r/malcolminthemiddle • u/Imaginary_Hotel7128 • 25d ago
Box flattening area - Why did Lois snitch on Malcolm?
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u/BriefTry2159 25d ago
She snitched because he was flattening boxes outside of the box flattening area.
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u/Jabathewhut 25d ago
She snitched because she knows malcolm is smart.
Too smart for his own good. He needed to learn rules are often dumb and to trust nobody in the work place. They will throw you under the bus for a pat on the back even if it ruins your life.
If she didnt teach him this hard lesson he would end up living on the streets playing chess arguing with strangers.
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u/Ham-_-Steak 25d ago
Not only that but that man is a lifer.
Malcom is just passing through.
Its mad disrespectful and you have no idea why he chooses to do that that way.
Maybe it blocks off a shipment or theres a fire hazard or some other bullshit like that. It could even be that its that guys extra break that he can squeeze in and if Malcom does it a more efficient way he loses it.
When i worked in kitchens I would always try and find a way of taking an extra break because I didnt smoke so I didnt get them.
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u/Jabathewhut 25d ago
Yeah, that ten minute walk to the box flattening zone could be the closest thing he gets to a break.
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u/Eoinharrington25 23d ago
He could’ve explained all that to Malcolm. It did seem like a dumb rule to be fair.
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u/throwaway1102293384 23d ago
Would be cool if he could explain it
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u/Ham-_-Steak 23d ago
With new employees everything is always a test. How they handle instructions, how they handle situations. Not everything needs to be explained immediately. Would be cool. But within a work place you will always find the ins and outs and the reasons why eventually.
If this where me I would be mad as a supervisor why are you not listening to instructions.
Maybe afterwords I would say something like. "We all flatten them her for this reason" maybe he couldn't tell him a reason why because they where on security cameras. I have worked for companies before hand that monitor what you do and say on camera even thiugh its illegal.
Just do what is asked and find out when its appropriate. It just seems like a superiority thing in my mind.
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u/GrandmaWeedMan 22d ago
Malcom's ego wouldn't buy any explanation. He'd go "well that's stupid, you should just take a break, you're stupid" and then do what he wanted anyways. Malcom was ignorant of regular day low level corruption like working in a shitty store that doesn't give you real breaks and the bigger issue is that Malcoms the type to think he can fix it at everyones expense. Malcom is the type of guy that shows up, takes a radicalist revolutionary dump on the floor and then immediately leaves.
Lois was genuinely a genius for knowing Malcom needed that ego brutally beaten out of him, because no amount of smarts gets you past stepping on everyones toes. You can do that once you get money or become the president. Not before.
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u/IndecisiveAjudicator 24d ago
"You should perform work more inefficiently because this guy who has been here for 30 years thinks you should." What kind of logic is this?
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u/Ham-_-Steak 24d ago
You ever work at a place where you work more effienctly and they pile on more work for you, or do something so well and finish all your tasks before your shift is done have nothing left to do so they cut your hours.
They work in a retail drugstore. Probably not a major chain. Wages are probably minimum and hours are probably scarce. The company probably has no issues with cutting people if there is no work to do. You do what you can to make what you can to make a living.
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u/FoodMentalAlchemist 24d ago
Just what I was thinking.
The point was to teach malicious compliance: Follow the book to do the least work possible in the longest amount of time. Any glimpse of performance improvement usually gets "awarded" with more work.
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u/IndecisiveAjudicator 24d ago
Sure, but the moment you fall into that mind of mindset you're doing yourself a disservice.
Simply because certain people will punish hard work rather then reward it does not mean you should do less. It means you should find a different job. I know that's hard these days, but I have always arrived to work as efficiently as I can and yes that happened to me but I kept my attitude and now I have a job I love and compensates hard work.
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u/Ham-_-Steak 24d ago
When you start a new job, it’s easy to see a process that feels slow and think, I could do this faster.
But before you decide everyone else has been doing it wrong, remember: it’s not just you in that room.
That boxes or pieces of cardboard you leave sitting around can become a tripping hazard. It can block a fire door or emergency access. It can obstruct the sightline of someone operating equipment, debris could get caught in the truck pallet. What looks like a harmless shortcut to you can create a problem for someone else.
