These "bosses" don't have a clue how demanding it can be to work outside of normal working hours. I also have done a lot of IT work during nights, often throughout the whole week, sometimes into the weekends. And not only "oh, once or twice" but dozens and dozens of time a year. You know what was my reward? Exactly nothing. These have all been unpaid. And a few times when I tried to take a leave in exchange for extra work I got "it's not the best time to take a day off" or "maybe next week" etc. Having done this for many years, I can honestly say: if this happens to you, don't wait for your just reward. It will never come! Leave!

[@JoshSweetvale]

Or keep doing the work but stop doing unpaid volunteer rube shit. They'll complain. It'll be funny. _Then_ you can get a new job.

[@iain3668]

Theses videos are the only thing getting me through self isolation at the moment

[@colleencook382]

Big hug! Hang in there! Lots of love!

[@Falom]

Hopefully you’ll get well soon!

[@bite-sizedshorts9635]

We now know that "isolation" was pointless.

[@delta250a]

@@bite-sizedshorts9635 It was not pointless. It saved lives but obviously you don't care about other people.

[@bahamutbbob]

New Zealand is a good example. How many times did COVID get reintroduced to NZ, and they just shut down for 2 weeks and it went away? But tell us more about how it didn't work.

[@KS-uv3rh]

Why do new ppl (with experience) do this? My office runs a public space as a part of the company's CSR program. We had projects every weekends and the person in charge for weekend will be able to take 2 days off on weekdays. This guy just came into our department as supervisor and told us that this is not how it's supposed to work, and that if we had to go to work on weekends it's just our "decication to the company". He talked to the HR abt this without telling my manager. My manager then heard about this, agreed to his suggestion, and then went to the office every weekend without fail for 2 months (since the manager was in the office, obviously the supervisor should be present at the office to assist her, it's just polite to do so). After 2 months, supervisor asked to be moved to a new department and we went back to the old rules.

[@CreeperOnYourHouse]

I think "physicist" is supposed to be physician.

[@KarmaStoriesPodcast]

Yeah probably, think English was a second language to OP. I try to keep the stories true to the way they've written them though.

[@deaxes]

Should have mentioned that this is specifically mandated by Director and ProjectManager, Esp on the Big Update email.

[@LucidMagi]

Driver's me crazy that OP let her boss him around about the toner AND THEN DID IT! Should have put her in her place then.

[@miciso666]

i mean hes there... might as well. and cant risk getting fired over a damn printer. as IT that would be the most hilarious and lamest way to get fired over.

[@luizbezerra4373]

@@miciso666 nah, OP literally said he can't get fired easily on his country

[@HappilyHomicidalHooligan]

If I had been the IT OP that killed his entire company for a week, I'd have written up a detailed list of exactly WHY the entire network is down and no one can do their work explaining that PMS Bitched to Director about my Overtime/Time Off-in-Lieu of Pay arrangement and Director caved to her complaints forcing me to now do ALL Updates during Normal Office Hours... Once the rest of the Office read that note, I suspect both PMS AND Director would be up to their eyeballs in Pissed-Off people demanding to know exactly what the 2 of them were thinking... Basically, the note should (in theory) redirect their fury from OP to PMS and Director where it belongs...

[@philbox4566]

Yes but that would have taken a lot of time out of the day when director would normally have been elbows deep in PMS's pants. :)

[@tihomirrasperic]

1) everyone knew everything after an hour or two downtime 2) the director did not accidentally give in writing what he was doing, because otherwise they would not have an "old" agreement The director knew very well what was going to happen, and he just waited for it

[@Ac3ofDr4gons]

OP wouldn’t have even had to say _that_ much. All they would’ve needed to say was something like “As per instructions from Management, all IT work must now be done during office hours from 8am to 3:30pm. This includes updates to all systems.” This keeps everything purely factual, and no one can accuse you of being unprofessional or trying to hurt the company in any way. Basically, it completely covers your a** while also letting everyone know who is responsible for the change, and therefore to whom they should direct their complaints about said change. If PMS or the Director had a problem with it, you could honestly say “I was simply informing everyone about the change and why it was happening, as I normally do these updates outside of business hours to minimize the risk of any disruption to the business.”

[@Audiogeek-kf2ez]

This is not only hilarious compliance. It is a blood bath for the product manger

[@HichigoShirosaki1]

I would have gathered information on how much productivity and money that whole spectacle costed the organization and presented it at the second meeting for that extra slap to the face and ask her if this is what can be expected of the projects she manages.

[@havenbastion]

"Our old agreement is no longer valid" is not valid. There's literally no point in having an agreement if it can change arbitrarily. That idea dispenses with the entire category of contract law like it's nothing.

