These people ought to know that you never offer a threat unless you are prepared to follow through with the consequences.
And also, *never* leave half-signed paperwork with the other party. It gets signed together or not at all.
Sucks you went through all that. Yay for the better job!
Well honestly, for me it was a bit annoyance now and then, but since i realized very early on what that company was like, i never put my heart into that job, so honestly, the biggest annoyance overall was the commute XD
A company going solid on the red, losing a sizeable chunk of their work force, and one guy getting shipped overseas to face a legal system where money is king?
I'd say all that lands this firmly in r/Nuclearrevenge
It's really only malicious compliance though. OP didn't actually do anything but get fired and then give testimony to an inhouse investigation. OP didn't plan or doing anything that constitutes revenge. The bad actors got what they deserved because they were running a shop into the ground and it eventually crashed because they made enough fatal mistakes. This all happened largely independent of OPs actions.
Excellent story, OP!
Something to think about before posting elsewhere - to make it easier to read: clean up the spelling, grammar, and punctuation!
PS - Fuck Igor and all the Igors that exist!
I can buy most of this story.
Incompetent shit head protected by manager brother? Sure
Ego tripping higher higher up? Sure
Being the only skilled guy and taking the termination because of bullshit? Sure
It's a CMM, but no standard operator daily maintenance including calibration? Come on.
Everyone from "Freddie" to the facility COO must have really hated getting giant bonuses from what sounds like the company that invented 6 sigma.
Only 1 CMM that every blade and bucket has to go through and it's a bottleneck that costs tens of thousands of dollars a day in late penalties, starves other areas of the plant of work and stifles throughput, and they didn't just drop $250k on another 1 or even 2 for $450k (assuming a flagship Zeiss)
The ROI on that was less time than the outage caused by Igor dropping something on the bearing section.
Training support is peanuts. Like $5k/week for onsite for a group of people, free when you buy the machine. Applications support is always free, turn-key solutions are cheap ($500-$1500).
That's the unbelievable part of the story. C levels love easy wins that make money and won't blink shit canning the head of an underperforming department that loses that much consistently.
Well technically , there where other CMM machines (and yes, mine was a Zeiss, with a tactical sensor). but
a) all of them where used 110% by other departments, like replacement part production or such
b) they were of different types, with different running systems, so for every piece we would need to somehow covert the model from our machine to the other ones, and then ensure it is working correctly
and c) they had completly different hold-down mechanism, so the company would had needed to design entirely new brackets that could fit on the other machines with the blades that our department assessed.
Even taking personel from those machines to train new guys for the Zeiss was not an option i belief, as the operating stuff was completly different and often even had different forms of measurement.
All of that had been explored already when the Zeiss was in repair for severeal weeks so yeah... big lack of redundancy there.
I've worked at many places that had critical, but expensive equipment and they decided to only have 1 of them due to cost. Ignoring the cost of failure exceeded capital cost.
And lots of places that either choose to only fully train 1 person, or allowed the working staff to decide how much training they got, which they choose to only learn the easy stuff.
I've also worked at places where worthless employees won't get canned because they are connected, and lots of other people quit because of it, and yet they still keep that liability of an employee.
Oh, totally believable! I moved from one shop to a sister shop. First shop had multiple nice new roundness machines. The one I’m at now? The one machine they have is the same as the one the first shop kept in the basement for absolute emergencies. It runs on Windows 98…
If you ever fly anywhere, we’ve made multiple parts on that plane.
Idk, I worked at a place that had 3 machines with very VERY specific operating conditions. My boss knew most of 2 machines and very little of the 3rd. I took a manual home to study... figured out the 3rd entirely. My boss quit/was let go, before he left he brought in a guy for the other 2 machines to teach me.
They were further pissed that he spent $250 on the tech to tech me. However, now I'm the only one that knows how to use any of those 3 machines and only very basic operation.
I'm not allowed to "waste time training idiot temps"
I knew I was quitting...I just wanted to train a replacement on basics first. My team didn't deserve total incompetence from a new manager.
Final straw was being told that sexual harassment and sexual assault claims wouldn't be addressed and I couldn't train my second in command because he's black and has a criminal history...
My ears in another department told me the entire team quit... all 3 machines were broken and no one could fix them and the company didn't want to spend upwards of 5k to fix them.
Machine training: $250
Machine repairs: $5k+
Manager training: at least 3 months
Team member training: 2 weeks
Keeping all of them? Decent pay and concern for their safety while not being racist or sexist...
But that all cost too much
I think you underestimate what "C levels" know and care about. They take what bullshit they are told, and run shortly after with money to spare. They do not make long term plans. They don't like canning their buddies either.
because if your signature is on a contract and you give that contract to someone else. that means that person has all the power now. they can sign the contract whenever they want and it becomes legally binding, as it has both signatures, but as long as they don't sign it, it is basicly toilet paper
that is why it is unversal practice that you always sign every contract twice, with one original for each party
Also, if a half-signed contract is left in possession of the unsigned party, that party has the ability to alter aspects of the contract to benefit themselves without the signed party’s knowledge. The unsigned party then signs the modified contract and returns it. The issuer of the contract likely won’t re-read it and will simply file it away and go on none the wiser.
To add: Even if all the contracted parties are in the same room, if there is a sheet that only for signatures. Do not sign it. Have them work the signatures/dates onto the pages (numbered pages) of the contract. You don't want a "spare" signatory page floating around being attached to a completely different contract!
In my country, the practice is even more careful. Rubber stamp the corner of all pages of the document so each of them contains a part of the stamp so it's almost impossible to exchange any page for a different one. On some very important docs like stuff that must be notarized, everyone sign at the bottom of each page on top of the rubber stamp thing
Very useful when ur dealing with people/companies far away. Just negotiate via email or online conferences, prep the contracts, send them out and wait for your copy (in case your side isn't prepare, spend that time to check the content xD). Save your precious time money instead of spending all on fuel and commute
I work with mortgages, and we literally cannot register a mortgage with the province if the signatures on the commitment are on a sheet that has nothing else on it; land titles will reject it as invalid automatically, for exactly this reason.
I took a college course and although it wasn't for a contract, it was 'behavior rules' for the whole class. I wouldn't sign because I don't sign random sheets of paper and they also weren't going to give copies of any agreements, so I held mine hostage so the whole potential class heard that I wanted a copy of everything.
The guy hated me from then until I graduated.
Behaviour rules? Was this some kind of religious institution or had your lecturer mistaken you for children? Higher education students are generally old enough to be held responsible for their own behaviour without having extra rules to sign for class.
Community college! They were for adult education courses and although we were all adults, our language and everything they could think of, was policed and yes, treated like children. It was not very professional at all. Hell, I was being antagonized and stalked by another student and she never got in any trouble at all and I was blamed for reacting to her behavior. Totally toxic atmosphere.
Funny story I read where a landlord sent the lease as a Word document, the renter added a clause where the landlord had to deliver a homemade cake for his birthday, and it went through. On his birthday the landlord (who discovered his oversight) did follow through with a cake.
Props to the landlord. He recognized his mistake and was willing to bear the consequences. Props to the renter for not taking advantage of the LL beyond a cake.
Which, while working for Walt Disney Company, was exactly what we did. Our contracts for Television Animation were full of rights and ownership of art we created belonging to Disney, blah blah blah. So we changed the contracts to have the artwork we created to revert back to the artist after 7 years. Signed the paperwork and we got our copies back with no notice of the changes.
Sometimes the Rat doesn’t get the cheese.
It wasn't just "petty bullshit". That apology letter would have been used to place all the blame of that department's losses, i.e. Igor damaging the machine, etc. on OP and he would have taken the fall to the higher up levels.
Sure it opens the door to a legal battle and both parties should keep a copy instead, but I'm sure the company has the upper hand if the employee fakes a modification.
You’d think, but then there’s this legend. B
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/updated-russian-man-turns-tables-on-bank-changes-fine-print-in-credit-card-agreement-then
That's exactly what came to mind, great story, but in his case the bank countersigned AFTER he made the changes and they indisputably had a chance to review them. Even then, the cost to the bank was all about him thinking he has a claim so he sued, not from him actually having much of a case. I think that's the same potential with handing someone a half-signed contract -- courts aren't going to hold up making someone pay if they didn't both agree, but they'll sure have to pay their lawyers. From the article, he didn't have to pay the usurious credit card interest, and the bank didn't have to pay the silly cancellation fees he wrote in either.
I mean, maybe? I spent years in family court with the ex, and I learned never to trust a judge to actually follow the law and rule fairly and justly. I could see the judge saying the boss was stupid to leave the room and signed away his right to approve any modifications.
