Even if you love what you do and feel extremely satisfied with your job, you don't really get to choose the people you work with. You just try your best to be a wholesome coworker, focus on carrying out good practices to make your workplace a slightly better place, and only hope your colleagues do the same.
Unfortunately, the 9-to-5 grind tends to bring out the worst in certain people. There is really no shortage of stories about the toxic office politics, the bullying, the backstabbing, and the never-ending gossip and drama. Once we feel mistreated, we can’t help but think about how to fight back and balance the scales of justice.
After all, nearly everyone has experienced the overwhelming motivation to retaliate and come up with the most detailed plans to get vengeance on someone when they’re least expecting it. And when they pull it off, they make sure to share their deeds with everyone on the internet. Below, we wrapped up some of the pettiest revenge stories we found online that reveal wicked levels of imagination. Continue scrolling and share your thoughts about them in the comments!
Psst! If you're in the mood for some more payback tales, take a look at our earlier publication about fine acts of revenge right over here.
#1
waitressed for the summer in nyc. owner was an overbearing prick who treated his employees horribly. most people put up with it b/c the money was so good. restaurant was very upscale, good turnover etc. you could count on $200-$250 on any thurs-sun shift. (this was very early 80's so that kind of money for waitressing was fabulous). one girl asked weeks in advance for a particular weekend off (her friend was getting married out of state). her last shift before that weekend, owner cancels her request. she's in tears, he threatens to fire her if she doesn't work that weekend. i try to stick up for her, offer to find people to cover for her, he refuses, tells us both to f**k off. i only had a few weeks left before my new job was going to start, so i march into his office and demand he let her have the weekend off or i'll quit that moment. he fires us both on the spot. went home, called up a former waitress who for some reason had an affair with this a*****e a year or so earlier. got a bunch of polaroids she still had: him in various stages of undress. not a pretty sight. mailed them to his wife.#2
Had a horrible boss at one of my tech support jobs, very rude, misogynistic, demanding.So one day took a print screen picture capture jpg of his background, then moved all his icons and short cuts on his desktop to an innocuous folder and put the print screen jpg up as his background. So the shortcuts and the links that appeared to be on desktop were just a picture and were not click able. He messed around with his computer for hours unable to get it to function normally.
#3
When i was a teenager i worked in a fast food restaurant. one of the managers picked on one of the girls religiously because she was fat. I'd had enough...told him to leave her along. He backhanded me. I knocked him out with a steel baking tray.As you’re reading through these stories, it may seem that humans are cruel by nature, always looking for opportunities to get even with their tyrant bosses and horrible colleagues. While revenge is rarely discussed in the corporate world, it’s important to understand the psychology behind it and what makes employees act on it.
To find out what an expert had to say about navigating through the feelings of retaliation, we reached out to Shari Botwin, LCSW and author of Thriving After Trauma: Stories of Living and Healing.
"It is completely natural and normal to want to retaliate when someone causes us harm in any way," she told Bored Panda. "Our first instinct is to want to fight back or get back at the person who hurt us. It is especially normal in a work environment to want revenge when we feel belittled or shamed in the workplace. While we depend on our bosses or place of employment for our livelihood, there is less risk in our interpersonal relationships when we try and get even with co-workers."
#4
I worked for an architect who never attended to detail and had a load of failures as a result. On the day I refused to give the go ahead on a design that I knew would fail - because of problems in the "unimportant " detail - I was fired.The last thing I had to do was supervise the printing of company letterheads, business cards and A0 drawing sheets. They were supposed to say "McDonald, Sweet and Partners, Chartered Architects". At the last minute I altered the proofs to say "McDonald, Sweet and Partners, Chartered Artichokes"
Of course, not being a "detail" person he approved the proofs and 1000's got printed.
#5
I use to work at McDonalds a couple of years ago, and the majority of the staff was comprised of kids that went to my school, and the girls school we are associated with. Anyway there was this b***h of a manager, who would always yell at us for not doing things her way, even though that was the way we had bee trained and was by all other accounts the correct way to do it. She was also incredibly sexist and would ramble on about who women are the superior sex (a little more implicityly). Customers would constantly tell us how horrible it must be to work with her, and no employee, including the other managers, liked her.So one shift me and this guy I went to school with went up to the other manager and said we wanted to lodge formal complaints. he gave us a whole lot of forms and we distributed them to pretty much every single employee through the afformentioned schools. They rang us each up individually and asked us to voice our concerns, for which we all said essentially the same thing, and she was moved to another store, from which she was later fired.
#6
I never wound up working for them, but a summer camp offered me $2000 for the summer to lifeguard for them. The contract they wanted me to sign would've made me buy my lifeguarding shirts from them (they have to provide the first 2 uniforms), charge me for lunch regardless if I ate there during my break, they weren't going to pay me for mandatory training (which they're required to pay me for), and wanted me to work 30 extra hours, unpaid, over the course of the summer. When I factored in those extra hours and the unpaid training (20 hours), it turned out I would be making about $5.25/hr, which is well under minimum wage. I'd also be making about $500 less because of they would be charging me for lunch, which devalued my pay per hour even more. After analyzing everything, I called the Department of Labor, faxed them a copy of the contract, and the camp got slapped with a huge fine. Needless to say, I went elsewhere to work.Botwin explained that acts of vengeance can make us feel good, but only in the short term. "Initially, it can feel good to retaliate," she said. "For the first five or ten minutes, endorphins kick in and we feel better once we strike back."
However, in the long run, acting out of spite at work can cause more problems and even lead to job loss, a demotion at work, and feelings of regret, Botwin argued. "For example, if we take to social media as an outlet for our anger, we are at risk of feeling more exposed and ridiculed by others. Once we post our feelings on a public platform, we cannot take them back. We can delete a post if we decide it’s not the appropriate way to respond. But that does not stop others from taking action or possibly using that information against us."
#7
I worked a factory job in the food industry for 6 years. My manager fired me for "not meeting company standards", when the real reason was because he wanted his son to work for the company, and by firing me, he would take my job.F**k that.