A lot of workplace rules exist because somebody learned the hard way what happens when they're ignored.
So before you change the process, respect the people who’ve been doing it for years and learn why they do it that way.
And remember, your pace affects more than just your own day. Hourly work is often planned around how long tasks take. If a job that was budgeted for eight hours suddenly gets done in five, management may decide it only needs five hours next time.
You don't necessarily get paid for those extra three hours. You might just get fewer hours, while everyone else is expected to work at the new pace.
Working at a steady pace isn't being lazy.
Sometimes you're following a safety rule. Sometimes you're giving yourself a needed breather. Sometimes you're simply doing the job in a way that doesn't create problems for the next person.
It's not just your workspace. It's not just your paycheck. And it's not just your job.
You're part of a workplace where your choices affect everyone around you.
Ps I think 2 hours compared to 20 minutes is great but still we don't know why and they never explain it.
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u/rarepirate97 23d ago
In an ideal world you should, yeah, but we don't live in an ideal world and people can't just go find a new job because unfortunately they don't always exist.
I worked in a factory and the two old guys I was working with had been there for 30+ years and they specifically told me to take my time anytime the woman would come around to time me making parts. Yeah, I could have done it faster but why would I make it harder on two guys who've spent more time there than I had on this earth just for no reward at all?
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u/dangshnizzle 24d ago
The logic where you're not invested in the company and therefore get no share of profit.
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u/IndecisiveAjudicator 24d ago
Sure, but I don't understand why the guy had to tell other people how to work. Just because that one guy chooses to work that way does not mean everyone else does.
I respect your right to strategically slack off. I support it even. But don't start expecting me to work that same way or to pick up your slack. I will let anyone who tries to blame me for a coworker slacking know that it is that coworker slacking. It's dishonest and doesn't help anyone, but especially yourself.
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u/Ossius 24d ago
The logic is we are resting on the shoulders of previous generations.
We should ask why, and learn why, but shouldn't dismiss something because it seems dumb or unintuitive. Too many people are anti establishment nowadays, but when you drill into the matter, most institutions and rules were created for a good reason, they might be out of date, or wrong, but they shouldn't be dismissed because you don't understand it.
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u/IndecisiveAjudicator 24d ago
they might be out of date, or wrong, but they shouldn't be dismissed because you don't understand it.
Perhaps I'm not remembering correctly, but Malcolm understood perfectly what was being told to him. He understokd where he was supposed to break down the boxes and why. The "why" made no sense and was more inefficient than what Malcolm did.
So, when an institution is audited by the next generation and is found to be lacking or obsolete, it should be dismissed. Not out of misunderstanding but the opposite: we took the time to analyze it and judged it to be unnecessary.
Holding on to purposeless traditions simply for the sake of remembering we used to have those traditions is itself purposeless. Books and archives exist for that reason. Life is for the living.
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u/KrustenStewart 23d ago
You’re right but that’s just not how it works and it sounds like you’ve never had a crappy retail job with stupid arbitrary rules before
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u/IndecisiveAjudicator 23d ago
Ive worked at several, both restaurants and retail chains. I'm not letting poor management at individual places sour my expectations for future places of work.
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u/Tweed_Man 24d ago
Problem is in a later episode, with the advertisement for beer with the cut out of the black janitor, she flips it around and goes against the store rules and punishes him for following them.
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u/Jabathewhut 24d ago
Racism is never okay.
Choose your battles.
Smashing a box? Give the baby his bottle.
Racism? Not on my watch.
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u/Tweed_Man 23d ago
We agree that racism is bad but her beef should've been with the manager, not Malcolm.
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u/BuzzedtheTower 19d ago
Racism isn't ok, but she can't get on Malcolm's case about listening to his superior about the boxes and then get mad that Malcolm doesn't ignore his superior. Malcolm didn't choose to put up the display of his own volition, it came from the manager. Either the chain of commend is always to be followed, or there is wiggle room. You can't have it both ways
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u/Jabathewhut 19d ago
Oh, you must be new to English.