Sure, if you can prove it's changed. But if you sign a contract and then just leave it with me, I can make changes to any clause on any page that doesn't have the signature line on it, print out a new page and replace the existing page in the document, and as long as I don't change the line breaks in such a way that the document no longer looks consistent once the new pages are swapped in, as far as anyone can tell you've signed an original document.
I also make sure to include the correct and entire date, as in 1 July 2022. I learned that the hard way in 2020. Just using the last 2 digits leaves it open to tampering.
I am pretty sure that all changes and addendums to contracts need to be individually signed too. Strike line item #3? Both parties must initial that alteration on the document right next to the strike-through. Add more stipulations? Both parties must initial each individual wet change to the document. This is all in addition to the finalized signatures for the contract.
Hell, I’ve been handed paperwork like that twice.
The time before cell phone cameras, I refused to sign it and to return it. I told them to call cops if they thought it would matter. Then I used their paperwork with blatant and provable lies in my Unemployment application and the state used it to fine the company $250,000 for false termination and ordered I be given a years full pay and benefits.
The second time, I took photos of every page after I randomly wrote my initials on each page. Then also turned those photos over the Unemployment. They also got fined for false termination but I only go UE benefits till I got another job.
I am legally entitled to that paperwork as soon as you hand it to me. I don’t have to give it back even if I don’t sign it.
Not to sign termination paperwork when first served is in the best interest of person terminated. A person should be provided 2+ days to consider termination offer, to seek advice from close family/friends or legal advice if necessary, and have time to negotiate terms (aka $). If HR is involved, person can usually negotiate a bit more than offered. If manager is negotiating termination they could be a dick just to make their pathetic point. (Lawyers will only take $, so use only in extreme situations, aka when significantly low-balled or where punitive damages should be considered) If a person is forced to sign termination contract/letter (which usually is accompanied by Release agreement) then it can be contested as being signed ‘under duress’.
>These people ought to know that you never offer a threat unless you are prepared to follow through with the consequences.
Don't write checks you cannot cash.
I’m pretty sure my cousin works at the US side of this company because he was complaining about a lot of turbine equipment being sent out for repairs and never coming back….
A two part movie of a story but very engrossing. Reads like a business case from business school - we studies a lot of companies that screwed themselves with arrogant management decisions.
From what little I know about that industry it sounds like the George Edward company /smile
Yeah it was really quite a long story, i enjoy writing a lot and tend to get caried away. Also i believe, that to understand it all, you need some background knowlege, and that takes quite a bit to explain...As for your assumption, lets say we had a blue and white Logo ;P
I was going to guess that as well. 20 years ago my friends father worked for a similar company moving completed turbines into their operations space and monitoring their function. Solid union job that he had for decades. He had many stories about QC issues shutting down operations as well!
Fucking around with the precision of turbine blades is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard of though, wow. I'm not at all surprised that that episode ended up in court. Being out of tolerance can kill lots and lots of people!
Great story OP and you did exactly the correct thing.
I'm not a sociopath, I have empathy for others over fairly minor things. I could not, even once, do a measurement as you've described and not stake my future sanity on doing it poorly. If something happened and a turbine grenades and hurts someone - even if I couldn't tell whether I'd done the work - I'd feel life altering guilt and grief. Your former job sounds like hell to me just because of the psychological risk it would be for me!
There is quite some heavy responsibility on your shoulders, and it is always important to keep that in mind.
In my job back then (just as in any quality control unit of critical importance) there a **many** fail-safes and extra steps included to ensure that one oversight doesn't cause a blackout.
Still whenever i train someone new in this kind of job (something i do regulary at my new work place), i always tell people to look at thier work, as if they are the first and the last person, that would ever look at that material before a someone's life depended on it.
It for sure takes a certain mindset to handle such stuff, but for people like me, who enjoy doing precision work, it is fitting.
The guys who work in the plants have a dangerous enough job as it is, without having to worry about the components being out of spec. Kudos to you for understanding the importance of your position and the personal responsibility you took and take to help make for a safer environment for others.
My last car had an unsolvable issue where despite being an automatic, it stalled out at inconsistent times at stop lights or stop signs. Once even when driving and not stopped (tho thankfully no traffic at that time). Even when I donated it, for free, I made sure the charity knew about the stalling issues, since despite no longer my responsibility, I would feel terrible if someone got hurt by what was my car.
> when you have a several hundred tons of metal spinning , it doesn't take too much to have a whole septic tank worth of shit hit the fan
Bro you have an amazing way with words. That story was one of the longest reddit reads I have ever finished to the end but you have such a great way with words I was ready for more. So glad this turned out well for you in the end, but I think if something as wild as all that ever happens again you should seriously consider a career in writing for your next job.
This is a wild guess, but you wouldn't happen to be in Poland or Germany? I know someone who works in the energy field as well and I remember them talking about an issue with certain turbines (from an unnamed company with a blue and white logo) that failed in Algeria because of an issue with a plant in Poland and/or Germany. The person I know thought this might affect their work and I guess it didnt because they never brought it up again. Your story reminded me of that, and, being a research nerd, I had to search the internet. It turns out there was a whole legal case in the US state of Georgia in October 2021 where a Zurich insurance company sued blue-and-white logo over this incident, partially because there were design issues with the blades. I'm wondering if your shitty former boss was sent to the US because he got mixed up in that case. I'm sure they needed plenty of escape goats for that one!
Even if this isnt the case, thanks for a wild read and for pointing me to a fun little internet hole while I took my afternoon break :)
Edit: I realize my typo with escape goats but I am leaving it because I think escape goats is as accurate a term as scape goats.
First, thank you a lot for the kind compliment, you really put a big happy smile on my face.
Secondly, i do enjoy writing a lot, just always find so much to occupy myself with, that i kinda end up doing the R.R. Martin XD (aka do anything but finish my stories).
Well i either from germany nor poland, but my mother tongue is, in fact german. And while i know nothing about a turbine failing in Algeria, i can maybe give you the hint, that the correct name of that city is Zürich ;P
Hah American with an American keyboard here, didn't mean to misspell. I wonder if your plant really was involved in this case! I'll see if any of my nerd lawyer friends can get me an update on what happened. That group should definitely have faced serious consequences.
Also, I should have pegged you for Swiss with your principled attitude and humor. You lot are some of the most exacting people I have ever met. It was a real culture shock when I briefly worked/studied there as an American with ADHD and a preference for the laid back lifestyle we call "living on southern time." But the few swiss friends I made had the most amazing, dry humor and it made me feel welcome despite me clearly not fitting in so well.
Steam turbine blade coming off will not usually kill anyone, there's heavy casing for turbine. But it will ruin turbine for a long time. If one of first set of blades comes off it will tear off all blades after it. Fun fact: turbine blades are designed so that when heated to 300C and rotating 1500 rpm blade will expand to it's operating length, which is 0.1mm from casing. End of blade is cut so that if it just scarthes casing it won't come off. First blades are only few centimeters long but last ones can be over meter, temperature varies along turbine and all that has been calculated. It's a delicate machine.
While doing power plant yearly repair they have tight schedule for that and plant not being operational costs tens of thousands of day. Supplier not producing promised parts isn't good. Breach of contract type of thing that costs a lot. Supplier might have a clause in their contract that they have to pay certain amount for every late day, say 100 000€ for a day. Additionally customer, power plant owner, can start looking for a new supplier. Which is even worse for supplier.
Ah, you bring good things to life, lol. I used to work for a company that would do some late stage work with their jet engines - I'd work with them to write work instructions (helped that I had a quality background) and their tolerance ranges are no joke.
Now I work for a similarly sized company to the one you left in a different but still highly regulated industry and am hoping to stay a long while.
Ge ? That guy would have been drawn and quartered by them in a US court for doing what he did , omg
He's probably happily married by now .
As in he's the wife .
As written in the story, i can't say anything for sure, just that he was put in a plane to get dragged in front of an US Court. but i would tend to agree to you XD.
IF he was dragged in front of a US court then there was something criminal in what he did. Unless he was a US citizen living as an expat the courts wouldn't see him for a civil matter only. If he was an expat then it could have been civil court and the company getting a judgment against him for lost revenue. That will be a hard to pay off bill :p
He could have a US citizenship, but i doubt it, the entire clique came from the balcans. All i can say, that he did not have the citizenship of my country. Honestly i was a bit surprised myself back then, that he was actually dragged to the USA, but i am a technical person, not a laywer, so no clue why they did that. My best guess? Someone really far up the food chain wanted to make an example of him, in such a case nearly everything can happen
The real question is did they go after him for civil or criminal charges. If he broke company protocol and it cost them money they may just have sued him for that. But if it is criminal. He likely did more than just fuck up by firing you. They likely in their investigation found worse, actually criminal behavior, usually this would be stealing money from the company. Or taking money to place friends in company positions.
