March 12, 2024 at 1:46 pm

Co-Worker Stole Their Idea, But They Had All The Documentation And Ended Up Getting A Promotion And Made The Guy Retire

by Matthew Gilligan

Source: Reddit/AITA/Unsplash/@pvaneijk

This is how it’s done, folks…

If you’re ever wondering how to get epic revenge on someone who messed with you, then look no further than this story from Reddit.

Get started now!

The story on how I got promoted to director of sales & sales recruitment.

“I’ve been with my current employer for many, many years now. Even though I’ve quit, I’ve come back to them.

It’s been a good job.

My company also has an incentive, if an employee comes up with a way to do business better or changes something that has a net benefit to the company they get a % of the increased revenue/profit. Over the years with this company I have had several major impacts.

Well about a year ago I was talking to a senior level manager lets call him Bob. And Bob was telling me about how the company been having an issue in recruitment and hiring of new talent for our sales division.

Now I had been in sales before and knew of the pitfalls our structure created and why senior reps would excel and junior reps would get crushed and had a really good idea on our turnover challenges.

They had an idea…

Then one night I had an idea on how to change the sales structure of our company, almost entirely which would still retain our senior reps but also make it easier for younger more junior reps to find success and stability by a result reducing turnover.

I spent a good amount of time designing this plan before I ever presented it to anyone. Since this was Bob’s area of expertise. After many revisions and bouncing it around my head I called Bob and I presented my idea to Bob.

Bob liked it, a lot. However he had a few minor tweaks, and he brought up concerns company executives would have. I tweaked the plan, and came up with rebuttals to those objections and shared my plan with Bob. I did this several times, I would say those my plan stayed about 90% original.

Bob had been with our company for decades at this point, and I’ve known him for my entire time so I trusted Bob would be sure to credit me. Considering my name was all over my presentation I sent over to Bob I expected Bob to share in the love with me should there be any. I felt like I needed Bob as an ally to make my idea work which is why I brought him in on my plan.

I followed up with Bob and he basically made it seem like my idea was rejected, that the company was going keep on doing what its always done. Ok…fine whatever stuff happens its not the first time my idea has been rejected.

Uh oh…

Cue a few months later and our new fiscal year is starting and our CEO calls everyone to a company-wide meeting. And as I sit down to watch I witness our CEO praise Bob for coming up with a brilliant new sales structure, strategy and compensation plan.

It is, my plan, with my name removed. The CEO is gushing over how wonderful this idea is, and how he thinks it will benefit us greatly.

I’m fuming mad Bob stole my work, put his name on it, and took credit. He violated my trust and lied to me. He told me the company had rejected the idea. Yet here I am watching my company IMPLEMENT MY IDEA.

They were really upset.

I get on the phone with my VP and let loose. Now my VP (lets call him Tim) is a really good guy and I trust him. Tim is taken aback, says that right around the time I presented my plan to Bob, Bob started presenting to senior management and it was almost immediately considered a great idea.

In fact Bob knew the company was considering forcing him into retirement because they felt Bob was holding the company back and the company needed to make a change and this idea saved Bob’s job.

Now to give you an overview of how in-depth my plan was:

Completely restructured compensation plan

Completely changed how we present ourselves to new potential hires

Completely changed our sales training to be more focused on real-world realities

Refined the sales order process to reduce workload and streamline

Did all that using current infrastructure

Each step included suggestions on how to implement the change

Bob oversaw all of this in his current role

I then asked if I could prove that it was my idea, that I had presented it to Bob, and so forth.

Now Bob and I had discussed this over email, and Facebook messenger and another chat app. I went through our emails, Facebook Messanger, and a chat app, and took screenshots, created a PowerPoint (makes it so easy to present ideas), and sent it to my VP.

2 days later my VP called and said I needed to go into a conference call with HR, my VP, and the CEO

In that meeting we discussed the plan I had created, the collaboration I had done with Bob, and my plan to implement it. Not only that I presented the research that I had done (which Bob did not have access too) and justified WHY my idea was a good idea.

They didn’t hold back.

The CEO seemed impressed with what I had done and convinced that I was the true creator. I was then asked what I thought had happened and I straight up accused Bob was stealing my idea and removing my name from it in an attempt to further his career.

I was told they would be having a separate meeting with Bob and after that, they would inform me of any future changes.

A week later my VP called me and asked me if I was offered the chance to implement my plan would I be willing to do that. This was obviously a promotion and I said of course.

2 weeks later I get a call from my VP telling me he’s coming to my location to visit me. He also tells me I should make sure I look sharp and presentable. I tried to figure out WHY he was coming but he wouldn’t say.

Goodbye, Bob…

2 days later I come into the office, check my email. Now, all big retirements/resignations are announced company-wide. I see an email stating that Bob has retired, what I found strange is the retirement date was effective immediately and that his replacement will be announced shortly.

Generally, there is a time period for a take over to happen, and the replacement is announced in the email, along with a breif overview of their qualifcations.

The time for my VP to show up comes, and in walks my VP and the CEO. We go out to lunch and the CEO says “PJ I came to visit you because I always think its best to give people major promotions the news in person, but I’d like to offer you the position of Director of Sales & Sales Recruitment and put you in charge of implementing your idea” to which I accepted naturally.

Then I asked “Is this why Bob…um retired?” to which the CEO smiled and said “After talking to you, and talking to Bob and discussing it among senior management it was decided that it was time for a change, time to inject new blood into our organization and Bob really wanted to start his retirement so it was best for everyone”

I smiled and said thank you, I know perfectly well Bob intended on working until the day he passed away.”

Here’s how Reddit users reacted.

This person was happy for the support they have.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Another Reddit user thinks Bob is a moron.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This Reddit user has dealt with someone like Bob before…

Source: Reddit/AITA

Another individual thinks Bob could’ve handled it differently.

Source: Reddit/AITA

And this reader had some good advice in this department.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Nice work!

We tip our hats to you!

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