Luckily for me, our health inspection was 2 days before my last day on the job. So the day before, I brought in a box. my manager asked what it was for, and I told him I needed it to pack up some things at the end of my shift that were left in my locker during my years at the job. (We had a separate room with lockers to store our personal belongings while we worked). Luckily he didn't check the box because there were roaches inside. When I went to "pack up my things" when my shift ended, I made sure there was nobody in the locker room as I opened up the box, let the roaches out, and put things from my locker in the box and walked out. (Only place with no cameras was that locker room). Health inspector comes in the next morning and the first thing he notices are the roaches. The factory got shut the fuck down. Manager suspected it was me, in fact he probably knew but there was no way he could really prove it.
#8
I did almost the exact same thing to a prick I worked for briefly. I worked 70 hour weeks as a salary employee, even though I couldn't technically be classified as such. After things didn't work out for whatever reason (because he was a prick), he cancelled one of my paychecks right after I put it in the bank.I ended up contacting the US Department of Labor for the overtime, the State Department of Labor over a cancelled paycheck and a litigious corporation who's software he was using illegally. The litigious company was none too pleased to learn that he was using multiple instances of cracked software supplied by his shady IT guy. One day while travelling to my new job, I literally watched a team of U.S. Marshals walking into his business.
I ended up getting a large amount of money through court for the overtime I worked (although not *all* of it), plus the amount of the cancelled paycheck. The best part, was that he had an account with the deli across the street: the entire time the BS was going on and my money was tied up, I could go the deli, mention their name and walk away with free food and coffee. They supplied the food and coffee for an entire wake once.
#9
I was responsible for all customer facing emails and support cases for my department. When I took over that role i had to get ahold of the company that actually ran the support case database and have the password changed because the last person left and didn't tell anyone what that was. I made sure to tell my boss and team lead what i had changed the password to so they could keep it in case something were to happen. About a year later i was fired. Roughly a week afterwards i get a text from one of my old co-workers asking what the passwords to those systems were. I told her under no circumstances was i going to tell her what they are, that i gave that information to my boss and the lead, and if they couldn't find it then they can figure out how to reset it like i had to.But when we feel that someone hurt us or took advantage of us, emotions still pull us toward retaliation. Botwin told us that it is hard not to take revenge because we do not want to believe someone else got to us or has the power to cause harm without penalty.
"It takes strength and courage to hold the line and set boundaries, without acting on the impulse to strike back. Being able to assert with bosses and/or employers by saying things like, 'It is not okay to talk to me like that or treat me like that.' That lets people know what our boundary is and prevents us from feeling regret and guilt." The trauma specialist added that in some cases, saying nothing and telling ourselves things like, "I am better than that," is more empowering and self-protective.
"Often, people who have acted on their anger in the moment will tell me later things like, 'I wished I just sat with feeling before acting,' or 'trying to get back at my boss just made things worse for me.' The stress and shame that follows retaliation leads to more risk of being hurt again," Botwin added.
#10
I got 'let go' from a pretty decent job in my trade (decent hourly rate plus good commission at 10% of anything on the service ticket for the job) for not upselling as much as the other techs. I was still salty about it a few months later, and I knew where my manager lived so I tossed a cup full of drywall screws down his driveway. I drove past the next day and his truck was sitting on two flats and he was combing his driveway with a magnet.#11
I still have access to some my company's social accounts even after I told my boss how to prevent your account being "hacked" after you change your password. Every so often, I post things on their page that makes them look like they shared it on accident, change their links, or run ads designed to fail that get no traction and eat up their marketing budget. It's been months and they still haven't fixed it.#12
Was laid off as wharehouse supervisor because they were paying me too much to keep me around. They had a secretary escort me out. So on my way out I made sure to shut all the bay doors. Told her since I was the only one out there, people might sneak in. But I didn't turn off the overhead fans (5 huge ones), so they were trying to suck air in from doors that must remain open to get air flow. They stayed on all day, and I found out a week later they had to replace 3 out of 7 giant windows from the front because of the fans pulling on them so hard.It's important to fight this overwhelming impulse to get retribution because lashing back rarely solves our problems. Rather, it might increase our anger and lead to self-destructive actions. "[Acting on revenge] usually results in more guilt and often leads to higher levels of anxiety and, in some cases, feelings of shame and self-defeat. The part of us that has a conscious will end up feeling like it was not worth it to stoop down to a lower level to make us feel better about ourselves."
#13
I deleted the documents containing login details for all the marketing strategy files, social media, webservers and my documents. Excluding those deleted files, my brain is the only other place all those passwords are saved.The company lost 40% of annual profits in the next 4 weeks. You sack me for nothing, you will pay with everything.
#14
I worked for Playboy clothing for a four day runway show. We were told we could have a number of clothing items in addition to our pay. I had my eye on one shirt in particular that I really liked. I wasn't too fond of most of the other clothing. After the second day they told a few of us they didn't need us the last two days, which meant we were out of a lot of money. And it was now too late to work for another company for the same show, so we were pissed. They still said we could choose ONE article of clothing before leaving. They had our options on a small rack and it was the ugliest shit I've ever seen. I saw another rack that said "DO NOT TOUCH." The original shirt I wanted was there, so I walked up, took it off the hanger, and put it in my bag. As we were backstage there was a girl who wouldn't stop bragging about these three tank tops she won from one of the designers. They were nothing special. Plain colored tanks. But she must have mentioned them 20 times that day and how special she was because they said she was the only one who would look good in them. So I took those too.#15
After I quit an old retail job, I heard that the other girl working there got stuck doing everything from answering the phone, making calls, cleaning, making new signs...everything but get a chance to work with nice customers for commission. So she shortly put her two weeks in.Every so often we'd get a telemarketer calling our store. For the last few days there, she acted very interested in the phone calls, and always ended the conversation by saying that the manager wasn't in so there was nothing she could do at the moment, but call back in about a week when he's back.
I heard the phone was ringing like crazy for a month or so, and the manager and assistant manager (equally as evil) were stuck doing most of the shifts for a while until they got a new hire a few weeks later.
If you’re thinking about seeking payback on someone who wronged you at work, pause for a second and think. "When we react out of spite, it puts us in a more vulnerable position and can cause more damage down the line. It is okay to have urges to retaliate, but best to sit with that impulse before acting on it. Asking ourselves questions like, 'how will getting back at this person help me,' are thoughts to consider before reacting," Botwin suggested.
