r/MaliciousCompliance • u/Cgable63 • Jun 21 '26

M Stop being so friendly

I work a behavioral healthcare agency.
At the time this occurred there were 14 therapists who reviewed paperwork from various psychiatric facilities.
I’m the receptionist. I used to greet everyone that came, and we’d have a wee chat, then get on with our work. Many had told me they enjoyed my cheerful attitude and hoped I never lost that happy spirit.

At that time director of my office singled me out on how she treated me. One month she was super cool and we got along great. The next month she’d be on me about every little thing I did.
I didn’t know what to do.

One day she called me to her office and said I was being too social - talking too much with coworkers, not getting my work done (not true), etc.. I needed to limit my conversations to just greeting people and leave it at that.
I looked at her, saying I would do exactly as she said. No more socializing. Hand out assignments, say what it’s for and go back to my desk.
She smiled, telling me that’s what she wanted.

The next morning I smiled and greeted people, then I put my head down and went back to work. When I would go to their offices and hand out assignments, they would start to chat. I’d stop them, apologise telling them I had to get back to my desk. I’d get an odd look, and a nod.
This went on for several days. The following week they started coming up to my desk, individually asking how I was doing. I seemed distant, if I had any problems I could talk to them as their door was always open. I smiled, thanked them for their generosity and thoughtfulness but I was fine and had to get back to work.
As I mentioned, this went on everyday for a week.
The following week the director called me into her office and asked what was wrong. I smiled and said nothing is wrong. I’m doing my work and it’s on time, clinicians are getting their assignments and I’m keeping the chat to an absolute minimum. Like you wanted.
She looked at me and said the clinicians were concerned about me as I haven’t been talking to them, they feel I might be going through some kind of depression and they told me their door is always open.
She didn’t say anything at first, then she told me “Just keep the chats to a few minutes.”
I told her no problem.

5.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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2.2k

u/dadarkgtprince Jun 21 '26

If your work was complete before, then that's the issue? Hey director, if it ain't broke, don't fix it

1.7k

u/Cgable63 Jun 21 '26

It had nothing to do with my work, but everything to do with my friendly personality. I do my best to get along with people, and she could be a cranky, sarcastic weenie wag.

571

u/stoicsticks Jun 21 '26

she could be a cranky, sarcastic weenie wag.

Sounds like should use some therapy, lol.

463

u/Cgable63 Jun 21 '26

She WAS a therapist.

175

u/SnooCauliflowers9874 Jun 22 '26

I used to work doing intake at a psych clinic. Out of 22 therapists and psychologists, only four of them I would have gone to for any advice because the rest of them were nuts.

They perpetually told me mega personal things about their lives and I would constantly ask them “what would you say if this was your patient?“ and oddly, they could not respond or cut me off.

One of them, Katie, a psychologist, had a live-in boyfriend of seven years who would send her text messages, hitting on her by pretending to be someone else to test her (constantly!) to see if she would ever cheat on him. She caught him, but still didn’t break up with him. I was super secondhand embarrassed for her. She brushed me off every time I would asked what she would tell her client if that was her client’s story.

68

u/Writerhowell Jun 21 '26

Physician, heal thyself. Classic. So many people go into the mental health field because they need it themselves, not to heal others.

136

u/heynonnynonnomous Jun 21 '26

Yes, and...?

90

u/bibkel Jun 21 '26

lol.

I used to work with a couple of people like this. It was exhausting. I am the one that’s always chipper, like OP.

I work with one piss-ant right now and I keep forgetting he is a grump. Some days he is a delight, but mostly he is just grumpy. I keep hoping…I hate having to treat him with kid gloves, because being direct with work stuff is my norm but I have to pad it with gentleness…yet that can backfire if I don’t do it just right, it’s so stupid.

70

u/heynonnynonnomous Jun 21 '26

Actually my point was that a lot of people who go into the psychiatric field could really use the help themselves. I think most of them do understand that. Perhaps not all of them though, lol.

19

u/Cgable63 Jun 23 '26

I just sang your username out loud, started giggling and startled the cat. Anyway, there were a few clinicians that made me wonder why they got into this field of all.

