Jen’s Maddening Manager
Unfortunately, bad bosses are far too common. Bad bosses are rude, entitled, and worst of all, greedy! When a boss’s behavior becomes out of control, employees have to step in. In fact, nobody knows how to handle workplace drama and maddening managers better than our friend, “Jen.”
Jen was a talented artist who worked as a travel photographer for families and children. Between crummy co-workers, a sketchy supervisor, and the company’s questionable business model, Jen knew she needed to escape her job. However, when Jen’s manager refused to accept her job resignation and accused her of stealing photography equipment, she decided to show him who was boss.
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Introducing Crummy Craig
Jen worked for a photography company focused on family and children photography. The studio was completely portable, and photography sessions were only booked for ten minutes. Jen’s greedy boss, “Craig,” expected her to shoot thirty to fifty sessions each day. Ouch, how brutal!
The photography company’s pre-seller came to a particular location week in advance to book sessions with customers, then Jen came in for one week to take the pictures. Finally, the salesperson came back two weeks later to attempt to sell customers the images. Jen was talented at her craft, and she helped the company sales average reach one hundred bucks in sales for each customer. She was one of the company’s best employees, yet her co-workers and manager treated her terribly. Rude!
Jen’s least favorite co-worker? The pre-seller, “Kyle.” Kyle consistently booked Jen’s photography sessions outside of her working hours, and he told every lie in the book to get customers in the doors for a photography session. Was it okay for a customer to bring their dog? Sure! Could Jen do a customer’s makeup? Of course! To make things even more interesting, Kyle would triple, sometimes even quadruple book appointments.
Jen was fed up with Kyle’s behavior. Despite Jen telling her boss Craig about how she refused to work with Kyle again, Craig still proceeded to assign Jen and Kyle to the same photography location. Cool, thanks, Craig!
Jen immediately called Craig and explained, “This is the last week I will be working here. You need to make arrangements to pick up the photography equipment after my last shoot. I won’t be needing it anymore.”
However, when Craig disregarded Jen’s resignation notice and didn’t bother to pick up the photography equipment, she began plotting her deserved revenge against her mediocre manager.
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Storage Unit Scramble
Jen called Craig and asked, “Hey, you never picked up the equipment. What should I do with it?”
Craig replied, “No, I didn’t pick it up. You will need the equipment at your next shoot in Florida.”
“No, I won’t,” Jen angrily responded, “Because I already quit this job!”
“Just go to Florida,” Craig countered, “I don’t have time for this conversation. You can quit in three weeks if you can find a replacement.”
Nope, Jen wasn’t going to Florida. She packed up the photography equipment and took it home with her instead. Her work camera was a pricey new Canon model, and Jen wished she didn’t have to return it. All of a sudden, Jen had a genius idea.
Jen’s boss was terrible. If Craig didn’t want to complete a task, he wouldn’t bother doing it. If Craig could find someone to do a task for him, he would. So, Jen decided to use her manager’s own worst personality traits against him, which were avoidance and procrastination.
Jen took her company card to a local climate-controlled storage unit, unloaded the photography equipment inside, and paid for one single month of storage. Jen ensured that she took detailed pictures of the storage unit and inventory inside, locked the door, and walked away.
Then, Jen called the card company and reported her company card as stolen. She knew if the card was still active, storage rent would be paid on time every month which would ruin her plot against her boss. After calling the card company, she cut the card in half and sent the storage locker combination to her boss in the mail.
Finally, Jen needed to tie up loose ends back at the office. She sent an email to human resources stating how she was terminating her contract, and Jen explained how Craig knew the whereabouts of the photography equipment.
At last, Jen was free from working at her terrible job! All was going well until one month later when Jen heard someone aggressively knocking on her house door.
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Jen’s Proof And The Police
When Jen opened the door, a police officer was standing outside. The officer informed Jen about how her former workplace had reported the photography equipment as stolen, and the police were at her home to investigate.
Suddenly, Jen realized her mistake. The human resources employee she emailed regarding the location of the equipment was on medical leave, so the company had no idea where the equipment was currently located. Oof!
Luckily for Jen, she had copies of the emails she sent, as well as the contract for the storage unit. Plus, she had a copy of the shipping label for the package she sent her old manager Craig. After making an official statement to the police and jumping through some hoops, Jen was in the clear. Always save your receipts, folks!