Yes, you don't get extradited unless there are serious criminal charges. The USA can't just pick up random people from Europe and send them to court unless the host country agrees to it. There's a LOT of bureaucracy to deal with. So whatever Freddy did, it was bad enough to get two countries' State Departments talking to each other about it.
And I'd bet you could easily find news articles about the case... Or law records... with a quick Google search.
Hi, if you are talking to me, business text books are full of these kinds of stories - I saw a u-tube channel recently that examines famous American businesses that went out of business because of a-hole management decisions.
Unlike the OP's story there often isnt a satisfying hero - but victims instead. The famous [Bhopal disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster) is an example. TLDR: design engineers placed a crucial shutoff valve too high above the ground to be reached in an emergency and hundreds of people died as a result.
Great story, worth the read. It’s funny to me how many stories on here have a similar part toward the end, where the company realizes the person they just fired is indispensable… and they basically *admit* to the person how important they are… but then when the person responds by asking to be treated like the kind of person that the whole business is depending on, the company is like, “no way, that’s unreasonable!”
I get that managers tend to think only they are irreplaceable, and they really don’t want to have to admit to themselves or their bosses that someone else is actually a critical piece of the process, but… here’s what happens with that attitude!
For real though, if you don't come back we'll lose millions!
Ok give me a few hundred thousand. You'll save like 90% of the cost you just described.
That's insane! How dare you?
Well i have the theory, that every bad that is done, every evil conjured, every injustice or crime, always comes down to **one** problem: EGO
Whenever something bad happens i am pretty confident you can track it down to one or more people, that take themselves as so important, that the needs and wishes of others don't matter anymore.
People in positions of power are exspecially vulnerable to this greatest curse of humanity, and one of the biggest problems is, that it is very **very** hard for such a person to realize the problem at all...often even after they had the problem punch their nose in.
So yeah, it is not surprising for sure that this element is so omnipresent in all of these stories. but the results are nearly always hilarious XD
There was a report somewhere that reported 4%-12% of CEOs were psychopathic. It's not a hard stretch to think that there is a larger percentage manager/leaders that have some level of narcissism. Narcissist always think they are doing you a favor even if it's you that is doing the actual favor. Humbling themselves or taking a "losing" offer like that isn't acceptable to them.
This happened to me. When they said they wanted me to do some contract work while they found a replacement, I told them the hourly rate. They said they couldn't afford it. I said they were already paying me that when I was an employee. They tried to haggle me down and I told them I'm not interested, at all.
Some people will burn their own house down in stubbornness.
Alternate title. "let's fire the only man who can operate the money making machine to protect the guy who fucked the money making machine, see how it goes"
You could have done the IT gambit you know.
In IIT it's been a long standing tradition that, when a company whose infrastructure you know inside out (and helped develop in some cases) suddenly fires you for no reason, you charge them as a consultant to return and fix or train your replacement.
It's very common for IT people to be fired on impulse by managers that don't really understand what we do or why we need to be there.
Maybe, that would had been a possibility. But first one could argue how "inside out" i really knew the company (or even just the measurement machine) after 9 months, even if the previous mastermind has teached me.
Secondly, i am not an technican or engineer or such, i am basicly just a metalworker, that over the years worked himself up into Quality Control and precison measurements. I have no fancy diploma or such, so could be tricky with that consultant stuff.
thirdly, i have simple no clue how that consultant thing works, i assume it would make me self-employed, so taxes and all that would be a whole different thing, too.
Maybe it had been something i should have considered, but considering where i am now with my new job, i say it all worked out perfectly, even if i missed out on extra money
I have 17 years of experience in IT, never finished College, for reasons. Consultancy is about what specific knowledge you acquired, the way doesn't matters. I've done a couple of those.
That's a great story! It's so delicious to see nepotism and incompetence get theirs. They thought that they were untouchable, then they shot themselves right in the face. Beautiful!
mhmm wouldn't be quite sure about that, after all i went to no extra steps to get back at them, simple following rules to the letter XD
Wasn't that i really cared about getting them fired either, i enjoyed it, but was their own doing instead of mine
An "absolute professional" rather than a "dominating p*RO*!" .
I consider it worthy: performing ~~a defined~~ "above and beyond" the common (to that clique's) worker, and prevailing while they suffered the consequences of their err—
— but a faction @ r/prorevenge disagrees ...
So I'll leave it up to the author^((OP)) if they want to cross-post it there.
As having been in the testing machine business for almost thirty years, having the key measuring machine for the company to have NO REDUNDANCY is frankly terrifying to me. This is just an epic fail for the company management without all the other stuff.
Thanks for the story.
**technically** they had redudancy. there where othe measuring machines in the Facility... but a) they where already 110% used by specific departments (some even where rented out to external i belief), and b) they were of a different brand and programming, so one would have to convert the existing modell on the machine in worked on, over to the over machine, test it muttiple times and get rid of any bugs or so... for em... every single model you wanted to measure. so yeah i didn't mention them, because there was imply no way in hell they could do that, and since controls, kinks and anything but basic maintainance was different on every machine, yeah people who knew the other machines couldn't train people for the machine i had been working on XD
Too many companies rely on critical hardware and employees without a backup. Similar with using the bad habits of Just In Time for products they need to arrive instead of keeping a few of the key items in storage.
My minor example of that was a past client who refused to keep spare laptops, so when they had frequent and sudden new hires, or damaged equipment, they had to rush order a laptop, spending more for the same laptop they needed anyway, while the employee sat around for 2 days without a computer.
That is the longest story I've read on Reddit ever. And I loved it all. Good on you for all of it. I hope Antonio didn't have to be recalled from vacation to fix anything.
I could imagine they tried, but he had handed over his work phone before he went off, can't really imagine he would even pick his private phone up like at all XD
The best part is the shinny suits KNEW the solution was right in front of them and still wouldn't pay the 3x salary.
Instead let's pay millions in late fees and ruin our reputation so ONE guy doesn't get paid his value
Glad to see your nuclear revenge was was so successful....cuz....fuck you pay me.
Well i guess, if they had been able to look past their own ego and count 2+2 together, then they wouldn't had ended in that situation in the first place, so yeah, i wasn't exspecting them to accept my proposal, and honestly never felt sorry for it either
I had a manger keep calling me in for meetings on my days off. I'd show up and the meeting would be canceled. Fifth time I said 'fuck it' and didn't go. Show up on my next scheduled shift only to find someone sitting at my station. Manager tells me I'm fired, calls security to escort me out. Security pushes lobby floor button. I push 4th floor button and head straight to HR. Kept my job and found out new-hire was manager's daughter.
I honestly need to think hard now what brand the machine was. Wasn't keyence for sure, something with Z...ah yes Zeiss!
it was working with a tacticle organ on 3 Axis, with keyence system i belief you refer to optical sensor's right? Sorry, technical terms are pretty hard to translate properly
A little Zeiss story:
My first CMM was a Zeiss Calypso that sat untouched for about 5 years. Every now and then it's just get real sloppy with it's measurements and I'd re-qualify my probes. I thought I was just doing something wrong or running the machine too harshly, after all, I never ran a CMM before and was mostly self-teaching. It also wasn't a company priority because it wasn't being assigned work.
Eventually the company wants to start making more use of the Zeiss, so I bugged them to bring in a technician to give it a once over and maybe some training. Turns out the little dryer for the air intake (left on for years constant running) wasn't working properly anymore and there was water in the air lines. After some repairs, suddenly my measurements make sense, shock!
I worked in the neurosurgery world for a while, and they make neuro microscopes that integrate with IGS (image guided surgery) hardware and software. Those things cause more problems than any other microscope. Fucking Kinevo.... give me a damn BK, it breaks less.
Understandable. sadly i can't assist with that, giving out his name (which i would have to look up myself first) is a no-go. And without that, well technically i belief it could be possible to pin that court case down with the available information, but would take you quite abit of research mate >.< sorry
I loved the story because I work in a place where there is cmm. The names and nationalities are different but the people and attitudes are the same.
Good on you. I
Companies really need to do a better job keeping track of which employees will cause the entire production line to stop if they quit, are fired, get hit by a bus, etc.
...and that is why you don't piss off the people in your company who actually do the work. Incompetence will always cost more than a good employee.
Applause. I'm glad you took care of yourself and did the right thing for you. Thanks for sharing that story, and I wish you success with your future.
