Following the rules at work is generally the right thing to do, but what do you do when your boss is the one breaking in the rules?

In today’s story, the worker bees get revenge on the crooked bosses.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

A revenge twofer

These events took place over 15 years ago at the large rail car repair shop where I worked. I was in a different department from all of these folks, so I was an observer rather than a participant.

The shop got a new head boss and this guy was horrible. The slightest infraction of the rules would earn the guilty party a three day suspension from work.

A good example of this would be coming back from lunch a few minutes late which was all too easy to do since the sandwich shop across the street was always very busy with long lines.

The boss acted above the rules.

Obeying the rules did not apply to the boss, though.

It was soon noticed that he was frequently off the property for no legitimate reason.

Also, the stock clerk let it be known that he was ordering all sorts of construction material through the company that was of no use in the shop.

The boss was fired.

Some of the mechanics took to tailing him around with a camera.

What they discovered and documented was this boss was using the materials ordered through the company stock system for projects on his outside business.

He was let go (no surprise there) after two decades on the job with complete loss of his pension.

Actually, the company was lenient. It declined to prosecute.

The number two guy in charge did something even worse than his former boss.

Now for his number two man who was even worse, having seen what happened to his boss, was twice as stupid.

There was a company wide policy against working on private vehicles on company property even when one was off the clock. Since we were all mechanics the temptation was very great. Some people were discovered doing so and were punished.

This number two man went beyond working on his own vehicle. He set up a word of mouth auto repair shop on the property.

Like boss number one he acquired his tools and repair parts through the company stock system. Everybody in the building knew it.

The payroll clerk wanted revenge.

Now, our payroll clerk’s wife was in the last stages of terminal cancer and the clerk had to take frequent sick days (he had plenty banked up so he wasn’t ripping off the company) to care for her.

He was harassed unmercifully, forced to stay late and forced to do jobs outside his classification.

That was the last straw. Time for payback.

The number two guy was also fired.

Same result.

The mechanics documented everything on paper and with photographs.

When company investigators showed up they discovered a cargo container crammed full of heavy machine tools and auto parts all of which had been ordered through the company stock system.

He was fired too.

This isn’t revenge as much as making sure crooked bosses don’t get away with ripping off the company.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

This reader makes a good point about how it was revenge.

Another reader liked the story.

This person also liked the story.

It seems like everyone likes this story.

Bosses are not above the rules even if they think they are.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.