Marcus Buckingham, researcher of high performance at work and co-author of the book Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader's Guide to the Real World, says that great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack. Bad ones, on the other hand, are... abundant. And they're bringing down everyone around them. So when Reddit user Ssteepballet asked others on the platform to share the "screw you" that they served their toxic bosses, people submitted plenty of colorful stories.
#1
At a previous job, I had been the SME during development of a new lead management system (big bank, millions of customers). I got two hour notice that it’d be my last day, and so anything important needed to be wrapped up quick.
I had been letting my boss know for like a year that I was the only person with admin access to the system settings, and that someone else should have that. They weren’t concerned, it seemed to be working fine.
Anyway, off I go to find a new job. About a month later I get a text from my old boss asking me to coffee. I declined. Then I got a call asking me how to change some settings. They were closing branches, and leads kept getting assigned to the closed locations. I told him I’d be happy to train someone, but at my consulting fee rate (I didn’t have a consulting fee). He was pissed.
A week or so later, he calls back and says fine. They’ll do it. So I ask if I’m an approved vendor. Obviously, I’m not. He sends me a packet, and I complete it. Weeks go by, the vendor management team finally approves me.
I’ve been gone like 2 months by this point, so I draw up a bid proposal. I estimated the training at $10,000. He called me back and pitched a fit.
So I made a website on GoDaddy. I pretended to be a white hat hacker specializing in the type of software they use. It was a good looking website, if I do say so myself. I leaned in hard on the terms I knew they’d be looking for.
A few days later, the phone rings. It’s my boss’ boss. I about couldn’t get through the call as he’s describing all of these problems they’re having accessing their data. So I told him it sounded like a problem I could solve. I wrote up a bid at $10,000 PLUS EXPENSES. Half up front, half on completion.
It was accepted right away. I emailed the password and the name of the drive where they could find the training docs. My phone rang right away, I can’t even describe how pissed the voice on the other end was. “No way in hell” would they be paying the other half.
I referenced the contract, said that I’d be more than happy to let a lawyer take a look, and go from there. He hung up.
A few days later, I got my other $5K. It was pretty helpful in bridging the gap until I started my new job.
Image credits: Nwcray
#2
I refused to wear a g-string bikini during a company car wash and i flicked the bikini boss had given me to wear in his face and told him if he tried the same technique on the other women employees he would be facing a big lawsuit but he would be facing one certainly from me because at the time i was seventeen. He ended up losing that lawsuit.
Image credits: Goddessviking86
#3
So when I was younger, I worked at a grocery store.
While working there, my first daughter was born. Her first birthday happened to fall on Memorial Day, and the store director wanted me to skip her birthday so he could have a barbecue. I told him that I wasn't gonna be there, but he still went ahead and scheduled me. Well, I didn't show up, and the next few months were a real pain.
This guy started acting all petty and demoted me from management, cut my pay, and reduced my hours. It was messed up, but luckily, the union had my back and made him pay me a couple of grand in back pay after I put up with that c**p for a few months. But I eventually landed an amazing career at a water treatment plant, and now I'm making three times the money I used to.
But before leaving as my final f**k you, I gave all of my uniforms to the homeless guys that hung out in the parking lot. So they'd walk around the parking lot in store uniforms, begging for money and food. My old boss got into a few confrontations trying to get the shirts back from them. Wish I could've been there for those. Ultimately, the homeless guys started going through the back of the store during receiving hours and taking beer and food. To this day, years later, I guess it's still a problem. Even after they changed uniforms.
Image credits: Forcekin6532
#4
Not my boss, but someone with authority who misused it.
In the early days of PCs in the workplace I was using Paradox, an early relational database. There was one other guy who used it, I was in QA, he was in program management. We had to deal with a program manager who was a complete fungus. He would provide no budget for various parts of a program and then demand the work be done or the product would not ship. He got his way far too often.
The day after I handed in my notice fungus shows up in my office, he fired the other database guy; “I can do that, what do I need him for?”
Turns out he could not. So he shows up at my office with my boss trailing behind. My boss hated this douchebag more than anyone.
F: “I need you to correct some data and run a report for me”
Me: “Nope”
F: this is important.
Me: “I guess you shouldn’t have fired Bob”
F: “you’re going to do this”
Me: “Nope”
This went on for some time, my boss standing behind him, giving me a “thumbs up” and enjoying the show.
Eventually he shouted “I’m going to Gary!” The CEO, who always supported his b******t because he was a wimp. Ten minutes later he was back calling me a m**********r “you could have told me you quit”.
From the next office I could hear my boss laughing out loud.
It was a fun day and I was a bit of a hero for the next two weeks.