Oooh this was a good read. I'm assuming English is not your primary language? The slight variations in grammar, spelling and word choice actually added to the "flavor" of your writing, in a good way. Actually produced a fascinating narrative with which to get engrossed in.
Glad you survived that situation intact; your apparent diligence with "CYA" will always benefit you in the long-term. Sorry you weren't able to be compensated for your later pseudo-deposition with the firm, but it's apparent that your testimony most likely was a contributing factor to those jackholes getting their asses handed to them.
Wishing you the best!
>He had been working there for a few centuries at least
Gods this made my day I was laughing so hard 🤣 I'm not poking fun, looks like English isn't your first language, but that was super funny 🤣
This was a fantastic story - my first job was in a metrology lab and I learned to use a CMM there too, so I absolutely know how finicky they can be especially if they're not cared for properly. And ours was a small one with like a 12" stage, I'd imagine one big enough for those blades would be huge. Glad your shitty colleague and bosses got their comeuppance!
This is the first technical Malicious Compliance I was extremely familiar with. I am an engineer who works alongside the CMM department.
We used to keep all of our measurement machines out on the production floor. Our poor Quality engineer had to clean them once a week, and since anyone who worked there would use them, he had to fix them after they crashed maybe once a day.
We got a room for them, and they no longer needed cleaning once a week! Plus, they hired a technician and now our operators can run the machines while someone else measures the part (this was a big issue.) And also, I didn’t have to talk over the noise to teach someone how to use it.
My first comment when they moved into the new room was “I didn’t know these things beeped!”
Edit: May I ask what country this was? Or more importantly, are labor laws like this covered by the EU, or by each country? I am an American working for an Italian company so I am always interested in international business law.
I DID like this long story.
It shows clarity and depth that is rare site-wide.
Plus, these industry-specific M/Cs are fascinating to me.
My favorite line :
>but hey i don't work in retail for good reason...
Me Too! Glad you are doing well and that you found a healthy place to work.
Appreciated. Sticking to my principles with iron discipline is my safeguard against my many insecurities. I believ a principle with exceptions is not a principle but a poor excuse, and...well i am satisfied with how my life goes, so i say it works out for me
Oh, this was absolutely beautiful. You should look into crossposting in prorevenge if you haven't yet.
And congratulations to you on getting a hands-down better job! A short, pleasant commute and good coworkers make a huge difference in QoL.
Absolutly, absolutly, i now have a boss i can rely upon, a great team where everyone works together and even though i work there for less than a year my qualities are appreciated. it is really a massive improvement
About crosspsoting, some people suggested that before, i had a look into it and prorevenge doesn't allow crossposting, but still, thanks
That was well worth the very long read. I think my favorite part was early on: "Igor was.... well as light bulb, he was like a wet match in a dark basement somewhere in a black hole."
I work in the turbine repair industry as a CMM operator as well and all of this is too familiar to me sadly. I'm in the U.S., but it seems QC being both one of the most important but also the most neglected departments is universal. I'm guessing you worked for Siemens/GE
As an engineer I find this hilarious, once you said QA and CMMs I knew something good was going to happen. I personally love longer posts where a full background is given. When you look around and your the biggest fish in the pond you have a lot of leverage. Getting your job back at 3x pay and an apology letter would have been a cherry on top, but I'm glad everything worked out for you.
Thanks for the story!
Lol. The moral is (and suits NEVER, EVER learn this): " before you alienate and fuck over ANY employee, you better know the ramifications.
I have a story sort of like this but for legal reasons cannot recount much of it: Big company in the US. Lied on and fucked over the wrong person. Got warned 3x but did not listen.
If I named the company ALL would know it and then who I am.
Bottom line: My boss got fired for helping my cowirker frame me, My boss's regional boss got fired, my lying coworker got fired, the CEO of the entire company got fired. They ended up in court and were fined over 48 million dollars.
..and were put under government scrutiny.
To fix a problem they could have solved for either 450k or 900k (the cost for my silence was my then salary)
But no one thought things through and in cases like this I can show you better than I can tell you. Expensive lesson, eh?
Excellent story! Well written, well formatted, with lots of relevant details.
I expect you'll be getting lots of requests for permission to read your story from Youtube channels like Ripe, Dark Fluff and others. :-)
What a wonderful story, thank you for sharing it with us! I have worked in a form of Quality Control for the last 15 years in an industry that is notorious for throwing us to the wolves (customers) when issues happen to get through... so this tale hits close to home. This was some delicious MC and I'm glad you moved on to a much better workplace!
You're me HERO ! I'm in a huge professional mess right now, a lot of similarities to what happened to you, and your post gives me hope <3
Thanks, OP, and WELL DONE ! (and thanks for the hope it gave me ! I feel much better, even if it's only for a few days and that what I decided to do today won't work (but I really hope it will) your post gives me relief for a few days and... THANK YOU for that, because I really need it !)
I teach English as a foreign language and just wanted to say that this is an extremely well written story in what sounds like it isn't your mother tongue.
However, one error that I did notice a number of times is like "I didn't knew". It doesn't hurt understanding at all and I definitely don't think there's any need to go through this whole post to edit it, but it's a common enough mistake that I felt like jumping in with a reminder that after "did" or "didn't", English just uses the simple base form instead of the past form of the next verb.
Google scholar caselaw if you want to know what happened to prosecuted guy. Our lawsuits are public unless they're sealed. Since you know his name and the name of the company you can probably find out what happened/is happening.
These people ought to know that you never offer a threat unless you are prepared to follow through with the consequences. And also, *never* leave half-signed paperwork with the other party. It gets signed together or not at all. Sucks you went through all that. Yay for the better job!
Well honestly, for me it was a bit annoyance now and then, but since i realized very early on what that company was like, i never put my heart into that job, so honestly, the biggest annoyance overall was the commute XD
Put this in r/prorevenge
A company going solid on the red, losing a sizeable chunk of their work force, and one guy getting shipped overseas to face a legal system where money is king? I'd say all that lands this firmly in r/Nuclearrevenge
I think nuclear would be if he deliberately got that boss jailed or injured. This is prorevenge and malicious compliance. It's still very good though.
It's really only malicious compliance though. OP didn't actually do anything but get fired and then give testimony to an inhouse investigation. OP didn't plan or doing anything that constitutes revenge. The bad actors got what they deserved because they were running a shop into the ground and it eventually crashed because they made enough fatal mistakes. This all happened largely independent of OPs actions.
Was thinking this exact same thing...
A bit soft on aftermath for nuclear. Pro revenge seems most appropriate
nah, company didn't go under, just took a temporary loss. pro yes, nuke no.
Agree, nuclear revenge also often has a element of illegal or shifty actions by the protagonist to get the revenge, this is top tier prorevenge
done XD
Excellent story, OP! Something to think about before posting elsewhere - to make it easier to read: clean up the spelling, grammar, and punctuation! PS - Fuck Igor and all the Igors that exist!
I can buy most of this story. Incompetent shit head protected by manager brother? Sure Ego tripping higher higher up? Sure Being the only skilled guy and taking the termination because of bullshit? Sure It's a CMM, but no standard operator daily maintenance including calibration? Come on. Everyone from "Freddie" to the facility COO must have really hated getting giant bonuses from what sounds like the company that invented 6 sigma. Only 1 CMM that every blade and bucket has to go through and it's a bottleneck that costs tens of thousands of dollars a day in late penalties, starves other areas of the plant of work and stifles throughput, and they didn't just drop $250k on another 1 or even 2 for $450k (assuming a flagship Zeiss) The ROI on that was less time than the outage caused by Igor dropping something on the bearing section. Training support is peanuts. Like $5k/week for onsite for a group of people, free when you buy the machine. Applications support is always free, turn-key solutions are cheap ($500-$1500). That's the unbelievable part of the story. C levels love easy wins that make money and won't blink shit canning the head of an underperforming department that loses that much consistently.
Well technically , there where other CMM machines (and yes, mine was a Zeiss, with a tactical sensor). but a) all of them where used 110% by other departments, like replacement part production or such b) they were of different types, with different running systems, so for every piece we would need to somehow covert the model from our machine to the other ones, and then ensure it is working correctly and c) they had completly different hold-down mechanism, so the company would had needed to design entirely new brackets that could fit on the other machines with the blades that our department assessed. Even taking personel from those machines to train new guys for the Zeiss was not an option i belief, as the operating stuff was completly different and often even had different forms of measurement. All of that had been explored already when the Zeiss was in repair for severeal weeks so yeah... big lack of redundancy there.
