14 Times Disgruntled Employees Got Petty Revenge On Their Terrible Bosses In The Best Way
Recently, I wrote up a Reddit thread asking people to share the final "eff you" they gave to their crappy bosses before finally quitting. The post was sooo petty and cathartic that it inspired even more stories from the BuzzFeed Community! Here are some that will make you feel seen if you've ever had to toil away at an awful job with a bad boss:
1."When I retired from state government, I changed my private phone greeting to say, 'This is answering your call from the bliss of retirement. If this is a personal call, please call me at home. [New Employee Name] has assumed my state government responsibilities, so if your call is about state government business, please go to [New Employee Name].'It took management most of a week to figure out how to change it, during which the phone never stopped ringing."
2."I have Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome and it was really acting up one day. My manager already didn't like me, and accused me of faking it when I told him I'd been throwing up. He sent me back into the kitchen, so I just waited a few minutes to get nauseous again, walked up to him in front of my other coworkers, and threw up on his shoes. He never questioned me again, and I made sure to get a note from my doctor saying I had to take breaks when I felt nauseous."
3."It was a small thing. My previous job was based on a federal requirement, which changed. I could see the writing on the wall and started looking. My boss at the time was a creep; at one point, he tried to get someone to meet a deadline by waving vaguely in the direction of me and his secretary and promising 'unspecified favors' (obvious innuendo).Soon after that year’s government requirement had been fulfilled, my boss summoned me into his office and tripped over his own mouth trying to tell me I was being laid off. I’ve rarely been so satisfied as when I stopped him to hand over my two weeks’ notice."
4."When I was younger I worked at a local fast food chain and did the afternoon/late night shifts. I had a manager who constantly sat in her office on the phone with her fiance (this was the early '90s). I was always scheduled alone and in the kitchen, and orders stacked up quickly without help. One night, after another hectic evening, after I had asked again for help, she closed her door in my face. I knocked on her door, took off my headset, and tossed it on her desk, and said I’d had enough. She yelled at me that I’d never work at this chain again. I said, 'damn right.' This is neither fantasy nor wishful thinking — I love that my younger self walked. Best thing I ever did for myself."
5."A few years ago I was hired at a doctor's office. He was condescending to me from the very beginning, but it all boiled over when one of his other (very few) employees announced she was pregnant and going on maternity leave. He flipped out and pulled me aside to discipline me for not knowing how to do things that his manager wife — who routinely threw me under the bus — didn't train me for. The doc yelled at me, saying something akin to 'the honeymoon phase is over.'"
"(Note: I'd only been working there for a few weeks!) I was so mad at his attitude that I went on Indeed on my lunch break and applied for another job. Then, BOOM. I took a day off for an interview, got offered the same salary AND benefits, and quit like a day later. I told them that their environment wasn't a good fit for me and reiterated that the 'honeymoon phase' sure was over. He was livid. Three years later, I'm still at this amazing job that I applied to out of spite. Everything happens for a reason!"
6."I worked at a bank for awhile on the floor. I gave customers a heads up when I believed they weren’t making good financial decisions, and steered them towards better products and services. I made top service and sales every month. I got promoted to another branch with more challenging ventures. The boss was recent college graduate with little to no financial experience, making him insecure, insulting, and mean. I was in the process of closing on my home and had just had enough of the guy. I found out my escrow signing date and gave my two weeks notice to coincide with that date. Boss tried to stop my home sale, but he found out that's illegal. I had a beautiful house, new job, and a big smile on my face. I heard the branch lost top sales for the rest of the year."
7."My mother was the head baker at the very upscale grocery store. A much younger, newly hired department manager took over the bakery. Because she was the oldest employee there, he made the mistake of harassing her in front of other employees for weeks. She finally got so fed up with the harassment that she clocked out, turned in her store keys in the middle of her shift and never went back. She effectively shut down the store bakery for a week. It took not one, but two people to replace my 67-year-old mother. She never went back. The department manager was fired."