#5
Was a mechanic at a shop and the boss had a favorite mechanic that could get away with anything. One day, it's about an hour before closing, and an older lady comes in for front wheel bearings. Don't know why they told her they could do it in that time but they did. Well, the kiss a*s mechanic proceeds to snap two of her wheel studs. He gets frustrated and literally leaves the car in the air and goes home! The boss comes in and asks where he is, I tell him what happened. The boss then says, "Well, get over there and finish that s**t."
Excuuuuuuse me? I tell him that is not my problem and am finishing another vehicle in my bay. He says, "If you don't get that car finished, you can find another shop to work at." I simply said, "You are right." Later that night after we closed, I used my store key to come in and turn in my uniforms and get my tools. The boss blew up my phone for the next 2 weeks. I never answered. Went on to open my own shop and do better.
#6
I made a binder detailing all the unprofessional things she ever did and the times she lied via email and I requested a meeting with her and HR to review the contents of the binder.
Image credits: KamalaCarrots
#7
Started my own company in the same field. See my family way more, make more money, and am my own boss.
Image credits: Teddyk123
#8
Not me, but another co worker hid raw chicken breasts in the store managers drop ceiling. There were so many flies in that office after two days. And the smell!
Also, F**k you Rick. You know you’re a c**t.
Image credits: WhatLikeAPuma751
#9
We never really got along.
He got a promotion to upper management and needed an assistant.
I had already found another job elsewhere before he got that promotion and had planned to quit.
When the posting came out for his assistant i applied for it just to stress him out thinking he once again would have to deal with me.
I went through the process and got the job, but never showed up on the first day, or the next, or next. Somehow this went on for just over a month before HR called me laughing and asked if i wanted to hand in my resignation yet.
He ended up having to do all the work of his all on his own and that thought makes me happy.
Image credits: Other-Negotiation328
#10
I work in advertising. The agency where I worked was the next thing to a Viking slave ship. Long hours, unpredictable workflow, and a boss who was just completely unstable. As in, you never knew when he was going to show up. Sometimes, he'd trickle in at 2 in the afternoon, then expect everyone to work until midnight. He was in and out of rehab, and the kind of guy who could be your best friend one minute and a complete psychotic the next.
Me (copywriter) and my creative partner (art director) started doing work for a microbrewery. The work we did was good, way better than the work we were doing for the agency. This was because the good ideas had a way of being killed before the client ever saw them.
So, we entered our work in the local awards show anonymously. Cleaned house in every category we entered. Won way more awards than our agency. Oh, and the agency work that won the awards was done by my partner and me as well.
After a ridiculous weekend where he thought we should all go to a mountaintop in the middle of winter and do trust exercises, my partner and I pulled the trigger and quit to start our own firm. My partner died eighteen months later after a sudden onset of cancer -- diagnosis to death in three weeks. It was awful -- but I continued to grow the business.
And hired several people away from my former employer. And won accounts from him. Because he was so freaking unstable that nobody wanted to work for him or with him.
Image credits: AnybodySeeMyKeys
#11
Becoming indispensable and then putting in my notice. No "f**k you" is quite as nice as people begging you to stay and you being able to say "no" with confidence that you're making the right decision.
Image credits: atomic-chicken-soup
#12
I just made the firing as awkward as possible. I spent like 20 minutes in silence reading my severance package while she and the rep from HR watched.
They tried to tell me they will email a copy I can electronically sign but I just said no thanks. Then I had them go make a copy for me to take home again they tried to say they will email it but I insisted on a paper copy.
Image credits: CertainlyAmbivalent
#13
I had been selected as a temporary 'loaner' or helper for a dept above mine, during which time my boss at the time was clearly playing some personal politics and trying to show me the door. Turned out the team was highly impressed with me. Personal politics once again at play, boss at the time was trying to push her friend into the open role. They didn't want her, they made me an offer unbeknownst to my boss. She kept telling me that she wasn't going to release me for the transfer, and the role was going to be filled by her friend. The writing was on the wall, if I went back to her, she was gonna can me.
Without knowing that it was my best move, I let her know an offer was made. Her face went stone, and all color dropped. She said she would look into it and get back with me. 2 days later she came back confirming the offer was made and the company had to honor it. On my way out of her team she made the comment that she was disappointed in the way that I went about this move, she knew the dept well and I wouldn't last and I would be out the door in less than a year. I responded with her opinion no longer mattered and that I would never have to deal with her or think of her again, and I was grateful for that. She turned beat red and stormed out.
Fast forward 8 years, I moved up again, making six figures, and she's still at the same position making 50k.
My success has been the biggest f**k you to her.
#14
Not me but a friend. He worked at an Aladdin's Castle video game parlor in the mid 80's. His boss had been hounding him for weeks to work additional overtime even though he had a new baby and his wife was still in the hospital because of complications. His wife was scheduled to come home on a day the boss insisted he work. He decided he no longer needed the job or the headaches and tossed his master keyring into the roll top safe, spun the cylinder and walked out to pick up his wife from the hospital.
