People Broadcast Their "Top Dog" Revenge
9. Go Ahead And Call The Police On Yourself, Bud
“So several years ago I worked as an unarmed guard for a security company that was contracted to watch over a new construction site for a large wind farm. This area was hilly rural terrain with lots of wind perfect for this kind of project or so I was told by the many contractors on the project.
It was also popular with hunters both local and not.
The possibility of bullet holes in equipment being the primary concern followed by long-distance theft. The property had an old dirt road running through it that had been previously open to anyone wanting to use it. This part becomes more important later.
I had been working on this site since they broke ground on construction and never had any issues until a roll of copper wire was stolen.
Our company had assumed that anyone trying to do anything on the site would use the heavily improved road through the site. They were proven wrong when that spool went out the back road.
The only other access road that met up behind the property was nearly impassable for anything but 4 wheel drive trucks. So had been considered unimportant beforehand. Needless to say, we moved to 2 guards minimum overnight, one at the main entrance and one patrolling the site.
The other change was that the company that owned the project decided to require every person entering the site to have a badge identifying them.
Due to the popularity with hunters, it created some issues due to this road now being the smoothest and quickest way to the backside of the property. The hunters would come and go but the people who owned cabins behind the property were more regularly seen throughout the year.
It was one of these owners that became the biggest problem. He was proud to flaunt the office he had previously held and adamant that he had an easement to drive through this property to get to his. It may be different in other areas but here an easement, the ability to drive through someone else’s property, is given if there is no alternative route available.
With there being a road that led out to the public roads from the back of the property we were guarding this wasn’t the case here. The company we were contracted with was actually pretty reasonable with allowing access no money involved and just some personal info. For this particular individual that wasn’t good enough.
He made a routine of speeding past the guards and refusing to stop.
So a gate was installed and kept shut short of the construction crews starting and ending shifts. One of the other guards let us know that he was trying to get a ticket or get arrested so he could take the owner to court.
My luck would have it that he chose one of my shifts to try to run the gate. This shift was a mid-day on a Sunday with a crew that had come in for overtime to fix something in one of the nacelles, the large box behind the blades, that had been flagged during testing and couldn’t wait for repair.
Honestly not too sure what was going on with that end.
With all of that in mind this gentleman drives up and starts yelling about accessing his property, we have his picture so I already knew who he was. I pretended to not hear him clearly giving me enough time to start using the gate in front of him. This is not a fancy electric gate it’s a steel cattle gate that you have to walk open and closed.
As I start shutting the gate he starts driving forward so I stop and stand in front of his truck and let the gate swing back open. He tells me to move out of his way to which I responded that I know he won’t risk running me over because he knows he would lose what he is trying to gain, free and unrestricted access through the property to his.
Seeing that I have the advantage he decides to try a different approach.
He made a comment along the lines of just blocking the road until I let him through or call the cops. I bluffed a little in telling him about the crew working on-site and said I wouldn’t do anything about it but since they were on overtime on a weekend I wouldn’t stop them from doing whatever they needed to do to be able to go home.
Which led to him pushing to get the police involved.
Now is where we start to get into the mc. I was given explicit instructions not to call the police on him because all that was wanted was for him to come back during the week to get a pass. Which I told him repeatedly to no avail.
He decided to keep pushing the police getting called which I kind of started to find funny the more he talked about it.
He went from simply saying I should call them to more in-depth pushing. He asked if we had a phone in the guard shack, which we didn’t. He asked if I had a cellphone, which I lied and said I didn’t, which was more believable considering they hadn’t gotten very popular yet.
He then said he did but didn’t want to call 911 since it wasn’t an emergency and asked if we had a phone book.
Still not sure why we had one but it was there. He even tried to get me to call the sheriff on him off of his own phone, which I again refused. Not ready to give up he took it upon himself to call the sheriff’s department on himself.
Satisfied that the police were on their way he moved his vehicle aside and allowed me to shut the gate.
It was about 30 minutes before the first deputy arrived since it was a weekend and a remote part of the county they served. Being the security guard they approached me first.
I told them what had happened and that neither my company nor the property owner had an issue with him or what he was doing as he was outside the gate and not blocking anything.
The officer shook his head about this guy calling them in himself and walked over to talk to the ex-elected official. It’s about this time that the crew that was working came down asked what was going on and had a quick laugh before heading back home or wherever they were staying.
In all about 5 officers responded to this call and each one got a laugh about getting a call like this one.
It must have been a slow day for them to have so many show up for this joke call and then take another half hour to 45 minutes deciding how to handle it. In the end, they gave him his ticket for falsely reporting a crime or something along those lines.
To which I hear him yelling out his window as he drives off that he got his day in court. The officers who had yet to start leaving laughed and said yeah he will get his day in court but it’s not going to be the one he thinks he’s getting.”
8. He Got His Freaking Fries Alright
Is this man seriously going to throw a tantrum over fries?!
“This was a couple of years ago so the conversation might not be exact but I can remember exactly what happened. Sorry for the long post but this has been sitting in my back pocket ever since it happened and I just want to rant along with telling my story…
I worked in a popular fast food restaurant, I had worked in the food industry since I left school so I was pretty good at my job, I always put a smile on my face and tried to make the customers as happy as I possibly could, even if I wasn’t in the best mindset.
Also, I should mention that the restaurant was literally opposite a football stadium so I could get very busy during match days with the line going beyond the restaurant doors.
We had a few “regular customers” who would usually order the same meal every time they came in, the majority of them were super polite and we would have a casual chat while the food was being prepared.
Apart from one particular customer.
This particular customer always made a scene about how he was a taxi driver and didn’t have time to wait in the line, he also wanted his food then and there. Overall super rude and “entitled”, what made it worse was the managers always complied with his demands, letting him skip the line and making his order before he had even paid.
This always irked me but I could never say anything.
Cut to the day in question, there was a huge match in the stadium with easily over 10,000 fans coming to watch, it was going to be busy. The managers had made sure we had extra hands in store to handle the incoming stampede of customers. So the match finishes and just as expected the line is long, I’m talking out the door and down the street.
We handle the horde of hungry fans as quickly as we could, with the customers waiting about 20 minutes for their orders, not too bad. The extra sets of hands at this point have now gone home and I’m left serving the last few customers when I see the “rude driver” trying to push his way through the doors of customers leaving. That itself was quite funny to watch.
He finally makes it through the doors and barges through the line to the front, I know what’s coming and so it begins.
He starts complaining about how he had to wait over 30 minutes to just get into the store, how this is unacceptable for a regular customer especially such a “busy” one as himself. I apologize to him for the wait but explain that it’s matchday and there’s not much I can do about the line.
He then decides to go on about how I’m so slow and I can’t do my job properly. At this point I was tired and just wanted to go home, still, I put a smile on and in my best customer service voice ask what he would like to order.
This seemed to be the final straw for him as he stated in a very loud voice that I should know his order by now (which was a set box consisting of “1 piece of chicken (RIB) and extra-large fries”) and that I was just being petty.
I thought to myself I’ll show you petty. I apologized and put his order through, he proceeds to throw the cash at me and storms off to the collection area. No problem! I finish up his payment and go round the back to make his order.
He always complains how there’s never enough fries in his box so I make sure to put extra in the box, again I just want to go home now the quicker I serve him the better! So I finished preparing his box and go to give him his order.
He stands there holding a finger up at me telling me to wait while he checks the food. What a surprise he says he wants more fries whilst throwing a tantrum I would expect from a 3-year-old.
I explain to him that I had already put “extra” fries in the box. But no he wanted more! I tried to explain that with the set box you get 1 side of extra-large fries (basically 1 large and 1 small combined) he proceeds to say that there’s no way those were extra-large fries and demands a new fresh box and to speak to the manager.
I’m done now, as previously mentioned I had already had multiple encounters with this man, I was done with him and his rude ways. I apologize, go round the back and explain the situation to one of the really nice managers. The customer had previously been very rude and racist towards the manager so without a second breath he said he would deal with it but I had a plan, I asked him to just come up front and stand witness for me, in case anything would go wrong.
Here comes my turn for the malicious compliance, I grab the piece of chicken, 1 large and 1 small bag of extra fresh fries, and walk around the front. My manager is looking at me like I’m going insane but just lets me continue purely for the interest in seeing what I was about to do. I ask my manager what extra-large fries consist of, “1 large and 1 small” he replies.
Brilliant! just as I had been saying all along.
I then proceeded to grab the box with his chicken and dump the correct amount of fries into the box, which was considerably smaller than the previous box. He looks at me dumbfounded and shouts in my face that I should listen to him and that the customer is always right, he makes a grab for the previous box I had made, but with a smile, I say “yes you are most certainly right! Here is your box of chicken with your EXTRA large fries” and then proceed to chuck his previous box straight into the bin.
