Boss demands employee alter clients' invoices to falsely overcharge them, employee refuses, reports boss, and quits job: ‘He assumed I was morally bent in his favor’

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Aug 9, 2026 12:00 PM EDT

What request can a boss ask of an employee that is simply too much to ask for?

Plenty of times in the workplace, we find ourselves doing a task that makes us think, "I'm definitely not supposed to do that". These types of tasks usually start with a request from the boss, and even though we know the boss is asking something that is way beyond our job description. At first, we might consider gathering up the courage and telling our boss, "No, I'm not doing that," but many employees might not actually say those words out loud. Instead, we bottle up our feelings, swallow our pride, and get to work. Our need to keep our jobs outweighs the need to stand up to our boss when they make demands like these, so we fulfil them as fast as possible and get on with our day.

There are some tasks, however, that you might not agree to as easily. Demands that cross a line that even a steady income cannot make up for, something like what the boss below tried to ask of the System Admin employee.

This boss on r/pettyrevenge knew that the employee had experience with Photoshop, so he asked them to alter invoices after they were generated so that the company could charge clients for work that wasn't actually done. Basically, the boss asked the employee to take part in the company committing fraud. This was a request the employee could not comply with, no matter what. So, the employee informed upper management about the boss's request, and when they did nothing to stop him, the employee decided this was not a job they wanted to keep and turned in their two weeks' notice. 

A request like this might make you appreciate the tasks your own boss gives you, you know, things that don't make you question your workplace's integrity. At least the employee didn't let their boss drag them down with him. The employee even decided to teach the boss a lesson before they finally left the company…

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  • Male Boss Talking to a Male Employee
    via pixelshot

    Male Boss Talking to a Male Employee.

    Subjects are models.

  • My boss wanted me to falsify invoices, so I gave him a "hardware problem" my last two weeks

    I was a System Administrator at a company and the domain admin, meaning I could manage user profiles and startup scripts.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • One of the directors asked me to do something I absolutely wasn't comfortable with: alter invoices after they were generated so clients would
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • be billed for work that wasn't actually performed. The extra money helped make his department look more profitable. He knew I was one of two people in
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • the company with access to Photoshop, and assumed I was morally bent in his favor. I was not.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • I refused. I told my boss, and when my boss did nothing, I put in my notice.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • A few weeks later, I was already in my final two weeks with the company, and he pushed again to alter a bunch of invoices
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • this time claiming it was an approved thing from accounting. I refused again, but this time I also decided he could experience a small "IT mystery."
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • I wrote a simple batch script that randomly rebooted a computer between 5-10 minutes after startup and added it to his profile's startup script through Active Directory.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • He knew I had access to everyone's machines, but he assumed it was a hardware issue because they were experiencing them for a full year across his department.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • After about five random reboots, he called me into his office to fix it.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • The director went to lunch and I sat down at his computer, stared at the screen, and began my extremely advanced troubleshooting process:
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • I ate the Skittles from the jar on his desk for around five minutes. I told him I'd keep an eye on it.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • Man Working on Office Computer
    via AndreyPopov

    Man Working on Office Computer.

    Subject is a model.

  • He never figured it out. The funniest part is that my own IT manager had no idea what startup scripts
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • were, so a file named something boring like cmosupdates.bat was enough to fly under the radar. I left the company.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • A week later, this old director started contacting me demanding I finish a project I had "committed to", unpaid. It was something my replacement couldn't handle.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • I ignored the messages, blocked his number, and moved on. perpetualrebootinsanity. bat lives on in legend now.
    via _keyboard-bastard_
  • Cuneus-Maximus When they ask you to do work after you leave, that's when you bust out the "consulting rate" which is 3x what they were paying you before you left.
    via Cuneus-Maximus
  • Just_Getting_By_1 Your boss wanted you to conspire to commit fraud, that is pretty bad. And he is very lucky you only went for small revenge.
    via Just_Getting_By_1

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job invoice client satisfying quitting story workplace company quitting
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