Malicious Compliance

<p>Going into the office means adhering to office culture: cubicles, small talk, and dress codes. Dressing professionally is far from the work-at-home culture of dressing mostly in pajamas until you must be on Zoom.</p><h2>On a <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/messy-dressing-room-interior-clothes-rack-1005636619" target="_blank">popular Reddit thread</a> in the Am I the A**hole Subreddit, a woman maliciously complies with her boss&#39;s order for everyone to dress for the jobs they want.</h2><p>She writes:</p><blockquote> <p>I work for a family business with 30+ employees. This company has friends and family members as top-tiered Management and often made up rules whenever they felt like it. When new employees join the company, they sign a basic employment contract stating the compensation, benefits, and work hours. The company does not have a written code of conduct.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>One particular manager is a friend of the President. Let&rsquo;s call her Sally. Sally manages a team of eight employees, including myself. We aren&rsquo;t allowed to make small talk WHILE working, and we must let her know when we start taking our breaks and when we return from breaks. Sally interjects whenever a team member asks another team member questions because Sally is a micromanager.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Sally also makes us come to work early once a week for thirty minutes (unpaid) so that she can recap the previous week and often uses this time to tell us what we&rsquo;re doing wrong. She made it clear that this weekly meeting is mandatory.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>During one meeting, she brought up expectations for continued employment at the workplace - no swearing, no talking bad about customers amongst ourselves, no personal phones on desks, no music during work hours, no talking to other departments unless it&rsquo;s work-related, etc.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Then she brought up the dress code. It&rsquo;s important to note that we&rsquo;ve never heard of a dress code at work, and our jobs do not require face-to-face interactions with customers. Most of our dealings are via phone or e-mails. We may see a customer drop by once or twice a year. Most team members wear hoodies/ long-sleeved t-shirts with jeans or leggings. I usually wear a simple top with pants with my hair neatly blow-dried. That&rsquo;s not appropriate enough.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Sally said we should dress better and more professional to keep up with the company&rsquo;s image. Her sell was &#39;Dress not for the job you have, but the job you want.&#39; She made us all sign a document citing the topic of discussion at the meeting.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>You want us to dress for the job we want? Okay. A few of my colleagues and I decided to comply the following day maliciously. I put my hair in a messy bun and wore my Costco leggings and my husband&rsquo;s old t-shirt. That was my everyday look when I was unemployed.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>When I walked through the door, Sally saw me and asked why I was underdressed. I said, &#39;you asked us to dress for the job I want. I want to go back to being a stay-at-home mom. I loved staying at home.&#39;</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>She said, &#39;That&rsquo;s not what I meant. I meant bigger aspirations and goals.&#39; As she looked at me with exasperation. Shortly after, my other colleagues showed up one after the other -two wearing full workout gear and one wearing her Anime costume. One guy wore a t-shirt with expletives.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>The President noticed and asked us if Halloween came early, and we told him what Sally said. I don&rsquo;t know what happened, but safe to say there has been no mention of any dress code since.</p> </blockquote><p>The internet has thoughts on this workplace culture.</p><p><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/virtualchoirboy/">virtualchoirboy</a> says:</p><blockquote> <p>Good job on the dress code response. I&#39;m also sure you know that mandatory meetings must be paid time. Period. It&#39;s settled labor law, and any state labor department will happily enforce it. If you ever decide you&#39;ve had enough, file a complaint about being forced to be at work but unpaid. You&#39;ll get a nice check for back pay, possibly with interest.</p> </blockquote><p><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/3masti/">3masti</a> says:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I was once called into my local office (I work from home) for a role-playing meeting. I asked what exactly a role-playing meeting was and if I could come dressed as a pirate. Boss said sure, didn&#39;t elaborate. I showed up dressed as a pirate.</p> </blockquote><p><a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Aer0uAntG3alach/">Aer0uAntG3alach</a> says:</p><blockquote> <p>As others have said, you must be paid for time in mandatory meetings. Contact your state labor department and find out your rights. Then go to HR.</p> </blockquote><p>Dress for the job I want not the job I have? Well if I did that I&#39;d be dressed up as a cat.</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

Employees maliciously comply with manager's order to dress for the job they want.

