pexelsI never want to be “that person,” but some people are just deserving of some cold, hard payback. I get tired of hearing about innocent people dealing with awful human beings. I’ve heard stories about people being blamed and punished for something they didn’t do, getting fired by their bitter boss for essentially no reason, or simply getting verbally attacked or threatened when they did nothing wrong from the start.
The folks who are to blame for these situations need, and I mean NEED, to be taken down, just so they know that what they’re doing is never okay and that they don’t have the power they think they have to get away with what they’re doing or have done.
I won’t tolerate people like these, and neither will the following people who share with us their stories of the time they enacted pro revenge on someone when it was well merited.
13. Fire Me Over Something Petty? Better Watch Your Back
Pixabay“Private security was my field up until a few years ago. When I say security, I don’t mean mall cops, but high end: armed trained security. I spent a few years working a job in another city away from home, but the company went under, so I decided to move back home.
I found a security job online. It was a simple, entry-level, basically sitting behind a computer job. You were security for the building but monitored security for other sites the company-owned across three states, like small repair places, factories, places where they stored vehicles, etc.
So, I submitted my resume. The next day, a guy calls and sets up an interview. Awesome because I needed to find work fast. I went to the interview, conducted by a woman who I’ll call Jane.
She was the supervisor, and the guy I talked to was her boss. Jane immediately told me I was way overqualified, which I found strange but ok. The interview went fine, and I left. A few hours later, she called and said I was hired and set up training days.
Now I won’t go through that, just wanted to give background, so let’s go to the good parts. She always gave me a cold shoulder. Her boss found out I have all the qualifications, licensing, and training to be armed, so he had me come in armed.
She would always make comments about how everyone should be armed (a few of my co-workers I wouldn’t trust with a water gun), and she should decide who is armed, just little comments to get under my skin. Then one day, it happened.
I was working the front desk/reception that day, and she sends me a message over Messenger telling me she needs to see me. I go back, and she drags me to a side office with a write-up form.
Apparently, when I added door access to the visitor’s badge, I added the door to the gym in the basement, a mistake but not life-threatening. A week later, I didn’t sign my timesheet, another for not filling in a form correctly, all minor things everyone has done or did.
The end came about 9 months into the job when I looked at the new timesheet. I was paired with a new officer who had been there a month, only he was listed as a shift supervisor.
Confused, I took it to her second in command who I’ll call Bob, a great guy. He told me that he brought it up, that I had the experience and seniority to be promoted, and she basically told him to **** off; it was her choice.
Anyways, that got me mad. So, I started planning my revenge. I don’t normally do this, but I knew one more write up would get me fired no matter how minor the infraction was.
Good thing is, during the night shift, there are only 2 people, and we can’t see each other’s computers. So, I started thinking.
I remembered about 4 months prior Jane’s car broke down in the parking lot across the street. Instead of having it towed, Jane’s father decided to fix it there. No big deal. Only during that time, Jane was bringing her husband back into the security office. This was a huge deal. The office took scanning at 3 doors and a keypad to enter.
In the whole building, only the security staff and one cleaning guy had access. It was the HQ for the company, and not even the executives had access. From our computers, we could open any door, turn off any camera or alarm, and open any gate in any building that the company-owned. So, it was a big deal because we had the keys to the kingdom. That was a huge ******* violation, so I hatched my plan.
Under the excuse of having a smoke, I went out to reception and copied the visitor log from those days. I then went back in and accessed the video feeds. You could go back a year for all video feeds. I took screenshots of her husband entering the doors and office (the office itself had no camera), as well as with timestamps, him leaving and the fact he never swiped in, which following someone into a door, even if they hold it open you must scan your card.
I logged onto my private email and sent it to another email knowing they don’t log what you do on the computers. I got home and sent all the pics, the log copies, and everything to not only her boss but his boss whose job was investigating breaches and theft. I also included every dirty trick she pulled playing favoritism, etc.
The fallout didn’t take long. 2 days later, a Friday, I went in for an afternoon shift, and Bob was at Jane’s workstation.
I looked confused and said Jane was suspended for a week, and that Monday, I had to come in and speak with her boss and boss’s boss, but I would be paid for it. Also, everyone was interviewed. It was great. Rumors were flying, and I was laughing on the inside.
Ok, interview day. I go in, and they started questioning me. They knew I worked while she brought her husband in and asked me. I spilled everything after acting scared and getting assurance that it would be confidential and that I wouldn’t be punished.
I didn’t tell them I sent it, but they asked everyone. I left out some things in the email and added some things that weren’t. I didn’t want to be labeled as a snitch. It went on for an hour, and I left. The next day, an email is waiting, Jane was fired, and Bob was in charge until a replacement is added.
I had a long talk with Bob that day. Turns out, Jane was scared of me because I was more qualified for her job than she was and knew I was her boss’s golden boy.
She was afraid, rightfully so it turned out, that I might take her job and admitted to him she wanted me gone, a fact he told them in his interview. He also told me that she didn’t want to hire me, but her boss made her. Turns out, her boss was aware of things and looking for an excuse to fire her, but it had to be big.
