Ever had a job with a rule so nonsensical, so completely divorced from reality, that it made you want to tear your hair out? Well, one employee decided to do something much, much better. Instead of fighting a ridiculously rigid new meal policy, he decided to embrace it. Wholeheartedly.
After his new boss rejected a 5 a.m. coffee and bagel, he began a quiet, brilliant campaign of malicious compliance. By following the new rules perfectly, he exposed just how broken the system was, all while making sure a few hungry homeless people got a good meal out of the deal.
It all started with a simple travel expense…
Okay, can we just talk about how utterly bonkers this is? You have to feel for this person. He’s traveling for work, up at the crack of dawn, and gets dinged for grabbing a coffee outside of some arbitrary two-hour window. The new manager didn’t just reject an expense, they sent a crystal clear message: “We don’t trust you, and we value our rigid rules more than your common sense.”
His response is just beautiful. It’s not angry or loud. It’s a quiet, perfectly executed act of rebellion. “Oh, these are the rules? Okay, I will follow these rules more perfectly than anyone has ever followed rules before.” The result? Productivity grinds to a halt, all in the name of a perfectly-timed sandwich. It’s the corporate equivalent of “you get what you pay for.”
This Isn’t About Food, It’s About Control
Let’s put that insulting $35 daily food budget into perspective for a moment. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) sets the standard “per diem” rates for federal travel. For a major city like Chicago, the daily meal allowance is $79. In New York City, it’s $79. For San Francisco, it’s a whopping $84. This company’s policy isn’t just cheap, it’s a statement.
When a company enforces policies this ridiculous, it tells employees they’re seen as numbers on a spreadsheet, not trusted professionals. It creates a culture of distrust and breeds resentment, which is the perfect fertilizer for malicious compliance.
This kind of behavior is a direct response to a loss of autonomy. As employee engagement expert Dr. Jack Wiley notes in an article for Forbes, providing employees with respect and dignity is fundamental to keeping them engaged. This company’s meal policy does the exact opposite. By taking away the employee’s power to make a simple decision about when to eat, they triggered his need to regain control in the only way he could: by using their own rules against them.
The community immediately rallied behind the OP.
Most Redditors agreed: this policy wasn’t just bad, it was straight-up insulting and ripe for rebellion.
Many shared their own stories of corporate nonsense and gave advice.
![[Reddit User] - I always just approved employee expenses. Travel flagged a bottle of water with an employee’s breakfast sandwich and beverage.](https://dailyhighlight.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/wp-editor-1762939534319-1.webp "Company Micromanages Meals, So Employee Stops Working to Eat")
Others just couldn’t get over the sheer insanity of the policy itself.
How to Deal with a Policy Like This
So, what do you do when your company rolls out a policy that was clearly written by someone who has never done your job? The OP’s malicious compliance is certainly one way to go, and it’s incredibly effective at highlighting a rule’s absurdity.
Another approach is to frame it as a business problem. Instead of complaining about the rule, document its impact. Go to your direct supervisor and say something like, “This new meal policy requires me to be unavailable for calls between 12-2pm and to leave by 5pm sharp to meet the dinner window. This has resulted in me missing X call and pushing back Y deadline. How would you like me to prioritize this moving forward?”
This puts the onus on management to either defend their ridiculous rule or admit that it’s hurting the business. It changes the conversation from a personal grievance to a legitimate operational issue, which is much harder for them to ignore.
The Moral of the Story…
In the end, this is a tale about what happens when penny-pinching and micromanagement go too far. The company tried to save a few bucks on a bagel, and in return, they lost hours of productivity and created a resentful, disengaged employee who is now a master of quiet rebellion. It’s a masterclass, really.
So, what’s the most ridiculous work rule you’ve ever had to follow? And would you have done the same thing? Let us know your stories in the comments!