He was furious claiming I was terrible at my job along with a flurry of other insults and that I should be fired, all while my manager was stood there trying to hold back his laughter. I simply said that I had given him exactly what he wanted and I couldn’t see the problem. Other customers who were waiting had seen the whole ordeal and were now laughing at how pathetic he looked.
Many told him to get lost and leave me alone, he now was looking like a fool in front of the whole store.
Safe to say he took his box and left rather angry, I was told I could go home now (finally) and slept peacefully knowing that I had finally stuck it to the rude taxi driver, even if it was really petty. Oh, also he never came back to the restaurant again bonus.
He got multiple calls to the taxi company complaining about how rude and disrespectful he was to others and was promptly dismissed from the company, I’m guessing he had previous complaints about him and they too were “done” with him.”
7. Relationship Suddenly Turns Sour With Boss? Good Luck Replacing Me
“I used to work for a firm that “specializes” in food & beverage franchises. I got referred by a mutual friend and based solely on my personal food & beverage blog. I got hired – no interview. I myself was replacing an entire company (which actually has a very controversial reputation in the food & beverage community in my city) they previously outsourced. But, I was leaving an even lower-paying job, so this one seemed like a real catch.
At first, everything seemed like an upgrade – a younger, more fun environment, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in my cultural language (which unfortunately isn’t my first language given that I grew up in Canada, where we speak English), and I was working in a field that also aligned with my passion for food & beverages. There are 3 co-founders, 2 male and 1 female – I worked most closely with one male (let’s call him Doughboy), but mostly the female (let’s call her Puggy).
I developed a close working relationship with Puggy. She followed my blog, and I followed her back. We’d chat through DMs occasionally, and she’d gossip about so-and-so, and I’d tell her about scandals in the foodie community. She told me about her vision for the company, and I believed in it too. I even referred a good friend of mine to the company (and she became a fundamental pillar as well).
When we joined the company, the timing was perfect for them because we were replacing other people (who’d left for “personal reasons,” which I eventually discovered was a lack of work-life balance) who were just about to leave.
Puggy used to tell my friend and me things like, “Oh, I have a 24-month plan for you guys,” “You won’t be at your desks, soon you’ll be in the co-founder offices (insinuating she wouldn’t even be here because we’d be that “established” by then),” “You guys are the face of the brand,” “You’ll be sent to other cities as representatives for interested franchisees,” etc.
These were promises that were easy to make now, easy to forget about/not follow-up on later.
To provide some background on myself: I’m currently the only person in my household of 4 people who has a job. I’m providing for my entire family, and I have been for the last few years. My dad underwent an emergency life-saving operation when I started this previous job, and my bosses were aware that I also was his primary caregiver (due to current times, he was only permitted one visitor who was appointed as his primary caregiver).
I would be juggling work and driving downtown (approximately 40-60 minutes because there’s always awful traffic) every day, even on weekends.
Now, in order, I’m going to start going through a general timeline:
A note: they’re a start-up (they like to say “mid-size”, but their corporate office is literally 10-15 employees. To make them “mid-size,” they include franchise stores’ employees into the employee count), so they don’t have an HR department or even an HR staff member.
The co-founders are HR (except for interviewing and hiring – that became my responsibility).
After my 3 month probationary period, Puggy didn’t speak to me about instating me permanently as full-time until about 1-2 weeks later. My health and dental benefits weren’t instated until about 2 months after that. At the time, there was one part-timer who helped do a little bit of work. Puggy told me she didn’t want there to be a power imbalance between us, okay, no problem.
By 5-6 months, my role was already “evolving” (honestly, it was “devolving” in my opinion). I started being given tasks that weren’t on my job description, and I started overseeing more part-timers who helped me with my scope of work. There wasn’t a 6-month check-in to discuss career growth. By this time I’d developed good relationships with other colleagues, including managers, supervisors, and staff at the stores.
Whenever I’d walk into a flagship store (I had to oversee content photoshoots), the managers would immediately ask me if the co-founders were coming in, and when I said no (which I usually did since photo shoots were my responsibility), they’d visibly relax. The master trainer, who was working to become the district manager, opened up to me about how he was feeling about the job, the way the co-founders were constantly finding reasons to yell at him, etc.
Turns out not just corporate employees struggle with the lack of organization and subsequent blaming.
By 7-8 months, I was performing tasks for about 3 different jobs, was constantly working overtime, and was losing interest in my personal food blog.
By 9-10 months, I’d lost 10-15lbs (I’m 5″2 and hit about 90-95lb) because I frequently had to skip lunch, it was re-triggering previous eating disorders, and I was perpetually stressed and anxious (I’d even developed excessive sweating in my palms due to stress).
Additionally, it was at this time that Puggy questioned why I wasn’t managing the part-timers. I told her she’d previously told me that she didn’t want the part-timers to feel like there was a power imbalance. She told me “oh, I think it’s just naturally shifted into the direction where you’re leading them.” Okay, so I was now managing a team of people in addition to my 3 job descriptions.
But there was no mention of a raise, title change, nothing. Just a “natural progression…”
During this timeline, Puggy and Doughboy just started piling on tasks, and not in an organized manner whatsoever. There wasn’t proper documentation or an email outlining what tasks needed to be done. They’d tell me verbally, and whenever they’d just think of something. Often, they’d forget to ask me to do something, but then get very angry if it wasn’t done later.
They’re quick to criticize, and rarely ever show gratitude (unless they’re talking about themselves). Seriously, once Douhgboy thought he was hilarious for telling me (loudly in front of the entire office): “you’re the kind of person to stay with an unfaithful partner” just because I refused to yell at a franchisee, BECAUSE THE CO-FOUNDERS PREVIOUSLY TOLD ME TO BE NICE TO THEM!? Albeit my intense stress, I tried not to complain, had nothing but good things to say about the company, and became very good at multitasking a ridiculous amount of tasks, also while prioritizing them even as new tasks came in.
I had planned to go on vacation at the beginning of September, I notified Puggy a month in advance, and she gave me permission. It was supposed to be after a new store’s grand opening event. But, as always, the grand opening was delayed MULTIPLE times, and ended up coinciding with my vacation. Nevertheless, I was determined to take my vacation. The flights had been booked and the itinerary planned.
The week leading up to my vacation was pure freaking chaos: not only was I setting up a ton of detailed notes for the grand opening operations in my absence, but I was also approached by a recruiter hired by a company in a different industry (job would be in the same field). When I saw the offer for the starting salary, I was shocked – it was $25k more than my annual salary at the time.
Not only that, but the company was a large and established company with thousands of employees globally. I knew this job could help alleviate my constant financial stress. So, I went through a very fast interview process (they were on a tight timeline and had already been looking to fill this role for 2-3 months). I killed those interviews – in fact, the interviewing company was so impressed with me that they offered a signing bonus and a bump in my starting salary.
I knew that this would not only be a good financial upgrade, but it would be a great step in my career journey to diversify my experience. I practiced what I was going to say to Puggy.
Puggy was LIVID. Her face literally dropped when I told her, crying (yes, I started crying because I was sad to be leaving – I cared a lot, and frankly, too much for these buttholes) that I was likely going to change jobs.
However, I made it clear that I was never looking for another job (yes, I was LOYAL as heck!), but actually got reached out to, I was open and transparent, and she knew about my family situation. She counter-offered 8k less than the other company, telling me that the starting salary they were offering was a “senior level” salary (in my field, senior-level is at least 6 figures, and my offered salary was still not near that).
She even went further to insinuate that the $8k raise would be a cap, and not guaranteed to go higher in the following years. Look, the co-founders wear nothing but designer, drive cars that are $90k and more, but refuse to pay full-time employees more than $20/h. Ironically, she kept trying to guilt me to stay throughout our conversation by telling me “some people are in it for the money, that’s their choice…”.
She also tried to blame my sister for “not helping me out”, which in her mind, was why I was stressed. No responsibility whatsoever. I was even courteous enough not to tell her about the severe lack of internal organization, poor attitude of the co-founders, and minimal work-life balance. So, I decided to resign – she asked me to stay on part-time to still oversee content photoshoots because she’s so incredibly picky (and inconsistent, to be honest) about aesthetics, but I always produced good results.
I sent her a letter of transition from full-time to part-time.
When I went on vacation, not only did Puggy ask me to join the weekly internal meeting on my first day off, but she tried to contact me, non-stop throughout my vacation. She even tried to criticize me when I was helping with non-emergencies while on vacation – I was dealing with a matter that wasn’t brought to my attention until the day before I left.
