IT Manager Forces Support Team to Stop Using Voice Messages
The Original Post
Hi. I am a 35 year old IT manager for a small family run sales company.
We recently moved from a very old ERP to a new platform that is modern, intuitive and much more efficient. Technically it is a great produt.
The problem is support.
Their in app support is fairly fast but they reply almost only using voice messages. I stopped listening to voice notes years ago because they break focus and force you to replay things just to get basic info. Text lets me read, search and solve. Audio just slows evrything down.
I asked them many times to stop using audio and even told them I was hearing impaired. They ignored it.
Yesterday the point of sale systems were not communicating with the local server, even though they were all online. I did my part and contacted support because it was beyond my pay grade. As usual the first reply was an audio message. When they asked for the remote access ID I sent it back as audio. Then I sent the password as audio too.
Suddenly they switched to text.
They asked for screenshots.
Then they needed the admin credentials and I sent the long messy password with numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters via audio. From that point on everything was done in text, including todays follow up.
Turns out they know exactly how annoying voice messages are. They just do not care until it becomes their problem.
What Reddit Said
Redditors absolutely loved this perfectly executed malicious compliance. Most users praised OP for finding such an elegant solution to an annoying problem. Many shared similar frustrations with voice messages in professional settings.
However, some commenters were particularly impressed by how quickly the support team changed their tune. In fact, users noted that the instant switch to text proved the team knew exactly how inconvenient voice messages were. Moreover, many appreciated that OP had tried the reasonable approach first by explaining his hearing difficulties.
The Verdict
The overwhelming consensus: this was textbook malicious compliance at its finest. OP’s clever response to the support team voice messages problem was both justified and effective. This is a perfect example of malicious compliance where the punishment truly fit the crime. Therefore, Reddit declared this a complete victory for professional workplace communication standards.
Original post from r/MaliciousCompliance (6,989 upvotes, 195 comments)