A teacher’s primary responsibility is to educate their students. But as someone who has to spend many hours a day in the same classroom, they should also have the freedom to customize their space a bit to ensure they’re comfortable and at ease.

But after one teacher was caught with a custom-made chair that didn’t meet health and safety requirements, he decided to maliciously comply with his principal’s concern for safety. Below, you’ll find the full story that was recently shared on Reddit, as well as a conversation with the teacher himself.

This teacher replaced his desk chair with a comfy, custom-made creation

Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual photo)

But when his principal realized the chair didn’t meet health and safety requirements, the teacher decided to see if anything else needed to go

Image credits: u/Brilliant-Delay1410

Image credits: Monstera Production (not the actual photo)

Image credits: u/Brilliant-Delay1410

“She is the worst type of boss; incompetent and petty”

Image credits: Max Fischer (not the actual photo)

We reached out to the teacher who shared this story, Reddit user Brilliant-Delay1410, and lucky for us, he was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda. He revealed that he posted this story as a way to get his frustrations off of his chest. “Kind of like therapy,” he added with a laugh. The OP also noted that there haven’t been any updates on the situation yet, as it just happened this week.

The teacher shared that, for the most part, he thoroughly enjoyed reading through the replies to his post. “Although there was one person (another teacher) who thought my chair ‘looked like [crap]’ and told me his superintendent would not have stood for such immature behavior on my part.”

And unfortunately, the OP says his principal probably did not learn her lesson after this experience. “She is the worst type of boss; incompetent and petty,” he told Bored Panda. “Picks up on the most pointless details while ignoring major problems. This week, a student brought a live round of ammunition to school and was sent home for the afternoon. Back the next day though. No police called in as far as we know.”

“Many other more major issues go ignored, but she likes to try and control staff through situations like these”

Image credits: Max Fischer (not the actual photo)

The teacher went on to add that he admits his custom chair was not compliant with health and safety guidelines. “The principal was just following procedure,” he noted. “The point was that many other more major issues go ignored, but she likes to try and control staff through situations like these. I was pretty pissed off, especially when the replacement chair showed up. Which really was terrible and also not H&S compliant. Hopefully, this principal will be transferred next year.”

It’s no secret that health and safety regulations are important in any workplace and aren’t to be taken lightly, even for teachers who aren’t operating heavy machinery and shouldn’t actively be in any danger. In 2019, Canada’s workers’ compensation boards accepted a total of 271,806 claims of loss of time due to injury, and a startling 925 individuals lost their lives due to workplace injuries. 

And although the teacher in this story might have been called “immature” for requesting a workplace evaluation, he has every right to complain if he has an inadequate work space. According to Canada’s Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, workers are entitled to refuse unsafe work, know actual and potential dangers in the workplace and are responsible for reporting workplace hazards and dangers. If HR found issues with his chair, desk, monitor and more, this teacher was right to call them in.

Having a quality chair is key for employees who have to sit at their desks for the majority of the work day

Image credits: Lisa Fotios (not the actual photo)

While you might not see the need for having a perfect desk chair, if you, like 80% of workers in the US and 81% of employees in the UK, have to sit at a desk for the majority of your work day, you might understand why the right chair is so important. The wrong chair may cause back pain, poor posture and leave your spine out of alignment for 40 hours a week. 

On the other hand, ergonomic chairs can reduce or prevent the same issues, improve employee morale and concentration and prevent workplace injuries. 70% of employees report that their backs feel worse at the end of the work day than at the start, so anything that can be done to reduce that pain is worth it.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this malicious compliance in the comments below, pandas. Do you think you would have handled the situation in a similar way? Feel free to share, and then if you’re interested in reading another Bored Panda article featuring malicious compliance in the workplace, we recommend this piece next!

Later, the teacher provided a few more details about the situation

He also responded to several comments from readers who shared their two cents

Readers continued to share their thoughts and similar personal stories of their own

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