#16
I put a bomb in the estimating spreadsheet I completely wrote from scratch, a spreadsheet that completely automated the estimates for materials for a project. The spreadsheet checked that not more than 3 months had passed since a date deeply hidden in a page of detailed data. If too much time had passed the links to outside data were dropped and any recalculation wouldn't include the latest data. That meant it seemingly randomly may or may not give the right answer, there's no way to tell without a ton of manual checking.My employer became really awful. Just before they laid me off they had me train an idiot guy how to use my spreadsheet. Oops, I sorta forgot to tell him about the hidden date. I never really heard anything but after 3 months the bomb had to kick in and I bet that guy looked like the total moron he was.
#17
I had a guy I knew openning a computer store in another city, moved away from my family to be the tech there. He ran it into the ground in less than a year by spending all the profits and not paying back his suppliers. At tax time I called the revenue services and informed them that I hadn't recieved my tax documents from him. I knew full well that he wasn't paying any of the taxes to the government.#18
My evil boss and I recently had a "meeting". I had sent a registered letter to him informing him of the recently agreed-upon minimum pay increase, and noted that he owed me and my colleagues since September of last year. One of his underlings attended this meeting and took the minutes. Little does he know that her husband is in HR in a similar company, and she's on my side. Just sewing up my lawsuit.He proceeded to tell me that "laws don't apply to him" and that once you apply the law, everybody loses, and I should keep my trap shut and stop making trouble. He also threatened me with unemployment and lied about the salary rise thing. Utter b******t.
Also, he informed me that I would not be paid for this meeting (in my country, under my contract, I should be paid for any and all work-related activities, and meetings to get my a*s chewed out are included).
Coworker typed up the minutes, gave me a copy and her affidavit of what happened, and I sent it off to my labor lawyer.
Boss has no clue what's coming to him. There are about 10 of us who are on the verge of fixing his little red wagon for various and sundry reasons: unpaid overtime, cheating on our hours, nonpayment of meetings and travel time, being hired lower than our pay grade, illegal contracts, the list is looooong. Every day, the boss gets himself in deeper.
I know he'll fire me. That's fine. I'm kinda looking forward to it. :-)
I f*****g hate this guy.
#19
Didn't get a chance to pass on any of my tribal knowledge and while my knowledge base articles and drawings were up to date none of it included idiosyncrasies in nearly every location that you'd need to know about. I got brought back as a consultant at 40% above what I was paid previously. They were trying to cut costs and went after the person that was paid the most in the department, without realizing WHY I was paid the most in the department.#20
I worked for a small company that got bought out by a retiring prostitute. She was a total b***h. She hated me for no reason (I think she just hated males), but needed me to show her how the company operated.8 weeks after she bought the company I quit, then got an unfair dismissal claim awarded in my favour because she was so stupid she sent me an email saying I was sacked because she was the boss and it was her final decision. She tried to claim I quit, I showed the tribunal the email.
I ended up getting the 2 weeks pay I was owed, 4 weeks severance pay, 4 weeks pay for compensation. So I got just short of $10,000 in my hand for quitting.
The company floundered for a few more months before the stress got to her and she started telling her clients to go f**k themselves. Didn't take long before she had no clients.
#21
I got a new job where I am respected by my boss and co-workers and I get paid about 3 times more than before. That's all. The best revenge is to succeed at life.#22
Oh man. I've been a lurker on reddit for likely about a year now, and I haven't felt necessarily compelled to contribute to discussion until this thread.So I had been working as a barista at a local family-owned coffee shop for 8 months or so. My boss had always been sketchy, but I needed the money for school so I stuck around until I could find a more reasonable situation.
During a lull in customers one morning, I checked the schedule to see when I'd be working next. I usually only worked twice a week or so at that point being that she had skimped my hours by half, but this time I wasn't scheduled at all. Confused and slightly panicked, I called her immediately. She laughed it off, saying it was a mistake and that she would call me as soon as she updated it.
I called her the next morning, pen in hand. She told me she was very busy with customers and that she would call me back after the rush. No calls. The next day, I called again and she f*****g SCREENED MY CALL. Straight to voicemail. I called once more, the next day, and a co-worker informed me that I still was not on the schedule.
Dismayed and broke as hell, I gave up on getting in contact with her. I still called every two weeks to hear the new schedule, but was starting to get pretty angry. By then I had another part-time job, (they ended up also being crazy, what is my luck?) but I needed more hours than they could give me, so I still wanted to work my old job as well.
One day, I came in to see the schedule for myself. A new employee, of whom I had never met, was closing up at the time. I introduced myself, we talked for a minute, and she asked me a few questions about closing procedure. I helped her out with some computer stuff as well as fixing part of the espresso machine.
I then grabbed a drink of water from the barista sink, using a plastic cup in order to not make more work for the person closing. I checked the schedule, and to my dismay I still wasn't put on. My name was still under the contact information for her employees, but nowhere else. Confused and angry, I left.
THREE WEEKS LATER, I get a voicemail from my (ex)boss. First, she reprimands me for not depositing my last paycheck from her, (of which I never recieved) saying that I really should get that taken care of because it is throwing off her bookkeeping. Fair enough. But then, she is thrown into a tyrade; her voice begins to crescendo as she first accuses me of trespassing. Apparently, if I had any common sense or decency, I would make the assumption that I had been fired. She then accuses me of f*****g stealing coffee from her. At this point she is full-out yelling over the phone. She threatens to take legal action against me, and demands her keys back immediately.
Reasonably freaked out, I assume the worst. Being a college-aged kid, particularly against a middle-aged business owner/mother of three, tends to not hold up well legally.
Being that I did nothing wrong, I went to the police for advice. I had written a letter to her, expressing my sadness and anger at her not only neglecting to keep in contact with me, but also over her accusing me of stealing and trespassing. I had put a lot of time and effort into her business, and I had never had a single complaint from a customer. On the contrary, I had customers tell my boss that I was her best barista and that they come to her shop particularly to see me. Wtf lady.
So I tell the cop what happened, let him listen to the voicemail as well as read my letter. He is flabbergasted. I told him that I was going to go to the shop today and hand her the letter and keys, but that I was nervous about confronting her because I didn't trust her. Then the cop said the most wonderful thing.
He offered to **take the letter to my boss personally,** and explain to this crazy woman what trespassing actually means.
I get a call later, saying that he did indeed go into the shop (during lunch rush, mind you) and asked for my boss. He called her out in front of all of her customers and essentially made her look like a fool. Knowing this woman, the fact that it was a man, particularly one in a position of authority, probably make her pee herself out of powerless, women-degrading fear. F*****g c**t messed with the wrong 19 year old.
