Even if you love what you do and feel extremely satisfied with your job, you don't really get to choose the people you work with. You just try your best to be a wholesome coworker, focus on carrying out good practices to make your workplace a slightly better place, and only hope your colleagues do the same.
Unfortunately, the 9-to-5 grind tends to bring out the worst in certain people. There is really no shortage of stories about the toxic office politics, the bullying, the backstabbing, and the never-ending gossip and drama. Once we feel mistreated, we can’t help but think about how to fight back and balance the scales of justice.
After all, nearly everyone has experienced the overwhelming motivation to retaliate and come up with the most detailed plans to get vengeance on someone when they’re least expecting it. And when they pull it off, they make sure to share their deeds with everyone on the internet. Below, we wrapped up some of the pettiest revenge stories we found online that reveal wicked levels of imagination. Continue scrolling and share your thoughts about them in the comments!
Psst! If you're in the mood for some more payback tales, take a look at our earlier publication about fine acts of revenge right over here.
#1
When I was a teenager I worked in a fast food restaurant. one of the managers picked on one of the girls religiously because she was fat. I'd had enough...told him to leave her along. He backhanded me. I knocked him out with a steel baking tray.
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149points
#2
waitressed for the summer in nyc. owner was an overbearing prick who treated his employees horribly. most people put up with it b/c the money was so good. restaurant was very upscale, good turnover etc. you could count on $200-$250 on any thurs-sun shift. (this was very early 80's so that kind of money for waitressing was fabulous). one girl asked weeks in advance for a particular weekend off (her friend was getting married out of state). her last shift before that weekend, owner cancels her request. she's in tears, he threatens to fire her if she doesn't work that weekend. i try to stick up for her, offer to find people to cover for her, he refuses, tells us both to f**k off. i only had a few weeks left before my new job was going to start, so i march into his office and demand he let her have the weekend off or i'll quit that moment. he fires us both on the spot. went home, called up a former waitress who for some reason had an affair with this a*****e a year or so earlier. got a bunch of polaroids she still had: him in various stages of undress. not a pretty sight. mailed them to his wife.
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135points
#3
I never wound up working for them, but a summer camp offered me $2000 for the summer to lifeguard for them. The contract they wanted me to sign would've made me buy my lifeguarding shirts from them (they have to provide the first 2 uniforms), charge me for lunch regardless if I ate there during my break, they weren't going to pay me for mandatory training (which they're required to pay me for), and wanted me to work 30 extra hours, unpaid, over the course of the summer. When I factored in those extra hours and the unpaid training (20 hours), it turned out I would be making about $5.25/hr, which is well under minimum wage. I'd also be making about $500 less because of they would be charging me for lunch, which devalued my pay per hour even more. After analyzing everything, I called the Department of Labor, faxed them a copy of the contract, and the camp got slapped with a huge fine. Needless to say, I went elsewhere to work.
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130points
As you’re reading through these stories, it may seem that humans are cruel by nature, always looking for opportunities to get even with their tyrant bosses and horrible colleagues. While revenge is rarely discussed in the corporate world, it’s important to understand the psychology behind it and what makes employees act on it.
To find out what an expert had to say about navigating through the feelings of retaliation, we reached out to Shari Botwin, LCSW and author of Thriving After Trauma: Stories of Living and Healing.
"It is completely natural and normal to want to retaliate when someone causes us harm in any way," she told Bored Panda. "Our first instinct is to want to fight back or get back at the person who hurt us. It is especially normal in a work environment to want revenge when we feel belittled or shamed in the workplace. While we depend on our bosses or place of employment for our livelihood, there is less risk in our interpersonal relationships when we try and get even with co-workers."
#4
I worked for an architect who never attended to detail and had a load of failures as a result. On the day I refused to give the go ahead on a design that I knew would fail - because of problems in the "unimportant " detail - I was fired.
The last thing I had to do was supervise the printing of company letterheads, business cards and A0 drawing sheets. They were supposed to say "McDonald, Sweet and Partners, Chartered Architects". At the last minute I altered the proofs to say "McDonald, Sweet and Partners, Chartered Artichokes"
Of course, not being a "detail" person he approved the proofs and 1000's got printed.
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111points
#5
Had a horrible boss at one of my tech support jobs, very rude, misogynistic, demanding.
So one day took a print screen picture capture jpg of his background, then moved all his icons and short cuts on his desktop to an innocuous folder and put the print screen jpg up as his background. So the shortcuts and the links that appeared to be on desktop were just a picture and were not click able. He messed around with his computer for hours unable to get it to function normally.