That disorganization is on HER, not me. When I stopped replying on my work phone, she started sending messages via my friend/colleague (how ridiculous!). These messages were not emergencies, they were things like “tell OP she’s responsible for roaming charges since she’s not on company time.” How stupid does she think I am? When that didn’t work, she started contacting me via my personal phone. I woke up to an influx of messages, screenshots of work messages, and I cried from the stress and her blatant invasive behavior.
She was being really freaking petty, and my friend/colleague told me how everything in the office was a mess, and how Puggy was taking out her petty anger on everyone. I finally told her that the little issues had already been resolved and passed onto another colleague, my work phone died (I didn’t bring the charger, I was on VACATION), and that out of courtesy I would check a workgroup chat occasionally, but with minimal/slow replies.
She left me a “k thx.”
When I came back from vacation, the entire office could tell how cold she was being to me, although I was still as kind as ever. No one could understand why, because she always acted so chummy with me. It’s because she knew she was losing her right-hand man; I had effectively become her “minion” and did so many things so she wouldn’t have to.
She called me into her office, and pretended like (1) she didn’t know I traveled and that (2) she’d replaced me with a “stacked” team while I was away (I hired about half of that team before I’d gone on vacation), and would get back to me about my part-time hours (as if I was the one begging to stay!). So, I told her I was always transparent and was glad she seemed to have things “under control”.
I sent her a full resignation letter.
My revenge? I barely had to lift a finger. I simply just left. The domino effect I left in my absence was my last word.
I found out from my friend/colleague that after I left, the office was a chaotic mess: photoshoots had to be constantly re-shot multiple times a week as opposed to one shoot every 2-4 weeks when I was coordinating them, the taskboard was a mess (Puggy told my replacements to organize my “mess”, to which they tried and ended up restoring any taskboards I made back to how they originally were (I know anything I made was pristine), and no one knew who to contact for what anymore because roles weren’t properly outlined.
Not only is my friend/colleague finishing up her 2 weeks notice now (yes, she quit too and they’re SWEATING even harder now – she’s also being replaced with 6+ people and I’m speechless), but several other colleagues I’d met/referred and developed good relationships with are looking to leave too, now that I’ve gone. One of them even wants to return to her previous full-time job at a competitor.
Puggy has to ask her staff to leave 5-star reviews for their stores because they constantly receive low reviews for poorly planned grand openings (of which I didn’t coordinate).
Puggy now has to go in every day for nearly the full day to do all the tasks that I previously did so she could waltz in late with her Starbucks and nails done.
Doughboy and Puggy are being extra nice to current and new employees, promising them raises, offering to help them lease a car, and telling them to not work on weekends because they can’t afford to lose more corporate staff now, especially with my friend/colleague leaving too.
This lasted less than a day before they started contacting employees on weekends again.
I couldn’t care less if Puggy talks trash non-stop and tries to blame me for the company’s disorganization. She decided the burn the bridge with me, and I am completely okay with removing that toxicity from my life. My new replacements will see through that nonsense in less than a month. Their turnover rate is SO high, that I kid you not, my 10-month employment has been one of the longest terms there.
So, I learned that there really are people who only like you when you’re their ideal version (in her case, a loyal and underpaid minion to alleviate herself), and absolutely despise you without justified reasons when you start to succeed without them. So, let yourself succeed, and don’t let an employer tell you how much you’re worth – YOU determine that.”
6. Take You To Court? Better Cross Your Fingers You Don't Lose
“This chain of events started almost twenty years ago and involves me and a notoriously snooty national Real Estate agency.
There is a bit of background leading to the MC incident so please bear with me. This all occurred in QLD, Australia.
I once rented a property through an agency from 2004-2006. Due to my ex-partner’s explosive (and violent) temper, we had been handed an eviction notice. There was damage to the property that was unfixed at the time we were evicted.
Damage that was in the form of fist and hammer-sized holes in walls etc.
We obviously did not receive any of the bond deposit back as the repair costs more than absorbed the amount. There was also an added sum of about $1,700 extra to cover the rest of the costs incurred repairing the damage. This amount was forwarded to a debt collections agency. This collection amount was in both of our names as we had jointly been on the lease agreement.
I was not upset at the agency, they were just doing their job by being a good advocate for the owner of the property at this stage. Taking the bond and charging us for the repair was standard and not nasty, vindictive, or overkill in the slightest. My anger came later.
Although I must admit I was a bit miffed to be dually held financially responsible for the damage caused by my ex, but due to the nature of the joint lease, not much could be legally done.
I was just grateful we had parted ways not long after…
A few years post-eviction I wanted to get my life more organized in many areas and tie up any loose ends that would impede me from moving forward. A clean slate so to speak. So the debt issue came first.
After many phone calls, and some paperwork exchange (plus an escalation or two) the debt collection agency finally agreed to split the $1,700 damages bill between the ex and me.
Now I could pay off half and not be held accountable for his portion any longer.
This had to be done without his consent as he refused. I’m unsure as to why, possibly hoping I would pay the whole lot to rebuild my credit rating, or most likely just to be annoying.
Once I had paid off ‘my portion’ of the collector’s debt I thought I was done with the whole business and the black mark against my name.
Not so, unfortunately. It turned out that the State I lived in had a blacklist that Real Estate agencies and lessors could add tenants’ names to. It’s called the TICA list. All they needed was proof that the tenant had behaved in a bad enough manner regarding renting of a property to warrant being listed. Due to the fact we had been evicted, the damage, and also owed arrears to a debt agency for repairs we unfortunately qualified.
Being on this list made it almost impossible to rent, especially via a Real Estate agency.
After speaking extensively with the RTA – which is a government agency – I found I was definitely eligible to have my name removed from the list so I started taking action for this to happen. I was able to demonstrate good faith by having paid for half of the damages.
It also went in my favor that my partner was abusive and there was legal evidence of this fact.
However, I was told the only way to have my name removed was by the Real Estate agency. So I approached them and asked for them to do so.
They were very helpful initially, if I was able to show them proof that the debt was settled they were happy to remove my name.
At least seven years had elapsed by this point so it was considered punishment enough.
At the time after five years, your name is usually removed from the TICA list, however, this company apparently kept tabs on who they had added to the list, and when the person’s five years expired they just added them again.
Dirty tactics indeed, obviously I had been re-added.
So I provided relevant documents to the agency and was assured my name would be removed as soon as they located my file.
This apparently had been stored away in archives as much time had passed since I rented with them. I was told this would take a week maximum. All good.
So I called a week later and was told to wait another week, still in a kind, helpful and cordial tone. I called again after that time and was told to wait – you guessed it – another week, and this time I detected a tone of frost in the reply.
So I called back more than a week later just to show patience and now was spoken to in a very haughty manner. I was informed that my request was bothersome! Being so because what I asked was not important and finding my file was a waste of their staff time. They would call me when they got around to it…
I expressed how important it was personally, and then heard the magic words (almost verbatim) “If you want us to do this so badly, we will only be forced to help you if ordered, perhaps you should take us to court if you can’t be patient.
Goodbye.” String me along?
Ok, Game on…
I had a feeling this was all done to avoid removing my name as they had found my file. Also that they were stalling, and wanted me to stay blacklisted. But I wasn’t backing down without a fight, and so I took their advice.
I filed against them to have the matter seen in a Small Claims Court. It cost me $35 which would be reimbursed by the agency if I won.
I didn’t have anything to lose and I wanted them to know that not all people will hold indefinitely, or continue to be unjustly punished for longer than fair. It was listed to appear in about four days from filing.
As soon as they received the court date paperwork I was suddenly bombarded with phone calls! How dare I take the agency to court when they were working their hardest to find my file and help me?!
Doing my best to sound apologetic for taking their advice, I thanked them for the suggestion, as it seemed there would now be a timeframe at least for the matter to be dealt with.
On the day of court, I had three sheets of paper as my sole evidence. A statement showing that the repair bill had been paid and there were no finances outstanding. A statement from the RTA that I was eligible to have my name taken off the TICA list. And lastly, a document stating it was at the behest of the Real Estate agency to remove my name and that they had no good reason not to.
Not one but two agents for the company showed up to Court. When it came before the judge both parties had to give evidence if relevant. I handed in my three pages. Seeing them pass the judge a thick folder of paperwork (including photos of the property damage) was rather amusing considering they supposedly couldn’t find my file when last requested.
The judge asked them for a statement.
They went on for a few minutes about why I didn’t deserve to be removed and justified their stance with the photos and prior rental history with them.
