When 'Restore My Important Files' Backfires: An IT Tale of Malicious Compliance and NSFW Surprises
If you’ve ever worked in IT—or made an urgent request to your company’s tech team—you know there’s an unspoken rule: Don’t push unless you’re sure you want everything on display. But as one legendary Reddit story from r/MaliciousCompliance shows, some people just have to learn the hard way.
Let’s set the scene: A big company, a crashed backup database, and a sales guy who just couldn’t wait for his “super critical” files. What could possibly go wrong? Spoiler: A lot, especially for the sales guy.
The Setup: When Backups (and Boundaries) Break Down
Our narrator, u/Whatsitforanyway, was tasked with managing the backup system for a major company. Think about it: all those laptops, all those important spreadsheets, and—because life is never simple—a database that would crash with alarming regularity. Restores would be offline for hours, sometimes days. To keep things running smoothly (and, let’s be honest, to stop people from panicking over lost files of questionable value), management set a rule: Any manual restore required manager approval.
Most people could wait. But not this one sales guy. His files, he claimed, were urgent—business-critical, even! He was so insistent that when told to wait a day, he leapfrogged the chain of command straight to the CTO. And, as is often the case with squeaky wheels, he got his way.
Malicious Compliance: The IT Way
Here’s where things get delicious. Manual restores weren’t just a couple of clicks; they involved printing a complete file list and burning a DVD with all the user’s data. So, following orders to the letter, our IT hero prepared the report—20+ pages long.
And what filled those pages? Surely, you think, sales projections and client lists? Nope. The file list was a veritable cornucopia of porn pics and videos, with a few lonely business documents sprinkled in for flavor.
With the DVD and the file list in hand, our narrator brought the evidence to their manager. She took one look, grinned, and set up a meeting with the CTO.
The Fallout: Porn, Panic, and a Pink Slip
As you might imagine, the next steps were swift and brutal. The sales guy found himself in a meeting with the CTO, the Sales VP, and HR—a combination nobody ever wants to see on their calendar. He denied everything (the classic “those aren’t my files!” defense), but the evidence was as clear as the file names on those 20 pages.
Soon after, he was looking for another job—and probably having an awkward conversation at home about why he was suddenly “exploring new opportunities.”
Lessons from the Digital Trenches
What can we take away from this epic tale of malicious compliance and digital misadventure?
- IT Knows Everything: Your work laptop isn’t your personal device—and your IT team can see more than you think. If you wouldn’t want it on the front page of Reddit, maybe don’t save it in your “work documents” folder.
- Escalate Wisely: Sometimes the process exists for a reason. If someone says, “Let’s wait a day,” maybe just wait a day—unless you’re prepared for all your skeletons to come tumbling out.
- Manual Means Visible: When IT says a process is manual, it often means humans will see every single file. If you’ve been saving, ahem, “extracurricular” materials, you might want to do some digital housekeeping.
- Malicious Compliance is Real: Never underestimate the power of IT to follow your instructions to the letter—and the unintended consequences that can follow.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Be That Guy
In the end, this story isn’t just a cautionary tale for would-be file hoarders. It’s a reminder that technology—and those who manage it—deserve a little respect and a lot of trust. And if you’re ever tempted to escalate a request, make sure you’re not about to escalate yourself right out of a job.
Have you ever seen malicious compliance in action? Got a cringe-worthy IT story of your own? Share your tales in the comments—we’d love to hear them (and promise not to print out your file list)!
Stay savvy, stay safe, and always double-check your “important files” before hitting restore.
Original Reddit Post: Absolutely Must Restore My Important Files!