Being fired can be a gut punch, especially when you've spent years going above and beyond. But when Reddit user u/everybodys-therapist was let go, she didn’t just walk away—she walked out with everything that was hers. And her boss watched it all, helpless and increasingly horrified.
She became the backbone of her company—and paid for it
Over the years, the professional media designer found herself doing the work of multiple people. Hired to focus on design, she was soon running major events, handling AV setups, and basically keeping the whole operation together.
“This company held large events, and I was gradually assigned more and more unrelated responsibilities until I was effectively performing the roles of at least four people,” she shared.
She even bought the media equipment the company wouldn’t spring for, labeling every piece to make sure it stayed hers.
“All of that equipment had my name on it to make sure that it wouldn't get lost if I lent it out,” she explained.
Then came the layoff—and the instruction she took literally
Five years in, everything changed. She was called into a meeting and told her job was being eliminated. The company had hired a fresh college grad to take on her work and that of several others.
“They informed me of an upcoming downsizing,” she wrote. “Take everything that is yours, as you won't be coming back,” her boss told her.
"Take everything that is yours."
— u/everybodys-therapist
So… she did. With help from a coworker, she began loading up her Ford Explorer with all her personal equipment. And as each box left the building, her boss got more and more uneasy.
"With every box we loaded, my boss grew increasingly panicked."
— u/everybodys-therapist
Then came the AV booth moment
The real panic hit when she asked to access the AV booth and the catwalk above the arena, where her cameras had been stored.
“I still remember the fear in his eyes,” she wrote.
"I felt like the Grinch."
— u/everybodys-therapist
She calmly collected every labeled camera and cable and walked out. And the cherry on top? The company didn’t last long without her.
Reddit rallied around her story
Plenty of Redditors chimed in with their own tales of sweet workplace revenge.
u/AcmeCartoonVillian shared: “Twenty years ago, I did almost exactly this while working as a Sales Copy Center Manager. My colleague and I left to start our own sign company and copy center, taking a significant portion of legacy customers with us.”
u/DracoDeVis added: “When my mother’s theater company laid off its production team before going bankrupt, her costume team discreetly retrieved thousands of costumes they had crafted, taking them back for themselves.”
She gave her all—and they lost it all
Though the experience left her with mixed emotions, she doesn’t regret a thing.
“I had given 200% in every way,” she wrote. “But they picked someone younger and fresh out of college to replace me.”
And as it turns out, the company couldn’t survive without her.
"The company only lasted another year."
— u/everybodys-therapist
The whole story is a reminder: If your employees are going above and beyond, you better treat them right. Because if you don’t—they just might walk out with the very things that kept your business running.
Arthur Duncan performed on the Lawrence Welk Show and the Betty White show. Public Domain
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Joao Pedro Lisboa
Representative photo of Amazon fulfillment center by Canva
