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Imagine having a job you like, doing your job and doing it well. Would you ignore the company’s owner if he was really annoying, or would you look for a different job?

In this story, one IT worker is in this situation, and he decides the owner’s bad attitude is reason enough to quit.

But that’s far from the end of the story. In fact, one year later, he finds out what happened after he left, and he’s able to stay true to his word to what he told the owner before he quit.

Let’s read all about it.

Better than me because he made $200/hour, so I made him pay me $200/hour

This happened to me way back in 1998. I had been working as a one-man IT shop for a very small manufacturing company.

The owner was a tax attorney who had incredibly wild mood swings.

One day he called me into his office and told me how great I was, how I was his “data prince”, and too many more compliments to count.

In the middle of the conversation he suddenly switched gears telling me how much better he was than me because he made $200 an hour, and he could replace me in a minute.

He was done dealing with his boss’ attitude.

I quit on the spot and told him “You’ll need me before I need you. And when you call me it’ll cost you $200 an hour.”

Then I left.

Fast-forward a year. I’m working another job and making twice as much money as I did at the old job.

But he eventually heard from the old company again.

I get an unexpected call from one of the plant managers at the old job.

He tells me that after I left they hired two consultants at double my rate (each) to finish some of the critical work I was doing. One of the projects I was working on was ensuring their ordering system could handle special requirements from a very large national retailer: their biggest customer.

Turns out the consultants couldn’t do the job, even after paying 4X my salary to them for a year.

“Oh that sounds bad” was my response

They needed help.

“Yeah we were wondering if you could do it for us, like on a part-time basis.”

The owner had sent his lackey to beg me to come work for him because he was too scared to call me himself.

“Sure I can do that, no problem.”

“Really?” he asked me.

He stayed true to what he told the owner before he quit.

“Yup, for $200 an hour.”

After a long silence (I assumed he put me on mute to talk to the owner who was sitting in the same room, because that was his style), he agreed.

6 months later at $200 an hour, they had their ordering system in place and were able to maintain their biggest, most lucrative account.

That worked out well for OP, not so much for the owner. The owner really shouldn’t have been bragging about how much money he makes. How did he expect OP to respond?

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person has a suggestion.

Another person thinks OP should be grateful.

This is a good point.

A lot of comments had this suggestion.

Charging $201 would’ve been even more satisfying, but he told the boss he’d charge $200 before he quit. Staying true to that makes sense as well.

Bragging comes at a cost.