Getting fired is never a good feeling, especially if you did nothing wrong. These former employees decide to get back at their former employers with sweet, sweet revenge after being wrongfully fired. Content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Maybe He Shouldn’t Have Hired His Girlfriend
“It was years ago. I had been taken on to set up a network at some company. So I spent a couple months running cable, crawling under desks, setting things up, automating certain tasks and so on. As I was doing this, the boss’s girlfriend kept looking over my shoulder and asking what I was doing. So I told her because I thought she was interested in what was going on. I mean the only reason she had a job there was because she was his girlfriend. She didn’t really do much but that’s another story.
And so months later, everything was set up. I presented him with the documentation and asked him what the next steps were. He told me I was finished there. His girlfriend learned everything that needed to be done and she’d be taking over for me. I laughed because I thought he was joking but he was serious.
Now proper documentation is what you give to a good engineer and they can follow along and do what needs to be done. I was CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Personnel) certified. I had taken training for this and done my exams. I knew what was going on, what needed to be checked, how to set up the backups and so on.
Nope. She had convinced him that she knew what was going on. I was given my severance which was really just two weeks salary which I was owed anyway and walked out the door.
Maybe a month or so later, I got a call from him, absolutely frantic. Seems like she had no clue what she was doing, backups had not been done and they had lost all their data. I mean ALL their data including financial data. He begged me to come back, promising the moon to me if I did. I just laughed and said he got what he deserved before hanging up.”
The Unemployment Issue
“My boss found out I had taken the law school admissions test. I did pretty well on it, but was really taking it for the experience. I was several years out of college and did not even really study for the test. Just trying it out. And actually it was my wife who was planning on going to law school, not me (though I had always wanted to go, it just did not seem to be in the cards after the time that had passed by). So I was taking the test to give her an idea of what it was going to be like if she took it.
Anyway, when the boss found out, he called me into his office. He offered me two options: I could quit and get two weeks severance pay or he would fire me immediately. Now, my having taken the law school admissions test was not the sole cause of the showdown as we had butted heads on a few things. This was just the final straw as far as he was concerned.
I left the office and immediately went to the unemployment office which was just a few blocks away. I explained my options to them and questioned what impact the options might have on my drawing unemployment. They said it would have no impact. Making it an option to quit or get fired just meant that I had been fired, so I could apply for unemployment either way.
I called the now former boss and said I would take the two weeks’ severance and quit. So, I got the severance check and immediately applied for unemployment benefits, which were granted. I am sure the boss thought that by getting me to quit he was going to save on the unemployment issue, but it did not work out for him.
I also decided to go ahead and send in applications for law school. However, because of the time period, I would not be able to actually begin law school for several months. I was fired after the admissions application period for spring semester and summer semester was not an option for new students, so I would have to wait until fall. I got into law school. But while waiting to start, I did freelance work. To keep the unemployment benefits coming in, I was required to apply for permanent employment. And I did, with every company that I freelanced for while also pointing out that I would be starting law school in x number of months. Therefore, they would not hire me, even if they wanted to, because they knew I would be a short-timer. But it stretched out my unemployment benefits from my previous employer until the benefits were fully exhausted.
That is one aspect of the revenge.
The second aspect of the revenge was that I went to law school, graduated, became a lawyer, and made it a career paying a lot more than I would have ever made doing the job that I got fired from no matter how long I stayed there. Heck, I think I might have tripled my previous salary or more just in the first year after law school.
So actually, getting fired was perhaps the best thing that could have happened because, as I pointed out, I really had no intention of going to law school when I took the test.”
Don’t Mess With Dad
“I was about fifteen, working in the concession of a local recreation center. It was my first job.
My boss, Julie, was extremely tough to please and had a high staff turnover rate. I knew this when I applied for the job, but I needed the money as I was going on a trip with the local travel club in March and I wanted spending money. She was made aware of this when she hired me in September.
It was February 14 when I reminded Julie that I was taking my trip with the travel club during spring break (March 19–21). This was more than a month’s notice that I would need that week off, not that she had any protocol in place for requesting time off anyways as she was so disorganized (we never got paychecks on time).