Jane had been working in that department for 10 years.
It was her first real job, and security was all she knew. They blacklisted her, which means unless a company was really desperate, she wouldn’t get a security job anywhere in the state. The icing on the cake.
I know you want to know. Yes, I was offered her job, but, no, I didn’t take it. I told them that Bob deserved it more, he did, and that I would be happy being a shift supervisor. So, that’s what I stayed doing for the next 2 years until I left.”
12. Don’t Cut This Dad In Line
PixabayAnd he knows that time is valuable.
“So, for Christmas one year, my parents got us season passes for Six Flags.
We used those passes often throughout the summer as a family and had an amazing time. It was one of these days that it happened.
We waited in line for one of the more popular lines which were at the 45-minute wait point. This was relatively good for this ride as you can wait for up to an hour and a half at it’s busiest points.
We got into line excited to share this ride with our dad as it’s one of the few he can ride as he has a bad back injury that makes just walking around extremely painful at times.
We were in line laughing and making jokes while watching the little TVs they have at various points in the line when a group of people rudely cut us and stood in front of us. Our dad has a habit of not letting things slide, so we all braced for cover waiting for our dad to go off on these people for cutting us when, to our surprise, he didn’t say anything.
With confused looks, we turned to our dad wondering why he hadn’t told them off and to get behind us. He just looked at us with a look in his eyes saying, ‘Wait for it.’ We shrugged it off and continued our wait (we didn’t make it too far into the line at this point, so it was still about a 45-minute wait).
As we got closer to the front of the line, we got more and more excited waiting to get on the ride with our dad and have a great time.
The way the line is set up is before you get into the loading station, there is a two-way staircase that has the regular line on one side, and the fast pass line on the other, and at the top of the stairs, there are workers making sure the people in the fast pass line are supposed to be there.
This is where my dad strikes. After waiting the 45 minutes in line behind the cutters, we stood at the top of the stairs, and my dad signaled for a worker’s attention.
Once he received it, he pointed to the group that had cut us, and calmly stated that they had cut us at the beginning of the line. The work then politely told the group they would need to leave the line and go back to the beginning.
They were p*ssed but followed the instructions and left the line. The worker thanked my father for informing them, and suddenly pieces pushed into place in our mind. Our dad purposely waited until the very last minute to make them have to wait another 45 minutes (plus more time as the line was longer now than it was later in the day, and more people arrived).
I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched them walk out of the line and back towards the beginning and just hope that they learned their lesson not to cut after that.” Transboy6
11. Take Advantage Of Active Duty? You And Your Buddy Are Going Down
Shouldn’t have lied, sir.
“When this started, all I was trying to do was get out of paying for something I didn’t need and never asked for.
By the end, I was going for ***** as someone else enacted their revenge.
This happened back in 2002 at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. I was stationed down the way at 32nd Street Naval Base for my Military Occupation Specialty School and was a new Lance Corporal (E3) at the time. I had a 1994 Dodge Spirit with 180K miles or so, and I’d just driven it across the country. I bought it a few days before leaving KS at an Auto auction.
A couple of weeks into my school, it died at the gate next to the sentry.
After an initial freak out that I was a bomber and the subsequent search of me and my car, everyone calms down, and they help push my car to the top of the hill, so I can coast down the other side and into the auto repair shop parking lot which, thankfully, went without incident.
Before I go in, I call my dad and then his cousin.
My dad knows a ton about cars, and his cousin is a mechanic with his own very successful shop (like a dozen work bays, and they handle everything from regular cars to farm equipment to semis).
I know a fair bit about cars on my own, but he knows everything. Between us, we decide it looks like the distributor or the distributor cap is the issue. My dad’s cousin says it’s a common issue on Spirits from this time and recommends I get it fixed here by a real mechanic.
Now at this point, it’s important to note his shop did a very thorough once over for me after I bought the car and gave me good notes on the condition of the car in writing from his shop.
I go in and talk to the guy at the counter. They’re not too busy and pull it into a bay and run their diagnostics. Same thing. Distributor cap. Cool. I get the services agreement saying they’ll replace it and call me if they find anything else.
I hear nothing until the end of the week when they call and say my car is ready. When I get there, they present me with a bill for like $1,400!
Wow.
Just wow. Now my heart has stopped beating, and I say something about that being a lot for a distributor cap. The guy who owns the place (I find out he’s a veteran from way back) breaks off talking to a Master Sergeant (MSgt – E8) and comes over to talk to me.
He starts telling me about how it was much worse than they originally thought, and they ended up having to replace my radiator (plus hoses) and my timing belt and a head gasket.
I’m still in shock and say something like the head gasket was fine two weeks ago and so was the radiator and the timing. He puts his hand on my shoulder and tells me I don’t know what I’m talking about because they’ve been waiting to fail for a long time now.
I’m confused now and say that that’s not possible. I bought it two weeks ago and… He cuts me off and says I was sold a complete lemon, and I should have had it checked.