**tldr; boss "fired" me, tried to accuse me of trespassing and stealing from her, I brought a cop into her shop in front of all of her customers to set her straight.**
edit: reddit formatting derp.
#23
I had a boss at an insurance company who was one of the most honest, smartest, detail oriented people I've ever worked for.He was a former youth pastor, and he got fired for telling the head pastor things like, "You can't use cracked Microsoft software", and just generally not rolling over for everything the guy wanted.
His final paycheck was really late, and he went to the CA Dept. of Labor. He was just generally telling his story, and the agent got really interested, and kept asking questions.
Turns out his job type had to be paid overtime, which he had never expected, as he thought he was professional salaried. All those overnight movie sessions and 12 hour beach trips with kids added up to a $40K judgment against the church. So all the church members ended up with a bill because of the bad practices of this one guy, who left before the judgment anyway.
#24
It's a long story, but I was screwed by office politics, my training period sabotaged by someone who wanted their friend to have my civil service position instead of me. As it so happens, at the time they threw me out on my a*s, I was aware that the #2 guy at the dispatch center had been lining his boss up for a fall, and I had been about to clue the head of the agency in on what was about to befall him. The #1 guy chose to let the others throw me under the bus, so I did the worst possible thing to him that I could. Nothing.He lost his job, received no pension, was publicly humiliated for a clusterfuck that he actually had nothing to do with, and several other people at the center lost their jobs. How's it feel, f*****s.
#25
My boss was an overall douche to me and my co workers all the time, and she also happened to live a couple blocks away from me. One summer, I would get up bright and early at 2 am every morning, go over to her house, and take a nice s**t on her walk way. At work she started complaining about how big her dog's poops were getting, and had him taken to the vet to get checked out numerous times. I found out later that she had spent over $3,000 on visits to the vet while also having to clean up my s**t every morning for 3 months. Revenge is sweet.#26
I worked for a shitty a*****e and my best revenge was to open my own place, live a happy successful life and completely forget about him.#27
I worked under the table at an irish pub many years ago. I did everything for the kitchen imaginable. Prepped, cooked, cleaned, counting and ordering inventory, hell i even vaccuumed the front of house and cleaned the bathrooms, etc. I worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for easily 8 months of my life. My boss would have us record our hours on a time sheet in the back above the cash register. I was typically the last to write my name on the sheet as I was always last to leave aside from him. On more than a lot of occassions I would come in on pay day and be shorted a ton of cash, and when being referred to the time sheets, my area of the sheet was quite cleanly cut off. He tried to play it off as if I hadn't worked at all for certain days. Which is obviously b******t, because I was the only schmuck working in the f*****g kitchen.Anyways this continues until he owes me about $700 above what I am owed for my regular paycheck. On the day before St. Patty's I confront him and tell him I'm not working until he pays me, in full, on the spot. He makes excuses about not having the money, etc and eventually he concedes, pulls out a waad of cash, counts the entire thing at about $550 and says, go start the kitchen now and mumbled some profanities.
There were a few patrons he let in early to start drinking, etc. Regular customers who were very aware of my financial issue and how much of a twat this guy was, I had made good friends with over the time I spent there. I said, "you know what? No. You can go f**k yourself." I grabbed the wad of cash from his fat grubby hand and walked out the front door and never went back. All the regulars were clapping as I left.
To give you an idea of how f****d I left him on the day before the busiest day of the year, that f****r couldn't even make a grilled cheese sandwich for himself. Which is why he opened his own restaurant for himself, so he could have someone cook his meals for him.
Anyways, two months later, I heard some bookies came to collect his outstanding gambling debts, which he didn't have the money for. They dragged him downstairs, beat the ever loving s**t out of him and basicalyl left him for dead. Two weeks after that, the CRA had shut his business down with a note on the door stating he owed about $55,000 in back taxes and there was a warrant out for his arrest. Last I heard he had fled the country and gone back to Ireland before they could pick him up.
**TL;DR Scumbag boss got what was coming to him. Karma's a b***h**
#28
My boss sexually harassed me for approximately two months.He'd constantly grope my a*s whenever he had a chance to. It was continuous and disgusting. Right in front of the customers too! I worked behind the glass fruit counter and he did it anyways. This guy has no shame. However, I stupidly put up with it and faked a smile whenever he did. (Poor college student with sick parent, need to pay tuition, you get the idea...) He would also ask me inappropriate questions, such as "Do you masturbate?", "Have you ever had sex?", etc... He would also make disgusting comments such as "Are you wearing underwear?", "What color is your underwear?" He would always leer at my breasts. There were two occasions where he tried to put his hand down my shirt and grope my breasts and asked "Can I see?". I played dumb though and made it like I didn't know what he wanted to see. He also tried to invite for a 1 day 1 night vacation in a secluded cabin hours away from NYC over the weekend. I played dumb once again and said I needed my parent's permission. I refused the day after. He also tried once to hook his finger on the edge of my jeans to try to get a glimpse of my underwear. Generally speaking, this guy is a f*****g bastard.
It disgusts me how much he's "liked" in the culinary world. Do a search for his name on the internet. He's "semi-well" known in the industry. The/One of his restaurants apparently has a Michelin Star. God I wish it could be revoked if they find out about this. If I had the money, I would've sued him and made it so he would never show his face in the culinary world again. But, unfortunately I can't.
Therefore, I quit when he needed me. I also reported him to the DCA for false advertising and bait/switching customers with lower prices but actually charging them higher prices. His menus in-store and online menus advertise a lower prices but he actually gives them a $3-$7 markup without telling the customer that he did. He only tells them if they ask. Anyways, the DCA has scheduled an inspection within 35 days and I hope they fine his a*s. Otherwise, at this point I hope that disgusting Thai pig falls on a serrated knife.
Oh, if anyone of you are visiting/living NYC and want to go to any Thai restaurants, message me and I'll give you the name of his restaurant so you can avoid it.
#29
Was a project manager for a small business (construction related). Worked 50 - 60 hours a week, often from home.Boss was an older guy, still liked doing things old school, but had terrible organization skills. I helped him get in the digital age with a new server, drawing file system, and project management software etc.
