Sometimes, people forget the golden rule: Treat everyone with respect, no matter who they are.

So, what would you do if someone dumped trash where it didn’t belong and then mouthed off when asked to stop? Would you ignore them? Or would you put them in their place?

In today’s story, a contractor shows a disrespectful tradesman exactly why you should watch your tone and where you put your trash.

Mouthy tradesman on my job

I owned a small construction company, and we did interior improvements in buildings.

About 20 years ago, we were doing a fairly large job, and I had employed all of my usual subcontractors, such as drywall, electric, and HVAC.

One day I was on the job in shabby work clothes, I decided to do some clean up as the job was getting cluttered.

Frustrated, he demanded the guy take the trash out of the bin.

An electrician, an employee of my subcontractor, was doing the same. He didn’t know me from Adam. At some point, I was standing out back near a dumpster that belonged to another tenant. We were not to use that one for obvious reasons.

The electrician walked up and dumped some of his trash in that bin. I politely informed him that this was not ours to use, his response was “Ain’t life a *****?” and then he walked away.

A minute or two later, he returned, dumping more trash in the bin. At that point I told him “This isn’t ours to use, take it out.”

This guy dropped his attitude quickly!

He looked at me with a moronic stare and said, “Who the **** are YOU?” I smiled and politely informed him, “I’m the ******* general contractor; that’s who I am,” he quickly retreated and started to apologize as he cleaned the trash out of the bin.

For the rest of the job, it was like magnetic repulsion. He would be anywhere that I wasn’t. A couple of weeks he sheepishly apologized to me, to which I replied that you never know who you are talking to, so don’t take a **** attitude.

The guy was a worthless *******, sort of a social project by his boss. I changed electricians shortly after that.

Wow! That guy had some nerve!

Let’s check out how the fine folks over at Reddit feel about this story.

This person has jokes.

Some people lack respect.

Yes! You would think people would know better by now.

Anything but public radio!

The guy should’ve gotten fired. There’s no room for bad attitudes on a job site.

Imagine if the client overheard this conversation – it’s so unprofessional!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.