A roll top safe was used to make daily deposits into a secure safe that only the person with the master key can unlock. There is a heavy metal cylinder at the top of the safe with an opening, when deposits are made into the cylinder the deposit falls into the secure chamber when the cylinder is rotated. The only way to gain access to the money, once deposited, is with the master key. With the master key (and the keys that locked the building) trapped deep within the safe the boss was forced to call a locksmith (on a weekend) to retrieve the keys.
His boss deserved every second of seething fury he experienced while watching the locksmith work over the safe.
#15
Reported him and the company to the IRS for not sending me a w2 and how they changed the company name and various things every few months in an effort to cheat out on taxes.
Image credits: Pantastic_Studios
#16
Returned the company phone with the ring tone of "Take This Job and Shove It".
Image credits: PatternLive920
#17
Landscaping company that mainly did construction. The owner would constantly take more work than a company our size could manage and would then have massive temper tantrums when it wasn't getting done fast enough. The breaking point was him taking a massive project...over two hours away from where anyone lived. That morning he had 10 employees. The next morning, he had three. He called each of us, begged us to come back and then asked why we were doing this to him. I laid into him about his inability to balance the workload and that his employees didn't want to drive over two hours to a job site every day. He said I'd regret it and hung up. I had a new construction job the next week. The dumb owner's company went under about a year later.
#18
Reported him for racism, and told the company to watch his auction tapes, where he was making uncomfortable comments at black members of the audience. A colleague told me he was fired shortly afterwards.
Image credits: DreyfusBlue
#19
Quit just before a busy holiday weekend. Booked a nice beach trip and headed out. On my way out of town, the manager calls to ask "Are you going to cover your shifts this weekend or did you get somebody to work for you??"
Nope.
Image credits: really_affordable
#20
TL;DR; I caused 10 people to quit and 2 managers to get fired.
I had been planning to quit an abusive job for a while.
It was a local chain store that used to be highly regarded by the community, but has treated their employees worse and worse since 2020 and realizing they could run on a skeleton crew.
The managers would pit employees against each other, stick people in positions they weren't comfortable with/capable of, and stalk/punish people who were considering unionization. Personally, they tried and failed to write me up a few times for unionization efforts, kept messing with my schedule by moving my days off around and making me clopen (close then open the next day), fired my boyfriend for speaking up for his crew, and kept me away from other employees and/or kept management within earshot of me at all times.
I woke up one day after calling out the previous 2 shifts, turned to my boyfriend and said I couldn't do it anymore. He had the day off from his new job, so we went down and I spoke with some of my soon to be ex-coworkers about what was going on, requested the quitting paperwork with my 6'6" ex-employee boyfriend bristling over my shoulder. I wrote out the entirety of why I was quitting, took almost 30 minutes, then watched as the managers who made my life hell for the past 3 months read and faxed the paperwork to HR and quiver knowing that they f****d up and their jobs were on the line.
In the span of 5 weeks, 10 people from my crew quit, my ex-manager got fired, and my boyfriend's ex-manager got fired. I heard through the grapevine that several HR people were surprised that I had quit and horrified that the store was being run so poorly, as we had the best numbers of the chains, and that so many quit after I did.
It feels great going in there to see old friends and seeing the rest of the old management team tense up or get embarrassed.
Image credits: defnotmythrowawayluv
#21
I reported him to HMRC for not declaring his Defender as a company car, he got fined and had to pay for 3 years tax on it.
Image credits: Ring_Peace
#22
I quit without notice a few days before Christmas. I was supposed to be the only one working for two weeks while everyone else was on annual leave. He couldn't convince anyone else to cancel their leave, so he had to.
#23
I worked for a particularly sociopathic person. Swore he was gods gift to mankind and would berate anyone over anything. Bipolar as f**k. I got fired over some minor b******t. Well he liked to constantly brag about cheating on his wife, and how he did it “because he loved her and it was saving his marriage” and would constantly talk s**t about his wife to his whole crew. Well I anonymously messaged her about a year after I got fired and told her everything. They are divorced now. And no one knows it was me.
Image credits: UpsetMistake406
#24
A month after I started my new job, I recruited two key workers from my old company. Left the having to explain to his boss why he had no idea what do to, despite taking credit for everything we had done.
Image credits: JustSomeGuy_56
#25
I chucked in a 14 days medical certificate after I headed in my resignation without doing any handover ?.
Image credits: Playful_Security_843
#26
Getting ready to roll out our next great version of our core product. It was dependent on a single “master” encryption key. Boss asked me to change the key and not share it with anyone. Ok, no problem.
A week or two later I decide to give my notice. I tell him 2 weeks, he goes off deep end. Screaming, throwing s**t. I was going to give him the key, in fact I had it on a diskette (this was not yesterday) in my hand. He called security and they immediately walked me out door. Later that day I got a messenger give me “a legal order” saying I was to immediately destroy all company (threatening a lawsuit if I didn’t) stuff, so I killed the diskette.
