Some people will use any excuse to cut ahead, especially when they think their time is more valuable than everyone else’s.

So, what would you do if a coworker lied to jump the breakfast line, pretending they had urgent work, and you knew it wasn’t true?

Would you just chalk it up to them being them?

Or would you find a way to make sure they remembered it for years to come?

In the following story, one Navy unit finds themselves in this exact situation.

Here’s what they did.

Enjoy your breakfast.

When I was in the Navy, we were traveling back from a detachment.

We stopped at an Air Force base for fuel and etc. It was early morning, so we went to the chow hall for breakfast.

We had a guy in our unit who was the go-getter type.

Very good at his job, but not as good or as important as he was in his mind.

Since we had inbound aircraft coming, Dan (not his real name) pulled rank and pretended that he needed to eat fast so he could help with the turnaround to get our birds back in the air as soon as possible.

It was a lie, and the thing is, we all knew it was a lie because had there been a problem radioed in ahead, we all would have been aware.

Dan went all out when signing his name.

So he cuts to the front of the line where I was second and Lee, (also a false name), was first.

Lee worked in Dan’s work center (electrical) while I worked in another (airframes shop), so if there had been a problem, Lee would have definitely known.

Since it was an AF base, we had to sign in to pay for our food.

So Dan rolls up, signs his name, “Small, Dan A. AE2 VF-***,” (rank/rate and unit number + last four digits in his social security number). Lee gets this evil smile on his face and signs in “Small, Dan A AE2 VF-***.”

Later, they found out that many other people also signed in as Dan.

So hey, I kept it going and we shared a laugh and promptly forgot about it.

A couple of weeks later, at quarters, we had an unexpected announcement. It turns out that almost everyone else signed in exactly the same way as we did, “Small, Dan A. AE2 VF-***.

And PSD, being PSD, shrugged and charged Dan for 67 breakfasts.

The entire unit started laughing then and there.

Our C.O., being a good guy, didn’t hold it against us but strongly suggested that we all pay him back, so of course we did.

But just for a couple of weeks, Dan was on the hook for roughly 235 bucks.

It’s not a lot now, but this was 30 years ago.

If “Dan” and “Lee” are reading this and recognize themselves, I love you guys.

Hilarious! They sure taught him a lesson.

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit think about what happened.

Here’s a marine who loved the story.

For this reader, the story contained all the right elements.

Yet another person who just loved the story.

Here’s an interesting point of view.

Now this is funny!

The look on Dan’s face must’ve been priceless!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.