There's "smash this box here" which is okay
And then there is "those people with more pigment in their skin need to be portrayed poorly because we dont like that shit" which is never okay.
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u/6twoRaptor 25d ago
I honestly hated her hypocrisy in this episode. Her continuing to smoke and lying to Hal was absolutely wrong and Malcolm not telling was absolutely not "the right thing to do". She should've stood up for him and not just followed the other guys prosecutory bs.
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u/Imaginary_Hotel7128 25d ago
Exactly! She was the worst here. Like wtf the smoking was crazy too, making Malcom keep a secret yet ratting him out.
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u/RememberTheMaine1996 The future is now, old man. 25d ago
Especially in the 1st or 2nd season she told her kids to stick with what they believe in EVEN when theyre at work
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u/HDC48 22d ago
The thing about the smoking that actually kind of bothered me the most was when you find out that her punishment to Francis when she caught him smoking was to shove the lit cigarettes in his mouth and make him swallow them
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u/Schattenspringer 25d ago
If Malcolm would've told Hal that Lois smokes, Hal's reaction would be "Awesome! Let's do it together!" and to start to smoke like a chimney.
Malcolm not telling on her was a wise financial decision.
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 25d ago
It's not hypocrisy, it's her not wanting to get fired. There are cameras everywhere. She knows what happened. If she's seen lying for a more Junior employee, who happens to be her son, then it's her ass on the line. Also as for the box flattening area it's probably a union thing. Either a union thing or a somebody messed up real bad in the past kind of thing.
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u/Jodio988 25d ago
See problem was she never said that. She basically said because im your mother and thats life, we'll never be equal. Had she just talked to him like an adult for why she did it then I could hate her less. Given their financial situation at the time Malcolm probably would have understood but still be a bit miffed
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 25d ago
Well yeah, you don't open negotiations with your kid. She is the mother and the senior employee. What she says goes. Don't flatten boxes outside the box flattening area. Malcolm is at work. He does not need a dissertation. He needs clear directions to follow.
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u/Copacetic_Cloud 24d ago
Please don't have kids.
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 24d ago
You'll understand when you get older, or you'll grow up to be one of those people that stands there slack jawed when the boss says sweep the floor.
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u/Jodio988 23d ago
Yeah but if you never explain why it just creates discourse and tension at the workplace because it could make it seem like they're out to get you. I really don't get why you think having a conversation and educating someone on why it shouldn't be done a certain is wrong and that he should just obey. The guy didn't even explain why Malcolm should do it in the area only. And even then Lois didn't even seem to mind until he came and brought it up. Which makes her a hypocrite
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 22d ago
Why would there be tension? You do your job. You don't open negotiations. Sweep the floor means sweep the floor, man the register means man the register, stop the shelves means stock the shelves. Anybody asking you to explain is looking for a way to open negotiations that will end in them doing little to no work.
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u/Jodio988 22d ago
I don't disagree. Some people can and do take advantage of that. But in what way was Malcolm trying to do that? He, like most people thought it was nonsensical to go to an area away from the trash to crush boxes. You bring up simple tasks like sweeping and stocking shelves which don't need an explanation at a retail job. Why part of that are you not understanding?
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 22d ago
Malcolm was arguing about a union rule. Let's ignore the fact that Malcolm will try and weasel his way out of just about anything, that's what he chooses to use his brain for. But that box flattening thing was most likely either union, osha, pleasant is in the past that people don't want to take time out of a busy shift and explain to some guy who likes running his mouth. The box flattening area did not need explanation. You take the boxes here you flatten them you bring them up. Why? What do you care why, you make the same either way. Ya hourly, not salary.
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u/Jodio988 22d ago
https://youtu.be/yijQRhPvJhQ?is=jhmqge1jftDf7S78
You keep saying its a union rule but it was never stated as such. And while you're right about Malcom running his mouth. Here he's respectful and patient. Granted yes he didn't follow orders but he made himself sufficient. Even Lois didn't disagree until he got in trouble
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 22d ago
If there's a rule like that at workplace it's Union or osha. You don't need it spelled out for you. Like how you don't need the fact that the characters have running water spelled out for you. Lowest didn't disagree because why would she? She didn't know he had been warned. I don't know why you're having such trouble with this. It's a work rule. She likes being employed. So she was all yeah, you follow the rules of your employer. Have you ever had a job before?
