Kids are often a lot more clever than we give them credit for. Because at some point, they not only understand commands, but they start to realize that “following orders” can absolve them from responsibility.

A man shared a tale from his childhood, when he, maliciously, decided to take his father’s orders at face value. During particularly bad weather, he would call the family babysitter to pick him up, until his dad told him, explicitly, “walk home.” So the next time the opportunity presented itself, he did just that.

Children are just as capable of malicious compliance as adults

Image credits: Pixabay (not the actual photo)

So one child, after being told to stop requesting that he be picked up from school, hatched a plan

Image credits: BLACK IBEX (not the actual photo)

Image credits: ZigZack1987

Ambiguity when making rules still leaves some things up for interpretation

Many malicious compliance stories boil down to the discrepancy between the letter and the spirit of the law. Put simply, a law is an attempt to modify people’s and organizations’ behavior to meet a specific goal. This is the spirit of the law. As we all can easily guess, actually writing the law in this day and age means using very specific, legalistic language. This would be the letter of the law. There is a fine line between these two concepts, where one can find a way to technically fulfill the law, while still getting around what it was intended to influence or prevent.

Pretty often, this gap is exploited by clever people (or kids) through legal loopholes. Famous examples include ways to get away with murder, legally in Colorado. The loophole works as such, in Colorado, you are allowed to use deadly force when protecting your dwelling from intruders. This doesn’t mean that you can just start blasting trespassers. But, if one is in a jail cell, particularly one with people suspected of violent crimes, two things come into play. One, there is a legitimate, potential danger to life, as these could be hardened criminals. Number two, the jail cell is now your dwelling, since you legally can’t be elsewhere.

On a lighter note, parents under eighteen-year-olds in Wisconsin can drink hard alcohol, provided their parents give it to them. This doesn’t just entail serving alcohol at home, a parent can even get their child a drink at a bar or restaurant. Since under US law, people can’t drink until 21, this is one state where one can get away with it. However, in the “gap” between eighteen and twenty-one, this law no longer applies, as the parent can only give alcohol to a child who they are a legal guardian for. An eighteen-year-old is a legal adult.

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Image credits: Priscilla Du Preez (not the actual photo)

Clever people will find ways to work around loopholes

All of these loopholes were most likely discovered by people like OP, who noticed certain ambiguities in the words presented to them by an authority. The father may have intended his “law” to have space for emergencies and inclement weather, but since he didn’t articulate it, now OP had a golden opportunity to demonstrate two things at once, that he would follow the rule, despite its issues and that the rule was poorly made. This is the core of malicious compliance when one realizes that they can get away with something because the ultimate responsibility will be placed elsewhere.

Despite the word “malicious” being used, in reality, these sorts of examples are great teaching moments to make sure people choose their words wisely. Miscommunication is very, very easy, particularly when someone is not careful with how they define terms. Often these ambiguities are not visible until they are exploited. Fortunately, for OP, his father seemed to have understood his error and attempted to make it up for him. Twenty minutes in the rain for some pizza and movies seems like a reasonable deal and is a good lesson for both of them for why how someone words things is vitally important.

Image credits: Jason Strull (not the actual photo)

OP gave some more details, as most readers applauded his malicious compliance

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