All I had to reply was that I had paid for my share of the damage, that the damage was due to my abusive ex, and that I had made restitution as much as I could regarding the matter.
With no dollar owing.
The judge then asked why I had brought it to court? I explained that the company was dragging their feet removing my name when it was a simple matter, and it wasn’t necessarily fair to do so. That I had called them repeatedly and waited while they found my (so hard to locate) paperwork that had somehow miraculously appeared when convenient. That being on the TICA list was harmful to my future chances at renting and also that my name had been re-submitted after dropping off the list.
The judge queried them why they had added my name again. They stated it was company policy. The judge expressed agreement with my stance. I had been punished enough, had made financial restitution and now that my file had been located I was not to be blacklisted anymore. Case decided in my favor.
Win!
The Real Estate agency was given 48 hours to submit proof to the court (and a copy to myself) that I was now off the list.
Also, they had to pay for the $35 I spent taking them to court.
The pair of agents walked out in a huff and were on the phone out in the hallway immediately after vacating the courtroom. I floated past them as I was on a justice high.
As I got to the lifts I thanked them for coming and their sound advice in recommending court. Also that I was grateful for the bottle of wine they would be buying me with the $35 I was to be paid back.
The look on their faces was priceless.”
Another User Comments:
“My ex and I were evicted once because we couldn’t pay our rent. Between his surgery, medical bills, and lower hours at work… We were broke, so we (rightfully) lost the apartment. We had an eviction mark on our records and it was so incredibly hard to get an apartment after that.
There is a reason it falls off your record after a while. Circumstances change. People should be allowed to prove themselves again. That agency is dirty rotten scoundrels for punishing people indefinitely. What, so they think people should be homeless forever because of a mistake? Worse, do they think the victim of abuse should also suffer?
I wish they could be punished more.” girlswithswords
5. Fire Me For Calling Security? Thanks For The Paid Year-Long Vacation!
“So this happened almost X years ago and it just now came to full fruition. I’m omitting and or changing some info, especially stuff that could link me to the businesses involved, but the main story and eventual revenge will remain intact albeit changed a little bit.
The entities and or people involved:
1: Abe (Larger store)
2: Bee (Franchise inside Abe)
3: Dee (problematic employee of Bee)
4: Sea (co-worker)
Rewind almost X years ago.
I’m still employed at Bee’s within another larger more successful store Abe and almost at my 7-year mark with zero disciplinary marks or unexcused absences etc. I was pretty well known in the larger store’s management and would often resolve issues that stemmed from Bee being within their store that our current management would fail at or ignore. The work environment grew over my employment at Bee’s to be toxic due to little oversight or follow-through from an overworked management team.
It was the standard nonsense a lot of places do, try to dish more responsibilities off to hard workers with promises and or low pay increases while the rest of the lot got away with w/e. Unless you flat out stole, you could screw off for most of your shift while the few loyal others worked and while still getting paid with little to no consequences.
Well, this grew to a head and one day a new employee Dee (who was hardly ever sober when clocked in) caused a scene that resulted in me intervening which resulted in them physically threatening me numerous times in a very aggressive manner, all on video btw. So, a co-worker, Sea, while witnessing this called management of Bee who flat out told them to NOT call police despite there being threats of violence but rather call security within Abe, highly illegal, but, we will get to that later.
So I called security.
This whole ordeal resulted in Abe’s head of security watching the video and then immediately calling the police and searching for Dee to eject them from the store and or possibly arrest them, completely circumventing Bee’s management. Well turns out Dee already fled so they couldn’t eject them from the store, question, or even get their side of the story. Abe thanked me for my cooperation with statements, info, etc, I then called my management at Bee’s and informed them of what happened, gave them a real piece of my mind pertaining to the toxic environment (no cussing), and then told them I would be clocking out for the rest of my shift due to do distress caused by their continued negligence.
They agreed that would be best and I left. I was then informed the next day by phone from Bee that I was being terminated. I calmly said I understood and requested in writing why my employment was being terminated via mail or email. They agreed and I said thank you and hung up. This caused quite a stir within Abe’s and they expressed how upset and confused they were on how I was being treated to Bee.
Well, the next day I get that email from Bee and it says I was being fired for calling security and contributing to a dangerous situation. Ok, cool. You want to play it that way? Fine. I got right to work getting my ducks in line for the eventual appeal I knew they would file against my initial unemployment claim. Witnesses, pictures, events I had cataloged, etc.
The whole shebang. The day comes when the judiciary calls me and I plea my side of the case. After a long phone call where I meticulously laid out how disorganized and toxic my work environment was over the course of my employment and got information on how to submit evidence etc, I thanked the agent and we ended the call. About 3 weeks later I get a letter from the local govt saying that they ruled in my favor.
This was incredible but nerve-wracking, to say the least. I knew Bee would file their last right to another appeal and this time I would have to do actual court. Bee did eventually file their right to a 2nd appeal.
The day of court arrives and due to the even worse state of society right now, it’s held over the phone. The judiciary asks me if I want my witnesses to be present during my and Bee’s questioning, back and forth, etc.
I said no because I believed their testimony would be the same regardless and the trial went on. Well surprise surprise, turns out whatever overworked employee Bee put in charge of submitting their evidence dropped the ball and zero info was sent to the local govt or sent to the wrong branch. Bee’s representative states they have the evidence on their computer and can send it right now.
The judge informs them that that would be illegal and they were required to send in any evidence 2 weeks ago. The judge then really goes at them for obviously not being familiar with the conditions and laws pertaining to this trial, that it was their responsibility to inform themselves or, ya know, actually read the paperwork they sent explicitly stating them. At this moment I was air fisting while this was going on and muting my phone so they didn’t hear Peggy Hill like “HO YEAHS!” So with their “evidence” being non-existent and my witnesses being very much real and angry the trial pretty much went in my favor and Bee/their rep.
continued to act pretty entitled, annoyed, and unaware/unapologetic of their ignorance of local laws, like telling an employee who feels scared for their physical safety to not call 911 lol. I don’t think Bee’s rep. once said “thank you” “you’re welcome” “your honor” “sir” or “ma’am” etc the entire trial. Well, the time comes and my witnesses did even more than I thought. They shed light on situations I was not even privy to and even corroborated a LOT of what I presented and more.
My favorite part was when the judge asked “they told you NOT to call the police?!” and the subsequent frustration from the judge after the witnesses confirmed. The trial ends and we’re informed the ruling will be mailed to each of us in another 3 weeks.
So, 3 weeks passes and I get a large letter informing me that again, I won the appeal and it even went on to explain in detail the laws that my employer was ignorant of, ignored, or refused to comply with, which was even more than my initial research and testimony showed.
I finally felt relief and got to enjoy the rest of my “vacation” or “paid mental health sabbatical” with enough funds to pursue other avenues of work, at my leisure, with no worries of retribution or having to pay the local govt back. This ended up with me eventually taking on far fewer hours at a much higher pay rate in a different field I’ve had my eye on which has raised my quality of life so freaking much!
Fast forward to now; Abe has bought out Bee and took over majority control due to Bee’s inability to generate revenue with a continual revolving employee/mgmt door (hurr durr I wonder why? lol) and has extended an offer for my original job, title, etc back with a substantial pay increase/benefits package with far fewer hours to commit to AND with an in writing statement saying that if in the future I want a full-time contract with even better pay/benefits than my current offer, they are fully prepared to sign me on, would be thrilled if I choose to cross that bridge, etc.
The real cherry on top is that Bee failed to disconnect me from some groups, among other things, after firing me so they got to see my new job announcement, my old co-workers, and new mgmt from Abe, and excitement around it and there is nothing they can do about it lol!
Oh and I framed that last letter detailing my final victory. I don’t usually get to win much in life but now I got a reminder of a W hanging on the wall. HO YEAH!”
4. Lie About Being Married? Watch All Your Lies Unravel Before Your Friends' Eyes
“So at the start, this happened around June 2010.
So 11 years ago, my mother and father went through a nasty breakup. I had moved back from out of state and happened to be living with them at the time to relocate back. I was an adult having just been widowed from my fiance’s death.
A lot happened I could put many details here but in the end, my father and I moved into a separate house and my mother left the house.
In which we all were living in to move out of state after my aunt came up and was clearly sitting on my father, in a hotel, waiting for the fallout having left her husband out of state.
I separated my mother’s things from my father’s myself because my dad had to work through this and my mother honestly lost her head. Cue three weeks later, of packing up a 5,000 square-foot home myself and moving me and my dad into a rental that was 1,000 square-foot, if that.
