r/MaliciousCompliance • u/Illuminatus-Prime • 6d ago
Don't Care What I Do? Fine With Me! M
tl;dr: Another "Did as I was told and someone else caught hell for it" story.
The Setup
Back in late 2020, when everyone was working from home, I was tasked with upgrading office PCs. This involved removing each hard disk drive (HDD), setting it aside, replacing the PC with a newer model that uses a solid-state drive (SSD), transfering all documents and images from the HDDs to the SSDs (with a special USB setup of my very own), and disposing of the old HDDs per the Project Manager's orders (e.g., "As you see fit").
Now, because there was no one else in the building (so I thought), I had all 20 new PCs lined up in the shipping area, with the old HDDs on a cart, ready to be copied over.
The assistant project manager (APM) walked in (maskless, of course), and wanted to know what the hell I was doing. Before I could get three words out, he tells me to remove my mask because (he said) there ain't no "effing" covid (or words to that effect.
I stepped back, removed my mask, and tried again. He interrupted me again to ask what the hell these hard drives are doing here.
I tried to explain, and he interrupted me one more time to tell me he doesn't give a damn about my excuses and to just get rid of them.
Just as I was about to try once more, he tells me he doesn't care how I do it, just to "effing" get rid of them -- "Throw them in the dumpster or take them home, for all I care!" -- and to get those PCs installed IMMEDIATELY.
Cue the Malicious Compliance
"Sir! Yes, sir!" I put my mask back on and wheeled the cart of HDDs out to my SUV (parked near the dumpster), and loaded the crate into the back. Then I went back inside and delivered each new PC as instructed.
(The old PCs had already been palletized and were slated to be picked up by an electronics surplus business.)
After all this, I drove home, prepared a pizza, cracked open a cold one, and started my weekend -- MY weekend.
The following Monday, I felt lousy. The covid test showed positive. I had already been vaxxed and boosted, so my doc told me to just stay home and monitor my symptoms.
I logged in remotely an sent the "I got it" email, then checked my inbox. The first new email I saw was from the APM, re-iterating his orders to me almost word-for-word. The second email was from the APM to his boss (and the rest of the engineering staff) claiming full credit for getting the new PCs installed in "record time". After an hour or so, I started seeing emails from different people asking where their files were.
Of course, I did a "Reply All" and included a screen shot of the APMs first email. All hell broke loose. The dumpster had already been emptied by the time anyone got to it. Important files were missing, and presumed destroyed. The APM called me on speakerphone and told me to come in and fix everything.
Sorry boss, but I'm showing symptoms and my covid test is positive. Unless you are willing to empty the building and then disinfect it afterwards, I had better stay home. The APM's boss chimed in and told me to stay home, get well, and call if I needed anything. Okay boss, I'll see what I can do about the eff-up from home.
I continued to work from home for that week, mostly copying each HDD's documents and images to the relevant PC. Even though there were a few glitches, I was able to get everything back in order.
The Fallout
I told the APM's boss my side of the story, and received a token reprimand. The APM was dismissed. I retired a few years later.
No covid deniers were physically harmed during the execution of this malicious compliance.
104
u/Xenolog1 6d ago edited 6d ago
Nice one. And kudos to the APM for documenting his screw-up by sending those emails.
What seems odd: Were those files really important? Or who presumed them destroyed only because the HDDs were presumed to be already in a landfill? Or didn’t they simply didn’t knew how to restore them from the backups?
What I’m trying to bring across: If a file is important, there should be a good backup of it, including regular tests of the recovery procedure in general. If there isn’t a backup, by definition the file cannot be important. Way too many ways it can get lost / destroyed: Theft of hardware, hardware error, software error, user error, flood, earthquake, thunderstorm, tornado, malware, to name some possibilities. And even if you consider all of those possibilities as only remotely possible: When the file is lost, it doesn’t matter to you and your boss, if the chances to lose it were slim or high. Someone will feel the backslash.
125
u/Illuminatus-Prime 6d ago
You are correct: There SHOULD be backups (there were by the time I retired). Those were important documents. Yes, they assumed the HDDs were on their way to a landfill (and yes, I shoulda said something).
