An unsatisfied carpenter demolished the walls of a building he was working on after being denied pay for an "unauthorized" weekend shift.
The man, known as Mitch The Chippy online, filmed himself using a hammer to take down a wall as he explained what led to retaliation against his employer.
Mitch had gone to work on a Saturday to advance the building's construction. When he returned on Monday, his employer informed him he wouldn't be compensated for his efforts.
Highlights
- A carpenter destroyed a building's walls after being denied pay for an unauthorized weekend shift.
- Mitch's "revenge" video garnered over 2.5 million views, sparking debate.
- The builder quit his job after the manager offered pay only if he fixed the walls.
Image credits: mitchthechippi
Image credits: mitchthechippi
"He says to me, 'Who's authorized you to come here on a Saturday on your own and work?' I said, 'No one, I've just come here and got it done 'cause you said it needed to be done ASAP for the plumbers,'" Mitch recounted on his social media pages.
"And he goes, 'Well, you're not getting paid for it because you're unauthorized working.' So this is what he gets."
Mitch began cutting through half the walls, dismantling his previous work.
The worker from East Midlands, England, told his followers that he planned to smash the twenty walls he had built.
"Let's see who has the last laugh when he comes in the morning and sees there's only four walls left."
Mitch's video has been viewed over 2.5 million times since he shared it on Tuesday (November 5). While some praised the builder, viewing his actions as justified revenge, others argued that he was at fault for doing unauthorized overtime and, therefore, shouldn't have expected payment.
Image credits: mitchthechippi
"I have my own business, If that was me, I would shake your hand and say well done lad. Here's a little bonus for your hard work," one user wrote.
"Ain't gonna lie if I did extra work and was told I'm not getting paid for it would do the exact same," another admitted.
"He actually wanted you to go and do it twice to just be paid once," a separate user added.
Another netizen suggested: "Couldn't the boss have given you the next day off? Equals the same thing."
"He might well have been in the wrong as far as not been authorized.. but you're also in the right for taking it back away and say fine I'll do it within work time," somebody else penned.
Mitch worked on the site on Saturday, as he had been informed that the building needed to be completed quickly
Image credits: mitchthechippi
Image credits: mitchthechippi
A separate commenter advised Mitch to seek permission before deciding to work overtime. "You make sure you're getting paid first before you actually carry out work, quite rare to get rewarded for taking initiative."
"Either way, you just wasted time, money, and resources. For both parties," considered an additional user, while another asked, "Who does overtime without authorization?"
In a follow-up video, Mitch revealed his project manager's reaction upon arriving at the site and seeing what he had done.
"That [was] big and clever, wasn't it u tw*t," his employer texted him, to which he responded, "Was big and clever saying u wasn't paying me [sic]."
When his employer refused to pay him for his "unauthorized" work, he retaliated by taking down the walls
Image credits: mitchthechippi
The manager explained that he wouldn't pay for work he hadn't authorized. Mitch defended himself, pointing out that the manager had been "rushing" the construction process, leaving him without enough time in his regular shifts to complete the expected tasks.
The employer also told Mitch that he'd pay him if he would return to the site and fix the walls.
Mitch still decided to quit. "To be fair, I thought he was going to give me a lot more abuse than he actually did. He only sent me a couple of messages, and that was it," he shared.
Mitch has since quit the job and began working on a new project
In the UK, employers are not required to compensate workers for overtime unless their contract states it. Even if it does, by law, employees cannot usually be forced to work more than an average of 48 hours per week.
You can agree to work longer, but this agreement must be in writing and signed by you, according to the official UK government site.
In a separate video, the builder revealed that he had found a new job and shared footage of the progress he's been making on-site.
Last January, two builders in Australia demolished a homeowner's concrete driveway after not receiving the agreed payment
Image credits: 7NEWS Australia
Earlier this year, builders in Queensland, Australia, demolished a homeowner's completed driveway after claiming she had refused to pay them the full amount they had agreed upon.
Jesse and Viola had initially negotiated a 6,000 AUD ($4,012) fee for the job, which involved creating a new surface for a large driveway attached to the side of a home, according to Unilad. However, upon completion, Viola paid just 2,500 AUD ($1,670) because she was dissatisfied with the quality of the work.
"They did what they wanted, not what I wanted. [They told me] you pay now or we will smash the concrete," Viola claimed after the builders returned to the site and followed through with their threat.
Similarly, another case occurred in Lithuania last year when builder Deividas Šadis destroyed a newly installed $4.3k terrace, undoing his work after a client failed to pay the full amount three weeks after the work was completed. "If I go in the negative, he (the customer) also goes in the negative,” he said.
The English carpenter's behavior divided opinions online