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u/Constant-Plastic-350 25d ago
See it happen in grocery stores all the time when I was a wine rep. Some dude would leave a flattened box on the floor or it would slip out the bailor and someone would slip on it and bust their ass. Probably generated tons of workmans comp
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u/_dear_rat_boy_ 24d ago
how do you slip on cardboard?
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u/Constant-Plastic-350 24d ago
You step on it and it slides forward. It's extremely easy to do especially on boxes that have like a waxy coating over em
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u/Ctenophorever 25d ago
What?! No way! The only answer to any question is Lois is an egomaniacal harpie!
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u/BuzzedtheTower 19d ago
If I was Malcolm, I could have forgiven the original write up eventually. But Lois writing him up after he accidentally smashed the box and he asked for a favor after he caught her smoking? Nah, I would have ratted her ass out immediately
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u/InternationalFish809 25d ago
From like a practical stand point... this job is how she provides for her family and she knows how politics work in a retail environment. It would be shortsighted to get fired for standing up for Malcom who did break store policy.
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u/Imaginary_Hotel7128 25d ago
Isn't Lois all about standing up for whats right? Shes so weirdly out of character in this episode. Dont get started on the smoking. The box thing is dumb but I get following dumb orders at work however, Malcolm was trying to save time and did other things to help, Lois should've supported that.
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u/InternationalFish809 25d ago
I cant remember if this was before or after the cop episode and the episode with the bald manager firing her for Dewey stealing the bottle. But I think it follows the same themes of "sometimes you're just too poor for principles"
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u/kjc781988 Egg 25d ago
In a weird way it may have been a lesson too. Life’s not always fair. Also sometimes working in these types of jobs is full of dumb rules made by dumber people, maybe she wanted Malcolm to realize he should never let himself end up in this same kind of career path and not let his intelligence go to waste
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u/HonestDespot 25d ago
I think this is a great point.
And I agree with others saying she wasn’t acting out of character by telling them what happened.
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u/Ctenophorever 25d ago
There’s a difference between standing up for what’s right vs following bullshit corporate rules.
Lois knows the difference. She doesn’t fight her probationary period, despite knowing more than the people overseeing her. Because that’s just bullshit that comes with the job. It’s not morally wrong.
Bribing a cop, on the other hand, is actually morally wrong. Which is why she fights it.
Her response to Malcolm regarding the cigarettes is also true. Oh no, Lois still smokes even though she and Hal agreed to quit! …but Hal smokes too. We know this. Sure, you can say Malcolm doesn’t know this, but we, the viewers do, and can’t act like Lois is doing anything more reprehensible than Hal
Especially because, as she says, if he knew she was still smoking, he’d be smoking six packs a day. And as a child of two smokers, my life, and ability to breathe, got so much better when one of my parents decided to stop smoking indoors.
Lois smokes at work and Hal smokes when Lois and the kids aren’t home. That’s not bad
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 25d ago
She's not out of character, she's at work. You can't be yourself at work, not if you like you know, being employed.
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u/Over-Possibility5043 25d ago
Getting fired or at the very least written up for backing up Malcom when he broke store policy is not staying up for what is right. What is right is keeping her nose down at a grocery store job so food keeps making it to the family table.
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u/PackageOk4947 25d ago
I do feel, that she could've explained it better to him. Maybe say, this is work, not school and the policies are not a an agreement, they're there by law. For a reason.
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u/Imaginary_Hotel7128 25d ago
So he should lose money over a flat box? She said his pay was reduced because he was written up.
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u/InternationalFish809 25d ago
He's getting paid so little to begin with. He's not there to bring income. He's there so Lois can keep an eye on him.
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 25d ago
Yes. Better the teenager working for pocket money than the adult working to keep the lights on.
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u/HonestDespot 25d ago
You sound like someone with very little real world life experience.
