Getting shortchanged by a boss is a lesson many young workers learn early, and often never forget.

When a young construction worker was repeatedly underpaid by his supervisor despite finishing jobs ahead of schedule, he walked away, built his own crew, and spent years becoming the kind of boss his old supervisor never was.

When that supervisor eventually called looking for work, payback soon followed.

Keep reading for the full story.

found out today my friend is good at pro revenge

Every now and again my buddy rings me to see if I want to work. Let’s call him Jack.

He is pretty much a jack of all trades when it comes to home construction and a master at drywall — really speedy and does everything properly.

This made him a great asset in the professional world.

He told me that when he first started out at 20, there were plenty of people ready to take advantage of him and his labor skills.

A lot of times in construction, money is up in the air for workers, and he learned that the hard way.

Jack couldn’t always depend on his superiors to be honest with their dealings.

Jack trusted his buddy Frank to pay him when he finished a drywall job. He finished faster than expected and Frank gave him half the money and kept the rest for himself.

Frank was the supervisor and had helped him get the job, so Jack let it slide.

But then it happened again.

Another time it happened again. Jack did the job in stellar time — two days before it was supposed to be finished. He was on stilts for most of the job, gaining knowledge and showing it in his work.

But somehow Frank thought it was appropriate to give him less than promised.

Jack found out through other friends that it was a common theme in Frank’s transactions — giving people less than promised.

So Jack cut ties and luckily moved on to somewhere better.

Jack stopped working for Frank soon after and started gaining more expertise. He found enough friendly workers that he had a team whenever he needed one.

At such a young age he was already supervising sites, while still working hands-on to make sure everything was 100%.

But years later, he hears from Frank again.

Fast forward five years and Jack is still doing his thing. Homes are being built left and right and he’s getting nonstop calls.

One call was out of the blue though — it was Frank.

But this time the roles were reversed.

Frank was bringing up the past like it was the golden age, and Jack just listened. He was waiting for Frank to ask for work.

Right when he did, Jack immediately said of course and had him at the job site the next day.

Frank was a good worker too. He had handled some transactions poorly and wasn’t doing as well as he was before, but the proof was in the pudding when he was on the job site.

So Jack did something unexpected.

When the week was over, my friend Jack went up to Frank and gave him the promised money.

Then Jack said something like: “It feels good, right? To get paid what you were told you would get? I never got that from you, but I wanted to show you how it’s supposed to be. Don’t come back to the job site. Don’t call me for work.”

This sent an important message to the rest of his employees.

The whole time Jack was going to fire him whether he did a good job or not — he just wanted to prove his point.

And it gained him more respect with the people he worked with.

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Looks like Frank finally got what was coming his way.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a professor who missed a major funding deadline after they told their graduate student to leave them alone.

What did Reddit think?

Jack’s kindness probably taught Frank a much better lesson than outright cruelty ever could have.

You burn through a lot of bridges when you behave like Frank does.

This story pretty much took the cake for this reader.

Turns out, you can be classy and still get back at someone who wronged you!

That day, he taught his boss that being paid what you were promised wasn’t optional.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who rejects a low contract offer and leaves the company instead.