Sometimes it’s best to just take no for an answer, especially when you’re pushing against a company or corporation you work for.

In this situation, a woman thought she deserved an upgrade for her work phone that was clearly unnecessary. Instead of accepting that, she took matters into her own hands.

What followed is a kind of hilarious turn of events that ends in a win for tech support and a lose for the woman.

Here’s the full story…

When the drive for a new iPhone is too great, you get fired.

I work as an Executive Support Technician for a large company, I have a team of 8 people under me and we support high ranking executives and their administrative assistants.

Because of the nature of our work, we have the ability to “get things done” that the standard help desk cannot, We can force upgrades that would otherwise be denied, get things expedited, skip the normal procedures and talk directly with the people who fix the issues.

While we are executive support, there are still levels, when the CEO is in town, one of us is camped outside of where ever he might be in case there is any sort of issue.

Seems like a good plan.

For lower people, we make sure things get done as quick as possible, but it’s not a drop everything situation.

As we prepped for the releases of the new iPhones, we braced for the flood of “I NEED this” that inevitably happens.

We slot in orders immediately for the top of the pyramid guys, and then work our way down, replacing, or sometimes having to tell them that they have to wait because the device they have is too new to warrant replacing.

So on Monday, the EA of a lower end Exec put in a request to get both herself and the exec new 256 Gig iPhone X’s.

The Exec was put on the approval list, with a wait, but the EA was denied. She had just been issued an iPhone 7 a few months ago, and she began to complain about “I have to support him, so I need to have the exact same phone etc etc”.

Still denied.

She’s not going to be happy!

On Tuesday, I get a ticket from the EA – iPhone will not turn on, require replacement with attached ticket for iPhone X request.

I send one of my drones out to investigate and I immediately get a text saying I have to get out there, I get out there and the iPhone is wet, not just wet, but dripping wet, like just pulled out of a glass of water wet with a screen that could only be called heavily Cracked.

the EA states “I was using it and it fell into my water bottle”.

So we take the phone back to our area and I’ve called my manager over and we explain it, It’s obvious what has happened, we’ve toweled it off and when we turn it over, water drizzles out of the cracked screen.

Well as luck would have it, we have spares, so I pluck a nice 64 gig Rose Gold iPhone 6s that was returned when the previous owner departed the company, I call and have the sim reprovisioned, I re-assign the phone in Airwatch and I have the phone returned to the EA.

10 minutes later, said EA is at our door, ranting, screaming saying that she can’t work like this, she needs a new phone and if we don’t give her one “EXECUTIVE” will make us give her one.

She’s not going down without a fight.

I step in and tell her “A permanent replacement is just beginning the process, we have had to issue you this phone as a loaner so you can continue working until a permanent replacement is sourced”.

Queue Wednesday, the approval process has come back denied for her replacement, the loaner phone is now her permanent phone.

This info is relayed to the EA, who is fuming, lots of “EXECUTIVE WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS” and statements of “I can’t believe this is happening to me, how will I work?”

Wednesday afternoon, same EA, new ticket – iPhone broken, need replacement.

I head out myself to see the issue and the phone looks like it was dragged behind a semi truck for 100 miles, the screen is shattered, a big chunk missing out the top near the camera, big dents in the back.

I calmly ask “What happened? This phone was perfect this morning?”

The reply: “Well, since you gave me an old phone, my case didn’t fit and it slipped out of my hands and fell down the stairs.”

Well ok, could you tell me when and what stairwell this happened? She does, and I take the mangled phone, I grab my manager and we head off to the security office, and we pull the tapes.

The truth is coming out!

On the video we see the EA walking up the stairwell (concrete stairs, metal handrail, your typical big building non public stairwell) she reaches the top and proceeds to fling the phone, like one would skip a stone, down from the 6 floor to the mid floor landing, where it lands.

She steps on it and then kicks it down to the 5th floor, it bangs off the metal fire door and she picks it up, examines it and then tosses it down the stairs to towards the 4th floor, bouncing off a few steps before landing on the mid landing between 5 and 4.

She picks the device up, and pries a large section of something off the phone (We suspect this was the chunk missing by the camera) and then heads back up the stairs, running the phone against the cinder block wall as she climbs.

So we grab a copy of the video, we head straight to HR, we sit with the personnel director, we show her the video, we show her the 2 damaged iPhones, we show her the tickets.

I relay the abuse thrown to myself and my techs about how she demands an iPhone X and has taken to destroying company property to get it.

Termination follows, however the user has gone home for the day, her accounts are disabled, her security badge flagged.

She’s in for a rude awakening.

7:30 am today, the EA attempts to get into the building and her badge does not work, so she has to walk to the security office, the security officer takes the badge, and walks her to HR.

8 am, the Security officer and two members of HR are escorting the EA out of the building, she’s alternating between yelling and crying, Demanding that EXECUTIVE be called and that she’s being framed.

As she’s brought through the main foyer, I’m on the 2nd floor balcony that overlooks the entrance, she looks up at me, curses me and is gone.

Both phones, her laptop and other equipment have been placed with the Legal team as a precaution. Company policy when there is a messy separation.

Maybe I’ll buy my team pizza for lunch today, seems like the right thing to do.

Let’s get into the comments!

This person hopes there’s justice served.

Another commenter thinks the delusion is obvious.

Some people called out the hypocrisy of the situation.

And others had some creative clap back suggestions.

No, you can’t pull one over on a company for your own selfish reasons!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.