They went live immediately after, the db was corrupted and they couldn’t do anything without the key which no longer existed. Apparently took them weeks to recreate all the customer data that was lost. Bummer.
#27
5 months after I quit, I slept with a girl I'd met recently. Nobody else was home that evening. The next morning, I come downstairs and guess who her father was?
Image credits: RagePrime
#28
Trucker here. I convinced all the other drivers at our terminal to apply at a competing trucking company down the road. They hired all but one of us, so we dropped our keys on the boss's desk.
Within a month the plant pulled their contract, and the company went bankrupt.
Image credits: tc6x6
#29
When I was a security guard I worked third shift at an industrial park 8 miles outside of the city. My supervisor worked second shift at an office complex, in the city, nice and clean.
I had Wed and Thur off but she would call me in at least on one day to cover for her as she was "sick". I went out of town once on my days off and she ripped my a*s because I wasn't available to cover for her. I told her I wasn't paid to be on 24 hour call and this was my two weeks notice.
Next Tuesday rolls around and she tells me I need to work for her Wed & Thurs. I told her perhaps I had misspoke when I turned in my two weeks notice. What I actually meant was this is my last day.
I found a decent job after that and was happy. Three years go by and the contract for the office security job was not renewed. She had a choice of working the dirty scary industrial sight or be security at the refinery which had people there 24 hours a day. Of course she chose the refinery.
My dad was the general manager of the refinery, and he held grudges. He remembered all the s**t I went thru while working for her, so he called the security company and told them that supervisor was not allowed at the refinery. They said that they need a place for her and she didn't want the only other full time location.
Dad told them if he sees the supervisor on refinery property, or gets a phone call from her, the security contract will go to another company. I never heard where she went after that.
#30
Only once have I ever quit without notice.
Before I was hired at a store, the days and times I could work were listed on my application. I had weekly appointments on Saturday afternoons, for therapy/mental health related care.
One week I agreed to cover for a coworker who had surgery that day, figuring I could miss one week to help a coworker I was friends with, though I make it clear to my boss that I could only miss my appointment this one week.
Anyways, he decided that because I covered this one time, he could now schedule me to work regular Saturdays. I told him I could not, and he said I could not work retail without working Saturdays. After missing my appointments several weeks in a row, which was not good for me, and him basically saying "tough luck, you have to show up for work on Saturdays", I eventually just got another job, and didn't even tell my boss. I just stopped showing up and ghosted them.
#31
I had gotten a 5 out of 5 review a week prior and was suddenly let go without cause so I read my review loudly as possible while they tried to read me my severance and separation agreement.
#32
I used their arrogance to fund my startup. I’d worked for this company for more than 10 years. They had about 150 employees and always claimed the whole “we’re a family” thing, but in actuality it was “if you’re not with us you’re against us.” Anyone that ever quit, which was rare, was always shunned and walked out immediately. Knowing this, and after researching employment law in my state, I gave him a 30 day notice instead of just two weeks. As expected, he walked me out and paid only two weeks. That shortfall allowed me to file for unemployment since I had no HR issues. His pride made it all too easy to predict, and I enjoyed every check, knowing their insurance had gone up a little because of it.
#33
I straight up didn’t give her any notice and left. That was still nice of me for all the f****d up s**t she used to do to us.
Image credits: Specialist_Duty2165
#34
Sent in my 2 weeks notice by email the very same day I got another job offer. I copied the email to HR. My notice followed just a few of days on the heels of another manager’s 2 week notice lol. My boss scheduled me to close on my very last day, and told me I could “come by to drop off my keys to her another day.” (She hated closing and had made me the closing donkey for months.) Yeah, right… She opened that day. I came in, told her I had a medical emergency, handed her my keys, and left. She had to work a double and apparently was seething according to my old coworkers lol.
She was easily the worst boss I ever had for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was verbally abusing our employees. One of my final straws was when I found out she’d been lying to others in the company that she had put me on a performance review that I’d signed off on. No such thing. Turnover was extremely high under her and actually our entire management team ended up quitting. Last I heard the store was falling apart and our district manager had gotten sick of her.
#35
I offered him a job in my team at new place.
Image credits: Sher7281
#36
Former executive chef, I got fired via email while on leave for a death in the family. I didn’t check my messages until I got back to work, so I was completely blindsided. Of course everyone else already knew, including other restaurants. The boss was conveniently absent when I came to get my stuff. I smashed up a company laptop and wiped a few hundred recipes and other important documents from my master hard drive. I heard she was pretty mad about that.