So it’s me and my father, my mother moved out of state, and then my aunt left to go back and divorce her husband (My dad’s brother). So just me and my father, me with all these boxes, no help to unpack in the new house and on top of that I had to work as an office admin for my father because he was paying the bills and my mother used to do this for him.
Looking back, I should have just walked out and never looked back, but well, my family had always been the most important thing to me. I learned about different things about my father over a 5 month period alone, was there to support him, things were said that made our relationship just great, and I understood while my aunt wasn’t the best choice for him why he wasn’t with my mother.
I told him I didn’t want her around and we had a cat she was deathly allergic to, so as long as she didn’t come around I would stay and help him.
Now I’m going to tell you I had no idea my family was narcissistic nor the definition. I’m completely selfless and unfortunately sometimes so much so it’s self-detrimental.
So aunt moved back in state and was staying at an extended-stay hotel.
I told her she ain’t moving in, finally got all the boxes unpacked in the cramped house and moved things to storage, and got rid of a lot of stuff. My father was trying to keep his business afloat. I worked for him during the day, at night had to put up with my Aunt. They would disappear to the bars, and my father being Diabetic would come home intoxicated.
I told him to get out or go to his room and sleep off his intoxicatedness.
This repeats for about 3 weeks meanwhile they go to a specific bar, make bar buddies, and decide they are going to have a Christmas party. My birthday is on the 16th and I tell my dad all I want is for him and me to walk around Seattle like we used to, go to JCPenny’s and watch the animatronic display, walk around Seattle Center, and maybe go to the piers and have a hot dog.
He agrees but when we go he takes our freaking aunt with him. Oh boy, he wanted to go on a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride with her. Now in my defense, my aunt used to babysit me and we did get along fairly well. I was cordial with her, told her I didn’t like her, and that she was one of the causes my family was split up right now.
I hate her dearly but even she noticed my dad was being a complete jerk. Finally, I just said let’s go home and so we did.
I’m flipping livid; I just wanted to hang out with my father on my birthday; instead, my dad tried to make it a honeymoon for him and my aunt.
So Christmas party comes around and my aunt said we needed to lock up the cat.
I’m like you aren’t spending the night. I had repeated fights with my father and that came to a head since he was getting intoxicated more and more.
22 people show up, 2 of them are my uncle b and his wife, and the rest are all bar buddies of my aunt and my dad. So 20 people there are specifically from this one bar Johnny’s in Fife.
We have a round-robin introduction, of everyone except my father and aunt. My uncle b is sticking to me like glue. as he and his wife also didn’t know anyone here. My uncle b was a photographer for Stars and Stripes before retiring. Had an awesome life, and was my mentor. His wife was just as awesome but in different ways. Great family and very loving.
My uncle b asks what I’m doing in this situation and that I should get out, his wife agrees, and I have unfortunately the last conversation with my Uncle I would ever have. But frankly, he departed by telling me he knew something was wrong with my dad. That my dad was a jerk and needed to be buried with his misery and I shouldn’t go down with the ship so to speak.
His business was failing, he lost all honor and decency, and my aunt was no better.
His wife agreed. (she isn’t my aunt. Technically, Uncle B is a 2nd cousin but I view them both as aunt and uncle.) She tells me with my IT knowledge I could pretty much go anywhere and do anything. I was more resourceful than anyone she knew. Said if I needed her to call her and left the party leaving me alone to mingle with the bar buddies.
I start mingling with the bar buddies finally and I hear (my god help me hold in my anger) lie after lie that my father and my aunt have woven to these people before me and even some of them so outlandish, I couldn’t believe my ears. I even knew some of these people as friends of friends and were decent hard-working people. But the lies I’m hearing just astonish me, and I kept my mouth shut.
Finally, someone asked me how long my mother and father were married.
“36 years except for 6 months ago when they broke up.” This was my answer and she looked at me silly, the bar buddy then points at my aunt and says, “Well isn’t that your mother? She said you were basically her kid.”
Oh how the red filled my eyes, came realizing that my aunt and my dad were pretending they were married and that I was their son.
Cue Malicious Compliance!
We are all in the dining room after diner is served while I heard this and I clinked my glass with a fork to call for silence. My Aunt is sitting next to my father. Both half intoxicated, and the room goes to silence finally.
“Hello everyone, I would like to make an announcement. I would like to make a correction to tonight’s introductions. Now I don’t know what has been said, but that woman there is my aunt folks, and that is my dad.
That is why they have the same last name. She is still married to his brother and I am indeed not their son.”
I watched all 20 of the bar buddies die a little inside, a lot of gasps and frankly watched as any respect those two had left the room.
My aunt was about to say something, I motioned to my aunt, “You did this to yourself by lying.” And then my dad was about to say something, “You ruined my birthday, shut up.
You did this to yourself remember that.” I looked at the rest of them it was about 7 pm, “Well folks it looks like the party is at an end, I would suggest you don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I, my father and aunt have a lot to talk about.” I got up and went to my room. Now you should know my room is next to the door out.
I watched people file out, and most of them said I’m Sorry, to me through my open window while I was on the internet.
My aunt knocked but I told her I had nothing to say to her so it might be best she leaves. Out the door she went with a defeated look on her face still half intoxicated. I went out and started cleaning up as my dad sat at the table.
He didn’t move.
“You know boy, you got guts.” My dad said completely sober, “Guess you’re your father’s son.”
Screw that, I’m my mother’s son, he is lucky I even acknowledge him at this point.
“Dad, I’m leaving you on your own.” I said, “Mom is only making 250 bucks a month and I’m going to go there and help her get the heck out of there.”
My father slumped his shoulders and I say, “You tell aunt not to come over the next two weeks until my train leaves on the first.”
“How the heck did you afford that?” My father asked wondering.
“You know that 20 bucks you gave me weekly for gambling. Ya, I got a few jackpots.” (I would entertain an old friend of my father’s by going to the Casino with him. He was awesome to hang with and we would comp meals from the Buffet.)
I told him what Uncle B said, and he didn’t say anything. It was pretty meek for the next two weeks and I didn’t hear anything.
I left Seattle at the Train Station, calling uncle b and thanking him for the advice and he told me not to look back. That he knew something was wrong with him and not to come back for his funeral. I cried and said ok, “You take care of your mother that is more important but don’t forget to take care of yourself first.” I told him what happened to me at the party, he didn’t flinch but he laughed, “Son your dad is the worst person I know.
I moved from Germany here to be closer to your father and he isn’t even close to me now. He is an idiot. Kid, live your life, not his.”
My father and I have been estranged since I do talk with him on occasion but it’s mainly to see how he is doing and fairing in life. 11 years later I got my mother out of that small city, state and back to Washington with the help of my brother. Took care of her through a lot and finally, her medical problems piled up and cancer came. She died May 29th, 2021, two days prior to the split-up of her and my dad’s anniversary and my brother’s wedding 10 years ago. But that is another story.”
3. Try To Screw Me Out Of Our Shared Business? Lose Everything
“So. I had this business partner. Long-time friend, like a brother to me, most trusted person in my life (aside from my wife and daughter). Till I had the stupid idea to open a business with him.
And yes, it was definitely a stupid idea. People warned me against it, I myself was kinda aware of the risks and obvious consequences, but we’ve talked about it for so long that it would ruin the friendship if I did not include him in my plans.
So I left my job to open my own design school. The focus would be on comic bookmaking, which I considered a specialty of mine, having even won a national award (as co-author, I admit) for one of my publications.
The deal was pretty simple. At first, I would teach writing, he would teach drawing. He never had published anything, but he had a raw talent for art and I always pushed him to practice again, which he had stopped due to a lot of insecurities.
Considering our work backgrounds (he has always worked with sales, and I was a teacher for most of the last decade) we also divided the administrative and mundane tasks: he was “director of sales”, responsible for bringing the students, close deals, and take care of the bills. I was the “teaching director”, responsible for finding associated teachers (our business model involved bringing teachers as sorta partners, in control of their own courses and paying us a fee in exchange for the place, the support, and the sales effort), the marketing and the overall quality of the teaching structure.
We reached out to a lot of fairs, cons, and art shows so we could find some potential students. In exchange, we gave free workshops and panels. It was then that things started to go south.
After a particularly successful panel about independent comic authors, we started a Q&A session and someone asked about the relevance of a comic book school in such a small market. The question was directed at me and, being my long time dream, my planning (even my award), I started to recall my previous experiences both on teaching and on comics publishing, till the part of the story where I invited my best friend to share the dream.
He was LIVID. Suddenly he took the mic and started rambling about how I made it sound like it was all my idea (which it was, but whatever) and made very public his opinion that I never gave him enough credit.
