Programmer Ordered To Delete All Company Info After Being Laid Off, He Maliciously Complies, Boss Comes Back Begging For Files

• By Danish Faheem
• 12 months ago
• 4 minutes read

In today’s episode of companies cutting corners, we delve into the story of Reddit user ldman712, a highly skilled programmer who developed innovative software prototypes for a company he worked for. Unfortunately, due to a shakeup in management and other bureaucratic decisions, OP was laid off. The new management demanded that OP delete all the critical project data. OP complied, and the company regretted its decision almost instantly. Now, the company is grappling with the fallout of its shortsighted decision.

Scroll down below to read the story!

Source: Reddit

1. Time for some malicious compliance.

2. OP used to design software prototypes for a company, which would be converted into full-fledged projects if the customers liked them.

3. The projects did require a lot of code at the back of them, but they ran, most importantly, with a lot of data. OP used to keep a farm of all that data just in case it was needed for a future project.

4. The company never bought hard drives for this, so OP ended up spending $1,000 on drives to store all that data in a personal capacity.

5. And suddenly, the new management came in and fired OP to bring in a much cheaper replacement.

6. About the hard disk carrying all the project data, the management told OP he had to delete all of it before leaving.

How dumb does a company’s management have to be to make a decision like this? I don’t think the parameters of this level of dumbness have yet been defined.

OP has no loss here, he will delete it. But what if a customer comes in who requires a bit of tweaking in his software or wants it upgraded? They will have no source to operate on, everything will have to be done from scratch.

I am really excited to know how this turns out. Scroll down below to continue reading!

Source: Reddit

7. OP made some reasonable offers, but the management insisted he delete all the data. And so he did.

8. Half a year later, OP got bombarded with calls from his old company requesting him to return as the new software guy had made zero progress.

9. OP told them he had a new job, and even if he wanted to return, he had no data to work with as they had already forced him to delete it.

10. The code was still there in the systems, but at the heart of the prototypes was the data…and that did not exist anymore.

Source: Reddit

Here’s what the internet had to say about this:

11. Only then should OP even begin to consider working for that company.

Via guster09

12. Three additional zeros, at least. He has to create all the data from scratch now.

Via CaptainEasypants

13. That would have burned a hole right through that Executive VP.

Via AngelaMotorman

14. Manglement…I like that term.

Via harrywwc

15. They only kept the code in the source control. Learned the hard way to keep entire projects there.

Via themancabbage

16. Imagine the quality of your brain when you can’t get this no-brainer.

Via Poppins87

17. I second this wish.

Via RJack151

18. Make them look good during the process, and they might actually do it.

Via JimmiRustle

19. My brain only comes up with such responses after the conversation has taken place.

Via Dear_Analysis_5116

20. And with that analogy, I think it is safe to say the internet absolutely loved OP’s malicious compliance!

Via ShotNeighborhood6913

I really hope you guys enjoyed this one. Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Stay tuned for more stories!

Via Playster845

Dog tax.

“My dog is enjoying this hammock on a much deeper level than me.”