The Tool Jokes Just Write Themselves, Don’t They?

I recently quit my job due to the fact that it’s become increasingly embarrassing to be associated with my boss, also the owner of the company. On my last day, I cleaned out my truck, returned a special key to the company we subcontracted from, and left anything my boss had given me in the truck

About a week into my new job, my now former boss sends me a text message. The following conversation takes place over text.

Boss: “I need you to return [list of tools] and [key].”

Me: “You took [tool #1] back from me six months ago, [tools #2 and #3] are in my old truck, you never gave me [tool #4] at all, I paid for [remaining tools] out of my own pocket, and I gave the key back to [Company] as per their policy.”

Boss: “I know you bought them, but I paid you back for them. You need to give them back. I need the others, too, and the key.”

Me: “Like I said, I don’t have them. I’m keeping the ones I paid for because they belong to me, you took one of them back from me months ago, you didn’t even give me the other one at all, one is in the bottom drawer on the passenger side of my old truck, and the last one should be in the top drawer on the passenger side. The key is with [Person] from [Company] as it is their policy that it gets returned to them.”

Boss: “I don’t have time for this. Just answer the email I sent you.”

And I’M supposed to have time for this?!

I see the email and it’s the exact same thing as the text. I answer the email with my exact same responses, as well.

Just to be safe, I go back through all of my tools, and I do in fact find one of the items he was looking for. It wasn’t intentional on my part. It was in a small pouch nearly identical to another tool that is mine, so I thought that’s what it was. I immediately inform my boss and apologize for missing it. I arrange to meet him and drop it off.

We meet and he instantly accuses me of trying to steal it, along with the rest of the list. Again, he demands the key, and I explain to him again that I talked to [Company] and followed THEIR procedure.

Boss: “Then you need to get it back and give it to me because it was under my name.”

I know this is false as I returned the key AND the paperwork I was given with it, and it was most definitely MY name on there. Still, he demands I call [Company] and get it back.

At this point, he also accuses me of intentionally damaging my work truck and says he’ll sue me for repairs. This is the same man who refused to fix a different truck with three cylinders misfiring and no functional climate control that shook at highway speed, my truck with at least two faulty sensors, a third truck that the back end was about to drop out of, and yet a fourth truck that overheated every fifty km because they weren’t “safety issues”.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that, due to his behaviour with the public (several incidents worthy of their own submissions) coming to light, the status of his contract with [Company] is on thin ice.

He’s gotten me pretty steamed with all of this. I’ve maintained my cool until now but the continued baseless accusations have broken me. I call the supervisor in charge of his project on the spot in front of him. This supervisor and I have a great rapport.

Me: “Hey, [Supervisor]. I heard that [Boss] is on some sort of remand because of the way he behaves with the public. Since I’m now a member of the public, I’d like to report that he is harassing me for tools he never gave me and threatening to sue me for damages to my old truck.”

Supervisor: “Thanks for letting me know. Just get out of there for now and I’ll deal with it.”

Boss: “Why are you involving him? This doesn’t concern him!”

Me: “It absolutely does. I put up with a lot working for you, but now that I’m just a member of the public, which you’ve repeatedly shown you don’t know how to respect, I’ve reported your actions to the appropriate people. This is what happens when you treat people like s***.”

He left, cursing and swearing at me. I talked to [Supervisor] again a bit later in the day and talked about how best to handle everything. I sent an email to my old boss with [Supervisor] CC’ed, listing out once again everything about the tools.

As for that key, I talked to the person at [Company] in charge of them and I did another email with him CC’ed, saying I followed [Company] policy to the letter and if [Boss] wanted another one, he would have to reapply for it.

About a month later, he did indeed lose his contract after yet another road rage incident that caused damage to a car.

It’s been eight months since I quit. I still have my tools and still haven’t been sued. Last I heard, [Boss] was working as a grunt for another company in the same industry.