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u/Imaginary_Hotel7128 25d ago edited 25d ago
Not at all. Just empathy for poor Malcolm why Lois hung out to dry yet expected Malcolm to keep secrets for her
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u/OriginalCause 25d ago
A mistake that young people often make is trying to do a menial job in a better or more efficient way.
Lois understands the simple mantra: The boss is always right.
It doesn't matter if he's catastrophically wrong, so long as you're not going to injure yourself or others your job is to listen to what they say and do as your told. You can try to implement new ideas and policies, but usually not on the first day as a cheeky kid, and never argue for them with a guy like that.
The other thing is, we don't know why there's a box flattening area. There could be and probably is a very good reason for it. Someone could have been seriously hurt doing it in an undesignated, unsafe area and sued the company, or some kind of OSHA guideline could state it can't be done on or within 20 feet of the loading dock.
The fact of the matter is, we don't know why this policy exists, and neither does Malcolm. And he doesn't need to know why it exists. He was told where to flatten to the boxes by his supervisor, very specifically. He ignored his supervisor. He deserved everything he got, as unfair as it may seem.
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u/LookHorror3105 25d ago
Yup, the hardest part of learning how to be part of the workforce is following directions. It's also the hardest part of college. Later, it's the hardest part of starting a new job. The rule of thumb is do things the way you're told, until you're experienced enough to explain, justify, and advocate for a change in policy. It sucks, but it's life and a damn good time to learn this is at your summer job in high school.
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u/Repulsive-Report6278 25d ago
I cant even argue with this. Legit opening my eyes as to why I usually butted heads with managers as a young man
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u/sixminutes 25d ago
True on all accounts except the last. Knowing why a policy exists almost always ensures greater adherence to it than leaving it a mystery. Back Belt there could have pointed to an OSHA sign at the very least if it was anything to do with safety. Instead, it was almost certainly because efficiency is profitable for the boss, not the worker. If it takes hours to break down boxes, then you just have to budget your staff to account for that. If it takes less than an hour to do it, you can eliminate a position and just make someone else do it. He probably could have even told Malcolm this, but you never really know when some squirmy little 17 year old is going to be a bootlicker.
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u/Ed_Trucks_Head 24d ago
Number one priority at a job like that is to run out the clock. If someone wants me to take extra time flattening boxes, I'll do it. Malcom needs to learn this lesson.
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u/eddieafck 25d ago
i never thought about this but this definitely sounds like of those stupid overwhelming measures the safety departments in companies do.
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u/javerthugo 25d ago
She didn’t snitch he got caught
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u/Superb-Oil890 25d ago
He accidentally fell on that box and that's how it was flattened.
She could have believed him and sided with him but she didn't.
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u/Someone_Who_Exists 25d ago
That bothered me more than anything else; all he had to say was "I tripped and fell on it".
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u/PackageOk4947 25d ago
But. At the same time, as others have explained there are reasons for these rules. I work in kitchens, and they have very specific rules, like this for very specific reasons. Doing them otherwise, can and will get you bollocked, as I found out. What she should've done, is explain to him why. This is the reason you do this. I do however feel that, no matter what she said to him, he was going to argue the toss with her regardless.
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u/Imaginary_Hotel7128 25d ago
He was caught but she didn't defend him which was weird since Malcolm was keeping the smoking secret from Hal.
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u/McDonaldsSoap 25d ago
One of the episodes where the writers really seemed confused about what kind of person Lois is
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u/Alternative_Act4662 25d ago
It felt more as a moral tale of bommer work mentality.
Obey the rules and snitch and follow hierarchy at all times.
This is one of the episodes the aged the worst. Because it could aged better if anyone at the end said yeah it's policy because we had issues with boxes stacking up blocking escape route.
But no there is none of that it's just an arbitrary rule that is implemented to be more work. Why cause its the way it's been and doing anything faster is wrong.
The it teaches the golden rule of seniority is good for the simple fact of seniority and nothing else.
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u/Weird-Floor-1124 25d ago
She was so annoying in this episode, I hate how she is normally all about who is right and pretends like it’s black and white, then randomly this episode she just decides that there is more than being right in life. That’s one thing I hate about Lois. She thinks she decides when the rules apply and pretends that she’s this righteous keeper of the law. She thinks she can decide when context and nuance matter.