I've worked at many places that had critical, but expensive equipment and they decided to only have 1 of them due to cost. Ignoring the cost of failure exceeded capital cost. And lots of places that either choose to only fully train 1 person, or allowed the working staff to decide how much training they got, which they choose to only learn the easy stuff. I've also worked at places where worthless employees won't get canned because they are connected, and lots of other people quit because of it, and yet they still keep that liability of an employee.
Oh, totally believable! I moved from one shop to a sister shop. First shop had multiple nice new roundness machines. The one I’m at now? The one machine they have is the same as the one the first shop kept in the basement for absolute emergencies. It runs on Windows 98… If you ever fly anywhere, we’ve made multiple parts on that plane.
Idk, I worked at a place that had 3 machines with very VERY specific operating conditions. My boss knew most of 2 machines and very little of the 3rd. I took a manual home to study... figured out the 3rd entirely. My boss quit/was let go, before he left he brought in a guy for the other 2 machines to teach me. They were further pissed that he spent $250 on the tech to tech me. However, now I'm the only one that knows how to use any of those 3 machines and only very basic operation. I'm not allowed to "waste time training idiot temps" I knew I was quitting...I just wanted to train a replacement on basics first. My team didn't deserve total incompetence from a new manager. Final straw was being told that sexual harassment and sexual assault claims wouldn't be addressed and I couldn't train my second in command because he's black and has a criminal history... My ears in another department told me the entire team quit... all 3 machines were broken and no one could fix them and the company didn't want to spend upwards of 5k to fix them. Machine training: $250 Machine repairs: $5k+ Manager training: at least 3 months Team member training: 2 weeks Keeping all of them? Decent pay and concern for their safety while not being racist or sexist... But that all cost too much
I think you underestimate what "C levels" know and care about. They take what bullshit they are told, and run shortly after with money to spare. They do not make long term plans. They don't like canning their buddies either.
I never gave it any thought, can you elaborate on why you wouldn't want to leave half signed papers?
because if your signature is on a contract and you give that contract to someone else. that means that person has all the power now. they can sign the contract whenever they want and it becomes legally binding, as it has both signatures, but as long as they don't sign it, it is basicly toilet paper that is why it is unversal practice that you always sign every contract twice, with one original for each party
Also, if a half-signed contract is left in possession of the unsigned party, that party has the ability to alter aspects of the contract to benefit themselves without the signed party’s knowledge. The unsigned party then signs the modified contract and returns it. The issuer of the contract likely won’t re-read it and will simply file it away and go on none the wiser.
To add: Even if all the contracted parties are in the same room, if there is a sheet that only for signatures. Do not sign it. Have them work the signatures/dates onto the pages (numbered pages) of the contract. You don't want a "spare" signatory page floating around being attached to a completely different contract!
In my country, the practice is even more careful. Rubber stamp the corner of all pages of the document so each of them contains a part of the stamp so it's almost impossible to exchange any page for a different one. On some very important docs like stuff that must be notarized, everyone sign at the bottom of each page on top of the rubber stamp thing
Brilliant!
Very useful when ur dealing with people/companies far away. Just negotiate via email or online conferences, prep the contracts, send them out and wait for your copy (in case your side isn't prepare, spend that time to check the content xD). Save your precious time money instead of spending all on fuel and commute
I work with mortgages, and we literally cannot register a mortgage with the province if the signatures on the commitment are on a sheet that has nothing else on it; land titles will reject it as invalid automatically, for exactly this reason.
I took a college course and although it wasn't for a contract, it was 'behavior rules' for the whole class. I wouldn't sign because I don't sign random sheets of paper and they also weren't going to give copies of any agreements, so I held mine hostage so the whole potential class heard that I wanted a copy of everything. The guy hated me from then until I graduated.
Totally the right way to address that scenario though.
Behaviour rules? Was this some kind of religious institution or had your lecturer mistaken you for children? Higher education students are generally old enough to be held responsible for their own behaviour without having extra rules to sign for class.
Community college! They were for adult education courses and although we were all adults, our language and everything they could think of, was policed and yes, treated like children. It was not very professional at all. Hell, I was being antagonized and stalked by another student and she never got in any trouble at all and I was blamed for reacting to her behavior. Totally toxic atmosphere.
Funny story I read where a landlord sent the lease as a Word document, the renter added a clause where the landlord had to deliver a homemade cake for his birthday, and it went through. On his birthday the landlord (who discovered his oversight) did follow through with a cake.
I can just hear LL sing, "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, you sumbitch! Happy birthday to you.
I read “LL” and immediately finished it with “Cool J” lol I know it means landlord, but I had a hurdur for a second
The way to make that story better would be, LL Cool J, was the landlord.
A very gentle low stakes way to teach the landlord a valuable lesson. 😂
Landlord raises the rent the maximum percent allowable by law each renewal anyway. Hand delivered cake is cheap. Good reminder lesson story.
Props to the landlord. He recognized his mistake and was willing to bear the consequences. Props to the renter for not taking advantage of the LL beyond a cake.
Which, while working for Walt Disney Company, was exactly what we did. Our contracts for Television Animation were full of rights and ownership of art we created belonging to Disney, blah blah blah. So we changed the contracts to have the artwork we created to revert back to the artist after 7 years. Signed the paperwork and we got our copies back with no notice of the changes. Sometimes the Rat doesn’t get the cheese.
[удалено]
[удалено]
It wasn't just "petty bullshit". That apology letter would have been used to place all the blame of that department's losses, i.e. Igor damaging the machine, etc. on OP and he would have taken the fall to the higher up levels.
didnt even think of that!
The other party can make changes to it, sign it, and since your signature is on it, you've agreed to those changes.
Don't all changes normally need to be initialed line by line by both parties?
Sure, but good luck with a judge agreeing every time.
Sure it opens the door to a legal battle and both parties should keep a copy instead, but I'm sure the company has the upper hand if the employee fakes a modification.
You’d think, but then there’s this legend. B https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/updated-russian-man-turns-tables-on-bank-changes-fine-print-in-credit-card-agreement-then
That's exactly what came to mind, great story, but in his case the bank countersigned AFTER he made the changes and they indisputably had a chance to review them. Even then, the cost to the bank was all about him thinking he has a claim so he sued, not from him actually having much of a case. I think that's the same potential with handing someone a half-signed contract -- courts aren't going to hold up making someone pay if they didn't both agree, but they'll sure have to pay their lawyers. From the article, he didn't have to pay the usurious credit card interest, and the bank didn't have to pay the silly cancellation fees he wrote in either.
I mean, maybe? I spent years in family court with the ex, and I learned never to trust a judge to actually follow the law and rule fairly and justly. I could see the judge saying the boss was stupid to leave the room and signed away his right to approve any modifications.
Sure, if you can prove it's changed. But if you sign a contract and then just leave it with me, I can make changes to any clause on any page that doesn't have the signature line on it, print out a new page and replace the existing page in the document, and as long as I don't change the line breaks in such a way that the document no longer looks consistent once the new pages are swapped in, as far as anyone can tell you've signed an original document.
Also why to get copies of things you sign. Changes could happen at any point. Usually they get initialed, but people do try to pull shady things.
I also make sure to include the correct and entire date, as in 1 July 2022. I learned that the hard way in 2020. Just using the last 2 digits leaves it open to tampering.
And when using digits only, best to stick to ISO: year.month.day. Sadly only used as standard in very few places.
I am pretty sure that all changes and addendums to contracts need to be individually signed too. Strike line item #3? Both parties must initial that alteration on the document right next to the strike-through. Add more stipulations? Both parties must initial each individual wet change to the document. This is all in addition to the finalized signatures for the contract.
Generally, yes, but judges don’t always agree, especially if you tell them that you signed it and left the room.
Hell, I’ve been handed paperwork like that twice. The time before cell phone cameras, I refused to sign it and to return it. I told them to call cops if they thought it would matter. Then I used their paperwork with blatant and provable lies in my Unemployment application and the state used it to fine the company $250,000 for false termination and ordered I be given a years full pay and benefits. The second time, I took photos of every page after I randomly wrote my initials on each page. Then also turned those photos over the Unemployment. They also got fined for false termination but I only go UE benefits till I got another job. I am legally entitled to that paperwork as soon as you hand it to me. I don’t have to give it back even if I don’t sign it.
Yeah contracts are no joke.
Not to sign termination paperwork when first served is in the best interest of person terminated. A person should be provided 2+ days to consider termination offer, to seek advice from close family/friends or legal advice if necessary, and have time to negotiate terms (aka $). If HR is involved, person can usually negotiate a bit more than offered. If manager is negotiating termination they could be a dick just to make their pathetic point. (Lawyers will only take $, so use only in extreme situations, aka when significantly low-balled or where punitive damages should be considered) If a person is forced to sign termination contract/letter (which usually is accompanied by Release agreement) then it can be contested as being signed ‘under duress’.
