Painter's unpaid labor sparks three-day client call frenzy, resulting in thousand-dollar phone bill

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
May 30, 2024 7:00 AM EDT

Never underestimate the impact of a diligent but disgruntled worker. Having said that, what would you do if, after working hard for a few hours, the person tasked with paying your bills came back and made a crude comment about how bad your job was and how you didn't even deserve the minimum wage?

The following story tells the tale of a resentful painter. The original poster (OP) claims that he exacted revenge on a client in the 1990s who didn't appreciate his commitment to excellence or the extended hours he put into making the house the best it could be. For context, although OP knew that his painting abilities required more attention, he still did not anticipate being handled so poorly by a client who inquired about his services.

Having said that, make sure to read the story below to learn how precisely OP sought revenge on the entitled client and how much money the man ultimately lost in the process! When you're done, don't forget to read the post where Redditors discuss the most ridiculously funny reasons people have freaked out throughout the years!

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  • 01
    "Pay up!"
    via canva
  • 02
    Didn't get paid from a painter from Craigslist. So I set my computer to autodial his phone for three days.
    via u/Sloppypantsmama
  • 03
    Years ago, when there was only flip phones, I worked for a week for this guy off Craigslist. 8 or 10 hour days for 7 straight days. He dropped off $37 at my house with a nasty note saying I was a sh y painter and didn't even deserve the $37. I can't remember my hourly rate but I know it was more than a few cents an hour.
    via u/Sloppypantsmama
  • 04
    So this dude had mentioned he had arguments with his girlfriend about constantly calling and leaving messages, because he would still incur a charge. So my buddy had a PC with a modem, and set it up. to dial the guys phone for three straight days and leave a message for two seconds and hang up, then redial. I wish I knew what his bill was by the end.
    via u/Sloppypantsmama
  • 05
    wolfgang239 17 hr. ago i did something like this once. back when payphones were still around and pagers were the in thing my dad had a handyman business. He would get charged each time someone paged him so he only gave the number to special clients.
    via u/wolfgang239
  • 06
    one day he comes home and he is fuming mad. He says that he got a page and pulled over to use a payphone and called the number expecting it to be one of his clients. it was not. it was someone who set up an autodial on their own PC and would call pager numbers
    via u/wolfgang239
  • 07
    and put in a number, when you called the number it was an advertisement for their company. It would play the advertisement and then say "leave a message if you want more info" I told dad that we will fight fire with fire and i set up my PC to call that number on repeat and when it answered it would play a soundfile "you are an idiot HA HA HAH AH AH".
    via u/wolfgang239
  • 08
    I set it to repeat and we went out to dinner. when we came back a couple of hours later the computer was getting a busy signal when dialing... I filled up that guys answering machine. I waited a few days and called the number
    via u/wolfgang239
  • 09
    again and left a message that said if he ever autodials peoples pagers again ill make sure his number never can be used and ill even call his main line for his company and fill that up. You cost people money when you do that.
    via u/wolfgang239
  • 10
    Mindless Browsing15 19 hr. ago This is excellent petty revenge and well deserved. Guys I used to work with would send faxes to each other's cell phones. The machine would call over and over and they'd hear the fax sound each time they picked up.
    via u/Mindless_Browsing15
  • 11
    ack1308 18 hr. ago • The nasty thing to do to someone with a fax machine is to get a piece of black paper, feed it into your fax machine, then bend it around and tape it together, then send it as a fax to the other guy. He will run out of toner.
    via u/ack1308
  • 12
    Salty_Inspector_1985 · 18 hr. ago Hold on. So this guy kept you as a painter for a whole week even though you totally s ed d about and didn't pay you and then just b for your time? Yeah fk that guy
    via u/Salty_Inspector_1985
  • 13
    Individual-Tap3553 16 hr. ago I heard a story that an office cleaner set up an 0845 number, so they got paid each time it was called. They spent their evenings calling their own number from their place of work. Cha- ching!
    via u/Individual-Tap3553
  • 14
    copamarigold. 19 hr. ago THIS. NOW THIS is petty revenge! I like it. I like it a lot.
    via u/copamarigold
  • 15
    sheburn118. 12 hr. ago We had two phone prefixes in town, 223 and 224. Our prefix was 223 but the same number under 224 was a nice Italian restaurant. People called constantly to make reservations and they didn't like being told it was a wrong number. "That's what's in the phone book!" they'd yell, which I never understood, because
    via u/sheburn118
  • 16
    if they'd dialed the right number, why would I lie? Anyway, it got so bad that I just started taking reservations. Felt sorry for the restaurant, but I would have loved to be at the front desk listening.
    via u/sheburn118
  • 17
    JColt60. 13 hr. ago I did something similar years ago. This little kept calling late at night for daughter and then talking to me. Had my daughter answer and she told me who it was and his number. I called like 40 times in a row and left ) each time. I heard that his message ( phone was shut down for a period of time. rd never called again. Little b
    via u/JColt60
  • 18
    noeljb. 17 hr. ago Modems were great at this. Once I set one up to dial an 800 number every couple of minutes for a day. Guy had to answer each one in a cheerful voice. He got my point.
    via u/noeljb
  • 19
    shanstew310 · 9 hr. ago I built call centers and I literally laughed out loud when I read this. The most petty yet hilarious revenge ever.
    via u/shanstew310
  • 20
    - • dav_oid 7 hr. ago At 10 seconds per call, that is 26,000 calls over 3 days. At 10 cents per fee per call, that's $2600.
    via u/dav_oid
  • 21
    alexmunse · 17 hr. ago I need to find a way to do this and FLOOD someone's phone with phone calls from different numbers for like two weeks.
    via u/alexmunse
  • 22
    b2hcy0 14 hr. ago beware the revenge of the painters
    via u/b2hcy0
  • 23
    Gtroxel4 11 hr. ago So this is possible. I used to prank call a dude in the 90s. We had to stop because after we pranked him my phone would ring nonstop. When we would pick it up, instant hang up then it would instantly call back.
    via u/Gtroxel4
  • 24
    Equivalent-Air 7529. 15 hr. ago I know he probably thought he was going crazy haha. I'm surprised/glad he never put two and two together!
    via u/Equivalent-Air7529
  • 25
    ParanoidCrow 6 hr. ago • I've worked several house painting jobs under different contractors and know my work isn't the best compared to more experienced painters... Thankfully my bosses have been more understanding, couldn't imagine dealing with a nasty individual like that fr
    via u/ParanoidCrow
  • 26
    johnhoel1 6 hr. ago Back in the day I had a phone that charged. $.10 a call. This lady called me 3 times back to back to back. Finally I told her to stop calling. She said "how many phone numbers do you have?" I told her what's the chance you call 3 different phone numbers and I get all 3.
    via u/johnhoel1

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1990s instant karma workplace-stories entitlement revenge nostalgia reddit story petty revenge entitled people karma workplace entitled creativity in the workplace Reddit karma entitled people
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