Ordering Lunch With A Side Of Malicious Compliance

A few years ago, part of my job was to travel around and install/repair equipment that we either leased or sold to other companies. I enjoyed the traveling, but still didn’t want to be on the road for longer than necessary.

If I were driving and within a couple of hours of home, I would drive through lunch, get close to home, and get some fast food locally to take home and eat off the clock. I did this for a long time, and no one ever said anything to me.

One day, I was called into HR with my boss and asked why I bought food on the company credit card in the same city where I live. I told them it was because I skipped lunch to get off the road sooner and get off the clock so as not to waste their money or the customer’s. They told me that I’m not allowed to do that anywhere close to home. I asked how far out was not considered local, and they gave me some vague description, but I had an idea.

Since I got paid the entire time I was traveling, I decided to comply and would not eat near my city. Rather than get fast food and eat at home, I would stop at restaurants, sometimes fast food and sometimes a sit-down restaurant, take my time, eat, and then get back on the road. This made it so I was still using the company credit card to pay for my food while still on the clock the entire time.

Total, it probably added an hour or so to my traveling, counting getting off the road, finding somewhere to eat, ordering, eating, and getting back on the road.

I don’t think they ever noticed, but they never mentioned it to me again.