[@joperez1980]

I’ve altered the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.

[@derpionderpson1424]

Your contract only stipulates what kind of work and how many hours a week and whether it is day time or night time where I live. Within those perimeters, your work place can change it around quite a bit. Any special agreements like the one allowing him to take day off after an all-nighter, needs to be in writing and even then it can be changed in some situations. Didn’t sound like OP had their original agreement in writing and like they had a boss with no clue wtf IT does too. Good on them for getting both new agreements in writing so they couldn’t be blamed for anything.

[@Nevir202]

agreementcontract

[@BartSliggers]

It is a rather strange disparity in this story. OP says in the end that’s it’s very hard to fire someone in his/her country. Therefore there must be strong workers rights laws in force . Yet the director can declare a written agreement no longer valid on a whim ?

[@Nevir202]

@@BartSliggers Not all details of a job are in written agreements. Or perhaps working specific hours on certain days WAS the written agreement, but he had a verbal agreement from the boss allowing him to ignore the written agreement. But, if they want to be a dick, of course the written would supersede a verbal agreement.

[@Mrflash222006]

The corporate way doesn’t transfer into non-profit or education environments very well, seen many come and go over the years - that sort of mentality doesn’t fit

[@rockytom5889]

Corporate way used to be function over form, now it's the opposite. That's why administration departments are so bloated and waste company resources.

[@brianbarber5401]

What she was doing wasn’t corporate way. It’s Karen way.

[@MorgaineRiddlePrince]

IT and the ones preparing food. Don't piss them off

[@MalumeOmega]

I'd add HR and Payroll too

[@megendoherty380]

So exciting Rob! I was envisioning total chaos! People need to learn not to mess with IT! PMS should have been hosed for that one!🛌😴📠💻⌨🚫🔜🤷‍♂️

[@canadianjenn916]

Hehe this story is awesome 😁 OP was only doing his job 🤷‍♀️ Lol

[@fomori2]

This story is jank and garbage. According to the story, the OP has been doing this for 12 years. That is long enough that the director knows WHY the OP does what he does. Even the most incompetent director would have had a conversation with the OP at some point about what they are doing an why. The director then "magically" forgets why the OP works non standard hours and takes the new project managers side. Nah, I'll take "fake story that never happened" over that tripe any day.

[@GashimahironChl]

@@fomori2 Not the first time i've seen a Director take a hit just to get rid of someone, and i think this might be what happened in this story, i assume the director knew the consequences of IT actions being taken strictly during office hours, but he couldn't just smack the project manager in the fingers for one reason or another, and just let things run their course. Once the PMS meddling blew up in her face, he now had a good reason to send her off elsewhere, despite the country's laws making it difficult to fire people.

[@fomori2]

@@GashimahironChl I dont buy that. A director that savvy would have talked with the OP giving them a heads up off the record. Secondly, I think that a country with strict labor laws on making firing someone difficult would have a probationary period where they were relaxed. Otherwise that would allow unscrupulous people to get someone else to get hired at a competitor to maliciously disrupt a business while the company wastes time and resources jumping through hoops to get the new hire removed.

[@GashimahironChl]

@@fomori2 True that, and it doesn't sound like the director warned the poster and it just wasn't mentioned in the story, it was written as if all this blowing up was a complete surprise for the director guy. And indeed, pretty much every country i know that has strict labor laws also has a probation period, 6 months up to a year, where kicking out an employee is much easier. Could be some other reason though with that employee, you never know the backstory on how that crappy PM got into that position, or how she even kept it long enough to be disruptive like that. The end-all though? it's a post on the internet, 90% of those are sourced from deliriums with no semblance of truth in 'em, and i can't really bet on this one being the exception after all.

[@HichigoShirosaki1]

​@fomori2 Oh the director was aware alright. That's why he knowingly didn't put the overtime in the agreement, was not interested in the meeting, and just happened to stay home most of the week. The FPM was probably cozying up to him too and he needed to put her ignorant self in her place.

[@DrownedInExile]

Damn that was beautiful! Repeat after me folks: Never. Mess. With. IT.

[@Tomyironmane]

Someone had clearly never heard of the Bastard Operator From Hell.

[@jjpower6769]

In Ireland, a small bank announced that it was outsourcing IT services. All members of its own internal IT team were to be sacked. A high up boss's PC was being repaired by the bank's internal IT team. The technician showed the boss what he had found on the boss's personal PC. The decision to outsource was reversed. A copy of what was found in his personal PC was kept, just in case he tried to change his mind at a later time.