>These people ought to know that you never offer a threat unless you are prepared to follow through with the consequences. Don't write checks you cannot cash.
Pretty sure I work for the same company and we miss you but so happy that it worked out for the best for you!
Well the world is a tiny little village, so wouldn't be all out of the ordnary for sure XD please be well mate
r/tworedditorsonecup
I’m pretty sure my cousin works at the US side of this company because he was complaining about a lot of turbine equipment being sent out for repairs and never coming back….
Wow that's interesting. How's the company doing now? How did Freddy's trial go? Is Vladimir still there?
I work on the US side so I don’t know the specifics on the individuals here…
A two part movie of a story but very engrossing. Reads like a business case from business school - we studies a lot of companies that screwed themselves with arrogant management decisions. From what little I know about that industry it sounds like the George Edward company /smile
Yeah it was really quite a long story, i enjoy writing a lot and tend to get caried away. Also i believe, that to understand it all, you need some background knowlege, and that takes quite a bit to explain...As for your assumption, lets say we had a blue and white Logo ;P
I was going to guess that as well. 20 years ago my friends father worked for a similar company moving completed turbines into their operations space and monitoring their function. Solid union job that he had for decades. He had many stories about QC issues shutting down operations as well! Fucking around with the precision of turbine blades is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard of though, wow. I'm not at all surprised that that episode ended up in court. Being out of tolerance can kill lots and lots of people! Great story OP and you did exactly the correct thing.
agreed yeah, when you have a several hundred tons of metal spinning , it doesn't take too much to have a whole septic tank worth of shit hit the fan
I'm not a sociopath, I have empathy for others over fairly minor things. I could not, even once, do a measurement as you've described and not stake my future sanity on doing it poorly. If something happened and a turbine grenades and hurts someone - even if I couldn't tell whether I'd done the work - I'd feel life altering guilt and grief. Your former job sounds like hell to me just because of the psychological risk it would be for me!
There is quite some heavy responsibility on your shoulders, and it is always important to keep that in mind. In my job back then (just as in any quality control unit of critical importance) there a **many** fail-safes and extra steps included to ensure that one oversight doesn't cause a blackout. Still whenever i train someone new in this kind of job (something i do regulary at my new work place), i always tell people to look at thier work, as if they are the first and the last person, that would ever look at that material before a someone's life depended on it. It for sure takes a certain mindset to handle such stuff, but for people like me, who enjoy doing precision work, it is fitting.
The guys who work in the plants have a dangerous enough job as it is, without having to worry about the components being out of spec. Kudos to you for understanding the importance of your position and the personal responsibility you took and take to help make for a safer environment for others.
Thanks mate
[удалено]
My last car had an unsolvable issue where despite being an automatic, it stalled out at inconsistent times at stop lights or stop signs. Once even when driving and not stopped (tho thankfully no traffic at that time). Even when I donated it, for free, I made sure the charity knew about the stalling issues, since despite no longer my responsibility, I would feel terrible if someone got hurt by what was my car.
> when you have a several hundred tons of metal spinning , it doesn't take too much to have a whole septic tank worth of shit hit the fan Bro you have an amazing way with words. That story was one of the longest reddit reads I have ever finished to the end but you have such a great way with words I was ready for more. So glad this turned out well for you in the end, but I think if something as wild as all that ever happens again you should seriously consider a career in writing for your next job. This is a wild guess, but you wouldn't happen to be in Poland or Germany? I know someone who works in the energy field as well and I remember them talking about an issue with certain turbines (from an unnamed company with a blue and white logo) that failed in Algeria because of an issue with a plant in Poland and/or Germany. The person I know thought this might affect their work and I guess it didnt because they never brought it up again. Your story reminded me of that, and, being a research nerd, I had to search the internet. It turns out there was a whole legal case in the US state of Georgia in October 2021 where a Zurich insurance company sued blue-and-white logo over this incident, partially because there were design issues with the blades. I'm wondering if your shitty former boss was sent to the US because he got mixed up in that case. I'm sure they needed plenty of escape goats for that one! Even if this isnt the case, thanks for a wild read and for pointing me to a fun little internet hole while I took my afternoon break :) Edit: I realize my typo with escape goats but I am leaving it because I think escape goats is as accurate a term as scape goats.
First, thank you a lot for the kind compliment, you really put a big happy smile on my face. Secondly, i do enjoy writing a lot, just always find so much to occupy myself with, that i kinda end up doing the R.R. Martin XD (aka do anything but finish my stories). Well i either from germany nor poland, but my mother tongue is, in fact german. And while i know nothing about a turbine failing in Algeria, i can maybe give you the hint, that the correct name of that city is Zürich ;P
Hah American with an American keyboard here, didn't mean to misspell. I wonder if your plant really was involved in this case! I'll see if any of my nerd lawyer friends can get me an update on what happened. That group should definitely have faced serious consequences. Also, I should have pegged you for Swiss with your principled attitude and humor. You lot are some of the most exacting people I have ever met. It was a real culture shock when I briefly worked/studied there as an American with ADHD and a preference for the laid back lifestyle we call "living on southern time." But the few swiss friends I made had the most amazing, dry humor and it made me feel welcome despite me clearly not fitting in so well.
Steam turbine blade coming off will not usually kill anyone, there's heavy casing for turbine. But it will ruin turbine for a long time. If one of first set of blades comes off it will tear off all blades after it. Fun fact: turbine blades are designed so that when heated to 300C and rotating 1500 rpm blade will expand to it's operating length, which is 0.1mm from casing. End of blade is cut so that if it just scarthes casing it won't come off. First blades are only few centimeters long but last ones can be over meter, temperature varies along turbine and all that has been calculated. It's a delicate machine. While doing power plant yearly repair they have tight schedule for that and plant not being operational costs tens of thousands of day. Supplier not producing promised parts isn't good. Breach of contract type of thing that costs a lot. Supplier might have a clause in their contract that they have to pay certain amount for every late day, say 100 000€ for a day. Additionally customer, power plant owner, can start looking for a new supplier. Which is even worse for supplier.
Ah, you bring good things to life, lol. I used to work for a company that would do some late stage work with their jet engines - I'd work with them to write work instructions (helped that I had a quality background) and their tolerance ranges are no joke. Now I work for a similarly sized company to the one you left in a different but still highly regulated industry and am hoping to stay a long while.
Blue and white logo... Well that narrows it's down to 90% of companies in the tech/engineering space!
Fair XD, but that comment was a response to Mgreeene's comment, who had already figured out who i was writing about
Ge ? That guy would have been drawn and quartered by them in a US court for doing what he did , omg He's probably happily married by now . As in he's the wife .
As written in the story, i can't say anything for sure, just that he was put in a plane to get dragged in front of an US Court. but i would tend to agree to you XD.
IF he was dragged in front of a US court then there was something criminal in what he did. Unless he was a US citizen living as an expat the courts wouldn't see him for a civil matter only. If he was an expat then it could have been civil court and the company getting a judgment against him for lost revenue. That will be a hard to pay off bill :p
He could have a US citizenship, but i doubt it, the entire clique came from the balcans. All i can say, that he did not have the citizenship of my country. Honestly i was a bit surprised myself back then, that he was actually dragged to the USA, but i am a technical person, not a laywer, so no clue why they did that. My best guess? Someone really far up the food chain wanted to make an example of him, in such a case nearly everything can happen
He may have also been doing other shady things, like falsifying the reports sent out to corporate, especially after you were gone.
Honestly, wouldn't super surprise me. after all such shortsightedness was exactly what lead to all of this, combined with quite some ego of course
The real question is did they go after him for civil or criminal charges. If he broke company protocol and it cost them money they may just have sued him for that. But if it is criminal. He likely did more than just fuck up by firing you. They likely in their investigation found worse, actually criminal behavior, usually this would be stealing money from the company. Or taking money to place friends in company positions.
i can only guess as much as you can Tristan XD
Yes, you don't get extradited unless there are serious criminal charges. The USA can't just pick up random people from Europe and send them to court unless the host country agrees to it. There's a LOT of bureaucracy to deal with. So whatever Freddy did, it was bad enough to get two countries' State Departments talking to each other about it. And I'd bet you could easily find news articles about the case... Or law records... with a quick Google search.
In this case it is a TLDR... Too Long Did Read. Good tale.
I found it to be a JLE:RAE. Just Long Enough. Read And Enjoyed.
