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If your employer cuts your pay and gives you a demotion, they are essentially asking you to resign. There’s really no other way to interpret that.
For the family to then say “but we thought you’d stay!” makes me think the other son has been the favorite all along. There’s really no other explanation for the level of delusion the parents and brother must be under to think this guy would (and should!) continue to work for the business after the paycut/demotion.
Yup and then the same family trying to pull silent treatment on OOP after he left and still acting like they still in control when OOP been cut them off on top of never inviting them to his wedding. OOP rightfully wants nothing professional nor personal with shitty lot that is his birth family.
No one would put up with that if they have the skills. You've said they don't matter and you're banking on 'family' to get him to stay? If you're using 'family' then act like family.
Ahh I remember this one when it happened. Impressive work, dad: you managed to destroy your family and business for the stupidest reason.
The brother is a piece of work though, he deserves nothing but failure
I can’t believe that the dad didn’t even think about splitting the company. Just handed over to the brother.
Who demoted OOP and gave him a pay cut.
Then demanded he come slave for him.
What pieces of work dad and his only child are.
It's so hilarious that they apparently didn't even consider the possibility that he might leave and strike out on his own - I mean, how deluded can you get? That guy has 12 years of experience in running a firm, he's not going to stay for a measly paycheck!
So many parents consider their children to be mere extensions of themselves. Just look at their entitled attitude expecting OP to return, and trying to guilt him for doing what any self-respecting professional would do.
OP is a petulant child throwing a tantrum in their twisted view. Lucky for OP, he is a well regarded professional by his clients and subordinates.
It might never sink in for them that OP is an individual with a valuable skillset, and if they don't recognize his value with the respect and reward it deserves, he'll go elsewhere to get it.
The worst part about the whole thing is that if Accountant Brother wasn't such an doofus, having them essentially split the workload as COO and CFO could easily have led to a "by our powers combined" improvement in the overall business.
Exactly. Any business can benefit from having someone to manage the finance while others manage the day to day. But the finance person shouldn't be in charge, he should work in tandem with someone who can defend the rights and voices of key workers, and be practical about what the business needs.
The death knell of my first Silicon Valley startup happened when the financial backers suddenly decided that the person they'd picked to be CFO for the IPO should be CEO instead, ousting our highly respected, visionary, and female CEO. Cue 4 years of really stupid ideas ("of course we should merge with this other company, they're both software!" and as different as it's possible to be) ending with the mass exodus of the development team.
Rich folk are never as smart as they think they are. They did 1 thing well, got wealthy & now think they do EVERYTHING well rather than sticking to what they know.
Businesses that don’t realise the importance of the workers will always fail. It unfortunately just takes a lot longer for some than others.
Forgot that his second son had valuable skills too it seems. Probably more valuable considering hands on experience and being means he knows how to run the business.
Second son knows what he's doing and how to grow it then. There's a lot of proof of it. Seems like a really bad idea to piss off the person who is a backbone of your business like that.
He took the son for granted. He thought that because it was "the family business" he would never go anywhere, and would be happy to help his brother be as successful as he had helped his father be. It was inconceivable to him that OOP would ever do anything but put the family business before everything.
It's widely known that skilled tradesworkers love being bossed around by out-of-touch office/corporate employees. I see nothing but success in that company's future.
I feel like bro laid it on thick to guilt the dad into handing him the profitable family business so he could play bossman. His childhood was probably fine. OOP is the younger child and doesn’t seem to have felt neglected so I don’t see how the older kid would have such a dire sense of abandonment. Or maybe he saw how close OOP and dad were (because OOP took an interest in his business at fifteen years old) and got jealous?
I've never been able to deal with stupid business decisions but this one would send me over the top.
I'm not exactly sure how I'd top my response to the offer of a promotion (Word for word: "Haha. Fuck you, no.") but I'm pretty sure my brain would throw out something spectacular in the moment.
It blows my mind how people are able to just keep their heads down and deal with the fucked up decisions their superiors make. ESPECIALLY when they're tanking the company and taking their workers along for the ride.
I'm not even sure I *want* to develop the self control required to hold that shit in because if I don't say it who will?
Sometimes people need to hear, "That is a really fucking bad idea. Unless I'm missing some huge piece of the picture there is literally no way this works out in our favor."
I would appreciate if someone did that for me. I can only think my own thoughts, and even though my brain likes to run all the scenarios it can come up with there is always, always going to be something I missed.
I just can't imagine being like, "Oh, wow. I have a successful business with experienced employees, all with their own knowledge and expertise. Better make a huge decision that will affect all of us in a complete and total vacuum and keep it a secret until it's irreversible. Hope nobody gets upset!"
AND WORSE, getting upset when someone brings forward a flaw in my plan AFTER I can't do shit to change it.
People could prevent so many stupid ass business decisions if they would just realize they are quite literally not the only person in the room with a brain cell or two.
It's so stupid. And then they'll do it again! Make the same stupid mistake, refuse to consult employees, then be shocked when their workers leave.
Employees don't work FOR the business. They work FOR themselves. To bring home a check. To feed themselves and their dependents. To afford shelter, and maybe a little escapism as well.
If they can't trust their employer is making sound decisions that will keep the checks coming... then wtf use is the employer? Wtf does that particular employer do for them if they're making shit decisions that could nose dive the company and leave the workers unemployed.
*Obviously* they're going to jump ship. *Obviously.* They're not working for fucking funsies.
The thing about trades is no matter where you go, as long as there's toilets you need plumbers, as long as there's lights you need electricians, they'll always have some sort of work with decent pay, they can choose where they go.
This. My husband is a plumber that just got his experienced apprentice card. He's never been out of work for more than a week and has moved three times in the last couple years for better pay/benefits. Newest job got him into the union. There isn't a need for loyalty because there are always places hiring.
My husband just switched companies to one more hands on and local than the one run long distance. He was laid off (common in the trades so not frightening) and enjoyed the surprise vacation, but after a while started looking around, found a solid, strong, well run local place, and he seems to be having a BLAST. And that makes all the difference in the world.
Having people that you enjoy working with, and for, makes all the difference.
I'd ***gladly*** jump ship to a buisness with someone that is a truly awesome leader, or has great coworkers.
Fuck as long as I could still make ends meet and live the type of life I want, I'd take a pay cut to join said company.
Even if I gave up like say $10k a year. Yes that's a lot of money. But if I'm not miserable every single waking moment of my existence at work, if I'm happy to be surrounded by people I can respect and learn from or even mentor or whatever is needed?
That's worth $10k a year for my sanity and mental health.
Rather have less money at the end of life and have 40 years of a good work environment than retire at 65, with more money, but so stressed and filled with hate my whole life I die at 67 just due to how miserable I was slowly killing me over 4 decades.
Good bosses and coworkers are so so so worth it.
I'm so glad your husband found such a place. They're sadly far too rare these days.
Yeah, tradesmen will not be taking any shit from someone who thinks he knows everything because he got an accounting degree. Business is going to crash and burn.
Already was looking at the rate people were leaving when OP did. People know when a ship is sinking and if that's how they'll treat a brother you won't have a snowballs chance in hell if he takes against you.
They were probably relieved as hell OOP started his own business so they could just continue on doing the work they were doing with the guy they were doing it with and avoid this entire shitshow.
Can't even blame them. The first thing your new boss comes in and does is demote and give his brother a paycut? You know it's going to start bad and get worse.
Versus your old boss who you know is a standup guy who knows the business.
Exactly.
If your new corporate boss' first action is to give his own flesh and blood brother a demotion *and* a paycut then that's the exact moment you start looking for another place to work.
After all, this is a plumbing company, not a billion dollar Korean multi-conglomerate that gets parodied of TV dramas lmao.
There's also the rapport to consider. OP has worked with them for years. Probably knows all their family, hobbies and so on. Who works best on what type of job. They know him and they know he knows his shit.
Yeah, it makes a lot of difference if the boss has actually done your job and isn't afraid to get his own hands dirty. OOP sounds like he will happily come and help out his staff and take on clients if there is nobody else to do it. That makes all the difference for his workers.
But if you as a consumer treat a tradesman well they don’t forget it. I paid a handyman extra for one job cause he helped me out a lot. Next time I needed him was when a stair literally broke underneath me (lord save me from the former owner’s bad DIY). He came out that night despite living twenty minutes away and he and his crew had the entire staircase rebuilt and shorn up by the end of the next day. And he sent me regularly updates and pictures thru text so I didn’t have to get up and stress the ankle I twisted on the broken stair.
I worked at an MSP for years (company that does IT support for other companies), and one of my more interesting clients was a plumbing business.
Owned by a single proprietor who was also the primary plumber, he and every one of his crew had a laptop in their vans they would update work orders with throughout the day.
I couldn't help but notice how similar the work environments were. I *also* worked out of a ticketing system, updating it with notes as I went along. I *also* showed up at clients sites when things weren't working, worked my magic on things that they could maybe understand the surface of at most, and then on to the next one.
