My company is PRESSURING me to delay my resignation, but I’m not changing my mind! | Reddit Stories | EP3080

0:00 Hey, this is Dakota.

0:01 And this is Keon, your favorite OK Storytime host, and we've got some great stories coming right up.

0:05 But before that, we have a quick two-minute break from the sponsors that keep the show alive. My company is pressuring me to delay my resignation, but I'm not changing my mind.

0:16 You can't stop me!

0:18 I joined my current employer straight out of university eight years ago as a software engineer. I was employee number nine during their startup phase and received stuff. which is now just under 3% of the company. The company now has around 120 employees, but only 6 of the remaining early crew have stock options. Since the day I joined, I have always reported to the head of engineering. I have never reported directly to the CEO, because I joined early both my partner and I know the CEO and his family in a semi-work, semi-social way. The company built some innovative technology, has good income, but has struggled to expand because they lack the funds. I know the CEO or founder has been trying to raise capital or sell

1:04 the business for about a year now without much luck, and he has been open about this with the early staff. During my annual review last year, I asked about moving into a more senior role. My manager said the next role up was his, and he joked he had no plans to move. He did say he would support me if I wanted to apply for more senior roles outside the company. because he believed I had the skills and experience to step up. By the way, this comes from FunHovercraft5881, and if you want to submit your own stories, go to the r slash ok story time subreddit. I'm Dakota.

1:35 I'm Sophia.

1:36 I'm Keon.

1:36 And we, us big business goofs here, reading big business CEO goof stories, and having thoughts that, for you, we don't always know everything. I'm not a software engineer.

1:47 Not true, I know everything.

1:49 All I know is big.

1:49 Ask me anything.

1:50 Yeah, okay.

1:51 What is Channing Tatum's middle name?

1:53 John.

1:53 She's right.

1:54 Yeah, all I know is Big Business Ideas, Bing Bumbleclad. Bing Bumbleclad. Big Bumbleclad, say it.

2:01 I can't.

2:01 Obie says, Channing Tatum's middle name is John. Around October of last year, a much larger company reached out to me with a more senior role.

2:10 You're going to be old in this one. You're going to be Robert De Niro in that movie, The Intern, with Anne Hathaway.

2:17 After a few interviews, it became clear they were looking to build a competing product to my current employer. I eventually received a provisional offer in January. They reviewed my contract and confirmed I do not have a non-compete. This was also confirmed by my manager and HR at my current employer. They completed the reference check with my manager and said they got a stellar reference. I received the formal offer, accepted it, and resigned last Thursday. The next day, the CEO messaged me asking for a call where he requested I postpone my end date to mid-May. I am not working on any time-critical projects. When I asked my manager, he said he was also asked to try to convince me to stay until mid-May. The CEO and my manager

3:04 mentioned my stock options.

3:06 Stocks!

3:07 Which will be forfeited if I leave.

3:10 Oh, that's how they get you. They go, wait, wait, wait. Stocks.

3:13 Wait a minute, 3% of the company could be yours.

3:16 They go, wait five more years and you'll have it all, 3%.

3:19 I already knew this, but given the state of the company, I'm not concerned about losing them, as there's no realistic chance to sell them anyway. I spoke to my new employer and they want me to start in March. They are keen to get going and plan to send me to their head office in Europe for an induction in April and May. My partner and I want to travel together and enjoy a holiday over Easter while our living and travel costs are covered. Last Friday, I emailed my CEO thanking him for the past eight years but confirming my final day would be in March. He called me immediately after receiving the email and again tried hard to convince me to stay until May. Ask again mentioning the stock forfeiture. I'd just be like, dude, tell me the

4:01 real reason. Yeah. You're not telling me to stay because you're like, oh, don't miss out on the money.

4:06 Why?

4:06 What's going on in Midman?

4:07 Why do you really want me? Prove it.

4:11 What's happening between now and then? Give me the real deal. You have nothing to lose. I'm resigning. Yeah. So just tell me.

4:19 Just, you know, put all your cards in.

4:21 Tell me and give me $ 5, 000.

4:23 Go all in. I'll think about it.

4:24 Yeah. Last night, the CEO's wife, the CEOW. who we've known since the startup days, called my partner and asked her to talk to me about staying until May. My partner felt very uncomfortable and ended the call quickly. Over the weekend, I spoke to my current manager and he said that if he were me, he would try to push back the end date to mid-May.

4:44 The manager comes in with a fedora and all the lights are off. He turns on a flashlight and he goes, I don't know if it were me. I'd wait till mid-May. And then he leaves the room.

4:55 And I go, wait, Mr. Manager. And he goes... Why?

4:58 Stock options.

5:00 And then he disappears again.

5:01 No, he does a you know.

5:02 And then he disappears in a cloud.

5:04 And then he disappears smoke. Until he becomes smoke. And you're like, what? Where'd he go? Okay. I also spoke to a family friend who is a lawyer, corporate law. Thank God it's not bird law. And he confirmed. that my contract does not contain a non-compete. He mentioned that the CEO might want me to stay because the business could be less valuable for sale if I leave to work on a competing product. I'm feeling completely creeped out by this. I still have almost three weeks left in my notice period. I am currently earning about $ 180, 000 and the new job is $ 200, 000. Are these calls legal? Can they block my new job? How do I get them to stop so that I don't have to deal with the awkward conversations for the rest of my notice period?

5:47 This is an update. Well, with the information that you're going to be making $ 20, 000 more after you already make $ 180, 000. Wait, wait, that's the reason? And they're asking you to push back your resignation by two months. And you worked for them for eight years.

6:06 I feel like we could push it back two months.

6:08 I mean, like, if they just tell you why. If it's like, yeah, because we're trying to sell the company. We could sell the company for more if you're still here. And if we can't sell the company by mid-May, you're done. It's fine.

6:18 And have you thought about the stocks?

6:21 And it's like, yeah, what's the problem with that? I mean, unless you're already committed.

6:25 Yeah, unless you have another job lined up.

6:27 You know.

6:28 Which one? Oh, he does.

6:30 Oh, he does?

6:30 I forgot about that. Was that the whole thing?

6:32 That's the whole story.

6:33 Oh, okay. I thought you didn't know.

6:35 No.

6:36 That's what he just said. He literally just said, what were you thinking about?

6:40 She pulled a Savannah.

6:42 You were thinking about Matthew John.

6:44 Matthew John.

6:45 Channing, Matthew John Tatum.

6:46 Wait, run it back, run it back.

6:48 He was in that movie. Dear John. What movie?

6:50 Just run back the last sentence.

6:54 I make $ 180, 000. New job, $ 200, 000.

6:58 Okay, I'm there.

7:01 Anyway, we have an update.

7:04 Wait, I have new advice. Let's act like none of that happened before.

7:07 All right, editors, wipe it. Wipe it for like the last three minutes.

7:10 $ 180, 000, new job, $ 200, 000.

7:11 I feel like they would have to give you $ 20, 000 more.

7:12 Yeah. Plus the stock options.

7:19 Plus the stocks. Plus the stocks. I want 20K on my desk plus stocks tomorrow morning or I'm walking.

7:27 You're basically like, it's like a 5% pay increase.

7:30 You just quote Kendrick.

7:31 But that's starting salary.

7:33 Is that 5%?

7:34 Just quote Kendrick, Opie. How many stocks do you own?

7:38 Let's find out what Opie does.

7:39 There's an update. One week later. Most of you suggested that I leave now rather than inconvenience my new employer or risk starting the next role on the wrong foot. My partner has been saying the same thing since I received the offer. After reflecting on your advice, I realize my current employer has been taking advantage of my loyalty, especially by not promoting me or offering meaningful career progression.

8:04 Yeah.

8:04 Okay. Well, there you go. There you have it. I'm normally a very passive person, and I think this situation was the push I needed to finally move on. Over the weekend, I received another phone call from the CEO, and that was the final straw. When I asked why I was being asked to stay until May, he was evasive and noncommittal. So, on Monday, with help from my partner's brother, a lawyer, I wrote an honest letter to the head of HR and copied in the manager and the CEO. In the letter, I thanked the CEO, my manager, and the company for the past eight years of experience.

8:39 That ultimately gave me the confidence to lead my own team at my new organization.

8:43 Which I will be leaving this one for.

8:45 Goodbye.

8:46 Right now.

8:46 Effective immediately.

8:47 Effective immediately, not until May. Right now.

