Employee gets fired on his birthday after just 6 months, charges company $450 for them to retrieve their equipment: 'Just to be petty'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Mar 1, 2025 2:00 PM EST

Imagine getting fired on your birthday. Obviously, there is no good time in the world to get fired, and even if you're the kind of person who doesn't enjoy making a big deal about your birthday, that has to sting a little.

Now, the most awkward part about getting fired is usually sorting out the final logistics. A decent manager will make things easier for the employee in order to soften the blow a bit. That being said, managers may not be in the most decent of moods when they're firing employees left and right. Here, we have an employee who made those final logistics a bit more difficult by design.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10474183168
    via Bench Accounting

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • This fully remote employee decided that he was going to ship back his equipment to his now former company in the most expensive way possible. That meant going to FedEx, shipping everything in individual boxes, and even filling in the FedEx employee on his plan so he could get some help in his sabotage. As the former employee mentioned, he is fully aware of the fact that $450 was not a lot of money for a multi-billion dollar company in the grand scheme of things, but it was still an unnecessary, superfluous expense. 

  • 02
    Got off from my first corporate job I after just under 6 weeks at the company- ON MY BIRTHDAY. I'm filled with frustration, confusion, and honestly a mix of sadness and anger. I feel like my time was wasted and I can't really put this on my resume either!
    via itiswhatitis_right
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    They asked me if I would prefer to ship back my WFH equipment instead of dropping it off to the next town over, to which I said yes. Went to FedEx today and told the guy to ship everything in individual boxes, use the most expensive boxes, and round up the weight to the nearest whole number...
    via itiswhatitis_right
  • 04
    just to be petty. The man at FedEx laughed and suggested we overnight it too for another charge- never would have thought of that! The total ended up being $450! Obviously given this is a multi billion dollar company, this isn't anything... but it was very liberating for me.
    via itiswhatitis_right
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    Cheezburger Image 10474186752
    via RoseBox

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 06
    GrumpyCatStevens . 15 hr. ago FedEx: for when your petty revenge absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.
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  • 07
    Upbeat-Bandicoot4130 14 hr. ago Beer came out my nose on this comment!
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    ajettas 16 hr. ago Urgency is really important! You wouldn't want them to think that you didn't care at least as much as they did.
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  • 09
    The overnight suggestion is.. lol.. that person knew how to inflict harm. Fantastic guidance.
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    strippersarepeople 15 hr. ago I hope you didn't sign anything saying they could deduct expenses from your pay Before anyone says that's not a thing it definitely is and I've worked more than one place where this was an option. For example we
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    would let employees ship personal packages with UPS at our discounted rate and then it would be taken as a payroll deduction. Another place, you could add an extra
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    night or two on a hotel if you were traveling for business. and wanted to stay in the location for the weekend after and explore. If nothing like that is in play... well done.
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    AgeBeneficial . 15 hr. ago Haha i told HR to have someone come pick it up from me since I don't work for them anymore.
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  • 14
    At a bar in a storm. Simple "well I don't work for you anymore so..." did the trick. It's not worth their time to argue and it still made me giggle.
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  • 15
    I'd feel bad if they sent an intern but it was the guy that let me go so....
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    SplinteredInHerHead 14 hr. ago I like your style. You can still put it on your resume. A reduction in force is not the end of the world.
    via itiswhatitis_right
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    MutedLandscape4648 11 hr. ago When I was laid off during the pan mic - they did it over the phone after keeping me dangling for MONTHS of unpaid but forced leave - I had to ship back my laptop and a couple large monitors.
    via itiswhatitis_right
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    The shipping company was asking me if I could drop them off, if I had boxes or a computer bag they could use. I just told them "o was just laid off and I am not doing
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    any more work than placing these things near the front door for pickup, charge them accordingly for packaging and whatever, but this is no longer my problem".
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    Mr_Shikadance 12 hr. ago Best part is that since it's FedEx, there's a good chance they'll never even receive the delivery!
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  • 21
    Keep your head up. I was subject to a layoff last year from a company I thought I'd retire from. Turned out to be
    via itiswhatitis_right
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    a blessing in disguise as I found a better paying gig closer to home and the work itself is so much more enjoyable. Hope it works out for you as well.
    via itiswhatitis_right
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    neelvk 14 hr. ago Layoffs are usually very hard on the impacted people. And it should not be. This is a time of stress but also liberation. Some bean counter somewhere thinks that you are worthy of being chopped. But you are going to be so much better
    via itiswhatitis_right
  • 24
    smooze420 3 hr. ago Screw overnight...I'd have asked if he could route it through the other side of the US and back.
    via itiswhatitis_right
  • 25
    MelodicRun3979 12 hr. ago Please tell me these made the round trip to Memphis.....
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    Positive-Baby4061 2 hr. ago Saturday delivery would have been the icing
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  • 27
    LindonLilBlue . 16 hr. ago Should have told them to come pick it up.
    via itiswhatitis_right

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workplace-stories employee fired work stories toxic-workplace job work petty revenge company toxic-work-environment
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