Customer Always Found Printing Mistakes – Malicious Compl…

A 1990s print shop had a customer who always found mistakes in every single proof, demanding corrections before approving any job. The designer got fed up and started creating two proofs – one perfect version and one with an obvious intentional error. The customer would catch the fake mistake every time, then happily approve the original perfect proof thinking it was “corrected.”

The Original Post

This goes back to around 1990s. I was an independent designer for a few different printing businesses in the South suburbs of Chicago. Back then computers were fairly new and print shops were still old school. Those inserts you found in newspapers? They were still hand lettered back then!!! I’d design brochures and flyers, laser-print proofs, scan photos (a 150 dpi HP scanner was $1200 – that’s like $5K today!) and so on. Anyway, one of the print shops had a customer that ALWAYS found an error, would demand a new proof, and not authorize the job until he signed off on the new proof. Every. Single. Time. “This line is crooked” “This word is too dark” and so on. So we came up with a solution. I’d do two proofs. One was the original, accurate one. The other has an obvious intentional mistake. He’d catch the “mistake” and ask for a new proof. He’d be told to come back in an hour (it was usually a day or two.) He’d come back and be shown the 2nd proof. He approved it every time. Demand that there’s always a mistake? Here you go!

What Reddit Said

Redditors absolutely loved this vintage malicious compliance story. Many praised the clever psychological solution to deal with an impossible customer. However, some pointed out this type of customer behavior is still common today across many industries.

The comments were filled with similar stories from other service workers. Meanwhile, several users noted how this perfectly illustrates the saying “the customer is always right” taken to absurd extremes. In fact, many wished they could implement similar tactics with their own difficult clients.

The Verdict

The overwhelming consensus: brilliant malicious compliance that solved everyone’s problems. This customer always found printing mistakes scenario resonated with anyone who’s dealt with perpetually unsatisfied clients. The solution was malicious compliance at its finest – giving the customer exactly what they seemed to want while actually making the workflow smoother for everyone involved.


Original post from r/MaliciousCompliance (3,544 upvotes, 161 comments)

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