There are many things that people may say about getting revenge. Some may say that revenge is a dish that is best served cold and others may just say that revenge is sweet.
It doesn’t matter how you look at it, there are going to times when you feel slighted and you are looking for a way to get back at that person. It is a part of life we can’t ignore.
If you ever feel like getting revenge, you can use the following stories as inspiration. They can make you feel a little better, knowing that someone out there understands your plight.
1. Initiate A Witch Hunt To Try To Get Rid Of Me? I’ll Tell The Mayor
“I worked a government job in a town hall for a couple of years. I’m gay and that became an issue at my workplace very early on due to what my boss and HR would later describe (in writing) as a “rough work environment” and blame me for being “too sensitive.” This because there was a lot of poking fun around the office, but also a good deal revolving around me and my s*******y.
This was a daily mental strain for me and I eventually told my boss about it. He who is typically a passive boss that enables this kind of work culture responded with a knee-jerk reaction and scolded several colleagues. This only resulted in me being alienated by my colleagues and they soon gradually distanced themselves away from me. Doing my job became impossible because some colleagues wouldn’t cooperate, didn’t share vital information leading me to make critical errors and being blamed for it by my boss.
My boss knew about the situation and told me that others had told him they didn’t want to work with me because I wasn’t good at my job and that he (being back to his regular passive self) simply accepted their wishes.
When I confronted him with the way he handled the situation he made the excuse that this was a new situation for him, that the problem was not as bad as he thought and that he overreacted, but what is done is done.
Since the gay jokes technically had stopped he figured the problem had been resolved and that this was a whole other issue that I was trying to blame my colleagues for. Despite saying (and putting in writing) that we just have to accept that some colleagues don’t want to work with me, it’s entirely my fault for lacking knowledge on areas that are their responsibility.
In cases where it was apparent that the colleague was at fault for not cooperating, the boss told me to best keep my distance and delegate the task to someone else they could work with.
Sensing this could only go downhill I had joined a union and it was around this time I got them involved. After explaining the situation to a contract in the union we had a meeting with a work relations woman who worked in the same building, and after hearing my story she recommended that I file an internal complaint.
I did and that’s when the workforce executioner entered the poop show.
The complaint went to the HR manager. We have a new meeting (me, union lady, work relations lady and HR manager). I explain the whole situation again, everyone in the room was very supportive and understanding. So then, the HR manager conducts her own internal investigation where she basically just has a meeting with my boss and then another meeting with everyone excluding me where she straight out asks if they think I’m the problem or their boss.
She writes a report that in short says that my colleagues have said the workplace became worse after I joined the team, that the scolding from my boss made things more difficult though they unanimously agree I’m the problem and can’t do my job. She also writes that every colleague must watch me closely and log every tiny mistake in the system and finally that maybe I should look for another job.
My side of the story, including documented conversations between me and my boss isn’t mentioned in the report at all. The report is also signed by the (backstabbing) work relations woman who recommended I complain in the first place. The report is sent to me and my boss, but my boss also immediately forwards the report to the entire department because as he put it “they have a right to know the whole story” and totally not as a “we need to get rid of this guy”.
So now that HR, my boss, and the work relations lady have worked hard to completely obliterated the tiny reputation I had in the department. I call in sick the next day, get an appointment with my doctor, and am off on sick leave. I talk to the union rep who says this is clearly retaliation from the management, it’s illegal and sadly far from the first time she’s seen this.
She explains that she will write a formal complaint to the HR manager and demand an apology or else they will take further action. I’ve honestly run out of patience at this point, it seems no matter how bad it gets it’s still not bad enough for the union to take any real action.
So this is when I finally wise up a little and decide to not be a pawn that just reacts to their bureaucratic theater and actually act for myself.
I know I don’t want to stay on sick leave, nor do I ever want to go back working for those psychopaths. So with nothing of value to lose, I figure I make my exit with a hail mary.
I let the union rep write her complaint which is very formal and direct, it describes the investigation presented in the report as very weak and that actions were done by the management that are legally and morally questionable.
I get a copy of the complaint from the union. Rather than wait for HR to respond to the complaint, I write my own internal email explaining my situation, attach the complaint and other documents, and send it directly to the mayor. I ask for his help, though there is also the implication that he is the only thing standing between the city and a nightmare lawsuit
Early the next morning I get a response. The mayor is appalled by my email and assures me that he will take the matter directly to the city director and together they will decide what to do. They soon launch a new investigation. This time it’s an external investigation, led by a lawyer they regularly hire. The lawyer puts together a committee consisting of him, a woman from another union, and the director’s assistant (so not entirely an external investigation).
They look over all the documents I sent the mayor and have separate interviews with me (accompanied by a union rep), my boss, the HR manager, and a colleague that has to denounce that he’s a homophobe – as if being diagnosed with homophobia is the only way his behavior is considered discriminatory.
