Malicious Compliance

Here's a shorter story of malicious compliance, again from when I was working front desk at a value/budget motel.

After working at a front desk for a while, you get used to all kinds of guest interactions and don't take it to heart. Some guests are more talkative, some are just curt. I never get bothered either way. I know some people came off a long drive and just want to sleep, and don't particularly want to talk to me, that's fine.

During check-in, I have a standard script that I use for every guest. It depends on the hotel, but it's always something like "Here's 2 copies of the room key, turn the key clockwise, it sticks a little so wiggle it a bit. Your room is on the left/right of this corridor. The ice machine is down that corridor. Breakfast is available from 7am-10am at the lobby, check-out time is 11am. You can adjust the heat in your room using the knob on the wall, but please don't leave the windows open while running the heat."

I usually say all that while holding on to the room key, and then hold out the room key and offer it to the guest once I'm done. However, I had this one guest who seemed to be in a particular hurry and did not want to listen to my script. After my first sentence, he reached across the counter to grab the keys from my hand and turned around to walk away. This was the first time I had encountered that, so it caught me off-guard for a bit. As I recovered, I started to say "uh, sir-" to try and catch his attention before he left.

Without turning round, he said "I've been here before, I know the drill, I don't need to hear anything else you have to say."

Ok that I get. The problem was, I saw where he parked his car, and he missed a sign in the parking lot that said not to park in one specific area because construction would be starting soon. The sign was posted on the side of the counter too, but nobody reads those unless I point it out to them.

I said "Ok but-" and was promptly cut off by a "Goodbye!" as he walked out of earshot.

The next morning, the contractors came by. Naturally, they used the space reserved for them in the parking lot and built a little fenced-up area to store materials.

The next evening, the same guy comes over and complains that the contractors blocked him in that morning, and he had to wait 15 minutes for them to open the gates and let him out.

I said to him "Oh I was trying to tell you that yesterday sir, but you said you knew the drill, and so I assumed you saw the sign posted in the parking lot and the sign beside me, and I didn't want to waste your time any more."

He walked away without a word.