The Art of Waiting for Feedback: How Extreme Compliance Froze an Entire Department
There’s a special kind of workplace saga that only the internet can deliver—a tale where bureaucracy and indecision collide, spawning a perfect storm of inaction. Redditor u/DareAffectionate7725 has gifted us such a story, chronicling the surreal world of “waiting for feedback”—where taking initiative is a sin and following instructions too perfectly becomes a corporate superpower. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when employees take “just do what you’re told” to its logical conclusion, buckle up.
The Waiting Game: When Compliance Turns Malicious
Let’s set the scene: Nearly a year ago, our protagonist shared their initial story on r/MaliciousCompliance. The setup was simple—management insisted nothing should move forward without explicit feedback or approval. No initiative. No creativity. No stepping an inch outside your written job description.
So, our hero did exactly as told. Proactively. Precisely. Painstakingly. Each week brought another round of meetings full of vague suggestions and zero concrete decisions. Every ambiguous task was bounced back to management, and every clarification request was met with a resounding chorus of… crickets.
As it turns out, when you build a culture obsessed with approval and terrified of autonomy, nothing gets done. (Shocking, I know.)
The Dominoes Begin to Fall
The department’s slow-motion trainwreck continued. Our protagonist’s last remaining colleague—perhaps a little too blunt in his compliance—was eventually shown the door. The consequences? Their tasks trickled down to our narrator, who, undeterred, kept up the “wait for feedback” routine. If the task wasn’t crystal clear and pre-approved, it sat untouched.
Enter the new hire: a poor soul tossed into the chaos with no documentation, no onboarding, and less support than a pop-up tent in a hurricane. Watching him flail in this managerial void only underscored how deep the dysfunction had sunk.
And then, in a move that would make Kafka proud, management doubled down. Now, even sending an email to upper management required prior approval. Want to give a basic update? Better get it rubber-stamped first! The result? The already-glacial progress slowed further, and communication became a bureaucratic labyrinth.
Restructure: The Bottleneck Breaks (But Nothing Flows)
Fast forward to today’s update: management, perhaps finally noticing the department had the productivity of a potato, opted for a “restructure.” The manager was unceremoniously fired—no replacement, no new direction, no guidance. Just our protagonist and the hapless new hire, both staring into the abyss of ambiguity.
Here’s the delicious irony: the very culture that demanded “wait for feedback” at every turn has now completely paralyzed the department. The only person theoretically holding things together (the manager) is gone, but the bottleneck remains. No one moves. Nothing happens. The two employees are left in a Schrödinger’s box of employment—technically alive, but functionally inert.
Lessons from the Land of Limbo
This saga is a masterclass in the dangers of feedback fixation and micromanagement. When leadership refuses to empower employees or provide clear direction, the result isn’t order—it’s paralysis. Initiative becomes radioactive. Creativity dries up. The only thing that flourishes is the art of doing nothing—beautifully, immaculately, and with full compliance.
It’s a cautionary tale for every manager who’s ever thought, “If I control every decision, nothing can go wrong.” Sometimes, the only thing that goes wrong is… nothing goes at all.
Business as Usual—Or Not?
For now, our protagonist continues their zen-like state of compliance, waiting for feedback that may never come. Will the company finally realize it’s throttled its own progress? Will the department be revived, or will it quietly fade into the bureaucratic ether?
Who knows. But if you’re ever told to “wait for feedback,” remember: you might just be the last thing holding your workplace together—or the first to watch it grind to a halt.
What do you think? Have you ever experienced a similar tale of workplace paralysis? Share your stories (and survival tips) in the comments below!
Original Reddit story by u/DareAffectionate7725. Read the full update here.
Original Reddit Post: Update: Still compliant, still waiting for feedback....