 Fire me, so you can hire your nephew. Roger that. You found the best place, for your vengeful needs. In this episode, a maintenance guy gets thrown out, but makes sure to throw out his 15 years of important knowledge too. Followed by a company that promises a bonus, but in the end, thinks it's best to keep it for themselves. Lastly, a new manager tries to get rid of all the employees, to hire friends and family. But when she brings in her incompetent nephew, the entire business was brought to a screeching halt. Before we start, offer the like button some corporate wisdom, by telling it your business strategy to spend $20,000, to save $1,000. Naturally, viewer discretion is advised. These true business revenge stories, might be disturbing to bad office managers. A while ago, I worked at a baseball store called Ball Mart, or a general good store that sounded like that, not so long after the great recession of 2008, and management was trying to cut costs because of falling profit. One of the first things management did was fire two of the three full-time maintenance guys. The one guy they kept, I'll call him MG for maintenance guy, was amazing at his job. Everything in the store ran well, because of him and his willingness to go beyond what was required to help people. A genuinely nice guy. For six months, management tried to push more of the maintenance staff work just on him, and it failed miserably. MG could not do everything, so management asked him to work overtime increasingly. They asked him to coordinate some part-timers that were supposed to do the cleaning and carts, but he spent so much time coordinating, that he had no time for maintenance. The night crew was also cut, so they couldn't pick up the slack. Then two things happened within the space of a week, that told management how important he was to the store running well. First, some cleaning machines broke down. Turns out they have to be properly cleaned weekly, and if left unattended they gum up real bad and parts were out quickly. This would normally result in a several thousand dollar repair bill. And it started to happen more frequent, because he was told to prioritize coordinating part-timers over tinkering with machines. Unfortunately, it's not just the costs that would go up. These machines needed repairs to keep them safe for workers. But management still wanted him to stop the tinkering. Then the deli machine incident happened. I came in the day after this, I was hearing things and I asked someone what happened. I was told that the machine malfunctioned, while deli lady was using it and she freaked out and refused to come in, she took a few days off to calm her nerves. Over the course of the next few days I heard multiple versions of the story, some involving the blade coming off, some not, and one that involved the blade getting lodged in the ceiling. I always stick to the most tense version, as she nearly quit her job because of this and what followed. Turns out, that the bolt that held it in place was loose, and MG had tightened it weekly for her previously. When he didn't have time to do that anymore, he told management it had to be replaced for safety. Well, management didn't do that because it cost money. But they told people it was fixed. This could have resulted in a lawsuit or even criminal charges, but in this case, they were lucky, and so was the deli lady. Chances are some manager kept getting good annual reviews for keeping capital spending down, not realizing that he was just postponing the inevitable. And this situation offered management an opportunity. So management sat down with MG and asked him why things were going wrong. Looking at him to take responsibility. MG told them point blank, he needed enough time for maintenance, and someone else had to coordinate the part-time cleaners and check up on them, as they were rather lazy on the job. Management called BS, they said maintenance should be easy and done quickly. MG got mad because that insulted his professionalism and he pulled out his notebook from his back pocket. It turns out that over his 15 years he had filled a notepad with charts, schedules, and diagrams of how to do his job and keep things running. There were over 100 things he kept tabs on, checked weekly or monthly. There were a lot of machines he kept in running order. Some had certain things that were half broken and had to be wiggled in a certain way for it to be functioning, etc. To be honest, a lot of these things were minor or major safety hazards, but over the years management was fine with not replacing multi-thousand dollar machines, if MG knew how to keep them working. This was after the recession, so they relied on MG's temporary fixes more and more. As well, he admitted he did things that he shouldn't have done, like calibrating machines for departments that should have done it themselves or contracted it out, etc. But he was a nice guy, and he genuinely liked helping the business and people. He told me that he spent about 90 minutes explaining management about what he did, and he suspected that until then, nobody had ever known how much he actually did to keep it all running. Well, he may have said a few swear words and derogatory things while telling management why he needed time to do stuff. It wasn't his best moment in the sun, but he was pissed. At the end, he put his notebook back in his pocket and offered to take a week off to write up everything he knew, so that management would have written proof of why his job mattered. In case a hire up asked why they increased maintenance costs, when corporate was demanding they cut costs. The multiple managers in the room looked at each other and asked him to leave so they could talk in private. He told me, several years later, when I ran into him somewhere and had lunch