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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/ladyshadowfaax on 2025-07-01 06:04:42+00:00.

A couple years ago, I was asked to create an internal competition for employees. I designed the whole thing; the format, the communication strategy, how entries would be judged, everything. It ran nationally, was a hit, and the winning entry even went on to win an external national award.

Fast forward to the next year and my boss is asked to give a presentation at the awards ceremony about the competition. Naturally, since I built it, I put together his entire presentation; the slides, his speaking notes, even rehearsed it with him.

Turns out, some other companies that were at the presentation wanted to learn how we did it. My boss sets up a few meetings with their reps, invites me along, and says, “I’ll do most of the talking, but I’d like you to listen in.”

I’m thinking - great! What a cool opportunity, and it’s nice of him to include me.

Then the meeting starts.

He opens with, “So this was my idea from the start…”, and proceeds to go on, and on, for around 15 minutes about his “vision” and how he supposedly “led the strategy from day one.” He went so far as to say that I was invited “to learn some more about the strategy, since (let’s call me Sarah) was part of the team who set up on the day.” I was stunned. I kept my face neutral and nodded along.

Then came the questions.

Simple ones, too; logistics, structure, what tech we used, how we got employee buy-in. He fumbles. Repeats himself. Starts sweating. And then starts turning to me with, “Actually, Sarah can probably elaborate on that.”

That’s when the malicious compliance kicked in.

With my best poker face and a sweet smile, I replied: “Oh, I’m not too sure on that one. Your strategic vision was really integral here, I wouldn’t want to misrepresent it.”

He tried again later with another question.

“That’s a great point, but again, this was your brainchild. I was only part of the set-up team.”

He floundered through the rest of the meeting. The reps were polite but clearly unimpressed. Afterward, he was quiet for the rest of the day.

Next time, maybe don’t claim sole credit for someone else’s work… especially when you can’t communicate it’s strategy or the work behind its implementation.