rSlash - r/Bestof A Karen Robbed Me!

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

0:00 Intro 0:08 Painting sold 6:39 New hire 14:26 Dad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm participating A&W locations in Ontario. Welcome to R-slash Best of Redditor updates, where OP has an encounter with a thieving Karen. Our next Reddit post is from R-slash legal advice. In 2013, I left three paintings at a small clothing shop in Denver. Two smaller ones sold, and a larger one was listed for $1,200. I never expected it to sell, but I was acquaintances with the owner, and I had a friend who worked there, and they both liked the painting and wanted it there for decor. It's a large piece, about two feet by four feet.

I remember signing a commission agreement, but stupidly, I don't have a copy of it. Two years later, in 2015, the owner sold the shop to a person we'll call Kelly. Oh my God, this story is incredibly similar to that Lego scandal. It's even got a commission agreement and the new owner taking over the store. Kelly reached out to me and asked what I would like to do. Leave it at the shop or take it. I said I'd leave it. At this point, I was living on the other side of the country.

I told her if it became a problem to let me know and I'd have a friend pick it up. She said she might want to buy it outright from me. I said that'd be fine too, just let me know. I called her back a few times to check if she did want to buy it, but she never got back to me. I based my assumption on our previous conversation and assumed that it would at least be safe at the store. Cut to this year, and I walk by the shop on Christmas Eve, and remember my painting is in there. Since then, I've been calling the shop, the owner, email, writing Facebook messages to get a hold

of Kelly, and I don't hear back until today buy a text. Our conversation is as follows. Hi, Kelly, this is O.P. I've been trying to get a hold of you about a painting that I commissioned to the previous owner in 2013. Do you know what happened to it? Any info is appreciated. Hi, O.P. I'm sorry. Unfortunately, I do not. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Are you the owner of the shop?

I am. I bought it from the previous owner two years ago. Yeah, I remember that. We discussed the painting then, but I couldn't get a hold of you, and I figured I would just leave it at the shop. Do you have records of commission agreements? No, I'm so sorry, I don't. I don't do any commissions, so I'm not sure what the agreement was between you and Alex. I'd be more than happy to figure something out. Just let me know what you're thinking.

Well, ideally, I would just like it back. The painting sold actually just last week. Oh, can I pick up a check for it then? Let me contact the previous owner and see if she has the agreement. How much did it sell for? $120. $120? Yes, it was listed for $1,200. I'm not sure what I can do. Do you still have Alex's number? I don't, but if you could check for an agreement, I'll do the same. Also, if you could forward me a copy of the invoice from it selling last week, that'd be great.

I never got an agreement from Alex, so I'm in the dark about what was agreed on between you both. The sale was ran through my point of sale, so I can't send you anything. Maybe it's best you and Alex talk since the agreement was made between you guys. Can you take a photo of the info on the screen of the point of sale system? It has credit card info on it, so I cannot. I have the previous owner's email. Would you like that so you guys can figure out what to do? That would be great, but I'm not sure how big of a difference it'll make if you bought the company from her. If you can get any proof of purchase of the painting for me, it would be really helpful. You can blur the credit card number or anything in your accounting would work. Literally any proof would help. I have yet to receive

any proof that the painting last week sold. I assume the painting is long gone, misplaced, and likely didn't sell last week, and she's probably lying. Do I have any chance of recovering the cost of the painting from her? Then OP posted an update. I told the owner this morning, I needed either the painting back or the value of the painting without the agreed-upon consignment fee for her. I offered 30%. That would make it a $900 check to me. She said I should have my lawyer contact her and otherwise wants nothing else to do with me. What a peach. I have an appointment to get some advice from a lawyer who works with artist pro bono next week. So until then, I guess I just have to wait. People are discussing this in the comments saying that when you buy a business, you also buy all the previous

deals and contracts from the previous business. And that's true. I learned this watching lawyers react to this Lego scandal. This is incredibly similar to that case. Then three months later, O.P. posted an update. I found a non-profit in my area that helps artists and creatives find lawyers who are willing to help them pro bono. My lawyer sent a carefully worded letter saying we'd like the painting back or the value of the painting paid to me, minus the commission. Or I'd be pursuing the issue in small claims courts. I didn't hear from her for a few weeks. Then I got a sickeningly sweet text saying she managed to track down the person who supposedly bought the painting from the shop, purchased it back from them, and is ready to pick it up. Wow, she's a hero.

