Management Brushes Off This Guy’s Concerns About A Certain Employee, So He Places Every Possible Restriction On His Computer
Workplace procrastination is not an unusual phenomenon.
Whether it’s the overall culture of the place that makes it hard for you to concentrate, colleagues that don’t miss an opportunity to chit-chat about everything and anything – whatever it is, chances are you’ve dealt with it yourself.
It could be anything: chronically scrolling through social media hoping to find yet another dog video, spending hours looking at that sparkling white ceiling, or simply engaging in non-work-related activities that are bound to get you in trouble.
Sooner or later, we’re all going to get overworked – and when you can’t afford to go on temporary leave, sometimes life calls for creative solutions, even if it means putting off your deadlines and hanging around the water cooler for a tad bit longer.
However, there’s a limit to everything, and abusing your work’s assets can lead to unnecessary issues that might make other members suffer.
More info: Reddit
You know what they say – “make friends with IT, not enemies”
Image source: hackNY.org (not the actual photo)
“Leveraging my job description to put an end user in his place” – this netizen turned to Reddit’s r/MaliciousCompliance community to reminisce about the time he put a computer-misusing salesman back in his place. The post has received over 15K upvotes and 347 comments discussing the story.
Salesman abuses company’s computers, so IT guy installs restrictions, leaving him with limited access
Image source: pancubano159
The man began his post by revealing that he used to manage a Cadillac dealership’s network a few years ago, and there was a sales worker who liked to study computers in his spare time – however, according to the OP, this meant that the guy knew way too much to be “absolutely dangerous.”
Image source: pancubano159
The OP would get constant complaints about the employee bunking down at a specific floating desk and locking it out from anyone’s use but his.
Naturally, the man reached out to his management hoping that they’d be able to sort the issue out, but – surprise, surprise – they didn’t want to do anything about it and blatantly hinted that the problem was his responsibility.
It’s unfortunate that the higher-ups couldn’t care less, because it is said that the guy was bypassing many security features.
Image source: pancubano159
But, as we all know, there are boundaries to everything; so, when the author got incredibly tired of all the daily messages complaining about the guy, he decided to take initiative and handle it on his own.
Since the author was dealing with an above-average user, he thought it’d be best to go to the furthest extreme. He took the machine, imaged it to the same image as the floating desk and let his creativity take over.
Image source: pancubano159
Once he was done, he brought all the changes and purchase requisition for the locks over to his bosses to approve, which they did with no question. He introduced it as a “necessary security measure” and didn’t forget to mention how it was in his job description to do so.
The OP then spent an early Monday morning placing all the changes. Afternoon rolls around, and the infamous salesman shows up, and although the man was off the clock, he decided to stick around and see the consequences of his tasty malicious compliance.
Seconds went by, and the office was blessed with: “I can’t log out,” “I can’t boot my USB,” “I can’t do anything at all!”
Image source: pancubano159
Image source: Aine (not the actual photo)
The man was pumped to see the guy walking around the sales floor hopelessly, with nothing to do. However, there was also a bonus part – whenever a different sales worker complained about the changes to the company’s software, all he needed to say was that it was necessary due to one of their colleagues misusing the computers; and although he wasn’t allowed to mention his name, everybody knew exactly who he was.
Fellow Reddit users shared their thoughts on this story
More context is needed. This currently seems like petty revenge against someone you don't like, because of arbitrary reasons listed above. Was the guy not doing his job? I ask because after you locked him out, he was just wandering around aimlessly with nothing to do? My other question would be, obviously, did you speak to this individual about their behavior? Because it does not sound like it. You just targeted all the salespeople and broad strokes rolled over them. I'm guessing none of them were your friends? If the guy was advancing himself during a lull in work, that's not a bad thing. I do that too and I don't feel guilty about producing something whereas otherwise I would be playing on my phone. I agree he shouldn't have been comandeering a floating device for himself via locking it out, but was it really so difficult to send an email or have a conversation with him about his computer use? Based on what you wrote, you did not warn him about this. Other people complaining to you..
The only reason for him to be doing what he was doing was to hide something he shouldn't be doing or getting access to something he otherwise wouldn't have access to. Allowing employees to do whatever they please on a computer is a big risk. If the company has personal information on computer systems of employees or customers, that can be compromised. If an employee is using a company computer to pirate movies or music, the company could lose their internet access with that provider. Given that many areas only have a single provider available, you can see the problem.
