Marcus Buckingham, researcher of high performance at work and co-author of the bookNine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World, says that great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack. Bad ones, on the other hand, are… abundant. And they’re bringing down everyone around them. So when Reddit userSsteepballetasked others on the platform to share the “screw you” that they served their toxic bosses, people submitted plenty of colorful stories.This post may includeaffiliate links.
Marcus Buckingham, researcher of high performance at work and co-author of the bookNine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World, says that great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack. Bad ones, on the other hand, are… abundant. And they’re bringing down everyone around them. So when Reddit userSsteepballetasked others on the platform to share the “screw you” that they served their toxic bosses, people submitted plenty of colorful stories.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
RELATED:
So when I was younger, I worked at a grocery store.While working there, my first daughter was born. Her first birthday happened to fall on Memorial Day, and the store director wanted me to skip her birthday so he could have a barbecue. I told him that I wasn’t gonna be there, but he still went ahead and scheduled me. Well, I didn’t show up, and the next few months were a real pain.This guy started acting all petty and demoted me from management, cut my pay, and reduced my hours. It was messed up, but luckily, the union had my back and made him pay me a couple of grand in back pay after I put up with that cp for a few months. But I eventually landed an amazing career at a water treatment plant, and now I’m making three times the money I used to.But before leaving as my final fk you, I gave all of my uniforms to the homeless guys that hung out in the parking lot. So they’d walk around the parking lot in store uniforms, begging for money and food. My old boss got into a few confrontations trying to get the shirts back from them. Wish I could’ve been there for those. Ultimately, the homeless guys started going through the back of the store during receiving hours and taking beer and food. To this day, years later, I guess it’s still a problem. Even after they changed uniforms.
I refused to wear a g-string bikini during a company car wash and i flicked the bikini boss had given me to wear in his face and told him if he tried the same technique on the other women employees he would be facing a big lawsuit but he would be facing one certainly from me because at the time i was seventeen. He ended up losing that lawsuit.
Was a mechanic at a shop and the boss had a favorite mechanic that could get away with anything. One day, it’s about an hour before closing, and an older lady comes in for front wheel bearings. Don’t know why they told her they could do it in that time but they did. Well, the kiss a*s mechanic proceeds to snap two of her wheel studs. He gets frustrated and literally leaves the car in the air and goes home! The boss comes in and asks where he is, I tell him what happened. The boss then says, “Well, get over there and finish that s**t.“Excuuuuuuse me? I tell him that is not my problem and am finishing another vehicle in my bay. He says, “If you don’t get that car finished, you can find another shop to work at.” I simply said, “You are right.” Later that night after we closed, I used my store key to come in and turn in my uniforms and get my tools. The boss blew up my phone for the next 2 weeks. I never answered. Went on to open my own shop and do better.
Not my boss, but someone with authority who misused it.In the early days of PCs in the workplace I was using Paradox, an early relational database. There was one other guy who used it, I was in QA, he was in program management. We had to deal with a program manager who was a complete fungus. He would provide no budget for various parts of a program and then demand the work be done or the product would not ship. He got his way far too often.The day after I handed in my notice fungus shows up in my office, he fired the other database guy; “I can do that, what do I need him for?”Turns out he could not. So he shows up at my office with my boss trailing behind. My boss hated this douchebag more than anyone.F: “I need you to correct some data and run a report for me”Me: “Nope”F: this is important.Me: “I guess you shouldn’t have fired Bob”F: “you’re going to do this”Me: “Nope”This went on for some time, my boss standing behind him, giving me a “thumbs up” and enjoying the show.Eventually he shouted “I’m going to Gary!” The CEO, who always supported his bt because he was a wimp. Ten minutes later he was back calling me a m****r “you could have told me you quit”.From the next office I could hear my boss laughing out loud.It was a fun day and I was a bit of a hero for the next two weeks.
I just made the firing as awkward as possible. I spent like 20 minutes in silence reading my severance package while she and the rep from HR watched.They tried to tell me they will email a copy I can electronically sign but I just said no thanks. Then I had them go make a copy for me to take home again they tried to say they will email it but I insisted on a paper copy.
I made a binder detailing all the unprofessional things she ever did and the times she lied via email and I requested a meeting with her and HR to review the contents of the binder.
We never really got along.He got a promotion to upper management and needed an assistant.I had already found another job elsewhere before he got that promotion and had planned to quit.When the posting came out for his assistant i applied for it just to stress him out thinking he once again would have to deal with me.I went through the process and got the job, but never showed up on the first day, or the next, or next. Somehow this went on for just over a month before HR called me laughing and asked if i wanted to hand in my resignation yet.He ended up having to do all the work of his all on his own and that thought makes me happy.
