I know this phrase, but for some reason it is blocked in my mind. What is the term for observing a rule, but doing so in a way that subverts it? I'm almost certain that malicious is one of the words in the phrase, but I’m not positive about that.
As an example, suppose there is a rule that in your workplace, you must put boxes to be mailed out in a certain place. Ralph considers this inconvenient, so he puts his boxes there, but he places them so they are in the way when you walk down that aisle, or in a way that makes the mail people work harder to organize the boxes before mailing them out. Ralph does this as a sort of protest against the rule.
I don't think the phrase is malicious observation, and it’s not passive aggressive, but it’s something that means that. Help, this is worse than hearing a particular song in my head for hours!
Best Answer
There exists a term malicious obedience or malicious compliance, and I'm guessing that you're thinking of one of those; but most users of that term (in either variant) use it somewhat differently from what you describe. This page, for example, is typical: it says that malicious obedience is "when people set their boss up to fail by doing exactly as he or she says even though they know in their hearts that their actions are incorrect or not optimal." So in your case, that would be if Ralph follows the rule because he knows that it's a bad one that hurts the company.