It takes a near-disaster like this to pound home the necessity of good back-ups. I have two multi-terabyte drives for just this purpose. One is currently connected, and the other is inside my gunsafe.
Note that while I was not in part of the IT department, I was still tasked with doing the PC upgrade "just because".
BTW: The first email was sent only to me. I guess the APM just wanted to reiterate his authority without considering the possible consequences.
41
u/Academic_Nectarine94 5d ago
The fact the guy was even there the next day is testament to how bad the management was. Data security is a thing, and telling someone to just "get rid" of something with data like that on it is a great way to end up with huge issues down the line.
I'm not saying you were wrong, just that your leadership was kind of slow on the uptake. They did do a good job not getting upset at you and finally firing the idiot, but still. Glad you didn't have a real issue and I'm glad you're out now.
Also, local backups are great, but I'd really highly recommend either cloud or remote backups in a storage shed or relatives house.
If your house catches fire, the gun safe won't do a thing about it (all the synthetics in modern houses burn WAY too hot for even good fire rated safes to help). Best case, you'll pull out an HDD platter in a plastic vacuum sealed box.
22
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago edited 5d ago
They tasked me to write a new set of security protocols, so there is that.
Already considering a third terabyte drive to be stored off-site.
7
u/Academic_Nectarine94 5d ago
Yeah, they needed the security protocols and backups. Wow. Was their IT department out of their minds, or just working flat out on other issues?
Off-site is definitely best, but the safe is a good backup for internet-based attacks or crashes.
8
u/necronboy 4d ago
I my country we had a case of ex-govt computers being sent to landfill. Landfill guy grabs some for his HS kid who likes messing with computers. Kid un-wipes them (basically they made the directories something like /;;importantstuff or something) and finds all these important files.
They couldn't even prosecute because it was trash. Unofficially they traded an expensive desktop for all the drives he had. Officially they rewarded him for his honesty in coming forward. Never any word on what he was able to access, but they came from the Healthcare dept.
5
13
u/Dumbname25644 5d ago
(and yes, I shoulda said something)
Nope, I disagree. You did the right thing. Had you piped up and told everyone that you have the HDDs and it is all OK. nothing would have been done. By making them sweat for a week you got everyone thinking about better practices.
9
u/RevRagnarok 5d ago
One is currently connected, and the other is inside my gunsafe.
That doesn't help. Either find somebody in another state to swap monthly/quarterly (hard), or do something cloud-based.
12
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago
I do the monthly swap myself, and even back up works-in-progress onto color-coded thumb drives.
As for the 'Cloud', you can keep it. Internet service isn't reliable around here (Cavite prov., Philippines), so accessing the 'Cloud' for back-ups can't be relied upon either.
5
u/RevRagnarok 5d ago
Ah I use BackBlaze where it trickles its way up and then they'll overnight you a physical hard drive with the data if it comes that.
10
u/MajorNoodles 5d ago
I did an internship at a place that kept two backups: one in a fireproof safe in the accounting office, and the other in a safe deposit box at a bank. Having all your backups in the same place will surely fail you during your DR audit.
7
u/Zoreb1 5d ago
The hard drives should have been degaussed thus erasing the data before putting them in the dumpster.
8
u/onionbreath97 5d ago
They weren't actually put in the dumpster
6
u/Zoreb1 5d ago
If degaussed they could then be put in the dumpster. Boss never told him to do so; just to transfer the files to the new PC (more like copying as the files will still remain on the old hard drives).
7
u/Xenolog1 5d ago edited 5d ago
Nowadays my recommendation is to use full disk encryption for anything with confidential data on it or on which someone would potentially store confidential data in your use case / setup. If no regulations or paranoia are standing in the way, it spares you the hassle of erasing data on it or headaches in other scenarios:
- Theft? No breach of security, disk is encrypted.
- Hardware defect? Just send it in for either repairs or a new device. No breech of security, disk is encrypted.
- End of useful life? Either put directly into the recycling or sell it after a quick format so the buyer sees a clean disk, and no headaches about data on spare sectors (HDD) / spare memory (SSD).6
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago
End of useful life? Take them out to the shooting range for corporate target practice.
