Former employee joins rival company and ends up in meeting with old bosses criticizing his work: 'The nervous little laughs were glorious'

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Cata Holmes • Writer
Jun 14, 2026 12:00 PM EDT

An excellent representation of what I would call work karma.

An engineer was laid off from his company, and luckily for him (or maybe not), he ended up finding a good position at the rival company. Months later, he joins a meeting with a client, only to realize that those clients were his former bosses. Of course, those managers didn't realize he was there and started blaming him for a couple of issues with a project. The engineer played his cards well, remained quiet, and offered his help to get the project back on track.

I can simply imagine those managers' faces when they realized their ex-employee had ended up working for their biggest competitor. The timing in this story is just perfect, because out of all the meetings that could've happened, all the companies involved, and all the people working there, the very person they were blaming was right there with them. It just blows my mind how crazy that is. It feels like something out of a TV show.

I think the most satisfactory thing is the reaction of the engineer. He stayed calm and quiet, instead of bursting out. He didn't interrupt, he didn't call anyone out, and he didn't even make his former manager look bad in front of his current bosses. Instead, he played it cool and was super professional while watching how the situation unraveled on its own. Applause to him: the most powerful response is, sometimes, no response at all. 

We can all learn something from this today: this story works as a reminder that every professional field and world is quite small. In fact, many people assume that they will never encounter former coworkers, or even managers, but life can be crazy, and some industries have a curious and funny way of bringing people back together. That's why choosing your words when speaking about your previous jobs can be a smart move.

The story posted by AdventurousPool1244 in r/jobsearchhack got us something that a few people may dream about: a front seat to one of the most awkward work situations. Opportunities like this don't come around often, so having that story as an anecdote is just delicious.

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