8:50 I also stated that I felt unduly pressured and harassed to stay significantly beyond my notice period, which could jeopardize my new role. I requested that they stop contacting me about the matter and advised... that if it continued, I would consider pursuing legal options to protect my mental health.

9:08 As you should. Pursue those legal options.

9:10 That's a weird reason to pursue mental health legal option contract.

9:17 They're bothering his partner. My mental health is at risk now because you're bothering my partner. And you know what they say, happy wife, happy life. My wife is unhappy. My life is bad. Get a load of the misogynist over here, ladies and gentlemen. How do you know they're not gay?

9:33 What do you mean?

9:34 How do you know they're not gay? Look at the misogynist over here.

9:38 Wouldn't it still be like a baseline misogynist idea?

9:43 No, happy wives, happy lives.

9:44 It's happy spouse, happy house.

9:48 Oh, hey now, they've got a thing for that now.

9:50 Happy Peter. What is that?

9:53 Happy man, happy lamb.

9:54 Happy Peter, empty theater. That's what I say. Peter must suffer. Hey.

10:00 Matthew, happy cashew. Happy Matthew eats a cashew.

10:04 We're not giving you that one.

10:05 Why not? Channing Tatum, middle name Matthew.

10:07 Upstairs said that wasn't cool. It didn't rhyme.

10:09 I sent the letter Monday evening. By Tuesday morning, HR asked me to join a team's meeting. My manager and the head of HR were there, and they offered to pay out my notice period immediately. and end my employment immediately. They also confirmed that neither the CEO, his wife, or any other company officer would contact me again except through HR.

10:27 They provided a separation agreement that seemed straightforward. My lawyer friend reviewed it, and I signed it that evening. Yesterday, I returned my equipment, said a quick goodbye, and left. Opie said, goodbye!

10:40 Opie said, I'll be, I'll not be taking those stocks.

10:45 I'm leaving the stocks here soon.

10:46 Dissolved into smoke.

10:47 Give the stocks to your children, Sam. This morning, all payments owed to me arrived in my account. With the extra three weeks of paid leave, my partner and I are now planning to head to Europe earlier. Woo, Europe! And my new employer just agreed to change the planned flights to make this possible. Europe, fun!

11:08 Starting on a really good note.

11:09 With your new employer.

11:10 Employer said, amazing, you're going on your flight first class.

11:15 Yeah, we want you coming in... 110%.

11:18 We want you coming in hot.

11:19 Yeah. Summer in Europe. Yeah. We want you nice and hot. There's another update. Oh.

11:25 Oh, boy.

11:26 Three and a.

11:26 Half months later. I don't know what could happen here.

11:29 Summer's over.

11:29 Maybe we'll find out. Maybe the only reason that would make this update important is if we found out why they needed OP so bad.

11:37 Okay. Okay. Update two. I found out that there was a comet heading towards Earth.

11:44 Oh, my God. The Fire Nation are going to attack.

11:46 It's Hayley's Comet. Hayley? Yeah, the same one.

11:50 Not Sozin?

11:50 Not Sozin's Comet?

11:52 Oh, you guys are getting mixed up.

11:53 Hayley's coming back.

11:54 It's Hayley Williams' Comet?

11:55 Hayley Bailey.

11:56 I'm like, Sozin, dude. This is great.

12:01 Hi.

12:02 Update two. Three and a half months later. The day after my second post, I formally finished up with my previous employer. A week later, we traveled to Europe with their fares for both paid by my new employer. They actually paid for a business class fare for me, which we used to buy two economy return tickets.

12:20 Okay.

12:21 My official work was starting after Easter, so we had almost four weeks as a vacation, and the pay in lieu was covering all the costs. We traveled around Europe, and I proposed to my partner, and she said yes. We spent Easter with some family in Ireland, starting work on the 13th of April.

12:39 Look at that. What a.

12:41 Ireland? I hardly know her.

12:44 Look at Opie being a beast.

12:46 Yeah, look at you. You're making 200K, you don't have stocks, and you're in Ireland.

12:51 Yeah, you know a good Irish name?

12:53 Stocks.

12:54 John. Hayley. Is Matthew Irish?

12:57 Matthew? Yeah, Machu.

12:58 Machu?

12:59 Machu.

13:00 Machu Picchu.

13:02 Is Matthew Peruvian?

13:03 Machu. Oh, Machu.

13:07 Oh, my goodness. Everything was going really well. The plan was to build and market the next generation of the product developed by my previous employer. The new company had the money and resources to make it happen. I worked with their salespeople to work out a value proposition and pitch deck which they would use to approach customers after the summer. My new employer had very good contacts into customers who are also based in Europe and were confident they can convert them quickly. We planned out building a team in Australia and possibly even approaching some of my ex-colleagues.

13:38 My task was to create a technical strategy... and helped create a more detailed business plan for approval by the board before they took their summer vacation in mid-June. We came back to Australia in mid-May. I hit the ground running and started working on the technical and business plans. I sent out a few feelers to old colleagues about meeting for a coffee and my new role, but there were no replies.

14:00 Of course not. Because you abandoned them when they needed you. Or that company doesn't exist, but you just think it exists.

14:07 I don't know. I mean, like, I think it's crazy to... leave to a direct competitor while the company that you worked for was struggling. And maybe they did, like, take advantage of you, but, like, and that's, you know, only you'd really know that. But, like, either way, it's like, maybe they're not even talking about, I don't know. I don't know.

14:22 I don't think it's crazy, but I do understand why no one would want to reach out to OP if they were still at the company.

14:29 Yeah, if OP reached out to me, I'd be like, long time no talk. Why are you reaching out to me? You want to get coffee?

14:34 Yeah. Like, I see why they would be like, hey, we were left in the frickin.

14:40 Your goodbye was very quick. Now your hello is very slow.

14:44 Yeah.

14:44 But I also see YOP doesn't really feel, I don't know. I don't think you need to feel allegiance to big gold company who wasn't telling you the truth. True. And you have another job lined up.

14:55 Opie starts recruiting.

14:57 Yeah. He's like, hey, want to come over here? That is what they do. That's what companies like to do.

15:02 The grass is greener on the other side.

15:04 That's true.

15:05 That's why I live.

15:06 Because I paint it.

15:07 It's AstroTurf.

15:08 Mm-hmm.

15:09 I painted it.

15:10 Later that week, I got a ping from my old manager asking to meet about a coffee. I met with him and this is where things started to go very wrong. Oh no. My old colleagues who I had reached out to told him I had done so. They did not want to move. They felt uncomfortable talking to me.

15:28 What?

15:28 Hence the coffee meeting. It turns out my previous employer had been purchased. The CEO has put together a deal where three of their largest customers created a company where they owned 30% each and he owned 10%. This new company then purchased my previous employer. The sale price was just over 35 million Australian dollars. The option and shareholders got cashed out. The non-shareholding staff received bonuses of $ 5, 000 to $ 30, 000, depending on the length of their services. Key staff have been offered 100% of their salary. as a bonus per year if they.

16:03 Stayed for two more years he even engineered the options to be bought out without having to exercise them so the option holders could claim the 50 cgt.

16:15 Discount for holding them for more than a year message delivered nicely but firmly was none of my colleagues wanted to move please stop contacting them my share would have been about 960 000 before tax they.

16:29 To warn you they were trying to help you they were trying to help you you dummy you dummy but they couldn't outright say hey you're about to make almost a freaking million oh.

16:43 They could could they i mean they wouldn't want to blow it up you know i'm sure they wouldn't want to take the risk i feel like there was probably a reason but if he was a day one it's like you can be like But they were.

16:55 They tried to.

16:55 They were in your basement in the Faraday pouch. And we say, hey, I'm not going to tell you exactly what's up. But you know how I'm trying to sell the company.

17:04 Okay, now.

17:06 So, with that in mind.

17:07 Now I'm seeing.

17:08 Definitely stay until May.

17:11 Oh, OP, this is all your fault. I'm sorry. They looked you in the eyes. They said, maybe stay a little bit longer because the stocks. OP, maybe stay. They called your partner. They called your partner. They said, maybe he should stay a little longer because the stocks.

17:28 The only thing they could have said was, OP, a million dollars in May. A million dollars in May. You're dumb.

17:35 If I was, I would have just been like, I would write it on a board. Like, they're listening.

17:41 They're listening.

17:42 Don't care. They're listening.

17:43 Don't do it.

17:44 Do not leave.

17:45 Now I'm thinking that OP just like, all of those previous updates, OP was just not telling us how they were saying it. Because I really think that they were looking him in the eye and going, Wait.