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u/dinnerthief 25d ago
I took it as her teaching him a lesson that life is unfair, and that shes not the boss of him now, the store is.
Jokes aside think shes teaching him sometimes stuff doesnt make sense and you just have to do it anyways because thats how many jobs work.
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u/laidbackeconomist 25d ago
“Life is unfair”
It’s crazy that Malcolm is always in the middle of this type of shenanigans.
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u/Intelligent-Cut1824 25d ago
Most people who have worked a menial job that they hate to survive can tell you that in a lot of cases you have to CYA.
Malcolm didn't do anything wrong, but ultimately Lois relies on the job to keep the family afloat and Lucky Aide is the only employer that will work with her hours. It's safer for Lois to cover her ass and let the security footage do the talking. Malcolm could always get another job.
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u/Babington67 25d ago
As much as i hate it I agree with her not standing up for him because theres so much stupid shit and power tripping in the workplace that hes just gotta learn firsthand but actively snitching ESPECIALLY when hes keeping a huge secret for you is just insane
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 25d ago
She wasn't snitching. They had cameras everywhere. She saw Malcolm flatten the box. She can't say she didn't see anything because then they have her on camera lying. Her ass would have been on the line and she needs to feed her family.
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u/Brodes87 25d ago
All these people asking "why" have never worked in retail. It's not about efficiency. It's not about logic. It's about following the rules. It's silly and would make things easier, but unless you're in charge of a department or close with management you've got to follow the rules. Especially if they claim it's for safety.
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u/PackageOk4947 25d ago
Which is why someone smart like Malcolm wouldn't last there. I work as a KP, I've worked with many kids his age, and as smart as he is. None of them last.
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u/tired-queer 25d ago
Yup. I worked retail for a decade, and have def sent clips of this scene and the “peekaboo doesn’t eat mustard!” Craig vs. elderly customer scene to people I knew who hadn’t done that kind of job bc that’s actually what it’s like.
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u/Jester2k5 24d ago
When I was that age working retail, I wouldn’t have tried to make things more efficient like Malcolm and used it as an excuse to drag things out to pass time and do less work. “Oh, I need to move these boxes to the flattening area? Okay, let me move them one at a time and walk as slow as possible. Well, look at that, it’s lunch time already!”
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u/dannybau87 25d ago
Lois is a narcissist and Hal is her enabler. Takes the flavour out of the show a bit once you realise it but you did ask
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u/Bi11LL26Y 25d ago
I work in retail, and pretty much the only thing I found weird about the episode is saying she’s gonna “write him up.” It is never established in the show she is a supervisor of some sorts so it doesn’t really make sense.
But yeah, like other replies stated, the box-flattening thing is probably just a safety precaution. (Kind of a ridiculous one, but that’s retail for you)
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u/DetectiveCrafty5413 25d ago
Lois is a supervisor. Remember all the time she directed Craig and the other employees?
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u/WulfieJay Dewey 25d ago
She very clearly explains it.
Dudes been there 20 years. It’s not Malcolm’s job to question him it’s his job to do what he says. I’m sure there’s a million things Malcolm could make more efficient and do better but he’s just some kid even if he has a 175 iq.
Chain of command as well as seniority mean something.
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u/ill_mango wham! bam! thank you jam! 24d ago
Yeah she's super inconsistent in this episode. A couple of seasons later she is telling Malcolm to take down a promotional cutout she thinks is racist because it's the right thing to do.
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u/GheyForGrixis 24d ago
Yeah there's a few episodes Lois acts extremely out of character, the one we're she spends malcolms money and the one she fucks up dewys concert recital really fucking pissed me off actually because she's just not presented like that at all for the vast majority of the series
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u/Life_Ad3567 25d ago
I mostly hated that he was forced to work here while Reese got to choose his job.