Not me, but another co worker hid raw chicken breasts in the store managers drop ceiling. There were so many flies in that office after two days. And the smell!Also, Fk you Rick. You know you’re a ct.
Reported him and the company to the IRS for not sending me a w2 and how they changed the company name and various things every few months in an effort to cheat out on taxes.
I quit without notice a few days before Christmas. I was supposed to be the only one working for two weeks while everyone else was on annual leave. He couldn’t convince anyone else to cancel their leave, so he had to.
Started my own company in the same field. See my family way more, make more money, and am my own boss.
Getting ready to roll out our next great version of our core product. It was dependent on a single “master” encryption key. Boss asked me to change the key and not share it with anyone. Ok, no problem.A week or two later I decide to give my notice. I tell him 2 weeks, he goes off deep end. Screaming, throwing s**t. I was going to give him the key, in fact I had it on a diskette (this was not yesterday) in my hand. He called security and they immediately walked me out door. Later that day I got a messenger give me “a legal order” saying I was to immediately destroy all company (threatening a lawsuit if I didn’t) stuff, so I killed the diskette.They went live immediately after, the db was corrupted and they couldn’t do anything without the key which no longer existed. Apparently took them weeks to recreate all the customer data that was lost. Bummer.
I worked for a particularly sociopathic person. Swore he was gods gift to mankind and would berate anyone over anything. Bipolar as fk. I got fired over some minor b**t. Well he liked to constantly brag about cheating on his wife, and how he did it “because he loved her and it was saving his marriage” and would constantly talk st about his wife to his whole crew. Well I anonymously messaged her about a year after I got fired and told her everything. They are divorced now. And no one knows it was me.
Becoming indispensable and then putting in my notice. No “f**k you” is quite as nice as people begging you to stay and you being able to say “no” with confidence that you’re making the right decision.
Quit just before a busy holiday weekend. Booked a nice beach trip and headed out. On my way out of town, the manager calls to ask “Are you going to cover your shifts this weekend or did you get somebody to work for you??“Nope.
Returned the company phone with the ring tone of “Take This Job and Shove It”.
Landscaping company that mainly did construction. The owner would constantly take more work than a company our size could manage and would then have massive temper tantrums when it wasn’t getting done fast enough. The breaking point was him taking a massive project…over two hours away from where anyone lived. That morning he had 10 employees. The next morning, he had three. He called each of us, begged us to come back and then asked why we were doing this to him. I laid into him about his inability to balance the workload and that his employees didn’t want to drive over two hours to a job site every day. He said I’d regret it and hung up. I had a new construction job the next week. The dumb owner’s company went under about a year later.
Trucker here. I convinced all the other drivers at our terminal to apply at a competing trucking company down the road. They hired all but one of us, so we dropped our keys on the boss’s desk.Within a month the plant pulled their contract, and the company went bankrupt.
A month after I started my new job, I recruited two key workers from my old company. Left the having to explain to his boss why he had no idea what do to, despite taking credit for everything we had done.
I reported him to HMRC for not declaring his Defender as a company car, he got fined and had to pay for 3 years tax on it.
5 months after I quit, I slept with a girl I’d met recently. Nobody else was home that evening. The next morning, I come downstairs and guess who her father was?
I chucked in a 14 days medical certificate after I headed in my resignation without doing any handover 😀.
Continue reading with Bored Panda PremiumUnlimited contentAd-free browsingDark modeSubscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited contentAd-free browsingDark mode
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
I used their arrogance to fund my startup. I’d worked for this company for more than 10 years. They had about 150 employees and always claimed the whole “we’re a family” thing, but in actuality it was “if you’re not with us you’re against us.” Anyone that ever quit, which was rare, was always shunned and walked out immediately. Knowing this, and after researching employment law in my state, I gave him a 30 day notice instead of just two weeks. As expected, he walked me out and paid only two weeks. That shortfall allowed me to file for unemployment since I had no HR issues. His pride made it all too easy to predict, and I enjoyed every check, knowing their insurance had gone up a little because of it.
Quietly asked for an exit interview with HR;I was told they don’t do that for contractors. I insisted.When it came time for the exit interview, I quietly explained to HR the desperate situation that had developed on the call floor - of people quitting for other jobs and the boss not replacing them, but expecting call numbers and stats to get better with less people.Or how the boss changed the rules of what was and was not allowed in a call daily, yet didn’t ask her workers their opinions on it, but expecting us to just take her write ups for breaking rules that weren’t rules the day before.All the while I never insulted the big boss, just kept my tone polite and professional, while pointing out the issues.HR started sitting in those daily meetings with Shift supervisors about those rule changes and started to push back.Things got better for the floor staff and they hired replacements.Within a few months, after the shift supervisors collectively signed a statement to point out her direct abuse to them, HR had enough and asked her to leave.
