Fun fact: it doesn’t take a lot of effort to not be salty for once.

Heck, smiling and frowning practically take up the same amount of effort to do, with a difference of just one muscle. So, would it hurt to smile and not be visibly grumpy all the time?

Some folks just can’t kick the habit (or lifestyle) and insist on being nasty restaurant patrons who never tip. But, oh-ho how the tables turn when the bartender you’ve been socially inconveniencing shows up at your store and walks out richer all because of malicious compliance.

Being chronically rude at a restaurant is not just… well, rude, it’s also dangerous as karma might be lurking around every corner

Image credits: Prostock-studio / envato (not the actual photo)

This time, karma struck a cashier who accidentally gave $81 as change for a 20 to the bartender she was rude to

Image credits: mauriciotoro10 / envato (not the actual photo)

Image credits: plexdiferous

The bartender wanted to make things right, but the woman got even ruder and told them off. Malicious compliance ensued

Many years ago, this Redditor used to work at a restaurant located in a mall. A lot of mall employees came by for lunch, and one in particular stuck out.

She was generally rude and would always pay for her meal exactly what it cost without leaving a tip. A very cold transaction to say the least.

There were instances when she would also make a ruckus over the food and get free meals. Overall, a bit of a difficult customer.

Well, one day, the tables turned because the woman worked in the same mall, and OP, while doing some Christmas shopping, happened upon her doing her job—working a cashier job at a clothing store.

All would’ve been well, but an oversight happened. OP gave the cashier $20 for their purchase, expecting to get a dollar and a bit of change back. Instead, they first had to watch her fondle the bill as if it was catnip, playing around with the counterfeit detection equipment and doing the good ol’ hold it against the light trick, after which she deposited the $20 into the cash register and returned $81 and some change.

OP was confused about the math, so they approached the woman regarding the error in their favor. However, the woman was having none of it and in polite retail speech told OP to beat it. And OP did just that. Oh so maliciously compliantly.

In an interview with Bored Panda, the author of the post elaborated on some details of the story

Bored Panda got in touch with OP, who explained that they were inspired to share their own experience after reading several similar stories on Reddit.

“I believe she was difficult in general,” elaborated OP. “There was some glossing over of specifics to make the story shorter and more palatable for Reddit, such as her ordering habits, curt remarks, and general examples of rude behavior. So yes, a difficult person for sure.”

Considering this, there was definitely some room for more malicious compliance, but OP explained that it would’ve been too much:

“I could have engaged her management or supervisor. I could have somehow flaunted that mistake to her face at a later date… but I preferred to just allow her own actions to dictate the outcome, and not my own. To push this further would have been more cruel than cathartic.”

Oh, and if you’re wondering where the extra cash went, OP told us that it was spent on buying more gifts that Christmas for their nieces and nephews.

Folks had no issue with how this was handled and approved the malicious compliance

There was surprise in the comment section, trying to figure out how could anyone in those 15 seconds of examining a $20 bill not register the numerical value. For that (and a number of other) reasons, some countries color code their bills, making mistakes like this non-existent.

OP, who was active in the comment section, explained their moral compass and how they humored the idea of just walking away, but eventually stuck with the right thing.

This in turn left some folks wondering what would’ve happened if OP had actually complained about the mistake as an added spice to the malicious compliance. Either that, or have OP use the counterfeit machine excessively when the woman comes in for her next lunch.

Transactional errors are actually among the top most common mistakes that cashiers make

Yep, of the five top mistakes, two of them directly involve the point at which OP’s cash gave amazing returns on investment. And those are transactional errors and manually counting cash.

In the case of the former, the cash terminal is a hectic place as a lot of things have to happen at the same time, so punching up the wrong numbers, forgetting to scan something, failing to check for counterfeits and more are often a problem.

For the latter, it’s understandable that the human factor will be involved in the counting process, and hence investing in automated systems is key in minimizing the number of errors. Otherwise, free money!

The remaining three mistakes in the list are keeping too much cash on hand, not using the right equipment to detect counterfeits and switching cash registers. Each has its own processes with loads that can go wrong.

So, what are your thoughts on any of this? What would you do with an extra $81 during the holiday season? Share your takes and stories in the comment section below!

The author of the post provided more context in the comment section

Folks approved of the malicious compliance, sharing their takes and stories along the way

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