I showed up for my shift on February 17th. It was a Friday night and there were two hockey tournaments, as well as a curling tournament that long weekend (Monday was a holiday). It was really, really hectic and there were only three of us working: me, Julie, and a cantankerous older lady who used to be my neighbor. It was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to have anything to eat for supper. At 10 pm, there was a lull. So I decided to throw a chicken burger into the deep fryer so it would cook while I was mopping the floor.
Julie came running up to me and yelled that I was not to eat anything until I had finished mopping. I tried to explain to her I was hungry as I hadn’t eaten since lunch at school and I was cooking it while I mopped the floors, trying to be efficient. She continued to yell that I was being disrespectful and lazy (even though we had all worked like dogs for the last six hours) and that I was not to eat any of ‘her’ food until I had earned it.
I was spitting mad, but I clenched that mop handle and went back to work without saying anything further. I was already planning to ask my parents with help for a resignation letter. I was wondering how I was going to survive two more weeks of this nonsense after I gave my two weeks notice.
I hadn’t checked on my chicken burger, but then Julie put a paper plate in front of me with the chicken burger on it, smiling sweetly. I said nothing, but when her back was turned, I threw the burger in the garbage. I decided I wasn’t going eat any of ‘her’ food. Probably a good thing, as I wouldn’t put it past this immature forty-something woman to spit on my food.
I continued my chore list and close up duties, which meant I did not get out of there until 12:30 am. This made me groan in frustration as I was scheduled to work at 7:30 am the next morning. As I was walking out the door, Julie handed me an envelope.
I said nothing and waited out in the snow for my dad to arrive to pick me up. I opened the envelope and found a letter of dismissal, where she stated I was being let go for taking too much time off, not being able to count back change (which as an honors math student made me laugh), and for talking back to authority. It also stated that my last day was to be February 20, the holiday Monday and the last day of the tournament. My coworkers (aside from my ex-neighbor) were both out of town for the weekend and I was the only one available to work the busy weekend tournament.
I was laughing when my dad picked me up. He asked me what was so funny.
I explained, ‘It was super busy and Julie wouldn’t let me eat supper. She yelled at me for cooking a chicken burger at 10 pm while I was mopping the floors. Then she gave me this as I walked out the door.’
I handed him the letter.
His eyes narrowed as he read it. Then he looked at me and asked me what the change was if he gave me a 20 dollars for a meal that cost $7.25. I answered back: $12.75. Having proven that I could count change, dad was satisfied that the rest of the letter was baloney.
He and my mom knew I had informed Julie of the time off I needed for my trip at the time I was hired and knew I was not disrespectful to my elders. He then asked if Julie was still at the Rec Center.
I said, ‘No, she locked up and went home.’
His eyebrows went up and he asked, ‘At 12:30 in the morning while it’s snowing with wasted hockey players in the lounge?’
‘Yeah,’ I answered and I could see the little vein twitch in his forehead in the light of the dashboard lights as we sat with the truck running by the Rec Center doors.
My dad was pretty laid back, but I suppose any father would be angry that his fifteen-year-old daughter was denied food, left out in the cold in the middle of the night, and then fired.
He was quiet as he put the truck into reverse and started driving home. It was only a five minute drive. When we got home, I began to make my way downstairs to my room, but my dad stopped me. He went and woke up my mom and gave her the dismissal letter. Mom was always quicker to anger than dad. She began ranting about labour standards and government regulations on underage workers.
At some point, I said, ‘Well, can we talk about it tomorrow? I have to get up to go to work at 7:30.’
Both of my parents looked at me like I had grown two heads.
My mom said, ‘You’re not going back there!’
My dad added, ‘Julie’s an idiot if she thinks she can give you this tonight and expect you to work the next three days. If she had any kind of brain, she would’ve given you this on Monday after you worked the weekend.’
Hope was bubbling up inside me as I asked, ‘So I don’t have to work this weekend? I’m done? I don’t need to give my two weeks?’