with him, that he had a premonition as he walked out of the room. This feeling that something bad was happening, and they were more against him than on his side. So he decided to go to the back room and simply tossed his notebook in the garbage compactor. For good measure, he then went around the store and emptied all the garbage cans, then tossed those bags on top, so his notebook was properly buried. He was fine with it, all that information was in his head anyway. He went back and waited on management to call him back in. A few minutes later they did, as they decided what to do. They told him that they could not allow him to keep working there, because of the level of insubordination he had showed. They said as soon as he surrendered his badge, box cutter, and notebook he would be escorted out of the building by security. They basically treated him like a criminal, as most fired people aren't escorted out, unless they were suspected of committing a crime that could not be proved. He handed over his badge and box cutter, then they asked for the notebook. As they would need the priceless information that he collected over the years on the system. He became confused, as he didn't have it on him. He told them honestly, that he threw it in the compactor. Their eyes went wide. And they asked why he threw it out. He said he thought he was going to write everything up nicely on the computer from memory. So he thought he was done with the notebook. At this point management starts looking at each other worried, because they had intended to take his book, fire him, and have a less subordinate part-timer, who doesn't get expensive benefits like a full-timer, do his job. Now they couldn't. Little side note, I don't know what exactly was in the book, but I can speculate. Yes, it was probably a lot of scribbles that could not be easily deciphered. The one major thing management probably really wanted, was the list of what machines needed when there were troubles. If you work with production and machines, you know it's expensive when machines stop running. So back to the managers. One of the managers suggested that he would be allowed to write up the info before being escorted out, the others agreed. He was given the chance to be unfired, just long enough to give them the info. How kind of them. He laughed and walked out, head held high, and management followed him to his car to make sure he left. I don't have exact numbers, but my guesstimate is that the store had to spend at least 20 or 30,000 bucks to replace stuff that MG had kept working beyond the equipment's lifespan, and the new guy they hired had a hell of a time figuring out how things worked. To be honest, in a few cases MG had gone too far, like creating fire hazards by taping broken chargers together after rewiring them. Instead of tossing them, but management had never complained when he saved them money. There was also a lot of things that should have been done by the health and safety team or departments, but they also never complained about having less work. I asked him if throwing out that notebook was illegal, but he said it was personal property to help him remember things, it was not a work provided notebook. He was proud of what he did, his pride clearly showed in how he told the story. He said that nobody is allowed to question his professional judgment by implying he is lazy. I agree. The couple weeks or so after he left were a shitshow because people were afraid to use stuff because of crazy stories circulating about deli lady, see above, but within two months things were humming along fine. However, this is not a subreddit about proper management or profitability, it's about revenge, and he got his revenge. I was working for a financial firm, 1800 employees, with a sales force of 200. I was one of the salesmen. We had our annual meeting in April. It was a big happening. Most of the employees attended, and the CEO gave a big speech about how the previous year was the best in the company's history, blah, blah, blah. The next month, May, we thought about our bonuses. Normally, the bonus was referred to in all the paperwork as a bonus, however it was compensation based on a predetermined formula. It wasn't one amount, it was set at different tiers. It was a predetermined formula in black and white. You sell X amount, you get X bonus. You sell Y amount, you sell Y bonus. Everyone on the sales floor had a copy. If you didn't make your bonus, you knew exactly why, and by what amount you missed it. So one month after the speech of the CEO, in May, we had to submit a memo basically justifying why we qualified for, or should qualify for, bonuses at the end of June. I wrote mine out and explained the sales growth in my territory over the course of the previous 12 months, and what percentage my sales were out of last year's total sales. Coming off the company's best year ever, it should have been a slam dunk, right? All of us were excited about how much we'd have coming in June. June rolls around and my bonus is zero. Zero. But it's not just me. It's all over the sales floor. Less than 20% of the sales force got bonuses. And holy shit, everyone was pissed. All the supervisors were dealing with angry subordinates, the sales manager was too, and even the VP and director above him. Everyone was furious and insubordinate, angry accusatory emails were flying, and the company was facing a mutiny. It was predetermined quotas for predetermined amounts. There was no mystery at all. Someone higher up the ladder thought it would be OK to frick the sales floor and there'd be no consequences. Well, oopsie. It was so unbelievably stupid to decide not to pay out bonuses. We all had specific targets to hit, and we hit them. It got worse when it came out that the supervisors were offered bonuses that