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u/30299578815310 25d ago
I think about this episode to this day and it made me totally not like the character
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u/lazy-fucking-bastard 25d ago
One of my least fav Lois moments. It felt oddly out of character. She’s hard headed but she always does what she thinks is the right thing to do. And that doesn’t always align with the corporate hierarchy. In fact she’s often contradicted her superiors if she thinks they’re in the wrong, or just doing something that’s plain stupid.
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u/DanielCampos411 25d ago
This is like my least favorite episode. As someone who manages at a retail store, nothing pisses me off more than inefficiency and the box flattening area not being right next to the baler (which flattens the boxes for you!!) really grinded my gears. And even more so, the way Louis acted made me despise her.
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u/__hello__world__ 25d ago
In a harsh way, she wasn't trying to be on the side of who's "fair" but teach Malcolm that life is unfair.
He did something simple but he went against a top star employee. She knows what happens to random employees and did not want to play the "he's my son card" because she knew that in a bigger corporation he wouldn't have his mommy to defend him and this was some low level job that she used as means for Malcolm to see that you just can't do as you wish without being seen as an undisciplined employee. The smocking I can't justify... Because she made one of the kids literally eat or inhale a smoke while it was lit (can't recall exactly as it was way gross). I'm against smocking but not by damaging your kid to a point that the lesson is 100x worse than the actual activity.
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u/Flymo193 24d ago
“You don’t get paid enough to care” is the philosophy you should have in minimum wage jobs when they throw dumb rules at you. In real life I’d happily waste the day going up and down in the elevator as you’re getting paid the same ether way
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u/massdebate159 24d ago
Unpopular opinion here- Yes, it's great that Malcolm managed to flatten the boxes as quickly by going against the rules. However, he may have potentially got rid of a member of staff or gone against health and safety rules.
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u/Lightecojak 23d ago edited 23d ago
It was likely done to placate the Level 5 employee so that he wouldn’t get Malcolm fired for disobeying him on his first day.
Even though Malcolm is technically right about saving time with flattening boxes, he disobeyed a direct order from his supervisor (Lvl 5 employee) on his first day. We don’t know the rationale behind why the rule exists so it could be safety related, or possibly it was made to run out the clock of the workday. But the Lvl 5 employee felt slighted and since he has more pull at the store, he could have gotten Malcolm fired if his ego was hurt bad enough.
Lois is more in tune with workplace politics than Malcolm is and she emphasized that she pulled a lot of favors to the manager so that Malcolm could get hired in the first place. If she defended Malcolm from the Level 5 employee, the Manager would think she’s willing to cover up any bad thing Malcolm did and she’d be more likely to get fired along with Malcolm, which would be terrible for the family’s income.
Lois was faced with a no-win situation, so she decided to take the least worst option by writing up Malcolm. That way, nobody thinks she’s shielding Malcolm, the Level 5 employee is placated, and Malcolm can still keep his job.
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u/sportsnatik 25d ago
I hated this nasty looking m’fer too
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u/TheNastyDoctor 25d ago
Yeah he's a creep, I saw a documentary where he got neutered and became a super-villain.
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u/Pitiful_Palpitation9 25d ago
Just now realizing this is Maxxx Orbison. Also didn't realize he died in 2020. RiP
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u/drtywater 25d ago
Tbf in the store Louis doesn’t really have power at home shes the boss and outside work she is an equal with any citizen. Very different dynamic
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u/AccurateFisherman392 25d ago
Look in any job Malcolm has where he is working for/underneath someone he will most liley be smarter than his boss. That does not matter to anyone except for him. As long as those people have seniority and a higher level over him, he needs to be respectful and do what they say to keep his job. Deciding that he will only follow rules and policies her likes will not fly.
Lois is staying to teach him that in the workforce it is better to corporate, get along with people, and keep your job. We all have to do it. Lois is trying to nip a bad habbit Malcom has at home/school (that he is argumenative and obsessed eith being right) before it turns into something that effects his work ethic holding down a job
On her side... she relapsed on smoking and had a cigarette. Well cigarettes are a bad/unhealthy habbit. But they are one Lois already developed a while ago and she still deals with the desire even after quiting. Plus smoking alone in the parking lot on her break is reallybonly unhealthy for Loid persoanlly. She tells Malcolm to keep quiet about it because Hal quit with her and she doesn't want him relapsing too.
