There’s nothing more satisfying than outsmarting a shady business partner and watching them squirm.

What would you do if your partner had been skimming inventory and then tried to sell off everything behind your back? Would you call them out? Or would you beat them at their own game?

In today’s story, one person finds themselves in this exact scenario and opts for the latter. Here’s how he handled it.

Outsmarting your crooked partner can be very satisfying

Years ago, at 26, I entered a partnership in a small CD/music store with a man in his 50s who already owned another store.

The partnership was meant to share buying costs and advertising.

Once we opened, I discovered he was skimming inventory, and we had leased a much larger space than necessary under the pretense of him subleasing the extra space for his office, which never happened.

After three exhausting years, during which he continued his dishonest practices, the store went broke.

He thought they had a deal.

We had around $25k in equipment and another $20k in inventory.

Although he ripped me off, to avoid a legal battle, I agreed that we’d sell off the remaining inventory and equipment and split the profits.

I needed to get away from him quickly, even though my share would be far less than what he took from me.

He made sure he got to the storage unit first.

My star employee/manager (whom my partner had since taken to his other store) informed me that my partner was negotiating a sale of everything the next morning, to settle a debt of his.

Realizing my partner intended to keep me in the dark, I hired movers to empty the storage garage we had rented.

I took back all my belongings early the next morning.

As we were leaving, I saw the other truck arriving.

His partner doesn’t know he took everything.

Later that day, my ex-manager confirmed that the truck was from the debt collector. Their crew arrived to find the garage empty.

They ended up in court, each accusing the other. It ended with my ex-partner still on the hook for his debt.

I called him, acting like I wanted the update on when we’d sell the inventory and furnishings.

He simply said it was stolen.

I just hung up as if I was upset.

He doesn’t feel bad for what he did.

I sold off the remaining equipment over the next year, slowly recouping part of my losses.

Had he been honest with me, at least during our liquidation, nearly $20k of that would have been his.

In total, he took much more than that from me, so no, I didn’t feel I took a thing from him.

They ran into each other years later.

Fast forward 4 to 5 years; I spotted him in a restaurant parking lot as I was driving off.

He smugly asked how I was doing, fully aware of his wrongdoing.

I replied that I was fantastic.

Then, with a huge grin, I said: “So, you still haven’t figured out where the stuff went?”

His smug smile turned to fury as I drove off, telling him to have a wonderful day.

Wow! That business partner had some nerve!

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

This person likes the story.

Yes! What a loyal employee.

It sure would!

Some people are just super fake.

Lucky for him, the employee tipped him off.

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