I just love it when workers stick together and STICK it to The Man!

It’s quite satisfying…and this story from Reddit is one that’s really going to knock your socks off!

Start now to see what went down!

Manager targeted me because of my family priorities; it cost her her job.

“I have worked at a certain home improvement store for close to a decade now, about eight years roughly.

The first seven was in NC, before I moved up further north to be with my best friend and her husband, who I learned was pregnant with my first godchild. As such, I transferred up to a store in the area, and put my nose to the grindstone. I worked Garden before, and did that for some months, before I started to be moved from department to department, as this store was low on staff.

They had to get another job.

However, this was not full time. My old HR had dropped the ball, and this store believed I wanted part time. Having already moved, I grabbed a part time overnight job at a gym to make ends meet, and continued to work, all the while asking repeatedly for full time at the main job, and never getting a definitive word back or change.

Several months into this, my god-daughter was born. As I lived with my friends during this time, and during the time of Covid, I spent quite a lot of time helping to raise her, and we became close. I would take time off (that I was allotted) to help look after her, and there was little problem.

Half a year into this change, and I had made a good name for myself. I did not have a good deal of friends per se, but I was respected for my work ethic, and willingness to help out anyone, in any department, that asked me.

And then…someone new showed up.

Enter a new assistant manager.

The ASM was abrasive to staff, and used to getting her way. The first I heard of her was when she outright fired a girl working the front desk because of a Playboy tag on a jacket. Myself and several other employees organized a walk out in protest of this, and succeeded in getting the store manager to reverse the decision made by the ASM.

This was not our first walk out, having done this in the past when another ASM (the current’s predecessor) made inappropriate comments about a cashier.

Soon after this, I was given full time by the Ops manager, working in Receiving for a… cantankerous supervisor. We often did not get along, especially as my godchild got older, and I took on babysitting duties while her parents worked and slept. It was not something I minded, as I adored the child.

They couldn’t be everywhere at once.

I often talked about her with my coworkers, and loved to show pictures and stories. However, this was not something shared by my higher ups. My supervisor was upset that I could not work overtime to help him (as we were the only two in Receiving for the store) because of either my second job, or babysitting.

And soon after the second walk out, I was made aware of a rumor circulating around the store- that the child was in fact my own daughter, that I had fathered outside of my friend’s husband’s knowledge. The source of the rumor was unknown, but my ASM had made disparaging remarks to me in the past about men taking care of children, so I had my theories.

They were being frozen out.

My holiday plans, asked off in advance as soon as our electronic system allowed, were cancelled without explanation, both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I had never missed a major holiday since I moved north, and I had asked the same days off the year prior, and had gotten them off, before the ASM arrived (Strike 1).

And soon after this, my supervisor, whom I work closely with every day, had a positive Covid test, forcing me (per company rules) to self-isolate until I could get a positive or negative test myself.

During this week, as it took a full week to find a place with enough room to give tests thanks to Omicron, I was harrassed repeatedly by text and phone call by both management, and my supervisor, to track down an at-home test and get back to work ASAP.

All the while, I had to inform everyone I was in contact with, including my friends, family, and roommates, that I had been exposed, risking their own holiday trips and plans (Strike 2.)

(Thankfully, my test was negative.)

They had to come to the rescue.

A week after this, the northeast gets slammed by a snow and ice storm. I drive a four wheeled vehicle, and so made it in, but near the end of my shift, I was made aware that my friend’s husband had been injured and stranded in a car accident on the ice, and so left to get them home, and their car to a service station.

To add to it all, they have lost power in their home, with an infant, leaving me with the only person they could turn to with a vehicle and power. I will admit, I had few sick hours left, but informed work that I would be out on a family emergency.

It was a tough situation.

For that week, I called out each day with ‘ongoing family emergency,’ with snow and ice still coating the streets, and power still down throughout our city. And every day, I was hounded by calls from management, demanding I return to work regardless. This would have not only risked my own safety, but would have stranded my family at my apartment, with no way to get supplies or get home once the power returned. (Strike 3.)

They reached the end of their rope.

I was done. Early in the morning that following Sunday, I walked into work, and placed my resignation letter on HR’s desk (That is important latter.) I had tendered it to be immediate, as I live in an at-will state.

Was it petty? Yes, I will freely admit that. I had given eight years of my life to this company, and asked very little in return.

As I was leaving, I crossed paths with my supervisor, who asked angrily if I was ‘finally’ coming back to work. I informed him of my decision to leave, ignoring his provocations, and left to go home and sleep. Several hours later, I received the gift that would ignite my semi-accidental revenge. A single text from my ASM- “We will see how long you can take care of your lovechild without us.”

You shouldn’t have said that!

…well, well. Seems I found my probable source.

My friends had been made aware of this rumor from the start; I did not hide anything from them, and did not want any kind of rumor, however unlikely, to reach them from anyone but me. They are my closest friends and compatriots, and have given me the greatest gift in the form of my godchild, whom they insist I call my niece, as I am family.

Lovechild feels like a slur against her, and I am not cool with that, and neither are they. However, they informed me of the monumental screw up my (now former) ASM had made.

They got their case together.

It was time for corporate HR to be made aware, and so I began to compile my evidence- the texts from my supervisor, the call records and messages left, and this holy grail of a text message. If I was going to leave, I was at the very least going to give some blowback on the team that had been so willing to target me.

What happened after is second-hand from friends I had still at the store, and so I cannot entirely verify all of it, but the ASM? Played herself. The following day, a meeting of management and supervisors was convened, where the ASM made it known that I had been fired (not self-terminated) for ‘job abandonment and immorality.’

And unless I am grossly misinformed about the nature of American retail work, immorality is not a firable event. To my supervisor’s credit, he defended me to the ASM- and was fired on the spot. The store’s HR rep, having earlier gotten my printed termination letter on his desk, made it known that I had indeed not been fired, but left on my own.

Things quickly went downhill.

And the ASM attempted to fire him as well, in front of the staff. And from there, it spiraled. According to my source, entire departments began to walk out or outright quit, having had their own problems with the ASM.

Appliances – quit to a man.

Garden – left with their manager to work at a competitor’s, as he had been working on this well before my saga began.

Front Desk – walked out in protest, as it came out that the ASM had threatened and blackmailed several Muslim part-timers to not wear their headscarves if they wanted hours.

Lumber, Receiving’s main partner- quit.

Pro Desk – joined the front desk protest, as one of their number, a Sikh man, had also been threatened.

Cashiers – both head cashiers quit, and the other trained cashiers walked out with the desks.

Ops manager – had informed the District Manager, and quit outright before he arrived, walking out with the HR rep and my old supervisor.

My source’s last report of the ASM was seeing her sprinting to her car, after having heard that the district staff was inbound, and the store manager was forced to shut the store down for the next two days, last I’ve heard.

It’s gonna get even uglier.

I’ve been in contact with the other injured parties, and we’re compiling all the evidence we’ve collected, as several of the family’s are hiring lawyers.

I suspect the company will attempt to keep this quiet; I just never suspected that anything like this would happen.

I have a full time position at the gym upcoming, and I’ve been enjoying the extra sleep and time I get with my family. I’m never working 56-64 hour weeks ever again.

And I will never darken the doorstep of that store again- I hope my ASM enjoyed the temporary rush of power.

I suspect she won’t get it ever again, at least not in manager positions.”

Check out what folks had to say.

This person said that hopefully this woman won’t get a job after all of this.

Another person doesn’t think that will happen.

This reader made a good point.

Another Reddit user thinks they know what kind of woman she is…

And this individual had a different take on the situation.

That was a wild story!

I’m glad they got out of that place!

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