Aren’t terrible co-workers just…well, terrible?

I said that so eloquently that I think you have to agree with me!

This story from Reddit’s “Pro Revenge” page revolves around a person who played the long game when it came to getting revenge on a co-worker who got them fired.

It sounds like they worked at a pretty good place…

Co-worker gets me fired. My many years waiting for revenge.

“So I worked for Company A for almost a decade that had a small team consisting of ten people, doing commissioned work for businesses in my city.

The Owner treated us like family, knowing that we worked long and hard days, sometimes up to 60 hours in a week. He paid us better than expected, bonuses and perks he negotiated with businesses that commissioned our work, even gave the whole company a week off paid when his son was getting married so we could attend it.

We had our squabbles like any other family, and things weren’t always bright and perfect, but this is to show how nice Owner treated his employees. And didn’t screw me over.

They missed out on a work opportunity and this caused them to reevaluate their career.

After working there for years, the manager position came open. Since by then I was one of the most senior workers with Company A, so I thought I would apply, which had a few others interested do as well. I didn’t get the position, mainly because, despite my experience at Company A, I didn’t have a Business Administration degree. Someone who worked for Owner did, so he got it.

Realizing the education I would have to get, and the demand of this job, I thought long and hard and concluded that, if I wanted to go anywhere in life, I would have to get that degree. Coming right of high school to work for Company A was great, but if I wanted to do something more I would have to go to university. I talked to the Owner and gave my two weeks notice. When I explained what I wanted to do and why, he understood that I was trying to make something of myself. This all becomes relevant later, I promise.

Going to university, I found that I had tuition covered through government grants but not things like food, rent, etc. So I looked around and eventually found work at Company B. Company B was a retail store, with a bigger staff than I had been used to, somewhere around 50 employees but had such a huge employee turnaround that it was scary at times.

Things were going smoothly…until Debbie stepped in…

They dealt with a wide arrange of goods from groceries to very expensive items. They had a certain niche clientele that they could order items for and catered to. I ended up working part-time in their warehouse and answered to the Warehouse Supervisor, who answered to the Manager. There were other supervisors for other parts of the store, but for this only the Sales Supervisor is relevant.

Skip forward seven years. In that time I got my BA degree and worked at Company B the whole time, going from part time to full and eventually applied for the Warehouse Supervisor position. I was interviewed, got the job, been supervisor for months when the Manager and I hired K as a warehouse clerk. K isn’t the one to get the revenge, but she played a crucial part in the revenge.

Then Debbie gets hired.

Debbie started out as a cashier, working quickly up the chain and brown-nosing as many co-workers as possible, including the Manager. When a sales rep went on maternity leave, Debbie quickly jumped at the chance to work in sales and ended up permanently being a part of that team then the Sales Supervisor soon after.

It seems like these two didn’t get along at all…and it ended badly for the person who wrote this story.

Me and Debbie got along like oil and water. We butted heads over things constantly; she would tell the Manager all the small things that I did, but called me a snitch when I reported the issues she was causing. She would badmouth me and my warehouse staff, talk over me at meetings and try to take credit for my ideas.

She openly told co-workers that I was the cause of many issues and couldn’t wait for me to leave. Oh, and she was NEVER at fault. It would be the customers fault, my fault, the delivery drivers fault, another co-workers fault, etc. There were times when we got together well, but far and few between.

One incident changed everything.

So one day, a very, and I mean VERY, expensive ring set (over $5,000 I found out later), ordered by one of our customers, comes in. Years ago I set up a procedure for any type of jewellery so that it will not get lost or stolen. The last step is, once we have done everything with it in the warehouse, we take it to the office and have someone put it in the safe immediately.

This particular time, I was the one who received the rings so, once going through the procedure, told K that I was taking it to the office. The only one available who had the combination to the safe was Debbie. I asked her if she could open the safe, she looked at me, looked at the jewellery box in my had, then said, ‘put it down here on my desk, I’ll put it away once I’m done this email’.

Keep in mind that me and the Debbie had had a serious spat over something earlier that day, and I generally didn’t feel like being close to her if I could help it. So I never saw her put it in the safe myself.

The next day, I get a call from the Manager to come to the office. I head there to find Manager, Debbie, and the HR consultant they pull in when some real **** hits the fan. Manager tells me that said ring set have disappeared. I tell them the procedure I followed and last I saw them was with Debbie.

It was their word against Debbie’s…and you can probably guess whose side management took.

Manager tells me that Debbie checked the box and that said box was empty. Manager then pulls the box out. Sure enough, the box the rings were in was indeed empty. I swear to Manager that the rings were inside when I checked them before given to Debbie. At this point, it’s my word against hers; by stroke of bad luck, the in-store video recorder had broken down days before the incident so there was no way to verify what happened.

We all know someone has to take the blame for this, and that’s when Debbie strikes, saying that it was my fault, since it was last seen in my hands. Manager asks if this is true, then I realize that, yes, I was indeed the last person to touch the thing, and I never actually saw Debbie pick up the box. Debbie gives me the look of that screamed ‘Gotcha!’.

Manager and the HR consultant ask us both to leave. After what seemed like forever, I get called in. Manager tells me that, since I was responsible for the rings at the time and now are lost, they would be firing me.

