Those of us with terrible jobs and even worse bosses dream of the day when we can finally get back at them for all the injustice we’ve experienced. But Reddit user Tiredworker27 said they actually did.

In a post on ‘Petty Revenge,’ the employee explained that they went above and beyond to protect the company from its incompetent boss and his bad decisions. However, instead of being rewarded for it with a raise or a promotion, they were fired.

Image credits:Duran Ekiz (not the actual photo)

Image credits:RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)

Image credits:Tiredworker27

The Ph.D. was a big part of the man’s identity

We got in touch with the person behind the post and they kindly agreed to have a little chat with us. “I had been at the company for 4 years, mostly because of COVID,” the Redditor told Bored Panda.

“I didn’t like it there at all but at the time it seemed wiser to stay as long as the pandemic ravaged the job market.”

Indeed, during the spring of 2020, as the virus was declared a global health emergency, work essentially stopped for many people, the unemployment rolls swelled by 23 million and the jobless rate reached 14.8%. It was a tough period for many.

“Among other things, I was also responsible for the workforce there and did my best to prevent a mass exodus because when COVID hit, working conditions deteriorated rapidly,” the Redditor added.

Researchers have studied managerial derailment — or the dark side of leadership — for many years now. Scott Gregory, who is the CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems and an expert on executive selection, development, and coaching, categorizes bad managers into three groups: (1) those who exhibit “moving away behaviors,” which create distance from others through hyper-emotionality, diminished communication, and skepticism that erodes trust; (2) “moving against behaviors,” which overpower and manipulate people while aggrandizing the self; and (3) “moving toward behaviors,” which include being ingratiating, overly conforming, and reluctant to take chances or stand up for one’s team.

The internet is full of examples of bad leaders in government, academia, and the business world with all of these characteristics. However, the boss that Tiredworker27 described sounded like he belonged to all of the brackets.

And the degrees helped him inflate his ego. “I guess they made him feel superior to the peons working for him,” the Redditor added. “He was rich and had a Ph.D. Everyone else was therefore inferior and he was the smart one.”

It might be worth mentioning that even though some of the comments questioned the validity of the story, Tiredworker27 highlighted that it’s “100 percent true.”

“Those Master’s and Ph.D. theses are at the university. People can go there and have a look at them. After I did, I searched for text passages that seemed fishy to me and because in the digital age, many books and articles are online, I scored several hits. I don’t know why so many people think that this story is ‘impossible’ and are so hostile about it.”

The story has received a lot of reactions

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