People who scream and throw things aren’t necessarily scary because you can read them.

The people who get back at you quietly, evading your detection, can leave a bigger impact.

See how the man in this story put his boss into an awkward situation.

They say petty revenge is a dish best served cold

Years ago I worked in a well-known national copy chain store.

One of my coworkers was a very serious, angry dude who I’ll call Max.

Max was mostly fine with our fellow workers but he hated customers and he absolutely loathed our boss.

Max was an atheist metalhead with long hair and tattoos; our boss (let’s call him Johnny) was a blond surfer dude who loved Jesus.

These two were oil and water.

Max worked second and third shift; Johnny worked first and second shift.

Max and Johnny did not get along at all, and when they both worked second shift, sparks flew.

Max did not fly off the handle and ragequit one day.

No, he planned one of the best delayed revenges I have ever seen.

He made dozens of copies of graphic artwork with large slogans on them — things like a big dollar sign with the words MONEY IS YOUR GOD.

You get the idea.

One night during third shift, Max went into the storage room and gently opened dozens of reams of white paper, carefully inserted his offensive images, and then resealed the reams and put them back into paper storage boxes.

Then he put other boxes on top of those boxes.

Then Max quit.

It was a slow, satisfying burn.

It took a week or two before Max’s images starting showing up in customers’ copies. I think it took about three or four instances of angry customers coming in with their business proposals, spreadsheets, or church bulletins defaced with Max’s edgy slogans before Johnny finally figured out what Max had done.

Poor Johnny had to open up every box of paper in the storage room, then open every single ream and go flip through the whole stack by hand.

He found most of the little propaganda bombs that Max left behind, but not all of them, because not all of them were full-page graphics and wouldn’t show up when Johnny quickly flipped through a ream.

They kept showing up for weeks afterward.

Here is what people are saying.

Haha! That does sound like him.

A bit harsh, but I disagree with the stunt, too.

Maybe this wasn’t a bridge, though.

But I don’t like cold cuts.

Max, are you okay?

We think not.

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