This happened almost 5 years ago. Some details are intentionally vague. This will be a long read but I promise it would be worth it at the end.
I was working in an organisation that was super toxic. So much so that we were a revolving door- most employees stayed only a few months. To counter this, our management put 3 months notice into everyone’s contract including existing employees (it’s not strictly illegal where this happened, but very unusual). I believe the idea was to make it harder for employees to find a job outside as employers didn’t usually want to wait for 3 months.
However this didn’t work as people simply quit and waited for a month or two before starting their job hunt.
I was there almost 4 years. I needed the money, so I put up with whatever abusive shit was thrown at me. My boss was a guy we’ll call Vince (not actual name). Now Vince was not particularly good, but he sometimes respected the fact that I was the most tenured grunt in the organisation.
Enter Rajesh (not actual name).
Rajesh was brought in from outside for “Strategically improving” our division . This was quite strange given our division generated most profits.
Within months, Rajesh made the environment even more toxic. He pulled Vince’s team under him and got Vince fired, and he actively encouraged us grunts to spy on each other.
Rajesh also had it out for me from day one (till date I don’t know why). He started making my life more harder than the others. This culminated in him taking me aside and telling me that I was not pulling my weight.
Now at this point I was doing quite well in the organisation + I was doing a LOT of additional work since only I knew certain systems and processes (see: high attrition above). So I was quite angry. I started looking out (I still wasn’t brave enough to quit and start looking). Fortunately I was able to find a job that was willing to wait the 3 months.
So it was my turn to take Rajesh aside and tell him I quit. Boy Rajesh was pissed! He went from denial (“You can’t quit!!”) to negotiation (“what if I give you a raise at the year end”) to acceptance.
Thus I was serving my notice and working away like an honest bee (my usual work + the additional work). At this point I was called by HR and told that Rajesh wanted me gone. The insane part was that they wanted me TO PAY THE COMPANY for the 2.5 months shortfall in notice!!
I obviously refused, then went back and checked the contract. Turns out a notice of less than 3 months could only happen through mutual consent, and the initiating party (company if they wanted me gone sooner, or me if I wanted to leave earlier) had to compensate the other party for the shortfall.
Cue the malicious compliance.
The next day, I stopped doing anything at all. I logged in and logged out my hours and did jackshit. Not my work, definitely not the additional responsibilities. Soon there was a complete meltdown all around. Rajesh would pull me into meetings and scream and try to bully me, and I would say nothing but smirk.
Then they tried to have someone else learn from me so that they could do what I did.
Remember I said earlier how I was the only one who knew some of the old systems and processes?
Well, now I claimed I didn’t really remember any of them. So obviously there could be no handover.
Soon my workplace turned into a dumpster fire. The HR/Rajesh smartened up and offered to buy out my notice if I cooperated and helped transition my work.
I refused.
Then, to twist the knife further, I started having meetings with fellow grunts (remember, everyone was always a newbie) and encouraging them to leave as well. HR tried to get me to leave twice more, but I ended up serving the full 3 months (remember the mutual consent part?)