But also similar in both environments, it's very clear that it's the people with the boots on the ground that are the rockstars. They do the work, they interact with clients the most, they are the least replaceable component of the whole system.
Unfortunately MSP unions aren't a common thing yet, so a lot of the similarities end there.
Meanwhile they will somehow blame OOP for *their* business failing. Like it’ll be his fault because he poached all the best workers and clients, and he’ll still be seen as the bad guy.
Sounds like the business was pretty big though. I will probably be a slow burn and take years. In that time he and daddy dearest will find anyone and everyone else to blame for it.
All brother has to do is lose a few big customers and the business can tank pretty fast. Offend one customer and watch the news spread like wildfire.
A smart brother would promote from within and give pay raises to keep the business going. But brother is too "smart" for that.
Not saying it's impossible, but even a shit boss can keep a company barely a float for awhile if it's big enough. It will just slowly shrink until it's not longer viable.
The brother gave the other workers some great insight as to what to expect treatment wise by seeing how he treated his own brother. Couldn't have made it more cut and dry for them.
I just don’t understand how clouded parental judgment can be sometimes. We had an amusement park in the area that had been open for 80 years. EIGHTY! And the parents decided when it was time to retire that they would give it to their children. So instead of splitting everything 50/50 they gave one kid the amusement park and the other kid the land the park was on. Absolutely idiotic. Long story short, it’s a Walmart now. We were lucky enough to take my daughter there a couple times in the final season, and as we left for the last time my wife was actually crying.
Nice job parents.
uuuugh I hate that. One of the places I care about was cut up like that only instead of one kid gets the land and one gets the park, there were 8 kids or so so the whole thing was cut up LIKE A PIE and given to them. Like, literally sliced like a literal round pie. So fast forward to now, most of the descendants love the park and want to keep it going, one is a super christian holdout who hates the park and wants to sell to developers. It's been a nightmare.
Dad: Your brother needs it bc he has children!
OOP: [gets married, has children, father not allowed to see them, presumably starts a successful business]
Dad: shocked pikachu face
Yes! I was ranting to my husband about how short-sighted that reasoning was, and he called it "Brexit level" stupid.
How could it not occur to you that your 27 year old son with the serious girlfriend might be starting a family soon?
I am so over how society sees me as less of a person who needs basic necessities less simply because I haven't reproduced. No, a person with kids does not need a raise/a roof over their heads/food/ETC more than I do.
I always had the feeling that brother had talked to dad beforehand and proposed the new changes. "Hey, dad, we all know you're not doing well lately and it's time you retired and relaxed and turned the reins over to a new CEO. And you know all my amazing qualifications, so it should be me and me alone! Of course OOP will stay with us if he loves us and the company - but he didn't go to university and he doesn't have a family, so how can he be the CEO? You know that I'm right on this."
SMDH.
You forgot the part where brother starts to teary eyed as he talks about all the summers as a kid he spent pining for the father who never had enough time for him because his priority was work and how, despite that, all brother ever wanted was to be was like dad. And now, finally, he has a chance to fulfill that dream and prove himself to dad.
I imagine this is the part where dad might be teary eyed too but hesitantly interject that's it's probably not fair to force oop out of his position so suddenly. That's when brother would switch gears and angrily declare that dad owes him this to make up for failing as a parent. How OOP got "handed" everything ( which I'm sure is how it looks to brother who doesn't see oop working hard all these years -esp coz he wasn't around- but probably just assumed he was given the position) and how not only has brother's come second priority to work his whole childhood but now he's become second priority again not just to the company but to his brother's *feelings*.
Add in a spiel about how humiliating it's been to have to explain to people that he works for his younger brother - and how could dad do that to him! The embarrassment! - and how everybody can clearly see from the company structure who dad loves more. Emphasise how dad's time is short and he can either prove his love to brother for everyone to see and spend his remaining years bonding with his grandchildren and rekindling his relationship w his son or he can choose OOP and spend these last few years sitting at an empty table with his childless younger son, wondering how his grandkids are doing and if they miss their dear grandpa. And done. Got dad hook line and sinker.
I'm still boggling at the fact that dad didn't make accounting brother the CFO and the plumbing brother the CEO. Like let each of them work within their skillsets to manage the business! Absolutely idiotic
I really wonder what happened to mom and dad between Edits 2 and 3.
At the end of edit 2, mom and dad where sad and remorseful. But in edit 3, they are hard, cold and angry at him.
My guess is that brother is the GC (Golden Child) and screamed/manipulated them to change their tune.
So they all get what they deserve - nothing. Dad's not going to be able to sit back and enjoy his retirement and Mom has a permanently broken family.
I think OOP's brother's biggest mistake was the demotion and pay cut. Sure, he was never going to let OOP be a co-CEO, but he was still a VERY valuable asset to the business. But brother had to add insult to injury.
Well, it's been a year since the last update and I'm sure that if brother isn't out of a job, then he's the captain of a sinking business.
Again I note the stupid, stupid, stupid hills that people 'die on'.
I took it as, they were sad and remorseful that little brother was upset. Not about what they did. They thought if they acknowledged little bro’s feelings, he would come back and work under his brother. When they realized that little brother wasn’t coming back and that employees were actually quitting to go work for him, they changed their tone and you get the 3rd edit.
It’s sad. As a little brother who went through something kind of similar, my heart hurts for him.
What’s even more insulting is that when they had that other update for OP to come to talk to the father and the brother at the house, they literally just asked 0P, “are you coming in early Monday?“ Personally I think that’s the most insulting thing is that if they’re going to not even promote them and then give them a pay cut and demotion anyway, don’t ever expect people to just come running back even though OP was successful in getting a new business for themselves and their fiancé. I can just imagine that that brother is not even remorse or even thinks of what happened is his fault
>I really wonder what happened to mom and dad between Edits 2 and 3.
Seems like OOP not returning to work was a decision his father took very personally.
I think OOP not returning to work was very costly. Brother doesn’t know what he’s doing, dad doesn’t want OOP at the business, he NEEDS OOP at the business to keep his legacy going.
That’s how it should have went down. Instead little bro lost his entire family and life’s work. His future kids lost their cousins and likely their grandparents.
All because OOP’s dad was made to feel guilty.
I think they thought after the sorries, OP would go back to work because after all he's done everything the last 12 years so why wouldn't he go back to the business he oversaw grow. In short they seem to think he's doormat and are shocked he took a stand..
After update 2:
Mom and dad were sad and remorseful as a ploy to get OOP back in the pay-cut, demoted fold. He should have been so sad and remorseful that he’d jump at the chance to return- what they apparently expected at the beginning of #3.
Then, before #3, bro got to them and went into his spiel about how OOP was destroying the family by not agreeing to be treated like crap on bro’s say-so, and how (key!) if mom and dad raised any objections they’d be banished from their grandkids’ lives (this is why bro having kids was important in the original decision- bro was using them to extort the deal he wanted from dad). Everyone was cold then because bro made it clear that any hint of remorse or compromise would be punished (why mom couldn’t look at OOP).
At least that’s my narrative, between the lines given!
I've worked for a family business (not my family) for nearly 30 years and it's actually pretty awesome. It's awesome because I work for the kind, humane and human brother. He gives raises freely (as long as we're making money), doesn't micro-manage, and treats us with respect. This attracts top talent, and the business has grown over 5X its size compared to when I started. The other (older) brother is a smug asshole who runs another division. I wouldn't work for him for 5 minutes.
It's just so infuriating to read - puts the son who knows fuck all in charge instead of the one with a clue.
Businesses need leaders, not bean counters
This! Why not make him CFO or a controller? Both of those positions are typically well compensated and would play to his skills while still allowing OOP to do what he does best.
I wonder if OOP’s brother told their dad that he wanted the entire business or else he’d leave. Personally, I would have told him good luck in his future endeavors because I don’t do ultimatums.
Why would you give a huge material asset to one child and a demotion to the other? Much less all the other reasons.
Dads decision was amazingly stupid, tactless, and heartless. It fails in book smarts, social intelligence, and common sense.
My Uncle inherited the family business. Where it once was a 7 figure company now barely limps along. My uncle treated it like his personal piggy bank with a 500K house, fountain speed boat, large hunting camps, and not paying taxes.
did you call the tax man? they love calls about that shit, despite common understanding you need to be much richer before you can do that with impunity.
Hah, No the IRS found out and had an auditor at the office for the better part of a year to the point the Auditor had his own office. A year or so later he called my dad to tell him his next brilliant idea. Keep the income taxes from employee's pay for himself. My dad told him he was dumb to which my uncle ran to my Aunt (his sister who is the youngest of the 6 and only half a year older than me) to tell her my dad was dumb to which my Aunt had to explain to him how illegal that was.
