‘[We] drove off for lunch, trying not to laugh’: Blue collar team forced to relinquish company van to the entitled manager get their revenge

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Nov 25, 2025 6:00 PM EST

Isn't it funny how "great team player" is an important part of any job description, but then the manager comes waltzing in like they are way better than everyone on the actual team? Yeah, that happens often in different job situations and boy, is it annoying. The manager for this blue collar team was exactly this kind of vibe. 

 

The team was hardworking and flowed well together. The manager hardly ever worked with them, but sure had lots to complain about. The team had a company van that they all shared to do pick ups, far away jobs, etc. And every now and then they would use it to go to lunch together. However, the manger one day decided that he was better than everyone on his team and that the shared company van was now only going to be for him. Entitled much?

 

So, on the team's last drive with the van, they decided to not just give it up that easily. Instead, they would invoke some petty revenge. Nothing completely horrible, but it did get their manager complaining, which put a smile on all of their faces. Basically, they ruined the interior stench of the van, and the manager was stuck with a smelly van all to himself.

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  • "Something's Fishy"

    a portrait of cheerful worker with helmet and protection glasses indoors in factory looking at camera
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

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

  • I worked at a small company that had a Chrysler Voyager van which we used for short errands around town.
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  • Sometimes a few of us might use it to go out to lunch. No big deal.
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  • Then one day our manager relocated nearby in temporary housing and demanded to have full exclusive use of the van.
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  • I lived more than an hour away and I normally took the commuter train. I had to do a pickup of expensive gear from a specialized rental facility near where I live in order to run diagnostic tests on some equipment at work.
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  • I took the van home that day and picked up the gear the following morning. I drove down to the office and we proceeded to do our work.
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  • Then here comes our manager. He comes up to me and scowls, "So, you left me high and dry..." I told him that I needed the van to pick up important test gear.
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  • "Well, I had to take a cab!", he retorted. Seeing that our van was going to be taken away, we resolved to leave a parting gift.
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  • Before turning over the van, we drove to the nursery and bought a canister of fish fertilizer oil.
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  • Generous samples were deposited inside the door panels and under the seat. It was summer and the temperature was sweltering.
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  • We promptly relinquished the van to the manager without any fanfare. Over the ensuing days I overheard him commenting about a persisting bad odor that wouldn't go away.
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  • We got in my coworker's Mercedes and drove off for lunch, trying not to laugh.
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  • a man standing in the driver seat of a truck
    via Unsplash+ (and Sandra Seitamaa)

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

  • RevRagnarok I love how it is so internally consistent too - one worker is poor enough that they have to live an hour away and take transit, one is able to live locally but still not afford a personal vehicle, but a third has a Mercedes.
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  • OP starchysock Nah, you're overthinking it. I lived over an hour away because I couldn't stand to live nearby.
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  • rriicckk As artistic response worthy of Van Go.
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  • swampopawaho For the manager it was an object of vanity
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  • superslinkey A long time ago I worked with a guy that nobody liked...not fellow techs, not management, nobody. He was a "show and tell" kind of tech, one of those cats who wouldn't simply fix stuff and move on, he'd bring what was done wrong back to the office, drop it on the bosses desk and say shit like "look at the mess Superslinkey made". We all had trucks assigned to us. Otis had a late 60s Ford Econoline. The headliner was made of what seemed to be a very rigid cardboard. Sick of his nonse
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  • Toddw1968 I feel like another good response would be to have the manager make the drive, in the company van, to get the equipment. And do the same to return it.
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  • Coder Joe1 That was an a-van-t-gaurde revenge.
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  • shellyrocks2 I put fish oil all over a witchy lead workers cubicle. Heard all about the search for the source of the smell. They never did locate all the places itn eventually wore off.
    via starchysock

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management blue collar employee boss tradie employee manager tradesman job trade work work coworkers entitled people karma pay back supervisor justice served workplace entitled blue collar karma entitled people
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