they could determine for themselves. Most of them took them, but a couple, knowing their subordinates wouldn't be getting anything refused. My supervisor took his. There was a lot of shouting. Supervisors getting cornered by members of their sales teams. Guys rage quitting. Office decorum went out the window. When it came out, he tried to explain to his sales team about how he felt it was justified and how hard he worked. It ended up with people screaming at him about how they felt the same, but they didn't get jack shit. So for a week or so, things on the floor came to a stop. A lot of people just didn't show up and the ones that did were angry. I came in and started reading monster dot com ads at my desk. I also stopped selling anything or answering my phone. When confronted by my boss, I told him that as soon as I got the bonus, my sales justified, I'd start working again. Until then, I'd be coming in late, reading and responding to one ads and leaving early. He could expect me to keep that up until I found another job or was fired. The following day, I was sent to the regional sales manager's office. She said she'd heard about my work stoppage and asked me to explain myself. I told her that if she heard about it for my supervisor, then she already knew why I wasn't working and I didn't need to explain it again. She tried buddying up to me, being friendly, then being stern, then top it off by being angry. I kept my composure and told her that the longer the company held out on my bonus, the longer it was going to miss out on sales for my territory. I then gave her my average daily amount of sales from the previous year, quantified what the total loss would be for a week of me not selling and how much cheaper it would be just to pay me the money I was owed and get me back to selling. Then I thanked her for her time and told her I'd be leaving work as soon as I left her office. And I did. The following day I came in, checked my emails, some of which were farewell emails from coworkers who quit over their stolen bonuses and sat on monster.com until I was told to go to the office of the National Sales Manager. He's the gatekeeper, as he's in charge of all 200 of us. He told me he understood that I was upset and could see why. I asked him if withholding the bonuses from 80% of his sales force was his idea or someone else's. He didn't answer. He did tell me that I would be getting a check on Monday, and if I could please go back to work at that point? I told him I'd be going back to my desk, but work wouldn't start until the check was in my hand. When I went back and checked my emails, yep, more defections. It was that bad. The next day an email went out to the entire sales force. Management had taken a look at the numbers, reevaluated the financials, and determined that June bonuses would be issued shortly. The email also apologized for the delay and reminded us that as salesman, we were the core of the company and our hard work was appreciated. I also received another email, this time from the National Sales Manager, who told me while bonuses were scheduled for Monday, he'd be walking my check to my desk the following day. The following day I showed up, sat down, and shortly afterwards the National Sales Manager walked on up and handed me my bonus check. I thanked him, and handed him my resignation effective immediately. In my resignation letter, I requested that a check for my unused vacation time please be cut, and given to me before I left the building. When he finished reading it, I told him I'd clean out my desk while I waited for the vacation check. While I was doing that, one of my coworkers also resigned effective immediately. We were walked out at the same time and ended up getting drunk at the bar across the street. I learned later from coworkers that remained, that even though the company issued the bonuses, they lost about 20% of the sales force in the following two months. The company had been very reliable and stable until that particular quarter, and as soon as upper management pulled that shit, they completely lost all credibility and trust. We were considered a front runner in our industry, so our competitors were eager to poach us. Like I said, 20% of the salesman bounced by the end of July. Even some of the sales supervisors took off. For me, it was an easy decision. The day after I was told I wouldn't be getting a bonus, I received my acceptance to graduate school. My goal after that was either to get the bonus and quit, or stick around until I got fired and then collect unemployment until it ran out. It would have been a win either way. Keeping my cool definitely worked in my favor. Looking back, this taught me the value of not giving in to anger or fear, and also of taking calculated risks. Got a love corporate greed. I had something similar happen to me. The company I worked for had its best two years ever. Went from 24 million in sales to 72 million. If we hit 35, I was owed a $33,000 bonus. So it comes time for the bonuses to be paid out and they stalled. They said it just took time to prepare. I knew it was bullshit. For the next three months, I went back and forth each week between the CFO and the VP, asking when I was going to be paid. Finally, I get the call to see my VP. He hands me a $2,000 discretionary bonus. I blew up. I pulled out my signed contract that showed how much they really owed me. It took another two weeks and the threat of a lawsuit to finally get paid. I quit the next day. Nobody else that was supposed to get a bonus did. Then again, none of them fought back either. I come to find out that a couple weeks later the company town hall the VP thanks the employees for making him so rich. In the next coming months, the CFO bought a ranch in Montana. The president bought a Ferrari. The VP bought