We all know what it’s like to get new management or a new boss. It can be smooth sailing or a real tough transition, especially when it comes to micromanagement.

In this Reddit story, an engineer gets fired, but he already has his ducks in row and gets some benefits HR managers couldn’t see coming.

Fired? Are you sure? OK.

So, my friend’s father (since retired) was a mechanical engineer. He was around 55 when this happened and VERY experienced in his field.

In fact, he had some skill sets that were close to unique to the extent that you might be able to replicate them, but at extreme costs – we’re talking multiple people from multiple companies from multiple countries taking weeks if not months to get up to speed with specific projects to do the same things.

He was also a no bull kind of guy who did his job, did it well but also pointed out problems and expected others to point out problems to him.

He was extremely solution-oriented and had no time for office politics or “keeping a positive attitude” at work.

Basically, your everyday grumpy older engineer who really knew his thing and always ready to help if you asked, but not very forthcoming in team building exercises and so on.

He also has a side business, which is legit and okay with the company.

He also ran his own business on the side, doing minor projects and so on. As was required by his employer, he had reported this and was sure to not cause any conflicts of interests, so his employer knew and accepted this.

He was considered a valuable employee and got several awards (that he cared little for, but anyway) during his many years with this employer. By all accounts, they paid him well, respected his knowledge and accommodated his style and he returned the favour by working very hard and making sure to mentor younger and newly employed engineers to make them effective co-workers.

Now his company is bought by a larger company, oh no, here comes a new HR.

Then his firm was acquired by a larger firm, and a new management team installed. Initially, everyone was promised that things would remain the same, but with the new management came a new office culture.

The new management pressured for unpaid overtime, for a more “American” corporate culture with cheering and clapping and so on. He considered it extremely cringe and refused to participate.

His status as a long-standing and knowledgeable employee kept him safe for some time, before the new management realised that resistance to the new “culture” centered around him and started pressuring him to play along.

This engineer is not having it with the new company culture.

When he did not, they turned increasingly hostile, realising that he held a lot of “soft power” in the company, having mentored a large percentage of the engineers and resistance to their leadership centering around him.

They started ordering him to work overtime, he answered that he was on time with his projects and that if they had identified an emergency requiring overtime, they would have to bring it up with the union to negotiate the over-time and make sure it was an actual emergency – the contract with the union said no over-time unless in an emergency.

Ummm, I don’t think you can force people to clap and be excited about work meetings.

They tried to force him to participate in the cheering and clapping by making it mandatory for him to attend and yelling at him to participate and he did but so unenthusiastically that the event turned even more cringe and people started laughing.

The workday turned more and more hostile, and he knew that things would come to head sooner or later. Being an experienced engineer and knowing how to document things, he already had his ducks in a row.

Now the new management got their chance and yes, they took it.

Then it finally happened – they caught him answering an e-mail for his side business on his work laptop, brought him in and fired him on the spot for theft of company resources. He sat at the conference table and looked the three managers in their eyes, one after the other and asked.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

They all said yes.

“Are you REALLY sure you want to do this?”

He was escorted to his desk by security to leave his phone, his badge and his computer at the desk and then escorted out.

Now that he’s fired, looks like it’s time for the power moves.

Once out of the building, he phoned his union representative, who immediately cancelled the firing, claiming there was no just cause, which meant that it would go to the labour board for arbitration.

You see, the company had an IT policy that it was ok to use the company laptop for personal business, including a side business, as long as you were on a break and compliant with IT security protocols, and the company was aware of and had approved his side business.

And he was on a break. Of course, he had his declaration of a side business (signed by his former manager) and the IT policy available and sent both to the union representative.

Time to contact the attorney and it gets real here.

Then he called his lawyer and asked him to send the pre-prepared cease and desist on two patents he held – patents that were not that significant and nothing he could make any serious money out of since they were mostly for very specific things used by the solutions he designed and used at his employer’s, but still his that he had brought with him into the employment and allowed the employer to use in exchange for a slightly higher pay (all duly documented in his contract, of course).

Then he went home for some vacation and tending his side business. He was always a man to prepare and had enough money saved up to last him for a good time, to the extent that he considered retiring entirely.

My friend said he had two job offers from competitors that had looked to sniping him for some time within the week – basically as soon as they learned he was available.

He was gracious, but declined, but offered them to consult with his side business, now that he had the time, which they eagerly accepted – at twice the hourly rate he had made at his earlier employer’s.

His colleagues needed his help too.

His colleagues started ringing the day after for advice, since the projects he had managed could not go on without him, he was perfectly polite, but denied any information and help, saying he had left everything he had with management and to contact them, as he was no longer employed there.

Several clients that phoned his private number were told the same thing. Since his private number was not on a public registry, he suspected that both colleagues and clients spent some time and/or money to find it.

It took two weeks before a manager phoned him and asked things. He politely declined to answer, got yelled at and replied with something like “I am sorry, you must have mistaken me for someone who works for you.” and hung up.

This happened a few times, and the next week HR phoned him and stated the firing had been a mistake and he was welcome back to his job.

No thanks, he doesn’t want his job back, but now he will contract work or consult for a much higher rate if they need him, yikes.

He again politely declined, saying that he awaited the labour board’s decision, but until then he was happy to consult for them. At six times his hourly pay (after taxes and administrative costs, of course). After a few days of wrangling and trying to negotiate, they had to accept.

And then he sprung the patent issue on them, forcing them to pay for those too. Less than two and a half week after being fired he was back at his desk.

After roughly three months, the firing came to the labour board. The employer stated that they believed they had handled the issue correctly, but were still willing to offer my friend’s father his position back, in the interest of “good will” and “reconciliation”.

My friend’s father and the union simply stated that he was now employed elsewhere (his own company) and no longer available. The labour board ruled in my friend’s father’s and the unions favour, and he got the normal damages – 3 months pay damage and 24 months pay severance package, including pension and of course the lawyer costs of the union paid by the employer.

According to my friend, her father continued to work there until he retired, working 20 hours or so per week and 10-15 hours for other companies, making a pretty penny, continuing to charge them three times what he charged their competitors as an “arsehole tax”.

The managers were not fired, but they were moved into their own group apart from the rest of the department when it came to bonus calculations and the costs of her father’s consultancy fees and the costs of the labour board arbitration were budgeted there, meaning they were constantly over budget and thus ineligible for bonuses for several years, which was a decent percentage of the incentives at that company, making at least one of them quit.

My friend also said her father usually met any management complaints with a big grin and “What are you going to do? Fire me?” after that.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say about this Pro Revenge story!

Here we have an American chiming in first, and they are happy with no clapping and cheering as well.

This reader says yeah, don’t try to fire a seasoned professional without expecting some backlash.

This redditor is amused at the situation.

This reader thinks engineers are the best!

All this drama because an employee didn’t want to clap and cheer at work meetings?

I don’t know which manager thought it would be a good idea to pick a legal battle with an employee who was holding so many projects together.

Sounds like he got the better end of the deal!

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.