But not at the shop, at her home. I sent my boyfriend to grab it to avoid a bizarre confrontation with her. She left it on the porch and wouldn't answer the door. She left a valuable painting on her porch, outdoor for hours. Whatever, I have it back and never have to talk to her again. Opie, she 1,100,000% just took the painting home. She didn't sell it. She probably didn't even try to sell it. She was just like, hey, I like this painting. It's mine now.

I'm going to steal it and just pretend this problem doesn't exist. Down in the comments, we have this story from Salvage Sword. I had three oil paintings on sale for commission and a giant four-part mural disappeared before. The paperwork that the owner had on file disappeared too. I'd done business with the owner before, so I very very. stupidly trusted her. I'm assuming she sold the paintings and pocketed the money. I got my revenge in a way. I knew the organizers of a couple monthly events that used her venue. They

pulled out after I told them what happened and they started hosting events at a different venue instead. She lost a lot more money than if she had just paid me what was owed. Man, is this a common thing in the world of art galleries and commission paintings? I don't know, man. It just vanished. So, whoops. Not my problem, though. And then they just expect that to work. Anyways, O.P., I'm really glad you called her bluff. When she said, have your lawyer contact me, I bet she was shocked when your lawyer actually contacted her. Oh, no, I'm actually in trouble here.

Our next Reddit post is from Reader. I manage a large nonprofit. The budget is tight, and I'm short-staffed. I finally was approved to open up a position with the understanding that it'd be a 90-day trial period, and at the end of that period, the organization would have evaluated. how well it worked, and then decide whether or not to make the person permanent non-exempt. I hired a guy who had great experience and great references and was amazing in the interview. For 90 days, he was great, fast learner, very motivated, put in extra effort, reliable.

I was happy he was working so well, and my bosses were happy that they approve my staffing proposal. Towards the end of the 90-day trial period, my hire started asking pretty frequently about being made permanent. Neither I nor my supervisor saw any reason why that shouldn't happen. He'd been great, and I was so incredibly relieved to have the help. So at the end of the trial, we made him permanent with benefits, paid time off, vacation, the whole lasagna. Since then, he's been a nightmare. He's become a completely different person.

He's only been permanent for one month. The very first week, he called in sick three of the five days. He comes in late and leaves early. is constantly making mistakes, he refuses to read or answer his emails, he's rude to my other employees and upper management, and he's hung up on patrons. I've gotten a lot of complaints. I met with him twice to address these issues. At the first meeting, he said he was just confused about time off, organization policies, etc. I was confused since he did fine for three months, but gave him the benefit of the doubt and did some retraining. But mistakes kept happening. He continued to miss work,

and he stopped even trying to get along with the others. I met with him a second time in a much more serious tone, but I also asked him if there were any issues outside of work that might be the cause. I just couldn't wrap my head around this day and night difference in him. He did not like that and said there weren't any outside issues that were any of my business and then became very antagonistic and defensive. The meeting ended on a rather sour notes. Now I've been hearing from my other employees and also upper management

that this new hire is complaining about me and the organization constantly. I heard from my direct boss that the hireups are getting concerned. While writing this, I got a meeting request. I just met with our payroll and HR manager because not only is my hire somehow in negative sick leave and paid time off, but he's apparently been using his lunch hours to barge into HR's office and argue about his time off, trying to get the organization to pay for it for various reasons. Oh, and he tried to access bereavement leave to cover a vacation. I'm beyond mortified.

I fought so hard to get this position approved, and I desperately need the help. I'm afraid this will turn my higher-ups off to keeping this position, and they'll do away with it. And I'm frankly embarrassed that I hired this guy. I feel like a failure. I'm disappointed I let my bosses down, but I'm also disappointed in myself for not being able to clamp down on this guy's shenanigans. Any suggestions on how to talk to my higher-ups to keep the position? Or how do I deal with this? I'm at my wits end. Then, O.P. posted an update.

