# "I did it wrong on purpose so I wouldn't be asked to do it again" - anyone seen that actually work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212 "2022-06-30T23:41:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/1 "2022-06-30T23:41:23Z")
And if so, was the person older than 6 years of age? I’m curious about this. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/2 "2022-07-01T00:23:24Z")
When I was in grad school before decent word processors I absolutely made it seem like I was inexpert in runoff > **[TYPSET and RUNOFF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TYPSET_and_RUNOFF)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > TYPSET is an early document editor that was used with the 1964-released RUNOFF program, one of the earliest text formatting programs to see significant use. > Of two earlier print/formatting programs DITTO and TJ-2, only the latter had, and introduced, text justification; RUNOFF also added pagination. > The name RUNOFF, and similar names led to other formatting program implementations. By 1982 Runoff largely became associated with Digital Equipment... So that no one expected me to drop everything to help them. I got my dissertation done on time, someone who became an expert never quite finished. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/3 "2022-07-01T02:35:58Z")
[It didn’t go well on _Everybody Loves Raymond_](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e0yz6jeoKG8). ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/4 "2022-07-01T02:43:49Z")
I never did it wrong in school but there are tons of things that I pretended not to be above a c+ grade knowledge so I wouldn’t get extra work… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/5 "2022-07-01T03:40:00Z")
OMG, RUNOFF. I haven’t thought about that in decades. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/6 "2022-07-01T04:17:51Z")
That reminds me in elementary school I deliberately failed at The Spelling Bee because I hated performing in front of others. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/7 "2022-07-01T08:08:44Z")
It’s a form of [malicious compliance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious_compliance), I suppose - ‘I’ll do it’ = compliance ‘but I’ll do it badly’ = malicious. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/8 "2022-07-01T08:08:55Z")
An acquaintance of mine once told me he didn’t want to work too hard when starting a new job to avoid high expectations. I noticed that he also avoided high pay and job stability. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/9 "2022-07-01T11:18:27Z")
I knew a guy, a newlywed, who took a fall trying to change an overhead lightbulb - his wife never again pressed him to be “handy”. Dan ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/10 "2022-07-01T11:42:48Z")
Reminds me of one of the few poems I know by heart: [https://images.app.goo.gl/oMKeF2Pbg9cS9C9Q6](https://images.app.goo.gl/oMKeF2Pbg9cS9C9Q6) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/11 "2022-07-01T11:46:13Z")
Yes - and not only was he never asked to do it again , no one in his title was ever asked again. I worked for a state agency and there was a regular meeting hosted by a city agency that we attended. Bureaus in my agency rotated attendance based on the geographic area we were responsible - when the meeting covered neighborhood A, a supervisor from my agency’s neighborhood A bureau would attend. Whoever attended was required to submit a report by the end of the week so the information could be shared. So one day, a manager in my building is told to choose a supervisor to send. He says he’s sending Hubert. The other manager in the building and I _tell_ him Hubert is going to mess it up somehow so he never has to go again , and he should send George instead. He doesn’t listen and sends Hubert. A few weeks later, that manager is on vacation and I am covering. The first thing I’m told to do is get that report from Hubert. At 8:30 , I tell Hubert I want his already overdue report at noon. At 12:10 \* I ask him where it is - he told me it wasn’t done because he couldn’t get outlook open. I still don’t know what Outlook had to do with it. Eventually I get the report, which contains almost no information. Next time, the manager had to attend. We could no longer send supervisors. - which is not something I would normally do. I did it because I expected it would still take me until close to 4:30 to get the report. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/12 "2022-07-01T12:26:37Z")
:shakes fist: That’s what I came to post, Dung Beetle! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/13 "2022-07-01T12:30:33Z")
I’m glad it leaps to someone else’s mind as well! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/14 "2022-07-01T13:06:01Z")
I remember a guy in college using this as an excuse for his poor performance. He was a real stunning example of the Dunning-Kruger effect and when he would fail at something, this was one of the excuses he would use. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/15 "2022-07-01T13:15:00Z")
Sometimes, they do it wrong on purpose for other reasons… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DUiWXNt7lqc/hqdefault.jpg "David Mitchell: On sign writers and the apostrophe") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUiWXNt7lqc) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/16 "2022-07-01T13:47:42Z")
I’m currently in a tech support job. It could involve anything from a computer virus to a jam in the dept laser printer. I really dislike supporting that laser printer. Removing jammed paper is something any staff member can do. I do it when told but its a very low priority in my long list of responsibilities. The paper sometimes jams in the duplexer tray that flips the paper for 2 sided printing. Easy fix to pull that tray and also look inside the printer. My bosses buy the cheapest available copy paper and it will jam. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/17 "2022-07-01T13:53:29Z")
My mom once told me to weed the flower bed. Mind you, nothing was blooming yet. I didn’t do it on purpose but yep, I pulled out most of the flowers and left most of the weeds. Honest mistake—but I was never asked again. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/18 "2022-07-01T14:15:06Z")
Mr VOW gets pissed off when I “allegedly” do man-bashing, or husband-bashing. If the shoe fits, however… Some household chores avoided by the XY chromosomes. When the XX chromosome is overwhelmed, she may ask for help. If there is something good on TV (frog-wrestling, watching paint dry, etc), the requested chore is ignored (“Oh, I was just about to do that!”), slammed through in a half-assed way (“I didn’t know you wanted it done like THAT!”), or the request is completely forgotten (“Oh. I’ll do it when the movie is over.”). Later, when the XY chromosome sees the XX chromosome struggling with a completely different chore, the XY rushes to the assistance of the XX, saying, “Why didn’t you ask me for help?” 😖 ~VOW (Yesterday was my wedding anniversary. Really!) ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/19 "2022-07-01T14:22:15Z")
I kind of saw this once about ten years ago. The company I worked for provided consulting services for Fortune 500 companies and we were asked to write a white paper on RFID use for inventory control. The project was assigned to a relatively new and inexperience (i.e., incompetent) consultant who just happened to be the nephew of the company owner. He had no idea how to even start. I put together three pages of key points and references to give him at least a jumping off point for the project. (I did this strictly as a favor…no billable hours logged or credit requested.) The report that he turned in a week later was 95% word-for-word the material I provided to him. He had added about five sentences. I mean, it was verbatim for the most part. That’s how it went out to the client. He later confessed that he just didn’t want to do any independent research and figured that it was “bad enough” that he wouldn’t be asked to do any similar projects in the future. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212/20 "2022-07-01T14:23:22Z")
@VOW Also when xy asks what can I do to help, and xx hands over the vacuum cleaner only to then hear xy ask for help with moving chairs out of the way of the vacuum cleaner. Yeah that’s at my back you’re on your own xy. Lol And Happy Anniversary💐 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-did-it-wrong-on-purpose-so-i-wouldnt-be-asked-to-do-it-again-anyone-seen-that-actually-work/967212.md?page=2)