There is a special circle of corporate hell reserved for managers who expect their employees to be mind readers. We have all had that one boss. The one who gives you a very specific, very loud instruction, and then gaslights you a week later for following it because you didn’t instinctively know that today was “Opposite Day.” One IT worker on Reddit recently shared a story about malicious compliance that ended in a termination, proving that in some toxic workplaces, you truly are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
The Original Poster (OP) was working as IT staff for a manufacturing company. The job involved supporting five different locations, all within driving distance. It sounds like a logistical nightmare, but the OP was ready to handle it. However, a few weeks into the job, the supervisor laid down a very specific law.
The boss explicitly told the OP not to make any special trips to the other locations. The instruction was clear. Do not burn gas and time on ad-hoc driving. Stick to the main plant unless it is a scheduled run. This is the kind of micromanagement that usually comes from penny-pinching upper management, but the OP was happy to oblige. If the boss says stay put, you stay put.
The test of this rule came when new laptops arrived for employees at one of the remote sites. These machines were set up by another IT guy and sent to the OP for distribution. Now, a proactive employee might jump in the car and drive them over immediately. But a smart employee who has been yelled at about “special trips” checks the schedule.
Following the supervisor’s explicit instructions, the OP decided to wait until the normal, scheduled trip the very next day to deliver the hardware. It was the logical move. It followed protocol. It saved the company the mileage the boss was so worried about. But apparently, logic has no place in this office.
The supervisor stormed in and demanded to know why the laptops were still there. When the OP calmly explained that they were following her instructions to avoid special trips, she didn’t apologize. She got upset. She hit the OP with the classic “you should have known” line. She claimed the OP should have known that this specific instance was an exception to the rule she had hammered into them.
Here is the kicker. The OP offered to fix it. They offered to make the trip right then and there. But the boss, fueled by ego and bad management skills, refused. She said she would have the new full-time IT guy take them instead. It was a power move designed to make the OP feel incompetent.
But the universe has a funny way of exposing idiots. The new guy didn’t take the laptops up that day either. He waited until the next day, exactly as the OP had planned. So the “urgent” exception wasn’t urgent at all. The employees got their laptops at the exact same time they would have if the boss had just kept her mouth shut.
The story ends on a sour note, unfortunately. The OP’s contract was terminated the following Friday. It is unfair, but let’s be honest here. Getting fired from a place where the rules change based on the manager’s mood swings is a blessing in disguise. The OP dodged a bullet. Working for someone who requires you to be clairvoyant is a recipe for an ulcer.
So, did the OP mess up? No. If a manager sets a boundary, they don’t get to be mad when you respect it. You cannot penalize people for following your orders just because you forgot to add an asterisk that says “unless I feel like being impatient today.” Good riddance to that job.