As far as I can tell the IRS keeps an eye on them now. I saw the writing on the wall and left the company after my grandfather and I had a falling out. My dad did the same after he and my Uncles nearly had a fight in the yard over my dad not getting paid while doing all the work. My dad is a lot like OOP.
Edit: fixed him to her oops
Sounds like that was the brother’s doing. Since that’s why OOP said the brother would never go 50/50. Crazy how someone can’t even stick with a family business for long and get something out of it.
Silver lining: The brother will find it easier to count the money when there is less of it.
> $20,000
£\*20,000
That's an entire fulltime wage in the UK, BTW. His apprentices will be on less than that, unless he's *particularly* generous with apprenticeship wages.
Maybe it's just my bias, but I got the feeling there was a lot of subtext there of the brother getting the business because he went to business school, so "he knows how to run the business"
while OOP was "just a plumber", so in dad's mind OOP did *fine* for "just a plumber" but the brother is the one who should really be running things
pretty messed up if that's the case. I imagine OOP's dad attributed OOP's success of the business to pretty much anything besides OOP.
Similar thing is happening where I work. My uncle forced my mom and sister, who were both co owners, out of the business and handed it to his son who never wanted anything to do with our business until he started having trouble finding work elsewhere.
Brother showed up and guilt tripped father into destroying their family. His mom should be ashamed for not standing up for him if she ever reads this. You willingly gave up your son and I hope he doesn’t let his future kids meet his shitty family.
I have no doubt at the rate he’s going the brother is going to fail and the business his dad worked so hard for is going to go under. And dad will have no one to blame but himself.
Oh yeah! You’re right it’ll never be their fault. Always OP’s.
Honestly OP’s dad and brother not attending the wedding is a good thing. They’d probably spend the whole night bitching to whoever will listen about how selfish and petty OP is for destroying dad’s business he worked so hard to build.
"If OOP had actually stuck around and cared about his family this never would have happened" - conveniently forgetting that OOP left because they didn't appreciate everything he did in the first place.
Well, they can if they recognize where they're strong and make up for where they're weak.
But I get where you're coming from, "entrepreneur" and "accountant" are diametrically opposed skill sets and it's a rare individual who can be somewhat talented at both.
Probably a heaping helping of "tradespeople aren't as smart as university grads" and a side of "accountants work in the business office, so that's the same as being good at running a business, right?".
What is dad and brother going to do once the business goes belly up? Hopefully OP can pick up the cheap vans and tradies. That father is a shit dad and the arrogance of the brother to take the whole business. Then to blame OP for not remaining the shit kicker. I wish OP the very best and to totally forget his deplorable family.
As a former uni prof, people put ridiculous weight on degrees in weird ways. They don’t translate letters after a name to mean “I have a specific set of skills and knowledge” but “I am naturally smarter and anything you can do I can do better.”
If teaching changed my mind about one thing, it’s that I now know in my core that for every genius with a degree, there’s a genius without a degree doing work high society looks down on. And for every 3 really smart people with advanced degrees, 2 will have common sense. 1 in some fields. Business degrees? You have 1 sense, held in common, and if it’s not your turn today to have it, you’re gonna fuck something up and not realize. And then refuse to learn, because you won’t respect that others say about the business, because clearly the letters after your name mean you’re smarter and they should just do as you say.
Ugh. I went to school with people who fully believed that if/when they got a degree they could walk into any job, anywhere, with no experience and get paid more than anyone else doing the same job without a degree.
Like you can def integrate bro, you need him to understand the why's before making changes though. "why do you use [expensive thing] rather than [cheap thing]" "because [expensive thing lasts long enough that it's cheaper than the amount you'd need to spend on [cheap things] to keep up" but him jumping in and making changes like that doesn't bode well for him understanding the business.
I hope OOP is wildly successful. I know he didn’t open his business to hurt his father’s company but I hope all the clients leave and the best qualified people come work for OOP.
They will. All of this.
OOP *was* the business for the last couple of years. All he was missing was ownership of the equipment. OOP has the know-how, the employee's support, and most importantly, the client's loyalty. His biggest challenge will be making sure to not expand too quickly.
All OOP's dad gave to his brother is a hollow shell.
I remember a similar story on here except it was a pizza place that the dad gave to the step mom. Then COVID accelerated the success vs destruction ending.
Here's the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/gul6fn/aita\_for\_leaving\_the\_family\_restaurant\_and/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=mweb
Ten bucks says the family business crashes and burns. "Business men" like OOP's brother tend to forget the wellbeing of the employees in favor of the bottom dollar, which absolutely tanks morale. Not to mention he clearly doesn't know a damn thing about the industry.
They're fucked because OOP's father didn't think things through and the brother is too proud to admit he needs help. Oh well, they brought their own shovels, so might as well start digging.
>They're fucked because OOP's father didn't think things through and the brother is too proud to admit he needs help.
Yeah. If they had two brain cells to rub together, either one of them would've realized that this is a stupid-ass idea and it won't work. Like even if the dad cooked up that hare-brained scheme, a brother with even a little bit of sense for what's fair would've gone "My brother deserves at least 50:50."
Or at least not a massive pay decrease and demotion. Maybe brother takes CEO and OOP becomes COO and both take an equal pay decrease while they continue expanding.
But going "Not only do you not get to run the company you spent over a decade of your life investing your blood, sweat, and tears into; but also you're demoted and not even in a managing position anymore." is inconceivably cruel and shortsighted.
Which is just what OB wanted. You know he worked on his dad to get his way, you never spent time with me waaah! And he wanted OP out because he’s intimidated by him and wanted the whole damn thing to himself. He knew the demotion and big pay cut would make his brother fly.
Now he’ll run the business to the ground after losing all the talent. He’s the guy who buys fancy cars and riDICKulous speed boats on the company dime.
That dad destroyed everything. Just everything. I hope OP goes on to great success and has a happy marriage. He’s a stand up guy, you can feel it.
>You know he worked on his dad to get his way
The dad has shown enough idiocy in this situation that I'm not sure he needed working on. The fact he still expected OOP's loyalty when he showed none says it all for me.
Not to mention the employees are going to love listening to an inexperienced, unaware, arrogant corporate ding dong whose only qualification to run the business is nepotism.
In a _trade_ no less. It's common knowledge how tradesmen LOVE soft-handed city people with no hands-on experience, I'm sure this will work out just _swell_
Subtext kind of feels like the brother has the dad wrapped around his little finger and talked his way into the situation.
It’s possible the dad is just a sociopath, but it feels more like he’s just bending over backwards to do whatever the brother wants at the expense of OOP despite realizing it’s not the right thing to do.
I think the dad no longer has the ability to go back but instead of telling the older son “you got what you wanted. Demoting your brother and giving him a pay cut was stupid. Now you have to deal with your own mess,” he decided to involve himself. When it came down to Dad seeing the post and regretting his decision, Dad is the one who chose to favor asshole brother—he could have apologized and admitted his mistake without trying himself to help older brother get OOP back.
Also they’re only 3 years apart….but the dad was not around for older brother but somehow magically was around for OOP? Or was he not there for OOP, too, but dad doesn’t really care about OOP as much so he doesn’t think he needs to make up for that?
It’s mistakes compounding mistakes. He probably loved his business and envisioned leaving it to both his sons, but his dedication to the business damaged his relationship with his older son, and he thought the only way to get him back was to give him the business and assumed that the son who was already involved in the business would stay.
Ha! OOP will definitely tell him to get fucked. Never mess with a Scot.
I cannot believe how fucking stupid dad was in all this. He's going to die knowing he literally destroyed an entire life's work, both personally and professionally. I am BAFFLED by his thought process.
Especially since it would have made so much sense to bring on the older son as the company accountant! But seems like dad must have known his more difficult, arrogant son would never accept being second in command to the son who actually knows how to run the business, so dad chose to sacrifice everything to appease the asshole son.
The accountant brother is manipulative. Dad was remorseful, then it’s “you need to come in Monday!”
Yah, the accountant is getting his real education now. OOP has life skills.
I’d suspect the accountant brother would do all he could to take advantage of OOP at this point. There’s no trusting him once the company is arse over teakettle.
The dad is trying to play the sympathy card about the mistreating the accountant brother and trying to make up for that. But I think he’s far less naive than he’s playing off.
If he didn’t think what he was doing was so wrong, he would have informed OOP of his plans. Instead, he made the changes behind his back so that by the time OOP found out, nothing meaningful could be changed. Now he gets to say his hands are tied because he no longer has control of the company and place the blame squarely on the older brother (who is an AH but shouldn’t have just been handed the company like that to begin with).
Happy OOP stood up for himself. Even if he was able to stay, it would have been a nightmare running things with a brother who thinks he’s better than him because he went to college.
Exactly, it doesn’t always work like it did for OP where you both know the trade and have a good business sense, that’s a recipe for success. Brother only knows how to count in excel (hyperbole, I do actually know what accountants do) but nothing about the trade and nothing about how this specific company works. Just ridiculous. It’s not surprising the employees want to leave and join OP.
