Imagine starting your own business and doing everything yourself. If your business grew enough, you’d need to hire employees to help out. What would you do if you found out that your most trusted employee was stealing your business?

In this story, one business owner is in this exact situation, and they respond by firing the employee.

Now, they’re wondering if they overreacted. Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AIO, I just fired my manager/supervisor…

Am I overthinking or overreacting to this situation?

You know what happened last week

I started my mechanical equipment/fabrication business 6 years ago.

I handled everything myself, then I hired a supervisor and trained him — machine setup, manpower handling, drawings, tooling, everything.

It seemed like he was trustworthy.

Slowly, I trusted him and handed over a good amount of production work to him.

Everything was going fine, but then some issues started — material mismatch, slow orders, and changes in client behavior.

One client casually said:
“Some other person is doing the same work for a bit cheaper.”

Uh-oh!

When I checked, I found out — that guy was running his own setup on the side, using my clients and knowledge to take direct orders.

I confronted him today, and he said, “It was extra work.”

I just fired him straightaway because I was too furious with him…

Wow! What a horrible situation! Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person doesn’t think he’s overreacting at all.

Another person has a suggestion about the contract.

This person has a theory.

Another person calls the former employee a thief.

Firing him was the obvious decision.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who was fired after an honest customer returned to pay for an item she forgot to ring up.