Petty actions on my part, but that boss was a habitual line stepper and harasser that loved verbal abuse. They constantly threatened firing me over the course of several years, always saying they could do it without me at a moments notice. That was part of daily life for way too long, so I never felt bad for f*****g her over like that. A few months later she got fired. Three of my former managers informed me about it before the boss knew it was coming. Not gonna lie, that was the sweet, sweet frosting on the cake.
Image credits: guiltycitizen
#37
I handed him my two weeks notice on Christmas Eve and said, “Merry Christmas” as I did it.
Image credits: VariousGnomes
#38
I was in a s****y job - in HR no less - on a contract and told the boss 2 months in advance that I was leaving at the end on the contract.
Since that day.....the removed me from EVERYTHING....email groups, meetings, a 3 day offsite meeting (I found out about the meetings when I came to work and no one was there for 3 days) I sat around playing games and reading
So on my last day...I was wandering around the building saying goodbye to people I actually enjoyed. Suddenly...my boss stops me and says "We are having a staff meeting and you have to be there" and left.
I went to someone I knew in the area of HR and they said "They planned a party for you"
So after 2 months of being totally removed from ANYTHING, no meetings, no talking to me etc....they wanted to feel good by throwing me a party.
So I snuck out the back door (my desk was cleared for says), got in my car and left.
I called the lady I knew and she said they sat there for about 30 mins then left the board room. THEY WERE PISSED.
#39
I used to sell phones with subscriptions and all the like. Spent 1,5 year as a parttimer training people in different stores, fixing up failing stores, and filling in for sick or otherwise unavailable managers. I asked for a real contract abd my own shop to run, was promised as much. Then later I found out I was training my replacement. I had about 160h of overtime. Handed my keys to my replacement, cancelled all my business sales via email, then texted the chain owner I'll be cashing those 160h on vacation and that I'm quitting right after that.
#40
Getting hired at a different msp and taking his clients one by one
I didn't pass his "book of clients" on, I didn't advise them on who to chase or how to pitch the sale
I simply watched as the business practices that id tried to get him to fix were the reasons clients wanted out and jumped at the first opportunity. The clients got a familiar face , already comfortable with their setup , fast responses and paid around the same.
F**k you, I was right
F**k you, I told you so
F**k you, I do know better
F**k you, no we won't go forward with buying you out .
#41
I handed him the new offer letter that I knew was easily 30k higher than his salary. I hadn't been idle, I had been training and socializing. The gig was very choice.
#42
He had shared an Andy Warhol bottle of Dom Perignon with us after we hit a big goal. He let me keep the cork bc it was the first time I'd ever had champagne.
When he fired our team months later, he stood in the doorway as I packed up my desk. I tossed him the cork and said "I think you know where you can stick this." and walked out the door with my stuff. .
Image credits: mfmeitbual
#43
Had a meeting with my boss where he was trying to "put me in my place" the whole time. At the end of his 20 minute rant I handed him my resignation letter that I had planned on giving him the whole time. So satisfying to have to watch him waste his time and tell him I was leaving without anything else lined up.
#44
I had to mail back all my computer supplies with a pre paid package label. The post office said there was a 50 cent printing fee for the label. I called the HR lady to read me the company card to pay for it.
#45
Boss came during my night shift at the border (garbage boy at the harbour) to give me a hard time and more insanely stupid tasks. He was drunk as a kite and smelled of hard liquor. When he drove off I reported him to the border police near by. He was arrested and fired soon after. .
#46
Quietly asked for an exit interview with HR;
I was told they don’t do that for contractors. I insisted.
When it came time for the exit interview, I quietly explained to HR the desperate situation that had developed on the call floor - of people quitting for other jobs and the boss not replacing them, but expecting call numbers and stats to get better with less people.
Or how the boss changed the rules of what was and was not allowed in a call daily, yet didn’t ask her workers their opinions on it, but expecting us to just take her write ups for breaking rules that weren’t rules the day before.
All the while I never insulted the big boss, just kept my tone polite and professional, while pointing out the issues.
HR started sitting in those daily meetings with Shift supervisors about those rule changes and started to push back.
Things got better for the floor staff and they hired replacements.
Within a few months, after the shift supervisors collectively signed a statement to point out her direct abuse to them, HR had enough and asked her to leave.
#47
I used to do hazmat cleanups of abandoned homeless camps as a secondary duty while working for the city.
Due to some worker protection law somewhere, you can refuse any hazmat cleanup if you can articulate why it is unsafe. Every single one was unsafe in some way, homeless people don't exactly abandon pristine camps.
Finally got a different job in a completely different field and put in my two weeks notice. They put me on extra cleanups in those two weeks and I refused every single one and spent the rest of my time documenting why in excruciating detail.
I think my manager (who was horrible) nearly had an aneurysm by the time my two weeks were up.
#48
I wiped and reformatted the hard drive containing the only copies of the tools and documents required to do the job on a daily basis.
Image credits: Shas_Erra
#49
I left him stranded at Marseilles airport. I was meant to pick him up that day and drive him back to Monaco.
