Manager kept denying raises until one employee's daring letter left him red-faced
'I got much more revenge than I could have imagined...' the user wrote.
An ingenious employee (u/cicche) exposed the manager for delaying their promised raises to boost his own bonus in an epic act of workplace vengeance. The story, with 6.5K upvotes on Reddit, was shared on September 27, 2025.
In the early 2000s, the employee worked for a telecom company in Eastern Canada. Around December, they announced a raise of up to $3.50 for all service reps from January. "It was being given because they feared eastern employees would join the union in the west," the author said. The area managers were supposed to process it, but the worker's supervisor kept delaying it. "In February, I started asking the area manager about the raise, and he always said, 'Soon.' I asked him five or six times between February and May. Eventually, I realized he was delaying as long as possible to pump up his quarterly bonuses," the worker recalled. In May, the employee wrote a four-page letter addressing the CEO, but saved it for the right time to send. Subsequently, when the manager left for a vacation to a fancy cottage in Muskoka, the workers emailed the letter straight to the CEO and the president. As a result, the manager had to apologize to the worker in person. "He was forced to drive back to Toronto from Muskoka to apologize to me and to inform me that everyone in the area would get their raise retroactive to January first and that everyone from my location was getting the maximum raise. I got much more revenge than I could have imagined," they wrote.
The area manager was obviously fuming, but he couldn't do much about it. Though he confronted the worker and said he would have appreciated it if they had spoken to him first, that's all he could do. "I told him I would be glad to forward him the email I wrote to the CEO, which documents all dates and times when I did speak to him, and he blew me off. I told him he was stealing from me by delaying my raise. So I think it's fair that he lost his bonus and his weekend sucked," the employee wrote. Interestingly, the worker wasn't too worried about consequences as they were already planning to quit the company soon. "I got numerous calls from workers in other locations thanking me, and I made sure to share the full story, as no one told me to say nothing," the worker revealed.
The area manager tried to benefit at his team's expense until it backfired. This highlights a fascinating angle — a growing workplace pattern where managerial self-interest leads to employee dissatisfaction and widespread disengagement. In fact, a survey across nearly 200 Singaporean employees also revealed a very similar practice. Robert Walters Singapore found that 72% of employees who didn’t receive expected pay increases in 2025 started job-hunting immediately. Surprisingly, even among those who did receive an increase, more than half (58%) said it was lower than expected. This means, just like the author, many professionals are now standing up for their rights and aren't scared to question injustice. Meanwhile, u/ambitious-ganache891 commented, "This is hands down the single best petty revenge story specifically against a boss I have come across here on Reddit. Chef's kiss!"
u/beths_titties shared, "I worked for a nationwide company in the early 2000s. Bonuses came in Feb/March. April rolled around, and no bonuses. 'Soon, soon,' was all we heard. Then they had to wait for the new budget and then they had to get the V.P. to sign off. It was always an excuse. July comes in, and they call us all together. Finally! G.M. says the branch was closing, and we were all laid off. They just strung us along to last until they were ready to close. No job. No bonus. Anderson News Company." u/malibucat48 wrote, "It’s always that one manager who thinks they run the company and everybody is their underling. Congratulations on calling him out." u/cat_lover_4851 commented, "This is brilliant! Your area manager deserved everything they got. Well done on how you played it!"
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