You cannot use pirated software – this is an axiom. Your employees, even if they quit a long time ago, must be treated with respect – this is another axiom. And even if you do not believe in karma, the combination of violations of these two axioms almost invariably gives such a backlash that it is worth believing.

A great example of it is this post by user u/doriangray433 in the Malicious Compliance Reddit community, which as of today has about 10.1K upvotes and over 300 comments. So if you like cautionary tales about bad bosses getting instant karma – you’re welcome.

The author of the post once worked in a company but quit several months ago

Image credits: Tony Alter (not the actual photo)

So, the author of the post once worked in a company, which, by the time of the events described, they had left for several months already. At the same time, it cannot be said that the author quit in a bad way, but their former boss, apparently, harbored some kind of grudge against them. Or maybe they were just being paranoid…

Image credits: doriangray433

The author’s former boss got a notification about using pirated software and for some reason suspected them of snitching

One day, the boss got a notification on his desktop that he was using pirated software (as the original poster notes, they later found out it was AutoCAD). Most likely, this happened after an update of the operating system and security certificates, but the boss panicked, deciding that someone had set him up. And his suspicion immediately fell on the original poster…

Image credits: doriangray433

The boss called the author and literally blamed them, though they had no clue about it before

So the hapless delinquent immediately called the OP and, not embarrassed, accused them of snitching. As the author of the post themselves admits, they previously had no idea that the boss used pirated program solutions, but during this conversation, he himself repeatedly admitted to the crime. The OP assured the former boss several times that he had not been reported to anyone, but he did not calm down. When the boss moved on to direct insults and threats, the author of the post just hung up.

Image credits: doriangray433

After hanging up, the author just decided to report the insulter

And what did they do straight after that? That’s right, reported the ex-boss about using pirated software, although before this very call, they didn’t even have a clue about it. In general, now the boss and the company are facing hard times and legal troubles, and the proverb about getting trapped into the hole dug for someone else has justified itself once again.

People in the comments praised the author and claimed that such cases are, alas, far from being uncommon

It must be said that people in the comments enjoyed this story very much, noting that the original poster was lucky to leave the company with such a stupid boss just in time. At the same time, many commenters say that such situations are far from being uncommon, and that sometimes processes in many organizations are almost completely carried out on pirated software. And sometimes former employees do report them.

Image credits: Mike MacKenzie (not the actual photo)

By the way, sometimes this happens when companies dismiss employees rudely or try to cheat them in the process of work. Some of the people in the comments even admitted that after reporting, their former company received a $90K fine and they got 5 percent bounty. Perhaps the same will happen with the author of this story.

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As we have already said, situations where a business uses counterfeit software are, alas, quite common, so you have probably also come across similar cases at work. In that case, please feel free to tell us your own stories in the comments below this post.

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