a four rupees Audi and the majority partner bought a huge home in Kelowna. The great thing though is in the years that have followed I went to their biggest competitor. In those years, I've managed to take away many of their best clients to the tune of over $50 million and lost business for them. Freaky Scott. This happened several years ago. I was working for a small medical supply company as the IT manager. Business was bad and eventually the IT department had to downsize to just me. During this time, they brought in a new CFO that I had to report directly to. Let's call her Pam. Pam had zero knowledge of IT and how things worked. Her motto was, if it ain't broke don't fix it. PC and server life cycles didn't exist. We don't have to pay for licensing to keep our firewall updated. It's working just fine now. I went from having an annual budget to a wish list, which she would deny everything I asked for. The couple that owned the company were real pieces of shit too. One time we had a quarterly meeting and people were asking about how secure their jobs were. The owner said that nobody was getting laid off and that our jobs were all secure. This was at five PM on a Wednesday. The very next morning at nine o'clock they laid off six people. At noon, one of the owners showed up to show off the Escalade that he had just purchased that morning. During the first six months that Pam was there, she started firing everyone that worked for the old CFO and replaced them with her friends and family. Three of her bridesmaids from her wedding a few years prior, got hired to replace those that she fired. I knew I was on borrowed time. After she had been there for nine months, I was the only one left out of what was about a dozen people that worked for the old CFO. I knew my time was running out. I had been looking for work, but the 2009 crash just happened and the job market in my area went south quickly. Sure enough, she called me into HR and blindsided me with an entirely trumped up charge that she claimed happened the day before. I was working with the VP of sales on a project that entire day, so I had a witness. I asked to bring him in since my boss was lying and was told. This is not about him. This is about you. Remember kids, HR is there primarily to protect the business, not do what's right or legal in some cases. Needless to say I knew my days were numbered. The next morning I get introduced to an IT expert who just happens to be Pam's 21 year old nephew. He was to shadow me and evaluate everything that I did to see if we could streamline any processes. Pam acted as if he was to consult us after. In other words, they wanted me to train him to do my job. I quickly learned that this kid had absolutely no knowledge of IT. He's the kid people think is an IT expert because he can hook up a PlayStation to a TV. He didn't even know how to join a PC to a domain. So I knew what had to be done. The inventory, billing and shipping and receiving were all run by scripts that I created on the server. They were all run using the domain admin account. I raised quite a fuss about giving him the domain admin account in front of Pam and him. I then loudly proclaimed that I was going to change the password to it since you can't have people who don't work for the company to have admin access to our network. I was overruled and was told to give it to him. I complied, but I also showed him multiple times how to change passwords on the domain. I even had him write it down to make sure that he could do it. I really stressed the importance of changing the admin password and deleting his local account. The second he is no longer consulting us on the IT processes. I showed him a few things that day, but nothing in regards to what really made the company run. There wasn't enough time in a year to bring this kid up to speed on how to run that place due to his complete ignorance of IT. I come in to work the next day and sure enough, I was let go because her nephew had found my skills lacking in many areas. I collect my last paycheck and head home. The next morning, I get a call from the CFO and owners. Apparently her nephew wasn't quite up to speed on everything we did there and she was graciously offering to pay me my regular salary to come in as a consultant and get her nephew up to speed on the IT infrastructure. I told her that I was now an independent contractor and if she wanted my services, I was going to charge her $200 per hour with a 250-hour minimum. At that point she told me that she was going to call the police and have me arrested for what I did if I didn't come in and fix everything. My response was just so we're clear, you fired me, replaced me with a completely unqualified idiot and now you're threatening to call the cops on me if I don't come in and fix what he did? I'll hold, please call the police and let me know what they said. She started cursing at me and hung up the phone. Turns out, her nephew did actually learn something from me. He changed the admin password after I had left. The one that ran all the scripts for inventory, billing, shipping and ordering. According to some of my coworkers, the place was dead in the water for several days until they could get a real consultant in to go through the documentation that I had created and fixed the issue. The nephew was immediately fired and Pam was gone within a month. You stay till the end, which means you're the one I make these episodes for. I wanna take this moment to thank you, I really appreciate you because you bring me a great amount of joy. Subscribe for future uploads and show your vengeful devotion by tickling the like button without mercy. Do you have any experiences surrounding the topic of this episode? Share yours below, I'll join the conversation and I'll be seeing you in the next one.