Every client loves me, some actually call the office to tell him, which incidentally he hates because he's an egotistical douche.
Company is mad profitable through the recession, he is able to pay off all his creditors, gets himself a new BMW, vacations for family several times a year.
Company hits a three month slide. After the FIRST month of going back into the red he lays me an the other, newly hired, project manager off since we were the highest paid. Keeps the other support and production staff who were fresh out of college and making 50% of what we made.
Lays me off with no notice, just a Friday afternoon "I'm letting you go" after 3 years with the company. I had just purchased a house, had a baby with my wife, and routinely worked late and on weekends even though I was salaried. Never took sick days. We were offered no vacation package. Work was my life and my wife hated it.
He was too cheap to ever buy me a laptop, so I used my own since I was always traveling to job sites and the office. My outlook, appointment, contacts, reams of construction support documents, ACAD dwg's etc. we're on my computer.
I go home; start drinking, and drinking
He calls me after a while furious, and cursing that I have stolen his client list, drawings, etc. and that I need to be at the office 8am to hand over my laptop and all the admin passwords to the server (which I admin'd) website (which I built), company facebook, etc.
Show up around 10:30am after missing about 50 phone calls from him earlier. But I bring the wife's identical laptop with me. Boot up to pictures of puppies. Desktop littered with cookie recipes and 10,000 pictures of our kids.
Bricks are shat.
I feign ignorance. "It was right here" I say, "must be a virus or something."
I was threatened by a letter from a lawyer after that, but nothing further ever came from it. (It's now been almost 2 years). I never gave him anything, and blocked his number and emails. His business is down to him and a part time employee working from his home.
I know for a certain fact that he lost accounts over this. He missed alot of meetings, and anyone in the heavy construction industry can tell TIME FRIGGIN MATTERS. Deadlines were missed. Drawings delayed. Things were still going to my email for a long time.
I now work for a large local entity that he always sought a contract with, and I'm in the position to influence the selection of construction consultants and contractors for most jobs. He'll work here over my dead body and he knows it.
I hope everyday that I'll accidentally run into him again.
#30
I worked at a furniture store for awhile and was the assisant manager. There was a weekend were I was the only person there from open to close. We had a truck delivery I managed get all put away and sold about 20k on top of it. The manager had always been an a*****e, thinking he was some big s**t. Anyways I come in on Monday expecting praise for what I did over the weekend. Instead I get completely chewed out for a broken lamp that was in the warehouse. This was my tipping point. Didn't do anything crazy just said I was going to lunch and never came back. It was such a relief to never have to go back.#31
TL;DR: I successfully sued to enforce a oral contract against an employer who terminated me before I even started the job. Cash Money!I had been under-employed for a little while as a bartender at a new (read: SLOW) restaurant and finally found a great job. Assistant Manager of a Sports Bar in a popular college town in the Bay Area. I went through 4 different interviews over the course of 3 weeks with the owner, GM and even the owners wife. Everyone thought that while I might be a little under-qualified, I had the right attitude and my goal is to be a GM someday so we all agreed it would be a great fit. I was hired and I told them I needed to give two weeks notice at my current job. No problem. I stood in the GM's office and we marked the calendar with my start date.
Fast forward 13 days. I am supposed to start the new job the day after tomorrow. I get a call from the GM and he tells me, the deal is off. He had previously been trying to contact someone else he worked with in the past, never heard from the guy so he hired me. Well the guy finally called and wanted the job, so the GM cancel (fired?) me and hired him instead. I told him we had an agreement and I had already quit my other job. He said, "tough s**t, what the hell are you going to do?" So I did my research and found that I have a marginal case for breach of contract. At least in California, even a oral/verbal contract is binding, it is just VERY hard to prove. 2 weeks after he called me I had my friend serve him the subpoena.
In court I made the argument that I had been hired for 2 months, after which time we had agreed to review if we all thought it was still a good fit. Therefore I am owed two months wages, which in that county happened to be exactly the limit for small claims court, $7500. The judge asked the GM if this was true. And the GM (being an idiot, but at least truthful) said yes, this was true. Basically the GM admitted that I was hired for a 2 month term and could not be fired before that time, rendering California's At-Will employment rule moot. The judge caught him on a couple other falsehoods during questioning him, so he was not inclined to give him any leeway. I was awarded the full $7500. They appealed and I still won my appeal case, although the judge reduced the damages to half, or $3750 plus court fees.
One of the greatest accomplishments in my life. With no legal education, no help from a lawyer, just my own good sense and judgement, I researched and was effectively able to enforce an oral contract in court and have it withstand an appeal. Yeah!
#32
I got the money owed and never went back. Independent delivery driver. The jerk owner was crying broke and yet building a mansion.#33
I used to work for a dealership as a Manager, a new sales manager came in and lied about the other manager and I so we got demoted to sales. After that he gives my position to a personal friend. Then he brings his son in and changes all the phone numbers in the advertisement to his cellphone in order to give all the deals to his son.Then we started doing really bad due to the economy so they started cutting our commissions. If I sold something and the computer showed I made $500 commission later on in my check they would only pay $200 and say they had to do "extra" reconditioning.
The manager was also a prick, makes us stay late, he was racist and like I said, was doing questionable personal deals like pocketing trade in cars to sell on his own or keep for family members.
I got fed up, I was making almost nothing, they always had problems paying the hours worked at minimum wage so I left and filed for unemployment.
They appealed my claim and requested a hearing. I went in knowing nothing about the procedure so I did poorly. Spoke when I wasn't allowed, I even think I said "objection" at some point. So I left feeling the judge hated me. Meanwhile the dealership sent a lawyer and a manager who really hated me. A guy I worked with for the great amount of one hour.
The lawyer had a printout of an email I had sent to the general manager apologizing for leaving and thanking him for the good times and listing all the reasons I had for quitting.
Two weeks later I got a letter saying that the judge felt the reasons listed in my email and the proof in my income was good enough for him and gave my unemployment, making the dealership pay me back for about a year of back benefits. Pretty much their lawyer explained my case way better than I did.
Sorry for the grammar, daughter currently attacking me.
TL;DR: quit my job filed for unemployment, company sent a lawyer who made a great case for me and I won.
