Mechanic orders 18,000 Euros in parts after the shop foreman approves, then his boss threatens to cut his wages and blames him for following the process: ‘The only reason I did not quit on the spot is that I'm in the process of buying a house’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Nov 28, 2025 1:00 PM EST

This shop manager accused an employee of costing the company eighteen thousand euros by ordering parts without approval, threatening to take the sum out of their pay, while the rest of the staff pretended not to hear a thing as the foreman backed up the paperwork. This is just another shift at a place where shouting counts as workflow management and following instructions is a gamble taken daily with someone else's money. Everyday drama in a repair shop where ordering parts turns into a professional hazard and basic workplace skills get punished on a whim.

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  • "You're not right in the head. These parts are coming off your pocket"

    Cheezburger Image 10579362048
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • My boss is a bastard. Most of my colleagues joined the firm in their teens, never had another job and so they let him scream, shout and belittle them.
    via overthere1143

  • Screaming over spare parts again. Must be Tuesday in the workplace utopia where job security means keeping your head down and pretending you don't own ears.

    The boss is on his feet, red-faced, waving around invoices as if the mere sight of a part number might bite him. There's always this moment where time slows and everyone waits for the next accusation. Apparently, loyalty gets measured in how silently people accept blame for things they did by the book. The mechanics stare at the floor. The parts come in. The shouting never goes out of style.

  • Yesterday he asked me if I had ordered the parts for a repair and I told them the dealership would deliver Wednesday.
    via overthere1143
  • He said I wasn't right in the head, that I had ordered 18000 € of new parts and they were coming off my pocket if I didn't manage to cancel the order because the owner "had not approved" that quotation.
    via overthere1143
  • I simply told him the shop foreman had reviewed the list with me the same morning and it was all correct, then I picked the phone and told the foreman to come over because the boss was in a state of confusion.
    via overthere1143
  • Cheezburger Image 10579362560
    via gpointstudio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I had ordered the parts for the lowest of three quotations, precisely as should be. Charging workers for the company's losses is illegal and never have I asked for a raise because I save him money.
    via overthere1143

  • Every promotion in this place gets awarded for surviving the boss’s mood swings. Nothing builds team spirit quite like watching your colleague get threatened with paying for thousands of euros in hardware, all for following instructions a little too exactly. Somewhere in a drawer is an Excel file that holds the real truth but nobody bothers to check. Leadership here mostly looks like a guessing game where whoever shows initiative just gets handed the company’s problems with a free side of public humiliation.

  • When I joined the shop he had no one who knew more than basic Excel, no one who could speak English, identity parts, order from abroad or make a decent mechanical repair estimate.
    via overthere1143

  • The only real innovation is the creative way money flows uphill when things go wrong. Nobody’s leaving until the mortgage papers are signed. In this office, the only thing getting fixed is the blame.

  • Our mechanics are so bad they would replace head gaskets and rod caps without replacing stretch bolts.
    via overthere1143
  • Cheezburger Image 10579362304
    via gpointstudio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I make him good money. The only reason I did not quit on the spot is that I'm in the process of buying a house.
    via overthere1143
  • Evening-Tour Find something else, this isn't worth it. If he can't recognise what you bring and increase your compensation accordingly, move on. But the fact that he can't treat you with respect and dignity, that's a different level of fucked up. I know you are getting a house, but this guy is so unstable he could fire you on a whim anyway, you really want your stability reliant on this douch nozzle?
    via overthere1143
  • OP overthere1143 The fact is worker protection in Portugal is quite extensive. If he were to fire me without just cause he would have to pay me three months salary plus benefits the moment he fired me which he can't afford because he signed a lifetime contract with me. The due process for firing would involve him gathering evidence against me and presenting it to the workplace conditions authority. But I do want to move, I just have to get the house done with first.
    via overthere1143
  • Evening-Tour That being the case I, He's not going to fire you, but as you and your colleagues are putting up with abuse, instead of pushing back on him, he could get you to quit through abuse etc. As you and your colleagues haven't documented complaints against him, as your colleagues are whipped and won't speak up for you, you're going to have a hard time proving wrongful or constructive dismissal. Just get a different job, this guy is just going to duck up your work loge balance and wellbeing
    via overthere1143
  • OP overthere1143 They've being putting up with abuse for over twenty years. It's shocking how many have stayed, even though he pays well. The first time he thought he was going to have his way shouting at me I told him I wouldn't move a muscle until he showed me some manners.
    via overthere1143
  • Evening-Tour Mate, I hate to tell you, you're still his bitch, no pay raise, you're still there, in a toxic environment. Stockholm syndrome is real, just get another job
    via overthere1143
  • OP overthere1143 Don't worry, I've been going on interviews every now and then. It's really the house that's preventing me from switching now.
    via overthere1143
  • 8euztnrqvn Just to understand this correctly, he wanted you to pay for the parts, but still keep them?
    via overthere1143
  • OP overthere1143 That's right. Parts he would use if he got them instead of used parts as per the second quotation. He would have to sell them at a loss.
    via overthere1143
  • Green-Inkling if he is deducting the cost from your pay then by technicality, the parts belong to you and as such you sell the parts to him at an upcharge.
    via overthere1143
  • OP overthere1143 If he would want to do that, which he can't, I'd ask for an invoice then head straight to the workplace conditions authority.
    via overthere1143
  • Green-Inkling That's the thing. He's forcing you to buy it by taking the cost out of your pay. If he didn't want you owning it then he shouldn't take it from your pay.
    via overthere1143
  • OP overthere 1143 He won't. I did not order anything the shop foreman did not request. He just went out on a delirium thinking I had ordered the parts from a preliminary estimate which had not been the one the customer authorised.
    via overthere1143
  • Heavy-Attorney-9054 You quit the day after you sign the mortgage, not in the middle of the application process.
    via overthere1143
  • Bread-Zeppelin780 "Weird how did that turd end up on your desk boss?"
    via overthere1143

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