Colin, yes, I agree with what you're saying. But, read what the author wrote. They literally mention the guy was using Portable Apps via a USB. I threw Portable Apps on my remote hard drive as well. Portable Apps are Apps which are designed to be used offline. They are a super convenient thing to use when you do not have an internet connection. Portable Apps is like a brand name. Google it. It's cool. It's free. It can't compromise a network. The other stuff the author wrote about, that's just bypass stuff to change screen timeout settings and other standard functions which are normally locked by a company under the pretense of security. Because my 20 minute timeout does anything other than annoy me. Lol. This entire post could just be the author not knowing about Portable Apps because they have not encountered them yet.
This is just plain wrong. First of all portable apps can compromise a network, second of all this dude is basically plugging in his own PC to a company network, anything can be on it. Thirdly this likely violated a written security policy users have to sign. I hope you are a hobbyist and not an IT professional because I'd drop you so fast if I was your employer and saw your posts.
Users should never be allowed to run whatever app they want on company owned PCs All applications should be approved by IT, especially on machines that may contain sensitive data. Also OPs post quite clearly states the Sales Person was working around windows security by using preboot environment to reset local administrator account password. I'm sorry but if something like this happens it's huge security violation, which warrants locking down machines
It was an employee using company computers in an unauthorize manner and in a way that could potentially harm the PC and even the network. People we're complaining to OP, who went to management because it was really an HR problem, but as soon as management heard "computer" they said "oh, you're IT; you deal with it". So OP took the actions that were available to him to ensure the problem employee could not use his favorite exploits. This wasn't "petty revenge against someone you don't like" it was someone doing his job in the most extreme way possible because management didn't want to do their jobs.
Allen, when you describe someone doing their job in the most extreme way possible, when they are apparently not doing it to appease their superiors who seem not to care either way, and the job itself can only really be considered extreme during a power outage, one begins to wonder whether this car dealership IT person really cares so much about the safety of the network or just wants to stick it to someone who OP feels should stick to their lane. I don't believe OP's actions were anything noble. Yes, OP technically did his job, but him doing his job that way is a step away from this post being in the malicious compliance column. And then OP is an a*****e.
Really seems that just locking out the USB port and the CMOS, which should have been done anyway, would have taken care of the issue.
Someone seems to like downvoting without explanation. I guess you're not allowed to question the narrative
.. is not the same thing as you giving him a warning to see whether he would respect your authority or not. But again, I get very strong petty reason vibes from this individual. You would probably lock me out of Word if I worked with you, you monster.
As a person in the same field. I manage many dodge dealers and body shops. I have found that you just ignore all of the holes and just secure the POS systems. If they mess up a machine I give them a day of down time. If they are remote they have to ship it into my location. Within two years my requests have dropped to almost nothing. Granted if it's a hardware failure those get replaced immediately but data can take a day. The thing we are currently working on is everyone putting data into our cloud of services instead of locally
As a non IT person that has worked for many car dealerships I can say most people have no clue what they are doing or what IT can see. Especially management. People were always confused why IT responded to my requests and got new equipment. Because I didn't page and email IT every day when the printer acted up, my pc froze or my email wouldn't load. Restart, unplug, check your plugs, clear your cache, stop looking at p o r n... So also know that the sales people and managers who have your social security number and credit report aren't smart enough to not use work computers for dating websites!
First, I know some amazing car sales people and people who work in dealerships that are good, trustworthy people. But the majority are either lifetime shady or new and clueless. You are trusting these people with all of your secure info. Why are people mad at this IT guy for doing his job and the right thing? Go into a dealership and ask the salesperson where your docs with your social security number and address get shredded. Most don't even know where the shredder bin is and if they do they're to lazy to walk to it. I worked for a couple very high profile dealers and IT gets so frustrated at what they can't do to secure the servers and soooooo many computers and laptops used by anybody.
More context is needed. This currently seems like petty revenge against someone you don't like, because of arbitrary reasons listed above. Was the guy not doing his job? I ask because after you locked him out, he was just wandering around aimlessly with nothing to do? My other question would be, obviously, did you speak to this individual about their behavior? Because it does not sound like it. You just targeted all the salespeople and broad strokes rolled over them. I'm guessing none of them were your friends? If the guy was advancing himself during a lull in work, that's not a bad thing. I do that too and I don't feel guilty about producing something whereas otherwise I would be playing on my phone. I agree he shouldn't have been comandeering a floating device for himself via locking it out, but was it really so difficult to send an email or have a conversation with him about his computer use? Based on what you wrote, you did not warn him about this. Other people complaining to you..