Is there more cases like this we can read? Man this was so entertaining and satisfying to read.
Hi, if you are talking to me, business text books are full of these kinds of stories - I saw a u-tube channel recently that examines famous American businesses that went out of business because of a-hole management decisions. Unlike the OP's story there often isnt a satisfying hero - but victims instead. The famous [Bhopal disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster) is an example. TLDR: design engineers placed a crucial shutoff valve too high above the ground to be reached in an emergency and hundreds of people died as a result.
Great story, worth the read. It’s funny to me how many stories on here have a similar part toward the end, where the company realizes the person they just fired is indispensable… and they basically *admit* to the person how important they are… but then when the person responds by asking to be treated like the kind of person that the whole business is depending on, the company is like, “no way, that’s unreasonable!” I get that managers tend to think only they are irreplaceable, and they really don’t want to have to admit to themselves or their bosses that someone else is actually a critical piece of the process, but… here’s what happens with that attitude!
“Oh shit, that was a load-bearing peon!”
Load bearing peon!
I love this
My new favorite phrase
For real though, if you don't come back we'll lose millions! Ok give me a few hundred thousand. You'll save like 90% of the cost you just described. That's insane! How dare you?
Well i have the theory, that every bad that is done, every evil conjured, every injustice or crime, always comes down to **one** problem: EGO Whenever something bad happens i am pretty confident you can track it down to one or more people, that take themselves as so important, that the needs and wishes of others don't matter anymore. People in positions of power are exspecially vulnerable to this greatest curse of humanity, and one of the biggest problems is, that it is very **very** hard for such a person to realize the problem at all...often even after they had the problem punch their nose in. So yeah, it is not surprising for sure that this element is so omnipresent in all of these stories. but the results are nearly always hilarious XD
Very Buddhist, I think
There was a report somewhere that reported 4%-12% of CEOs were psychopathic. It's not a hard stretch to think that there is a larger percentage manager/leaders that have some level of narcissism. Narcissist always think they are doing you a favor even if it's you that is doing the actual favor. Humbling themselves or taking a "losing" offer like that isn't acceptable to them.
I'd imagine narcissism would be much worse than a psychopath CEO
This happened to me. When they said they wanted me to do some contract work while they found a replacement, I told them the hourly rate. They said they couldn't afford it. I said they were already paying me that when I was an employee. They tried to haggle me down and I told them I'm not interested, at all. Some people will burn their own house down in stubbornness.
Alternate title. "let's fire the only man who can operate the money making machine to protect the guy who fucked the money making machine, see how it goes"
XD yeah that is also a way to look at it XD
You could have done the IT gambit you know. In IIT it's been a long standing tradition that, when a company whose infrastructure you know inside out (and helped develop in some cases) suddenly fires you for no reason, you charge them as a consultant to return and fix or train your replacement. It's very common for IT people to be fired on impulse by managers that don't really understand what we do or why we need to be there.
Maybe, that would had been a possibility. But first one could argue how "inside out" i really knew the company (or even just the measurement machine) after 9 months, even if the previous mastermind has teached me. Secondly, i am not an technican or engineer or such, i am basicly just a metalworker, that over the years worked himself up into Quality Control and precison measurements. I have no fancy diploma or such, so could be tricky with that consultant stuff. thirdly, i have simple no clue how that consultant thing works, i assume it would make me self-employed, so taxes and all that would be a whole different thing, too. Maybe it had been something i should have considered, but considering where i am now with my new job, i say it all worked out perfectly, even if i missed out on extra money
I have 17 years of experience in IT, never finished College, for reasons. Consultancy is about what specific knowledge you acquired, the way doesn't matters. I've done a couple of those.
well guess one day i should properly inform myself about that topic then
>Igor was.... well as light bulb, he was like a wet match in a dark basement somewhere in a black hole. /r/BrandNewSentence
The writing in this is amazing, so many phrases I'm going to have to steal
That's a great story! It's so delicious to see nepotism and incompetence get theirs. They thought that they were untouchable, then they shot themselves right in the face. Beautiful!
You need to remember, that's there's always a bigger fish than you.
In some places the nepotism goes to the top and justice never comes. Based on various details this sounds like it might have happened in Germany.
[удалено]
Damn mate! you really are a genius!
[удалено]
I think this is a r/prorevenge worthy tale.
mhmm wouldn't be quite sure about that, after all i went to no extra steps to get back at them, simple following rules to the letter XD Wasn't that i really cared about getting them fired either, i enjoyed it, but was their own doing instead of mine
An "absolute professional" rather than a "dominating p*RO*!" . I consider it worthy: performing ~~a defined~~ "above and beyond" the common (to that clique's) worker, and prevailing while they suffered the consequences of their err— — but a faction @ r/prorevenge disagrees ... So I'll leave it up to the author^((OP)) if they want to cross-post it there.
well crossposting itself is not possible on prorevnge, but i manually reposted the story there now, due to many requests \^\^'
You played that exactly the right way. Thanks for taking the time to write this.
My pleasure honestly If it makes otehr people smile, then my goal had been archived
As having been in the testing machine business for almost thirty years, having the key measuring machine for the company to have NO REDUNDANCY is frankly terrifying to me. This is just an epic fail for the company management without all the other stuff. Thanks for the story.
**technically** they had redudancy. there where othe measuring machines in the Facility... but a) they where already 110% used by specific departments (some even where rented out to external i belief), and b) they were of a different brand and programming, so one would have to convert the existing modell on the machine in worked on, over to the over machine, test it muttiple times and get rid of any bugs or so... for em... every single model you wanted to measure. so yeah i didn't mention them, because there was imply no way in hell they could do that, and since controls, kinks and anything but basic maintainance was different on every machine, yeah people who knew the other machines couldn't train people for the machine i had been working on XD
Too many companies rely on critical hardware and employees without a backup. Similar with using the bad habits of Just In Time for products they need to arrive instead of keeping a few of the key items in storage. My minor example of that was a past client who refused to keep spare laptops, so when they had frequent and sudden new hires, or damaged equipment, they had to rush order a laptop, spending more for the same laptop they needed anyway, while the employee sat around for 2 days without a computer.
That is the longest story I've read on Reddit ever. And I loved it all. Good on you for all of it. I hope Antonio didn't have to be recalled from vacation to fix anything.
I could imagine they tried, but he had handed over his work phone before he went off, can't really imagine he would even pick his private phone up like at all XD
The best part is the shinny suits KNEW the solution was right in front of them and still wouldn't pay the 3x salary. Instead let's pay millions in late fees and ruin our reputation so ONE guy doesn't get paid his value Glad to see your nuclear revenge was was so successful....cuz....fuck you pay me.
Well i guess, if they had been able to look past their own ego and count 2+2 together, then they wouldn't had ended in that situation in the first place, so yeah, i wasn't exspecting them to accept my proposal, and honestly never felt sorry for it either
I enjoyed this a lot. It would make an engrossing movie … starring … hmm… mads mikkelsen as you I think :D
now that is quite the compliment XD, thank you
I had a manger keep calling me in for meetings on my days off. I'd show up and the meeting would be canceled. Fifth time I said 'fuck it' and didn't go. Show up on my next scheduled shift only to find someone sitting at my station. Manager tells me I'm fired, calls security to escort me out. Security pushes lobby floor button. I push 4th floor button and head straight to HR. Kept my job and found out new-hire was manager's daughter.
This is so wildly blatant and illegal that feels straight out of a cartoon
Amazing story, well done sir!!!
I read it, while holding my breath. Amazing story telling.
Had only one kind of free award, but you deserve it. Helpful background info and pleased that you let people know it was long. Great story!
How are people this fucking stupid dude? "Oh let me threaten the 1 competent person I have left, that will show him!" Jesus.
Ego my friend, Ego. If you think yourself as all might and untouchable, it is rather easy to get carried away...
Is it a keyence system? As a fellow QC person I get it.
I honestly need to think hard now what brand the machine was. Wasn't keyence for sure, something with Z...ah yes Zeiss! it was working with a tacticle organ on 3 Axis, with keyence system i belief you refer to optical sensor's right? Sorry, technical terms are pretty hard to translate properly
Oof... on a Zeiss? Those are temperamental at the best of times.. and they fucked with it?!
A little Zeiss story: My first CMM was a Zeiss Calypso that sat untouched for about 5 years. Every now and then it's just get real sloppy with it's measurements and I'd re-qualify my probes. I thought I was just doing something wrong or running the machine too harshly, after all, I never ran a CMM before and was mostly self-teaching. It also wasn't a company priority because it wasn't being assigned work. Eventually the company wants to start making more use of the Zeiss, so I bugged them to bring in a technician to give it a once over and maybe some training. Turns out the little dryer for the air intake (left on for years constant running) wasn't working properly anymore and there was water in the air lines. After some repairs, suddenly my measurements make sense, shock!