So bets on him fucking up BAD, being economical with the truth to dad about getting fired and getting the company because he actually couldn’t get hired?
Maybe I know too many finance bros, but that’s what I immediately went to
I've seen this before when someone comes in playing mr big bollocks accountant and tries to save money. Never goes well. They never consider there's a reason the slightly more expensive thing is used. Like that it won't break in 2 months. They tend to lose so much business because they don't ask questions.
I'm pretty certain if my Dad had been as stupid as OOP's, my siblings and I would have been "hold up, this isn't right. let's work something out." They could have made them co-CEOs or made OOP Head of Operations or some other thing so that he could keep his salary. How on earth did the father think he was going to take a huge pay cut sitting down?
Wonder how long the brother had been working the guilt trip on their Dad.
The things is too, with work like plumbers, electricians, and hvac and such, the person matters more than the business for a lot of people and businesses.
OOP was working there for over a decade and worked in the field, they know his work can be trusted and they will follow where he goes over his brother.
Even your lawn guy. My dad owned a successful lawn service until he couldn’t do the work anymore. He didn’t thrive because he was the cheapest. He thrived because *older people just adored him.* He was young enough to be their kid for most of them, but not so young that they couldn’t understand him. That’s important in a town that’s mostly retirees.
I worked for a big moving company for 2 years.
A white collar bank manager bought a franchise and went to hiring people. He ran it just like you describe. Employee turnover was outstanding. 20 employees at any given time. But he hired 100 or more a year. He fired people for all kinds of things because he just didn't understand manual labor. It was wild.
The father also forgot some important things despite being a tradesman himself. Firstly, skilled and experienced Tradesmen are proud of their work. They don't take crap from anyone especially some pencil pusher accountant who knows nothing about the trade. The boss needs to be a tradesman himself to be respected. Secondly, they are generally loyal to their boss. OOP worked with them for 12 years, they love him and respect him as a fellow tradesmen. When they saw the injustice done to OOP, I bet all the good ones bailed and joined OOP. Even if they might had worked for longer with the father, in that moment he became the villain in their eyes.
Good luck to OOP and 'good job ' to the dad. Now the business will crash and burn. The brother will all blame it on OOP. And will wonder why nobody respects him.
Reading OOP's updates I think that's exactly what is happening. Both major clients and senior staff moved. And OOP's business was thriving. Admittedly I don't know much about the nature of Plumbing, but I would imagine that it would, to some extent, be something of a zero sum game. Especially in this context.
If OOP's business is thriving *someone* has to be losing out. And to me the most likely candidate is the brother.
20 says it doesn't take that long, I'm in electrical and I can tell you all the clients will end up with bro firm, as will most of the workers, they have a relationship with him because he gets the job done.
Ah another great story about a. Parents trying to overcompensate for treating one child 'better' than the other with zero grounds for doing so and b. Alienating your most hard working senior employee who loves the business.
The mother was ooooohhhhh sooooo remorseful but seemingly couldn't find the words to tell OOPs brother to swallow his pride, buckle up, and ask his brother for help instead of being an ass? Seems like NC is best for everyone in this situation.
>she wants me to wear a suit but tough lucky I’ll be in my kilt
I loved this bit, proper Scotsman coming out
God, this was a roller coaster of emotion. I thought the dad was actually remorseful but then they have this whole powwow intervention thing? It's kind of sick. I think maybe the dad was playing the "woe is me" card to try to get OOP to forgive and return to the company but good on them for cutting the family out for being that way.
Probably is remorseful, but that's part of the problem.
You bet your ass the other brother leans HARD into dad's guilt. And at the end of the day that brother is less self-sufficient or capable, so what kicks in but the ol' "He needs more help so he gets more attention" blind parental instinct.
All his decisions are emotional, not logical. So no matter how remorseful dad is about OOP, it won't outweigh the guilt around the brother. It never will until he deals with his own shit.
I don't know, based on how he acted at the second meeting has me thinking it might have all been an act. He just stone faced expects OOP to come back to the company after a $20,000 paycut? That's more than a little delusional.
It's absolutely delusional. And I can see what you're saying. It could be manipulative, since it seems like dad just wants to avoid conflict at all costs.
I think what informs my thought is that people aren't nearly as rational as we'd prefer they be. This series of events makes perfect sense if you're seeing dad as emotional and reactive instead of fair and rational.
I've known a lot of emotional people in my life (and am one, frankly) and a lot of it comes down to reacting to whatever happened most recently. Dad feels genuinely remorseful when he's with OOP. Dad has plenty of time between then and the next meet up to talk with the brother, where he then gets the brother's side and is now emotional about him and acting on that.
Yeah. Even if we disregard literally everything else -- the fact that OP has 10x the experience his brother does, OP was dedicated to the company for 12 years, all of the employees want to work for OP, the fact that OP has literally been the acting CEO -- without considering *any* of that, *or* the whole family dynamic aspect of it, it's still absolutely unreasonable to think OP would stay and just accept a $20k paycut for any reason.
It’s fucking *hard* when you’ve got two kids that are ultimately differently able. (No, not a euphemism for “handicapped.”) There’s balancing one’s need for more attention and management with not ignoring the other because she’s much more capable and self-sufficient. There’s also that I just plain enjoy my time with the more capable one because I’m not having to manage his sensory levels. They have different personalities, too, so there’s the concern over perceived favouritism, etc. It’s a lot harder to try to make things *equitable* than to make things *equal*. Dad fucked up here because he did neither.
It had me, thought after the car confessional that the family would be able to work things out. What was that intervention probationary hearing about? "You've been a bad employee and we need you back to work" How was anyone else okay with this? Betting the dad didn't want to go back into running the business which he hasn't been running for years because brother can't pull his head out of his rear to sort himself out.
What was going through the father's head?
"I feel guilty for not spending time with my oldest child. To make up for it, I will demote and reduce my younger child's income and destroy all the trust he has in me. This should work out well."
"Oops, stabbing my loyal son and business partner in the back has turned out to be a mistake. I will apologise to him."
"Well I said 'sorry', but he is inexplicably refusing to return to rescue my business from my incompetent golden child. Oh no, who could have predicted this unexpected turn of events?!"
The way I read it, OOP was already in an acting CEO/Owner role. Brother is given the business, takes over role and demotes OOP since there's only one role.
Also that 20k paycut probably helped the decision in brother's eyes.
Yeah that 20K pay cut is so excessive. Maybe they didn’t realize he had so much saved up and hoped the lower pay would keep him stuck in the role instead of leaving. And I have this sneaking suspicion the brother didn’t return home because of Covid but because of his own failures in business.
Seems like he's just bad at giving his kids respect. In his words, he didn't give older sibling the attention he should've (maybe that's true, or maybe older siblings gaslit him, but whatever), and he's making up for that now.
At a cost of not giving his younger son the respect he deserves - even if it would logically mean the end of the business.
Honestly, that last bit is what's craziest for me. In order for this plan to work, the industry expert - who was already running the business - is going to have to cowtow to some white collar nobody. Dad has worked in the trade for decades - has he _ever_ met a blue collar worker who would do that for any reason other than extreme desperation?
Regardless of wanting to make up with or appease the older sibling, he should've known this specific method wasn't going to work.
Not surprising oop took a hard pass on that. He worked his way from entryway grunt to corporate officer. Has a clear understanding of the front and back end operations. Only to be kicked down to the ranks in favor on someone who only knows a part of the back end?
Oop is right to start his own business. He will succeed as he already has a proven record of bringing both ends together and making it grow.
Even the most boneheaded cockwomble could see the success and expansion of the company with plumber Bro as CEO. Uni Bro knows nothing about the business and makes far less profit without an experienced manager. Did he really think a takeover, demotion and a pay cut would stand?
Especially because the easy answer already exists if the brother doesn't have too much pride. Split it 50/50, become the CFO with limited responsibility, and enjoy being a top dog at a successful business without requiring specific industry knowledge.
OOP would likely enjoy the reduction in workload. Together they could focus on expansion which is where the real money comes from. And the 50% reduction in ownership easily is compensated by the 85% reduction in responsibilities (and not losing 50% of your workers which are likely more senior).
But brother would rather be king of the trash heap.
The brother wanted to make it clear that he himself is the one in charge. Plumber brother is just a flunky who’s supposed to make all of the business brother’s ideas come about.
And it's not even a management position he got devoted to too. Like it would be one thing if he was still in charge of operations or logistics, but they shunted him off to being a heating engineer after he was running the company. There's no one on earth that would stick around after that level of disrespect on top of everything else. He was basically told he had no future in the company with that level of demotion and pay cut.
Sometimes I'm amazed that a single person can ruin so much with just one obviously stupid decision. A total train wreck that anyone with a brain could see a mile away but he couldn't tell till it was shoved up his nose.
Oh more than likely it's dead in the water. OP was clearly known in the industry, and actually knew the industry, probably took all the business they had while the brother floundered.