I think I made a joke, tried to dismiss his rant as a playful prank between good friends, and acknowledged his many contributions to the venture (and I’d have done it anyway if he had just let me finish my damn story).
I tried to talk to him later about what had happened, but he again insisted that I was always dismissing his ideas and leaving him out of things. I apologized for making him feel this way and said it was never my intent to diminish him or his ideas.
After this, I started putting the friendship first and the business second. He would come up with these absurd, most idiotic ideas, and I would let him pursue it so he would feel included, even when I knew said idea would massively blow up in our faces.
It was that or hear him complain that “I thought only my ideas were worthy of something”.
This continued for a while and I spent most of the time on damage control, which as a consequence took me away from some of my other responsibilities. Unsurprisingly, the business suffered.
When we both left our jobs to become entrepreneurs I warned him that it would be a long and hard road.
This wasn’t my first company (not even my second, proving that I’m really stubborn and don’t know when to quit), and I did not expect to turn a profit for at least the first year. I told him we would struggle on a month-to-month basis and for that reason, I had secured some funds to keep me afloat in the meantime and was counting on some freelance work here and there to make ends meet.
The fact that I lived in my own house and did not have to pay rent was an additional blessing. He actually was in a similar situation, living in a small apartment owned by his mother and having very few bills to pay. Also, he lived all by himself, while I had to support a wife and a daughter.
A little side story here: his mom had been used as a scapegoat by her own sister some years before when they opened together a factory to produce school and companies uniforms.
The sister was actually the “brains” behind the operation, and my friend’s mom basically just contributed with her reputation and good credit. Later, when the sister closed down the factory thinking (wrongly, of course) that it would excuse her from paying former employees and the many many lawsuits that came after, she actually took the precaution of first transferring all her assets to her children, not giving the courtesy of suggesting my friend’s mom should do the same.
So my friend’s mom had her assets frozen, while her sister who actually managed the business kept everything she owned untouched. And by some red tape shenanigans between different states, the government had never found out about my friend’s apartment, owned by his mom but in a different city and different state.
So after a few months into the venture, my friend slash partner told me he would move back to his mom’s and put his apartment for leasing, so he would have an income source until the school could turn a profit.
Solid plan. I helped with renovations, painted his whole apartment all by myself (he proved terrible at it), even paid half the costs with moving (since some of his furniture were being donated to our school).
However… At the worst timing possible, the government found out about the apartment. It didn’t really surprise me, it should have happened much earlier, and many times I had recommended that his mom transfer the title to her children before it was too late.
According to the law, the apartment cannot be seized if someone from the family uses it as their main address. Since my friend did not have a steady income now, and his sister was fresh out of university with a law degree and a job on a firm, it was decided that she would move in and take care of maintaining the property. This only added to my friend’s many other insecurities and rejection complex and he started blaming me for losing his apartment to his sister.
A few days later he actually put it into words, saying that he no longer saw us as friends. I told him the sentiment was one-sided.
Things just got worse from there. He had the habit of going to the school every single day by foot, walking a few miles between his mom’s house and our commercial spot downtown. I did not have that option, since I live on the other side of the city, do not drive, and depend on sporadic buses to move around.
And since we hadn’t classed every single day, I simply didn’t see the point in wasting the time and the money.
Don’t take me wrong. It was a waste. We worked our butts off to collect a bunch of contacts from possible students, and all that was expected of our “director of sales” was for him to pick up the phone and invite these people to come and visit the school.
Once everyone saw our place, our closing numbers went through the roof. But instead, day after day he would crank up the AC, plug in his computer on the classroom TV, and alternate between YouTube and Netflix until the time he considered the end of his “shift”. And then would preach about how I was not as invested in the business as him because I wasn’t there every day.
“Find me some students and you’ll see me every day,” I would say.
We actually managed to eventually start two full classes of our extended comics course, which would pay a lot more than the usual short-term classes where most of the money went to the associated teachers. All of this was still going in accord with my initial time projection. Things were beginning to turn around.
Except that my friend got a new significant other. He was always too intense in his relationships, and this time wasn’t any different. He constantly complained about not having what my wife and I have, even after we reminded him that we too had our problems and what we do have (and he envied) was the result of twenty years together, with as many lows as highs.
He had never got over his ex, whom he proposed to and never got an answer, and all his relationships after that fell into one of two categories: either he was unfaithful to them since they weren’t “marriage material”, or he pursued them too intensely (in which case they were “m.m.”) and ended up scaring them away.
We were participating in the local annual comic convention and had secured a big booth to show off the school and gather some new contacts.
We printed posters with art from some of our teachers, a small sketchbook showcasing our in-house talent, and even reprinted some of my old indie comics so we would have more merch to offer. The plan was to make our art travel and get known by many people, but the idiot put in his head that he could make enough a profit to pay our bills for the month and keep some change.
So everything that should be offered cheap to make it travel fast suddenly got new prices and our booth turned into a desert. We actually made a bit, mostly because I offered discounts and threw some freebies to potential customers, but every time I did this he would give me an earful and say that I couldn’t be trusted to manage the booth. I did my better sales when he went away to check on other booths, anyway.
Our “profit” actually paid for his night out with the soon-to-be significant other. He spent everything we got in the first day on drinks for him and an old acquaintance that was visiting from another state. He was ashamed of it the next day, but seeing how happy he was, having turned the acquaintance into something more and apparently losing a big stick that had been living on his butt, I just brushed it off and congratulated him.
I told him, “It’s your money, too, and you should be able to spend it on nice things every now and then”.
I know this tale is getting bigger and bigger and there’s no sign of revenge yet, but stick with me. All of this is important to comprehend what comes next.
So suddenly my partner had a significant other from another state. My birthday came, and we made a big dinner, as was our tradition, and he spent most of the night outside, on the street, talking to her on the phone.
When he came back he was a jerk to my daughter and some other guests, and when people started talking about politics (almost everybody in our circle tends to be liberal and left thinking) he started to distort things and jokes I had said when we were alone to make me look racist and misogynistic (a quick curiosity: I’ve been out of the closet most of my life as bisexual, and a few years after these events I actually came out as non-binary).
A few days later he told me he always had this dream of moving to another city (If you guessed the city where his girl lived, you guessed right) and pursue a career in publishing, but had never told anyone about it. Then he decided that life was too short to carry baggage around and started putting his huge comic collection for sale. He first made it sound like he was pursuing a life without attachments, but it soon became clear he was both getting rid of anything that could slow him down while also making some income to move away.
As a good friend, I tried to talk him down and make him think twice about all these sudden decisions he was making and told him repeatedly that he could regret some of them. He just ignored me. He loved those comics, but couldn’t wait to get rid of it all.
He finally came up with a good idea and proposed an event, putting his collection sale as a way of bringing people to visit the school and get to know our classes.
He forgot to tell me that he would not put any effort into the second part, so the event was a bust, at least regarding new possible clients. He actually sold a few rare TPBs and got enough funds for a quick trip to see his girl the following weekend. I offered to take charge of the next event so I could try and advertise the school while he focused on his sales, and this time he decided to not give a damn on any front.
I sold a few of his comics to the very few people who attended the second event and when I went to check the books with him (he only appeared when we were almost closing) he said: “Keep it. Pretend it’s your commission.”
But nothing prepared for what came next. We each had a weekly class: his on drawing, mine on writing. Some of our students went to both classes, but they were taught independently.
His class started a couple of months earlier, while we tried to gather more students to mine in order to make it profitable. As a consequence, his class was scheduled to conclude earlier, but our business plan anticipated this kind of situation where we would offer students a more advanced course to keep them with us. Instead, when his class got near the end he called me:
“So, I spoke with our real estate agent, and we can move out at such date if we pay these amounts as fines.”
“Wait…
What!?? We still have a few months on our lease and my class won’t finish for another three months!”
“Bad for you. Mine ends next month so I already gave ’em notice.”
He probably thought it was that easy, but it wasn’t. We actually had to put in writing any desire to end the contract early and only then did the 30 days notice start counting. So, to avoid any more useless arguing, I complied.
The Real Estate Agency usually sent bills and notifications only addressed to me, probably to shorten communications, but many times he complained and said that it looked like only my name was on the lease. Man, it was freaking bills. Next, he would complain that birds never pooped over him.
I came by the school while he was with his students and left the letter of intention on his table, properly signed, and reminded him he had to sign it too and drop it at the agency.
The air was heavy, and I felt that probably would be the last time we spoke face to face. Call me naive, or stubborn, but I really hoped at that point we could get over everything and just go back to being best buddies.