17:55 Wait.

17:56 Just wait a little bit.

17:57 I guarantee you they were like, for your best interest, which I think they did say. I think they said that. For your best interest.

18:04 Dummy.

18:05 Stay until. Stay for two more months.

18:07 Stay for two more months. I hope that $ 200, 000 keeps you warm.

18:10 He said.

18:10 And that trip to Europe.

18:12 Yeah, I'm trying to sell the company. I don't know. It might not happen. But if it did, I don't know. I'd hold on to those stocks until May.

18:20 That's crazy.

18:20 Yeah, that's like all. And then everyone in the company is like, I don't want to talk to you because you're going to be mad when you find out.

18:27 But also, you did a quick goodbye.

18:29 Yeah, yikes, buddy. That was all your fault.

18:32 OP.

18:33 Sorry.

18:33 I mean, but you know what? You win some, you lose big.

18:37 OP did the equivalent of fumbling the ball at the one yard line.

18:41 OP sold his stock in Apple right before the iPhone.

18:45 Oh, man. OP, I kind of feel bad for you because you thought you had it in the short run.

18:50 Yeah, bummer.

18:52 The short deal was pretty good on paper.

18:55 Yeah.

18:56 It looked pretty good. I hope you enjoyed your trip to Europe.

18:59 Do you think the other company knew? No. Not in a sense.

19:02 They wouldn't have said.

19:02 But they're like, yeah, come on over.

19:04 Nah, they wouldn't have said that they were about to win that big.

19:08 Yikes.

19:09 Oh, well.

19:10 And that happens, folks.

19:12 Dang. Those other, what was it?

19:13 And that's the man mining for diamonds and he stops just.

19:16 Short of them.

19:16 Truly.

19:17 Those other, it was like six other people were there. He was one of the six, the core six that started it up.

19:23 Oh, man.

19:23 Five years of your new salary for one European vacation. I hope that was a nice million-dollar vacation you had.

19:29 Yeah. He proposed. So, yeah.

19:31 Yeah. Yes.

19:32 But it was worth it. Dang, that's going to be in the back of my head.

19:35 I don't know.

19:36 Honestly, bro, you're fine.

19:37 You're making 200K in Europe. You're fine. Go live your life.

19:40 Like, it sucks, but it won't, like, it's not like you are destitute. It just sucks.

19:45 Yeah, it just goes to show, oh, maybe I should have listened to everyone telling me. Maybe I should have. i should have picked up on the fact that his wife called my wife yeah something's going.

19:55 On yeah but your wife feels dumb now.

19:57 And if you would have just pressed be like just tell me what's up tell me what's up tell me write it on the Can you not tell me here?

20:06 $ 1 million.

20:07 Stop.

20:08 Keep your stocks.

20:09 Stop.

20:10 Wait three months. Stop.

20:12 Okay, here we go. My first reaction was anger.

20:14 I think all of us would agree we'd all be very angry.

20:17 So you skipped over denial. Actually, no, you denied yourself, so you.

20:21 Did the first one. You already denied.

20:23 Denial and anger. Then there's bargaining.

20:26 What if I came back now and you gave it to me?

20:30 I'd just get half.

20:31 What if I came back now and you gave me the million dollars?

20:33 What's the fourth one? Denial, anger, bargaining, and then the last one's acceptance.

20:38 Victim blaming? You like reverse it? Darvo?

20:41 Yeah.

20:41 Darvo is the fourth stage of grief?

20:44 Five stages of grief. Denial, anger, depression, bargaining. Depression.

20:47 Oh, so we got depression and then bargaining. So he's not there yet.

20:50 And then acceptance. Aw.

20:52 Anyway.

20:53 Or it could go denial, acceptance, bargaining, depression, anger, denial.

20:56 Yeah, okay, there we go. Okay, cool, cool, cool. My first reaction was anger. Off the cuff, at the coffee meeting, I threatened to sue to get my share.

21:05 There it is.

21:06 There's the bargaining.

21:07 There's the bargaining.

21:08 I'll sue.

21:08 I'll sue.

21:09 This wrapped up the coffee quickly.

21:12 Dude, if you literally just said, you know, is there any way I can get my share?

21:16 Any way?

21:18 It's like, yeah, you could have stayed until May, bro.

21:20 He met you for coffee. Why are we attacking him?

21:24 Yeah. Honestly, in everything that you said, too, about the company, you made it sound like you had given up. Yeah. You're like, they're not going to ever sell. They're not good.

21:33 He said that. He said they're falling apart anyway. Why would I stay?

21:36 Yeah, I'm going to get rid of my stocks because, I mean, they're not going to be worth anything in the end anyway because the company's never going to get sold.

21:42 You're a dummy. Oh, you dummy.

21:44 I planned to look over my contracts later that weekend with my soon-to-be brother-in-law slash lawyer. But before we could, I got an email from the in-house lawyer from my previous employer. Attached were screenshots of Slack conversations, phone logs, and copies of emails.

21:59 They were ready.

22:00 Yeah, of course they were. They know that this is a possibility of a lawsuit, and so they're going to cover their tracks. And I hope he's already covered it for them.

22:08 Hmm.

22:09 The bottom line was that the CEO had instructed my manager to do whatever it takes to get me to stay until the close and pushed this message repeatedly. They could not tell me the details as they were waiting for regulatory approval from four counties as three competitors were forming a joint venture with a supplier. That process had been happening for almost nine months. Any leak or sign of impropriety would sink the whole deal. When I threatened legal action, that changed everything. That would have sunk the deal.

22:41 So they cut all contact quickly and moved on. The email said that considering all the information provided, my assertion is wrong. And if we commence legal action... They will use this email as evidence when they pursue costs.

22:52 Dang, dude.

22:53 He's just making error after error.

22:56 You shot yourself in the foot.

22:59 Oh, boy.

22:59 I think it's funny, though, because reading this story, it really started off like, okay, move to a new job, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then it was like, I've just lost out on a million-dollar deal, and now we're back in.

23:13 Whose fault is that?

23:14 For God's sakes, can none of these dorks send a message properly? I mean, none of them could say... Hey, I can't tell you why you have to stay until May. But you know about the stocks, right? So maybe stay just until May.

23:31 They definitely tried, but they didn't want to be like, they couldn't sell it. They couldn't sell it.

23:36 I think OP's dumb.

23:37 Legally, there are things people can't say sometimes in a given circumstance. Could be any circumstance.

23:46 I think the real dumb move was then threatening to sue.

23:49 Well, yeah, three and a half months later after it's already done.

23:52 It's like, whoa.

23:52 What are you going to do?

23:54 It's like, if you wanted to make them go, okay, we're glad you left.

23:57 Yeah, exactly. They probably, I feel like there was a world where they met him for coffee to be like, hey, maybe, you know, maybe we can compensate in some sort of way.

24:07 And then he was like, sue.

24:07 And they're like, well, bye.

24:11 Do you think the amount that OP missed out on?

24:14 It was $ 1 million.

24:15 But that $ 1 million got split into more for more people?

24:19 I don't know. I have no idea how any of that works.

24:22 I don't know how that works. Presumably it would just go to like the heads. I don't know. I shouldn't say presumably because I don't know how that works.

24:30 We are not business people.

24:31 I don't know how stocks work. My fiance's brother agreed and I replied back apologizing, completely withdrawing any allegations of impropriety and promising not to sue. I was devastated. I'm sorry.

24:42 And now here's depression.

24:44 I didn't mean to.

24:46 I feel like this is, no, I feel like this is bargaining now.

24:48 No, he did try to do bargaining.

24:50 But like, you know what's crazy to me is if OP never learned about this.

24:54 Yeah, he'd have been fine.

24:55 Everything would be fine.

24:56 He would have been fine.

24:57 And that's why money's so funny.

24:59 Funny, funny, funny. I feel like this is less like, oh, money is like the cause and more like I've missed out on what I, like in my mind, I've missed out on something that like if I had not known about it, it wouldn't matter.

25:14 Yeah, I mean, OP already made the decision. They're like, Yeah, it's just the regret. I don't believe in the company. I don't believe in the stock. I'm making this call. I'm moving. I'm going to Europe. I'm living there with my wife now. We're getting married. Everything's great. Oh, oops. Now I found out I left a million dollars on the table. Now everything sucks and I hate it and blah, blah, blah.

25:31 Yeah, just regret, man. Don't regret.

