Getting laid off after years of loyal work can be painful enough, but being denied the chance to pack your own belongings can inspire some seriously petty creativity.

We all collect a few odd things at our desks, but when your company insists on shipping every “rare” item themselves – would you correct their misunderstanding, or let them carefully bubble-wrap dozens of empty Red Bull cans?

That opportunity appears when one former employee convinces HR that his can wall is extremely valuable, forcing a manager to spend nine hours cataloging and packing every piece.

See how 32 boxes of corporate caution became the perfect farewell gift.

The Great Wall of Red Bull

Way back in 2011 I got laid off from a publishing company that I had expected to retire from, after working there for ~14ish years.

When I was marched into HR, it was explained to me that my entire department was liquidated, and “I was not allowed to reenter the workfloor, and all personal effects at my desk would be safely collected and UPS’d to my house within 24 hours.”

OP had a lot of collectibles on the desk.

I was known as the “collector dork” in the IT dept (a feat, I know), and people would give me all sorts of “limited edition” stuff–mini statues, Funko pops, Loot Crate items, etc.

Though I never yelled at anyone for messing around at my desk, it was known not to fart around in my work area, because something might inadvertently get broken, and since many things “ultra rare”, nobody wanted to take that chance.

Honestly, most were just dorky trinkets…but a couple years before, an editor knocked over a old Star Wars BK glass from the 80s, and offered to replace it (though I said not to worry about it).

When they found it on Ebay, it ended up costing them around $50.

One collection was more fun than valuable.

My favorite “thing” was a mountain of 16oz Red Bull cans, thanks to lots of double shifts and overnight projects.

Instead of recycling the roughly 60-70 cans, we built a “Red Bull Wall” between me and my neighbor’s workstations, stacked and double-sided taped to the desk we shared.

OP had an idea.

And sitting across from this stuffy HR woman, I had an epiphany:

“Can you guarantee that all of the collectibles will be carefully disassembled and packed in those boxes before shipment? I have a LOT of rare and fragile items that I’d much rather pack myself.”

“That’s out of the question. Unfortunately, none of the employees who were let go today can go back to their workstations, due to the sensitive information in the system.”

“Ok, well. I’ve been meticulously collecting vintage Red Bull cans over the last five years, and displaying them between our desks. If one gets bent or damaged while being packed up, I’ll need you to find the replacement can on Ebay. It would just be a lot easier to pack them myself. Some are worth more than $75 empty!”

She still refused.

Then the boxes arrived.

Literally two days later, I got 32 of 32 UPS boxes, each one the standard “moving box” size.

And each one filled with ~10 meticulously bubble wrapped Red Bull cans (with miscellaneous desk clutter filling in the gaps) as if they were headed to a museum curation.

All of my other desk items were likewise wrapped, and box 1 had an inventory spreadsheet of EVERY item from my desk, down to “9 random Taco Bell sauces”.

OP didn’t really want the Red Bull cans.

I then made a video of crunching down the cans and dumping the entire box into my condo’s recycle dumpster, and CC’d the entire company.

I heard from a friend that still worked there, that one of the warehouse managers (who I really disliked) spent almost nine hours wrapping, inventorying, packing and labeling every item from my desk.

The company went bankrupt two years later, and never came back.

I’d like to believe I was a part of why…though I know it was from YEARS of mismanagement and a refusal to go digital.

YIKES! That’s funny!

The HR lady should’ve let OP wrap the stuff, possibly with someone supervising.

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user had a good laugh with this story.

This user shares their experience after being laid off.

That’s right! This user has high hopes for OP.

This user has a better idea!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who is shocked to learn how little he has to do to keep his cushy remote job.

This user suggests selling those cans for a better price.

Taken purely as revenge, this was an impressive combination of patience, harmless deception, and letting corporate policy defeat itself.

Allowing the employee to pack his own desk would have saved countless boxes and nine hours of labor, but WHATEVER. Who wants that? HR was apparently determined to protect every precious Taco Bell sauce packet.

Sending the company a video of the carefully wrapped cans being crushed completed the performance with exactly the right amount of unnecessary drama.

The Red Bull may not have given HR wings, but it certainly gave one warehouse manager an unforgettable shift.