‘She fired you. We’ll take care of it,’ my parents assured me.
At 7:35 am the next morning, the phone was ringing. My dad had it answered on the first ring. I eagerly hopped out of bed to listen as my dad asked, ‘Why should she come into work when you’ve already fired her?’
I didn’t hear the reply, but then my dad said, ‘Her last day was the moment you gave her the letter. And given how you treated her last night, I wouldn’t have let her go back there even if you hadn’t given her that letter. It’s against labour standards to have an underage worker not have at least eight hours of rest between shifts. It is also against labour standards for an underage worker to go more than six hours without a meal break, especially if that worker had been in school before hand.’
I didn’t hear the reply again, but my dad said, ‘Well, you’ll have to deal with it. It is your job, but as President of the Rec Board, I shouldn’t have to tell you that.’
He hung up the phone and I gleefully went back to bed.
I later found out Julie had tried to bully my coworkers into coming back into town. When they refused, Julie and my ex-neighbor had to work the entire busy weekend.
And at the next Rec Board meeting a month later, my dad took the pitiful dismissal letter and told his fellow members of how Julie was treating underage staff, getting testimony from former staff who had either quit or had been fired as well as talking to the members of the Rec Board whose daughters still worked for Julie. They unanimously agreed to fire Julie and make my ex-neighbor interim manager until someone else could be hired.”
Arrogant Customer
“I’m a painter and was working on commercial properties. I was fired and told I had to drive to the owner’s house to pick up my check. When I got there and went to the door, he answered with a smirk on his face. He handed me my check and told me he had to deduct for tools he lent me.
I told him, ‘I don’t have them, your foreman has them.’
He smiled and said, ‘Well I’m not going to get into all of that. Here is your check, goodbye!’
As I got in my car and started backing out, that was when I heard a scream from him. I stopped and saw the look on his face was in complete horror. He just had his driveway resurfaced with concrete, it was dry but turns out I had a massive oil leak. I dumped at least a quart of the blackest, dirtiest oil right in the middle of his brand new driveway.”
A 200 Million Dollar Deal
“My first job in finance was in private banking at a large Swiss bank in New York. I was laid off after two years, and honestly I detested my boss. He lied to clients, and made promises he never intended to keep. Very unethical.
A couple of years later I was working at a large German bank in New York, also in private banking. I was more senior there, but as I also have a PhD I was accorded a lot more respect by the Germans I worked with, who practically worship doctorates.
We had a client who was a very prominent German family trust, and for some reason never articulated to me the trust needed to place 200 million dollars in custody outside of our bank. We were the trustee. They suggested the Swiss bank that I had previously worked for, and they approached the New York office to discuss the deal. One of my German colleagues remembered I had worked for this very bank, and as part of their due diligence asked me, knowing what I know about the New York branch, would I recommend them as custodian for our client. I asked who was the Swiss banker they were speaking to.
You guessed it — my ex boss.
I simply responded honestly, that he was untrustworthy and unethical, and told them a few instances where I knew for a fact he had lied to our clients. My German colleague took notes, thanked me for my insights, and went back to the client to report. The next day he told me they intended to partner with an American bank.
Later that day, a former Swiss colleague of mine called me ‘to say hello’. Along the way he wondered if I had heard about a custody deal between my current bank and my old employer.
‘Sure,’ I told him. ‘I killed it.’
That was followed by about ten seconds of dead silence, before my friend burst out laughing. He thanked me for my honesty, and noted that this was a good lesson towards treating people ethically in business at all times, because in the end global finance is a very small world.”
Greg
“I was the executive chef for a group of high end topless bars. Sounds like a demotion from my high pressure, highly competitive fine dining experience but I had 11 kitchens under my supervision, was actually paid accordingly, was given bonuses every time the kitchens turned a profit which was every quarter, and was well liked and appreciated by the owner.
I was of equal or higher rank than the General Manager of the clubs. How I managed my staff, menus, and food service operations was my business. Running a bar, managing entertainment, etc was a GM s job. There were areas of overlap, like server training.