8."Missed a shift as a barista but was able to get it covered. I was having horrible morning sickness during that time with awful headaches. I was told I needed a doctor’s note to come back. I said, 'For pregnancy? Okay, I quit.' There was no policy regarding doctors' notes or when they are necessary. The only absent policy was to find coverage for your shift, which I did."
"I was told I didn’t need a note anymore. Too late. I contacted the Department of Labor because they tried to stiff me on my last check. Lesson learned: if they are constantly having issues with other employees when they leave, chances are they will have problems with YOU. Sometimes, it’s just an awful employer."
9."Six weeks ago, I spent 2.5 hours doing an online exit interview for the job I held for over six years. HR then turned my exit interview over to the University lawyers, who then interviewed me for 2 hours. There's currently an investigation going with that specific location in regards to sexual and racial discrimination. Had I just been left alone to do my job supervising, which I was very good at, none of this would have come to light. But they didn't, and I reported all of them. My new job is almost the same pay, exact same benefits, and so much less stressful."
10."I was a holiday hire at a bookstore chain. I worked hard, so I was kept on when the holidays finished. Later that year, my husband was laid off, so I asked to work full-time so that I'd qualify for health insurance for my family. The manager said sure and started scheduling me full-time hours. He said I'd hear from HR about insurance after a month. But two months went by, and nothing happened. I asked my boss and he said he'd look into it. Another month went by. Boss said HR was fixing it, and I'd hear back soon. After another month I called myself and learned this jackass kept me listed as 'seasonal' for an entire year because he already had the max number of full-time people allowed, but he didn't want me to quit and find benefits elsewhere, so he lied."
"I transferred stores, called HR again, and reported him for lying to me and misclassifying me for so long. I also mentioned his comments about how 'women don't have what it takes for management.' I evidently was not the only one reporting him. He got fired."
11."I was lured away to a small new startup company with promises of stock options and unlimited income. Nine months later, they laid off a bunch of us as they were losing money hand over fist, including for a corporate apartment that the owner was using to bed an investor. No notice, no payout, just buh-bye. I turned them in to a software pirating organization, since they were using single copies of high-end software throughout the company. A former coworker told me they spent tens of thousands of dollars ensuring they weren’t sued."
12."I took a pay cut to open a granite showroom (same company) closer to my home, and I justified it because of tolls, gas, time etc. The owner of the showroom didn’t do any market research, or even give me the prices of what I was supposed to be selling. I’d have to call him to ask a price for everything, and he made work incredibly difficult because I didn’t have answers to common questions. I found out through another employee at the other location that he had posted my job, offered more money and promised benefits (which I was told, wasn't an option for me). After realizing how shady he was, I changed the computer password to 'F*uckyou[his name],' and took the mouse trap he'd me put out into the showroom's heating unit."
"A week or so later, he called and asked me what the password was and if I knew what the wretched smell was coming from the walls, so I gave him the password (he didn’t get the joke) and hung up. The showroom closed before the lease was up and he had to eat it."
13."After 30+ years with an organization, providing honorable and selfless service, I was asked to fire one of my directors, who frankly had been placed on a fairly rigorous WIP — and successfully accomplished all goals and expectations. It seemed her 'firing' would have been a 'tit for tat' in a urinating match between the CFO and COO. I was told it would be this director or me to take the fall. Luckily I had eff you money and told my COO he would receive my office keys, badge, etc. by the end of the day."
—bjhk
14."I was the only project manager for a startup. I also fulfilled multiple other roles due to my previous experience, but I was the only one working on the very technical project that was going to take the business to the next level.The boss had a habit of screaming at employees and we had about a dozen employees walk out for about the year and a half that I worked there. I told him if he ever screamed at me, I would walk out too. One day, he yelled at me for a mistake he told me to make to the software. I gathered my things and his face went white as a sheet. I told him I was quitting and he said in the smallest voice, 'you can come back.'"
"I heard it took him months to find people to do what I was doing, and it set his company back about a year in terms of progress. Last I heard, it took a big hit due to the 2020 shutdowns and he was trying to sell the business."
Did you ever enact petty revenge on a crappy boss? Share your story in the comments. Or, fill out this anonymous form.
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.
