When “Good” Isn’t Good Enough: A Malicious Compliance Masterclass in Acting Your Wage
Let’s set the scene: You’re crushing it at your job, juggling your role and a host of “extra” responsibilities your boss has entrusted to you for years. You’re rewarded accordingly—year after year, your performance is rated “High,” and you get that all-important annual bonus. Life is good… until management changes hands, and suddenly, "good" is all you get, both in your review and in your paycheck. What do you do? If you’re the protagonist of this viral Reddit tale, you embrace the art of “malicious compliance”—and teach your new boss a lesson they won't soon forget.
This story from r/MaliciousCompliance isn’t just a delicious slice of workplace schadenfreude. It’s a masterclass in knowing your worth, navigating office politics, and the power of acting your wage. Ready for some corporate intrigue, internet wisdom, and a hefty dose of “I told you so”? Let’s dive in.
The Setup: When “Above and Beyond” Meets “New Management Energy”
Our hero, u/WantToVent, had a sweet setup with their old boss: in exchange for covering extra duties (deputizing during vacations, handling simultaneous meetings, and generally being the office Swiss Army knife), they’d reliably score a “High” performance rating and the corresponding annual bonus. For four years, it was a win-win.
But then, as so often happens, the winds of corporate change blew in a new manager. Despite being shown the breadth of responsibilities covered, the new boss dropped the ball come review season. “Good,” not “High,” was the rating—meaning no bonus. The reasoning? “I haven’t seen you work, and I have higher expectations.” Oof.
As many a Redditor pointed out, this is a management misstep as old as time. Top-voted commenter u/Weekly-Tension-9346 summed it up with, “It still blows my mind how often I’ve seen newly hired managers completely bomb because they don’t know what’s actually going on.” The lesson? Learn the lay of the land before making changes—or, in this case, before undervaluing your quiet MVP.
Malicious Compliance: Acting Your Wage (With HR’s Blessing!)
Faced with a manager who neither recognized nor rewarded the extra effort, OP did what any self-respecting worker would: they stopped doing the extra work. Meetings as the boss’s deputy? Canceled. Tasks outside the job description? Officially handed off, with HR’s written confirmation that those duties weren’t part of the actual role. As OP put it, “The agreement that I had with old boss is no longer valid? Then the tasks I did extra are no longer my concern.”
The fallout? It was swift—and oh-so-predictable. Suddenly, the new boss’s schedule was jam-packed with tasks they’d never had to handle. Other teams, used to the smooth operation under OP’s watchful eye, were left scrambling for guidance. As u/harrywwc hilariously noted, “It’s an interesting cycle where someone goes ‘above and beyond,’ is recognised for it and continues to do so, something changes in the hierarchy and the recognition vanishes, person then decides to ‘act their wage,’ excrement impacts the air-movement-device, and then there are surprised pikachu faces all ‘round.”
The Chaos: When You Lose Your Unsung Hero
Of course, the true test came when a technical problem cropped up—one of those issues OP would have handled in their deputy role. The team’s collective sigh of relief when OP entered the war room quickly turned to disappointment when, after diagnosing the likely root of the problem, OP said (with perfect professional detachment): “Unfortunately as this is not my area of expertise, I cannot offer further aid.” Cue the scramble.
The team spent two days troubleshooting before finally resolving the issue (with help from the old boss at his new company). The kicker? The new deputy, Jerry, simply didn’t have the technical chops for the problem—nor should he have been expected to, given his managerial background. Afterward, Jerry asked if OP could resume handling those technical crises. The response was both honest and brutal: if there’s no bonus, there’s no extra work.
Redditors cheered this boundary-setting. As u/lghtspd put it, “F*ck em, no raise, no extra work. Yearly evals are a f*cking joke anyway.” Others pointed out that even the old boss’s handshake agreement wasn’t enough—u/szu argued, “A payraise and bump up in rank is minimum what you need.”
Lessons from the Peanut Gallery: Wisdom, Warnings, and LOLs
Beyond the satisfying schadenfreude, the comments section was a goldmine of workplace wisdom. Several users referenced Chesterton’s Fence—the idea that you shouldn’t remove or change something until you understand why it’s there. As u/dreaminginteal and others noted, “Learning the lay of the land before making changes saves everyone a lot of trouble.” The consensus? New managers should observe and understand before assuming they know best.
Others debated whether this was truly “malicious compliance” or just common sense. Some, like u/MikeyRidesABikey, argued it fit perfectly: “The boss (at least implicitly) expressed that (s)he wished higher performance from OP. OP responded by dropping all the things that were outside of his job description to focus on improving performance on the things that are.”
And, of course, there was no shortage of “act your wage” support, with many commenters sharing similar tales of the “surprised Pikachu face” from management once the true value of their overlooked employees became clear.
The Final Act: Corporate Amnesia and a Well-timed Vacation
With the dust settling and the office still reeling, OP had one last ace up their sleeve: a well-timed leave of absence. As the alarm-raiser clamored for “internal changes,” OP coolly noted that nothing was likely to convince management to reinstate those extra tasks—especially not with HR’s written confirmation. If anything, OP expects the requests to pile up… right as they head out on vacation. Talk about perfect timing.
As OP themselves put it in the comments, “You might disagree with my actions, but care to explain what should have been done?” Sometimes, the best way to make your point is to step back and let the system experience life without its unsung hero.
Conclusion: Know Your Worth—And Don’t Be Afraid to Show It
This saga is a reminder that recognition matters—and that sometimes, the most powerful move is to simply do what’s asked. No more, no less. As this story proves, the office doesn’t run on goodwill alone, and those who go above and beyond deserve to be seen and rewarded accordingly.
What about you? Ever had your hard work taken for granted until you stopped doing it? Have a story of malicious compliance to share? Drop your thoughts—or your own “surprised Pikachu face” moments—in the comments below!
Original Reddit Post: FAFO regarding performance review