We have all played out that fantasy, right? The one where you run into your high school bully ten years later, only now, you’re successful and they’re… not. It’s a classic revenge daydream. Well, for one sous chef on Reddit, that fantasy just walked right into his restaurant and asked for a job.
Our narrator is a sous chef at a small farm-to-table restaurant. He’s got a good system with the executive chef: he conducts the first interview, and if he gives the thumbs-up, they move on. The exec trusts his judgment completely. He is the gatekeeper.
So, last week, he’s reviewing applicants and a name pops up that he immediately recognizes. Let’s call him “Jake.” Jake was in his graduating class. And Jake wasn’t just a casual jerk. Jake was a full-time, professional-grade monster.
The chef explains that for most of junior and senior year, Jake made his life hell. He wasn’t just bullied; he was systematically humiliated. Jake’s “favorite thing” was to loudly insult him in front of his friends and then force him to leave because he wasn’t “cool enough.” This happened everywhere. At lunch, in gym, at assemblies.
He shares one specific, gut-wrenching memory of a football game where Jake kept telling everyone how much weight he’d gained, calling him a “fat f**k” and making him sit on the other side of the field, all alone. As the chef admits, “I still think about that stuff today to be honest.” And that, right there, is the ballgame. That’s the trauma that sticks with you.
Fast forward ten years. Jake walks in, sits down, and has no idea who he is talking to. He doesn’t recognize the person whose life he made a misery. And the chef, in a move of pure, icy professionalism, doesn’t bring it up. He just conducts the interview.
And here’s the kicker: the interview went well. Jake had a good resume. He was “definitely qualified.” But our chef admits that before a single word was spoken, he knew. He knew he was not going to hire this guy. He finished the interview, told him “I’ll be in touch,” and then later called and gave him the ol’ “we accepted someone else.”
Now, the chef is feeling a little guilty. It was 10 years ago. People change, right? He knows he was a different person back then, and maybe Jake is, too. He’s worried he judged someone for actions from a decade ago.
Let’s be incredibly clear about something. He is not the ahole. He is not the ahole for one, simple, unassailable reason: he didn’t want to work with his abuser. This isn’t about petty revenge. This is about self-preservation.
His final line says it all: “if I had to work with him again it would bring up a lot of memories I try not to think about anymore.” That’s not being an ahole; that’s being a human with a functioning sense of self-protection. You are not required to hire your tormentor. You are not required to sit in staff meetings with the person who gave you lifelong insecurities.
You are not required to subject yourself to daily PTSD triggers just because your bully finally learned how to write a resume. This isn’t a feel-good movie where they hug it out. This is real life, and in real life, you don’t have to set yourself on fire to keep your high school bully warm.
So, to the chef, I say: You didn’t just reject a qualified applicant; you protected your peace. Jake didn’t get the job because of a “skills gap.” His “past experience” was the problem. And that’s not on you. That’s on him. Karma isn’t just a b**ch; sometimes, it’s a sous chef.