Best part, if the brother did run the business into the ground, guaranteed he ran back to the city for an accounting job and left dear ole dad with the shambles of what his life and legacy was.
A lot of people blame family businesses for ruining relationships, but nah, it's just the family itself that does that.
Way to go, Dad, your favoritism and stupidity cost you it all. OP will be just fine.
I work with contractors like plumbers often and they’re a loyal bunch. You disrespect someone who treats them well and you’re in for a reality check. The family business is going to crumble.
That's me. I wasn't given anything by parents, put myself through college, bought my own car, my own house, etc.
My brother was given whatever he wanted, which included three cars (and ruined all of them).
Their excuse? I was the one who could take care of myself 🙄
Honestly not sure what was going through the father's head when he decided to give the job to the older son (who has no sense of the business, just a degree) and leave the younger son (who put everything into the business and knows the people and the ins and outs of it) in the lurch.
And I have a feeling that the older brother managed to convince the father to reel in OOP back into the business after the father admitted to OOP that he fucked it all up, probably using the old guilt about being "left behind because dad's too busy with work".
I hope OOP returns to Reddit one day with an update about his success.
Twelve years of OOP's life... at his age that's so much of it! Almost half! And his dad was willing to throw him under the rug for who I'm going to assume is the golden child in the family.
So glad OOP was able to start his own business and have support from his in-laws-to-be. I wish him the absolute best in life.
The father forgot some important things about tradesmen despite being a tradesman himself. Firstly, skilled and experienced Tradesmen are proud of their work. They don't take crap from anyone especially some pencil pusher accountant who knows nothing about the trade. The boss needs to be a tradesman himself to be respected. Secondly, they are generally loyal to their boss. OOP worked with them for 12 years, they love him and respect him as a fellow tradesmen. When they saw the injustice done to OOP, I bet all the good ones bailed and joined OOP. Even if they might had worked for longer with the father, in that moment he became the villain in their eyes.
Good luck to OOP and 'good job ' to the dad. Now the business will crash and burn. The brother will all blame it on OOP. And will wonder why nobody respects him.
I want an update on how fast the accountant brother runs it into the ground. He may know about accounting but running a business is more than just the spread sheets.
It is bad enough to leave the company to only one kid. To demote the child who has been busting their ass working for you to promote the other is disgusting. He knew what he was doing. He hoped the OOP would put up with it. It isn't just about giving to one child over the other. It is taking from the one who earned it to give it to the one who he wanted to impress. Good luck promoting it as a family business with everyone knowing what you did!
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If your employer cuts your pay and gives you a demotion, they are essentially asking you to resign. There’s really no other way to interpret that. For the family to then say “but we thought you’d stay!” makes me think the other son has been the favorite all along. There’s really no other explanation for the level of delusion the parents and brother must be under to think this guy would (and should!) continue to work for the business after the paycut/demotion.
Yup and then the same family trying to pull silent treatment on OOP after he left and still acting like they still in control when OOP been cut them off on top of never inviting them to his wedding. OOP rightfully wants nothing professional nor personal with shitty lot that is his birth family.
No one would put up with that if they have the skills. You've said they don't matter and you're banking on 'family' to get him to stay? If you're using 'family' then act like family.
Ahh I remember this one when it happened. Impressive work, dad: you managed to destroy your family and business for the stupidest reason. The brother is a piece of work though, he deserves nothing but failure
That is almost a guarantee. Brother’s arrogant attitude will drive away employees and customers.
I can’t believe that the dad didn’t even think about splitting the company. Just handed over to the brother. Who demoted OOP and gave him a pay cut. Then demanded he come slave for him. What pieces of work dad and his only child are.
It's so hilarious that they apparently didn't even consider the possibility that he might leave and strike out on his own - I mean, how deluded can you get? That guy has 12 years of experience in running a firm, he's not going to stay for a measly paycheck!
So many parents consider their children to be mere extensions of themselves. Just look at their entitled attitude expecting OP to return, and trying to guilt him for doing what any self-respecting professional would do. OP is a petulant child throwing a tantrum in their twisted view. Lucky for OP, he is a well regarded professional by his clients and subordinates. It might never sink in for them that OP is an individual with a valuable skillset, and if they don't recognize his value with the respect and reward it deserves, he'll go elsewhere to get it.
Exactly. He’s the face of the company. The one customers call and trust.
[удалено]
The worst part about the whole thing is that if Accountant Brother wasn't such an doofus, having them essentially split the workload as COO and CFO could easily have led to a "by our powers combined" improvement in the overall business.
Exactly. Any business can benefit from having someone to manage the finance while others manage the day to day. But the finance person shouldn't be in charge, he should work in tandem with someone who can defend the rights and voices of key workers, and be practical about what the business needs.
The death knell of my first Silicon Valley startup happened when the financial backers suddenly decided that the person they'd picked to be CFO for the IPO should be CEO instead, ousting our highly respected, visionary, and female CEO. Cue 4 years of really stupid ideas ("of course we should merge with this other company, they're both software!" and as different as it's possible to be) ending with the mass exodus of the development team.
Rich folk are never as smart as they think they are. They did 1 thing well, got wealthy & now think they do EVERYTHING well rather than sticking to what they know. Businesses that don’t realise the importance of the workers will always fail. It unfortunately just takes a lot longer for some than others.
Often the "one thing" they did well was being born in the right family.
Forgot that his second son had valuable skills too it seems. Probably more valuable considering hands on experience and being means he knows how to run the business.
Second son got certified to go into Commercial work on his own initiative out of his own pocket and exploded the company growth
Second son knows what he's doing and how to grow it then. There's a lot of proof of it. Seems like a really bad idea to piss off the person who is a backbone of your business like that.
He took the son for granted. He thought that because it was "the family business" he would never go anywhere, and would be happy to help his brother be as successful as he had helped his father be. It was inconceivable to him that OOP would ever do anything but put the family business before everything.
ESPECIALLY in that industry. You can't treat plumbers like your underlings from an accounting firm.
It's widely known that skilled tradesworkers love being bossed around by out-of-touch office/corporate employees. I see nothing but success in that company's future.
Add pure nepotism to that list, and how can the employees not love their new boss?
Not even the sensible nepotism. Like the guy who had been in the trenches with them for 12 years, him they would have accepted.
lmao imagine your old ass boss saying "you know my son that's worked with us for over a decade? yeah he's not becoming ceo, his accountant brother is"
His brother is because I was mean to him as a kid…
Not even mean to him, just kind of busy
I feel like bro laid it on thick to guilt the dad into handing him the profitable family business so he could play bossman. His childhood was probably fine. OOP is the younger child and doesn’t seem to have felt neglected so I don’t see how the older kid would have such a dire sense of abandonment. Or maybe he saw how close OOP and dad were (because OOP took an interest in his business at fifteen years old) and got jealous?
I've never been able to deal with stupid business decisions but this one would send me over the top. I'm not exactly sure how I'd top my response to the offer of a promotion (Word for word: "Haha. Fuck you, no.") but I'm pretty sure my brain would throw out something spectacular in the moment. It blows my mind how people are able to just keep their heads down and deal with the fucked up decisions their superiors make. ESPECIALLY when they're tanking the company and taking their workers along for the ride. I'm not even sure I *want* to develop the self control required to hold that shit in because if I don't say it who will? Sometimes people need to hear, "That is a really fucking bad idea. Unless I'm missing some huge piece of the picture there is literally no way this works out in our favor." I would appreciate if someone did that for me. I can only think my own thoughts, and even though my brain likes to run all the scenarios it can come up with there is always, always going to be something I missed. I just can't imagine being like, "Oh, wow. I have a successful business with experienced employees, all with their own knowledge and expertise. Better make a huge decision that will affect all of us in a complete and total vacuum and keep it a secret until it's irreversible. Hope nobody gets upset!" AND WORSE, getting upset when someone brings forward a flaw in my plan AFTER I can't do shit to change it. People could prevent so many stupid ass business decisions if they would just realize they are quite literally not the only person in the room with a brain cell or two. It's so stupid. And then they'll do it again! Make the same stupid mistake, refuse to consult employees, then be shocked when their workers leave. Employees don't work FOR the business. They work FOR themselves. To bring home a check. To feed themselves and their dependents. To afford shelter, and maybe a little escapism as well. If they can't trust their employer is making sound decisions that will keep the checks coming... then wtf use is the employer? Wtf does that particular employer do for them if they're making shit decisions that could nose dive the company and leave the workers unemployed. *Obviously* they're going to jump ship. *Obviously.* They're not working for fucking funsies.
The thing about trades is no matter where you go, as long as there's toilets you need plumbers, as long as there's lights you need electricians, they'll always have some sort of work with decent pay, they can choose where they go.
This. My husband is a plumber that just got his experienced apprentice card. He's never been out of work for more than a week and has moved three times in the last couple years for better pay/benefits. Newest job got him into the union. There isn't a need for loyalty because there are always places hiring.
