I have never had the need to take revenge. These things always have a way of working out for the greater good. Most times their undoing is brought about entirely by their own failure to properly cover their wrongdoing.

I had a very lazy boss called Chad (yes, really, before it became a term used in some parts of the world to describe a male Karen - except he wasn’t a Chad, he was just lazy). A bit of history first.

We both started out as field engineers - basically sales reps with a mechanical brain to assess the customer’s needs properly, and provide the right solution. I had worked for the company for 3 years, and had a solid track record of double digit growth. One key account had doubled each year I’d been there. I was far from a salesman - my growth came from providing the right solutions, without added crap, which led to a reputation that brought me much more work. He’d been there less than a year, and his area had declined by some 20%. In sales meetings, he tried to claim I was taking his work. Our boss knew this wasn’t true, as his region was 200km north of the office, and I stayed in my region - a large industrial city 100km south of the office.

That boss moved on. We both put out hand up for the role. He kissed butt, and got it. I was told it was because I was only 25, that I was too young to be the state manager. I was not happy. My hard work had been overlooked.

He sent me out to a “new account” and I spent all day there assessing everything. I wrote up a report, compiled a parts list, and sent it over to costings to come up with a project price for the client. After 3 weeks I hadn’t heard anything. I called the cost analyst, and he told me it was done the same day and given to Chad. I called the client, and they told me Chad already presented it to them nearly 2 weeks ago, in front of our GM, and some of their senior management team. They were going ahead with it.

I kept cool and let it slide. When the order came in, Chad emailed a copy of the order, and a copy of my report, to all the other state managers to brag about how good he was, and how crap they all were because nobody had yet landed a job over $500K like this.

I found out about this when another state manager called me to tell me. I asked him why he called me when Chad had taken the credit for the order. He told me he read the report right to the end. What he took notice of, was that my report had a page I always included at the back, noting the day I completed my assessment, any tools I’d used (IR thermometer, tachometer, clamp meter etc - and the last calibration date of each tool). It also listed who took all the readings, and who compiled the report - of course, all me.

Seems Chad overlooked this in his haste to claim it, and he couldn’t take back that email now. That state manager asked the GM if he’d read the report fully. The GM came to me red faced and apologized for not thanking me earlier.

I left that company not long after that (there were other issues, and a better opportunity). Some 6–12 months later I was head hunted for a state manager role at that company. I laughed and asked the recruiter what happened to the previous state manager. He told me the guy was useless and got demoted. I told him thanks but no thanks. As I had kept in touch with the other state manager who alerted me, I called him to share the news about that recruitment call. We had a good laugh - he told me my state went from the best to worst in just 5 months - the amount of time from when I left, to the end of the financial year. Chad had been put on notice to turn it around but failed, and was demoted back to his old role. He still hadn’t filled my old role. I was glad I didn’t entertain that recruiter - it would have been a real headache to build it back up, and deal with lazy Chad as a subordinate too.

Had he taken the time to real ALL of my report, including the last page, he would have gotten away with it, as it would have been my word against his. But it was only a matter of time anyway, as his own laziness brought him down without any help from others.

I also ran into that GM a few years later at a trade show. He admitted he made a big mistake not giving me that role, and in hindsight he wished he could have kept me with the company. Chad did a lot of damage to our state, which looked bad for the GM, as head office was in the same state. They had a terrible time trying to get rid of him.