But things have a way of working out, and when one door closes, another one opens.

But, since they had no proof as to whether I stole the rings or not, they wouldn’t press charges (which scared the **** out of me as this was the first time I heard of them thinking this). I go back to the warehouse, tell K and the other warehouse clerks just what happened, grabbed my personal belongings and left that day.

After a couple weeks of trying to get my head around what happened and weighing my options, I decide my first priority is to try to get some sort of job, and consider it lucky if I get a job flipping burgers with the bad rep when they ask Company B.

I call the Owner of Company A to get a good reference from them and explain what happened and why I was calling, only to get the shock of a lifetime. The manager position was about to be open; the guy who I lost the position to was retiring soon, due to complicated health reasons. Owner had kept tabs on me while at university and understood when I didn’t immediately come back to him, but with a golden opportunity like this, he wanted me back and I wasn’t going to say no.

I dive into my new job I originally wanted with an Owner I enjoyed working for. I thought, then and there, everything would be behind me, not knowing it would come back, not to bite me, but to pay dividends.

And then it was time to come up with a plan…for revenge.

This I found out after Debbie’s Reckoning. After I was fired, K knew she had to do something about Debbie. K knew that I wouldn’t lose or steal something like the rings. But also knew that, without proof, Debbie would deny that she did it and have K in her cross-hairs to attack next. So, after talking with her husband, she hatched a plan.

She started hanging out with Debbie, telling her things like ‘I’m SO glad he’s gone!’ or ‘Wish he had been fired MUCH earlier!’ Debbie, feeling high from getting rid of one of her thorns in her side, soaked it all in, and after a couple weeks, invited K and K’s Husband (from now on KH) for drinks at her place with her and Debbie’s Husband (BH).

Remember, this was all about playing the long game.

Months pass, K and KH do things regularly together with Debbie and BH, including drinking on weekends and couple-related events. When together, K would occasionally bad-mouth me, and Debbie would agree. Finally, after over a year of playing nice, when K and KH were over at Debbie’s for one of their drinking parties, K randomly bad-mouthed me, mentioning the rings in passing. Then Debbie says something that K was waiting for:

I wanted those rings, so I stole them.

K, hearing this, asks for more details. KH looks at her tries to wave her off with one hand, then gives up when Debbie keeps talking. That day, Debbie had stopped writing her email and was going to put the rings in the safe. The safe was open and she was about to put the rings away when Debbie had an idea.

See, as mentioned above, Debbie wanted me gone from Company B. She also wanted those rings. She also knew that the cameras weren’t working. She figured that she could pocket the rings, tell the Manager they were missing, and spin it so I would take the blame.

K continued to press and play along with Debbie.

K then asks where are the rings now, and Debbie, being too intoxicated and not seeing a reason not to brag, not only tells her, but shows her where they are in her room. All while KH had been RECORDING THE WHOLE CONVERSATION on his phone (the hand waving was him saying he started recording).

K gives a copy of the recording to Manager the next work day. Police are called immediately, Debbie is arrested and her house is raided. They find the rings. K and KH give the recording and testimonies to police. Debbie’s Reckoning has begun.

And what a reckoning it was!

I get a call from the prosecutor’s office after Debbie is arrested and charged with theft over $5000, among other things. He wants me to testify about what she did to me. I didn’t skip a beat in saying yes. Fast track to the trial, prosecutor has me, K, and KH testify and plays the recording of Debbie admitting that she stole them.

Her attorney tries to throw out the case saying that K got Debbie deliberately intoxicated, but judge didn’t buy it, since there was proof she drank all the time. Judge was lenient and gave her five years in prison, which she yelled was unfair, but I personally thought she got off easy.

Meanwhile, as the trial was happening, I was talking with a lawyer to sue Debbie for setting me up like she did. We were also going to sue Company B for wrongful termination, but they settled the day they got notice of the lawsuit and knew they would lose.

Debbie wasn’t so lucky. They tried some trickery by having BH divorce her and he received everything in the divorce, but my lawyer added him into the lawsuit as well. My lawyer asked overall for $3500 for emotional distress, back pay from when I was fired until I started up with Company A again and legal fees.

You’ve been salivating for the grand conclusion, and here’s a great one that you won’t forget anytime soon!

And now, you are wondering where the metaphoric cherry is on this story? Well, recently we had someone leave Company A, so we were hiring someone to replace them. Owner was going over the resumes and set up interviews for the job this week.

Lo and behold, Debbie was one of the people to apply, but he didn’t know that. I looked at the resume, was about to trash it, but then smiled. Owner set up the interview. She came in at her slotted time, looking to brown-nose her way through.

Then she saw me. I smiled an evil smile, she went white. All I said was, ‘Ah, Debbie, how are you? Remember me?’ A deer in the headlight look from her. I look at her resume and say ‘I’m sorry, I do not think you will be a good fit for our company. Thank you for applying.’

She said not one word and left.”

Here’s what people had to say.

This person said that K is a great friend and a great person.

Another reader agreed and said she needs to be recognized.

This Reddit user said loyal friends are the best!

One individual doesn’t think this story is real.

And this person said this might be real and they shared a story…

Working with a person like this is just the worst.

No doubt about that!