Only once have I ever quit without notice.Before I was hired at a store, the days and times I could work were listed on my application. I had weekly appointments on Saturday afternoons, for therapy/mental health related care.One week I agreed to cover for a coworker who had surgery that day, figuring I could miss one week to help a coworker I was friends with, though I make it clear to my boss that I could only miss my appointment this one week.Anyways, he decided that because I covered this one time, he could now schedule me to work regular Saturdays. I told him I could not, and he said I could not work retail without working Saturdays. After missing my appointments several weeks in a row, which was not good for me, and him basically saying “tough luck, you have to show up for work on Saturdays”, I eventually just got another job, and didn’t even tell my boss. I just stopped showing up and ghosted them.
I quit a retail job without notice since I’d been screwed over. I took a new job as a software trainer in a startup. The company thrust me into some challenges but i triumphed. I had skills.A manager at the old job told my friend I’d been listed as do not rehire.“I’ll be sure to tell him when he gets back from his five week assignment in Europe.”
I had gotten a 5 out of 5 review a week prior and was suddenly let go without cause so I read my review loudly as possible while they tried to read me my severance and separation agreement.
I used to sell phones with subscriptions and all the like. Spent 1,5 year as a parttimer training people in different stores, fixing up failing stores, and filling in for sick or otherwise unavailable managers. I asked for a real contract abd my own shop to run, was promised as much. Then later I found out I was training my replacement. I had about 160h of overtime. Handed my keys to my replacement, cancelled all my business sales via email, then texted the chain owner I’ll be cashing those 160h on vacation and that I’m quitting right after that.
Had a meeting with my boss where he was trying to “put me in my place” the whole time. At the end of his 20 minute rant I handed him my resignation letter that I had planned on giving him the whole time. So satisfying to have to watch him waste his time and tell him I was leaving without anything else lined up.
I had to mail back all my computer supplies with a pre paid package label. The post office said there was a 50 cent printing fee for the label. I called the HR lady to read me the company card to pay for it.
I straight up didn’t give her any notice and left. That was still nice of me for all the f****d up s**t she used to do to us.
I handed him my two weeks notice on Christmas Eve and said, “Merry Christmas” as I did it.
I offered him a job in my team at new place.
See Also on Bored Panda
I killed half his revenue stream for a few months when I turned over information to his vendors that he was an ex-con and was acting against their ToC. Like, it was immediate.
I left him stranded at Marseilles airport. I was meant to pick him up that day and drive him back to Monaco.At precisely the moment when his plane was landing, I sent the FU email to his PA saying that I would no longer be available.Best day ever.
I wiped and reformatted the hard drive containing the only copies of the tools and documents required to do the job on a daily basis.
Called in sick my last day, after 15 years at the company. He wasn’t happy, though I was, and finally free.
Former executive chef, I got fired via email while on leave for a death in the family. I didn’t check my messages until I got back to work, so I was completely blindsided. Of course everyone else already knew, including other restaurants. The boss was conveniently absent when I came to get my stuff. I smashed up a company laptop and wiped a few hundred recipes and other important documents from my master hard drive. I heard she was pretty mad about that.Petty actions on my part, but that boss was a habitual line stepper and harasser that loved verbal abuse. They constantly threatened firing me over the course of several years, always saying they could do it without me at a moments notice. That was part of daily life for way too long, so I never felt bad for f*****g her over like that. A few months later she got fired. Three of my former managers informed me about it before the boss knew it was coming. Not gonna lie, that was the sweet, sweet frosting on the cake.
I called a day before Christmas eve to say I resign. I tried raising my salary for 6 years, and never more salary than a trainee. When I called, he said that he could finally raise my salary to keep me in his company. I laughed and said “no, I have already made my decision.” The best decision ever in my work career. The place was toxic, really bad salary and everyone was competing against each other instead of helping.
He had shared an Andy Warhol bottle of Dom Perignon with us after we hit a big goal. He let me keep the cork bc it was the first time I’d ever had champagne.When he fired our team months later, he stood in the doorway as I packed up my desk. I tossed him the cork and said “I think you know where you can stick this.” and walked out the door with my stuff. .
I handed him the new offer letter that I knew was easily 30k higher than his salary. I hadn’t been idle, I had been training and socializing. The gig was very choice.
Nothing majorWe were constantly understaffed and got a new boss who wanted to micromanage everything. Picked up a bunch of extra shifts and then never showed up since I got a different job.
