The Original Post
When I moved out of my old apartment they charged me like $150 for carpet cleaning. The maintenance dude literally pulls the carpet back off the tack board and the carpet wasn’t damaged, just normal wear from living there, and I tried to talk to them about it to see if we could come to some kind of agreement on what was reasonable.
They wouldn’t discuss it. No explanation, no negotiation, just a bill. What they did tell me though was that I could make payments for any amount and for any length of time. So that got me thinking..
For the past three years, I’ve been paying them one penny a month, and better yet it’s a credit card they are charging. I believe at my current payment rate the balance will be fully paid off in roughly 1,300 years.
I figure by then either the carpet, the building, or civilization itself will be gone, but technically I’m honoring the agreement they gave me.
Edit: [screen shot of credit card charges](https://imgur.com/a/wMwdsky)
What Reddit Said
Redditors absolutely loved this creative revenge story. Most commenters praised OP’s brilliant interpretation of “unlimited payment terms.” However, many were curious about the long-term logistics and whether the landlord would eventually catch on.
Several users pointed out the added insult of credit card processing fees. In fact, the landlord likely loses money on each transaction. Moreover, commenters appreciated that OP provided screenshot evidence of the monthly penny charges.
The Verdict
The overwhelming consensus: this is perfect malicious compliance. OP found a creative way to make a tenant pays penny monthly carpet cleaning situation work in their favor. This represents a classic case of malicious compliance where following the rules exactly leads to unexpected consequences. The landlord got exactly what they asked for—just not what they expected.
Original post from r/MaliciousCompliance (3,405 upvotes, 161 comments)