#34
I worked at a restaurant a few years back right out of college. Pay wasn't great, and it was a crappy chain restaurant, so tips weren't great either. Anyways, we get a notice saying that the owner is going to start charging us for drinking water and soda during our shift. Not just charge us, but charge us hourly, regardless of if we actually drank anything.They made us sign a document, saying that we agree to the charge and if we don't sign it, that is our 2 weeks notice to quit. We made sh*t there anyways, so I decided I'm done. The owner sits down with me to see why I'm quitting, so I tell him the charge is absurd, and he gives some BS about how the business is struggling with the economy and we have better ingredients, but doesn't want to charge the customers any more. (On a side note, he just built a $20,000 pool at his house. Struggling business my a*s.)
So I decide to pull a little prank on the restaurant on my last day. After my last shift, I head over to the bar for a bit. When it has started to clear out a bit, I take all of the menus, and I mean ALL of the menus, and hide them inside of a booth. The cushions came up, so it was pretty much just an empty box.
I learn the restaurant didn't find them for about 3 days until a coworker ratted me out. Meanwhile, they were giving out paper take out menus at the tables. The owner sent a manager, one I liked unfortunately, to look in the dumpster for them. When he came back and said they weren't there, he sent him to look again.
After all this, they got new menus about a month later and raised the prices, but still charged the employees. That dude was a d**k.
TL;DR Douche restaurant owner charged employees for drinks, I stole all the menus on my last day of work. Hilarity ensued
#35
I worked as a web developer about 5 years ago for a 3 man business. Things started very well; Boss seemed clued in, co-workers were fantastic to work with. But things dipped fast.I was expected to provide my own equipment. Ie: Photoshop (As a Graduate). I ended up having to get an old extended trial of Paintshop pro with which to work. It did the job though but still. And this was on my own personal laptop.
We had agreed that I would be paid minimum wage, but guarenteed a bonus for each finished project (On contract, in writing). After 3 months, I hadn't seen a penny. I was working for £720 a month after tax and spending another £120 just to get to where I was working. Previous to this, I'd been bringing in £800 a month working 30hours a week in an internet cafe 400 yards from my house.
It all came to a head one week when I developed explosive food poisoning in work, 2 days after my wages were 2 weeks late and I had to take 3 hours time off to go to the bank. Brits here will confirm some banks open later on Wednesdays. Pain in the backside!
I developed food poisoning on the thursday in work after lunch (unrelated though I think, due to the previous nights food at a friends house). I vomited everywhere. I literally nearly s**t my pants. We worked in a residential converted to an office and I literally left a trail of vomit from the room we worked in, up the stairs and into the bathroom. I informed him I'd need to go home. I was told I wasn't allowed to. My co-worker and supervisor pleaded my case but to no avail. I had to sit in work, attempting to work, while s******g and vomiting constantly for 5 hours until 6pm and my supervisor offered to drive me home, both incredibly nice AND incredibly brave of him considering. it was about 30miles in the opposite direction to his house.
I rang in sick on Friday morning, still suffering and was told I was expected for work. I refused. He eventually gave way, then e-mailed me at 11am with a list of work he expected to see completed for the monday.
I should note at this time, I had *not received a single penny of my promised, contracted bonus by 3 months, despite finishing at least 5 projects single-handedly and being a team in 3 more, one of which was worth £35k*.
On the friday evening, he rang, he rang, he kept ringing. My housemate answered the phone and put on the speaker. my Boss basically told him to "Put Thecoldflare on the f*****g phone, I don't know or care who the f**k you are". All he did was answer!
I turned off my phone and took a trip home to my parents for the weekend for a bit of pity (I was ~23 at the time). They ended up dragging me to the ER and I ended up on a drip due to dehydration. Nothing serious. Kept me in for about 6 hours then sent me home, gave me a shot of something (can't recall what).
Got back to my flat on the Sunday, checked my phone. 37 missed calls. 5 voicemails (3 threatening me with Physical violence). 4 of his business cards through the door. 22 e-mails. Sat down there and then and wrote a letter resigning from the company. I was owed 3 weeks wages at the time, but said I would waive my right to the wages if he would accept me not working my contractual 1 week notice period. Being honest, I was well within my rights to quit on the spot and report him to the Citizens advice Bureau and Employment Tribunal for harassment, and I would have won with reams of evidence too. But I was 23, meek, and unsure what my rights were.
This then was the fun bit. I've included a few e-mails below including a follow up e-mail to a voicemail I left him. Note I snail-mailed my resignation letter. He got it and left me another nasty voicemail (hence my email jumping right into a story. Basically demanding I keep working for him, or else. and that I enable remote desktop so he can check my laptop for "incriminating files and customer information in case I steal his customers")
> My internet is currently down at home. I spent the whole weekend in *town* ill; Saturday afternoon I was in *hospital* on a drip. My phone was in *city*, and I didn't appreciate the 37 missed calls, no matter how urgent it was. Neither did I appreciate the rudeness to my housemate, nor my cousin. I'm sure you can understand why I've decided to terminate my employment with you as laid out in my letter, and attached are all the relevant files for *customer* I still have in my posession.
>
> Best of luck in the future.
>
> coldflare
*edit: Note my cousin answered my phone on the friday evening too. Same story*
His comeback to this was below. It confused me as it completely ignores the e-mail I sent him. I still have these e-mails in my inbox, timestamped and all! He didn't even speak to me on the phone. He's referencing one of the 2 voicemails where he *didn't* threaten me with physical violence.
>As I said on the phone *coldflare* I intend to take you to court for damages unless you have the guts to speak to me on the phone - you did not have the balls to terminate your employment with me and therefore the record stands that your are Fired. You can either collect your p45 from me or your next employer who will request one from the inland revenue. I have paid tax and NI for you and therefore you will not be able to conceal from your next employer that you worked for me.
>
>I look forward to hearing from you by the end of the day
My last word to him was then to follow up with this
>Damages? For what exactly? Technically you still owe me 3 weeks wages - which Im waiving. I have taken advice from the CAB in contacting you to lay out exactly where I stand. Anything beyond this is up to you. I have records of all phonecalls and voicemail messages that passed between us. Including the threatening ones.
He kept his last reply short and sweet
> Cut out the b******t, I wont repeat myself, refer to my previous email. Phone me or I'll take you to court.
To fast forward the story, another old employer of mine who I'd been speaking to for advice - a friend previous to working for him - offered me a job on the spot to help me get out and escape, even though it was only a 3month contract, he did me a huge favor. (Chris Magee, If you read this, I love you in a manly fashion).