He says he felt bad for me, and this should have cost over $2,000, but he cut me a deal, and he can work with me in an installment plan but will have to charge me interest. Now I’m suspicious and starting to get p*ssed, and I say the only repair I authorized was a distributor cap, and they should have called me before doing anything else, and I start to explain that I’ve got paperwork from the inspection I had done that said those other things were fine.
I’m going to get it from the car, and the Master Sergeant grabs me by the arm and starts telling me I’m being ungrateful and disrespectful to a respected mechanic and business owner and asks me if I’m implying he’s cheating me. Every time I try to open my mouth, he cuts me off and keeps telling the owner not to worry and that he’ll make sure this young pup pays what is owed. He’s threatening to take me over to admin and have my pay docked.
Now I’m angry and a bit scared. Another Marine intervenes and says that’s a little extreme and to let me say my piece. I get permission to get into my car to get my maintenance history which includes an oil change, the inspection documentation, and the original quote for the distributor cap work. At this point, there’s a crowd of customers and some other passers-by. The owner of the garage and Master Sergeant are in full theater mode talking about how I’m not appreciating the huge help they’ve been, and I’m trying to get out of paying for work I asked for.
Now I’m mostly just p*ssed.
I come in, and the Master Sergeant cuts me off and tells me to be careful how I talk to his friend. I ask the Master Sergeant if he’s going to let me speak or keep interrupting me while I’m in a private conversation with a business owner. I ask him if he owns part of the shop (no) and ask why he’s so interested in not hearing a Marine out. Then I get out the original statement of services and say the distributor cap is all I agreed to.
I also ask why he didn’t call me, and he says he called my barracks several times and left messages including ones telling me the car was undrivable until the repairs were made, so he went with the lowest cost option to get me back on the road. Oops. I say, “That’s interesting. The only number I gave you is my cell phone, and I don’t have any messages or even attempted calls until the previous evening when they left a message that my car was ready.” I show everyone my call history (including a Captain who’s very interested and standing quietly by).
The Master Sergeant has backed off, and the Captain is quietly talking to him off on the side.
Now the owner is backpedaling a bit and saying he was thinking of a different customer, but he’s already made the replacement and has to charge me for the work. Then I pull out the stuff from the inspection, and it has some fun little statements in it. Statements like: timing belt good, timing good. Check again in 30K miles.
Radiator appears to be recently replaced. All hoses new in last 6 months. Nothing on the head gasket, but there’s a statement that there are no leaks in that area which was why he said he had to replace it. I say he can put all of my original stuff back on because all I’m paying for is the distributor cap work. He gets red-faced and starts demanding I pay for the labor, and he can’t put things back on because they were too badly damaged in the removal process.
Now some old retired guy chimes in from the back and asks, “What kind of mechanic damages things when they take them apart?” The owner drags out my radiator, and there is a giant hole in one side that looks like it was stabbed with a crowbar. Now a couple of other people (locals) are questioning past situations where he ‘helped them’ out with repairs they didn’t know they needed. The Master Sergeant tried to walk off, and a Colonel and a Sergeant Major in civilian attire post him to the side for a later conversation.
The Captain pulls me aside and asks to see the info I have and to see my phone again and steps behind the counter to photocopy it all. He has a truly evil grin. Turns out, he’s a prior-enlisted former infantry Marine who became an Officer after going back to college. He has suspected this shop of being crooked for a while but never had enough proof. He’s on the commanding general’s staff, and they were looking into complaints from permanent personnel and retirees in the area.
The owner is sweating bullets now. I only pay for the distributor cap and get a statement that says my balance is zero, so he doesn’t try anything in the future.
The Captain takes me to dinner and gets my info and basically a statement from me of what happened. After dinner, he takes me back to his office while he types up something for me to sign about the whole incident, and I call Verizon to get them to fax over the incoming/outgoing calls from my number from the past week.
He explains that the Master Sergeant has been steering a lot of customers to his buddy, and they suspect he’s getting kickbacks. The Captain and several others have been taking their cars there for months to try to catch the guy doing what he did to me. The Master Sergeant sealed his fate when he started threatening to take my pay. They suspected he was getting kickbacks or favors in exchange for hooking up his buddy.
Now he has the justification he needs to formally look into the Master Sergeant. The Captain was thrilled and bought me a 6 pack for using up so much of my Friday evening.
I wasn’t around long enough to see the outcome, but when I left, there were auditors from base services going through the business with a fine-tooth comb, and it was a legal matter. Once something like that gets started, it probably means business, and the owners will get kicked out of the on-base location (the base owns the building and the owner leases it).
He and his business would also end up blacklisted as a place known for taking advantage of service members. Most commands give this out to people who check-in, so no one patronizes them.
It still boggles my mind that one veteran would try to use that status to take advantage of others. Or that a Senior Marine would do that to other Marines. I know there are people out there like that, but having the shared common background we do, I expect better.”
10. Think You Can Threaten Me? Sure, But Not Without Jail Time
Pixabay“I used to work at a gas station.
