What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?

I have been fortunate enough in my lifetime to have got along with just about everyone I have ever worked for. I have even got on with managers whom everyone else hated.

But there was this one time… I’m not sure if it quite counts as being fired, but—well, anyway, here is what happened.

After several jobs through my late teens and well into my twenties—working in a fancy restaurant, a bowling alley, a beachside theme-park, and a college cafeteria—I finally ended up working in a pizza parlour owned by a high school buddy of mine and his first partner.

I had hoped to buy in when his partner eventually decided to get into a different business, but another high school “friend” bought in instead, because he had cash up front (he was a rich “kid”—we were all in our late twenties at that point—the only reason he had the money was because his dad gave it to him), and I was still working on securing a loan.

Anyway, the new partner—GB—was a dick from day one. He pulled me aside and told me that if I ever crossed him he’d cut my balls off (yeah—he actually said that—I think he felt threatened by my “lofty” position in the business).

I told GB, “Fine, have a nice time hiring a new de facto manager then,” (I was more or less running things, because the owners were kind of lazy) and I was halfway down the block when my friend chased me down and begged me to come back. He said he’d told his new partner to back off.

I sighed, and, against my better judgment, I agreed to come back. … I knew things would eventually come to a head again. Sure enough, a year and a half, maybe two years later, the lid did come off. … I don’t remember exactly what set GB off, but we got into a row and he threatened to fire me. .. I just flipped him the bird, told him to f*** off, and walked out the door.

A week later I was working at the pizza parlour across the street as a shift supervisor for the same pay. 😄

….Hold… The story’s not over yet.

I had been at the other pizza parlour for a month or two, when GB stormed in and challenged me to a fight, claiming that I had been badmouthing him. He was just steamed because I was working for the competition.

Now, I’m more than a bit of a nerd—glasses and everything—and relatively mild-mannered. In school, I had always been one of the kids that other kids thought they could get away with bullying. I would let things slide for a bit, because insults just roll right off my back. But whenever it got to the point that they got physical, they got a nasty surprise, because I never backed down from a fight.

But GB had only ever seen the nerdy relatively mild-mannered side of me (other than the row we had). So when GB challenged me, he thought I was going to cower with fright. The look on his face when I took off my apron and told the other employees that I would be right back was priceless. 😂

…But wait for it…the story is still not over.

As it turned out, the actual manager of the pizza shop came out from the kitchen and told GB that she had called security to escort him off the property. He left, seething with rage.

So I worked at the other pizza parlour for another year or so when my friend came into the shop and told me that GB was out, because he had been caught having a (consensual) relationship with a 16 or 17 year old girl.

GB wasn’t arrested or anything like that. The girl’s father and GB’s dad were apparently friends, so the worst that happened was that GB’s dad cut him off and told him to sell out and pay him back the money he had given him. 🤣

No…stop…stop…come back! … It didn’t end there!

My friend had apparently decided to sell out too, and he bought a bigger pizza parlour across town with a new partner. He wanted me to manage the place and offered me a big fat pay raise. So I parted ways amicably with the manager of the pizza shop I was currently working at and moved on.

A few months after that, on my way to work I spotted a very weary looking GB in grubby clothes and grease stains walk out of a petrol station just down the street from the pizza place.

The glare on his face when he saw me chuckling at him was the best revenge I’ve ever had. 😎