I did get one other phonecall down the line. 3 weeks into my new job (as a store manager) I was working with the Area manager, another gent i'd known from working there previously and who had given me a shining character reference for my job previous to the design firm. I'd told him the story, we'd laughed, etc. Phone rings - I see the number. He can tell from my face instantly whos calling, so he demands the phone and utterly reams the guy out for harrassment of his staff and tells him if he ever rings me again, he'll be taking HIM to court on principle. Fun times.
In the end, his attitude left him bankrupt and closed. Karma is real.
**tl;dr: threatened with court by arrogant bastard who thinks he can threaten to kneecap people who call in sick and sue (and kneecap) anyone that quits**
#36
We had an older guy (mid-40s) at our company a few years ago who was a long time Unix/Linux administrator. I was on the softball team with him. One night after a game we were swapping b******t stories, and he tells us about the revenge he got on a company he worked for back in the day:Since he was about the only guy with *nix experience, he had access to every system that ran it (they were mostly a Windows shop but had a bunch of critical systems on Unix). His boss was a Disciple of Gates who wanted to move everything over to Windows, had no respect for Unix guys, would only give non-Unix tickets to this guy if they were things like "Secretary needs her e-mail set up", etc. Bossman was determined to kill off all of the Unix servers and then get rid of this guy.
So he wrote a script that would wreak absolute havoc on a file system, then scheduled it as a cron job. He wrote a bunch of other scripts that would push the cron job to a later date each time he logged in. So as long as he was active in the system, the cron job would never run. Eventually he got tired of the way he was treated, quit, and never told anyone about the script, and found out later from a former co-worker that everything got f****d "pretty much all at once". "They do backups on all those systems," he said, "But tape backups are a b***h." Bossman was fired not long after for failing to cross-train anyone else on Unix - they couldn't even get their own systems back up when they failed, they had to hire consultants, at a cost of thousands on top of the downtime.
#37
Went to the feds. Company is now blacklisted from U.S. Mil. Contracts. They must have been truly heinous given that several persons filed complaints and it only took a year and a half to happen.#38
Had a boss when I was working retail... small store and he used me as his right hand man.-He had me take down ceiling tiles that were water damaged only to put them back up when he 'said' he used petty cash to replace said tiles, no receipt, no tiles.
-He marked a lot of his inventory down to $1 and sell it to employees to keep it flowing and get it out the door so he would have nothing in his backroom which he was suppose to send back to corporate so they can be reimbursed for returns.
-Lot of things would go missing from the store and would be blamed on customers stealing, things that weren't normally being taken until he was transferred and he would be seen using later...
-Biggest thing is he would take pills off the shelf, then come back everyweek on Sunday and say 'My wife bought the wrong pills again" and he would be reimbursed in cash.... no receipt either...
Loss prevention came in and asked me to write down any suspicious activity and I filled up two sides of a piece of paper. He was fired that week and told to never return to the store.
Here's the scary part, get a phone call a some time later and I answer it...no answer... hangs up. Same day, get a phone call, I answer it; it's the boss again asking whose working that day, told him that he was asked not to call or come to the store again. He hangs up abruptly. Tell my current manager and says he was recently diagnosed with cancer and was extremely depressed. I carried a knife around with me that day... never saw or heard from him again.
#39
I worked for a masonry company ran by one of the biggest pricks I have ever met. He picked me out to give s**t to, I was young and new in the field. He would literally call me an idiot, tell me to go work fast food, and tell me he wishes I was mexican(they were employing a lot of illegal immigrant). I got hurt on the job, tore a muscle that runs along the calvicle and got sent to a chiropractor, 2 months later he gave a $500 dollar doctor's bill because I commented my back hurt at on point in time. I refused to pay it. I got injured again, a cumulative neck injury from working on frame scaffolding during the winter(I am 6'4 the frame clearance is less than 6ft) and asked to go to the chiropractor, he fired me then lied about the reasoning to the rest of the crew.About 2 years later I saw one of his Lull rough terrain fork lifts parked on the side of the road next to a job site. So I did the most immature thing possible, I spray painted 'Bob Sucks C**k'. It felt great, knowing that he flipped the f**k out and the entire company had a good laugh.
#40
I just waited until we had a really high pressure job on where they needed me the most, then once the contract was secured I handed my notice in. It took about 4 months for it all to fall into place.In this instance it went a bit too far and things got messy and the company ended up shutting down the arm I worked for because of the awful job they did with temp staff and no one who really had a handle on the type of work we did. This was the reason I originally threatened to leave as I felt under too much pressure and needed help. I think they believed me once the dust settled and even offered me more money to come back to bail them out despite the hole I'd dropped them in- mostly on the back of those who I left behind begging the boss to get me back. It wasn't all bad as those full time employees left were absorbed into another part of the umbrella company.
I hope I never have to do that again as it wasn't my greatest moment although it felt good for a while to stiff the boss big time.
#41
Quit when they needed me.#42
This is all summed up from quite a few years ago, but It was my third or fourth retail job. I quit abruptly. No two weeks notice, right before back-to-school season. I'm a pretty meek person, and it was the most satisfying thing I had done in a long time. My a*****e boss freaked out and **threatened to call the cops to ARREST ME** and sue because "You can't just quit! quitting is illegal!"My boss was changing my schedule the night before I would have to come in the morning (I'd be scheduled stuff like 9am, and she'd re-write it the night before to 4 or 5am) spent the entire shift calling me names, she told the other workers I was psychotic/mentally handicapped, and then demanded I stay late after I had worked a 9 hour shift to finish her team's work. (They would work quite literally one pallet of freight, I would end up doing the rest of it after they left.) It wasn't in my job requirement, but I figured I'd help out some extra just to be seen as a nice, helpful associate. My teammates spent most of the time at work gossiping or eating snacks they had baked at home in the office. Usually, they would drink coffee and soda out on the salesfloor.
Nope. When I helped out once or twice, they said I had to continue ~~helping out~~ doing everyone's work for several hours after my shift or else my job would be in jeopardy. I actually stayed with them for months, and whenever I didn't spend 12 hours at the store (above and beyond my scheduled hours and availability) they would call me into the office and talk about how I was still on my "trial period" and it "wasn't looking too good."