Two months passed by, and Jen received a call from the storage unit. The storage unit manager was going to cut the lock on the unit and auction the photography equipment off since the rent had not been paid. Yes! Jen’s plan was finally paying off!
Since Jen was a nice person, she tried to call her former boss Craig one last time to warn him about the equipment. However, he continued to ignore her calls and emails. Well, she tried her best! What else could she do?
Then, Jen ran into a major issue.
In her state, when a storage unit went up for auction, the owner of the unit could not purchase it. Yikes! Fortunately, Jen had an idea to get the storage unit back in her hands where it rightfully belonged. She convinced her neighbor to go to the auction and purchase the storage unit, and she would pay him back afterward. When Jen’s neighbor purchased the unit for a measly one hundred and twenty-five bucks, she was thrilled! The equipment was worth thousands of bucks, and the neighbor got it for a steal.
The most difficult part of Jen’s plan was how she and her neighbor had to make it appear as if they weren’t working together to acquire the photography equipment. The neighbor put an advertisement in the local newspaper for “photography equipment for one-thousand bucks firm,” but didn’t list any specific items. Oops! It looked like Jen’s neighbor “accidentally” listed the wrong contact number in the advertisement, too!
A week later, Jen’s neighbor sold her the equipment and gave her a bill of sale from the auction. The photography equipment was now officially owned by Jen, and there was nothing her former crummy company could do.
But as Jen expected, the company certainly tried to do something.
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Lawyers And Legal Notices
After Jen acquired the photography equipment, she now had her own fully functional photography studio. She already had all of the contacts she needed to start her own business, plus the artistic and technical skills to take stellar photographs.
Jen began calling all of the stores she worked at with her previous photography company and offered them a better deal than what her old job did. She did her pre-selling, photography, and sales. Except, she took her business one step further. Jen bought a monitor and computer to allow customers to preview their photos and order them the same day of the shoot. Customers loved it! Jen didn’t use high-pressure and sketchy sales tactics like her old company did, either.
Six months after Jen’s success, Jen’s former boss Craig mailed her several nasty letters. Jealous much, Craig? Word had gotten back to the company about how Jen was using their photography equipment and working for someone else. All Jen could do was laugh, and who could blame her? Craig thought so little of Jen, it didn’t occur to him that she was running her own business!
After Jen received letters from Craig, she began receiving extensive legal notices from Craig’s lawyer. The notices started with a cease and desist letter. Then, Jen received a notice for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement. Finally, the notices ended with a letter stating Jen needed to return her former workplace’s stolen property.
It didn’t seem as if Craig told his lawyers the complete truth.
Jen sent Craig’s lawyer copies of everything. She waited for a few weeks but never heard anything in response. When she finally called Craig’s lawyer to get to the bottom of what was going on, nobody was available to take her call.
A few days later, Jen received a suspicious letter from Craig’s lawyer in the mail.
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Kyle And Craig’s Demise
Jen opened the letter only to read the statement, “No other legal action will be forthcoming from this office.”
Usually, Jen would have let this slide. However, Craig irritated Jen, and now she was out for true revenge. Little by little, she built her successful business and reputation, and she didn’t have to implement any of the sketchy sales tactics Craig used. Jen’s business was so successful, she had to hire three photographers. Jen hired the photographers out from under her old company’s nose. Brilliant!
At the height of Jen’s business success, she hired eight photographers and a full-time office assistant. Her business was run in three different states, and her old company went out of business because they lost all of their chain contracts to Jen. Who’s laughing now, Craig?
The pre-seller, Kyle, lost all of his photography store locations and ended up working at a gas station. Craig was demoted because his district was totally eradicated when Jen took his contracts. I can’t say I feel bad for him! By the time his career was destroyed, Craig left the company for good and used Jen as a personal reference. Jen took immense joy in telling the people who called her that she wasn’t legally allowed to tell them what she truly thought of Craig.
Due to the booming age of the cell phone camera, Jen’s old company closed in 2016, and Jen closed the doors to her business in late 2017. However, Jen kept all of the photography equipment and continued to take senior pictures and venue shoots in her own time.
Jen liked to believe she was a major reason why her old company closed its doors, and hoped she taught her former boss Craig a valuable lesson he would never forget.
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