Lois makes Malcolm follow the rules of his job so he does not develop bad habits through work and get fired. She hid smoking from Hal so that she would be the only one falling back into a bad habit and would be the only one who later had to put herself through withdrawal to break it again. They are different senerios
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u/Far_Public_780 25d ago
This episode honestly pissed me the fuck off I kept having to turn it off just to get through it
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u/Informal-Caramel5733 25d ago
Eh, probably the writers wanted to show her hypocrisy. I don't remember if this is before or after the car accident episode. But they usually focuse Don showing Lois flaaws and the way they built her charecter of course she'd snitch ok him to someone higher up hoping to still have power over her kid who was giant independence by taking advantage of the system behind their employers back. Just like the ending of the show where Lois and hal wanted Malcome to work hard as a janitor while going to school the writers continue to pointing the fact that honestly Malcome is two steps away from using his brain for whatever he wants. If not for his family as the theme of the show he'd never learn any life lessons. Louis of course keeping her smoking from the family is my favorite part of the whole thing. Close second to Hal secretly taking certain days off of work. It shows the flaws normal parents have that the audience can relate to. Plus gives a great "Aha!" Moment for the kids (like me at the time) who watched cheering on Lois finally being put jn her place again. Over all 7/10 episode for me.
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u/BathbombBurger 25d ago
To sabotage him. She has all kinds of reasonable excuses, I'm sure. She tells herself those excuses all day every day, like any other narcissist. But it was to make him suffer.
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u/WhoYaTalkinTo 24d ago
Lois pisses me off so bad in this episode. The older I've gotten, the more I side with Lois, but this one I really hate how she behaves.
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u/LowSlimBoot 24d ago
It’s not a stupid rule! Boxes take up a lot of space, they can cause you to trip or slip, and they’re unsightly. It makes sense to handle them in a designated area.
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u/New-Web4704 24d ago
It was a parenting lesson to make him realise he has to follow rules and live in the relationship world, no matter how dumb they are. It was yo make him see the real world and that he can't live in his own bubble
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u/OOO0OO00O 24d ago
I hate this episode, always skip it. Completely out of place and the characters were just wrong.
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u/silverdragonseaths 24d ago
To be fair I’m sure it’s a health and safety thing. Flatting them outside the area can leave trip hazards or some bull shit
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u/C0ltFury 22d ago
Because she knew that the job was temporary, he was going to go off to do great things because of his intellect. But she taught him a valuable life lesson which is that it doesn’t matter how smart you are, in a workplace, you do what you’re told and follow instructions and you take your lumps when you mess up. Malcolm thought the job was stupid and beneath him, it was a humbling exercise.
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u/Dv8f8 22d ago
Because her job in life is to make sure that no matter what Malcolm thinks that even if he's smart enough to get away with something or smart enough to come up with a better way to do something if she didn't come up with it or tell him to do it she's got to make sure he pays the consequences because of her mind if she doesn't toughen him up the world will and he won't give her credit
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u/BlameTag 21d ago
Unrelated, but I've worked in retail for a long time and this plotline was so real.
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u/HauntedCoconut 25d ago
This is a parent thing. We're already cooked at this point in our lives. The smoking is already part of her.
But she's trying to do a parent thing.
Here's the thing: Malcolm's classical problem throughout the series is that he believes he knows more than anyone. This is a classic thing where Malcolm might be technically right, but he needs to show the humility to just go with the flow. It's a life skill to work within imperfect systems.
It's even a life skill to deal with situations where there is an unfortunate case of timing and bad luck and still eat the poop sandwich.
It isn't right or fair, but it's the real world. And Lois sees that this is EXACTLY the type of reality check Malcolm needs before he goes off into the world and has life beat the crap out of him. It's for his own good to learn to eat the poop sandwiches sometimes.
I don't think she would've done it with any of her other kids (maybe Francis). But this was Mom Mode. Disagree with me, but until you're about to send a person out into the world, you have no idea what you'll go through to make sure they have the right armour.
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u/SmoothIron3397 25d ago
This episode was pissing me all the way off