When nepotism seeps into a workplace, it rarely goes smoothly.

So when a seasoned mechanic was told by his brand-new, much younger boss that he couldn’t work until his toolbox looked “corporate ready,” the clash between experience and authority got personal fast.

Keep reading for the full story.

Boss told me how to organize my tools.

I have been a mechanic for nearly 15 years.

I am the lead tech in my shop, and my company just sold recently to a different corporation, and with that came a new boss.

This mechanic didn’t consider this boss the best and the brightest.

A little bit of history about the new boss: he is 22 and the son of one of my older bosses, so everybody suspects a bit of nepotism at play.

The older boss was ruthless and a jerk, and really put a dent in my confidence about being a mechanic, so I may hold somewhat of a grudge against the family, but I try to do my best to move on and just do my job.

The new boss and I have had some minor issues already in the 3 months he has been here, but I’m the type of person who can generally put my feelings to the side if the money keeps ending up on my paycheck.

Today, however, that changed.

I will admit I am not the most organized person.

This has always been a problem for him, due to several personal factors.

I have ADHD and, at 33 years old, am still learning to function without the medicine that I weaned off of at 26.

My toolbox is normally cluttered, but I keep all my tools in my area or on top of my box. It’s the system that works for me.

So one day, his boss took a hard line against his toolbox.

This morning I clocked in and was about to unlock my box when the new boss came up to me and said, “You will not be working on cars today until your box is organized.”

I said, “My box is organized in the way that it works for me.”

But that wasn’t good enough for the boss.

He shot back with, “Not good enough for me or the company. I need to be able to find tools when I need them, and it needs to look neat and orderly for when corporate comes through.”

I paused for a second and said, “So you are telling me that you need to be able to find MY tools that I have purchased when YOU need to use them? I don’t remember signing that agreement.”

He nodded and muttered something about insubordination and that he would be passing off all the work to the other technician until it was completed to his satisfaction.

I had assumed he was bluffing until 3 cars came in, and all 3 tickets were handed to the other tech.

Fed up with this attitude, this mechanic decided to go in quite a different direction.

I don’t have any problem being told to clean up, and I would have even done it his way, but I had a problem with his tone, and this was messing with my paycheck.

So while he was in the back doing tire inventory, I opened the top drawer of my toolbox, spread my arms, and swept every single thing into the drawer that I could.

I repeated for the 2nd and 3rd drawer until the top was clean.

I used the same process for both of my smaller carts until each one could be closed and locked, then I clocked out for lunch.

I am currently sitting in my car in the parking lot, eating lunch and browsing job listings while watching him try to open all of my drawers to use my tools, because 3 more cars came in and the other tech can’t handle 6 at a time.

Take that, boss!

What did Reddit make of this malicious compliance?

Your boss is really what makes or breaks a job.

Respect really goes a long way in the workplace.

Why not make this terrible boss pay up?

This commenter suggests a similar approach.

Productivity doesn’t always fit neatly — especially in a mechanic’s shop.

Some people just aren’t cut out to be the boss.

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.