A decade ago, the office tyrant who guarded every file like a dragon lost her job in layoffs and chose vengeance over dignity. She nuked the entire shared drive on her way out, then gloated about it in an email.
Her smug victory lasted exactly one polite LinkedIn message. The new project owner quoted company policy: all deleted data gets forensically recovered, and the last person to touch it foots the restoration bill. Suddenly the ex-queen was staring at a five-figure invoice with her name on it. Karma didn’t just knock, it sent the receipt.
Redditor’s clever LinkedIn trap ends ex-employee’s severance in satisfying workplace revenge.
Getting laid off is rough, no one’s arguing that. But responding by wiping years of company files and then gleefully confessing via email is the corporate equivalent of flipping the table on your way out of a restaurant. Our Redditor didn’t even have to lift a finger. The ex-employee gift-wrapped her own downfall.
From her perspective, she probably felt pushed out and powerless. The project getting reassigned likely stung like a public demotion, and layoffs can feel deeply personal even when they’re just business.
Still, sabotaging the team left behind rarely ends with a victory lap. It usually ends with… well, exactly what happened here: zero severance and a reputation in flames.
This isn’t just one person’s bad day, it touches on a bigger workplace trend. A 2023 Gallup report found that 1 in 4 employees who experience layoffs or know someone who has report “actively disengaged” behavior afterward, including minor sabotage. When trust collapses on both sides, people do wild things.
Organizational psychologist Dr. Ryan M. Kimmel, an expert on workplace dynamics, told Fast Company: “It’s there to prevent you from doing things that harm yourself or others. If you move into that point where you can’t control it – you can’t resist that urge – you can start engaging in retaliatory behavior in the workplace.” While a revengeful action may feel good in the moment, it comes with risks, says Kimmel.
In this case? Three months of paycheck vanished because of one angry message. Dr. Kimmel’s point hits home. Karen handed HR the smoking gun on a silver platter, turning a fleeting thrill of defiance into lasting fallout that no one envied.
The smarter move (and yes, there is one even when you’re furious) is the route some laid-off folks take: finish strong, keep bridges intact, and let your professionalism speak louder than any deleted folder ever could. Companies remember the people who leave gracefully, and they’re the ones who get rehired or recommended later.
So maybe the real lesson isn’t about age or tech savvy. It’s about remembering that the internet is forever, work email is never private, and sometimes the sweetest revenge is watching someone else press “send” on their own downfall.
Here’s what the community had to contribute:
Some celebrate the outcome as satisfying and well-deserved revenge.
Some argue the incident has nothing to do with being a Boomer and is just poor behavior or stupidity.
Some Boomers and older users push back against age-based stereotyping in the story.
In the end, one deleted shared drive and one snarky LinkedIn reply turned a three-month cushion into a very expensive lesson in “read the fine print.”
Do you think the ex-employee shot herself in the foot, or was she justified in feeling betrayed enough to hit delete? Would you have sent that brilliantly polite message, or just let IT sort it out? Drop your verdict below!
