How many times have people been told that stinginess does not lead to anything good? Hundreds of books have been written about this, dozens of films have been shot - but still there is some businessman who, while earning millions, is simultaneously trying desperately to save on paper clips.
And it's good if it's only on paper clips - after all, sometimes they save on clients' solutions and on the salaries of their own employees. And then, as in the best traditions of fairy tales, something happens, as a result of which stinginess is punished... until the next such incident.
Interestingly, this Redditor, whose post in the Malicious Compliance community has racked up almost 20K upvotes and over 570 comments over the past few days, had to wait over a decade for such an event. True, it regarded mainly their stingy former boss... however, let's go in order.
More info: Reddit
The Original Poster once worked in a company whose boss was a top-notch miser
Image source: Ishikawa Ken (not the actual photo)
So, the Original Poster worked for a company years ago and the CEO was a top-notch miser who skimped on everything he could - and even on a lot of things he couldn't. For example, on a service solution for a large client, from which the company received millions, but the boss was reluctant to pay several thousand dollars for a yearly image hosting plan.
Image source: WhoSc3w3dDaP00ch
The OP had to find a free solution as the boss did not want to pay for image hosting
Instead, the OP was tasked with finding an alternative free solution and they found it by creating an account on the Flickr photo service. True, the OP honestly warned that their solution looked like a house of cards and could collapse at any moment.
Just in case, they wrote down the account credentials in a physical notebook that was in their desktop drawer. The "case" soon presented itself...
Image source: WhoSc3w3dDaP00ch
The employee asked for a raise but was immediately offered to quit instead
A few months later, the OP got a promotion and went to the boss to ask for a raise (yes, all such decisions in the company were supposed to be coordinated with the CEO). The miser, of course, refused, saying that if the OP didn't like something, they could quit.
The employee thought - and quit, having received a threat to sue them if they further divulged any information about the company or clients to anyone. In other words, "forget everything you know about my company!" End of quote.
Image source: WhoSc3w3dDaP00ch
Ten years later, the ex-boss reached out and asked for help with the same client's lost data
The OP did just that; however, before leaving, they honestly sent an email to the boss where they reported all the credentials on work accounts, as well as the fact that the login and password for the Flickr account were recorded in the notebook, which remained on the desktop. End of story...
Or not! About ten years later, the OP received an email from the same ex-boss with the familiar threat of suing them if they did not help recover important data. It turns out that over the past years, not only did no one even bother to change the image hosting account, but they didn’t even read that last email, and when Flickr changed the terms of service, no one, of course, reacted - and the images were deleted.
Image source: Mitch Barrie (not the actual photo)
The OP answered that they just forgot everything related to the job, as the boss himself demanded years ago
For the OP, the finest hour came - they answered the former boss that, in full accordance with his requirement, they forgot absolutely everything related to the former job, and the account credentials were in a notebook that the OP left ten years ago.
To be honest, the OP admits that even if they wanted to, they just could not have helped the ex-boss, as they sometimes do not remember what they ate for breakfast, and certainly not that data e-mailed ten years ago. In any case, stinginess was once again epically punished.
Commenters found out that there are a lot of stingy bosses around us
Interestingly, many people in the comments were not as polite as the OP, claiming that if they had been in their place, they would have simply answered the boss using some curse words. As it turns out, many have faced stingy bosses as well, and such managers also distribute threats to sue somebody here, there and everywhere.
Also, some commenters were quite curious about what the boss said to the OP's email (and probably even more interested in seeing his face while reading this email). In any case, one can only guess.
In addition, we will be very glad to hear your comments and, of course, if you have dealt with a mean boss earlier in your life, we will gladly read your story. And well, if you are such a boss yourself, we hope you're not too stingy for a single comment!