In today’s story, an employee who is doing a great job at work really gets shafted by layoffs.

Eventually, the boss who laid them off tries to hire them back… and revenge has never been so sweet!

Let’s see how the story plays out…

Employee Revenge Story

Worked myself into very poor health for a small PCB design and manufacturing shop in the early 00’s.

It was a very small company, recently acquired by a startup to combine some very complimentary IP.

I worked very hard with customers to meet all their supplier needs; about 80%+ of our output went to one *very* large industry leader (Big Customer) .

This included weekly and monthly calls and reports on manufacturing and field performance / failure rates, engineering change requests, corrective actions, etc.

Very boring, very technical, but critically important.

The Big Customer changed their policies.

Big Customer had retained my employer as a small supplier without a formal supplier contract.

After a couple years, their policies changed and they required my employer sign a supplier contract.

At that time, we’d just enjoyed getting a new General Manager (GM) forced on us by the parent startup, and he was a grievous a-hole.

There was a whole section of the proposed supplier contract dealing with reporting requirements.

The GM was shocked that they were in compliance.

The GM called me in to his office and assigned me the task of writing up why each of their reporting requirements could not be met.

I told him (after reading the entire contract) I am/we are already fully in compliance with every single reporting requirement documented.

He about fell out of his chair and asked how that could be possible.

He explained how it was possible.

It was possible because Big Customer’s supplier manager had provided all their data/reporting needs to me about a year prior and I established everything needed to support them and keep them happy.

I told my GM he’s copied on every single report I email out – weekly and monthly – with all the attachments that cover every single thing.

In short, nothing extra needed, it’s all been good for at least a year.

And, GM doesn’t look at emails from me. I sorta knew that already…..

He knew layoffs were coming.

I (we all) knew the GM was there to change the business model – from a supplier to a design shop – it was a poorly kept secret.

That is, we were going to stop designing, manufacturing and selling completed specialized product, just design the boards and license the customers to go find their own contract manufacturers.

I knew this strategy meant I would eventually be laid off, I just didn’t expect it so fast.

He was laid off after getting sick and returning to work.

So….I’m so stressed out doing so many things I get a bad internal infection and ended up in the hospital for a week (Sunday-Friday).

I’d never had it before, didn’t know what it was or how serious it was until I passed out at home.

Got better, went back to work the next Monday.

Got laid off about 10am that first day back.

He easily found a new job.

This was 2009, right at the start of the “Great Recession.”

I was screwed, but didn’t show it as I was getting laid off. I just smiled, refused to sign anything until I had 24 hours to review the terms, stood up, shook hands, walked out.

Thankfully, I found employment again about a month after. That was amazing, given my career choices and specialties at the time.

He got a call from the GM.

One day shortly after starting my new work, I received a call from my old boss. He was asking questions about those reports.

I actually felt sorry for him – he’d cried at my layoff, something even I hadn’t done.

(Side note: I so wanted to tell him “There’s no crying in baseball!”, but I was in too foul a mood to be humorous at my layoff.)

I answered his questions fully, but I did not offer anything additional…knowing that he was hopelessly lost.

Perhaps it’s good to mention here – he was from a completely separate profession than I; he had no clue what I did, just that I kept Big Customer happy.

The GM offers him the job back.

Sure enough, a week following, my old boss calls me back and says the company wants to rescind my layoff and hire me back.

I say, “Thanks, no thanks.”

Three days after that, the GM who laid me off calls me and offers me my job back.

I tell him “Thanks, no thanks.”

He turned down the job offer.

He “reminds” me that I forfeit unemployment benefits if he files paperwork to the state telling them they offered me my job back and I refuse.

I tell him, “Thanks, no thanks.” I refused to be threatened or intimidated by him – especially because I had a new job that was covering my a**, albeit at lower pay.

Through it all, I stayed professional and polite. I also did not let on that I didn’t need unemployment benefits at that time.

The old boss called AGAIN!

I can’t remember how many days later, my former boss calls me back, says he’s authorized to offer me my job back, bridging my service immediately, re-allocating all my unvested stock options at their original vesting schedule, and re-establishing my paid time off hours that were cashed out when I was laid off.

It was tempting, because my new job was about a 25% pay cut. But I said “Thanks, no thanks.”

My boss asked me to sign a statement of refusal.

I said, “Thanks, no thanks.” and hung up.

There were more big changes in the company…

A week later I heard from a colleague the GM was gone. No explanation, just gone.

About a month after that, the company was sold (by the larger startup) to a similar – but quite large and well established – company, which was a supplier to Big Company.

The good news was all the employees that weren’t senior management were retained, including all my colleagues and my boss.

The best revenge is a life well lived.

While it seems like everything worked out well, it would be hard not to take the job back considering it paid more.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

This reader points out why people leave companies.

This reader would’ve done things slightly differently.

Another reader considers the rehiring offer a really good one.

Another reader pointed out that the boss actually cared.

The boss who fired the employee sounds like a good boss.

Even if he was put in a difficult position.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.