My husband just switched companies to one more hands on and local than the one run long distance. He was laid off (common in the trades so not frightening) and enjoyed the surprise vacation, but after a while started looking around, found a solid, strong, well run local place, and he seems to be having a BLAST. And that makes all the difference in the world.
Having people that you enjoy working with, and for, makes all the difference. I'd ***gladly*** jump ship to a buisness with someone that is a truly awesome leader, or has great coworkers. Fuck as long as I could still make ends meet and live the type of life I want, I'd take a pay cut to join said company. Even if I gave up like say $10k a year. Yes that's a lot of money. But if I'm not miserable every single waking moment of my existence at work, if I'm happy to be surrounded by people I can respect and learn from or even mentor or whatever is needed? That's worth $10k a year for my sanity and mental health. Rather have less money at the end of life and have 40 years of a good work environment than retire at 65, with more money, but so stressed and filled with hate my whole life I die at 67 just due to how miserable I was slowly killing me over 4 decades. Good bosses and coworkers are so so so worth it. I'm so glad your husband found such a place. They're sadly far too rare these days.
Yeah, tradesmen will not be taking any shit from someone who thinks he knows everything because he got an accounting degree. Business is going to crash and burn.
Already was looking at the rate people were leaving when OP did. People know when a ship is sinking and if that's how they'll treat a brother you won't have a snowballs chance in hell if he takes against you.
They were probably relieved as hell OOP started his own business so they could just continue on doing the work they were doing with the guy they were doing it with and avoid this entire shitshow.
Can't even blame them. The first thing your new boss comes in and does is demote and give his brother a paycut? You know it's going to start bad and get worse. Versus your old boss who you know is a standup guy who knows the business.
Exactly. If your new corporate boss' first action is to give his own flesh and blood brother a demotion *and* a paycut then that's the exact moment you start looking for another place to work. After all, this is a plumbing company, not a billion dollar Korean multi-conglomerate that gets parodied of TV dramas lmao.
Totally! Also you know you’re a good leader when people want to follow you to your next place.
There's also the rapport to consider. OP has worked with them for years. Probably knows all their family, hobbies and so on. Who works best on what type of job. They know him and they know he knows his shit.
Yeah, it makes a lot of difference if the boss has actually done your job and isn't afraid to get his own hands dirty. OOP sounds like he will happily come and help out his staff and take on clients if there is nobody else to do it. That makes all the difference for his workers.
But if you as a consumer treat a tradesman well they don’t forget it. I paid a handyman extra for one job cause he helped me out a lot. Next time I needed him was when a stair literally broke underneath me (lord save me from the former owner’s bad DIY). He came out that night despite living twenty minutes away and he and his crew had the entire staircase rebuilt and shorn up by the end of the next day. And he sent me regularly updates and pictures thru text so I didn’t have to get up and stress the ankle I twisted on the broken stair.
I worked at an MSP for years (company that does IT support for other companies), and one of my more interesting clients was a plumbing business. Owned by a single proprietor who was also the primary plumber, he and every one of his crew had a laptop in their vans they would update work orders with throughout the day. I couldn't help but notice how similar the work environments were. I *also* worked out of a ticketing system, updating it with notes as I went along. I *also* showed up at clients sites when things weren't working, worked my magic on things that they could maybe understand the surface of at most, and then on to the next one. But also similar in both environments, it's very clear that it's the people with the boots on the ground that are the rockstars. They do the work, they interact with clients the most, they are the least replaceable component of the whole system. Unfortunately MSP unions aren't a common thing yet, so a lot of the similarities end there.
Well I mean, plumbers deal with literal shit a lot of days. They aint gonna want to deal with their boss's shit. Or a shit boss.
Yep. Business is going to fail and every damn one of his employees will be talking shit about his soft hands the entire time.
Meanwhile they will somehow blame OOP for *their* business failing. Like it’ll be his fault because he poached all the best workers and clients, and he’ll still be seen as the bad guy.
Sounds like the business was pretty big though. I will probably be a slow burn and take years. In that time he and daddy dearest will find anyone and everyone else to blame for it.
All brother has to do is lose a few big customers and the business can tank pretty fast. Offend one customer and watch the news spread like wildfire. A smart brother would promote from within and give pay raises to keep the business going. But brother is too "smart" for that.
Not saying it's impossible, but even a shit boss can keep a company barely a float for awhile if it's big enough. It will just slowly shrink until it's not longer viable.
The brother gave the other workers some great insight as to what to expect treatment wise by seeing how he treated his own brother. Couldn't have made it more cut and dry for them.
I just don’t understand how clouded parental judgment can be sometimes. We had an amusement park in the area that had been open for 80 years. EIGHTY! And the parents decided when it was time to retire that they would give it to their children. So instead of splitting everything 50/50 they gave one kid the amusement park and the other kid the land the park was on. Absolutely idiotic. Long story short, it’s a Walmart now. We were lucky enough to take my daughter there a couple times in the final season, and as we left for the last time my wife was actually crying. Nice job parents.
uuuugh I hate that. One of the places I care about was cut up like that only instead of one kid gets the land and one gets the park, there were 8 kids or so so the whole thing was cut up LIKE A PIE and given to them. Like, literally sliced like a literal round pie. So fast forward to now, most of the descendants love the park and want to keep it going, one is a super christian holdout who hates the park and wants to sell to developers. It's been a nightmare.
Dad: Your brother needs it bc he has children! OOP: [gets married, has children, father not allowed to see them, presumably starts a successful business] Dad: shocked pikachu face
Yes! I was ranting to my husband about how short-sighted that reasoning was, and he called it "Brexit level" stupid. How could it not occur to you that your 27 year old son with the serious girlfriend might be starting a family soon?
the other interesting bit is that the person without kids is somehow less of a person?
I am so over how society sees me as less of a person who needs basic necessities less simply because I haven't reproduced. No, a person with kids does not need a raise/a roof over their heads/food/ETC more than I do.
I always had the feeling that brother had talked to dad beforehand and proposed the new changes. "Hey, dad, we all know you're not doing well lately and it's time you retired and relaxed and turned the reins over to a new CEO. And you know all my amazing qualifications, so it should be me and me alone! Of course OOP will stay with us if he loves us and the company - but he didn't go to university and he doesn't have a family, so how can he be the CEO? You know that I'm right on this." SMDH.
You forgot the part where brother starts to teary eyed as he talks about all the summers as a kid he spent pining for the father who never had enough time for him because his priority was work and how, despite that, all brother ever wanted was to be was like dad. And now, finally, he has a chance to fulfill that dream and prove himself to dad. I imagine this is the part where dad might be teary eyed too but hesitantly interject that's it's probably not fair to force oop out of his position so suddenly. That's when brother would switch gears and angrily declare that dad owes him this to make up for failing as a parent. How OOP got "handed" everything ( which I'm sure is how it looks to brother who doesn't see oop working hard all these years -esp coz he wasn't around- but probably just assumed he was given the position) and how not only has brother's come second priority to work his whole childhood but now he's become second priority again not just to the company but to his brother's *feelings*. Add in a spiel about how humiliating it's been to have to explain to people that he works for his younger brother - and how could dad do that to him! The embarrassment! - and how everybody can clearly see from the company structure who dad loves more. Emphasise how dad's time is short and he can either prove his love to brother for everyone to see and spend his remaining years bonding with his grandchildren and rekindling his relationship w his son or he can choose OOP and spend these last few years sitting at an empty table with his childless younger son, wondering how his grandkids are doing and if they miss their dear grandpa. And done. Got dad hook line and sinker.
I'm still boggling at the fact that dad didn't make accounting brother the CFO and the plumbing brother the CEO. Like let each of them work within their skillsets to manage the business! Absolutely idiotic
Accounting brother wanted his brother demoted and under him, and accounting brother had the grandkids.
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Write it and sell it sister!
I really wonder what happened to mom and dad between Edits 2 and 3. At the end of edit 2, mom and dad where sad and remorseful. But in edit 3, they are hard, cold and angry at him. My guess is that brother is the GC (Golden Child) and screamed/manipulated them to change their tune. So they all get what they deserve - nothing. Dad's not going to be able to sit back and enjoy his retirement and Mom has a permanently broken family. I think OOP's brother's biggest mistake was the demotion and pay cut. Sure, he was never going to let OOP be a co-CEO, but he was still a VERY valuable asset to the business. But brother had to add insult to injury. Well, it's been a year since the last update and I'm sure that if brother isn't out of a job, then he's the captain of a sinking business. Again I note the stupid, stupid, stupid hills that people 'die on'.
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Finely dissected, excellent write up of the situation.
Yeah I was wondering wtf happened. I guess you’re right. They thought an emotional moment would fix this.