25:34 I had left close to a million dollars behind when I changed jobs. My plan for a new team was in tatters. To say I shut down is an understatement. I barely could think straight. I took a few mental health days and managed to find a privately funded psychologist. I am slowly beginning to recover. Even after six weeks, even things like planning for the wedding reminds me of what it could have been. To say my relationship is at a low point is an understatement.

26:00 I mean, if it's fair, OP, you both made that loss. You know, you both were told about it. Listen to this absolute buffoon.

26:11 This weekend, we went to buy a couch, and I almost ended up in tears because I thought about what we could afford to spend. Shut up.

26:19 You make 200 grand. Shut up. If you can't afford a couch, you're a moron. You're going to spend, what, $ 100, 000 on a couch? Is that what you wanted to do?

26:33 That's why money's funny, dude.

26:34 You wanted to buy a $ 100, 000 couch?

26:37 Can you imagine that their relationship is in shambles now? Or like you said, my relationship is in a low point.

26:43 Why? Okay.

26:45 I think it is so fair to be like, I am upset that I lost a million dollars. You are not going to buy a $ 100, 000 couch. So it's fine. Buy a $ 5, 000 couch. You can do that with a $ 200, 000 budget. And it'll be a very nice couch. It will be a lovely couch.

27:06 There's a little more story left. OP, I can't take your victim mentality here. This is crazy. This is like... You broke every window in your house. And now you're like, but I'm cold. It gets cold in the evenings. I don't know how to, I don't know what.

27:24 But you still, but you're like, you're like burning your money to keep yourself warm. I wish I had money to buy new windows.

27:32 He's wiping his tears with his money.

27:34 Yeah, he's like, I wish I had anything that I could use to... To buy new windows.

27:39 And yeah, I will say it. I feel like all of us feel bad for you, Opie, but not that bad.

27:44 I don't. I feel bad. I don't feel bad for him at all.

27:48 I feel bad that you lost out on that, but also it's your fault and you didn't listen.

27:52 I said, hey, maybe don't leave them like that. They're just asking you to stay. And then Opie was like, They took advantage of me and they did this and they did that. Really? Are you sure? Because it sounds like they wanted to give you a million dollars.

28:04 Yeah.

28:05 It sounds like they begged you to let them give you a million dollars. So I don't believe you anymore when you say they took advantage of you.

28:15 Hindsight.

28:16 Oh, here we go.

28:17 To add insult to injury. I was told two weeks ago my board paper for the new venture has been delayed until after the summer break. Informally, I get the feeling the board is re-evaluating the whole strategy as my previous company has taken the three biggest customers off the table. They are likely to lock in a few others too.

28:37 Some of the smaller customers may still be an opportunity, but the financials are not nearly as attractive with just them. I'm hoping for the best. I am barely functional enough to write this post, and it took all my effort and a weekend to do that. Even though logically I still have a well-paying job with a good company, have good friends, and I'm about to get married soon. I can't stop dwelling on what could have been. Stop.

28:59 Stop dwelling.

28:59 I'm still at the stage of blaming myself for the way I acted that resulted in this situation. What other stage is there? Accepting that you should change? What got you to that point?

29:11 You just got to accept that you don't have this money, so that's it. You just don't have this money. Keep going.

29:19 This is going to be looming over OP's life and head forever. Hopefully not forever. You know what?

29:25 I never knew that you lost it. You never knew that you had it or had a chance to have it.

29:30 I'm OP. And I also had to realize that I actually never had a chance. I was messing around with Bitcoin when it was less than 100 never really took it seriously and uh the amount of bitcoin i had at one point would have been worth like 20 million dollars or something but i guarantee i like and that tripped me up forever yeah and i like couldn't i couldn't if anyone brought up crypto or like i would have to leave i would have to like i would have to disengage uh And then I just came to the realization one day, like, I probably would have sold it when it was worth, like, $ 50, 000. Yeah, exactly. Like, I never would have. You would never have gotten, yeah.

30:04 I never would have done that.

30:05 Yeah, LP, you never had that money, so you never lost it. That's how you have to think of that.

30:11 Exactly.

30:11 You never had it.

30:12 Hey, it's Keon, your favorite short king. We're going to get back to the stories, but here's three minutes of ads from our sponsors.

30:19 Writing this has been cathartic and somewhat therapeutic. I am angry or sad all the time. I'm sure this will pass eventually, but I think I will regret how I acted for the rest of my life.

30:30 Why?

30:31 This is why money's funny, bro.

30:34 He'll get over it. He'll get over it.

30:37 We have a $ 200, 000 wedding. We could have had a million dollar wedding.

30:41 I think for the next year, maybe two, he will think about this and then he will get over it.

30:46 Giving it 10 years.

30:47 I think the real carry on top.

30:49 Will make at least a million dollars back.

30:51 The cherry on top here is that Now his job security is kind of in question because they have to reassess their whole strategy because the company that OP thought was small potatoes, didn't know what they were doing, has been dragging their heels for a year, happened to be coordinating a merger with the three companies that pay them all their money.

31:10 And now they're the big potato.

31:11 And now they're the big dog. Now they're such a big dog that the big dog you went to is going, and trying to figure out a new plan.

31:20 And you just said that you wanted to sue them.

31:22 Yeah, so.

31:23 A little bit. A little bit.

31:26 Scary. You don't have to regret how you acted for the rest of your life. You can change. You can just change and be a different person who doesn't do that. If I get the courage to revisit this post in the next few days, I should be able to answer any questions. And I don't think that they did, because that's the end.

31:38 They did not get the courage.

31:39 Yeah.

31:39 Top comment.

31:40 They did not get the courage.

31:41 Look it up. Top comment says, I feel bad for the guy, but every single comment was telling him, hate. You should look into the stock options because they might be selling the company. And OP did not listen.

31:53 Yikes. Because OP was the kind of guy who's like, I know. And it's like, I've been here for eight years and they don't see my value. Why am I not in a senior position? Why don't I have this? We're going to give you a million dollars.

32:06 Probably would have also made him a senior position.

32:08 That was 3%? Yeah, man. 3%. Wow.

32:11 They also probably would have given him the senior position because it seems like, or well, they were selling the company.

32:16 You would have been brought into the fold in the new one, I'm sure.

32:20 Yeah, absolutely.

32:21 Or you would have been allowed to walk away if that's what you wanted. Yeah. I'm sure. But instead, I don't know, man.

32:27 Tough, bud.

32:28 Maybe, I don't know. Yeah, I would not do well with that if I was you. But I'm me, so I think I got it. But I'm good.

32:37 Tough luck for you. Yeah.

32:40 Sucks to be that guy, right?

32:42 Yowch.

32:43 Dude, if I worked for somebody for eight years and had stock options. I don't know. Yeah.

32:47 I'm not leaving. I wasn't locked in enough to that story to be like, oh, yeah, stock, blah, blah, blah. Because OP was just so non-committal, so non-chalant about it. I was like, oh, OK. Yeah, leave, I guess, if you want to leave.

32:59 It would have been. And if you were getting paid three times more than your salary now, I'd be like, OK. You literally took a 5% raise.

33:07 Yeah, wow.

33:11 Wow, bummer. But we got another story.

33:15 It's ready.

33:16 I called an ambulance on my coworker even though I know that she's faking it. Oh. I, 28 male, am working in an English language center in a Southeast Asian country. There is a female coworker in her 20s here who often touches her head and wobbles like she's about to faint.

33:32 She's got the vapors. She goes, Oh, I can't. I do declare.

33:40 And she would lie down on the couch, letting people fan her, bring water and food to her. We take midday naps here, so whenever she does this, everyone's lunch and nap time is ruined. Especially the ones who keep caring for her.

33:54 Then stop caring for her.

33:55 Well, I think they're not. I think OP just should not do this if they are. This would happen at least twice a month. So over the last five or six months, I've seen a few incidents when we worked the same shift. One time, she even asked me to order ice cream for her. Info, it's a big crowded city, so you can just walk to the ice cream shop nearby to grab one for a dollar. Didn't pay me back, but that's beside the point. This Monday, she did it again.

34:20 And this time she asked a girl to order her a nice drink, a sandwich. A group of coworkers fanned her, did the whole caring thing like she's a sick child. By the way, this comes from Normal Midnight 1661. And if you want to submit your own stories, go to the r slash showcase story time subreddit. I'm Sophia.

34:37 I'm Dakota.

34:38 I'm Keon.