[@KorraTransPhoenix]

That was 19 minutes? Felt more like 9! That was so good! 😂

[@achimdemus-holzhaeuser1233]

I have to say I love your evil laughter. It is so full of gleeful malicious joy it warms my Heart.

[@4akaimalko]

The boss was a simp. PMS walked over him immediately.

[@tihomirrasperic]

you forget that there is a lot of politics nonprofits live off donations and that person in question came in as a project manager as part of a “price” for donations And with that, she tried to usurp power And when he saw the opportunity, the director set a trap, into which she happily ran probably after an incident that lasted a week, she got a “better” offer elsewhere

[@RezaQin]

The first person definitely seems like someone who plays EVE lol

[@lolcat3698]

I just discovered your channel. It feels grrat to hear an actual human voice instead of a soulless AI voice Keep up the good work !

[@casekocsk]

That new project manager sure has guts to tell senior system admin to get toner for her...

[@rockytom5889]

I would have drained a toner on purpose just so she gets pissed. I would drain every toner I have to get her, until the brat finally does her job and gets it herself.

[@sam11182]

These videos of an employee doing exactly what they are told to do and it backfiring on the company are the best videos.

[@Stiderspace]

1 thing every one has to learn "DONT EVER MESS WITH IT." They control your entire company and can bring it down in Seconds.

[@bradwolf07]

Sounds like that Director was just as entitled as PMS...A Kevin to her Karen, maybe?

[@philbox4566]

Could be that Kevin was rooting Karen. :)

[@tihomirrasperic]

or the director soaped the board for a project manager who “usurped” too much power

[@itjustmemanning8441]

PMS was a great way to describe the witch 🧙‍♀️that didn't know what she was doing!

[@philbox4566]

Ya know why they called it PMS? Cos Mad Cow Disease was already taken. :) Me mum told me that joke as she roared laughing. True story.

[@annvictor9627]

OP, why didn't you begin the e-mail and answer all calls stating that this was per the new agreement instigated by the PMS?

[@Scarletraven87]

Too risky

[@fomori2]

Because the story is fake and they are not a very good fiction writer.

[@vexxama]

Says they’re slacking off, knows they’re working nights and weekends…

[@a7hazen]

I am an IT manager. My favorite employees are invisible. All of our work gets audited and I have to keep the receipts. If anyone accuses me or my team of not performing, it'll take me less than a minute to prove them wrong. That said, if I ever had an employee intentionally impact production, I'd fire them for cause.

[@Nexidal]

My boss of 3 years told me I was the best employee he'd ever had. We spoke to one another 5 times in my 3 years there, and that's counting when I interviewed and the conversation when I gave notice. Having invisible employees means they're good at their jobs.

[@reversi_dovah4995]

You would have no cause for termination. He followed all the written instructions given to him by the director and project manager. My union would file a grievance against you and absolutely win if he was our employee.

[@a7hazen]

@reversi_dovah4995 this is what risk letters are for. He is paid to be the SME and has two non-SME's making policy decisions that are business impacting. You don't do prod system updates during business hours without documented need and pre-planning. Malice or incompetence- pick your poison.

[@reversi_dovah4995]

@@a7hazen Not all organizations have risk letters, or even training for such an event. At my company, disobeying written company policy is an automatic write up or termination for insubordination. Following all instructions, even if it causes downtime, is the only way to protect yourself. Of course, you can always voice, preferably in writing, your concerns. However, if the managers don't listen then it's full steam ahead. It's dumb, but it's the way many businesses in my area operate. In typical corporate fashion, the only malice and incompetence came from the PM and director respectively. They should probably lose their jobs, but they are most likely fine.

[@a7hazen]

@reversi_dovah4995 I'm certainly no stranger to non-technical PM's, but it's the SME's job to orient the PM away from business impacting action. Any PM and director that aren't operating with business continuity in mind are undeniably incompetent, but when it comes from a place of ignorance, it's the SME's job to communjcate the gravity, not let systems go down because someone asked them to be accountable for their time.

[@bun04y]

I once worked in an office where almost everyone there worked full time...EXCEPT for one person. SHE was the office manager's niece (or daughter of OM's bff, it has been a long time ago and I didn't really care to remember). Problem was when I was hired, no one had bothered to let me (the receptionist who had to send her calls to her phone & let callers know when she was in) know that this golden child worked part-time. I found out that she was part-time help when I made the mistake of complaining about how she was always late and leaving work early. It was then I was informed that she worked part-time and my job could be made to be part-time also. oops! Funny though, when golden child left the company...they never bothered to replace her, just rolled her work over to other employees. :-/

[@autumngalix4616]

I don't think OP is evil. He was just showing them the consequences of being stupid.