At precisely the moment when his plane was landing, I sent the FU email to his PA saying that I would no longer be available.
Best day ever.
Image credits: Wwwweeeeeeee
#50
I quit a retail job without notice since I'd been screwed over. I took a new job as a software trainer in a startup. The company thrust me into some challenges but i triumphed. I had skills.
A manager at the old job told my friend I'd been listed as do not rehire.
"I'll be sure to tell him when he gets back from his five week assignment in Europe."
#51
Called in sick my last day, after 15 years at the company. He wasn’t happy, though I was, and finally free.
#52
I quit! Had to hire 3 people to replace me, and 8 years later they still can't keep one of them longer than a year! Screw you Bernita!
#53
I called a day before Christmas eve to say I resign. I tried raising my salary for 6 years, and never more salary than a trainee. When I called, he said that he could finally raise my salary to keep me in his company. I laughed and said "no, I have already made my decision." The best decision ever in my work career. The place was toxic, really bad salary and everyone was competing against each other instead of helping.
#54
I killed half his revenue stream for a few months when I turned over information to his vendors that he was an ex-con and was acting against their ToC. Like, it was immediate.
#55
Left an upper decker in the “office staff only” bathroom on my last day after the boss stopped letting the shop crew and drivers use both bathrooms and had 100+ people sharing one single toilet bathroom so 4 people could have their own.
#56
In my final weeks working a job with the worst supervisor I have ever encountered, I gathered all the evidence I needed and met with Union reps and the manager of the whole operation after making a formal complaint.
She was disciplined and proceeded to specifically avoid talking to me in particular about even things that were necessary for the job to the point it actually hurt the company since we were a small team and communication is huge. She even went so far as to have my coworkers tell me things so she didn’t have to speak to me. And talked all kinds of s**t about me as my coworkers informed me. Basically trying to turn everyone against me.
So I went back to the union again and got her for retaliation. Then I left. Not my problem anymore, but hopefully she got the message.
#57
I turned in my 2 weeks notice, and let HR know that I was quitting because my Supervisor was incompetent. This lead to HR conducting an investigation into him, the Supervisor being removed from his position and me getting his position.
He quit a few years later and I have been leading my dept for the last 17 years.
#58
Was denied a promotion I rightfully deserved so I walked out.
Production on my shift fell by 28%. How do I know? I saw my boss a couple weeks later and he told me.
I just laughed at him.
#59
"Sorry for your loss" card when I quit.
#60
My boss was an overreaching, micromanaging, condescending, old b***h. She was awful to me up until the day i put my 2 weeks in, then she became very concerned about losing the grant that i worked on. She lived about 70 miles north of the office that i worked in. And i lived about 35 miles south of that office. She said that she wanted to take me out to lunch to say goodbye and thank me for my work but she was too busy to do it until after my last day. We set up a time and a place in the town that i lived in. She drove over 100 miles to buy me lunch and i stood her a*s up. The place was across the street from my wifes office so i ate lunch with my wife, watched my boss walk into the restaurant and i then blocked her number. Hahaha dumb b***h.
#61
Nothing major
We were constantly understaffed and got a new boss who wanted to micromanage everything. Picked up a bunch of extra shifts and then never showed up since I got a different job.
#62
Worked at champs sporting goods as a teen when store manager abruptly quit. I took over as an assistant manager and was promised GM pay AND to be trained to get that spot permanently. Was working open to close for damn near 3 weeks. Noticed my pay didn't increase so I called regional and was told that they couldn't bump it due to some f**k all reason, also was notified that my training was going to be bumped to a wayyyyyy later date almost a year out. Hung up the phone. I felt my face get red and heard ringing in my ears and snapped. Called the regional back and told him he better f*****g figure out how to get someone to cover this store and get here asap because I was leaving and now I knew why the other gm left the way he did.
Left keys on counter, yelled that i knew the camera facing our store was broken. It had been for a few months and the mall was dying so they didn't care to repair it. Said take what you want they have no way to track you and left. Security was worthless at this mall as well. Hardly ever showed up. Felt f*****g awesome. I didn't care if they paid me or not.
Few weeks later I happened to go to mall and saw the store was closed down and chatted with the phone kiosk people who said that people for sure took s**t after I left including them. Also found out that they did an audit and found out they had like close to 60k in missing items that they couldn't pin point where it happened from. The old GM was contacted by someone about it and nothing ever came of it. I know that 60k was not from me leaving but felt good that I stuck it back to them. I also did get my last pay check as well. Goods times.
Image credits: flashaguiniga
#63
Joined the military and I was working retail before I went to boot camp.
It was a crazy before school starts rush so the store was packed out and it was just me and my manager. Decided to just walk out to my car and left for good after he was being a prick and left him stranded with a line of people.