Going into the office means adhering to office culture: cubicles, small talk, and dress codes. Dressing professionally is far from the work-at-home culture of dressing mostly in pajamas until you must be on Zoom.On a popular Reddit thread in the Am I the A**hole Subreddit, a woman maliciously complies with her boss&#39;s order for everyone to dress for the jobs they want.She writes: I work for a family business with 30+ employees. This company has friends and family members as top-tiered Management and often made up rules whenever they felt like it. When new employees join the company, they sign a basic employment contract stating the compensation, benefits, and work hours. The company does not have a written code of conduct.  One particular manager is a friend of the President. Let&rsquo;s call her Sally. Sally manages a team of eight employees, including myself. We aren&rsquo;t allowed to make small talk WHILE working, and we must let her know when we start taking our breaks and when we return from breaks. Sally interjects whenever a team member asks another team member questions because Sally is a micromanager.  Sally also makes us come to work early once a week for thirty minutes (unpaid) so that she can recap the previous week and often uses this time to tell us what we&rsquo;re doing wrong. She made it clear that this weekly meeting is mandatory.  During one meeting, she brought up expectations for continued employment at the workplace - no swearing, no talking bad about customers amongst ourselves, no personal phones on desks, no music during work hours, no talking to other departments unless it&rsquo;s work-related, etc.  Then she brought up the dress code. It&rsquo;s important to note that we&rsquo;ve never heard of a dress code at work, and our jobs do not require face-to-face interactions with customers. Most of our dealings are via phone or e-mails. We may see a customer drop by once or twice a year. Most team members wear hoodies/ long-sleeved t-shirts with jeans or leggings. I usually wear a simple top with pants with my hair neatly blow-dried. That&rsquo;s not appropriate enough.  Sally said we should dress better and more professional to keep up with the company&rsquo;s image. Her sell was &#39;Dress not for the job you have, but the job you want.&#39; She made us all sign a document citing the topic of discussion at the meeting.  You want us to dress for the job we want? Okay. A few of my colleagues and I decided to comply the following day maliciously. I put my hair in a messy bun and wore my Costco leggings and my husband&rsquo;s old t-shirt. That was my everyday look when I was unemployed.  When I walked through the door, Sally saw me and asked why I was underdressed. I said, &#39;you asked us to dress for the job I want. I want to go back to being a stay-at-home mom. I loved staying at home.&#39;  She said, &#39;That&rsquo;s not what I meant. I meant bigger aspirations and goals.&#39; As she looked at me with exasperation. Shortly after, my other colleagues showed up one after the other -two wearing full workout gear and one wearing her Anime costume. One guy wore a t-shirt with expletives.  The President noticed and asked us if Halloween came early, and we told him what Sally said. I don&rsquo;t know what happened, but safe to say there has been no mention of any dress code since. The internet has thoughts on this workplace culture.virtualchoirboy says: Good job on the dress code response. I&#39;m also sure you know that mandatory meetings must be paid time. Period. It&#39;s settled labor law, and any state labor department will happily enforce it. If you ever decide you&#39;ve had enough, file a complaint about being forced to be at work but unpaid. You&#39;ll get a nice check for back pay, possibly with interest. 3masti says: I was once called into my local office (I work from home) for a role-playing meeting. I asked what exactly a role-playing meeting was and if I could come dressed as a pirate. Boss said sure, didn&#39;t elaborate. I showed up dressed as a pirate. Aer0uAntG3alach says: As others have said, you must be paid for time in mandatory meetings. Contact your state labor department and find out your rights. Then go to HR. Dress for the job I want not the job I have? Well if I did that I&#39;d be dressed up as a cat.

Going into the office means adhering to office culture: cubicles, small talk, and dress codes. Dressing professionally is far from the work-at-home culture of dressing mostly in pajamas until you must be on Zoom.  On a popular Reddit...