So one day took a print screen picture capture jpg of his background, then moved all his icons and short cuts on his desktop to an innocuous folder and put the print screen jpg up as his background. So the shortcuts and the links that appeared to be on desktop were just a picture and were not click able. He messed around with his computer for hours unable to get it to function normally.
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108points
#6
I worked at a furniture store for awhile and was the assisant manager. There was a weekend were I was the only person there from open to close. We had a truck delivery I managed get all put away and sold about 20k on top of it. The manager had always been an a*****e, thinking he was some big s**t. Anyways I come in on Monday expecting praise for what I did over the weekend. Instead I get completely chewed out for a broken lamp that was in the warehouse. This was my tipping point. Didn't do anything crazy just said I was going to lunch and never came back. It was such a relief to never have to go back.
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96points
Botwin explained that acts of vengeance can make us feel good, but only in the short term. "Initially, it can feel good to retaliate," she said. "For the first five or ten minutes, endorphins kick in and we feel better once we strike back."
However, in the long run, acting out of spite at work can cause more problems and even lead to job loss, a demotion at work, and feelings of regret, Botwin argued. "For example, if we take to social media as an outlet for our anger, we are at risk of feeling more exposed and ridiculed by others. Once we post our feelings on a public platform, we cannot take them back. We can delete a post if we decide it’s not the appropriate way to respond. But that does not stop others from taking action or possibly using that information against us."
#7
I was responsible for all customer facing emails and support cases for my department. When I took over that role i had to get ahold of the company that actually ran the support case database and have the password changed because the last person left and didn't tell anyone what that was. I made sure to tell my boss and team lead what i had changed the password to so they could keep it in case something were to happen. About a year later i was fired. Roughly a week afterwards i get a text from one of my old co-workers asking what the passwords to those systems were. I told her under no circumstances was i going to tell her what they are, that i gave that information to my boss and the lead, and if they couldn't find it then they can figure out how to reset it like i had to.
88points
#8
Oh man. I've been a lurker on reddit for likely about a year now, and I haven't felt necessarily compelled to contribute to discussion until this thread.
So I had been working as a barista at a local family-owned coffee shop for 8 months or so. My boss had always been sketchy, but I needed the money for school so I stuck around until I could find a more reasonable situation.
During a lull in customers one morning, I checked the schedule to see when I'd be working next. I usually only worked twice a week or so at that point being that she had skimped my hours by half, but this time I wasn't scheduled at all. Confused and slightly panicked, I called her immediately. She laughed it off, saying it was a mistake and that she would call me as soon as she updated it.
During a lull in customers one morning, I checked the schedule to see when I'd be working next. I usually only worked twice a week or so at that point being that she had skimped my hours by half, but this time I wasn't scheduled at all. Confused and slightly panicked, I called her immediately. She laughed it off, saying it was a mistake and that she would call me as soon as she updated it.
I called her the next morning, pen in hand. She told me she was very busy with customers and that she would call me back after the rush. No calls. The next day, I called again and she f*****g SCREENED MY CALL. Straight to voicemail. I called once more, the next day, and a co-worker informed me that I still was not on the schedule.
Dismayed and broke as hell, I gave up on getting in contact with her. I still called every two weeks to hear the new schedule, but was starting to get pretty angry. By then I had another part-time job, (they ended up also being crazy, what is my luck?) but I needed more hours than they could give me, so I still wanted to work my old job as well.
One day, I came in to see the schedule for myself. A new employee, of whom I had never met, was closing up at the time. I introduced myself, we talked for a minute, and she asked me a few questions about closing procedure. I helped her out with some computer stuff as well as fixing part of the espresso machine.
I then grabbed a drink of water from the barista sink, using a plastic cup in order to not make more work for the person closing. I checked the schedule, and to my dismay I still wasn't put on. My name was still under the contact information for her employees, but nowhere else. Confused and angry, I left.
THREE WEEKS LATER, I get a voicemail from my (ex)boss. First, she reprimands me for not depositing my last paycheck from her, (of which I never recieved) saying that I really should get that taken care of because it is throwing off her bookkeeping. Fair enough. But then, she is thrown into a tyrade; her voice begins to crescendo as she first accuses me of trespassing. Apparently, if I had any common sense or decency, I would make the assumption that I had been fired. She then accuses me of f*****g stealing coffee from her. At this point she is full-out yelling over the phone. She threatens to take legal action against me, and demands her keys back immediately.
Reasonably freaked out, I assume the worst. Being a college-aged kid, particularly against a middle-aged business owner/mother of three, tends to not hold up well legally.