[@Someone-dv7hw]

As someone who plays video games and has therefore heard the term server maintenance before (shudder)... and the owner of a phone that offers you to update at 2am to not be a bother... I am honestly laughing so hard at this. Like damn, for big maintenances video game companies that earn millions by subscription and have hundreds of IT employees regularly take the servers down for a day and occasionally for 3-4 for a big update... like, sure, the video game update is much bigger than regular office stuff but also a lot more resources go into it so you can bet that they pull every lever to make that as quick and thorough as possible.

[@amberflokstra88]

Managers and bosses always think that IT easy. But IT with no downtime is exceedingly hard. It always means sacrificing your personal time. When bosses mess with that, this is what you get.

[@kiracattan4624]

You know you're in trouble when your IT guy says, "Are you SUUUURE???"

[@adiuntesserande6893]

“Under new manglement”

[@EskiZagra]

Nothing but EVE online? What a guy...

[@bahamutbbob]

I bet he had Excel open, too.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

NEVER put an inexperienced Boomer in charge of the IT Guy !!!

[@greensteve9307]

He said middle-aged, so PMS may have been Gen X.

[@xyz.ijk.]

That was an Excellent read. Rob -- I especially love outtakes -- they make me laugh (even out loud) and I hope you can include one or two on each read. Sometimes they're better than the story itself!

[@erikondrums]

Don’t ever mess with either IT or people in the lunch cafeteria.

[@EvolutionAutocrosser]

They clearly don’t understand the common practice of maintenance windows at night for IT!!!

[@dg6095]

Rule #1 of working in a office don't fuck with the IT staff especially the SysAdmin

[@Warrickomega]

I'd have honestly told everyone "I was told that I needed to do all my work during business hours." and show them the written emails .

[@bahamutbbob]

I used to do IT forever ago, at a research institute, and there was this one PI that was kinda like PMS in this story. I hated dealing with her, but we tried to accommodate her. Once, on a Friday, she mentioned that she was going to print a lot over the weekend. Sure, we made sure she had extra paper and a toner cartridge. On Monday, I went to her area and retrieved the unused toner cartridge. Less than an hour later, she called IR complaining that it wasn't there. It wasn't our policy to leave anything out like that. Later, when I moved from IT to the office and was in charge of mail, she would complain TO ME that the companies she ordered from ignored the shipping and billing addresses, so any time she got mail from one specific company, I had to almost fight the post office to get them to return to sender the envelope, but it was still less of a hassle than dealing with her.

[@DeathDefyingPuddle]

I love your stories KC. We’re a family of tech support and these tales are right down our alley

[@KarmaStoriesPodcast]

r/talesfromtechsupport coming tomorrow morning!

[@StrickerRei-Chn]

Just remember , IT and CS never works normal hours .. they are basically on stand by 24/7... Just in case if something got fucked and they have to unfuck it.

[@pysikcraft2429]

Rob you brighend up my week because lying in hospital isn’t fun luckily i live in Germany i don’t want to know what my IV would cost in the US Just been realest but we still don’t know what got me so sick and my lungs are kind of f***

[@Loki-and-Thor]

Get well soon

[@xyz.ijk.]

Wishing you a speedy and comfortable recovery ... and, no, you don't want to know what it would cost here in the US! :-(

[@colleencook382]

Get well soon! Big hugs!

[@garywheeler7039]

All the best to those in Germany. The conservative party here in the US thinks public healthcare would be "socialism" but they do not want to define the term.

[@Loki-and-Thor]

Perfect listening for standing at a hot bus stop waiting to get on an even hotter bus!

[@zaccb1566]

This perfectly illustrates why "manager" isn't a job, its a waste of air. Every manager I have ever met does shit like this, then fires people for their own incompetence.

[@ricksaburai]

Manager by itself is a perfectly fine job, workforce has to be managed otherwise it becomes a directionless mess. The problem is when the manager thinks they know better than everyone else at their respective fields. There are good and bad managers, same as with every other job

[@sabinrawr]

This sounds like a BOFH story and I love it!

[@dimitralex1892]

as a software dev i can only say: if your customer wants sht, tell him he doesnt want it, if he consists, give him everything he asks for and make sure he understands that its his fault and not yours.

[@Beef1188]

OP should have demanded an apology for the disrespect he had endure for marginalizing his vital role.

[@12369ja]

My birthday was yesterday, I turned 29

[@Loki-and-Thor]

Happy belated birthday 🎉🥳 🎂 Hope you had a wonderful time.

[@KarmaStoriesPodcast]

Happy Birthday!!