I took your advice and went to my manager. I just laid it out. I told him about the 90 days being fine, and the ensuing nightmare once the guy had been made permanent. I told him about my concerns for the position, both with this guy, both with this guy in it, and what would happen if he were let go. And once the conversation got going, I also ended up sharing how embassioned. embarrassed I was for my hire's behavior, both towards patrons and the full staff, and the fact that I'd brought this guy onto the team. It ended up being a great conversation about my role in the organization, and it was a relief to know that my director was just as baffled

by this guy's behavior as I was. As a side note, a lot of readers assume that this was a younger hire out of college, but that is not the case. It makes this whole situation much weirder, and I probably should have mentioned in the original post that Mr. Hyde is in his early 40s. And he was coming from a similar position that he held for many years at a sister organization in another state. For legal reasons, my manager and HR decided the best course of action was to put him on a personal improvement plan. Not what I would have wanted, but there it is. When I met with Mr. Hyde to discuss the terms of the personal improvement plan, he handled it as gracefully as you'd expect. By refusing to sign it, demanding to get his lawyer involved, but eventually

signing it, albeit with a very poor attitude. Enforcing and tracking the personal improvement plan was just the worst. It was a lot of extra work that compounded my already heavy workload, and while Mr. Hyde was generally improving on trackable issues by making fewer mistakes, his attitude and general professionalism got as low as it could go. It was difficult to manage, however, because a lot of the ways he did this were in grayish areas. For example, we don't have a mandatory dress code because, we don't have a mandatory dress code because we're all adults who know that when you come to work, you look presentable and, well, clean. He would come in smelly gym clothes or filthy t-shirts and jeans, to the point where visitors would comment on the office smell. He would take his breaks at the worst times possible,

leaving my other reports to deal with the fallout. He would speak on the phone with donors in a snarky, sarcastic tone using terms like ma'am or sir to address them. His response is that there isn't a dress code, so how should he know? How was he supposed to know to take breaks by law and didn't realize it was a problem? And his tone with donors was just being polite. Basically, he said that he was doing his job in the most passive-aggressive way possible. Professionalism was included in the plan, and I just have to assume that he didn't take that portion, or me, seriously. I was incredibly frustrated, but hadn't realized how frustrated my team was until one of them asked to meet with me. That employee was one of the most passive, patient, and empathetic people I'd ever met.

So I was completely floored when he asked to make a formal complaint about Mr. Hyde. In short, I had no idea some of the things that were happening when I wasn't watching Mr. Hyde. And of course, my team wasn't aware of Mr. Hyde's personal improvement plan. But the news that employee brought to me was so bad that I met with my manager the same day and ask for the termination of Mr. Hyde, regardless of preserving the position. And that's exactly what happened. Mr. Hyde was terminated, and I did lose the position. But just having that toxic element gone has been completely reinvigorating.

My team is so much happier, and what seemed like a heavy workload previously is now approached by everyone, including myself, as worth the effort to maintain our workplace morale and overall sanity. But here's the real kicker. Earlier this month, I attended a conference and happened to run into my counterpart at the organization that Mr. Hyde came to us from. I couldn't help myself and had to ask if they had any issues with him since I'd gotten such a glowing recommendation from his supervisor. Turns out they had numerous problems with Mr. Hyde. But his supervisor was unwilling to fire him and was apparently thrilled when I called for the recommendation.

He hadn't known Mr. Hyde was looking to move on and gave me a great, great recommendation in order to pass him off to me without any unpleasantness on his end. Genuinely, who's worse, the toxic employee, or the spineless manager, who passes off the toxic employee to you just so he doesn't have to deal with it. Our next Reddit post comes from R slash Am I the Butthole? Am I the Butthole for not hiring a girl because her dad initiated the process? I manage a store, and one of my customers started emailing me about wanting his 16-year-old daughter to get a job here. I sent him an application and told him to have her send it back to me.

He sent it back to me a day later, and he's emailed me two or three times in the past 10 days to check on it. I've yet to even speak to or see his daughter. I honestly have absolutely zero interest in meeting with this girl because I have a stack of applications filled out by fully functioning adults, who applied on their own accord rather than with daddy's direction. I'm going to interview her solely because I don't want to upset an annoyingly persistent yet well-paying customer. But I've absolutely made up my mind that I am not hiring her. Am I the butthole? The general verdict is that yes, OP is the butthole. Then eight months later, O.P. posted an update. I interviewed her to appease her father, but I had no intention of hiring

her. She was very mature, clearly intelligent, and well-spoken, and she apologized for her dad's relentless behavior. I was singing a different tune by the end of the interview. and I did offer her a job, but her availability did not match our very specific needs at the time. However, about two months ago, we opened a second location and were hiring for all shifts. I reached back out to her to see if she still might be interested, even though the commute would be further than the original site. She accepted and quickly became perhaps my most trusted employee. As of today, she's the only employee I have who's never called off, been late, or left early. Thanks to those of you who called me out, and who made me realize her father's actions were not necessarily indicative that she would be a slouch.

That was our slash best of Redditor updates, and if you like this content, be sure to follow my podcast because I put out new Reddit podcast episodes every single day.