All of the hardest lessons in life are learned firsthand – I’m not sure we would ever really learn them otherwise.

This guy not only learned that you have to get things in writing, but he now knows that pro revenge usually ends with mutually assured destruction.

OP was young when he took his first job. They promised him a hefty bonus and assigned him to an intense project.

So I was a new but qualified recruit in a small team that was working with a very large client and stakeholder in the company.

Despite my skills, it was my first real job fresh out of grad school so I was inexperienced with office politics, contract law, power hierarchies, etc.

The clients had given us an almost impossible task to prototype a complex solution to a technical problem that they had. As the only one in the team with the relevant expertise, the burden quickly fell on me to deliver alone while the others essentially managed.

The team leader and effective boss promised me at the beginning that I would get a bonus worth roughly 30% of the salary on which I was hired.

Apparently this bonus was a direct financial contribution from the big clients themselves – and the wheels were in motion to get this extra cash. Great…but not really because it was not in writing.

It was all he worked on (successfully) for years, but that bonus never came.

Over the next two years, however, no such bonus compensation transpired. I would periodically (and halfheartedly) ask about this bonus during in-person meetings – and I was verbally reassured it was on its way.

In hindsight, I would have been more assertive and perhaps sent an email, but again I was a newbie and unwilling to bite the hand that feeds, so to speak.

After these two years the company began to expand business with the client as a direct result of the work that I was on the impossible project.

At some point the clients even present all that hard work of mine at some international conferences, of course claiming it their intellectual prop and proprietary solution.

Although the project ownership rightfully and lawfully belonged to them, the lack of acknowledgement left a bitter taste in my mouth…and worse was that money flowing around and both companies were profiting from two years of painstaking effort but there was no bonus in sight.

They did not take his concerns seriously at all.

So my work contract was also nearing its end in the third year. Obviously the company wanted to retain me to continue on this project (I was the only one who knew the ins and outs of it).

It would be a joint employment between the company and client as I would be tasked with transitioning the project from the company to the client, which would require several more years to do so.

I also went through half a year of specialist training with the clients – only I could do this job for the foreseeable future.

For this I was offered a decent increase in my salary but that missing bonus was ruining my trust.

At a contract negotiation meeting I asked about it one last time. The team leader and boss said that they had no recollection of such an agreement/offer and that I should have got it in writing.

Fair enough. Some lessons are learnt the hard way.

But the worst realization was that the missing bonus (a measily 30% of the new hire salary for almost three years) was now earmarked for an intern to join me on the project.

It was almost a one-to-one calculation as the client would sponsor the intern with the funds that were intended bonus for me.

So, before he signed his contract renewal, he made a rash decision.

It was the last week of the work contract and human resources had invited me to double check the document before I was to sign it.

Of course, given all the time, money, training and resources invested in me continuing on this project (and my very real eagerness to do it) it was assumed that I would be here for the long haul and the work contract was a formality.

So what happened next is something that I do not recommend that anyone try at home (or work for that matter). It was a moment of impulse from a reckless youth.

However I was feeling particularly vengeful about this missing bonus…my ego had been bruised because I wrongly trusted them to follow through but I was not clever enough to get the agreement in writing.

Well… uno reverse card moment… there was also no written agreement on my end.

So I had not yet signed contract. I carefully double checked my emails and there was nothing in writing where I agreed to continue on this project…or even this job. In fact, I had just been verbally enthusiastic about the project during meetings with my boss and the clients…

The first new work day rolls around when I am officially no longer employed at the company or with the clients. I gave no notice and no warnings…

…I just abandoned them.

OP had to dip into his savings and spend time rebuilding, but he figures it was worth it.

On the previous day I had left my company pager and phone in the office locker. I had to sacrifice a few personal possessions on the office desk. I logged out of the work email/messenger system so they could not reach me.

I am not sure how they responded because I ignored/deflected every single communication which came my way for following months.

It was bliss knowing that I probably caused this company a major catastrophe for next few years at least.

Of course I could not predict the consequences that they would face from abrupt and unannounced exit. But I did not have time to care about them…

I had to become selfish and I had to dip into my savings and relocate and start afresh and anew in another city faraway [which was very difficult without references considering the professional bridge that I had just burnt…hence the not recommending part…but eventually my skills began to speak for themselves]

The last I heard about the company was from an ex-colleague as we reconnected on an online professional network a few years ago. Apparently the company still exists but it is a shell of its former self as things went horribly south after I left.

His old company never really recovered.

They lost the big client as I had anticipated – no one else had the skillset to do work [the clients are still players in the sectors but I have the great fortune of not having had to interact with them (so far)]

But I could not have predicted the domino effect that followed in the company. A few more large clients followed soon after because staff had to be reshuffled to do my project…and these other clients felt neglected.

Now they are downsizing and in the process of being swallowed by a competitor.

From what I gather the other big casualty of the revenge is my ex-boss developed some substance problem around this time to cope with this stress – triggered in part by not being able to contact me for months on end during a critical time in the company’s expansion.

Throw in a divorce too because this work stress destroyed the marriage as well. I did a little bit guilty when my ex-colleague explained all this, and still do.

Is it enough for me to “right my wrongs” and write an apology or something? Not really. But perhaps I am wrong here…I am open to suggestions.

[Note: This ex-boss has tried to get in touch with me a few more times some years after things went downhill but I was too busy so I just continued to ghosting strategy]

But anyway I hope it was worth the measily bonus that I deserved…I was brought on as a new recruit and I was a junior who had to lead the project from get go.

I had to work hard and learn new skills in the hours outside of work so the fat clients and middle management to reap the rewards. Not on my vengeful watch.

The reason that I am writing this is that it is somewhat cathartic. The company did some crappy things and so did I.

But this missing bonus still eats me from time to time. I could have bought a house and I could have settled down in that old town.

I wouldn’t have been displaced for months and living with my head just above the water, having to rebuild myself for a good few years following that.

He doesn’t recommend you do this at home, for what it’s worth.

Abandoning the project and the job was professional suicide at the time. But my revenge was such that whatever happened I would try to get through life without grovelling back to that company.

Of course this arrogant move of mine (borne from this hatred having not gotten that bonus) still has at least one unwritten chapter.

At the current work place (where I am also a stakeholder now) I am now proposing a new version of that old project I began a decade ago and never got a chance to see to completion.

It would be nice to showcase a patent during an international conference attended by the those big former clients…that would be the real bonus.

Does Reddit applaud his youthful nerve?

You know what they say about eggs and baskets.

This person would have liked it better with a little bow on it.

But this commenter says quitting is often all you can manage.

They figure his bosses had to know.

I bet OP wishes they had been a fly on the wall!

This one is nuclear, I think.

I’m glad OP landed on his feet.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were travelling for business.