When arrogance, disrespect, and bullying become a habit, it doesn’t take long for that to catch up with you.

So, what would you do if a former colleague who treated you and others terribly applied for a job at your company?

Would you stay silent if your boss asked your opinion?

Or would you tell the truth?

In the following story, one person finds themselves dealing with a person just like this.

Here’s what happened.

I torpedoed a dude’s entire career because he was a bully

My mom is incredibly successful in a very niche but very lucrative field of business.

This allowed my dad to be a SAHD and for me and my siblings to get a good education.

When I graduated from college, I decided to work in the same field as my mom.

While I love her and our relationship is good, I very much did not want to be viewed only as her kid or receive special treatment due to how well-regarded she is, so I use my dad’s surname and generally keep who my mom is to myself.

I also avoided coming to work for her.

In my field and country, it’s generally accepted that people are hired for a trial period, at the end of which either the employee or employer can cut ties without any fines or compensation.

So anyway, I went to work at one company (again, I’ll remind you—very niche market, very few employment opportunities).

I went in for my trial period, and everyone seemed pretty happy with me.

I put out some fires, and one superior described me as “a workhorse” because I was first in the office and last out the door. It goes pretty well—except for one colleague in my team.

It seemed like this guy couldn’t get along with anyone.

This dude is a HUGE jerk.

I’m a bit of a people pleaser and try to be on good terms with everyone, but Jerk will have NONE of it.

The dude is incredibly rude.

He keeps being very confrontational.

For example, if a colleague (not just me) was getting any sort of acknowledgment, Jerk would belittle them and their accomplishment.

If someone was saying they had a rough time with something, Jerk would pop up, going, “Oh yeah, I did that a while back; it was SUPER EASY.”

Whenever someone tried talking about future plans with me, Jerk would go, “Oh yeah, we’ll see about that.”

He also apparently says some very unkind things about my appearance and masculinity, but those, at least, he had the decency to say behind my back, I suppose.

I only learned about them later.

Still, management liked his work ethic.

The dude was incredibly mean for apparently no reason except trying to make himself look better by making everyone else look worse.

This one thing wasn’t true for me specifically because I’m male, but his meanness seemed to apply especially to women.

A few comments were about how working in this field isn’t for moms, and they should be raising kids or whatever, and some other very bad stuff.

But management seemed pretty content keeping him around because apparently he was a pretty good worker, and they liked that he was ambitious.

Fine.

Not wanting to work around the guy, he turned down their job offer.

My trial period ends.

I am offered a permanent position, but I decided this is not the place for me, as I don’t love being anybody’s workhorse and have very little interest in sticking around in Jerk’s vicinity.

I respectfully inform them I will not be sticking around and will go find work elsewhere.

On my last day, I come to say goodbye.

Management says they’re sorry to see me go.

Colleagues wish me well & say they’re gonna miss me.

The jerk goes, “HA! Told you OP wasn’t gonna stick around! Good riddance! Maybe this field isn’t for you either!”

Very loudly.

I leave.

I’m not very confrontational & I don’t have to deal with him anymore anyway, so I just go.

It was all in the past until the guy applied at his company.

Some time goes by, I am now employed elsewhere.

I’m happy & doing well.

I love my work & my colleagues.

I’ve been promoted, and I don’t really think about Jerk anymore, except…

Apparently, there’s a relative influx of applicants from Jerk’s company. (It’s relative because, again, it’s a very niche market.) Whatever.

My boss knows I did a trial period over there, so whenever an applicant comes up, he asks me about my experience with them.

There are very few people I dislike, so when asked, I usually give my honest opinion, which is usually very positive.

But guess who’s application we suddenly receive?

It’s Jerk!

My boss asks for my opinion, and I say, “Look, I have personal feelings about this person, and I can’t be objective.”

Boss, knowing just how positive I usually am about basically everyone, asks me what’s up, and eventually I tell him.

I tell him everything. Jerk, obviously, doesn’t get hired.

I assume that’s the end of that.

The guy also applied to work at his mom’s company.

A few days later, we had a family dinner.

My mom goes, “Wait, you had a trial period at that company, right? Do you know Jerk?”

Well, my mom knew there was a person I really didn’t get along with at that company and the terrible things they did.

I told her it was him.

Obviously – she ain’t gonna hire him either, especially given his views on women.

So, my company ends up hiring one of Jerk’s company’s former workers.

Me & her are on great terms, and this is how I discovered what happened there.

Apparently, he was so hard to get along with that he had to find a new career.

The Jerk got promoted, and that made a bunch of people want to leave.

This caused management to look into why strong applicants were leaving after their trial period was over.

It turned out it was Jerk.

Someone had a talk with him, and from what I gather, he was not receptive to criticism.

He was let go.

This is when he applied to the company I work for and to my mom’s.

From what I understand he no longer works in our field (there are, as I mentioned, not many employers around), but unfortunately I have no idea what he does do.

That guy had some personality.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit relate to this story.

This person thinks the supervisors should’ve been fired as well.

According to this comment, it’s not revenge at all.

This comment explains how the guy torpedoed this own career.

The story brings back memories for this person.

He did it to himself.

If the bully learned how to get along with others and not be so rude, he’d have a job.

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.