Every manager hopes their new hire will bring something valuable to the team. But for this business owner, the only thing their employee brought was chaos, wrapped in elaborate lies and sprinkled with audacity.
After disappearing from work more often than showing up, this woman somehow thought she’d still earned a glowing reference. What followed was a masterclass in witty revenge, where one perfectly worded sentence said everything the employer wasn’t legally allowed to. Sometimes, malicious compliance doesn’t need volume, just the right tone.
One employer tried to give a new hire a fair shot until serial no-shows turned the situation into a theater
Both fairness and legal caution drive how references work. U.S. employers often avoid negative comments, not because they’re trying to be coy, but because defamation claims are a real risk.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) notes that many companies adopt “name, rank, and dates of employment” policies precisely to avoid litigation around subjective evaluations. That’s why artful phrasing, while neutral on paper, can be a vital signal to protect future employers.
From a behavior perspective, repeated no-call/no-shows are a red flag for reliability, a top trait managers recruit for. According to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends reports, reliability and accountability consistently rank among the most desired soft skills.
Research also shows that poor attendance correlates with lower team performance and morale; one absentee can force others to absorb workload, which can increase burnout (see Gallup’s insights on absenteeism and engagement).
Psychologist Dr. Robert Sutton, author of The No A**hole Rule, has written extensively about how organizations must guard their talent pipelines from persistently disruptive or unreliable hires, not out of meanness, but for team health and client impact.
And executive coach Whitney Johnson has emphasized that high-performing teams rely on trust as the “operating system”; when trust breaks (say, due to chronic absences), leaders must protect the system, not just manage the symptom.
So what should OP and hiring managers generally do?
- Stick to verifiable facts: dates of employment, eligibility for rehire, and objective attendance records.
- Use neutral phrasing with truthful subtext: statements like “eligible for rehire” (or not) tell future employers plenty.
- Document, document, document: contemporaneous records are a lifesaver if disputes arise.
- Create a consistent reference policy: align with legal counsel or HR best practices (SHRM provides templates and guidelines).
So, it’s possible to be kind, truthful, and protective of your company, your team, and the next hiring manager, without saying anything defamatory. The statement “You’ll be lucky if you can get her to work for you” was legally careful and ethically clear.
Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:
These Redditors admired OP’s witty restraint, calling the reference “smoothly savage” and praising how tone, not words, delivered the message perfectly
This group shared their own “revenge reference” stories
These commenters discussed real-world hiring practices, explaining how some workplaces only confirm employment dates and rehire status to avoid legal issues
Both added personal anecdotes of subtle professional karma
Would you have done the same, or do you think he went too far? Have you ever had a coworker who thought storytelling could save their job? Drop your take below!