[@12369ja]

@@Loki-and-Thor Thank You, and yes I did

[@12369ja]

@@KarmaStoriesPodcast Thank You

[@localdskchk8318]

OMG this was delicious to listen to. There have been times I wished to be this good.

[@roxcyn]

Don’t mess with their system if you’re not willing to learn the why and the how.

[@223justo]

When idiots flock together........It's rare they learn these valuable lessons. Good work man

[@sueplummer6669]

New boss, new problems.

[@emanuelgaydou9895]

And now sunday becomes brighter. Thanks Rob!

[@WhoThisMonkey]

I worked for ASDA (walmart in the states) I worked out the back, and the only other staff members who worked back there quit. So there was me, doing five peoples jobs all by myself, unloading the lorries, doing all of the backwards paperwork, operating the forklift, picking off pallets and loading the trollies. I managed to maintain this ridiculous workload for about a month. It was then the management came down and started complaining that I was getting things done fast enough. "Are you kidding me, I'm doing five people's workloads and you have have the audacity..." "Don't talk go me like that I'm your manager." "Are you even listening to what I'm saying." "You need to stay behind for overtime and..." "No." "My bus gets here in five minutes." - walks out - - decides to just never go back to that job. - Roll on about 4 hours into what would have been my shift. - phone nonstop ringing. - - ignores every call. - - a week later checks voicemail. - "You have 17 new voicemails." - smiles to myself and deletes them without listening. - - starts new job in a garden nursery - Turns out, that ASDA superstore shut down for over a week, they didn't have anyone forklift trained, and the shop floor staff outright refused to do what I had been doing, because they saw how ridiculous it was. They started _firing_ those staff members. That management, I swear, you could turn their head sideways and you'd hear someone blowing over an empty bottle.

[@ritapearl-im3wv]

Loved this!! Had to deal with the "management" in a Fortune 100 Campany. Most managers were graduates from Ivy League schools and held advanced degrees. In my first week on the job, without the benefit of any job training, I identified easy solutions to problems that had existed for years in this 100 year old company. But I literally had to do battle... conversationally, of course, with small thinkers in management. Over the years I worked there, I lost all respect I once had for prestigeous schools and their advanced degrees, because they do not equip graduates for the real world. When I was promoted, the dilberts had to hire three employees to handle my job. The managers also had to begin doing their own special projects and corporate reports. After I was promoted, one of these managers got demoted. Another was let go with no "bridge to retirement." I did not rejoice as that would be wrong. But it was satisfying to see some level of justice within the corporate world.

[@ccityplanner1217]

Envy is the cause of toxicity.

[@JordanBeagle]

Since when is the SysAdmin responsible to come in on a day off and change someone's toner?

[@touchedouche8806]

Sat through this one again. Love this story. Almost as much as the lockout tagout story.

[@shartazokhan1043]

My only concern were for the patients of the clinic, health care should have been on an independent server.

[@pasques]

As someone who has worked in IT for years, there are red flags here. HUGE RED FLAGS. And we are only getting one side of the story

[@ChuckDNorris]

"Cancel the Updates, i need to work" XD

[@ChuckDNorris]

never, and i really mean NEVER fuck with the IT guy.

[@Reikotsu]

I would be extra petty and refuse to go back to the old contract.

[@DannyForeman]

Respect instantly given here, they are an EVE ONLINE player. 🙂

[@boscopit]

Guy in this story is the reason employers take advantage of employees. I highly dislike these overachievers that get nothing for their efforts.

[@mga149]

Working in IT is like Futurama's quote about being god: "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." Problem comes when some manager/HR/exec goblin thinks they know better.

[@21stCenturyRasselas]

New supervisor-- people quit supervisors not jobs... Glad you used your leverage

[@mattherrera711]

why the heck did the non-profit hired a corporate manager to be PM? The management of a corporations/companies and non-profits are not the same even if there are standards to maintain

[@tihomirrasperic]

you forget that there is a lot of politics nonprofits live off donations and that person in question probably came as a project manager as part of a “price” for donations

[@iggysfriend4431]

I would have declined going back to my old contract.

[@carlostrudo]

IT people do a good work and everything works fine: “what you actually do here ? You don’t seem to do much work” IT people do a poor job and nothing works: “what you actually do here ? You don’t seem to do much work”

[@markmayfield2228]

I would have sat down with the director during the resigning at the beginning and warned him of the impending doom. Then, on the day of, I would've called him in and right as I am about to press the kill button, "Enjoy the schnitt show...let the games begin." Let the boss be a part of the fun. Even better, let the boss push the kill button. Keep him in the loop, so when the final meeting takes place, he gets to help rub it in the face of the managing director.