The GM (general manager) of the flagship club, where I officed out of and was my ‘home’ kitchen, was a Fred Flintstone looking weasel named Greg, who loathed the fact that he had no say in my part of the company. He hated that I hired an overweight assistant (female) and a gay (male) sous chef. He hated me. Everything about me galled him. But the owner loved me, and the food was beautiful and profitable, so Greg was wise enough to keep out of my way. He knew the owner would not choose him if a choice was to be made.
One day, I was rendered and unable to function. My ol man died on the side of the highway 22 miles from home. It was a beautiful day. I had kissed him good bye that morning. He wore his new helmet, on his new Deuce.
And was dead. Boom. Outta the pool.
I called work as a courtesy, to inform old Greg I was taking some time off.
He said, ‘For what?’
I responded that he didnt have any reason to ask, but since he did, well my spouse was dead on the side of a highway and I was handling the arrangements. Not even an insincere ‘I am sorry’, not Greg. He launched into a speech.
He said, ‘I think you need to cover your shifts before I can allow that. He’s dead, huh? Are you sure? Because if I find out you’re lying, I can’t protect you from the consequences. So are you telling me the truth?’
I calmly told him to stick it up his butt. I asked my wonderful sous chef, a former hacker, to take Greg down in the most public way possible. I called my beloved boss, Spiros, and told him I had to quit for the foreseeable future. He cried about my ol man. He told me to come back whenever I was ready.
Greg called me the next day furious.
When he typed in his code to the company intranet, adult content flooded every screen in the company with the origin being Greg listed in the corner. Spiros fired him for it. I think he heard about what Greg had said to me, and he used this incident as his reason.”
A Fee Of His Own
“My direct supervisor made working there impossible unless one were in her circle of friends. The day after I left, I started getting calls from that office, asking about various things. I told them I would get back to them, and sent an e-mail to corporate and to the management in our area. I let them know from that time forward, I would be happy to help but my fee was 150 dollars per hour with a minimum four hours charge. And the clock started ticking the minute I answered a call or opened an e-mail.
So the next day I got a call and helped the caller with their issues. I then sent an electronic invoice to corporate. They called and said it was only a ten-minute call and they were willing to pay me twenty dollars. I reminded them of the e-mail and told them if I didn’t receive payment in full (600 dollars) within thirty days, I would notify the credit reporting agencies and start legal proceedings.
Three days later, a check arrived, FedEx next-day delivery, signature required, and strangely enough, I have yet to receive another call or e-mail from any of their employees. I can’t imagine why.”
Someone Had OSHA On Speed Dial
“I was an automotive tech for a few years. The last position I held with that title was at a terrible little locally owned oil and tire shop. Now after a few years in the industry, I had accumulated quite the knowledge of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) standards that the automotive industry has in place.
The owner of this business was not a good man. We’re talking big game hunting trips to Africa, only gave charity for tax-breaks, and somehow had zero empathy for people as a whole. His holiday bonuses were 25 dollar gift cards to his own store.
Now the manager of this particular location happened to be the nephew of the owner. This guy’s favorite line was ‘If you don’t do xyz, you can take it to the house.’ Basically, you get fired.
I guess he could tell that every employee was turning against him, as we were all one day pulled one by one into the office to have a ‘talk about morale’. Two of us mechanics were already talking about starting our own small shop and taking our loyal customers with us. They would tell us that whenever we left they would stay with us.
I guess the nephew found out and was none-too-happy about it. The talks were really him just trying to weasel out of anyone if we (myself and the other mechanic) were stealing business from the company.
The next day we both received a call informing us we were suspended for two weeks due to the smell of ‘Jameson’ on our breath (which there wasn’t). This was their way of not having to pay unemployment.
Immediately I got on the horn with the EPA, informing them that this prick instructed us to dump oil and oil filters, antifreeze, differential fluid, and transmission fluid into the dumpster. Then a call to OSHA to let them know about all the standing oil in the bays, exposed electrical components, and shoddy additions to the building.
