Every workplace has that one arrogant employee who talks a big game. That is, until they’re humbled by reality.

So, what would you do if a coworker started bragging that they could beat you in a fight? Would you ignore them to stay out of trouble? Or would you play along and put your own little twist on it?

In the following story, one factory worker finds himself in this situation and teaches his coworker a lesson. Here’s how it all played out.

Kevin by name & Kevin by nature

When I was in my early 20s (I’m 50 now btw), I was working in a factory with my brother, but this story is about a kid named Kevin who also worked in the same factory.

The factory itself was 2 units knocked together, and I was doing some work when a colleague came and told me that this kid was saying he could take me in a fight and was boasting about it.

Kevin happened to be a skinny, arrogant kid who was quite confident in himself. I was going into the area of the factory where this kid was working, and he spoke to me, told me he could easily beat me in a fight.

Knowing he’d get in trouble, he told Kevin to meet him outside.

I knew I’d get fired for being in a fight with this kid, so to avoid being fired and humiliating Kevin at the same time, I accepted his offer of a fight, much to his surprise and others’ bemusement.

I told him to go outside and wait in the fenced backyard, and I’d be out in a few minutes.

So, out walks Kevin, smiling like a Cheshire cat, to the side of a shipping container.

Kevin was forced to explain.

I promptly closed and locked a big factory door leading to said yard, then ran to the front of the factory floor and locked the door into the factory floor so Kevin would have no choice but to come through our manager’s office to get into the factory again.

Apparently, poor Kevin had to climb over the fence, come into the reception area, and then be led into the factory and the manager’s office. Because he couldn’t get into the factory, he had to knock on the manager’s door.

They had an interesting conversation before Kevin was let into the factory once again. The poor kid was embarrassed for weeks and never said a cheeky word to me again.

Wow! That was some good thinking!

Let’s check out how the readers over at Reddit relate to this story.

Such a famous movie quote.

He sure did.

Apparently, there was a typo.

Yet another person joking about the typo.

He sure turned that situation around. And the best part was that he did it with no violence.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.