Work-from-home jobs promise flexibility, but they don’t always promise safety — or empathy from the people in charge.

One call center employee learned that the hard way when a serious on-the-job injury was met with skepticism instead of support.

So when he showed HR just how cruel his boss really was, it led to some serious consequences.

Keep reading for the full story.

You want proof i got hurt? It’ll cost your job

I’ve worked at a call center at a well-respected company in my area for about two years now. When I was about a year in, I started working from home.

This employee had always had a problem with their boss..

At this point, my supervisor wasn’t the best person.

I don’t know if she didn’t like me because I didn’t take her garbage like everyone else on the team did, or if it was something else entirely.

We butted heads a lot.

Then one day, something unexpected happened while on the job.

Anyway, a few months ago in April, the desk chair at my home office broke while I was noting an account. I’m not the lightest guy, as my username might imply, and it was a really old chair I got from my ex.

My back was injured really badly. Parts of the chair were dug into my skin, I had cuts, and parts of my shirt were stained red and cut up from the injuries.

He did his due diligence by letting his employer know — and he thought he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

I messaged my supervisor immediately about this, telling her I would be clocking out to go to the hospital.

Now, I have never been late a day in my life, and I almost never use time off, even when it’s offered.

There was no reason for me to be “skipping work” that day either, especially since the office was so slow.

But he couldn’t believe just how cold his boss acted towards him.

After I’m in my car with a towel on the driver’s seat, my supervisor texts me, somehow offended that I was going to the emergency room.

She later said she didn’t believe me, and that if I wanted any kind of workers’ comp, I had to prove it to her. Cue malicious compliance.

She wanted proof? She was about to get it.

Once I was home from the ER, I snapped a photo of my freshly stitched back, my stained shirt, and a picture of the broken chair.

I sent photos of these things to her, as well as screenshots of the texts to HR and the site director, just to make sure nothing got lost.

This seemed to really get the company’s attention.

I later got reimbursed for my time, the medical bills, and a $400 replacement chair to use moving forward.

The day after I came back, I was called by the site director, who told me I would be changing to another team.

This led to long-term consequences for his boss.

A week later, I was told my old supervisor was no longer with the company.

The moral of the story: don’t take guff from anyone, and always keep the receipts.

Sounds like this crazy HR lady got the proof she so desperately needed.

What did Reddit have to say?

There’s a much more civilized way HR would have handled this.

This commenter is quick to point out that not all companies are this bad.

This user reacts with empathy, unlike the HR department.

Cheaping out on home office furniture can really take a toll on employees.

This commenter wonders what the final straw was in this HR woman’s termination.

If this story proved one thing, it’s that you should always keep the receipts, folks.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.