34:39 We're here to give good advice goofily, but we don't have all the answers. We only know what we do. So let us know what you would do in the comments. And Opie says, I stood up from my chair, walked towards her, asked if she was okay. Then I went to the men's washroom, dialed for an ambulance, and went back to my seat. After 20 minutes, we heard the siren.

34:58 My phone rang again, and I stood up and told her servants to help her to the ambulance. Her face changed. You know, that face when someone knows they've effed up Other girls asked if I called. I said, yeah, it seems more severe this time. It's best for her to go. The ambulance is already here. You'll have to pay for it regardless. The ambulance fee is about one to two days worth of her salary.

35:20 $ 50.

35:20 Aw, $ 50 for the ambulance? I wish it was $ 50 here. It's $ 5, 000.

35:28 Yeah, I just walk.

35:30 Yeah.

35:31 Other co-workers actually agreed and helped her get on the ambulance. Now that I think of it, no one called an ambulance for her once. Ever since that incident.

35:42 Oh, never mind. It just sounded funny.

35:45 No one called an ambulance for her.

35:47 So where did she go?

35:50 Where did that ambulance come from? Ever since the incident, she stopped interacting with me beyond hi's and hello's. Thursday now, not a word to me. Am I the a-hole for this? And we do have an update. I think this is kind of funny.

36:03 I think it's funny, but I would have been like, hey, I'm going to call the ambulance and just see her face completely change. You're like, okay, cool. I think calling the ambulance behind her back a little too much.

36:11 I don't know. She got so many free sandwiches.

36:14 You know, when you think about what you're getting per diem. Yeah. It adds up to one ambulance ride. One ambulance. I don't know, man.

36:23 That ambulance could be used for somebody else. If.

36:26 That's true, you know.

36:27 Good point. That is a good point. Never good to call in. fake ambulance so maybe from that standpoint of just like good samaritan maybe just threaten it yeah from the standpoint of she probably won't do that again cool well.

36:41 The fact that nobody nobody called it before crazy like who's gonna call.

36:44 An ambulance for like oh i need i'm faint no one calls an ambulance for feeling faint but if she's doing it twice if they did that i would have gotten a lot of ambulance.

36:52 Yeah let's just say twice a month for five to six months On like the 10th time, I'd have been like, I need you to get that checked.

37:00 Yeah, get that freaking checked. I don't know. If someone called an ambulance here, I'd be like, I can't.

37:05 Afford your jokes.

37:06 I'd rather just pass away. Thanks. Yeah.

37:09 Someone actually heard me. Update. Four days later. Here's the update on the female coworker who kept fainting and asking people to order food for her. I'll call her Anne because there's a lot of women involved in this post, in this update. After the first post, I texted some female coworkers to see if they had received food money back.

37:25 Two female teachers told me that they hadn't, but they didn't mind. The total amount was around $ 20 per person. That, I knew it. I knew it.

37:34 Which again?

37:35 Adds up to a freaking ambulance.

37:38 One ambulance in a Southeast Asian country.

37:42 Word got around fast and I was added to a group of five other women. People. Two ambulances. So in total, at least seven female teachers were affected by Anne. Two ambulances and a quarter-ish.

37:57 And-bulance. And-bulance? Yeah, that's her name.

38:01 Oh, and-bulance. Based on their word, Anne has low blood pressure and malnutrition.

38:07 Bulance pressure.

38:08 No, no, bulance pressure. And malnutrition. And she indeed is very thin, K-pop idol type of body. She clearly has some unhealthy relationship with food. It's almost as if she didn't want to pay for food. I think you're right on the money.

38:22 I think that's her relationship with food.

38:24 Yeah, she doesn't like to pay. pay for it she borrowed money from multiple female teachers to pay hospital bills and begged them not to disclose this information to others we're talking up to a loan that's worth four months of salary she basically borrowed half of that teacher's emergency funds she also flirted with one female teacher said teacher often brings her on small dinner dates i didn't ask on this matter hr was notified the girls did the talking and i was called in as the one who called the ambulance After the meeting, it's confirmed that Anne will be let go after 30 days. The reasoning was creating a hostile work environment. This morning was really awkward. Unfortunately, HR cannot help with the loans that people have given

39:08 her as it's a personal matter. However, HR is willing to provide personal information of Anne to the affected coworkers. Oh, well, it's their matter now. Oh, just like her number so they can try and they're like, here's her Venmo. So you can reach out to her directly.

39:25 You can fix this person to person.

39:28 Good luck.

39:29 Yeah, and she's never going to give them the money. Let's be real.

39:32 Now answering some comments from the previous post, some mentioned that I was wasting healthcare resources while she was examined and came back with a diagnosis. Oh, so she did have something wrong with her.

39:42 What was her diagnosis though? Why didn't you tell us?

39:45 Why didn't you tell us that?

39:46 We're entitled to that information. Excuse me.

39:48 Thought we had personal information of hers. Some ask me why everything's so cheap. It's Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam.

39:54 Dude.

39:55 Some people ask me why it's so cheap. It's Ho Chi Minh City, dude.

39:58 It's freaking Ho Chi Minh.

39:59 Ho Chi.

39:59 It's freaking Ho Chi Minh City, dude.

40:01 Ho Cheap Minh.

40:03 Ho Cheap Minh City.

40:05 Ho Cheap, man.

40:07 Most things are affordable here except real estate, lol. In fact, my overseas relatives literally book flights to Vietnam for medical care. Insulin here is like $ 3 to $ 7 per vial. And that is, that should be how much it is.

40:21 Yeah, no, like everyone responsible for the way healthcare is run in America should be treated so nice.

40:29 And you can buy it at almost any public or private hospital.

40:31 Crazy. Wow.

40:33 Yeah, no, there's nothing wrong here. It's actually Ho Chi Minh City with the $ 3 insulin that's the problem. They just don't know they should be charging $ 5, 000 for those bottles. Oh, yeah.

40:45 If you have national health care ID, it's basically free. I would hate that.

40:48 I would hate that. Man, they've got it all backwards over there in Vietnam.

40:53 Yes, people take midday naps in Vietnam. You're the odd one if you don't. Oh, midday nap.

40:58 Wow.

40:58 Siesta in Spain.

41:00 If I'm not standing a class, I'm allowed to be online, doing TikToks, etc. Having a TikTok account is not a legal reason to be let go. And finally, don't lend your coworkers half your emergency funds. Like, why?

41:11 True.

41:12 That is true. Don't do that.

41:14 Honestly, that should be a thing in so many places around the world.

41:19 Oh.

41:19 Good health care. Free health care or cheaper health care that's, you know, available to everyone.

41:25 $ 3 to free insulin would be nice.

41:27 And then also, midday naps.

41:29 Midday naps. I would love if midday naps were like socially the norm and you're weird if you don't allow midday naps. Spain.

41:37 That's what they looked at me and I was like, I don't want to take a nap. Oh my goodness.

41:42 When I was in Spain, we had our little midday naps.

41:45 Love my siestas.

41:46 The only problem though with the siesta is that sometimes I'm hungry and I want to eat.

41:51 It's lunchtime.

41:52 But I have to wait until nine o'clock to eat dinner.

41:55 Or yeah, or it's like, How long do they sleep?

41:58 Dude, nothing.

41:59 They close everything.

42:00 Restaurants do not open until like 8, 830.

42:03 It's nap time for like two to like six.

42:06 I was so hungry.

42:08 Four hour nap time? It's crazy.

42:11 I mean, the people are probably not asleep all that time, but the fact that restaurants are not open, I was like, I'm so hungry.

42:20 That's actually insane. Yes, yes. Okay, he's gone.

42:25 Well, anyway, we've got another story, folks.

42:28 I started giving away unauthorized discounts because nobody checks them anyway.

42:34 Discount for you! Discount for you!

42:36 A few summers ago, I decided that I needed some extra spending money, and I got a job at the local grocery store. I figured this was an easy way I could earn some extra money and wasn't expecting this job to be as entertaining as it was. I was a cashier at the beginning... By the end of my three month tenure, I held five positions across the store at once. The store was horribly managed. You don't say.

43:04 You probably got paid for all those positions though, right?

43:07 No, no, no. Right?

43:08 You probably got paid for all that extra work you were doing at that horribly managed corporate position.

43:14 In a way, yes. But it was just the same amount.

43:17 It was just like the same amount of pay.

43:19 The store was horribly managed, and I mean to comic levels. As in the fire alarm went off and nobody could figure out how to turn it off for multiple days. Did the fire department not show up?

43:36 And I was like, well, go to work, I guess.

43:40 The only thing on fire here is a sale at the market.

