Whatever you say, boss…

Sometimes at work, that’s the only thing you can say, even when you know they’re asking you to do the wrong thing.

Take a look at how this worker handled a work situation that he knew was eventually going to backfire on his manager.

Start now!

Put that on my personal credit card? Okay.

“In 2000 I was hired by a company in the construction industry.

In 2002 they asked me to help start a new division of the company. ‘They’ are the owners and the general manager.”

The general manager made it known he had a bug up his *** for me after my first year. Intermittent little digs, flippant attitude, demeaning, etc.

They had an idea…

Cut to after we get the new division up and running and I request being able to start a web presence.

Ownership is all over the endeavor while the general manager brushes me off and says, “It’s your division, do what you want.”

My division functioned with a separate business name. As I’m purchasing the domain name, my thoughts turned to the mothership and how it has zero web presence.

Checked out and lined up the actual two business names and several close permutations so they would be somewhat secure in knowing their business names couldn’t be taken out from under them.

I go to the general manager and ask for a check from the main company to pay for the domain names and he, again, brushes me off, saying, “It’s your division (his favorite line), do what you want.

You’ve got a credit card! Expense it like anything else!!”

I did start to ask, ‘Are you sure you want me to put it on my personal…’ and was curtly cut off.

By 2004 my division was running at a 44% profit margin which netted $750,000 USD a year.

In the first six months of its existence, I’d already paid back the build out, training, machines, equipment, all the startup/setup… that is how successful this division was.

This guy was something else…

The general manager became jealous of my achievements and tried to seize control over operations citing he was the general manager of the entire company whereas prior, it was my division to do what I wanted.

Each horn in by him, I’d deflect and defend my division. By 2005 I’d had enough and ended up quitting as I heard he was preparing to fire me to fully seize the shiny penny as his own and take all the credit.

I planned ahead, saved money, quit, and took six months off; it was a spring to fall extravaganza of doing whatever the heck I chose. Good times.

Hmmm…

About a year later, I can’t remember exactly how long, a charge appeared on my credit card for my former company’s domain names; being for several, the amount stood out like a sore thumb.

I called and verified the charge and who/what it was for and in my conversation with a very nice person, they said, “Yes, Mister X, all of these names are registered to you.”

About three years after I’d left the old company, my phone rings and guess what number pops up on the screen?

Oh, yeah, I let that go to voicemail. The message was from the bookkeeper asking if I could return their call.

Next day, here they try again but straight to voice mail they go. After a week of messages that were now pleading me to call them back, I return the bookkeeper’s call.

Well, the cat came out of the bag and the main company finally decided to build out a web presence and had shelled out a ton of money to do so.

Think online catalog, interactive webpage, all the things we expect now, but were ‘high tech’ then and were just coming into functional reality.

Well, what do you know?!?!

Lo and behold, when they went to get their beautiful dot com up and functioning, their exact name was taken as well as a string of similar ones they could have used had I not snatched them up.

The bookkeeper asked me to release the names to them. I indicated that would be very easy to do.

It’s a simple matter of signing them off, no? They agreed as their anxious web builder had prepped them for the chat with me.

I said I’d be happy to turn the keys to the kingdom over to them, but I wanted a few things…

-Reimbursed for all expenses up until that point for owning the domain names.

-A finder’s fee… that ****** them off, but what can I say, I was yelled at to put their domain names on my personal credit card.

-And the general manager himself would have to hand deliver the check.

That third line item was a sticking point, but dear mister manager was forced to bend the knee. I mean, I certainly wasn’t going to budge.

LOL.

General manager shows up at the appointed place, hands me the check, and barks at me about returning THEIR DOMAIN NAMES TO THEM TODAY.

He did this so loudly people in the coffee shop we met at turned and stared. I laughed and said, “After the check clears, sure, yeah.”

He balked and insisted I immediately transfer the names to them as I was holding up, “…the entire show.”

As I left, I smiled and said, “You’re to blame here. You yelled at me to put the domain names on my credit card.”

He was absolutely fuming at this point. “Besides, I love taking your advice to ‘do what I want,’ remember? And I am.”

Here’s what folks had to say on Reddit.

This person had a lot to say.

Another individual weighed in.

This person spoke up.

Another individual chimed in.

And this Reddit user shared their thoughts.

He was just following orders!

It’s gotta be done!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.