#64
My boss and I had an ok relationship for 7 ish years. He pretty much left me alone. For most of that time my boss was the decision maker of our “stand alone” business within the larger division. Around year 7 the company decided to restructure and we were brought into the larger division. His new boss was an AH and wasn’t a fan of mine. long story short I saw the writing in the wall and made an inter company move-though not before getting my ONLY bad performance review. I don’t care much what he thought but I got only a portion of my bonus and no raise. He got let go…. So about 2 years later he had a mental lapse and used me as a reference for his new job. He was up for a VP level position. I was honest with the hiring manager-he did have some good traits but I explained that he had a lot of grandiose ideas that were impractical to implement,he had a hot temper and that he was not good with details. We had a nice chat. In all honesty I don’t think I killed his job chances but it felt good to put it all out there.
#65
Walked out in the middle of the day. I was contract to hire, told them my rate, they agreed. When I got my first check 6 weeks in, I brought it to my bosses attention asking why it was so much less (about 15k/year). His response was “I can’t help with that, you need to talk to your recruiter “. So I went back and forth for two weeks and no one would help me, so I walked.
Made me feel good when the HR lady called me and said what can we do to get you back here, my response was “ F**k Rick, I’ll come back but I won’t report to him, and I need a check in my hand for all the missed back pay, plus 20%” they were going to do it, too. But the more I thought about it the more I realized, I didn’t want to work for a company that allowed someone like that to be in charge. So I turned them down.
About a month later they replaced Rick and he was looking for another job. He was a complete a*****e about everything, but I’m not f*****g around with my paycheck.
#66
I put in my 2 weeks and the boss kept reminding me that my laptop was company property. I already hated the guy but that really pissed me off.
Told him I'd be in to pick up my final check on the last day, a Friday, but really had no intentions. Went to Arizona and Vegas and had a great time.
On the next Tuesday, I called HR and left a voicemail letting them know I hadn't been paid. This is in California and that is a big legal deal. They called me a few times and apologized they haven't been able to get a hold of my boss and figure out what happened.
They overnite FedEx me check with an extra 2 weeks of "waiting" pay and I hope that boss got roasted for it.
#67
I took medical leave for my mental health for a month and a half and gave my two weeks the moment I got back because I managed to find another job.
#68
I had the flu during COVID. My boss wanted me to go to the doctor's office to get a doctor's note.
During COVID.
I told her I wasn't going to risk my partner, my partner's mom, and my partner's mom's BF just for a doctor's note while puking.
She said I was getting written up for a no show.
I simply didn't show up after that. Ever.
#69
He got a new job and was leaving. On his last day I left a gift on his desk, the board game “Clue,” with a note that said “since you don’t have one.”
#70
I worked retail for a bit after finishing school and our manager quit right during the holiday season so we went without one through January. Then corporate, instead of promoting those of us who kept the store running, brought a new manager in from a different store. She proceeded to find flimsy pretexts to fire us all. She called me back from vacation time I was spending visiting my sister who was going through cancer treatment to “cover a shift”. When I showed up she fired me.
I had a 32oz root beer in my hand I was expecting to sip on during my shift… she was wearing the whole thing before I walked out the door for the last time… all over her ugly white sweater. Zero regrets….
#71
I quiet quit....Still am actually.
#72
Was at a school where for no reason i can understand, my boss and his boss both disliked me ... strangely, the boss was an ex-military guy and i was returned peace corps, so that may have been a part of it. i was very successful at the school and made my boss look bad by comparison. anyway ... got let go, which i knew was coming. it was one of those deals where they give you the option of staying a year while you find a new school.
since i knew it was coming, i went out and got a job, which turned out to be a better job with 50% more pay. the market just happened to be hot at the time, pre-covid. summer came and i just did not tell them i had a new job, so they were assuming i would stay the extra year. there was a date by which i had to turn in my contract for the extra year, but it was in july ... so pretty late for them to find a new person. on the deadline date, i declined the offer. they could not replace me in time so this caused big issues and extra work for them :)
the best part was, i wrote a really nice letter thanking everyone for their support -- which had been minimal at best -- and basically left on very good terms ... :) i sent it to everyone of my colleagues, most of whom supported my boss.
one of my friends told me that the letter made them furious, and my boss got fired eventually as things went down hill.
#73
I was a teacher and needed to take off the last day of school for a family vacation. Note: this was the last day for teachers so we had no students and would just be cleaning up and going out to lunch with our coworkers. I submitted my vacation request and told them I would do all necessary check out items before I left. Also I had never taken off any time for the last two years—not a sick or personal day! They denied my request and said if I didn’t show up on that day they would deduct my pay by my daily rate of $300+.
I was so pissed that I went and applied for another job in a way better district and got it. When the principal found out that I got a new job she frantically emailed and texted me saying “they would work out the vacation time.” I was so over them and didn’t give her the time of day—they had treated me poorly long enough.
