Having a complacent boss who is solely out for money is about as frustrating as it can be.

Especially for a tradesman/tradeswoman who is concerned about good work, and good business practice.

These days, it’s more crucial than ever to be a person of your word, as that reputation follows you around online.

Well this is a story where one painter changed two careers in the span of a day with one brave move.

Don’t want to return my tools or pay me? Enjoy losing your business

I’m a trade painter that worked for around 5 years essentially running a company for an owner who took a very hands off approach.

He was essentially a name and working capital and not much else.

After getting an offer to work for a bigger commercial company and my old bosses realization he would have to run his own company as there really wasn’t anyone else in house that was qualified, he resorted to acting like a child to try and make me stay.

He made me run around the world to receive my final pay which I never even got and refused to return my tools spread throughout various jobs.

And now… the plan is hatched…

Revenge time.

As luck would have it another even better offer from an even bigger company ended up in my lap that wanted to subcontract me a very substantial amount of their work, but I’m going to need more employees for that.

Hmmm.

With the plan in place, this was a no brainer for every single person on the other line.

So I go through and call each and every member of the original company and offer them a 3 dollar an hour raise to work for me.

All of them accepted. After all they know me, they’ve worked for me for years, and it’s more money.

No brainer.

They barely know the owner and what they do know, they don’t like lol.

I then asked them to grab ONLY my tools ( which was the vast majority of tools on all the jobs) from their respective jobs when they leave for the weekend on Friday.

The old boss’ confusion and panic must be off the charts.

Monday rolls around and my old boss is getting calls left and right from supervisors asking why nobody is at work and what’s going on.

He was so hands off he didn’t even have employees phone numbers to call and ask them lmao.

He’s essentially without employees and little to no tools to complete any jobs at this point.

Fast forward 6 months and his company has now closed, he’s lost all his work.

His new addition to his house has come to a grinding halt halfway though construction, he’s hurting big time.

I never got my last check, but I did get a great group of workers and a company of my own, so I guess I’ll just call it even.

A complete and utter collapse.

It’s almost so all-encompassing you feel bad for the guy!

Almost.

Let’s see what folks had to say.

Like this person, who pointed out that $3/hr raise was so obviously a no brainer.

Another commenter recognized that simple communication and respect go a long long way.

One Redditor is completely taken aback by how oblivious the owner was.

While this comment stressing how the owner didn’t even have the phone numbers was indicative of the whole situation to begin with.

Complacency is not a plan for growth.

Want to read another story where somebody got satisfying revenge? Check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.