After a few weeks, they give their report which is sent to the director, the mayor, and me.
It is a very carefully formulated report, sadly it concludes that the leadership has done what can be expected, though right after in stark contrast it says “all decisions made by the leadership in their original report must stop immediately”. Despite the anticlimactic report from a lawyer, my union rep believes it is still in our favor and even though it doesn’t say it outright there is an insinuation of guilt written between the lines.
I don’t hear from the mayor or the director again. Instead, I’m called to another meeting with my boss and the HR manager to discuss the report. I bring my contact from the union with me who has explained to me that she is prepared to negotiate terms for my resignation. We go to the meeting. The report is on the table in front of them, they seem to have developed tunnel vision as they’re only interested in addressing the one part that says “leadership has done what can be expected”.
Though bizarrely I still get a forced apology from the HR manager about how poorly she managed the investigation, yet still stands by it somehow. They talk as if they’re on a different planet, not admitting to any fault despite just apologizing and having a report in their hands from a lawyer that says to stop what they’re doing immediately.
HR manager proceeds to put on her compassionate act.
Says this isn’t good for my mental health, they’re open to solutions but it’s probably in my best interest to resign. The director has authorized them to give me the generous deal of a six months salary after my resignation. The deal however is far from good enough and thankfully my contact in the union is a tough negotiator. I barely have to say anything while the negotiation goes on for another hour and the two bosses slowly get more and more frustrated until finally, they give in.
They agree to pay a monthly salary after my resignation which roughly amounts to $40K total, in addition to $2000 as a symbolic gesture for damages (which is a formal admission of guilt). My boss also has to write a recommendation letter which has to be approved by me. Finally, they want to include in the signed agreement that the legal conflict between me and them is hereby concluded and that I can’t sue them over this in the future.
I sign the agreement and am officially happily unemployed.
Forward a couple of months to now. I’m currently studying for a bachelor’s degree. I don’t have to worry about income for a good while longer and will likely apply for an interest-free student loan when I’m poor enough to qualify.
I still think about what happened, and I often wonder what would’ve happened had I taken the whole city to court.
I’m sometimes tempted to hire a lawyer to test if the agreement actually stops me from filing a suit or not. I feel like even though I was compensated, I lost my (bad) job while the people responsible kept theirs. They can go on pretending they did nothing wrong while sweeping all their ugliness under the rug. The city will never run out of funds and will simply pay to get out of the next inevitable blunder.
On the other hand, my job wasn’t really a loss to say it mildly and I am glad I didn’t have to go through a long and stressful lawsuit. But as long as my story remains ignored my sense of retribution isn’t really satisfied – though maybe it never can be either way. I wish I could show people how bad it really is behind closed doors in city hall, and the pigs they allow to reside within.
I also don’t want my name associated if the story got out. I have a pile of confidential documents that reveal their true ugly faces but can’t share them due to an NDA. I did however go as far as to forward documents and a complaint to a governmental labor authority, though I have no idea if anything came of it.
If you made it all the way through, I thank you for reading and would love to read your thoughts and maybe similar experiences.
I just want to also emphasize that my life and mental health have improved tremendously since I left that building for the very last time and that I am lucky to have my partner, friends, and family who supported me all the way through this nightmare.
Lastly, to anyone who might read this and feel like they’re in a similar situation. Don’t wait for it to get better, just look for another job and get out of there ASAP.
Don’t let it devolve into what I went through. Send a complaint if you want to, but make sure you leave soon afterward. And never trust anyone in the workplace just because they act sympathetic. They’re not on your side unless you’re directly paying them to support you.”
2. Complain About Parking? How About I Get You A Fine For Overgrown Hedges?!
Since you want to be the nit-picky one, they’ll show you what nit-picky really is.
“I live in a small close which has another small close leading off it.
I sometimes park my fully liveried work van (VW Caddy which is the size of a VW Golf) in the other close which I technically don’t live in if there is no parking available in the part where my house is. It is only 10 meters or so away and I can still see it from my house.
There is a family that lives on the corner that doesn’t like people parking where I park because it is opposite of their driveway and causes them a bit of extra effort to get their car on and off the driveway.
If I’m not parked there, someone else will. This is completely normal, legal, and socially acceptable in the UK where roads are smaller and parking is more limited, also cars are smaller here than in other countries. (Talking to you, Americans!)
As a result of this, they regularly phone my work to complain about the van parking there. I only park here if the spaces outside my house are full which are usually occupied by people who live in the other close.
They also phone other people’s companies to complain about people parking in that completely legal on-street parking. They never knock on doors to ask about cars parked there they just phone up to complain if the vehicles have the company details on them.
