Getting fired can often end up being a very good thing in the long run, but in the moment it tends to feel traumatic. This is particularly true when your boss is petty, vindictive and would rather have you out of a job then admit for even a second that they are wrong.

A woman shared her lovely little moment of revenge when she encountered an ex-boss who fired her years ago for wanting some safety measures. As it turns out, his company was not doing that well. We reached out to the woman who shared the story via private message and will update the article when she gets back to us.

Getting fired for making very valid complaints is annoying

Image credits: Anna Shvets / pexels (not the actual photo)

But one woman met her ex-boss years later and realized that the tables had turned

Image credits:  Andrea Piacquadio / pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: sundresscomic

Safety rules aren’t just suggestions

Some commenters immediately suggest that she look into the OSHA whistleblower protection program. It exists exactly for issues like this, when an employee wants to make a complaint about workplace safety, but can’t because they fear retaliation. However, she clarified that this was simply not possible for a variety of reasons.

There are, of course, managers who see OSHA guidelines and rules as suggestions on the best of days. Some work out of ignorance, others out of cheapness and a few simply do not like being told what to do. However, it’s worth noting that the rules OSHA enforces do tend to actually work.

Studies suggest that regular OSHA inspections reduce injury rates by almost 10% and reduce injury costs to firms by a not inconsiderable 26%. It’s worth noting that this is for companies that actually have inspectors check them regularly, so the improvements would no doubt be even more sizable in companies that prefer to not show inspectors anything. Some employers still insist on these sorts of conditions because they just refuse to change, but it tends to not be a great idea.

Some revenge needs to “marinate” before it really hits

Indeed, one of the criticisms sometimes leveled against OSHA is that they aren’t punishing enough. A 2003 study found that OSHA actually fails to prosecute employers who willfully ignore rules and have fatal injuries at their job sites. The New York Times found that “even when employers had been cited before for the very same safety violation,” employers would still not be punished.

We don’t actually know exactly what caused this company to fall behind, but a loss of skilled workers seems like a safe bet. This is purely speculation, but one can also argue that an employer willing to cut costs so aggressively that they were open to ignoring all safety precautions was not doing that well in the first place, but many people tend to not want to stick their necks out because, at the end of the day, a job is a job.

If anything, getting out “early” was just one more silver lining in this woman’s career, as having your pay slowly dwindle is a trap that can be harder to get out of. Finding a new job while you are working is more complicated than doing it when you are unemployed, in most cases. Seeing the now-ex-boss years later is just that wonderful cherry on top.

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