43:43 Thank God it's not actually on fire. I think the fire nation, fire nation. I think the fire department thinks that works. burned down by now.

43:51 The fire department's being run by the Fire Nation. No wonder no one's putting out the fire.

43:54 When the world needed it most, the Fire Nation did not show up to take out the fire.

43:59 They left me alone to close the store on day three with no supervision. The trash compactor had its emergency switch broken off. That's the type of bad management.

44:10 It's like more than bad management.

44:12 Yeah, it's like someone's gonna get compacted into a cube.

44:15 Yeah.

44:15 Someone's gonna get wallied.

44:17 This wasn't a small store either. Store probably employed about 50 people.

44:21 Okay.

44:23 About a month in, I figured that there was no way in the world they kept accurate numbers on the items going in and out of the store. So I began to either give away or double charge people who I determined were either good. or bad people in arbitrary ways.

44:38 Okay, I will say I did the good stuff. It's crazy to overcharge people. I'm not going to lie. Because that is something you can call. People don't always catch, but if they catch, you're going to get in trouble. No one's going to call you out for giving them the good stuff.

44:54 Your boss will.

44:55 Yes, that's true. I did this, the good stuff part.

44:58 I did the good stuff, but also not necessarily bad stuff.

45:01 I would just charge them what they owe.

45:03 I would give kids like free stuff or like people that I really like regulars. I'm like, OK, cool. Like you're not wasting my time. You're fun. You're making my day good. Cool. Here's something free or like a discount.

45:13 When I worked at Starbucks, I would always give people like if I like them or they were regulars. If I like them, I would just like not sometimes I just like not charge them for like extra like syrups and stuff. And if I knew them, I would sometimes charge them for a smaller drink or not charge them at all if they were my friend. But if they were mean to me or rude, I would just be like, okay, well, you got the syrup and the milk. And also, oh, wait, you got an extra shot of espresso? I'm charging you exactly what you owe. And that's the only thing I could do.

45:43 I just love that Opie's like the punisher of the grocery store checkout aisle.

45:48 Opie's like, I... Decide what is right and wrong. I am God.

45:52 I'm God. We're going to talk about Staten Island right now, really?

45:55 We're going to talk about Staten Island.

45:58 Hey, it's Dakota, your favorite host who's always on track here. And we're going to get back to the stories in three minutes after these ads from our sponsors. It started off small at first, only forgetting to scan small items to test the waters. And nothing of consequence happened. I got a little braver and I started to double scan items for people who were rude to me or other people, and nothing happened. And by the way, this comes from 6789justtang.

46:28 And if you want to submit your own stories, go to our subreddit. We're OK Storytime. I'm Dakota.

46:33 I'm Sophia.

46:34 I'm Keon.

46:34 We're going to read this story and have our thoughts, and you're going to have yours. You get to put yours in the comments. We say ours right now. One, two, three, go.

46:41 Thank you.

46:42 Those are my thoughts. I began to notice that not only did the store not pay attention to what was coming in versus what was going out, people didn't pay attention. I never got caught by the store and only a handful of customers caught on. Thankfully, one of them was one that I ripped off. She ended up going completely berserk, but that worked for me because she had to be escorted out by security. She never shopped at the store again.

47:05 That's so funny. Opie's just in the store going, I don't know what happened, officer. She just went crazy. And then he looks at her, and he winks, and she goes, and he goes, oh, I don't know what happened.

47:19 I'm not going to lie. Opie's just having fun.

47:21 Opie's maniacal.

47:22 Opie's telling the cops, it looks like she's resisting.

47:25 What's my moral compass today?

47:27 Opie said, I don't know what happened, officer, but maybe you should take it down to the jail.

47:32 By the end of month two, I was doing this with almost every single person that came through my line that I thought I could get away with. If you were what I determined to be neutral, I admit I had no real metric for any of this. You got a modest discount. Nice. Are you a bad guy? Suddenly, you're paying an extra 50 bucks.

47:52 50 bucks is way too much for people not to notice.

47:57 How are people not noticing 50 extra dollars?

48:00 What's the IQ in the part of the.

48:04 World you're living in? I look at my receipts all the time.

48:06 Religiously, I'm looking at my receipts. I'm like, okay, yeah.

48:10 I watch all the numbers stack up. Yeah.

48:13 Also, how do you not notice $ 50?

48:16 Monkey like number go up. Monkey watch number go up. Monkey watch you make number go up twice as much?

48:26 Yeah, like you've stopped checking out my items, but the number still go up.

48:33 I actually have discounts. Why is it going higher? Those were on sale.

48:38 These people are dumb.

48:39 Obie continues. Are you obviously a starving college student? I scanned one out of your 20 ramen packages, stating the computer knew what it was doing.

48:49 Dang, you are a real one, OP.

48:50 Yeah, OP's like, I got you. I go to your place. I go to your grocery store every day.

48:55 I'd be your friend.

48:56 Get you flowers every day.

48:57 As time went on, it just became more and more extreme.

49:01 What do you mean?

49:01 God, OP's like, soon they owed me $ 100. Some days I tell them they actually have to give me money just personally.

49:10 Someone walking with a TV costs an apple.

49:13 So you're not even taking any of this money. You're just overcharging.

49:18 He's just overcharging. That company's going to get sued.

49:21 This guy is just chaos for the sake of chaos.

49:25 He's chaotic neutral.

49:26 He's like, I'm gaining nothing from this.

49:28 This is chaotic neutral.

49:29 I'm just doing this.

49:31 Just doing it for the love of the game.

49:33 Don't get me wrong. I catch it within reason. If somebody came up to me with a six-pack of briskies, sorry, buddy. There's no way I can help you. Bigger orders were easier to spoof, mainly because people didn't know how much they spent, and even though most people wanted their receipt, no one actually looked at them. You appear to be a single mom with three kids. Suddenly, I forgot to scan literally half your cart. How is this?

49:56 How is Opie getting away with this?

49:58 Dude, have you ever worked at a place with just the worst management ever?

50:02 You know what? No, I actually had pretty good management at the Starbucks I worked at.

50:05 I've seen bad management, dude. Yeah.

50:08 That's crazy.

50:09 This is what it looks like.

50:10 I mean, I worked at a place with good management and also got away with giving people massive amounts of discounts.

50:15 This guy's probably, whoever this guy's boss is, is probably mostly asleep.

50:21 Yeah.

50:21 Especially at the grocery store. This guy's in the upstairs office, door locked.

50:25 Yeah.

50:26 Asleep.

50:27 Asleep at the wheel.

50:28 Are you screaming at someone over the phone about Literally anything, you are now paying for four steaks instead of one.

50:36 Opie's funny.

50:37 I'm sure that the people I let off just brushed it off as a mistake or in some of the extreme cases thought I was just an idiot. I felt like I was paying forward every bit of goodwill I ever received.

50:47 In my life.

50:48 Opie's the karma machine, yeah.

50:49 Yeah, Opie's like, you are good, you evil. He's playing... He's playing Tinder, but with customers and also morality.

50:56 He's playing cashier god.

50:57 Cashier god. Put you in there.

50:59 I love this next sentence. This ended up becoming a problem, though. What?

51:04 What?

51:05 Because people would go to our online surveys and give me glowing reviews.

51:10 Oh. They're drawing attention to you.

51:12 Opie's like, stop.

51:13 The plot pickings.

51:14 No, Opie just deletes all those comments. He goes, stop talking about me.

51:18 Opie's doing all his own online surveys being like, this guy sucks. This guy's the worst. Very forgettable and does everything normal.

51:24 He charged me exactly what I owed.

51:26 No more, no less. I've never seen anyone actually do one of these reviews, but the little scoreboard in our break room showed that I was almost two times ahead in rating a second place despite working there for like six weeks. That made my manager like me more, which in turn led to them giving me different positions throughout the store. One of these positions ended up with me getting some kind of free sticker dispenser. This was intended to give people free stuff if I felt that they had been negatively impacted by a store action, yada, yada, yada.

52:00 They're like, you're such a good worker.

52:03 Opie's like, did you have a bad day today to a customer? Did you have a bad day? Opie's like, did you talk about the stocks? Did someone tell you about the stocks?

52:11 Free. This is like, Like you, I always make this comparison. It's like if you were like secretly a bank robber working at the bank. And then they were like, your cousin reviews are so great. We're going to leave you in charge of the vault.

52:25 Here's the key to the city, Joker.