(As a side note, my boss often bragged about how the girl I replaced tried to sue the store for harassment. I probably should have left then. Good news is that they all got sacked for theft.)
#43
Waited for salary to clear and never came back.Worst thing I've done and very out of character for me.
Reasons - gross emotional abuse, racism, was paid late for 3 months straight then yelled at when I had to ask for paycheck, pay was docked randomly, did not care about any of his employees.
#44
A good friend of mine was working at a small chain home goods store. He decided he had enough of the place and decided to quit.He didn't give any notice, just went in that day with a cake that said "I Quit" on it. It was even a real cake. He put it in the break room and walked out.
As for what the store did? Doesn't matter - they had cake.
#45
I've held on to the same Job for the past 7 years. It's a small business but it is still an LLC based in California. The job requires me to work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I've worked this same schedule since I was 15; 10 hours a day, 3 days in a row, for the past 7 years. right from the start I understood I wasn't going to be paid fairly, even treated fairly. However my siblings had also worked there and I did not want to make it seem like I was being whiny.I began my employment there back in 2005 at $6 an hour. I knew this was s**t pay but I was still under the age to work a part time job so I said nothing. As stated before, this is a 10-hours-a-day shift from opening 'till closing, no breaks (except bathroom). No 15 min. No lunch break (although they did buy us lunch but required use to eat and assist customers at the same time). No overtime past 8 hours, Nor past 40 hours. My boss also paid me in cash for the first 4 years.
After the allotted 7 years, I am only managing $10 an hour. +$4 over the past 6 years. I'm only getting this amount because I just recently asked for a raise for the first time ever. In case you were wondering, my pay before this stayed at $9.50 for +2 years.
Obviously, a lot of people have told me to simply quit, but I never really had the balls too. Most importantly, I haven't quit because this job fits perfectly into my schedule. School Monday-Thursday, work Friday-Sunday. I've held several other jobs on top of this one ( tutoring, after school counselor, web designer, and clothing designer) but none of them seem to ever work in terms my schedule.
I've been thinking of all that pay I have never received for overtime, breaks, and lunch. However, I do not I could ever bring myself to sue my boss.
I've been thinking about it more and more, especially after my $.50 raise.
Saddest part of it all, the majority of the bosses family are lawyers. -___-
TL;DR
7 years at the same job. No overtime pay despite working 10 hours a day, Friday-Sunday for the past 7 years. No breaks ever. Lack the 'cajones' to sue.
Quick tid bits.
*I am Not an undocumented worker.
*The company has been around for +60 years practicing in this manner for well over half of this time.
*Company is also in violation of several hazmat compliances.
*i have also worked more than the days assigned, especially during summer and winter break.
*No, I do not have any days off. :/
#46
I once worked at a Circuit City.Boss had major mental problems, and *his* boss also wanted to manage me. So, for instance, if I had to go take a p**s, I had to ask to leave the floor (I know, ridiculous), the boss would give permission, and then on the way back I get yelled at by the *other boss* for leaving the floor. Somehow, they couldn't grasp the concept of communicating with each other, or the concept of following rank so things don't get f****d up like that. They didn't like it when I tried to explain that to them.
So yeah, circuit city isn't around anymore...
I'm not saying I had anything to do with that...
but, you know, don't ever f**k with me.
#47
Hell, you are nice. Three times large employers employed me and then pulled c**p like this. Three times, I left abruptly. Hey, the first time anyone jerks you around, they are simply practicing.In all three cases, I knew that if certain economic events occured I would have bankrupted all of them.
I went into a long period of insanity and I don't know if I ever found out how much damage I had actually done.
#48
I worked as a waitress one summer during college. The restaurant had just opened--it had always been my boss's dream to own a restaurant, but he was from a different state and misjudged the amount of money the average resident of my hometown was willing to drop on crepes. The longer I worked there, the more things started to go downhill financially, which led to him doing some sketchy things. The supposedly organic coffee was actually wal-mart brand now, we picked through rotten tomatoes to get to the good ones, our "premium" ingredients were actually picked up by him at the grocery store as needed because he couldn't afford to buy in bulk anymore. My paychecks started bouncing.On top of this, he was hugely unprofessional. Would talk about sex, comment about other women to the waitresses (we were all 17-22, he was in his 40s). Once he whipped my a*s with a rolled up wet towel while I was way up on a ladder painting the boards so hard that it left a mark. He began to get in fights with a lot of the waitresses, got in a screaming match with one and threatened to call the police if she came onto the property (she was just trying to pick up her last paycheck). In general he was just the type to misuse his power to make you feel uncomfortable.
Eventually I was working every single shift as the only waitress on, and often working the kitchen, too. It wasn't a big deal because so few people came in--someone would order, I would go back in the kitchen and make their food. It's hard to find work in my town in the winter, and I was only going to school part-time that coming semester specifically to work and save money. I asked him point-blank, because things weren't looking good, whether I would have a job all winter, and he said yes, they would keep going until December and re-evaluate then. One night I got a text, saying I didn't have to come in the next day, or ever, because he was shutting down. I couldn't find work for another two months and had to take out more loans next semester.
One day I went to pick up my little brother at the ice rink for teen skate night. There was my former boss, behind the counter renting skates to 15-year-olds. I talked with him a bit to be civil. Apparently, sometimes they even let him drive the Zamboni.
#49
I was a sysadmin for a place that classified me as salary and seriously overworked me. 70-80 hour weeks were not uncommon. Nor were holidays. I was also (by default) the most qualified technically and this was a 24/7 operation. That means calls at all hours of the night from our level 1 and 2 guys who were in jams that only I could get them out of. I was not paid anything extra for being on call and still expected to come in the next day even if I worked all night.Once I decided enough was enough, I discreetly began looking for a job. I found that prospective employers gave me plenty of leeway in interviewing (after hours) as long as I told them up front about my situation. Being currently employed was also a big plus as well.
Finally, I accepted an offer (of many) and it was very satisfying to submit my two weeks notice/resignation. They ended up letting me go on the spot, but oddly/decently enough, paid for my two weeks notice I had given them as well as unused vacation time (which was a lot since PTO was VERY discouraged to use).
After I left, the rumor around the campfire is that their IT group went down the drain. I feel bad for those I left behind in that situation. Especially whomever the lifted to my level (there can be only one!). I hop they eventually did what I did.
