Malicious Compliance Never Takes A Break

I used to work at a call center where we would get flooded with calls constantly. This is a story of how a busybody boss thought they understood everything since they were in charge.

We were given two fifteen-minute breaks and one forty-five-minute lunch break. The breaks were scheduled into our day so we could see when they would be, but this would change day by day.

My role was a bit different than the normal agents as I was specifically dealing with the higher-issue calls. These calls could take up to an hour to complete and the callers would need to stay on the line — unless they were fine with a call back later, but this was rarely the case.

Since I never knew when I would be getting these calls, my break times were a shot in the dark as to whether I’d be on a call or not. I would just take them as soon as the call was done if they ever intersected, which they did 99% of the time.

Enter my boss. During a performance review, I hit all the marks except for “Attendance”.

Me: “Why was I marked down for attendance? I know I’ve missed a few days, but I’ve always had a reasonable update for time frames, and I’ve never had any no-show days.”

Boss: “Attendance also applies to break and lunch times. Since you rarely take them at the requested time, you are being written up.”

I explained my role — which they had hired me for — and the challenges involved.

Boss: “I don’t care. You need to take your breaks when you’re told to.”

Me: “Fine. Can you send me that in an email so I can print it out, put it on my desk, and never forget again?”

My boss smiled from ear to ear, probably because they thought I was groveling at that point, and sure enough, they did, stating in the email, “You must take your breaks only when the schedule tells you to, no time else. There is no excuse.” I saved it, printed it out, sent a copy to my own email, and followed it to the letter.

The next call that happened that same day, of course, had the long call crossing over with a break issue.

Me: *To my customer* “Would it be okay for me to call you back?”

Customer: “No!”

Me: “Unfortunately, I cannot stay on the line as I am required to take my break.”

Customer: *Enraged* “What?! I demand to speak with your boss!”

I told my boss what was happening.

Boss: “You need to apologize to the customer and finish the call.”

I showed them the email they had just sent to me.

Me: “You told me to take my break at this time no matter what. I’m just doing what you told me to do. I’m taking my break. Would you like the customer transferred over? Or should I just hang up?”

They took the call over, and from that day on, I never had a missed attendance mark.