52:27 I was actively trying to push the envelope at this point. So I made it my mission to literally give everyone in the store these stickers. If someone asked me where something was, I would show them. I would then put a sticker on it and hand it to them. One would think that our computer system would pick up the fact that the usage of these free stickers went up by 2000% over the course of what was like a one week period. But I never got questioned about it.

52:55 I can't imagine that like this, I imagine this is like some sort of conglomerate grocery store. I can't imagine that they weren't like, hey, this location is doing terribly. But we've got great reviews.

53:11 It's probably, I don't know, it's a Ralph's, it's a Kroger. But they would know this. It's one of those grocery stores that's like.

53:18 Just so many of them.

53:19 Yeah, like, I mean, I think it could fall through the cracks. It could, it could. I guess it is.

53:25 It not only could it, it is.

53:27 So when did this story get posted?

53:29 I'll check.

53:30 As all good things do, though. this came to an end eventually. I had to go back to school, so I quit. Unfortunately, or honestly, probably fortunately, the store got closed down for OSHA violations before I got the chance to go back.

53:45 Oh, man.

53:45 Yeah, the compact, Johnny fell into the compactor.

53:50 Johnny got compacted. He's a box now.

53:52 Now he's a little one-foot box man.

53:55 Johnny TV got restretched after he got shrunk by that TV.

53:59 His mic TV.

54:00 And now, oh.

54:02 Sorry.

54:02 Well, Johnny TV is Mike TV's brother.

54:05 Johnny Tatum TV.

54:07 Johnny TV is Mike TV's brother.

54:09 Who was also stretched out off screen.

54:12 And now he's been turned into a combatant.

54:14 Yeah. Oh, poor guy. Crazy he lived. This store was a chain store, but I doubt literally any other store in America has this level of incompetence to allow me to continue my mission. He has a.

54:31 Goal, yeah. He's just like, yeah, F around it, find out.

54:34 The one grocery store that fell into the abyss. It's like it's not on the map.

54:40 No one knows where we are. We live outside of time.

54:43 I think by the end of it, I ended up net positive. I gave probably 80% of the people who came through my line or in my eyesight a discount. I always would have liked to have known what that number is, but I can guarantee it was at minimum $ 5, 000.

54:59 You are true Samaritan, OP. Oh, man.

55:04 I think you might have been stealing from the poor. I don't know.

55:07 Robin Hood. A modern day Robin Hood.

55:10 Stealing from the people that annoy you and giving back to the people that are just okay.

55:17 Stealing from a grocery store runs so shoddily. It's kind of sad. It's a little sad. It feels a little sad. But also, yeah. free groceries dude.

55:28 I won't lie whenever you get something free or like even like the tiny thing or a big thing you're just like oh my gosh.

55:34 Opie hits them with the this is there is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man it is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity this is ralph's sorry i had to i was looking that up it's good thank you thank you thank you can you do the can you do.

55:52 That from the daylight zone.

55:54 Yeah, this is the daylight zone. Ralph's.

55:58 We're not open at night. $ 5, 000. 5,000 mothers. And it was honestly one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever gone through.

56:07 Opie puts it on his resume. He's like, so I was kind of God for a little bit.

56:11 I'm a giver and a taker.

56:13 I gave $ 5, 000 to the people.

56:15 Depending what you're... Opie wants to be a doctor next.

56:20 I'm going to give people free organs.

56:23 OP is in charge of healthcare now, yeah.

56:25 I either let you.

56:26 Live or not.

56:27 Please, please. You cannot replicate the joy of a little kid finding a quarter of the Hot Wheel rack covered in free stickers, or a dad just trying to make ends meet realize his total is only half of what he expected it to be. Eventually, some of our regulars caught on and would only go to me. But I decided that it was better to just give these people discounts because the people were normally warm and friendly not only to me... but to other members of the staff, like the baggers or the greeters, which made it worth my while. At least to my knowledge, no one at the store ever figured out my game, and the only reason I'm sharing this story is because the store in question closed. As I stated earlier, this store was part

57:05 of a chain, but honestly, with the amount of crazy crap happening at this store on a regular basis, I think I'm the last on their priority list if this ever gets uncovered. Like, I'm pretty sure people got arrested because of the state of the store. At the end of the day, if I had the opportunity, I would do it all over again. I am a judgmental guy and you should check your receipts. That is the end of that story.

57:31 Wow.

57:32 Wow.

57:33 Wow. Wow. Okay.

57:35 Yeah, if I was a child and I came across the Hot Wheels aisle and they were like, free like 20 of them are free never go anywhere.

57:45 Else i'd only i go dad i live here now i live here in the hot hot wheels aisle of my life rest of my life i live here in the hot wheel i would just.

57:53 Have to cross my fingers i don't slip and fall into the ceaseless compactor.

57:58 Yeah that cannot be stopped just watch out for the compactor.

58:01 The compactor doesn't have mercy yeah we took the mercy button off it's end of.

58:06 Fargo style compactor so watch out yeah or middle of fargo somewhere.

58:10 In fargo There's a compactor? I thought it was, that's a shredder.

58:12 It's a shredder, but you know, it's the same thing at this place.

58:16 In a way, can compact things later, but in the moment, it kind of spreads everything out a lot more.

58:23 It's like the opposite. I'd say the wood is more compact. Well, in my world, in my head, it wasn't a garbage compactor. It was just one of those wood chippers.

58:33 Yeah, this is the shredder we throw all the food we don't sell at the end of the day into. Yeah, and then we shred it and it falls into the bottomless hole. And that's how food waste is actually, you know, that's what is done with food waste in America.

58:49 Yeah, we pour it in the bottomless hole.

58:52 Dude, it's almost like the people who run this country are evil.

58:54 My manager harassed me over concert tickets and nobody did anything.

58:59 They all wanted your tickets.

59:01 My sister really loves a Korean band called BTS. Don't know if y'all heard of them.

59:06 What are they, behind the scenes?

59:08 Korean band called BTS. A little band called BTS. Yeah, I've heard of them.

59:14 Big time soul. Oh, hey.

59:17 If it wasn't for her, I never would have heard of them.

59:19 Oh, that's cool. You live under a rock?

59:21 Yeah, what do you mean? and I don't know anything about them or the music, but my sister absolutely loves them. A few months ago, I heard my sister talking about how they're going on tour. I thought it would be a long shot, but I decided to try and get tickets for one of their UK concerts. I had my friends help me when the tickets went on sale, and by some miracle, I was able to purchase two tickets.

59:43 I'm going to take my sister to the concert for her birthday, and I know she'll be ecstatic. She was disappointed she wasn't able to get tickets and was saying they were too expensive for her. But I know she really wants to go. And I realize this is a very small problem compared to what is going on in the world. But my manager overheard my colleague and I talking about the concert and is now demanding that I hand over the tickets.

1:00:06 Wait, what?

1:00:07 That's like the quickest HR I've ever heard. Maybe not ever heard, but that is a quick HR. The only reason I was even talking to my colleague about it was because my colleague was telling me about the time he went to a concert at the same stadium I'm taking my sister to.

1:00:24 Give me those. Give me the Renault.

1:00:25 By the way, this comes from Throwaway Account 6319, and if you want to submit your own stories, go to the rs.showcase.com. I'm Sophia.

1:00:32 I'm Dakota.

1:00:34 I'm Keon. Bulletproof. Was it Bulletproof?

1:00:36 Yeah.

1:00:36 Bulletproof Boy Scouts. That's what it is.

1:00:39 And we're here to give you.

1:00:40 Is that what BTS stands for?

1:00:41 In Korean.

1:00:42 Oh.

1:00:43 In Korean, it is Bangtan Sonyeondan. I probably... Murdered that.

1:00:48 And that means Bulletproof Boy Scouts? Boy Scouts.

1:00:50 Bulletproof Boy Scouts.

1:00:51 Wow.

1:00:51 So Keon Bulletproof Boy Scout.

1:00:53 And we're here to give good advice goofily, but we don't have all the advice. So give us your advice.

1:00:58 We're here to light it up like dynamite.

1:01:00 Yeah.

1:01:01 We're here to be golden.

1:01:03 No.

1:01:04 Smooth like butter.

1:01:05 No.

1:01:06 What? That's a Korean.

1:01:07 That's a K-pop.

1:01:08 Yeah. I just quoted their songs. Do I know more BTS than you?

1:01:12 I'm not talking about BTS.

1:01:14 I know. Right.

1:01:14 That's why you're wrong.

1:01:16 What?

1:01:16 I was doing K-pop.