Being that I did nothing wrong, I went to the police for advice. I had written a letter to her, expressing my sadness and anger at her not only neglecting to keep in contact with me, but also over her accusing me of stealing and trespassing. I had put a lot of time and effort into her business, and I had never had a single complaint from a customer. On the contrary, I had customers tell my boss that I was her best barista and that they come to her shop particularly to see me. Wtf lady.
So I tell the cop what happened, let him listen to the voicemail as well as read my letter. He is flabbergasted. I told him that I was going to go to the shop today and hand her the letter and keys, but that I was nervous about confronting her because I didn't trust her. Then the cop said the most wonderful thing.
He offered to **take the letter to my boss personally,** and explain to this crazy woman what trespassing actually means.
I get a call later, saying that he did indeed go into the shop (during lunch rush, mind you) and asked for my boss. He called her out in front of all of her customers and essentially made her look like a fool. Knowing this woman, the fact that it was a man, particularly one in a position of authority, probably make her pee herself out of powerless, women-degrading fear. F*****g c**t messed with the wrong 19 year old.
**tldr; boss "fired" me, tried to accuse me of trespassing and stealing from her, I brought a cop into her shop in front of all of her customers to set her straight.**
edit: reddit formatting derp.
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84points
#9
I got a new job where I am respected by my boss and co-workers and I get paid about 3 times more than before. That's all. The best revenge is to succeed at life.
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76points
But when we feel that someone hurt us or took advantage of us, emotions still pull us toward retaliation. Botwin told us that it is hard not to take revenge because we do not want to believe someone else got to us or has the power to cause harm without penalty.
"It takes strength and courage to hold the line and set boundaries, without acting on the impulse to strike back. Being able to assert with bosses and/or employers by saying things like, 'It is not okay to talk to me like that or treat me like that.' That lets people know what our boundary is and prevents us from feeling regret and guilt." The trauma specialist added that in some cases, saying nothing and telling ourselves things like, "I am better than that," is more empowering and self-protective.
"Often, people who have acted on their anger in the moment will tell me later things like, 'I wished I just sat with feeling before acting,' or 'trying to get back at my boss just made things worse for me.' The stress and shame that follows retaliation leads to more risk of being hurt again," Botwin added.
#10
I had a guy I knew openning a computer store in another city, moved away from my family to be the tech there. He ran it into the ground in less than a year by spending all the profits and not paying back his suppliers. At tax time I called the revenue services and informed them that I hadn't recieved my tax documents from him. I knew full well that he wasn't paying any of the taxes to the government.
74points
#11
I did almost the exact same thing to a prick I worked for briefly. I worked 70 hour weeks as a salary employee, even though I couldn't technically be classified as such. After things didn't work out for whatever reason (because he was a prick), he cancelled one of my paychecks right after I put it in the bank.
I ended up contacting the US Department of Labor for the overtime, the State Department of Labor over a cancelled paycheck and a litigious corporation who's software he was using illegally. The litigious company was none too pleased to learn that he was using multiple instances of cracked software supplied by his shady IT guy. One day while travelling to my new job, I literally watched a team of U.S. Marshals walking into his business.
I ended up getting a large amount of money through court for the overtime I worked (although not *all* of it), plus the amount of the cancelled paycheck. The best part, was that he had an account with the deli across the street: the entire time the BS was going on and my money was tied up, I could go the deli, mention their name and walk away with free food and coffee. They supplied the food and coffee for an entire wake once.
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59points
#12
I worked for a shitty a*****e and my best revenge was to open my own place, live a happy successful life and completely forget about him.
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58points
It's important to fight this overwhelming impulse to get retribution because lashing back rarely solves our problems. Rather, it might increase our anger and lead to self-destructive actions. "[Acting on revenge] usually results in more guilt and often leads to higher levels of anxiety and, in some cases, feelings of shame and self-defeat. The part of us that has a conscious will end up feeling like it was not worth it to stoop down to a lower level to make us feel better about ourselves."
#13
TL;DR: I successfully sued to enforce a oral contract against an employer who terminated me before I even started the job. Cash Money!
I had been under-employed for a little while as a bartender at a new (read: SLOW) restaurant and finally found a great job. Assistant Manager of a Sports Bar in a popular college town in the Bay Area. I went through 4 different interviews over the course of 3 weeks with the owner, GM and even the owners wife. Everyone thought that while I might be a little under-qualified, I had the right attitude and my goal is to be a GM someday so we all agreed it would be a great fit. I was hired and I told them I needed to give two weeks notice at my current job. No problem. I stood in the GM's office and we marked the calendar with my start date.