Me being only 20 at the time, I needed a job since I was new to my area after moving from one state to another, and the job was good. The manager…. She was awesome. She was the sweetest thing before she left, and the manager after was just as awesome before I moved to a new apartment, but the previous assistant manager when I started working there…. Let’s call him Richard, for obvious reasons. And let’s call the 1st manager Angel.
Richard was known to be a very hostile, creepy a** when not around the manager and made us try to do his load of the work and blamed us for being lazy when we couldn’t do it and our jobs fast enough. My co-workers and I had brought the situation to the higher-ups numerous times, and as much as she wanted us to be heard, Angel couldn’t do anything, and it came to a boiling point 2 months down the line on my end.
A little fact about me: I am timid, I am autistic, and I get very VERY stressed when someone threatens me with my life. I get very, very sick to my core, and have difficulty breathing if I have to deal with that, and I used that to my advantage.
On the shift, I was supposed to be working that day. I had asked my friend Cross if I could borrow his speaker to listen to my music.
My manager said as long as I can do my job behind the register and Cross was okay with it, I can listen to my music, and I asked specifically if I can borrow it to take home for a couple of days until my new speaker came in that I brought the previous paycheck. Cross said okay, and shift change happened, and Richard came in.
He sees me listening to my music, and he asks me to play his music from his phone on Cross’ speaker.
I said no and that the speaker is mine for the next couple of days, and I don’t want to be held responsible for any damage. He then whispers under his breath for me to hear but for the cameras in the store to not pick up, “I have a knife, you know,” and I, basically, in a single moment, and quickly too, came up with a way to end his BS.
The Revenge:
I yelled at him loud enough to him, so the cameras can pick it up, knowing that he would have to say something to defend himself, “Why are you threatening me with a knife?!” and I kinda had a mixture of fear if he actually had one and determination to make this man suffer for me and my co-workers verbal abuse and ****** harassment for the past couple months.
He backs away and said, “Hey, Hey, it was just a joke. Chill out,” and I knew I had to do something because, at that point, I said “A joke huh? Here is a good joke: have fun working alone. I quit.”
I walked out, called my mother who I lived with nearby, explained the situation in tears after the adrenaline and fear finished its end, and I then I called my manager to explain to her the situation.
I told her that I knew he had the knife on him because I saw a pocketknife in the office, and it was a custom one with his name on it.
Me and my mom, after she picked me up and took me back to the store to talk with my manager, I wound up in a situation with the manager, the branch manager, and the district manager asking about what happened, and I explained it again, calmer now, in full, and they asked if I was okay.
I told them: “No, I have a guy who has been ******** harassing my other co-workers, verbally assaulting me and the others, try and threaten an autistic person who did nothing except say no to using a speaker, get threatened with a knife. I do not feel safe with him around.”
They asked me about the speaker. I called Cross, and he confirmed I asked to borrow the speaker overnight and backed me up with what the assistant manager has done in the past, and at that point, police were called, they checked the cameras and heard me yelling about the knife, and after a few months, I come to learn he got fired from his last job and arrested for them finding out he was in jail for “Threatening Physical Harm to a Disabled Person,” “****** Harassment,” “****** Assault,” and “Unauthorized Concealed Weapon.”
He wanted a speaker, he got a speaker… a few speakers on a podium who put his a** in jail about a week after.” MaxxAsura
9. You Fired The Wrong Guy
PixabayThis ending is so fierce!
“After I came back from Kosovo with the US Army, I got lucky once and landed a really great job.
I was contracted to work as a liaison in several parts of the world. Our team would basically go somewhere, figure out what needed to be done, then make it happen. For example, my first assignment was back in Kosovo, and several towns needed various construction projects. Think like a bridge over a creek, a town community center, a waste treatment plant, etc. We coordinated with the Army, NATO, the EU, dozens of contractors, and would get the jobs done.
We would secure funding, then hire contractors, and in some places, we were involved in hiring workers as a means of stimulating the local economy.
The first team I worked with was amazing. We were able to get so much accomplished and genuinely enjoyed working together. We also had to figure out how to do everything. Our instructions were:
Go to (insert place).
Find out what needs to be done.
Get it done.
Somehow, we figured it out. Sometimes they were happy accidents.
We made a million-dollar deal because we accidentally ran into the guy we needed to contact for funding in a random bar. We had been trying to find him for days and then found him in a bar at lunch. Sometimes we worked long days, as much as 20 hours and sometimes on weekends. Other times, we had very little to do. In our off time, we explored the areas and went to bars and restaurants.
It was honestly one of the best jobs ever.
Anyway, eventually our contracts ran out, and I was the only one who signed on for another year. My teammates had families, and I was single at the time. When I met the new team, I knew almost instantly that this was going to suck. A team consisted of 4 people, a manager, and 3 liaisons. The 2 other liaisons were among the two unhappiest people I’ve ever met, and I could never figure out why.
Those guys griped and complained about everything. We all got great pay, and often it was tax-exempt, we were generally safe, and we usually had fairly comfortable lodging where we went, but they were never happy. You could shower those guys in the most beautiful escorts in the world, and they would call you cheap because you got them “used *******.”