The real kicker was I didn’t submit my quitting form until July 1st (my districts deadline) so they couldn’t hire someone for months!
#74
In college I was hired as a waiter in a pizza shop that was "soon to be opened" a block from my house (a location of the chain Reginelli's Pizza in Baton Rouge circa 2006). They paid us minimum wage to open the store under the clearly communicated arrangement that we would be the wait staff once it opened (we set the place up). A few days before opening, the manager fired literally every single male on the wait staff (I'm not exaggerating), presumably because it was a college town, and they knew what type of staff would help sell garbage pizza (not disparaging my fem pals here, it wasn't their call) . He said, "we don't need you anymore", which was super confusing, because I knew I had worked plenty hard and had plenty of experience.
I had never been fired from any job and had had many service industry jobs, so this really bothered me. I went back to the location a few days later (in earnest at this point) and said, "hey, I can't see any reason why you'd fire me, and I really liked the place. I came back to ask if you'd hire me back." The manager said, "hey, I appreciate your forwardness, so yes, come in for the training next week."
I realized that I basically had Stockholm syndrome and the manager was a garbage human (if not a creep), so I never showed up for the first shift!! I did go in to eat pizza whenever I felt like it. He made a "you got me" face every time.
*Edit: the satisfying part is that the manager thought I planned the no-show before I went back to ask for the job back. I wish I had.
#75
He got a court invite, and I referred all his communication attempts directly to my lawyer. Sweet sweet revenge.
#76
I used to clean a very busy Deli in the evening, after closing. A 9-2am type thing, completely taken the display cases apart, making it BEAUTIFUL for the next morning. The owner was a nasty drunk. As I was in the process, he called the store, berated me, calling me names, telling me it takes too long, rambling on and on. I was already fed up with his nonsense. I got off the phone,
wrote a note that said “I quit”, set the alarm, an put my key through the mail slot. I left a NASTY, horrible mess. He called the next and asked what happened, I didn’t call him back. Never saw him again until 15 years later, and he was working the deli counter at another establishment. I called the deli next day and apologized to my coworkers, but they thought it was hysterical. They said he was totally distraught and hungover, but they were with me 100%! Everybody quit over the next few months because he was a complete jerk.
#77
Spent 2 hours in his office reviewing my project schedule showing how we were finally on track now that he’d given the number of people for the project I’d been telling him we needed, while knowing full and well I was giving my notice the very next day and he didn’t have the right number of people on the project after all.
#78
Got him drunk told him his wife called and needs him home. Then called the cops and reported him for drunk driving.
F**k that guy.
Image credits: Brett707
#79
I no call no showed a pizza place I worked at when I was 18
The manager was a busy body always griping at me for the smallest s**t and rode my a*s all summer
So I no call no showed on the busiest day for the after church rush , the place was next to a very religious area and had Sundays were a mad house
He called my phone 40+ times repeatedly , I just sat at home and smiled and didn’t respond ,
Eat a d**k Scott.
#80
A LONG time ago (the early 80s), in high school, I got fired from a job so the manager's friend who was out of work could replace me. Started dating the manager's daughter. Turned her from a goody to a metalhead. She got her first tattoo because of me. I'd pick her up to go out and her dad would just SEETH as she got further into the sex, d***s, and rock-n-roll life and look. I knew that he knew that I knew that he knew I was hitting that.
That was about 40 years ago, but I still laugh to myself when I think of it.
#81
I used to work as an IT field engineer, travelling around setting up new sites and fixing network problems.
To start with I was promised my own local area, with sites no more than an hour or so away, and it was like that for six months or so. Then the guy in the next county quit and so I got given his territory as a temporary measure while they found a replacement.
Guess what, They never found a replacement.
Then another guy quit and I ended up inheriting his area as well. At one point I was travelling 3-4 hours each way and was expected to be on site from 9-6 each day.
On one particularly large new install I was leaving home at 5am, on site all day and not getting back home until after 10pm. I did this for a couple of days, pointed out to my manager that a hotel would be far easier as this was expected to last over a week, but apparently that was too expensive and ‘not worth the effort’ of him organising it.
On the fourth day there was a massive accident on the motorway heading back and i didn’t get home until after midnight. There was no way i was going to drive on 4 or so hours sleep if that, so I phoned my manager (at gone midnight, f**k you) to tell them, only to be berated and told to be in on time or to drop the company car off.
If decided on the latter, fumed for a few hours and in the morning drove up head office, drove my car up the main path and parked my car in the automatic double doors. It was only the fact they opened in time that meant I didn’t destroy the front of the building. I threw my keys over the bonnet into reception and walked off. They threatened legal action but I never heard anything.
#82
Gray rocking a collapsed narcissist is wildly empowering. She became increasingly unhinged as I refused to engage or be lured into conflict.