Fast forward 13 days. I am supposed to start the new job the day after tomorrow. I get a call from the GM and he tells me, the deal is off. He had previously been trying to contact someone else he worked with in the past, never heard from the guy so he hired me. Well the guy finally called and wanted the job, so the GM cancel (fired?) me and hired him instead. I told him we had an agreement and I had already quit my other job. He said, "tough s**t, what the hell are you going to do?" So I did my research and found that I have a marginal case for breach of contract. At least in California, even a oral/verbal contract is binding, it is just VERY hard to prove. 2 weeks after he called me I had my friend serve him the subpoena.
In court I made the argument that I had been hired for 2 months, after which time we had agreed to review if we all thought it was still a good fit. Therefore I am owed two months wages, which in that county happened to be exactly the limit for small claims court, $7500. The judge asked the GM if this was true. And the GM (being an idiot, but at least truthful) said yes, this was true. Basically the GM admitted that I was hired for a 2 month term and could not be fired before that time, rendering California's At-Will employment rule moot. The judge caught him on a couple other falsehoods during questioning him, so he was not inclined to give him any leeway. I was awarded the full $7500. They appealed and I still won my appeal case, although the judge reduced the damages to half, or $3750 plus court fees.
One of the greatest accomplishments in my life. With no legal education, no help from a lawyer, just my own good sense and judgement, I researched and was effectively able to enforce an oral contract in court and have it withstand an appeal. Yeah!
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57points
#14
I had a boss at an insurance company who was one of the most honest, smartest, detail oriented people I've ever worked for.
He was a former youth pastor, and he got fired for telling the head pastor things like, "You can't use cracked Microsoft software", and just generally not rolling over for everything the guy wanted.
His final paycheck was really late, and he went to the CA Dept. of Labor. He was just generally telling his story, and the agent got really interested, and kept asking questions.
Turns out his job type had to be paid overtime, which he had never expected, as he thought he was professional salaried. All those overnight movie sessions and 12 hour beach trips with kids added up to a $40K judgment against the church. So all the church members ended up with a bill because of the bad practices of this one guy, who left before the judgment anyway.
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56points
#15
I deleted the documents containing login details for all the marketing strategy files, social media, webservers and my documents. Excluding those deleted files, my brain is the only other place all those passwords are saved.
The company lost 40% of annual profits in the next 4 weeks. You sack me for nothing, you will pay with everything.
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54points
If you’re thinking about seeking payback on someone who wronged you at work, pause for a second and think. "When we react out of spite, it puts us in a more vulnerable position and can cause more damage down the line. It is okay to have urges to retaliate, but best to sit with that impulse before acting on it. Asking ourselves questions like, 'how will getting back at this person help me,' are thoughts to consider before reacting," Botwin suggested.
#16
I use to work at McDonalds a couple of years ago, and the majority of the staff was comprised of kids that went to my school, and the girls school we are associated with. Anyway there was this b***h of a manager, who would always yell at us for not doing things her way, even though that was the way we had bee trained and was by all other accounts the correct way to do it. She was also incredibly sexist and would ramble on about who women are the superior sex (a little more implicityly). Customers would constantly tell us how horrible it must be to work with her, and no employee, including the other managers, liked her.
So one shift me and this guy I went to school with went up to the other manager and said we wanted to lodge formal complaints. he gave us a whole lot of forms and we distributed them to pretty much every single employee through the afformentioned schools. They rang us each up individually and asked us to voice our concerns, for which we all said essentially the same thing, and she was moved to another store, from which she was later fired.
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51points
#17
My evil boss and I recently had a "meeting". I had sent a registered letter to him informing him of the recently agreed-upon minimum pay increase, and noted that he owed me and my colleagues since September of last year. One of his underlings attended this meeting and took the minutes. Little does he know that her husband is in HR in a similar company, and she's on my side. Just sewing up my lawsuit.
He proceeded to tell me that "laws don't apply to him" and that once you apply the law, everybody loses, and I should keep my trap shut and stop making trouble. He also threatened me with unemployment and lied about the salary rise thing. Utter b******t.
Also, he informed me that I would not be paid for this meeting (in my country, under my contract, I should be paid for any and all work-related activities, and meetings to get my a*s chewed out are included).
Coworker typed up the minutes, gave me a copy and her affidavit of what happened, and I sent it off to my labor lawyer.
Boss has no clue what's coming to him. There are about 10 of us who are on the verge of fixing his little red wagon for various and sundry reasons: unpaid overtime, cheating on our hours, nonpayment of meetings and travel time, being hired lower than our pay grade, illegal contracts, the list is looooong. Every day, the boss gets himself in deeper.
I know he'll fire me. That's fine. I'm kinda looking forward to it. :-)
I f*****g hate this guy.
