Anyone who has worked in construction knows that there are some unspoken rules that keep the peace.

Such as… Don’t touch someone else’s tools, don’t create extra work for your coworkers, and if there’s a perfectly good spare sitting nearby, you don’t take what someone is actively using.

A woman working in construction who does her best to contribute to a nice work environment spent part of her day gathering abandoned ladders and organizing them into a neat pile.

Then she left her own ladder alone for just a few minutes to haul supplies up several flights of stairs.

Well, when she came back, her ladder wasn’t where she had left it.

She was no longer interested in keeping the peace after she found out what happened.

Keep reading for the full story.

My coworker was being a tool so I nailed his to the floor

I’m a woman who works in construction. I mainly wood framed apartment complexes for the majority of my career.

I am also usually the only female on the jobsite. So I have to often decide how to handle the interactions with my male colleagues.

If I lose my cool I run the risk of being labeled a b word or getting talked about even if a colleague deserves it.

But it’s not easy controlling her feelings there.

One day on the job, I collected all of the ladders that were on the jobsite because they often get left behind (we work in one direction and move up floors when we finish a floor).

I piled the ladders neatly and by size and then got to working on my task for the day.

Well I had my 6ft ladder and my nail gun but needed more nails so I had to run down to the connex to carry 3 ten pound boxes up 5 flights of stairs.

And when I got upstairs back to my area my ladder was gone.

This became a problem.

A coworker had taken it.

I asked him why he didn’t just take from the pile that was on the other side of the room and he shrugged and asked me why I can’t just do the same.

Like dude it’s the principle of it.

Because if I had stolen his or anyone’s ladder they were using and there was a pile of them in eyesight I would’ve gotten my behind chewed out and I would have had to take it on the chin.

It just wasn’t fair and she wasn’t about to let it go.

The unfairness of it all ****** me off and I waited till break.

When everyone went to either their car or the break area, I hid out in the portapotty.

I took note of his tool bag before everyone went to break and when I found it, I nailed that son of a ***** to the floor.

I even took lags (big screws that go into wood) and screwed those in and bent them over.

Best part is that I used different sizes (ranging from 4inch 6inch and 8inch) you can’t just pull those out either you gotta unscrew it because the grips are so coarse.

He never said anything, neither did our 12 other coworkers, so I’m assuming he never knew it was me.

Wow. Don’t mess with quiet people!

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post about a woman who reports her creepy coworker to HR after he calls himself her “work uncle” and leaves his number.

What did Reddit think?

Another woman shares her experience working in this industry.

That’s so specific.

Yup, truly petty.

Another experience worth noting.

Another reader shares.

Phew!

Why not?

Taking a ladder someone else was clearly using when there are plenty of others available and neatly organized is nonsensical.

Doubling down on it when confronted is when it becomes a problem.

Her coworker could’ve just gone like “oops, you’re right!”, but arguing about it wasn’t a good look.

Was nailing his tool bag to the floor a mature response?

Probably not.

Was it bold and probably relieved stress?

Absolutely.

She really went Matilda/Amelie on him and nobody found out it was her.