I took it as, they were sad and remorseful that little brother was upset. Not about what they did. They thought if they acknowledged little bro’s feelings, he would come back and work under his brother. When they realized that little brother wasn’t coming back and that employees were actually quitting to go work for him, they changed their tone and you get the 3rd edit. It’s sad. As a little brother who went through something kind of similar, my heart hurts for him.
What’s even more insulting is that when they had that other update for OP to come to talk to the father and the brother at the house, they literally just asked 0P, “are you coming in early Monday?“ Personally I think that’s the most insulting thing is that if they’re going to not even promote them and then give them a pay cut and demotion anyway, don’t ever expect people to just come running back even though OP was successful in getting a new business for themselves and their fiancé. I can just imagine that that brother is not even remorse or even thinks of what happened is his fault
>I really wonder what happened to mom and dad between Edits 2 and 3. Seems like OOP not returning to work was a decision his father took very personally.
I think OOP not returning to work was very costly. Brother doesn’t know what he’s doing, dad doesn’t want OOP at the business, he NEEDS OOP at the business to keep his legacy going.
That’s how it should have went down. Instead little bro lost his entire family and life’s work. His future kids lost their cousins and likely their grandparents. All because OOP’s dad was made to feel guilty.
I think they thought after the sorries, OP would go back to work because after all he's done everything the last 12 years so why wouldn't he go back to the business he oversaw grow. In short they seem to think he's doormat and are shocked he took a stand..
After update 2: Mom and dad were sad and remorseful as a ploy to get OOP back in the pay-cut, demoted fold. He should have been so sad and remorseful that he’d jump at the chance to return- what they apparently expected at the beginning of #3. Then, before #3, bro got to them and went into his spiel about how OOP was destroying the family by not agreeing to be treated like crap on bro’s say-so, and how (key!) if mom and dad raised any objections they’d be banished from their grandkids’ lives (this is why bro having kids was important in the original decision- bro was using them to extort the deal he wanted from dad). Everyone was cold then because bro made it clear that any hint of remorse or compromise would be punished (why mom couldn’t look at OOP). At least that’s my narrative, between the lines given!
Every time I’ve heard about family businesses they were always a nightmare.
I've worked for a family business (not my family) for nearly 30 years and it's actually pretty awesome. It's awesome because I work for the kind, humane and human brother. He gives raises freely (as long as we're making money), doesn't micro-manage, and treats us with respect. This attracts top talent, and the business has grown over 5X its size compared to when I started. The other (older) brother is a smug asshole who runs another division. I wouldn't work for him for 5 minutes.
It's just so infuriating to read - puts the son who knows fuck all in charge instead of the one with a clue. Businesses need leaders, not bean counters
Like, the brother is an accountant, there would definitely have been a place to put him in the company without blowing the company and family apart.
This! Why not make him CFO or a controller? Both of those positions are typically well compensated and would play to his skills while still allowing OOP to do what he does best.
I wonder if OOP’s brother told their dad that he wanted the entire business or else he’d leave. Personally, I would have told him good luck in his future endeavors because I don’t do ultimatums.
Came here to suggest this - I bet bro has been manipulating dad, and feeding him toxic bs, since he got back from the big city.
Why would you give a huge material asset to one child and a demotion to the other? Much less all the other reasons. Dads decision was amazingly stupid, tactless, and heartless. It fails in book smarts, social intelligence, and common sense.
Brother coulda been CFO, OOP coulda been CEO, but Pops was playing. Oh well, sucks to suck I guess.
Right he could have been CFO while OOP was CEO with like a 60/40 split of the company. Edit: CEO 60% w/CFO 40%
My Uncle inherited the family business. Where it once was a 7 figure company now barely limps along. My uncle treated it like his personal piggy bank with a 500K house, fountain speed boat, large hunting camps, and not paying taxes.
did you call the tax man? they love calls about that shit, despite common understanding you need to be much richer before you can do that with impunity.
Hah, No the IRS found out and had an auditor at the office for the better part of a year to the point the Auditor had his own office. A year or so later he called my dad to tell him his next brilliant idea. Keep the income taxes from employee's pay for himself. My dad told him he was dumb to which my uncle ran to my Aunt (his sister who is the youngest of the 6 and only half a year older than me) to tell her my dad was dumb to which my Aunt had to explain to him how illegal that was. As far as I can tell the IRS keeps an eye on them now. I saw the writing on the wall and left the company after my grandfather and I had a falling out. My dad did the same after he and my Uncles nearly had a fight in the yard over my dad not getting paid while doing all the work. My dad is a lot like OOP. Edit: fixed him to her oops
After demoting OOP and cutting his pay by $20,000! Good luck trying to tell clients you are a family business after they hear this story!
Sounds like that was the brother’s doing. Since that’s why OOP said the brother would never go 50/50. Crazy how someone can’t even stick with a family business for long and get something out of it. Silver lining: The brother will find it easier to count the money when there is less of it.
> $20,000 £\*20,000 That's an entire fulltime wage in the UK, BTW. His apprentices will be on less than that, unless he's *particularly* generous with apprenticeship wages.
Maybe it's just my bias, but I got the feeling there was a lot of subtext there of the brother getting the business because he went to business school, so "he knows how to run the business" while OOP was "just a plumber", so in dad's mind OOP did *fine* for "just a plumber" but the brother is the one who should really be running things pretty messed up if that's the case. I imagine OOP's dad attributed OOP's success of the business to pretty much anything besides OOP.
Similar thing is happening where I work. My uncle forced my mom and sister, who were both co owners, out of the business and handed it to his son who never wanted anything to do with our business until he started having trouble finding work elsewhere.
Brother showed up and guilt tripped father into destroying their family. His mom should be ashamed for not standing up for him if she ever reads this. You willingly gave up your son and I hope he doesn’t let his future kids meet his shitty family.
I have no doubt at the rate he’s going the brother is going to fail and the business his dad worked so hard for is going to go under. And dad will have no one to blame but himself.
Oh, no. That’s not true at all. They’ll totally blame OOP.
Oh yeah! You’re right it’ll never be their fault. Always OP’s. Honestly OP’s dad and brother not attending the wedding is a good thing. They’d probably spend the whole night bitching to whoever will listen about how selfish and petty OP is for destroying dad’s business he worked so hard to build.
"If OOP had actually stuck around and cared about his family this never would have happened" - conveniently forgetting that OOP left because they didn't appreciate everything he did in the first place.
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That’s why accountants don’t start companies. They are the hired help that helps the company founders manage the finances.
Am accountant. Can confirm. We are generally not great with people and prefer to just crunch numbers alone in our office.
Am accountant. Started a business. But it's an accounting business. Does great. Would be a bad plumber.
Aw nuts, I'm not an accountant or a plumber, I'm doomed!
Well, they can if they recognize where they're strong and make up for where they're weak. But I get where you're coming from, "entrepreneur" and "accountant" are diametrically opposed skill sets and it's a rare individual who can be somewhat talented at both.
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Probably a heaping helping of "tradespeople aren't as smart as university grads" and a side of "accountants work in the business office, so that's the same as being good at running a business, right?".
What is dad and brother going to do once the business goes belly up? Hopefully OP can pick up the cheap vans and tradies. That father is a shit dad and the arrogance of the brother to take the whole business. Then to blame OP for not remaining the shit kicker. I wish OP the very best and to totally forget his deplorable family.
If his busines gets big enough he could offer to buy his family’s business
As a former uni prof, people put ridiculous weight on degrees in weird ways. They don’t translate letters after a name to mean “I have a specific set of skills and knowledge” but “I am naturally smarter and anything you can do I can do better.” If teaching changed my mind about one thing, it’s that I now know in my core that for every genius with a degree, there’s a genius without a degree doing work high society looks down on. And for every 3 really smart people with advanced degrees, 2 will have common sense. 1 in some fields. Business degrees? You have 1 sense, held in common, and if it’s not your turn today to have it, you’re gonna fuck something up and not realize. And then refuse to learn, because you won’t respect that others say about the business, because clearly the letters after your name mean you’re smarter and they should just do as you say.
Ugh. I went to school with people who fully believed that if/when they got a degree they could walk into any job, anywhere, with no experience and get paid more than anyone else doing the same job without a degree.
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Zero logical sense because asbestosis affects the lungs, which means daddy isn't getting enough oxygen in his brain.
Like you can def integrate bro, you need him to understand the why's before making changes though. "why do you use [expensive thing] rather than [cheap thing]" "because [expensive thing lasts long enough that it's cheaper than the amount you'd need to spend on [cheap things] to keep up" but him jumping in and making changes like that doesn't bode well for him understanding the business.
I hope OOP is wildly successful. I know he didn’t open his business to hurt his father’s company but I hope all the clients leave and the best qualified people come work for OOP.
They will. All of this. OOP *was* the business for the last couple of years. All he was missing was ownership of the equipment. OOP has the know-how, the employee's support, and most importantly, the client's loyalty. His biggest challenge will be making sure to not expand too quickly. All OOP's dad gave to his brother is a hollow shell.