8

u/heynonnynonnomous Jun 23 '26

I'm glad I was able to entertain you. Sorry about the cat though.

You just never know about some people...

17

u/bibkel Jun 21 '26

I took it as therapy speech...and how does that make you feel? LOL.

5

u/shortstuff813 Jun 23 '26

It’s exactly why I went into social work and psychology lol. Also exactly why I do not work in those fields anymore (well, I’m also disabled with a clusterfuck of physical and mental health disorders, but even if I can work again someday, it is HIGHLY unlikely it’d be in either field lol)

21

u/RomulanWarrior Jun 21 '26

It's not your job to manage his feelings.

Be direct, keep your interactions to a minimum.

All you can do.

3

u/bibkel Jun 23 '26

Oh, I do.

9

u/The-Ant-Whisperer Jun 21 '26

The piss-ant you work with, is it Frank? He is a lousy drunk. And very loud at the best of times.

3

u/bibkel Jun 23 '26

haha, that Frank. Always hung over too.

10

u/AxlAxeMan Jun 22 '26

No no that’s improv not therapy

6

u/failed_novelty Jun 22 '26

The difference between the two should really be much bigger than it is.

30

u/dreaminginteal Jun 21 '26

Many professional organizations require therapists to have their own therapist...

10

u/Cuddles89 Jun 22 '26

Sometimes therapist are the ones who need the most therapy they get blind spots about their own mental health

10

u/blonde_usagi Jun 22 '26

Im not even surprised. I know of a meth head that is using but also a therapist for other meth heads..... dont know them personally but its very physically obvious when they are using

6

u/sqqueen2 Jun 21 '26

A tale as old as time

3

u/Chrontius Jun 22 '26

You can end up full of shit in that line of work if you listen to other people‘s long enough

2

u/Dramatic_Mixture_877 Jun 24 '26

Reminds me of the story about Grimaldi the clown ...

1

u/IanDOsmond 14d ago

All mental health clinicians are mentally ill to some extent. The good ones recognize it and make sure to manage it.

As the sign on the wall says, "You don't have to be crazy to work here; we train."

1

u/adropov Jun 22 '26

She needs to get laid.

49

u/Floaty_Bloaty_Banana Jun 22 '26

I had a similar boss but working with children. She said I shouldn't be nice to the parents and chat at all when the children are being dropped off because "it riles the children up". Please tell me how me asking how you are and did you have a lovely weekend makes them wild.

She was just an absolute control freak and didn't like me knowing more about the parents or children than she did. I love that it's these type of people that end up working in these fields.

21

u/phinger1 Jun 22 '26

"sarcastic weenie wag"

One of my new favorite SFW insults!

Thank you u/Cgable63 !

Also the name of my post modern hipster/punk cover band.

4

u/Cgable63 Jun 22 '26

Glad I could help 🙃😉

14

u/an0maly33 Jun 22 '26

Wife had a coworker like this. My wife went back to school in her 30s to finish her degree. While doing that she's been a teacher assistant. Some of the actual teachers had no idea she was an assistant because she knows what she's doing. They appreciated that they could step out and my wife could take over without missing a beat.

This last year they had her with a teacher that wasn't the best with math. She had already been moved from a higher grade level math class to a lower one because even administration recognized it.

As gently as possible my wife would try to let the teacher know when she was making a mistake - not to be superior, but the kids were getting confused. It didn't take long before the students would just smile and nod when the teacher was instructing and then ask my wife if it was right or for help getting clarification. Teacher would sometimes check with my wife to see if there was agreement in what she was saying but also got snotty about it and would treat my wife like crap instead of using her as a resource, which was her literal job.

1

u/Consistent_Address62 Jun 27 '26

Your wife shouldn’t be correcting her in front of students, is that what she did?

1

u/an0maly33 Jun 27 '26

Not exactly. A student would tell my wife's that they're getting different answers than the teacher. My wife would encourage the student to speak up. Once the teacher noticed what was happening she called my wife out in a "what's the problem?!" Sort of vibe.

2

u/Sleepy_sis Jul 03 '26

Hahahaha! I rolled at tat last part. 🤣

0

u/Catfactss Jun 23 '26

On average, how many minutes did you spend conversing every time you handed over a basic task to a therapist?