His class ended and I tried to offer the students the second course. I secured a meeting room in a coworking space so I could finish my own class and host the advanced class.
This way, we would have enough funds to renovate the school and pay the last bills before moving out. By law, we were required to undo any modifications and return the property to its original state, or we had to pay the agency’s own estimated costs, which traditionally is much more expensive than renovating on your own. I quickly learned that my “friend” approached every single one of our students and asked them to pay on credit any remaining amount of their tuition fees, and because of it most wouldn’t be able to afford the advanced class.
I called my partner and asked what was made of this money since the last rent and bills weren’t paid and our business account had no balance. He took great offense and said he wouldn’t even waste his time answering it. And in fact, never did!
I was able to speed up things with my class, making double appointments with them each week, and got them to agree to some online tutoring in exchange for us finishing the schedule early.
This reduced the amount I would have to pay for the new place, but the new class was still essential if we expected to pay all taxes, fines, and fees without having to use our own dollars. So I went out and found some new students.
I asked him how we should divide the school’s assets, but he said he wanted nothing but the TV and some other equipment bought on his sister’s credit card, which he intended to sell.
I could have just loaded the moving truck with everything I wanted, but instead, I tried to be considerate and left behind half of everything. I even bought paint cans and some painting equipment so we could do renovations together. When I brought this up, he said: “Go ahead. If I feel like It, I’ll join you.” I painted one wall and said: “Screw it. I’m done.” I finally had enough.
In our country renting requires some payment guarantee. Most of the time, this is achieved by including someone on the contract who vouches for and has enough income to be held responsible in case you don’t pay (sorry if this isn’t news to anyone, but I have no idea how similar or different renting is between here and the USA). In our case, this person was his mother.
I loved her like a second mom, and never purposedly would hurt her, but she ended up getting caught in the crossfire.
My friend and I had not talked for weeks. Suddenly he redirects one of her messages to me. “The real estate agent is asking about this month’s rent,” it said. He answered below: “OP will take care of it.” It was the last straw.
I started recording an audio message with every intention of sounding calm and stable.
But a few seconds in I was already screaming and putting out every little thing that I’ve kept to myself for the last six or seven months. Every hope I had of becoming friends again was dead and buried. I asked again about the missing funds, saying how strange it was that he suddenly had enough to make recurring trips to see his woman, while our bills weren’t being paid.
I made it clear that I would not take care of anything and reminded him it was HIS MOM’S BUTT on the line, and she already had enough trouble and debt.
This wasn’t the revenge, by the way. Nor what comes next. He actually called a few weeks later and said: “Real estate agency wants to charge us an extra month.”
The imbecile had “forgotten” to deliver our letter of intentions.
He eventually did it… TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS LATER. And then he failed to move his things out within the 30 subsequent days. And never occurred to him in the meantime how many renovations I had made by myself. So he was charged the equivalent to THREE MONTHS RENT in additional fees and expected us to split the amount. For his mistake. I laughed and hung up.
The actual revenge came a lot later.
I failed to make a payment on time to the coworking space and they emailed me asking when I could fix this. Immediately I got a message from my former partner giving me a hard time for being irresponsible and for making our company look bad.
That was how I found out that he still had access to our business account, even after I changed all passwords and blocked him (he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with the company, but I still had students to attend to).
I’m no expert on these things, but after looking around a bit it became clear that his phone was still logged in to the company’s account, and even the changing of password couldn’t prevent him from receiving e-mails and notifications. So I dug a little more to find a way to disconnect it remotely from the account.
What I did find was an option to erase ALL his phone’s data in case of robbery, which I promptly activated.
I have no idea what was the end result or the size of the damage, but judging by the angry messages he left me later (from his sister’s phone) I’m guessing it was pretty big.
And THAT was my revenge.
By the way, not long after he got dumped. The girl got really scared with how fast he wanted things to go, already talking about moving in, etc.
It did not help that he gave her a “commitment ring”… And It was exactly the same ring he had used to propose to his ex. I actually kept in touch with her and we even go out to drink whenever I travel to her city. We never talk about him.
I talked to his mom and sister a few times after everything happened. They told me he maxed out all his credit cards and had to take a bunch of loans, and nobody knew how long it would take him to settle all his debt.
Some mutual friends stopped talking to me. I decided I wouldn’t touch the subject unless someone came to me and asked. Everyone who did it now is back again on good terms with me. Most stopped talking to him after hearing my side. I never asked for anybody to do this.”
Another User Comments:
“I just…. wow I feel bad for you OP. You didn’t deserve that, it just makes me sad for you.
His insecurities were taken out on you repeatedly, and he then kept grasping at all things outside of himself as reasons why there were problems.
Personally, I think involving his mom was heading into Pro Revenge territory, since I often at work have to escalate to people’s managers when they refuse/”forget”/won’t cooperate and get their work done on time, so well done there.
Glad a lot of your mutuals were open to listening to your side and recognized when it was not your fault how things went down.” GracieLouDrea
2. I Bought A Business Just To Fire My Partner And The Man She Was Seeing Behind My Back
This story is so outrageous that people are calling it out as fake. What do you think?
“At the time of writing this, my partner (26) is now an ex of mine. She and I(M32) had been together for the past six years. I’ve helped her financially through college up until she graduated by the age of 24. We both graduated with a degree in finance. I also hold a secondary degree in I.T.
Cyber Security.
We were both in love. At least I was at the time. Heck, I even bought a ring waiting for the perfect moment. Anyways, she ended up accepting a job offer for a mid-size company as a financial analysis. She loved her job and the company she worked at. It paid well, so she became financially stable. She grew up in foster care and didn’t have much when she left.
However, she worked a few jobs and made it through college.
About a year in a half, she started to become distanced. We weren’t having much “fun time” as we used to, and she would leave more than usual. So I became suspicious. Performed a man-in-the-middle attack and installed malware onto her phone. iPhones are not that secure people. Anyways, I quickly found out she was being unfaithful to me with her co-worker.
We’ll call him the accountant since that’s what he does for a living.
My heart was crushed. I was severely hurt. I wanted to grow a family with her. I envisioned this and believed it. After I de-stressed and sat back to clear my head, I thought to myself how I was going to go about this. I thought about emotional intelligence and keeping my composure. Then I remembered she said the company was thinking of selling as the original owners were retiring.
I have a successful career along with a substantial amount of money and investments I’ve made over the years. So if the price was right then, I could afford it. I’ve reached out to the owner for a meeting. We’ve met, and the price was right. We made a deal.
It took some time to make a complete transition officially, but in the meantime, I acted like I didn’t know anything about her infidelity.
I even spiced our relationship more by taking her out to fancy places and being the best partner I could be. I took her on several trips to Italy and Paris. It got to a point where she told the accountant that she couldn’t see him anymore and that she wouldn’t leave me. She even texted her mother that she was waiting for me to propose to her.
It didn’t matter to me because I’d made up my mind. I was going to break it off once I fired her.
She came over for dinner and told me that her company had sold to a new owner. She was a bit concerned that there might be significant changes. I convinced her that it’d be okay. Whatever happens, we’ll have each other.
Two weeks later, on Monday morning.
I had HR send out two invite emails to the accountant and my girl with a Zoom link. With the subject “The new owner would like to meet you.”
So once I joined the Zoom meeting, my girl displayed a confused reaction on her face. I told them both that I was aware of their unprofessional relationship, and they were to be terminated today. She became visibly upset and tried to say there wasn’t anything between them. The accountant didn’t have much to say other than a few choices of words.
I ended the call and had I.T. disable their accounts and corporate laptops. I blocked her number and ignored her when she would show up at my home. So am I the jerk for firing her and the accountant?”
1. Almost Cause Me To Lose My Job? No More Diplomatic Immunity For You
When Karen finally gets what she deserves.
“As the title suggests this story is about a person with diplomatic immunity. Before I dive into the story first a little something to note about these diplomats;
Yes, they do have immunity but to an extent. They can’t be prosecuted in the hosting country unless their home country waives the immunity. For example, they can drive over the speed limit, and when they get a ticket, nothing happens.
However, they need to respect the host country’s laws and regulations.
They are not exempted from any security check. When they want to enter a building where a security check is mandatory before entering, they have to undergo that check or they’re refused access. (this is important for the story)
Only their diplomatic luggage is exempted from any security check, this luggage is sealed with an official stamp and the diplomat needs to have the correct documents with them signed and stamped by their embassy.
Also for the sake of the story to make sense: Some of these diplomats are in the possession of an airport badge in order for them to have access to some parts of the airport (To collect someone from the gate or guide someone to their gate) without having to buy a ticket to gain access. They have a different color (green/blueish in my airport) than the regular airport badge (white).