I quit! Had to hire 3 people to replace me, and 8 years later they still can’t keep one of them longer than a year! Screw you Bernita!
“Sorry for your loss” card when I quit.
I turned in my 2 weeks notice, and let HR know that I was quitting because my Supervisor was incompetent. This lead to HR conducting an investigation into him, the Supervisor being removed from his position and me getting his position.He quit a few years later and I have been leading my dept for the last 17 years.
I worked retail for a bit after finishing school and our manager quit right during the holiday season so we went without one through January. Then corporate, instead of promoting those of us who kept the store running, brought a new manager in from a different store. She proceeded to find flimsy pretexts to fire us all. She called me back from vacation time I was spending visiting my sister who was going through cancer treatment to “cover a shift”. When I showed up she fired me.I had a 32oz root beer in my hand I was expecting to sip on during my shift… she was wearing the whole thing before I walked out the door for the last time… all over her ugly white sweater. Zero regrets….
My boss and I had an ok relationship for 7 ish years. He pretty much left me alone. For most of that time my boss was the decision maker of our “stand alone” business within the larger division. Around year 7 the company decided to restructure and we were brought into the larger division. His new boss was an AH and wasn’t a fan of mine. long story short I saw the writing in the wall and made an inter company move-though not before getting my ONLY bad performance review. I don’t care much what he thought but I got only a portion of my bonus and no raise. He got let go…. So about 2 years later he had a mental lapse and used me as a reference for his new job. He was up for a VP level position. I was honest with the hiring manager-he did have some good traits but I explained that he had a lot of grandiose ideas that were impractical to implement,he had a hot temper and that he was not good with details. We had a nice chat. In all honesty I don’t think I killed his job chances but it felt good to put it all out there.
In my final weeks working a job with the worst supervisor I have ever encountered, I gathered all the evidence I needed and met with Union reps and the manager of the whole operation after making a formal complaint.She was disciplined and proceeded to specifically avoid talking to me in particular about even things that were necessary for the job to the point it actually hurt the company since we were a small team and communication is huge. She even went so far as to have my coworkers tell me things so she didn’t have to speak to me. And talked all kinds of s**t about me as my coworkers informed me. Basically trying to turn everyone against me.So I went back to the union again and got her for retaliation. Then I left. Not my problem anymore, but hopefully she got the message.
Walked out in the middle of the day. I was contract to hire, told them my rate, they agreed. When I got my first check 6 weeks in, I brought it to my bosses attention asking why it was so much less (about 15k/year). His response was “I can’t help with that, you need to talk to your recruiter “. So I went back and forth for two weeks and no one would help me, so I walked.Made me feel good when the HR lady called me and said what can we do to get you back here, my response was “ Fk Rick, I’ll come back but I won’t report to him, and I need a check in my hand for all the missed back pay, plus 20%” they were going to do it, too. But the more I thought about it the more I realized, I didn’t want to work for a company that allowed someone like that to be in charge. So I turned them down.About a month later they replaced Rick and he was looking for another job. He was a complete ae about everything, but I’m not f**g around with my paycheck.
I had the flu during COVID. My boss wanted me to go to the doctor’s office to get a doctor’s note.During COVID.I told her I wasn’t going to risk my partner, my partner’s mom, and my partner’s mom’s BF just for a doctor’s note while puking.She said I was getting written up for a no show.I simply didn’t show up after that. Ever.
He got a new job and was leaving. On his last day I left a gift on his desk, the board game “Clue,” with a note that said “since you don’t have one.”
I put in my 2 weeks and the boss kept reminding me that my laptop was company property. I already hated the guy but that really pissed me off.Told him I’d be in to pick up my final check on the last day, a Friday, but really had no intentions. Went to Arizona and Vegas and had a great time.On the next Tuesday, I called HR and left a voicemail letting them know I hadn’t been paid. This is in California and that is a big legal deal. They called me a few times and apologized they haven’t been able to get a hold of my boss and figure out what happened.They overnite FedEx me check with an extra 2 weeks of “waiting” pay and I hope that boss got roasted for it.
