Following safety procedures is very important at work especially if the work involves potentially hazardous conditions like in today’s story.

Unfortunately, one supervisor didn’t take those safety procedures seriously, and an employee got the supervisor demoted.

That was just phase one of the revenge.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

boss mistreats new guys so new guys get boss demoted and then fired

So back in my 20’s I worked for a large national sewer and drain company called roto rooter.

A great job, and a great place to work where I was lucky enough to be trained by some of the most skilled technicians in the industry.

There was however one supervisor, let’s call him Billy.

Now Billy was your typical kiss up, who spent most of his time trying to please any one who he thought held any influence (the senior techs) or power (the branch and regional manager).

He loved to lord his power (he made the shift schedules and scheduled time off) over any one who he thought he could push around.

A typical interaction with one of the big earners (this is a commission job) would be something like “hey you need a day off? sure just let me know when and I will be happy to help you.”.

While if he was dealing with a new hire, or a low earner you were lucky if he would pick up the phone or take a second to hear you out.

He called Billy after completing a job.

So one night around my third month on the job I was sent to a mortuary to do some work, and while it was gross, hazard jobs like that paid really well (maybe 200 dollars in your pocket for an hours work)

When it was done, I called and told him I was taking the rest of the night off due to some chemicals in their sewer making me feel a little woozy and I didn’t think it would be safe for me to operate heavy machinery.

He flipped out and told me that if I didn’t get back on the road I would have a disciplinary hearing the next day, to which I said “sure can’t wait to see you there”.

He attended the meeting with backup.

As soon as I walked in, I requested someone from HR be present as well as our assigned safety officer.

The safety officer position in the company is very important, as the company self-insures and any safety violation can get you fired on the spot.

I let Billy go first and he says ” you can’t leave whenever you want from your shift, you are getting a warning and next time I am going to fire you”.

I calmly reach into my bag and pull out our employee handbook and begin to read.

While I don’t remember the exact phrasing it goes something like this “if you feel at any time that the situation or job you are in/on is dangerous, or may lead to a dangerous situation you are to stop immediately.”

there was another section about being inebriated, exposed to methane gas from the sewer, being light headed etc. and how you should go home and not operate any equipment under those conditions.

It even went so far as to say that transportation would be paid for by the company if you didn’t feel safe driving ( they were very big on safety since any insurance claims would be paid by them directly).

Billy was put in his place.

I asked the safety manager if I did any thing wrong, and he supported me 100%.

Then I asked HR what they thought and they said, if its a safety issue you go home and don’t worry about your shift…

At this point the regional manager asked me to leave the office and I hear him rip into Billy like a fat kid into cake.

That should have been enough for me, but I am petty… I never forgive and I am very patient.

He works to get revenge on Billy.

As time goes on, I become one of the top earners in my city, get rookie of the year my first year and salesman of the year my second.

Billy gets a reputation of being lazy, and irresponsible.

My second year at the company, Billy is put on probation and this is where I go into pro revenge mode.

I gather up all the new guys and some of my buddies from my shift and I organize them so at least once or twice a week someone goes in there to complain about Billy.

We never lied, we just knew what buttons to push to get him to self destruct.

New guys would ask for a day off, or some one would take a sick day during a busy shift etc.

Billy eventually quit.

Finally the branch manager snaps and calls Billy into his office.

He demotes him to salesman and puts him on my shift (at a company like this the shifts become very close, we all talk in our trucks through our radios while waiting for jobs, and we all help each other when needed).

During Billy’s first few weeks on the road, our supervisor makes sure he gets all the fun jobs…. flooded basements, tight spaces, and generally any thing that will get him absolutely covered in poop.

and of course as all this was happening I had every single person I was friends with at the company call him and ask him for scheduling changes so he had to explain to about 30 people how he was demoted and no longer a manager.

Eventually Billy broke, he started crying to the dispatcher about how he couldn’t take it any more and quit.

They had a party to celebrate Billy leaving.

The next day me and two other guys threw a Billy’s gone party with cake and pizza at a neighborhood bar, put up signs in the office and made a general announcement in the morning when we went in to hand in paperwork when we knew Billy would be there to give in his two weeks notice.

He actually came up to us to thank us, and I got the pleasure of informing him that he’s not invited… it’s not a going away party, it’s a you’re gone party…

it wouldn’t make sense for you to be at a party where we are celebrating you not being around any more.

In the end only about 20 of the 50 employees at the branch showed up, but it was still a great party.

That’s a knife in the back to tell Billy he’s not invited, but I understand why they wanted to celebrate.

I’m surprised he didn’t get fired, and I’m surprised he didn’t quit earlier.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted…

This reader thinks he needed to explain in more detail why Billy was so horrible.

Another reader thinks he is “the bad guy.”

This person called him a bully.

Another person thinks he was “cruel.”

This person thinks he went “too far.”

The revenge really does need to match the crime.

Otherwise it’s just cruel.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.