Oh, academia. Something about the academic world just has this special charm about it. You put things in, like effort and curiosity and get back self-growth, scientific results, and so many more things. It really is quite unlike anything else.

But sometimes it gets polluted by people with other interests.

This is the background for today’s story, where a person began working at a private university, hoping that it would be a catalyst for their own growth, but it turned out to be nothing more than a really bad job.

More info: Reddit

It’s not often that people get to take revenge on awful managers and watch the fallout of their actions, but some people get lucky

Image credits: Zen Chung (not the actual photo)

An ex-university employee and current student took it to petty revenge to share the story of getting back at the uni’s garbage management

Image credits: small3r1talian

Image credits: Colin (not the actual photo)

They had eagerly accepted the IT position in the past, hoping they could grow at work, creating something useful for the university

Image credits: small3r1talian

Image credits: Korean Resource Center 민족학교 (not the actual photo)

After being underpaid and overworked for a long time, they were done with the job, so they just enrolled in one of the uni’s programs and suddenly quit the job

Image credits: small3r1talian

Image credits: Bruno Cordioli (not the actual photo)

When the poster quit, they inspired their colleagues to do likewise, sparking a sudden loss of workers in the IT department

Image credits: small3r1talian

Being a student, they got to watch all of this from the sidelines, quietly giggling to themselves as things fell apart without them

Although the vengeance is satisfying, the story is a pretty sad one.

From the comments, the poster reveals their initial enthusiasm for the position, especially because the university has a good reputation, on account of the quality of education there.

The original poster (OP) had intentions of working there till their retirement, hoping they could build the school and grow alongside it, but they never got the chance because of the garbage management there.

If that weren’t enough, the the amount of work they were doing was way too much for the pay. On top of all that, the poster was accused of “doing nothing” all the time, even though they were the original IT person, helping build the whole infrastructure and teaching people how to use it from scratch.

From the comments it also seems as if the manager would turn a blind eye to OP working overtime, not wanting it to be recorded as then they would have to pay for the extra hours.

Tired and fed up with all the mistreatment, they wormed their way out from the bad position in a surprising manner – by applying to and getting enrolled at the university they were working at and quitting.

The poster’s smart move sparked a small revolution among their similarly fed up, underpaid, and overworked colleagues. They started quitting like dominos, one after another.

This led to the boss scrabbling to rehire OP, but they would give petty excuses like “I need to do my schoolwork.”

Image credits: Alex Ranaldi (not the actual photo)

Many comments were dubious about the OP enrolling at a school which seems to be tearing itself apart at the seams, but they were quick to defend their position. They mentioned that the university wasn’t going to lose its accreditation, which would potentially lead to degrees being no longer recognized, but rather would simply go bankrupt.

The Science journal has suggestions for budding academics who feel underappreciated.

Their argument is a poignant one – it’s unlikely that you will ever feel really appreciated, neither in academia, nor in industry. Managers prefer employees who get the job done with as little interaction with their workers as possible. And although positive reinforcement is an important part of being a good manager, their real goal is hitting results and therefore your feelings will always take second place.

But do not despair (yet)! There is something else you could do to feel good.

It may be a difficult process, but it is possible to reshape yourself to be satisfied internally, rather than externally.

What you can do is consider the bigger picture. Realizing that what you’re doing is going to affect or help many people could be something that motivates you.

You can also teach others things that you excel at. Training them and helping them in their day-to-day tasks may be a good internal motivator.

Finally, you could be a team player, helping others, turning enemies into colleagues, and reaching new heights because of your collaboration.

Try to find the joy and pride in your own work, instead of chasing the dragon of external satisfaction which is likely to never stick around for long.

The story collected 2.7k comments in the petty revenge community on Reddit with 80 comments to boot. The comments appreciated the story immensely, calling out the manager for being a complete fool, for not recognizing the talent and effort OP was putting into the position.

Share your own stories of destroying garbage managers along with your thoughts in the comments below!

The commenters enjoyed the story and praised the poster for standing up to the toxic management

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