The only reason for him to be doing what he was doing was to hide something he shouldn't be doing or getting access to something he otherwise wouldn't have access to. Allowing employees to do whatever they please on a computer is a big risk. If the company has personal information on computer systems of employees or customers, that can be compromised. If an employee is using a company computer to pirate movies or music, the company could lose their internet access with that provider. Given that many areas only have a single provider available, you can see the problem.
Colin, yes, I agree with what you're saying. But, read what the author wrote. They literally mention the guy was using Portable Apps via a USB. I threw Portable Apps on my remote hard drive as well. Portable Apps are Apps which are designed to be used offline. They are a super convenient thing to use when you do not have an internet connection. Portable Apps is like a brand name. Google it. It's cool. It's free. It can't compromise a network. The other stuff the author wrote about, that's just bypass stuff to change screen timeout settings and other standard functions which are normally locked by a company under the pretense of security. Because my 20 minute timeout does anything other than annoy me. Lol. This entire post could just be the author not knowing about Portable Apps because they have not encountered them yet.
This is just plain wrong. First of all portable apps can compromise a network, second of all this dude is basically plugging in his own PC to a company network, anything can be on it. Thirdly this likely violated a written security policy users have to sign. I hope you are a hobbyist and not an IT professional because I'd drop you so fast if I was your employer and saw your posts.
Users should never be allowed to run whatever app they want on company owned PCs All applications should be approved by IT, especially on machines that may contain sensitive data. Also OPs post quite clearly states the Sales Person was working around windows security by using preboot environment to reset local administrator account password. I'm sorry but if something like this happens it's huge security violation, which warrants locking down machines
It was an employee using company computers in an unauthorize manner and in a way that could potentially harm the PC and even the network. People we're complaining to OP, who went to management because it was really an HR problem, but as soon as management heard "computer" they said "oh, you're IT; you deal with it". So OP took the actions that were available to him to ensure the problem employee could not use his favorite exploits. This wasn't "petty revenge against someone you don't like" it was someone doing his job in the most extreme way possible because management didn't want to do their jobs.
Allen, when you describe someone doing their job in the most extreme way possible, when they are apparently not doing it to appease their superiors who seem not to care either way, and the job itself can only really be considered extreme during a power outage, one begins to wonder whether this car dealership IT person really cares so much about the safety of the network or just wants to stick it to someone who OP feels should stick to their lane. I don't believe OP's actions were anything noble. Yes, OP technically did his job, but him doing his job that way is a step away from this post being in the malicious compliance column. And then OP is an a*****e.
Really seems that just locking out the USB port and the CMOS, which should have been done anyway, would have taken care of the issue.
Someone seems to like downvoting without explanation. I guess you're not allowed to question the narrative
.. is not the same thing as you giving him a warning to see whether he would respect your authority or not. But again, I get very strong petty reason vibes from this individual. You would probably lock me out of Word if I worked with you, you monster.
As a person in the same field. I manage many dodge dealers and body shops. I have found that you just ignore all of the holes and just secure the POS systems. If they mess up a machine I give them a day of down time. If they are remote they have to ship it into my location. Within two years my requests have dropped to almost nothing. Granted if it's a hardware failure those get replaced immediately but data can take a day. The thing we are currently working on is everyone putting data into our cloud of services instead of locally
As a non IT person that has worked for many car dealerships I can say most people have no clue what they are doing or what IT can see. Especially management. People were always confused why IT responded to my requests and got new equipment. Because I didn't page and email IT every day when the printer acted up, my pc froze or my email wouldn't load. Restart, unplug, check your plugs, clear your cache, stop looking at p o r n... So also know that the sales people and managers who have your social security number and credit report aren't smart enough to not use work computers for dating websites!
First, I know some amazing car sales people and people who work in dealerships that are good, trustworthy people. But the majority are either lifetime shady or new and clueless. You are trusting these people with all of your secure info. Why are people mad at this IT guy for doing his job and the right thing? Go into a dealership and ask the salesperson where your docs with your social security number and address get shredded. Most don't even know where the shredder bin is and if they do they're to lazy to walk to it. I worked for a couple very high profile dealers and IT gets so frustrated at what they can't do to secure the servers and soooooo many computers and laptops used by anybody.