One of the places we went we were easily living in the nicest hotel in the city, with probably the best suites they offered, but “the shower doesn’t get hot enough,” and “I have to filter water to drink it.” We were on the only floor in the building where the suites had their own showers or running water.
Even worse than those two guys was our manager. Whoever taught this guy about leadership should be flogged. He supposedly learned from being an officer in the US Army and also from his business degree at UCLA, but somewhere along the lines, he missed all the lessons about teamwork, management, and literally anything related to managing a team. When we met, I told him that I would be happy to help him start building a relationship with all our contacts and make his transition for the new team as seamless as possible.
His response, “I’m in charge of this team. We are going to change some things to start doing it right.”
Ok. He also decided to lay down the law, again reasserting that he was the boss. Also, the new rules were no consumption or possession of alcohol, and no leaving the lodging or workplace in off duty hours.
We worked from 6 am to 5 pm local time, Monday through Friday. Basically, on our off duty hours, we stayed in our rooms or within whatever facility we were lodged in.
“You’re not here to be on vacation; you’re here to get your jobs done.” We were back in Southeastern Europe at the time, and I had a lady friend in town. No way in **** am I staying in my room and twiddling my thumbs. I told him right away that there was no chance that I was going to comply with his commandments, that company policy was clear that as long as there was no imminent safety risk, and that we were free to do as we wished in our free time.
To claim, as safety required, he tried to prove that his measures were necessary. I said, “This is not the military. You do not own all my time.”
So yeah, off to a really great start. It was less than 2 weeks before it came to a head. We had gotten nothing done. Nothing. The manager refused to use the contacts I had acquired over the last year, instead preferring to go through “official channels.” So, I started just doing stuff myself.
I made the calls, I got the funding, hired contractors, etc. and went and saw my lady friend after hours. He had this really funny thing he did where he would yell at me for “going behind his back” but then put his name on my tickets and pass the work off as his own.
I got sick of this, along with the crybaby brothers not doing anything. A shouting match ensued. I pointed out his glaring incompetence.
He was mad that I didn’t follow orders like a soldier. In the end, he got me fired. I tried to fight it, but apparently he was buddies with someone higher-up in the company. I had the last laugh though.
Just before I turned in my laptop and cell phone, I went through and deleted everything. Some of the files that I couldn’t get in trouble for keeping, I saved to my own computer. But the rest were gone.
This was all my contacts, all my notes, how to get money, where to get contractors, private numbers for hundreds of people. In the hands of even a moderately competent person, this was a gold mine of information. All gone.
I spent a while just kind of floating around before eventually going home. Apparently, as soon as I was gone, the old manager opened up my laptop and went to go through all my files and was enraged that it was all gone.
The whole team was eventually disbanded when, after another 2 months, they were still floundering unable to accomplish anything.” Artilleryman08
Another User Comments:
“My good friend worked for an offshore casing company during the last oil downturn. The company thought they would let him go and keep the contacts and contracts. He never put one contact or conversation on his work phone or laptop. He had a job with the competitor within a month.
They had to hire him back 6 months later at almost twice the salary.” hor_n_horrible
8. Think You Can Prank Me? I’ll Have Your Camper Towed
Pixabay“My wife’s best friend Karen is a harpy from ****.
She makes everyone, even my wife sometimes, miserable. She also thinks she is smarter than everyone and just stuck up enough to believe no one would dare cross her.
So, a friend of ours, who I’ll call Bill, bought a piece of property next door to us. He had a bad car accident in November and lives an hour away. He made me a legal agent of the property, which means I have almost as much power as he does (think property manager).
It has a small house on it that is unoccupied, but I keep an eye on things. He bought the property only because next to the house is a big asphalt parking lot. It used to be a lot for a small used car company. His reasoning was that during the bad winter months, he could park equipment and trucks from his other companies there. So, he also had me put up huge, “No parking. Violators will be towed at owner’s expense” signs all around it.
Moving on. So, Sunday, I’m elbow-deep into an RC submersible when my wife bursts into my study yells for me to listen to something. I take the phone, and who is doing a live video? Karen. Karen was talking about how she was going away for a few days (this was Sunday morning) because she was so stressed out from always giving people advice and helping them through their problems, etc., and then she mentioned, again, what my wife told me.
She talked about how she parked her 46 foot, 5th wheel, $35,000 camper next door to me, and seeing Bill was unreachable this week, I would have to look at it for the next three days as a reminder that she is not only smarter but 10 moves ahead of me, and I’m a **** because I wouldn’t loan her a truck, and it cost her money to rent one. Turns out, she told her husband, who is gone during the week for work, that she had Bill’s permission to put it there, so early Sunday morning, he towed it over there.
I was p*ssed. She has a tendency to lie, so I went outside, and there it was. Parked right there in the middle of the lot was her camper. I actually smiled because I had a perfect plan. As being a manager of the property, I also had a right to have any vehicle towed off there, including that one.