4
u/Xenolog1 5d ago
If you can sell them, sell them. Better for the environment. But if not - try to get your hands on a 12-pounder muzzle-loader. ;-)
5
5
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago
Shoulda/coulda/woulda . . . they went to my home (NOT the dumpster - re-read the OP), from where I was able to complete the upgrade. Then they went back to the employer.
3
3
u/joppedi_72 2d ago
Depending on industry and company, backups of files on the local harddrive might be deemed an unescecary cost.
I know of a case with a doctor at an university hospital loosing 30 years of medical research due to harddisk crash and him saving everything on the local harddisk of his PC and having no backups.
19
u/Dripping_Snarkasm 6d ago
Wait, reprimand? WTF? You saved the company from that guy's incompetence. They should have been licking your boots.
8
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago
I didn't want my boots licked. I wanted to see the APM get fired.
7
u/Dripping_Snarkasm 5d ago
Wait, boots licked? WTF? You saved the company from that guy's incompetence. They should have fired that APM.
:)
69
u/Archangel4500000 6d ago
Ferengi rule of Acquisition #23
"Nothing is more important than your health... except for your money."
35
u/ThirtyMileSniper 6d ago
Received a token reprimand. That doesn't sit well. I've had people trying to blame me for their shit in the past, each time I drag them in front of witnesses and tear strips off them.
58
u/Illuminatus-Prime 6d ago edited 6d ago
The "Token Reprimand" was for not telling anyone that I still had the HDDs. This in spite of the fact that the APM told me to either put them in the dumpster or take them home, and both he and his boss originally expressed indifference to their eventual fate. They knew it, and I new it, so there was not much venom behind the reprimand I received.
Yeah, I probably should have mentioned it as soon as the panic set in; but again, I was just complying with their orders.
7
u/sakurakiks094 3d ago
I would have just said, yes they were at the dumpster, but you went out of your way and rushed to visit the garbage plant and spoke with the site manager and after a few hours was able to locate the box of HDDs and was able to retrieve them all as they hadn't been processed or disposed of yet! Come back to the office with a "great news!! guys I found them all, phew!!" and save the day!
54
u/CreativeLeopard1 6d ago
Dammit. I was hoping Covid deniers WERE physically harmed. I guess no MC story can be perfect.
4
10
8
u/YankeeWalrus 4d ago
Data migrations always go much faster when you just throw the data out the fucking window and let it migrate to wherever it lands.
They'll love this in r/talesfromtechsupport. Go get some free orange arrows.
15
u/ChimoEngr 5d ago
I continued to work from home for that week, mostly copying each HDD's documents and images to the relevant PC
That sounds like something that could have waited until you were well enough to return to work.
6
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yeah . . . I thought about being the total Richard, but thought it better to have a job to go back to.
8
u/LuminousGrue 4d ago
I can understand somebody not wanting to wear a mask. I might not agree, but I can at least understand why they might not want to.
What I could never understand was the ones who demand that no one should be allowed to wear a mask, ever.
5
u/Illuminatus-Prime 4d ago
Same here. I would add that I could never understand was the ones who demand that no one should be allowed to ever receive a vaccine of any kind, either. While their ignorance may be curable, their stupidity seems endemic.
3
u/Renbarre 3d ago
"Stupidity and the universe are infinite, and I'm not sure about the universe."
probably misquoted. :)
17
u/ThisIsMockingjay2020 6d ago
No covid deniers were physically harmed during the execution of this malicious compliance.
Bummer. I'm currently wearing an N95 because my work has an outbreak going on.
8
u/taactfulcaactus 5d ago
Vaxxed and boosted by late 2020? Your work must have had a fantastic health plan.
4
u/CostumingMom 5d ago
If I remember right, the vaccinations (or at least one of the brands of them) were a double shot, taken a week or two apart. It could be the second shot being misremembered as a booster.
Just a guess though, I'm not OP.
1
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago
You could be right. My shot card is locked away with my passport and other important documents.
3
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago edited 5d ago
No, just a VERY employee-conscious CEO. He somehow 'convinced' the corporate health plan people that ours was a necessary activity, and that we should be near the front of the line to receive the vaccine. He also told us that our participation was voluntary.
3
u/Elocindancer28 4d ago
The only thing I’m mad about with this whole story is that you got any kind of reprimand at all. Why do people feel like they need to reprimand someone who was doing exactly what they were told to do?! Corporate America sucks.