I got a text from my friend who still worked there two days ago to let me know OSHA showed up and they had to degrease the entire garage, fix the awnings, and electricians were wrapping up the wires.
A day later, I found out that the EPA had hit this prick with a huge fine.
Two months later, all locations were sold off.”
Unqualified Employee
“I worked at a radio station for five years. At one point, I filled in as a temporary Operations Manager for a few months until the guy they wanted could run out his contract. At one point, I unknowingly amassed the paperwork trail needed to get a Production Manager fired for moonlighting on company time. At management’s request.
One day we got a new hire that never worked in the business before. They asked for me to train her. Ok, no problem, right?
She burnt through all her vacation and PTO within three months of hire. On the fourth month, it was announced she would be the new Operations Manager. I expressed my displeasure that the position was never posted as being open and I never got the chance to interview for it, despite having done the job previously while the new guy they just hired quit within the year. I was told I should quit. No way. I would be leaving on my own accord when I was ready. I was told to think about it overnight and hand in my resignation the next day. Told them it wasn’t going to happen. The next day I was asked for my resignation letter. Told them I wasn’t doing it. They said they would fire me and contest any claim for unemployment. I told them they could do what they wanted, there was no record of poor work performance, or bad reviews. However, they fired me on the spot.
I went back into the control booth with the new girl to gather my belongings. The program tape (way before the digital age) currently on-air ran out. It was dead air. A hug no-no if you didn’t know the business.
She looked at me and asked what to do next, what program was next, where was it, etc.
I just looked at her and said, ‘It’s not my problem anymore since I don’t work here. It’s your problem now.’
Phones started ringing off the hook.
The front office staff came back and asked, ‘Why are we off the air? Is there a problem with the equipment?’
I pointed to her and said, ‘Ask her, she’s in charge now. I no longer work here.’
The sales staff started freaking out. Now commercials weren’t running either. I then took my leave.
I found out later from a former co-worker that the lady messed everything up for the next hour and a half. Guess she wasn’t paying attention to the day to day stuff I had been showing her and was busy with the outgoing OM trying to learn his job too since that was the plan all along. She also messed up all the procedures I had in place to keep the stations on-air to implement her way of getting things done and caused other problems with distributors and shows not getting aired at all. Violation of contracts that cost the station even more money. She also hired a friend to replace me, who ended up stealing very expensive microphones from the studios as well as other things that went missing.
I don’t believe she lasted six months after I was fired.”
Stupid Task
“I had been working at a game company as a tech support person. They were high-flying for a while, producing really sophisticated educational games for children. But then they ran out of money and started making cuts. Eventually they ‘merged’ with another educational game company. After the merger was complete, it turned out BOTH companies had been ‘less than forthcoming’ (to put it mildly) about their financial status, and the newly merged company sunk even faster. They fired most of the staff and most of the programmers, then brought in an ‘axe lady’ CEO to basically cheat everybody as much as possible and close out the company.
So, on the last day, with very few employees left, the CEO showed me an adjacent warehouse stacked high with PCs (they had all been leased, and needed to be returned), and told me I needed to wipe them to ‘government zero’. Not sure that was an actual thing, but the gist was that I should boot every single PC, and run a program to completely erase the hard disk (after setting it up with a monitor, etc), taking a couple of hours for each one. It would have taken me all night and probably the weekend to do this alone since I was the only tech person left. And I wouldn’t have been paid for the time.
She left, and I looked at the huge pile of PCs and thought no WAY was I going to waste my time on such a stupid task. So, instead of going through that work, I simply opened each PC and pulled the hard disk from each one.
In a couple of hours, I had a big pile of hard disks, loaded them into the drawers of my desk, and went home.
I got a call a couple of months later. Eventually, the leasing company noticed these PCs didn’t have hard disks and had called some executive at the company who called me. It wasn’t the CEO – probably she took her bonus and was long gone. I told them they were at the desk (who knows if the desk was even still there).
They said, ‘Ok thanks.’
I never heard from them again.”