I had 2 options: call Garage A, which was owned by a nice guy who doesn’t charge the state maximum for the tow and storage fees.
Explain what happened, and he might cut you a break. Then there is Garage B. He doesn’t care if he only has to tow your car 15 feet; he is charging you the max and always charges the maximum storage fees. So, you’re d*mn right I went with Garage B. I called the guy, gave him my name, told him I manage the property and to bring a 5th wheel. He had it gone in less than a half-hour.
This is the best part yet, my friends. I didn’t tell her it was towed until yesterday morning. Yes, I waited from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday morning. Yesterday morning, she is on Facebook live streaming from her car talking about how was going to go visit her camper for another laugh. Then I got on live. My wife sent her a message to get on my live stream. When she was viewing, I said this…
“Hey, Karen.
Hope you had a wonderful time. I have to tell you something. I had your camper towed. With me being the property manager, and Bill being unavailable, I had to have it towed. We can’t let people think they can just park on there illegally. XYZ tow has the camper. I was going to call you Sunday, but you seemed sooooooo stressed out that I thought you deserved the break. I mean the camper is safe.
That’s all that matters, right?”
Well, Facebook lit up like a Christmas tree. As I had hoped, those watching her stream followed because, well, they were curious too, and then the messages started. A few condemned me, but most were supportive. Some thought it was about time someone showed her that she wasn’t all too powerful, and no one was scared of her. Then it went quiet.
Now a normal person might be p*ssed, but understandable, but she went the wounded Karen route.
That afternoon, she got back on again. She was crying, fake crying, about how it was going to cost her over $2,000 in fees because her husband wouldn’t be back until Friday to tow it back and asked if someone could someone please do it for her (a bonus I was hoping would happen) and that if she started a GoFundMe page, if people would donate to help her pay the fees. The answers to that were between “no” and “**** no.” But, hey, she didn’t threaten to sue me at least, right?
Side note: Bill is unavailable this week, except to certain people, which I am part of.
I called him and told him the whole story his answer was exactly, “Good. You want to play games? Then be prepared to lose.”
The camper is still there. No one volunteered to get it. A few said they would for gas money, but she tried to play it off as it would be helping her and that she owed so much in fees and that she would owe them a favor, a favor no one could collect on because she has nothing to bargain with.” spongebob_nopants
7. Fire My Boss Over Something Ridiculous? Pay My Unemployment Benefits
Pixabay“This took place more than a decade ago.
I started working for a small branch of a company and got along really well with my boss (the branch manager) and used to compare him to Michael Scott (not to his face). I would have been Jim Halpert in this scenario.
After working there for a while, my boss was approached with an “awesome” offer to go manage a bigger branch a few hours away. This was because the owner wanted to place his son as the branch manager of a small location and needed to vacate a position to do so.
My boss graciously turned down the offer; his kids had just started at their new schools, and he didn’t want to uproot them again. (He’d relocated to take the current position.)
This was not taken well by our corporate office, but they couldn’t fire him for it… not directly. A few weeks later, I saw our office manager (a lady nobody in the office liked) in my boss’s office filing paperwork (or so it seemed), which was odd but not alarming.
The next week, my boss was going to be on vacation, and all the office staff had to attend a meeting for non-salaried employees at the corporate headquarters.
While we were at the corporate thing, our office manager handed out new office keys to all of us (three) that were there. (My boss was on vacation and salaried.) I asked, “Why are we getting new keys?” and she said it was because someone lost theirs.
None of us had lost our keys; we were all sitting together and could easily confirm this, so I texted my boss to ask him, and he had no clue what she was up to.
I got a bad feeling about what was happening.
I called him after the meeting and told him to come by my house Sunday when he got back from out of town. I explained that I was 95% certain they were planning to fire him Monday. I didn’t know what reason; I just had a gut feeling. I said it was too bad because if he was fired, I wouldn’t want to work there anymore knowing that they would do shady stuff like that.
He (jokingly) said that he should fire me first, so I could go on unemployment. I laughed and told him that he should write me a termination notice, and then if he doesn’t get fired on Monday, it would be just between us… but if he does get fired, I could take it to the unemployment office and have proof that I was fired for something that would make me eligible for benefits.
So, we did, and he was fired Monday (for misfiling paperwork of some sort), and I definitely did not go back to work.
They tried calling me in, and I told them that my boss had fired me already. I took the proof with me to the unemployment office and was good to go… until they (former employer) disputed my claim.
I had a hearing (on the phone) with the unemployment office and my corporate HR person:
HR: “He wasn’t fired. The paperwork he submitted with his claim isn’t the right paperwork. It should have come from HR, not his manager.”
Unemployment: “Why did the manager not do that then? Where is he?”
HR: “He no longer works for the company.”
Unemployment: “Why did he leave?”
HR: “He was fired.”
Unemployment: “Why was he fired?” (getting exasperated)
HR: *mumbles* “For doing paperwork incorrectly…”
Unemployment: “Well, that is hardly the fault of the terminated employee!?!! How is he to know that the paperwork is invalid that is coming from their supervisor?”