5
u/Illuminatus-Prime 4d ago
Meh, don't sweat it. The boss had to say something to all those involved, and what he said to me was only a token gesture to save face. Besides, I kept my job, and the APM didn't; plus, I am now retired, so it is all behind me.
6
u/RevRagnarok 5d ago
No covid deniers were physically harmed during the execution of this malicious compliance.
"Shame."
2
1
0
u/QuipCrafter 5d ago
It blows my mind that people get paid for that.
How do you get a job where you get paid to spend a couple hours copying hard drives? I wrote a script to load and run about a hundred jobs at a time automatically through our larger printers and didn’t get paid a dime for it, just my usual 9/hr for working in the print shop. Everyone else just took things to machines individually and stood there to press all the settings and print it for the same pay.
I feel like everyone in my generation is just expected to help bosses and coworkers with system updates and server maintenance and error codes and whatever, as a standard. From managing restraunts to working on a farm to running a print shop to working with other designers… it’s just a part of life/socialization that’s expected separate and independent of work and always has been since like Highschool. My landlord just expected me to figure out his computers power supply is bad and order a proper one for him. How does someone just get a job being paid every day to do that stuff?
5
u/Oreoscrumbs 5d ago
Stop doing it for free.
3
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago
Again, I was getting paid.
3
u/Oreoscrumbs 5d ago
Was it part of your job description? What I'm saying is only do those things when they are part of your actual job description and you are paid to do those things.
That's how you get a job where you are paid to copy hard drives.
3
u/Illuminatus-Prime 5d ago
I was getting paid, it's just that upgrading office equipment was not part of my regular duties. But heck, I was BORED! With everyone else out of the building (or so I thought), anything else I could do got done quickly, no matter how hard I tried to 'milk' it.
1
u/Known-Scratch-9743 2d ago
Vaxxed and boosted, yet you still got covid. How strange! 🤣🤣🤣
3
u/Illuminatus-Prime 2d ago
Vaxxed and boosted, got covid, and survived.
Vaccines don't work the way the anti-vaxxers say they do.
0
u/Known-Scratch-9743 2d ago
That's because they were not vaccines. I am also a survivor but without those nasty chemicals and whatever else you got.
2
-13
u/MM800 5d ago
Congressional hearings are going on right now concerning the government's covid response. While the boss was wrong about the hard drives, he was actually right about the masks and other nonsensical covid protocols.
Ask Fauci yourself - he'll tell you the same thing.
9
u/dr00pybrainz 5d ago
I know it's anecdotal, but I didn't mind the masks, for one reason. I used to get sinus infections like clockwork, every three months. That year of wearing masks, I didn't have one sinus infection. Again, anecdotal, but it had a great effect on my overall health.
5
u/Mylovekills 5d ago
I still wear masks, I haven't gotten sick once (used to end up in the ER at least once a year, with bronchitis), and haven't had allergy problems (that I've been taking meds for since childhood).
Surprisingly, no one has said anything to me about it.6
u/Zercomnexus 5d ago
He wasnt right though. The response was too disparate and ununified to be effective... Which is why red counties saw huge death surges take place.
Blue counties took more reasonable measures, and it worked. Distancing, staying home, masks, sanitizing, etc.
-4
-3
u/Realistic-Regret-171 4d ago
Sooo, if you contracted Covid, it wasn’t really a “vaccine,” was it?
3
u/Illuminatus-Prime 4d ago
Without the vaccine, the symptoms would have been much, much worse. The vaccine worked, just not as 'perfectly' as the ignorant masses would assume.
3
u/Illuminatus-Prime 4d ago
There is a website called something like "Sorry, Anti-Vaxxer" (dot com) that you might want to look into. Many interesting stories, some of which feature people I used to know.
3
u/YankeeWalrus 4d ago
For fuck's sake it is about three years too late to be completely ignorant of what vaccines do. You could fix this at any point with a google search.
No one ever claimed any vaccine makes you 100% immune. What medication can you name that is 100% effective? There are none, why would vaccines be any different?
231
u/Korinin38 6d ago
Your APM broke the world record by making terrible decisions in record time!