Imagine having a boss who takes credit for all of your work, passing it off as his own. Would you be annoyed by this, or accept it? Would you call your boss out on it or find a way to get even?

This guy shares how he was in this exact situation, and after his boss basically admitting to taking credit for his work, the employee devised a plan to get even.

Check out the full story.

Boss took credit for my work, malicious compliance occurred

A few years ago I was hired as a manager to create the contracts department of a tech start-up.

My boss was on an opposite coast as me and we barely spoke.

About a year in the company hired consultants to overhaul depts except for contracts because it was running so smoothly.

I was truly proud of this.

Things got weird soon after the vacation…

The company sent me on a paid trip to the Bahamas as a thank you.

After I got back from vacation I asked for a raise to director level.

My boss said I just “wasn’t there.”

I asked for a list of what I would need to do to be director.

He sent me a list which was everything I was already doing and basically admitted that if I was director he would no longer be able to take credit for my work.

UH OH…

Friends told me I needed to either leave or put up and shut up.

Instead, I chose to kill with kindness.

I wholeheartedly apologized to my manager for “overstepping,” and said that I am going to step back into the manager role. I printed out the manager responsibilities and posted them to my desk.

Things went south quicker than I could have imagined.

We started missing sales targets. Product said my boss agreed to a term in an agreement that would completely destroy their budget and product roll out.

My boss didn’t know commission agreements and let sales manipulate contracts so we were paying commission on contracts with termination clauses.

That’s INSANE!

I only interjected once to stop a contract amendment from being approved because my boss was unknowingly letting a VP artificially inflate sales numbers.

The controller and CFO had to get involved. Eventually the CEO was called in.

Stories started circulating about my boss holding stress balls and cursing in meetings.

I was more relaxed than ever and during my new found free time at work I studied for and obtained professional certifications.

I would also leave work early to get to the gym before it got busy.

Finally the cherry on top!

About a month after I unloaded my added responsibilities my boss gave me a 7% bonus.

It was unspoken but I could tell he wanted me to take back on the director responsibilities without the title, but I continued to follow the manager description to a T.

6 months later, after taking 10 days of my unlimited PTO, I was included in layoffs. Took three months off and then got another job at a 35% salary increase.

While I am happy to be making more money, I truly loved the company and people I worked with, and it’s defeating to watch someone continually take credit for your work.

It’s horrible when a boss wants to keep an employee around just so they can take credit for their work.

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user loved being a manager and promoting people!

Exactly! This user knows bosses shouldn’t be allowed to abuse.

This user knows the boss made a problem for himself.

This user has the best response for someone who tried to steal credits.

This user loves how this guy cleverly played it.

That was a smart way to handle it!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.