They told my HR that they could rehire me or not, but my claim was valid.
They couldn’t rehire me because they’d already filled the position. So, I got to collect unemployment for a while before moving on to my next job. My former boss is doing well now it seems, and I don’t feel bad at all.
For the record, it is VERY likely that they would have “invented” a way of firing me after they got rid of my boss. Had they done that, they would have made CERTAIN that my termination was such and that I wouldn’t be eligible for unemployment.
I took that power away from them by getting fired preemptively. I am also positive that when I saw the office manager in his office (while he was away), she was arranging the setup for him to be fired.” LS-CRX
6. You’ll Wish You Never Verbally Attacked Her
Pixabay“This was about 9 years ago. I (F48) have an extremely beautiful niece Emma (F35) on my husband’s side. She is a head-turner, very approachable, humble, and very smart. She is also very shy and has trouble asserting herself and enforcing boundaries.
I used to know a guy, Dean (now 51), from my first marketing job. We worked in the same building. Most youngsters knew each other and grouped for lunch at the lobby cafe. He was a very cool guy, super funny, amenable, and likable. He was clear in his goal of becoming a business owner. Our small group kind of disbanded. I moved on and slowly lost touch with my clique.
Fast forward, and now I’m married and actively looking to expand our business.
I bumped into Dean at a dentist’s appointment. We exchanged updates while in the waiting room. He now owned a small business services company. I looked into his website and decided to give his services a try. He became our regular supplier, and our working relationship brought him lots of referrals. Basically, we indirectly helped him build his business.
I had my niece Emma apply for a job at his company as he was actively looking for new workers.
She was hired as a “little bit of everything employee.” The pay wasn’t great, but she was only one course short of graduating and wanted to build her resume. For about a year, our work routine involved paying him good steady money for extremely professionally done services (payroll, accounting, expo representation, etc.).
Dean introduced us to Charlie. He’d been complaining that his business was getting slower and slower (2011, the recent recession was hard to climb out for many small business owners).
Charlie was some sort of a consultant. I use the term “some sort” because his actual scope wasn’t clear. Charlie seemed like an “ok” guy, very formal and polite, with just the right balance between seriousness and smiles.
We were invited to a business meeting so that Dean could discuss some stuff and hear our input. This wasn’t rare. Dean and I had been avid brainstormers partners, and our sessions helped each other back when we first met.
We had periodical discussions after we reconnected. I wouldn’t discuss my business with him for ethical reasons but didn’t mind hearing him out and perhaps offering my opinion. Charlie and Dean presented a business opportunity, but my husband and I passed.
At the end of dinner, everyone pitched in, but the tab was 90 dollars short. Charlie apologized for not having money on him and directly asked my husband to cover him. We covered his portion because we felt we were put on the spot.
I made up my mind that if the guy didn’t pay us back, I would have Dean reimburse the expense. My husband and I left the restaurant and discussed the “dinner surprise.” We decided to drop it to avoid getting paranoid. We didn’t really know this guy, and Dean didn’t seem bothered at all. Charlie paid us immediately, like at 10 o’clock the next morning. He was contrite and apologetic.
Charlie became a fixture at Dean’s office.
Dean had a change in behavior. He seemed hungry and thirsty for fast money schemes and quick success. They spent the day on meetings about mostly every MLM in the book. With Dean constantly out of his office, the quality of services dropped significantly. We had to chase him to deliver things on time, we needed to stress the importance of timelines, etc.
Dean’s office became some sort of a meeting place for the corner cutters, the alpha male wannabes, and the, “I’m gonna succeed fast and rub it on the face of each person who has called me incompetent” hungry.
Our frequent dinner meetings thinned out. Charlie’s true character began to surface. Sexist jokes (women are stupid, blah, blah), ethnic jokes, talking down at people, raising his voice. He took a sip off my niece’s coke, and she was disgusted, so she gave it to him and got a new one. My niece became Dean’s formal assistant. So, she had to attend every meeting, sometimes until very late hours. I began to wonder if she was getting paid for the extra hours, but I could be wrong and did not want to interfere.
We declined every invitation if we knew Charlie would be there.
We signed up for only three yearly services and canceled on other services where customer service had declined. It worked out. Then we paid Dean 10 grand for installing our new platform with control over our own use of technology.
Three weeks went by, and we still couldn’t use the platform. It didn’t support multiple users as needed, and we required someone from Dean’s company to visit on a daily basis because we couldn’t get it running.
We simply asked for our money back. Dean agreed and paid us 2,000 and promised the other 8,000 in installments. I asked for a personal meeting because I needed the whole thing solved. We had paid our money, had no service, and still had to “wait” to get my full refund. Really?
By then, Charlie had taken full control and was running the show. Crucial employees randomly got fired. Charlie yelled at everyone and made decisions with Dean never saying a word.
My niece looked unhappy. Dean had her carry his suitcase and had her constantly serve Charlie some coffee. I did not appreciate the crude jokes he directed at her either. Dean did nothing, but I stood up for her. Charlie didn’t like being challenged, so the atmosphere got really tense.