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48points
#18
I worked under the table at an irish pub many years ago. I did everything for the kitchen imaginable. Prepped, cooked, cleaned, counting and ordering inventory, hell i even vaccuumed the front of house and cleaned the bathrooms, etc. I worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for easily 8 months of my life. My boss would have us record our hours on a time sheet in the back above the cash register. I was typically the last to write my name on the sheet as I was always last to leave aside from him. On more than a lot of occassions I would come in on pay day and be shorted a ton of cash, and when being referred to the time sheets, my area of the sheet was quite cleanly cut off. He tried to play it off as if I hadn't worked at all for certain days. Which is obviously b******t, because I was the only schmuck working in the f*****g kitchen.
Anyways this continues until he owes me about $700 above what I am owed for my regular paycheck. On the day before St. Patty's I confront him and tell him I'm not working until he pays me, in full, on the spot. He makes excuses about not having the money, etc and eventually he concedes, pulls out a waad of cash, counts the entire thing at about $550 and says, go start the kitchen now and mumbled some profanities.
There were a few patrons he let in early to start drinking, etc. Regular customers who were very aware of my financial issue and how much of a twat this guy was, I had made good friends with over the time I spent there. I said, "you know what? No. You can go f**k yourself." I grabbed the wad of cash from his fat grubby hand and walked out the front door and never went back. All the regulars were clapping as I left.
To give you an idea of how f****d I left him on the day before the busiest day of the year, that f****r couldn't even make a grilled cheese sandwich for himself. Which is why he opened his own restaurant for himself, so he could have someone cook his meals for him.
Anyways, two months later, I heard some bookies came to collect his outstanding gambling debts, which he didn't have the money for. They dragged him downstairs, beat the ever loving s**t out of him and basicalyl left him for dead. Two weeks after that, the CRA had shut his business down with a note on the door stating he owed about $55,000 in back taxes and there was a warrant out for his arrest. Last I heard he had fled the country and gone back to Ireland before they could pick him up.
**TL;DR Scumbag boss got what was coming to him. Karma's a b***h**
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38points
#19
Was a project manager for a small business (construction related). Worked 50 - 60 hours a week, often from home.
Boss was an older guy, still liked doing things old school, but had terrible organization skills. I helped him get in the digital age with a new server, drawing file system, and project management software etc.
Every client loves me, some actually call the office to tell him, which incidentally he hates because he's an egotistical douche.
Company is mad profitable through the recession, he is able to pay off all his creditors, gets himself a new BMW, vacations for family several times a year.
Company hits a three month slide. After the FIRST month of going back into the red he lays me an the other, newly hired, project manager off since we were the highest paid. Keeps the other support and production staff who were fresh out of college and making 50% of what we made.
Lays me off with no notice, just a Friday afternoon "I'm letting you go" after 3 years with the company. I had just purchased a house, had a baby with my wife, and routinely worked late and on weekends even though I was salaried. Never took sick days. We were offered no vacation package. Work was my life and my wife hated it.
He was too cheap to ever buy me a laptop, so I used my own since I was always traveling to job sites and the office. My outlook, appointment, contacts, reams of construction support documents, ACAD dwg's etc. we're on my computer.
I go home; start drinking, and drinking
He calls me after a while furious, and cursing that I have stolen his client list, drawings, etc. and that I need to be at the office 8am to hand over my laptop and all the admin passwords to the server (which I admin'd) website (which I built), company facebook, etc.
Show up around 10:30am after missing about 50 phone calls from him earlier. But I bring the wife's identical laptop with me. Boot up to pictures of puppies. Desktop littered with cookie recipes and 10,000 pictures of our kids.
Bricks are shat.
I feign ignorance. "It was right here" I say, "must be a virus or something."
I was threatened by a letter from a lawyer after that, but nothing further ever came from it. (It's now been almost 2 years). I never gave him anything, and blocked his number and emails. His business is down to him and a part time employee working from his home.
I know for a certain fact that he lost accounts over this. He missed alot of meetings, and anyone in the heavy construction industry can tell TIME FRIGGIN MATTERS. Deadlines were missed. Drawings delayed. Things were still going to my email for a long time.
I now work for a large local entity that he always sought a contract with, and I'm in the position to influence the selection of construction consultants and contractors for most jobs. He'll work here over my dead body and he knows it.
I hope everyday that I'll accidentally run into him again.
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38points
#20
Didn't get a chance to pass on any of my tribal knowledge and while my knowledge base articles and drawings were up to date none of it included idiosyncrasies in nearly every location that you'd need to know about. I got brought back as a consultant at 40% above what I was paid previously. They were trying to cut costs and went after the person that was paid the most in the department, without realizing WHY I was paid the most in the department.
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36points