'[They] picked someone younger and fresh out of college to replace me' Employee gets fired and told to take his things, maliciously complies and clears out all his equipment, leaving boss with nothing

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 10, 2024 4:00 PM EDT

It's not easy getting fired, but this particularly horrible boss had the audacity to tell his employee of five years that he was going to be replaced by an inexperienced 22-year-old who was fresh out of college. Talk about a slap in the face!

Luckily for this Redditor, he knew exactly how to get back at his employer via some well-deserved malicious compliance. When he was fired, his boss told the employee to go to his desk and have security help him clear out all of his things. The employee immediately thought, "All of my things, you say?" For context, the original poster (OP) worked in media design and in the entertainment space and had volunteered countless pieces of equipment to the company for various events. By the end of that day, the employee cleared out all of his equipment and left his boss's team with virtually none of their own tools for any upcoming design-related events.

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from folks in the comments section. For more, check out this post about a team of employees that was reprimanded for not staying late on a regular basis.

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    Cup of Jea Сокрыми ingapway Maasing as a ple chart? Масивые кольца by Mind/Profile Emphic 7 Inside THE Desk/ important 2000
    via Firmbee.com

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Let your best employee go? I'll take it all down with me.
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 03
    This happened a couple of years ago, but I was thinking about it recently. I worked for a company doing their media design (graphic design, photography, live event AV, video editing, ect.).
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 04
    This company held big events and over my years at the company I was given more and more unrelated responsibilities
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 05
    until I was doing the jobs of at least 4 people. They also never helped pay for any materials so all of the necessary media
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 06
    equipment was paid for out of pocket. All of them had my name on them to make sure that it wouldn't get lost if I lent it out.
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 07
    Over the years I had accumulated a pretty impressive supply through second hand purchases and watching for deals.
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 08
    By the time I hit my 5th year there I had thousands of dollars in high end equipment that was used for almost every part of the organization's promotion and event production. I
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 09
    think you can see where this is going. One day I was brought into my boss's office and told that they would be downsizing and had found someone fresh out
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 10
    of college (with no real life experience) that will be taking over my job(s) as well as a few others. I
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 11
    was completely caught off guard. They then had one of the people from corporate follow me to my office to assist in cleaning out my stuff. He specifically said "take everything that is yours.
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 12
    you won't be coming back". So that's what I did. They clearly expected the usual paper box full of some photos and a plant,
    via everybodys-therapist
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    but instead I had them hauling crate after crate of our media and event supplies to my car. I had a 2004 Ford Explorer at the time and by the time I left
    via everybodys-therapist
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    it was filled to the brim. With every box that we took out to my car my boss began to get more and more panicked. At one time he said "you can
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 15
    only take things that are yours" and through my sadness and anger I was able to find it in me to kindly tell him that every single thing I was taking was mine and that I kept all receipts if he wanted proof.
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 16
    The final nail in the coffin was when I told him that I would need access to the arena's AV Booth and the catwalk. I still remember
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 17
    the fear in his eyes. We went and I unplugged all of my cameras that I had been lending to my events team, all of which were clearly marked with my name. I felt like the Grinch just walking
    via everybodys-therapist
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    around and taking all the random things in the building that had my name on them.
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 19
    Driving away I was heartbroken that a company I had given 200% to in every way had picked someone younger and fresh out of college
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 20
    to replace me, but I won't lie, the smugness of watching their face as I stripped the place bare was worth it. Looking back on it, that was the worst and most toxic job I've ever had.
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 21
    The company only lasted another year before they folded entirely and I like to believe that I had a hand in that.
    via everybodys-therapist
  • 22
    And to think, if they had just compensated me fairly and purchased the necessary things themselves instead of forcing me to provide my team with things, they wouldn't have had to start from scratch.
    via everybodys-therapist

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workplace-stories fired work stories toxic-workplace job malicious compliance work malicious-compliance-reddit Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit company toxic-work-environment
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