'Guess my work here is done': Technician gets laid off, gets 'virtuous revenge' by revealing his old salary to replacement

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Feb 8, 2024 4:00 PM EST

There's petty revenge, and then there's virtuous revenge. Although this thread was posted to Reddit's r/pettyrevenge subreddit, we consider this story to be the latter. 

This automotive technician was laid off just before Christmas in such a ruthless, inhumane manner. By the time he returned to the shop to pick up his tools and collect his final check, he met his replacement and realized how low their new wage was. That's where the virtuous revenge comes in. The Redditor pulled the new guy aside and told him what his old salary was for comparative purposes. Soon thereafter, the new guy drove off without looking back, leaving the Redditor's former boss absolutely furious at what happened. The truth is, however, he had no one to be furious at but himself. We call that karma.

Keep scrolling below to read the full story and to see what people had to say in the comments. For more, here's a post about a coworker who was unjustly fired. 

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  • 01
    Motor vehicle - OL "Lay me off right before Christmas? I'll sabotage your replacement!"
    via Tory Bishop
  • 02
    Font - Lay me off right before Christmas? I'll sabotage your replacement for me. Read a story on here about getting revenge on a previous employer, and it reminded me of a shop I worked at. I was an automotive technician for a decade. Went to college for a major automotive manufacturer, learning specifically on their models. But, it got boring quick. I love off reading, so after graduating I found what I thought would be an awesome job at a local offroad shop.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 03
    Font - The company had been in business for a long, long time, and was kind of known in my city as the place to go for Jeep and offroad upgrade and repairs. I was initially hired as a shop helper, with the understanding that I would learn some of the more difficult things like welding, installing gears and other more niche skills.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 04
    Font - The shop was owned by a very religious man. When I interviewed, he went on and on about his faith, his work through his church with charities and on mission, and how pure he was having never drank in his life and rarely cursed.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 05
    Font - The first few months went well, but after a while I brought up the fact that I did have some knowledge and that I didn't want to be sweeping floors, changing oil and wasting time. I wanted to further myself as a technician. This is when the owner showed his true colors, verbally berating me in front of the rest of the staff, calling me ungrateful and stupid for thinking I would be any better.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 06
    Font - Being the naive 21 year old I was, I put up with it. I stuck around, and eventually got moved to another part of the shop. As a sort of side business, this shop has signed up with a national interlock company. Interlocks are devices installed in a car, when you receive a DUI. Also known as a blow and go. Get in, turn your car on, blow into the device and once it determines your sober, it allows the car to start.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 07
    Font - I did this portion of the business for almost a full year. Pretty simple, installing the units, doing the monthly calibration and download of data, and removing the units when the person had completed the terms of their sentence.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 08
    Font - Just before Christmas, me and the other guy who did the installs were called into the office at the end of the day. No sugar coating, this man looked us dead in the eye and said he was laying us off, and discontinuing his relationship with the interlock company. We were shocked, especially with how nonchalant an arrogant he was about it. He told us to pack out things and he'd have our final checks to us by the end of the week. Since I was a technician, I had a full rolling tool chest and
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 09
    Font - I went home, broke the news to my family, and started my search for a job. I was laid off on a Monday, so Wednesday I picked up a trailer from my dad, and went to get my tools. I stepped into my old workspace, to find a member of the interlock company training someone on how the interlocks work and how to install and work with them.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 10
    Font - I got a moment with the interlock employee, and asked him what's up. He said the owner laid us off, and replaced us both with a single person. I went about my business, loaded all my stuff, then went in to collect my final check.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 11
    Font - I stewed over it the entire time I was loading my stuff. Surprisingly, the new guy came over to see what I was doing. We talked about the job and the installs. Then, an idea popped into my head. Nonchalantly, I asked the guy what he'd been hired at, wage wise. I want surprised to find that he'd been hired at a significantly lower hourly wage than me (I had been making $7-8 an hour more if memory serves). When I found out, I made sure to let him know, and told him personally, he'd be insan
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 12
    Font - He looked extremely shocked when I told him my wage, and excused himself. A few minutes later, as i was strapping down my tool box, he came walking out, got in a car, and left. Right on his heals was the owner. He came absolutely unglued at me. I've never seen such a string of profanity from and employer, ripping me apart verbally for making his new hire quit on the first day. I just laughed, said gee, I guess my work here is done, got in my truck and drove away. A few days later I called
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 13
    Rectangle - : 9lobaldude +2.9 hr. ago Your employer was a slime ball and a scumbag, good for you for getting instant revenge 705 Reply Share
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 14
    Font - Twistedpineracoon88 OP . 9 hr. ago This was the cherry on top of almost 2 years of time with that company. I ignored a lot of red flags. T317 Reply Share
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 15
    Font - NatashOverWorld +1. 10 hr. ago OP you didn't sabotage your replacement, you helped him avoid a jack That was a virtuous revenge. 516 Reply Share
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 16
    Font - Jthundercleese 9 hr. ago Reminds me a lot of the last machine shop I worked at. There was only 10-11 employees so I was really familiar with everyone. The owner stifled my pushes to learn more on the job, while my manager pushed to give me opportunities. Eventually I had enough and quit. My manager said I deserved better and the owner was curtious enough. I was there for about 3 years and exceptionally reliable. I talked to the receptionist/book keeper about a year after I left and she sa
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88
  • 17
    Font - . Cyberdolphbefore · 8 hr. ago Well played- It's not illegal to discuss wages between employees at a job and definitely not illegal for a prior employee to mention wages to a current employee.
    via u/Twistedpineracoon88

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Tags

fired toxic-workplace revenge petty revenge Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit toxic-work-environment
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