'AITA for not caring about the company image after my boss stole from me?' MAJOR UPDATE

"AITA for not caring about the company image after my boss stole from me?"

Long post: Had to complete an internship for my degree. I decided to join a startup to learn. Instead, had to figure out everything on my own, 0 guidance and was a glorified salesman, instead of learning. Since it was paid ($150 a month not that much tbh) and opportunities were rare during the pandemic, I went along with it, even with his ridiculous targets.

I was the best performer, and even I could only get 10% of the target. For internship, I had to work on the social media all by myself, and shoot ads on the days off using equipment I had begged from friends. Five months in, he told us at end of the month that we weren't going to be paid, and wouldn't be paid unless we were meeting his targets.

I politely told him I would be leaving, and pointed out I wouldn't be even able to go meet clients without gas money. (25% of my pay was used for gas).

He got upset at that, and started talking about how he paid for my salary, and took us out for drinks every month (he would pay for the food, we had to buy our own drinks), and how his grandpa was dying and he needed me, I was leaving him when things were bad, was in it only for the money.

The other employees left within the next month.

I had dropped off a harddisk containing all my files to his sister, worth about $40, significant to a college student. 3 months passed by as I was busy with my report.

When I asked for it, he claims to not have it, he cut the call, and his sister called me half an hour later, swearing she doesn't remember me dropping off anything, I was always dropping off stuff. He told me that I had sent the files to him over mail, which was a lie, because there's a text conversation where he asked me to drop off the files at home.

He then talked about how even if I had given, it was my responsibility to have come and taken it back, and started going off about on how little my work meant anyway, and not worth a penny of his time.

Unfortunately, apart from screenshot, I didn't have any proof that I ever gave a harddisk. I told a few of my friends who started commenting on the companies instagram, asking him to return it, that he was a bad boss, and calling the product terrible (many of them had actually bought it for my sake).

It's a very small IG page, barely 200 followers, so any comments stick out, and now he's calling me, demanding me to take down the comments as it's hurting the companies image and that I didn't care anything about the company, and I just used him. He's also threatening to take legal action for slander. AITA for not caring about the image, and should I tell my friends to back off?

The internet did not hold back one bit.

[deleted] wrote:

NTA. I get your frustration and it seems like a bad company. Just one question because I’m a little confused, did his sister work for the company?

OP responded:

No she didn't, the company was run out of his house, with the ground floor acting as the office. I gave it to her because he wasn't at home at the time. Sorry for the confusion.

[deleted] wrote:

Honestly still NTA but not the brightest in hindsight to give company stuff to someone who doesn’t work for the company. Just a life lesson I guess but doesn’t change my judgement!

OP responded:

Absolutely. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess I've always been too trusting. Will definitely not repeat this again, and I'm going to make sure to document everything if a similar situation ever pops up. I count myself lucky for having gotten off this cheaply and that I didn't have any important files in it.

CaptainRandom987 wrote:

First off - NTA. Next, if you are in the US a couple things you should know. Refusing to pay you for time worked is wage theft. You don't still have to be working for him to report it and go after the dollars owed. If your state department of labor handles wage issues, go to them. Otherwise, report it to the Federal Department of Labor.

Second, as long as you and/or your friends aren't posting anything on IG that is factually untrue then he has no case for slander. Make sure the posts are opinions and/or verifiable facts.

OP responded:

They've posted mostly things like how the packaging is sketchy, and about the organic nature.

It's actually a long life instant drink, and I found out on the last month that he was actually putting the date of package with a sticker on the day before we placed them in supermarkets or to vendors, instead of putting them on when they were actually packaged. That definitely influenced me into leaving as well.

basilobs wrote:

No real helpful advice but my boyfriend was also suckered into a job out of college or at the end of college where he worked his butt off, was convinced to INVEST in the company, and was NEVER paid for ANY of his work. My dad also worked for a friend for THREE YEARS without pay. Sucks you had to learn this lesson, but get paid or you walk.

The company's reputation and the guy's personal issues aren't your problem. You need to get paid for the work you're doing and you don't need to go "above and beyond." That's just code for unpaid labor.

OP responded:

Oh dang, funny you should mention that, the guy even asked if would be interested in investing in the company, I said I'll consider it. So glad I didn't, I would have never seen a penny of that money back. That really sucks for your boyfriend and dad :( . I think half the pain is the feeling of betrayal, because you put in so much of your time and effort, and you even believed in its future.

I didn't really go for any companies who had been recruiting from my college because I was convinced about the long term growth, now I'm scrambling to find a job before college ends. I really hope your boyfriend and dad are doing better now, I especially feel bad for your dad, 3 years is a huge period of time. Honestly, sounds so much worse than mine, I got off lucky in comparison.

Five days later, OP shared an update.

I'm so very grateful to all of your responses, I really did feel bad, not about the harddisk, but about him saying all the work I poured into the company was worthless. All of you made me genuinely feel better, and I'm very grateful to everyone who took a moment to respond. After my friends had posted, I got a message from the sister the next day, who said I was being inappropriate and it showed a lot about my character.

I thought this was rich, coming from a person who was either A) willing to lie to my face just to save her brother's ego or B) was so very inept that she didn't even remember me giving her the only ever thing ever. Really had to resist the urge to respond, since my lawyer friend warned me they might be collecting evidence against me.

Later that night, at around 10 pm, my dad got a call from my ex boss, threatening me with legal action. My dad, god bless him, didn't even know who he was, and told him he shouldn't be disturbing people at night, and cut the phone. Only afterwards when my mum asked who it was, did she inform him that it was my ex-boss, to which he just shrugged and went back to scrolling memes. Got a mild chuckle out of that.

My mother asked me about it, and I let her know what he had done. She ended up calling him, and my ex-boss ended up pleading with her to stop the insta reviews, and even offered to come over and talk to me. She pointed out about the hurtful comments on my work and the unpaid salary, and then cut him off and said she'll see what she could do.

She sat me down, and told me I could choose to bear a grudge, or forgive him. That it was my place to decide, but she felt it was pointless of me to carry on, since his company seemed doomed anyway. I guess at this point I'd had enough as well, and decided to cut him slack, asking my friends to knock it off, thanking them for their support.

I didn't delete ask them to delete comments, my ex-boss could do that himself. Afterwards, The VC who was investing in the startup apparently got to know about this incident, and scolded my boss, and even offered to compensate me for the harddisk. He knew about my work for the company pretty well, and was skeptical about the exboss's description of the event.

I'm fairly satisfied with how things have turned out, and even more about the harddisk, I'm satisfied at having gotten some sense of closure. For a month after leaving the job, I hadn't really slept well, and I found it a little difficult to talk to new people, who was odd for me since I was a complete extrovert before that. I'm hoping it'll get better with time and I'll be back to my own self soon. Once again, thanks for all of your love.

The internet did not hold back at all.

pissingintherain1220 wrote:

Great. Did you get the compensation?

OP responded:

Haha, yup, got the money deposited last night :D

pissingintherain1220 wrote:

Nice. You should perhaps talk to the VC Investor and see if they are hiring?

OP responded:

I did consider it, but at this point I want to put this whole thing behind me and start afresh :)

Silent_Shadow123 wrote:

Glad to hear things are going better OP. It can be hard getting back into the work force after going through such hardships. I'd say take your time, take to a counselor if you feel it'll help and revisit finding work if you're not working yet after you've done some ground work.

No one regardless gets to treat people this way. Now everyone including clients as well as interns have seen this companies character and time will tell if they learn from this or not. As it stands no one wants to deal with them nor should they have to unless under contract of course.

[deleted] wrote:

Your dad is a legend, give him a high five!