In college I was hired as a waiter in a pizza shop that was “soon to be opened” a block from my house (a location of the chain Reginelli’s Pizza in Baton Rouge circa 2006). They paid us minimum wage to open the store under the clearly communicated arrangement that we would be the wait staff once it opened (we set the place up). A few days before opening, the manager fired literally every single male on the wait staff (I’m not exaggerating), presumably because it was a college town, and they knew what type of staff would help sell garbage pizza (not disparaging my fem pals here, it wasn’t their call) . He said, “we don’t need you anymore”, which was super confusing, because I knew I had worked plenty hard and had plenty of experience.I had never been fired from any job and had had many service industry jobs, so this really bothered me. I went back to the location a few days later (in earnest at this point) and said, “hey, I can’t see any reason why you’d fire me, and I really liked the place. I came back to ask if you’d hire me back.” The manager said, “hey, I appreciate your forwardness, so yes, come in for the training next week.“I realized that I basically had Stockholm syndrome and the manager was a garbage human (if not a creep), so I never showed up for the first shift!! I did go in to eat pizza whenever I felt like it. He made a “you got me” face every time.*Edit: the satisfying part is that the manager thought I planned the no-show before I went back to ask for the job back. I wish I had.
I used to clean a very busy Deli in the evening, after closing. A 9-2am type thing, completely taken the display cases apart, making it BEAUTIFUL for the next morning. The owner was a nasty drunk. As I was in the process, he called the store, berated me, calling me names, telling me it takes too long, rambling on and on. I was already fed up with his nonsense. I got off the phone,wrote a note that said “I quit”, set the alarm, an put my key through the mail slot. I left a NASTY, horrible mess. He called the next and asked what happened, I didn’t call him back. Never saw him again until 15 years later, and he was working the deli counter at another establishment. I called the deli next day and apologized to my coworkers, but they thought it was hysterical. They said he was totally distraught and hungover, but they were with me 100%! Everybody quit over the next few months because he was a complete jerk.
Left an upper decker in the “office staff only” bathroom on my last day after the boss stopped letting the shop crew and drivers use both bathrooms and had 100+ people sharing one single toilet bathroom so 4 people could have their own.
Joined the military and I was working retail before I went to boot camp.It was a crazy before school starts rush so the store was packed out and it was just me and my manager. Decided to just walk out to my car and left for good after he was being a prick and left him stranded with a line of people.
I no call no showed a pizza place I worked at when I was 18The manager was a busy body always griping at me for the smallest st and rode my a*s all summerSo I no call no showed on the busiest day for the after church rush , the place was next to a very religious area and had Sundays were a mad houseHe called my phone 40+ times repeatedly , I just sat at home and smiled and didn’t respond ,Eat a dk Scott.
I took medical leave for my mental health for a month and a half and gave my two weeks the moment I got back because I managed to find another job.
I quiet quit….Still am actually.
Got him drunk told him his wife called and needs him home. Then called the cops and reported him for drunk driving.F**k that guy.
He got a court invite, and I referred all his communication attempts directly to my lawyer. Sweet sweet revenge.
I used to work as an IT field engineer, travelling around setting up new sites and fixing network problems.To start with I was promised my own local area, with sites no more than an hour or so away, and it was like that for six months or so. Then the guy in the next county quit and so I got given his territory as a temporary measure while they found a replacement.Guess what, They never found a replacement.Then another guy quit and I ended up inheriting his area as well. At one point I was travelling 3-4 hours each way and was expected to be on site from 9-6 each day.On one particularly large new install I was leaving home at 5am, on site all day and not getting back home until after 10pm. I did this for a couple of days, pointed out to my manager that a hotel would be far easier as this was expected to last over a week, but apparently that was too expensive and ‘not worth the effort’ of him organising it.On the fourth day there was a massive accident on the motorway heading back and i didn’t get home until after midnight. There was no way i was going to drive on 4 or so hours sleep if that, so I phoned my manager (at gone midnight, f**k you) to tell them, only to be berated and told to be in on time or to drop the company car off.If decided on the latter, fumed for a few hours and in the morning drove up head office, drove my car up the main path and parked my car in the automatic double doors. It was only the fact they opened in time that meant I didn’t destroy the front of the building. I threw my keys over the bonnet into reception and walked off. They threatened legal action but I never heard anything.
Spent 2 hours in his office reviewing my project schedule showing how we were finally on track now that he’d given the number of people for the project I’d been telling him we needed, while knowing full and well I was giving my notice the very next day and he didn’t have the right number of people on the project after all.
Gray rocking a collapsed narcissist is wildly empowering. She became increasingly unhinged as I refused to engage or be lured into conflict.
A LONG time ago (the early 80s), in high school, I got fired from a job so the manager’s friend who was out of work could replace me. Started dating the manager’s daughter. Turned her from a goody to a metalhead. She got her first tattoo because of me. I’d pick her up to go out and her dad would just SEETH as she got further into the sex, d***s, and rock-n-roll life and look. I knew that he knew that I knew that he knew I was hitting that.That was about 40 years ago, but I still laugh to myself when I think of it.
Modal closeAdd Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
Gabija Saveiskyte
Indrė Lukošiūtė
Work & Money