Long intro I know, but here we go:
This happened in January 2020. I was already working as a supervisor. I sat behind my desk doing my admin work when my fellow supervisor said there was a long queue at our staff lane. We were very busy at that moment, and I didn’t have anyone available to help out so I went out there and supported my colleagues at the staff lane.
I positioned myself as 3d person at our WTMD (walk-through metal detector). Every staff member needs to show me their airport badge when they pass the WTMD, I just check the details on there, and then they can continue their way. Things went smoothly and we were almost through most of the queue after about 10 minutes.
Cue our above-mentioned diplomat. It’s only fitting to call her Karen.
I spotted her skipping the queue and walking straight towards us. Her green/blueish badge at the ready. I stood in front of her and said: ‘Good afternoon madam! How may help you today?’
Without looking at me she just waved her badge in my face and tried to continue her way. My colleague blocked the entrance of the WTMD and asks the same thing.
Karen then said, still waving her badge: ‘Move out of my way you idiot! I’m a diplomat.’
Colleague: ‘Can’t do madame, you need put all your belongings in a tray first and have them go through the scanner.
Then you need to walk through this gate,’ pointing at the WTMD, ‘so you can continue your way.’
Karen: ‘Are you deaf? I – am – a – diplomat! Get me your supervisor NOW!’
My colleague pointed at me, and all I did was smile and wave. (Madagascar anyone? no? Nevermind..)
Karen: ‘Tell this idiot he needs to let me through NOW! I’m a diplomat, I am exempted from ANY security check!’
Me: ‘First of all, you are NOT exempted in any way shape, or form.
You’re supposed to know this. Secondly, you are also not exempted from following the queue. And lastly, my colleague is not an idiot, if this is the way you’re going to treat me or any of my colleagues, you will be refused access.’ I then point my hand towards the back of the queue. (Keep that in mind)
Karen starts screaming: ‘SO YOU’RE AN IDIOT AS WELL? I’M A DIPLOMAT DUMMY!’ She then took a deep breath and looked up to the ceiling and back at me with a smirk and says: ‘I’ll get you, and that fat freak (nods her head to my colleague) just you wait.
You haven’t seen the last of me!’ She then screamed: ‘HOW DARE YOU TREAT ME THIS WAY??’ She didn’t scream it in an angry matter but more in an emotional way. (also important later) I thought maybe she has a bad day and didn’t say anything from that point forward as she walks away crying.
Later that day my Operational manager (OM) called me in his office.
He told me there was a complaint against me. Wonder who it’s from? He said that Karen told the airport I treated her poorly and threatened to physically remove her from the airport if she didn’t get out of my sight. Now I know why she started crying. OM then showed me the CCTV footage which kind of confirmed her story in a way. When the footage showed me pointing my hand to the queue, OM said: ‘This is where she said you threatened to assault her.’ I laughed and shook my head.
I told my side of the story, even commentating live while we rewatched the CCTV. OM said he believes me but that the airport never received my side of the story as I didn’t write a report. I also didn’t notify my Security Inspector of the incident, which made me look suspicious to the airport. The airport wanted OM to sanction me in a way he deemed fit.
They wanted to take away my airport badge at first because the complaint came from the embassy itself (she probably left out the fact she tried to bypass security). But OM said that I probably hadn’t had the time to write a report yet. Which was true of course, and that he would “deal with me”. He told me he would keep a close eye on me and I should report everything from here on out.
So yeah, I almost lost my job because of this Karen… great.
Now the revenge.
When I was passing through the staff lane not long after that, I saw her again. She was on her way to the staff entrance again. I avoided eye contact and I walked through the WTMD and then thought, screw it. I wasn’t in the wrong here. So I described her to my colleague (Ben) as he was verifying my badge and said that she’s a troublemaker so to just let her come through the WTMD, greet her, ask for her badge and tap me on the shoulder.
He said: ‘Sure thing chief!’ She walks toward the WTMD bag and all and passes through. Meanwhile, I was standing over my tray getting my wallet and keys, etc. Not once looking at my surroundings. Ben then tapped me on the shoulder and said: ‘OP can you look at this?’ I took the badge and turned around facing my colleague.
Me: ‘Is she standing to the side?’ When Ben turned around to verify, I quickly ripped off the hologram sticker, without this, the badge is invalid.
I looked at Karen. I put my hand on Ben’s shoulder and thanked him.
Me: ‘Hello again madam, welcome! I just need to verify your badge if you don’t mind so you can be on your way in just a sec.’
Karen tasted victory: ‘Finally, you’ve learned some manners.’
Me: ‘Oh dear oh dear… I’m sorry but your badge is invalid.’
Karen: ‘Excuse me?’
Me: ‘Yes, look. Your hologram is completely gone.’ I then looked up to her and then quickly turned my head back and forth between her and the WTMD several times.
I then turned my head around to look at the back of our checkpoint and then back at her.
Karen: ‘What are you doing?’
I pointed behind my back to the end of the checkpoint saying: ‘Did you just come from over there?’
Karen shouts: ‘No dummy!! I came from over there!!’ points at the entrance.
Me: ‘Can you please calm down madame?’ I lifted my hands and took a step back.
‘I can sort this out for you, do you mind standing to the side there?’ She complied and I asked for her diplomatic passport. Said I needed it to go run it through my system to validate. She handed it over and told me to hurry up. I told Ben to watch her as I went to my desk. According to our SOP (Standard operation procedures), the only options I had was either;
A.
Refuse access myself. (Like I did before)
B. to go to my inspector, explain the situation, and be done with it, he would send Karen back for a new badge, and probably would’ve forced her to go through security, or escort her out. Problem solved.
However, I already had a plan. And it was already set in motion. I first called airport PD and said that I have a female here who’s refusing to be checked, claiming to be a diplomat.
They asked if the inspector was around and I said I haven’t seen him. They would send out a patrol immediately. Great!
Another colleague, who returned from her break was waiting to be put to work. So I ordered her to replace Ben and send him to my desk. A minute or so later Ben came to me, saying that Karen was getting frustrated, and he asked me what was going on.
I briefly told him what happened before and I informed him of my plan. Now Ben was a new guy, recently just started, but he was a cool guy, He was a bouncer before he came to the airport so, he knows how these Karens can be. He liked the plan and said: ‘You know what chief, I wasn’t sure if a diplomat was exempted from a security check or not.
Honest mistake.. Sorry.’ He winked at smirked at me. I told him to start typing up his incident report as I headed back to Karen. Meanwhile, the police arrived and I handed over the passport and badge.
Me: ‘This lady refuses to go through security, she threatened me for the second time today saying I would lose my job! She also gave a false statement to the airport about me, risking me to lose my job!’ I was speaking in my language, so Karen didn’t understand a word.
Me: ‘If you rewatch the CCTV footage from this hour, you’ll see that she aggressively came at me after pointing out her badge was invalid. I also didn’t see where she came from, and when I asked if she passed security, she started freaking out.’
Officer1: ‘Okay, we’ll take her with us and explain what’s going on.’
Officer2 informs Karen that she needs to come with them and she just gasped at the officer and looked at me in disbelief.
Me: ‘Great, thank you, oh btw, I want to press charges against her for slandering me.’
Officer1: ‘Sure, just follow us.’
Karen started to get frustrated but had no option than to follow us, as we had all her documents.
I radioed my fellow SPV saying I’m going with the police, and it would take a while.
When I returned a few moments later, Ben showed me his report, it was perfect! I typed up mine and sent both reports to OM.
I informed him that I did file a complaint against her with the police. I returned home smiling. OM’s response the next day was that he heard of the incident and he notified corporate who in turn filed a complaint through their legal team against Karen.
Result:
I never saw Karen again at the airport. A few months ago (May), OM informed me that our complaints were noted by the court and had been sent to Karen’s home country.
Charges were: Slander, and attempting to enter a Security Restricted Area and bypassing the security. Turns out Karen was just an assistant, specifically a driver for some higher-ranked diplomats. Basically meaning that she didn’t even have the same privileges or immunities as a real diplomat has. She lost her diplomatic passport (persona non-grata) and has been sent back to her country. The airport also apologized to me (not personal)
OM only said that I had to follow the SOP and go to the inspector first, to which I just replied: ‘Hey,’ holds up hands, ‘you just said I needed to report everything, and I did! The inspector was on the phone at that moment and it looked important (lie).’ OM just shook his head and we still laugh about it ’till this day.”
Another User Comments:
“Fricken parasite. I dislike people who try to bully others because they are linked to someone who actually has influence/power.” Ladyehonna
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