'Malicious Compliance' Might Be The Best Way To Deal With A Toxic Boss

Career and legal experts say this can help you survive at work, but be careful… it could also backfire.

Senior Reporter, Work/Life

When you have a bad boss keeping you down, your best way to fight back might be to try “malicious compliance,” according to a growing online movement of disgruntled workers.

For them, a maliciously compliant act is a creative form of resistance against their boss’ marching orders. You might fulfill what you’re asked in order to stay employed, but your actions will not be exactly what the person wanted.

Servers say they do it to fight back against entitled customers. If a rude customer asks for extra butter, they’ll bring back a ridiculous amount of butter to the table, for example.

According to the subreddit that documents acts of malicious compliance, it involves any act when people are “conforming to the letter, but not the spirit, of a request.” Popular examples include: If a boss asks you to dress better without specifying what that means, you wear a suit. Or if a boss orders you to be the only team to work in the office on Fourth of July, you expense a barbecue feast costing thousands of dollars.

But if you decide to try this yourself, proceed with caution. Career and legal experts say this can help you survive under a bad boss –– or it can spectacularly backfire.

For micromanagers, malicious compliance can give them a taste of their own medicine.

Micromanagers can often be insecure, rigid bosses who need constant unwarranted check-ins for reassurance that........

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