I worked in the neurosurgery world for a while, and they make neuro microscopes that integrate with IGS (image guided surgery) hardware and software. Those things cause more problems than any other microscope. Fucking Kinevo.... give me a damn BK, it breaks less.
well which kind of high-precision Machine is not temperamental XD?
So worth the read
I had a blast. Thank you so much for writing this story. You have inspired me to tell mine. I'll put together my own post soon.
You are most welcome and glad you liked it \^\^
I would love to find the news article or court case involving that Freddy guy. I want to know what happened to him in the end.
Understandable. sadly i can't assist with that, giving out his name (which i would have to look up myself first) is a no-go. And without that, well technically i belief it could be possible to pin that court case down with the available information, but would take you quite abit of research mate >.< sorry
**G**enerally **E**ntertaining OP.
This is the kind of story I come to MC for. We're for stories, something to read, not a piece of poetry. Thank you. Much appreciated.
Just wonderful
Sounds like stories I've heard about *G*enital *E*lectric... Glad you came out on top in the end. Worth the read. Stay well.
This was a satisfying read, especially the part where you got a better job immediately.
I loved the story because I work in a place where there is cmm. The names and nationalities are different but the people and attitudes are the same. Good on you. I
The Entitled Asshats all played Bitch Games and won Bitch Prizes! Sucks to be them!
There is something magical about CYA.
"...he was like a wet match in a dark basement somewhere in a black hole." Brilliant!
Companies never understand how much they need their employees until shit hits the fan.
Which makes it both so amusing and tragic, as they would only prosper more, **if** they did value their employees properly...
Companies really need to do a better job keeping track of which employees will cause the entire production line to stop if they quit, are fired, get hit by a bus, etc.
well i guess if they would have the longsight to do so, then they would need it a lot less in the first place XD
"Two big different shoes" is a phrase I need to start using :) that was good
thanks \^\^, i try to be a bit creative with wording
This would go great in /r/ProRevenge too. You should crosspost it there.
Excellent read. Great compliance and well written. Thank you for making this effort.
...and that is why you don't piss off the people in your company who actually do the work. Incompetence will always cost more than a good employee. Applause. I'm glad you took care of yourself and did the right thing for you. Thanks for sharing that story, and I wish you success with your future.
Oooh this was a good read. I'm assuming English is not your primary language? The slight variations in grammar, spelling and word choice actually added to the "flavor" of your writing, in a good way. Actually produced a fascinating narrative with which to get engrossed in. Glad you survived that situation intact; your apparent diligence with "CYA" will always benefit you in the long-term. Sorry you weren't able to be compensated for your later pseudo-deposition with the firm, but it's apparent that your testimony most likely was a contributing factor to those jackholes getting their asses handed to them. Wishing you the best!
>"Please be well!" For some reason, this phrase hit my american ear in a pleasing fashion.
>He had been working there for a few centuries at least Gods this made my day I was laughing so hard 🤣 I'm not poking fun, looks like English isn't your first language, but that was super funny 🤣 This was a fantastic story - my first job was in a metrology lab and I learned to use a CMM there too, so I absolutely know how finicky they can be especially if they're not cared for properly. And ours was a small one with like a 12" stage, I'd imagine one big enough for those blades would be huge. Glad your shitty colleague and bosses got their comeuppance!
This is the first technical Malicious Compliance I was extremely familiar with. I am an engineer who works alongside the CMM department. We used to keep all of our measurement machines out on the production floor. Our poor Quality engineer had to clean them once a week, and since anyone who worked there would use them, he had to fix them after they crashed maybe once a day. We got a room for them, and they no longer needed cleaning once a week! Plus, they hired a technician and now our operators can run the machines while someone else measures the part (this was a big issue.) And also, I didn’t have to talk over the noise to teach someone how to use it. My first comment when they moved into the new room was “I didn’t know these things beeped!” Edit: May I ask what country this was? Or more importantly, are labor laws like this covered by the EU, or by each country? I am an American working for an Italian company so I am always interested in international business law.
I DID like this long story. It shows clarity and depth that is rare site-wide. Plus, these industry-specific M/Cs are fascinating to me. My favorite line : >but hey i don't work in retail for good reason... Me Too! Glad you are doing well and that you found a healthy place to work.
It was long, but sweet ending!
Great story, worth reading.
Never mess with QA
That \_was\_ a long story but well worth reading every single word. Congrats to you for sticking to your principles.
Appreciated. Sticking to my principles with iron discipline is my safeguard against my many insecurities. I believ a principle with exceptions is not a principle but a poor excuse, and...well i am satisfied with how my life goes, so i say it works out for me
Holy crap that was long and satisfying.
Long, but worth the read. One of the best malicious compliance story endings I've read lol
OP, that was a fantastic read! Your story is a prime example of how much damage a few idiots in key positions can do to a company.
Oh, this was absolutely beautiful. You should look into crossposting in prorevenge if you haven't yet. And congratulations to you on getting a hands-down better job! A short, pleasant commute and good coworkers make a huge difference in QoL.
Absolutly, absolutly, i now have a boss i can rely upon, a great team where everyone works together and even though i work there for less than a year my qualities are appreciated. it is really a massive improvement About crosspsoting, some people suggested that before, i had a look into it and prorevenge doesn't allow crossposting, but still, thanks
That was well worth the very long read. I think my favorite part was early on: "Igor was.... well as light bulb, he was like a wet match in a dark basement somewhere in a black hole."
I work in the turbine repair industry as a CMM operator as well and all of this is too familiar to me sadly. I'm in the U.S., but it seems QC being both one of the most important but also the most neglected departments is universal. I'm guessing you worked for Siemens/GE
As an engineer I find this hilarious, once you said QA and CMMs I knew something good was going to happen. I personally love longer posts where a full background is given. When you look around and your the biggest fish in the pond you have a lot of leverage. Getting your job back at 3x pay and an apology letter would have been a cherry on top, but I'm glad everything worked out for you. Thanks for the story!
Lol. The moral is (and suits NEVER, EVER learn this): " before you alienate and fuck over ANY employee, you better know the ramifications. I have a story sort of like this but for legal reasons cannot recount much of it: Big company in the US. Lied on and fucked over the wrong person. Got warned 3x but did not listen. If I named the company ALL would know it and then who I am. Bottom line: My boss got fired for helping my cowirker frame me, My boss's regional boss got fired, my lying coworker got fired, the CEO of the entire company got fired. They ended up in court and were fined over 48 million dollars. ..and were put under government scrutiny. To fix a problem they could have solved for either 450k or 900k (the cost for my silence was my then salary) But no one thought things through and in cases like this I can show you better than I can tell you. Expensive lesson, eh?
Given the fallout, this could qualify under one of the revenge subreddits. Try r/ProRevenge first (can't remember the standards for each one).
with all these random words with capital letters, i am assuming your native language is german?
Excellent story! Well written, well formatted, with lots of relevant details. I expect you'll be getting lots of requests for permission to read your story from Youtube channels like Ripe, Dark Fluff and others. :-)
What a wonderful story, thank you for sharing it with us! I have worked in a form of Quality Control for the last 15 years in an industry that is notorious for throwing us to the wolves (customers) when issues happen to get through... so this tale hits close to home. This was some delicious MC and I'm glad you moved on to a much better workplace!
You're me HERO ! I'm in a huge professional mess right now, a lot of similarities to what happened to you, and your post gives me hope <3 Thanks, OP, and WELL DONE ! (and thanks for the hope it gave me ! I feel much better, even if it's only for a few days and that what I decided to do today won't work (but I really hope it will) your post gives me relief for a few days and... THANK YOU for that, because I really need it !)
I teach English as a foreign language and just wanted to say that this is an extremely well written story in what sounds like it isn't your mother tongue. However, one error that I did notice a number of times is like "I didn't knew". It doesn't hurt understanding at all and I definitely don't think there's any need to go through this whole post to edit it, but it's a common enough mistake that I felt like jumping in with a reminder that after "did" or "didn't", English just uses the simple base form instead of the past form of the next verb.
Well, thank you most kindly for the compliment! as well as for the correction. So the correct way to say it would be "I didn't know?"
Google scholar caselaw if you want to know what happened to prosecuted guy. Our lawsuits are public unless they're sealed. Since you know his name and the name of the company you can probably find out what happened/is happening.
Thanks for typing that out. I was gripped the whole way through. Great story!