We all just ignore the complaints now, so it is just an inconvenience, but they still keep doing it; they must realize it is not working.
So just to clarify where I park the van is on the opposite side of the road. I’m not actually blocking the driveway IN ANY WAY AT ALL. It just makes it slightly less convenient for them to drive on and off their driveway. It is a completely legal parking space. In the UK in residential areas, unless the local government put them in place, there are usually no parking restrictions.
Anyone can park there as long as there are no restrictions and the vehicle is taxed, insured, MOT’d, and not causing an obstruction. The idiots on the corner just complain to companies because they can and they are over possessive about the road outside their property. They never complain face to face to people if cars are parked there.
This family’s house has a border with the entrance to the road and the bushes have become very overgrown recently as they do every year.
They never cut them despite being asked by multiple people who live in the close because they think the council should cut them even though they are part of their garden and it is their responsibility to cut them back. My revenge is this. I started complaining every week on the app Fixmystreet. Because the hedges are obstructing the road the council came out to inspect and I happened to be in when the council did the inspection and spoke to the guy.
Turns out they have had multiple letters and warnings about this over the years and have ignored them all. Because of council cuts, they haven’t had the resources to deal with it for the past few years but because I complained and the hedges are obstructing the road the council is obliged to act.
They sent a warning which said the owners have 28 days to cut the hedge or the council will arrange it and send them a bill.
It would cost about £300 for them to have it done themselves but the council will charge $2,700 because of the admin and legal costs if they have to do it. Of course, they just ignored it, and the council workers turned up with chainsaws and cut it all back. I wasn’t in when it happened but my neighbor said the wife in the house went crazy at the workers who just ignored her.
Then the police turned up who spoke to the council workers who showed the police the paperwork which they then explained to the woman and she went into her house.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the aftermath, but I reckon they are very mad.
There have been other issues with this family that I am not putting here. They are known to be unreasonable.
They have caused problems for other neighbors; they are the archetypal “Karen” family especially the mother. My neighbors all agree with me and are more than happy that these people have finally had some comeuppance, no one else has any problem with parking on this road apart from them, the rest of us are adults and share. If you are going to pick holes and be rude, please do something else with your day!”
3. Fired For Being Late? Better Hope I Don’t Report You
“I was working at a corporate sports bar at the time. Barely over minimum wage, no insurance, no raises, no future. New store management came in, and it was clear that they were “cleaning house” (I.E. firing all of the old staff to hire their people). Somewhat standard, labor laws in my area allow firing for almost any reason.
I had been down that road before. I needed a paycheck until I found a new job, so I played by their new rules. I did every stupid thing they said. I saw other, more dedicated people fall by the wayside. Eventually, management needed a corporate policy violation to fire me.
Finally, one day, they changed the time clock an hour ahead and fired me for being one hour “late” to work.
OK, fair play, 100% legal anyways (they paid for the total number of hours worked), they were just fabricating the lateness for company policy.
After finding that they were fighting my unemployment claim, I filed a formal complaint with the liquor bureau in my state. Their clock said that I was an hour “late,” therefore their official paperwork said that they were selling stuff an hour after the last call.
Hundreds per violation, plus automatic license suspension after X violations, and every bar transaction for that hour was a possible violation.
I QUICKLY got corporate attention. My last check was double-checked for hours of accuracy and overnighted to my front door. Cashier’s check, not standard payroll. I eventually signed a form saying that they were not selling after hours and they would stop filing frivolous appeals against my unemployment benefits.
The GM was replaced 2 months after I left, and they had repeated staffing problems trying to fill my shoes. Corporate still gives me a stellar job reference to this day.
For clarity’s sake, this wasn’t daylight savings time, but it was the early 2000s when nearly all computer systems did not play nicely with each other. For example, for daylight savings time each location would root in (# prompt at least) and change the store’s server clocks ahead or behind 1 hour before the business day began…or every system from payroll to card processing pooped themselves and corporate hated them for a while.
They could not change the clocks mid-day, they could only change it before the workday and could not alter the clocks again until close of business.
They also did not pay me any extra, they only overnighted my final check to me instead of waiting 2 weeks and stopped filing appeals to my already-approved unemployment benefits; because I told the regional manager they were putting me in a tight spot financially.
The liquor law specifically stated that the official clock in the state main office would be considered the official clock. Legally, no violation actually occurred. I told the clerk at the liquor office the same story, and she still asked me to file a complaint so they could officially verify the story.
They also got my contact info, but never called or wrote to me.
A regional boss wanted that signed form not for legal reasons or license compliance, but for internal company reasons. Upper management wanted heads to roll if anything actually risked their liquor license; but since the GM just chose a dumb way to try to validate my termination, I took my unemployment benefits and considered the matter closed.”