1:01:17 Because we were all saying BTS stuff.

1:01:19 And I was saying K-pop. I brought in the genre.

1:01:22 Right.

1:01:23 You guys don't even like Huntrix.

1:01:24 That's like we're talking about trigonometry. We're like cosine, tangent. And you're like two plus two. Math.

1:01:31 I brought in the genre. Sorry you don't know about any other thing in the genre.

1:01:35 It's true. I don't. I don't even know. K-pop what? K-pop who?

1:01:39 Jungkook.

1:01:40 Who's popping?

1:01:41 You can't even name another K-pop band.

1:01:44 What's popping?

1:01:44 Blackpink.

1:01:44 Dude, I was around.

1:01:45 I didn't ask you.

1:01:46 Do you know who GD and Top is? Yeah. Your mom. Yeah, I knew about GD and Top when you were just a twinkle in your mother's eye.

1:01:53 You ready for this? You ready for this? I didn't ask you.

1:01:54 Sungjin Woo.

1:01:55 Of course I know that you know K-pop. You got K-pop written in your eyes.

1:01:59 That's racist.

1:02:00 That is racist.

1:02:01 I didn't mean it like that.

1:02:03 I didn't mean it like that.

1:02:06 You started as an innocent bit.

1:02:09 Keep that one in. Editors, look at me. Send me that. Clip that and send me that.

1:02:16 Yeah, you've got K-pop in your eyes. In your eyes. In your eyes like a twinkle. In your eyes.

1:02:23 Too late.

1:02:24 You have the twinkle of BTS in your eye.

1:02:27 Sure.

1:02:28 You know what? Racism. All right.

1:02:30 Bringing that up tomorrow.

1:02:31 I think that's actually a cataract.

1:02:33 He's got cataracts. My manager is desperate for tickets and because they're sold out is demanding mine.

1:02:39 Please.

1:02:40 I obviously said no, but that wasn't the end of it. My manager is getting more and more demanding and won't let it go. I'm just posting here because I'm so tired of it. I'm going to have to make a complaint because I've told my manager to leave it alone already. Update. Let's see if they leave it alone already. After two months, 16 days, I'm afraid this is not very exciting. I left that job.

1:03:00 Dang, you had to leave? You could sue.

1:03:02 They didn't leave?

1:03:03 I would have just given the manager an increasingly complex series of tasks and I would have constantly moved the goalposts.

1:03:13 If you solve my riddles three and also hop on one leg and also find me an alligator, that can hatch the egg of a golden goose.

1:03:23 Do this in 20 minutes, you get the tickets.

1:03:25 My manager's behavior was what pushed me over the edge. There were other issues at my workplace, but they were small enough that I could tolerate things. When my manager started demanding that I hand over the tickets, it was the last straw. I did report my manager to the head of the department and to HR, but nothing was done and I was encouraged to find a compromise. What?

1:03:44 What? What's that compromise? What?

1:03:46 I'd be like, wait, I'm sorry.

1:03:48 You keep your job?

1:03:48 Give him my tickets?

1:03:50 Yeah, the compromise is give me the tickets and you keep your job.

1:03:53 The way my manager acted made things unbearable when I could have tolerated all the other issues. This had been going on for a while before I made my first post. My last day at the job was a week ago, last Friday, and I start my new job on Monday. My new job is also entry level. I have the same title, and my pay is the same, and it's in the same city.

1:04:13 Nice.

1:04:14 My manager continued to badger me about the tickets right up until my last day.

1:04:18 That's crazy that he kept doing it until you left.

1:04:21 Tickets, tickets, tickets, tickets, tickets, tickets, tickets, tickets.

1:04:26 I need the leg of a man from Liverpool. I'm not going to tell you who. It's a prosthetic. You have to go find it. And you go, what? I'm going to fire you for that. Probably.

1:04:36 Well, that was a way better move to just leave the company, honestly.

1:04:39 Yeah.

1:04:40 OP continues, my sister was absolutely over the mood about the tickets. She had the best time at the concert. As I mentioned in my first post, I only knew who BTS is because of my sister, and I don't listen to their music, so the concert was meh for me.

1:04:54 No way.

1:04:55 That's crazy.

1:04:55 No way. No way you went, and you were there, and you saw it, and you didn't go.

1:04:59 You saw all those little K-pop stars dancing around, and you didn't even say, um, this is fun. This is a little bit fun.

1:05:06 You couldn't just say, like, that was a good show. Not for me, but Clearly a good show.

1:05:10 But my sister was excited and had an amazing time, so that's all that matters to me. Also, I turned off my chats because apparently when I said in my first post that I don't listen to BTS, it really offended their fans. Yeah, don't screw with the BTS army, man.

1:05:26 Oh, hey. Taylor Swift is mid.

1:05:28 Oh, no.

1:05:29 Oh, no. Oh, no. Don't worry, we'll take him out.

1:05:34 I'm being vaporized. I'm being compacted.

1:05:36 This is a hologram. I got flooded with mistreatment and derision over what I said. I couldn't believe so many people would lose their minds over such an innocent statement. That's my update.

1:05:47 Are you sure? Because your boss literally lost his mind.

1:05:51 Your boss literally harassed you over tickets nonstop until you quit. But that's the end of that story, folks. That's the end of the story.

1:05:59 But.

1:06:00 We've got comments from the video. I thought my husband's mistress was stalking me. The truth was worse. And this was posted July 18th, 2026. And the TLDR from story one says Opie thought she had finally caught the full truth. After discovering five years ago that her husband was having an affair, she believed him when he swore it was over.

1:06:20 But anonymous messages kept flooding her inbox, detailing secret trips, dates, and even a child her husband supposedly had with the other woman. When she found a stranger's earrings in her car and dug through his phone, everything came crashing down. Now separated, Opie started noticing the mistress everywhere she went.

1:06:40 The playground, the salon, the ice cream shop, always sitting there and staring. If you're curious to know the full story, you can go watch the full video, but we've got comments.

1:06:51 We sure do. That one sounds fun. Tense.

1:06:54 She's just standing there.

1:06:57 She's everywhere.

1:06:57 Medicinally.

1:06:59 But we have some comments from that video. Like Sophia said, go check it out. But comments here. Nanya460 says, my petty butt would have started going to her church and be like, oh my goodness, it's you. Can we sit by you? And then when people ask how I know her, just tell the truth. She's my stalker. Oh, this is my husband's mistress.

1:07:19 Yeah. I like it. It's the woman my husband's seeing.

1:07:22 Oh, it's the woman my husband's seeing.

1:07:23 We're very progressive.

1:07:25 We're so fun. We have fun here.

1:07:26 Yeah. Small town times, you know. Another comment by.

1:07:30 It's all good in the lies of the Lord, right? Yeah.

1:07:32 Another comment here by.

1:07:34 I mean eyes. Sorry.

1:07:35 No, but that worked.

1:07:36 I meant eyes.

1:07:36 That was funny.

1:07:37 Real eyes, real lies, real lies. But another comment here from Boogermaden.

1:07:42 No.

1:07:42 Saying, record everything whenever she's there. Send them to the police or just keep the evidence that you can use in the divorce.

1:07:48 Or use it for your next SoundCloud rap album.

1:07:50 Or just record everywhere she goes and go, oh yeah. Oh yeah. Like, don't make it too like, oh yeah. Like, just make it like, oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.

1:08:05 And continuing that comment, saying, tell the kids the truth and tell them of a plan in case things get... Get Ari, yeah.

1:08:12 Yeah, that's true. That's true.

1:08:15 Well, I guess I can't spoil the story. I remember the story. I don't.

1:08:18 I don't.

1:08:19 I didn't read it. Folks, communication is key. You know what I'm saying?

1:08:22 Communicate or communicate.

1:08:24 Communication.

1:08:26 Communicate.

1:08:26 But yeah, also think of the children. The children, kids say first.

1:08:30 Communicate with your quiches.

1:08:31 Yes. And then a final comment here from Michelleann87654 saying, if he went to those locations with his kids, then she might be going to those locations now instead in the hope of bumping into him in those locations.

1:08:43 Oh, you betcha.

1:08:43 No.

1:08:44 It also sounds like a small town.

1:08:46 She wouldn't do that.

1:08:47 She would never. She would never try to find him in the locations that she knew.

1:08:52 He went to.

1:08:52 But that's the end of those comments.

1:08:54 And the end of the episode. So, if you love us, make sure to subscribe.

1:08:58 We love you. And subscribe.

1:09:00 You tomorrow.