Redditor Shares How Employees Maliciously Complied with the Company's New Rule by Uploading Their Baby Photos as Profile Pictures

A workplace cannot exist without some form of regulation or general rule. Everyone must be on the same path if they want to achieve their goals.

Workers must be united, professional, motivated, and tolerant of one another's idiosyncrasies, no matter what they may be. However, a little humor can help diffuse stress and division when they arise.

After sharing a hilarious incident at their company involving the profile pictures employees used for their internal site, Redditor u/Virule93 went viral in the r/MaliciousCompliance online community. The employee described how their coworkers made the conscious decision to adhere to the strict new regulations.

On the company's internal website, the Redditor explained how each employee could modify their profile picture and overlay it with an icon or flair. Everyone would be able to see their name and photo whenever they made an announcement, posted job updates, or commented on anything.

A brief moment of amusement ultimately devolved into a bitter political dispute among coworkers. Some began using the icons to communicate their ideologies, stir up conflict, and enrage those on the other end of the ideological spectrum.

Others, on the other hand, welcomed the chaos and changed their photos to resemble celebrities and anime characters. Keep scrolling to read the full story below.

Want to set a rule? Be exact about it!

Mikhail Nilov (not the actual photo)

The story begins...

Reddit/Virule93

The profile photos were normal until...

Reddit/Virule93

The situation deteriorated to the point where the company's human resources representatives were forced to intervene.

Reddit/Virule93

Changing photos to anime

Reddit/Virule93

They established new rules and mandated that each employee use a profile picture that was "a clear headshot of the employee on a plain backdrop," with no other person, animal, flag, or icon visible.

Reddit/Virule93

Having a solid color

Reddit/Virule93

But here's the thing: Nobody stipulated that this needed to be a recent image!

Reddit/Virule93

So, recognizing the chance for a good laugh, some workers began changing their profile pictures to images of themselves as infants.

Reddit/Virule93

Even some of the HR team members imitated what they saw because the scenario was so absurd and funny.

rawpixel (not the actual photo)

Unrestrained independence can lead to complete anarchy. There must be some reasonable restrictions and constraints.

It's critical to match the names and faces of workers so you always know who you're speaking to, especially given that many people work virtually on a full- or part-time basis, and you might not interact with them frequently. Asking individuals to use their actual photos is not unfair.

Redditors chimed in, and here are some of their comments.

Reddit/Virule93

Children in the workplace

Reddit/Virule93

Company profile

Reddit/Virule93

Beneficent compliance

Reddit/Virule93

Dunking on HR

Reddit/Virule93

Back of everybody's head

Reddit/Virule93

Only one person has noticed

Reddit/Virule93

A less specific photo

Reddit/Virule93

Image not found

Reddit/Virule93

Making a smart rule

Reddit/Virule93

Flying out the window

Reddit/Virule93

The biggest kick out of it

Reddit/Virule93

The coworker's true nature

Reddit/Virule93

Wholesome compliance

Reddit/Virule93

Having elastic band fights

Reddit/Virule93

It's actually kinda cute

Reddit/Virule93

Loving it

Reddit/Virule93

It would be difficult to find a worker who desires to become a faceless cog in the corporate machine. Whatever your line of work, there's always room for creativity, humor, and, dare we say it, fun.

Ideally, there should be, and I'm sure you agree. Do share this post with your loved ones if you enjoyed reading it.