We all know there are rules at work, and for the most part, even decent employees do their best to try to follow them.

I mean, why make trouble for yourself if you don’t have to, right?

OP and one other engineer at his company have the use of a company car when they need to go out into the field for one reason or another.

He keeps the car tidy, his coworker does not, but OP wasn’t terribly bothered about it either way.

Our company had a modest sedan that was provided to a coworker and me to use as needed if we had a task in the field.

I always kept it clean, whereas my coworker would leave trash and personal items in it.

His boss got into it after the messy coworker, though, and called them onto the carpet for not keeping it clean. There was a new rule that they had to make sure everything that didn’t belong in the car was taken out when it was returned.

One fateful day the regional manager came to visit. The boss took him to a current project using the car. Needless to say the car was a mess. I hadn’t used it in over two weeks.

Boss got an attitude with ME because the car was filthy. I’m an engineer not a car wash employee.

He then put out a memo stating the car was a disgrace and henceforth will be kept clean and that anything not belonging in the car needed to be thrown away before it was returned.

It wasn’t what he said but the way he said it, and OP took offense.

The tone he took was insulting and demeaning.

So, when he found his boss’s keys dropped between the seats, he tossed them.

The next time I used the car was a week or so later after the boss had used it.

When I was getting back in to return I noticed a set of keys barely visible between the seat back and seat.

I retrieved it and realized it was my boss’s key ring.

And most of the time, he doesn’t even feel bad about it.

In the many years that have passed since, I have come to feel it was wrong to toss the keys in the trash.

I confess that was childish of me.

Still, part of me is glad I did it.

Should he feel badly? You know Reddit will give it to him straight!

I bet that took it out of commission for at least a couple of days.

Some people really have no respect.

Apparently this is a pretty big issue.

You’ve gotta keep the receipts.

As OP proved, punishing everyone instead hardly ever works out.

The manager definitely should have just found out who made the mess and talked to them.

It would have saved him time (and money) in the long run.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.