Too many things didn’t add up. Charlie painted himself quite the 007 type. He was a former college professor, former business owner, and former marketing director. He spent months away from home and dramatically described one fateful New Year’s Eve he spent alone on a plane (because he was “extremely” necessary for the company, so he became a workaholic) as the final straw that caused the end of his marriage.
He was a fast talker, good with numbers, and knowledgeable. He claimed “long motorcycle rides” in exotic places such as Italy; yet, he had no car, was living at a friend’s house, and showed limited proficiency.
I pressed for my money, and Charlie went ballistic. He tried to put me in a corner and tried to intimidate me. He asked, “Are you a software expert?? Are you?? Because if you were, you wouldn’t need “our” services? Answer my question, or shut up and stop talking because you don’t know what you are doing.” I answered that I wasn’t an expert.
He replied, “Then close your ******* mouth.”
I got up and told him I’m no expert, but I’m the paying client. I warned him to watch his mouth and that he would not get a second warning. My relationship with Dean was strained. He did not stand up for me, not as a friend, but as a client. I told Dean I would never again deal with Charlie on no uncertain terms. I canceled all accounting and payroll services immediately.
Zero trust.
I researched Charlie’s background. None of his corporate experience checked out. He had an extensive criminal record: gender violence, bank and wire fraud, securities fraud, patrimonial crimes, and a pending arrest warrant dated 8 years prior. I forwarded this to Dean. He never replied.
I urged my niece to leave her job, but she decided to end her semester and then get another job (bad decision). She said Dean owed her overtime, and leaving her job would almost guarantee she would never see that money.
Dean contacted me with a solution. He gave me an unconvincing apology and asked me to meet him and an excellent software company owner who could help. I insisted on getting my refund, but he promised he would cover the expense. I addressed Charlie’s criminal records, and he said he didn’t know but had confronted Charlie and had cut ties for good (lying). Charlie claimed all had been solved, and he was now on probation.
I met the lady.
Her name was Frances, and she was hostile, standoffish, and showed a superiority complex. She owned a yacht, multiple real estates, and had a presence across several states. I left when the meeting was over without an actual resolution. She hardly mentioned anything about software. Frances talked a big game on other topics. I researched her and found lots of questionable information. I asked Dean directly if she was in any way connected to Charlie. He offered a vague answer, “I don’t know.
It could be.” When I pressed for a yes or no, he said, “I can’t compromise the integrity of my success by indulging in your unfounded assumptions.”
His business was drying up. He saw Frances as his savior. She engaged him to help her set up “one of her big companies” and would pay him $750,000 in total. She would also pay him two grand a week for six months just to do some company creation work.
I had a software engineer to install a new system. Our initial intention was to get Dean’s software up and running to avoid the additional cost of a new installation. The engineer informed me that the software could not possibly run because it was a knock off from an outdated system. He advised me to file a complaint for fraud. I didn’t want to get my niece involved; I just wanted her out of that place.
By then, Dean was actively trying to insert himself in his client’s business. He made stupid decisions based on getting “an undetermined percent of what we achieve.” Companies shied away from him and his snake oil tactics.
Some more research led me to the conclusion that Dean had inflated his company’s capacity for specialty software. So, he also inflated the price, took $2,000 for himself, and gave Charlie $8,000 to get whatever garbage they could sell me.
This is exactly why I could not get my eight thousand back. Frances was their source of software.
I notified Dean that due to the nature of his relationship with a felon, we were canceling all remaining services. My niece got fired that afternoon, and Dean’s excuse was her refusal to give Charlie a ride. Emma came to me and my husband. She was scared and very emotional. She explained that when I gave Dean my canceling notice, she was in his car and was about to get off and enter the office.
Dean slammed the door so hard, the car shook. She was so perplexed, it took her a few seconds to get out, so Dean opened the door, yelled “******* move!” The situation with Charlie had also escalated.
Emma addressed this at work, but Dean’s response was, “Grow up,” “Toughen up,” “How do you expect to make it in this cutthroat world if you’re gonna be so sensitive?” Charlie’s jokes became overtly ****** and explicit. There was one incident months earlier.
Charlie was drunk after yet another failed business meeting. Dean ordered Emma to drive Charlie home. He tried to ******** assault her during the ride. He claimed he couldn’t remember and that, therefore, it never happened.
This time she refused to be Charlie’s driver and potential r*pe victim. Dean fired her after ranting about how Charlie was being targeted by losers and faithless know-it-alls. He got into a power trip and became verbally abusive calling her a “miss goody two shoes” and reminding her that she had been able to eat the whole time she worked for him because he paid her out of pity.
He emailed her that due to her “insubordination, lack of honesty, and malicious manipulation, her duties were terminated, effective immediately.” My husband and I supported her. We paid a good lawyer. This was no longer just about money.
I went straight to the restaurant where Dean and Charlie routinely held their meetings. I confronted Dean in front of his clients and warned Charlie that his luck had ended. Next time I see him, he would need to suck his own ***.
