Malicious Compliance

Not my story, but an adorable ex-coworkers adorable daughters. I witnessed it, though.

TL;DR: Take away entertainment, enjoy the store pretty much being down for 10+ minutes during rush hour..

So, she quit her job to open a specialty store with her husband. It goes fairly well, enough to support a family of four. Their two girls are around three and five years old, and they usually attend daycare during the week. The store has a part timer on Saturdays and the store is closed on Sundays so the parents can spend the weekends with their kids.

During the summer, daycare closes for four weeks. Which means that if the store is busy (as it usually is during summer time), both parents have to be in the store during the busiest hours, and the kids are there too during those hours.

Behind the counter is the charging station for phones and the kids play tablet. And if the battery runs out, or the kids misbehave, the tablet is put into the charging station behind the counter. Under the counter they also keep the piece-of-sh-t (POS) enormously slow booting computer that keeps their point-of-sale (POS) terminal connected to the register and inventory system.

The girls played very rowdily in the store one day, and mom confiscated the tablet and put it on the charging station on a high shelf behind the counter. The older girl pushed over a high chair to try to climb and get to the tablet while both parents were busy helping customers, I was in the store as well, waiting for my turn. Mom spotted the girl behind the counter and barked out:
- “You girls know you’re not allowed behind the counter while the register is running!”

Then she took the high chair and put it to the side of the counter, and turned back to help the customers. The younger girl, quick as a squirrel, climbed the high chair, flopped down on the counter and stuck her head down, giggled, then turned off the computer.

The older girl yelled:
- “Mom, the register isn’t running! Can we get the iPad now?”

I think they learned new swear words to add to their vocabulary that afternoon.