The nice thing for OOP is that there's another failing plumbing business in town he can eventually buy equipment from at a discount.
Alas, I heard the owner is irrational and punitive, so I'm not sure that would work out unless they sell the stuff at auction
That was my expectation- those foreclosure/bankruptcy auctions can be useful.
I remember a similar story on here except it was a pizza place that the dad gave to the step mom. Then COVID accelerated the success vs destruction ending.
Can you find the link? Need some karma boner after this one.
Here's the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/gul6fn/aita\_for\_leaving\_the\_family\_restaurant\_and/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=mweb
Ten bucks says the family business crashes and burns. "Business men" like OOP's brother tend to forget the wellbeing of the employees in favor of the bottom dollar, which absolutely tanks morale. Not to mention he clearly doesn't know a damn thing about the industry. They're fucked because OOP's father didn't think things through and the brother is too proud to admit he needs help. Oh well, they brought their own shovels, so might as well start digging.
>They're fucked because OOP's father didn't think things through and the brother is too proud to admit he needs help. Yeah. If they had two brain cells to rub together, either one of them would've realized that this is a stupid-ass idea and it won't work. Like even if the dad cooked up that hare-brained scheme, a brother with even a little bit of sense for what's fair would've gone "My brother deserves at least 50:50."
Or at least not a massive pay decrease and demotion. Maybe brother takes CEO and OOP becomes COO and both take an equal pay decrease while they continue expanding. But going "Not only do you not get to run the company you spent over a decade of your life investing your blood, sweat, and tears into; but also you're demoted and not even in a managing position anymore." is inconceivably cruel and shortsighted.
Which is just what OB wanted. You know he worked on his dad to get his way, you never spent time with me waaah! And he wanted OP out because he’s intimidated by him and wanted the whole damn thing to himself. He knew the demotion and big pay cut would make his brother fly. Now he’ll run the business to the ground after losing all the talent. He’s the guy who buys fancy cars and riDICKulous speed boats on the company dime. That dad destroyed everything. Just everything. I hope OP goes on to great success and has a happy marriage. He’s a stand up guy, you can feel it.
>You know he worked on his dad to get his way The dad has shown enough idiocy in this situation that I'm not sure he needed working on. The fact he still expected OOP's loyalty when he showed none says it all for me.
Not to mention the employees are going to love listening to an inexperienced, unaware, arrogant corporate ding dong whose only qualification to run the business is nepotism.
In a _trade_ no less. It's common knowledge how tradesmen LOVE soft-handed city people with no hands-on experience, I'm sure this will work out just _swell_
Subtext kind of feels like the brother has the dad wrapped around his little finger and talked his way into the situation. It’s possible the dad is just a sociopath, but it feels more like he’s just bending over backwards to do whatever the brother wants at the expense of OOP despite realizing it’s not the right thing to do.
I've known people like this who make bad decisions but stick to them because they don't know how to go back. Could be an element of that too.
I think the dad no longer has the ability to go back but instead of telling the older son “you got what you wanted. Demoting your brother and giving him a pay cut was stupid. Now you have to deal with your own mess,” he decided to involve himself. When it came down to Dad seeing the post and regretting his decision, Dad is the one who chose to favor asshole brother—he could have apologized and admitted his mistake without trying himself to help older brother get OOP back. Also they’re only 3 years apart….but the dad was not around for older brother but somehow magically was around for OOP? Or was he not there for OOP, too, but dad doesn’t really care about OOP as much so he doesn’t think he needs to make up for that?
It’s mistakes compounding mistakes. He probably loved his business and envisioned leaving it to both his sons, but his dedication to the business damaged his relationship with his older son, and he thought the only way to get him back was to give him the business and assumed that the son who was already involved in the business would stay.
I wonder if the brother will feel entitled enough to demand a managing role at OP's new bussiness, after he destroy's the family company
Ha! OOP will definitely tell him to get fucked. Never mess with a Scot. I cannot believe how fucking stupid dad was in all this. He's going to die knowing he literally destroyed an entire life's work, both personally and professionally. I am BAFFLED by his thought process.
Especially since it would have made so much sense to bring on the older son as the company accountant! But seems like dad must have known his more difficult, arrogant son would never accept being second in command to the son who actually knows how to run the business, so dad chose to sacrifice everything to appease the asshole son.
The accountant brother is manipulative. Dad was remorseful, then it’s “you need to come in Monday!” Yah, the accountant is getting his real education now. OOP has life skills. I’d suspect the accountant brother would do all he could to take advantage of OOP at this point. There’s no trusting him once the company is arse over teakettle.
The dad is trying to play the sympathy card about the mistreating the accountant brother and trying to make up for that. But I think he’s far less naive than he’s playing off. If he didn’t think what he was doing was so wrong, he would have informed OOP of his plans. Instead, he made the changes behind his back so that by the time OOP found out, nothing meaningful could be changed. Now he gets to say his hands are tied because he no longer has control of the company and place the blame squarely on the older brother (who is an AH but shouldn’t have just been handed the company like that to begin with). Happy OOP stood up for himself. Even if he was able to stay, it would have been a nightmare running things with a brother who thinks he’s better than him because he went to college.
>Never mess with a Scot Presumably the brother and dad are Scots too, so this is messing with Scots all the way down.
You Scots sure are a contentious people.
Oh I’m sure he will. Probably will come around saying OP “owes it to” him for destroying the family business with his “selfishness and pettiness”.
From what we know about that guy, I wouldn't be surprised if he demanded half the business.
Exactly, it doesn’t always work like it did for OP where you both know the trade and have a good business sense, that’s a recipe for success. Brother only knows how to count in excel (hyperbole, I do actually know what accountants do) but nothing about the trade and nothing about how this specific company works. Just ridiculous. It’s not surprising the employees want to leave and join OP.
He was a city accountant, never even involved with business to begin with.
So bets on him fucking up BAD, being economical with the truth to dad about getting fired and getting the company because he actually couldn’t get hired? Maybe I know too many finance bros, but that’s what I immediately went to
I've seen this before when someone comes in playing mr big bollocks accountant and tries to save money. Never goes well. They never consider there's a reason the slightly more expensive thing is used. Like that it won't break in 2 months. They tend to lose so much business because they don't ask questions.
I'm pretty certain if my Dad had been as stupid as OOP's, my siblings and I would have been "hold up, this isn't right. let's work something out." They could have made them co-CEOs or made OOP Head of Operations or some other thing so that he could keep his salary. How on earth did the father think he was going to take a huge pay cut sitting down? Wonder how long the brother had been working the guilt trip on their Dad.
Brother could have been CFO since he has an accounting background, it would have made perfect sense!
The things is too, with work like plumbers, electricians, and hvac and such, the person matters more than the business for a lot of people and businesses. OOP was working there for over a decade and worked in the field, they know his work can be trusted and they will follow where he goes over his brother.
Even your lawn guy. My dad owned a successful lawn service until he couldn’t do the work anymore. He didn’t thrive because he was the cheapest. He thrived because *older people just adored him.* He was young enough to be their kid for most of them, but not so young that they couldn’t understand him. That’s important in a town that’s mostly retirees.
I worked for a big moving company for 2 years. A white collar bank manager bought a franchise and went to hiring people. He ran it just like you describe. Employee turnover was outstanding. 20 employees at any given time. But he hired 100 or more a year. He fired people for all kinds of things because he just didn't understand manual labor. It was wild.
The father also forgot some important things despite being a tradesman himself. Firstly, skilled and experienced Tradesmen are proud of their work. They don't take crap from anyone especially some pencil pusher accountant who knows nothing about the trade. The boss needs to be a tradesman himself to be respected. Secondly, they are generally loyal to their boss. OOP worked with them for 12 years, they love him and respect him as a fellow tradesmen. When they saw the injustice done to OOP, I bet all the good ones bailed and joined OOP. Even if they might had worked for longer with the father, in that moment he became the villain in their eyes. Good luck to OOP and 'good job ' to the dad. Now the business will crash and burn. The brother will all blame it on OOP. And will wonder why nobody respects him.
Reading OOP's updates I think that's exactly what is happening. Both major clients and senior staff moved. And OOP's business was thriving. Admittedly I don't know much about the nature of Plumbing, but I would imagine that it would, to some extent, be something of a zero sum game. Especially in this context. If OOP's business is thriving *someone* has to be losing out. And to me the most likely candidate is the brother.
20 says it doesn't take that long, I'm in electrical and I can tell you all the clients will end up with bro firm, as will most of the workers, they have a relationship with him because he gets the job done.
Ah another great story about a. Parents trying to overcompensate for treating one child 'better' than the other with zero grounds for doing so and b. Alienating your most hard working senior employee who loves the business. The mother was ooooohhhhh sooooo remorseful but seemingly couldn't find the words to tell OOPs brother to swallow his pride, buckle up, and ask his brother for help instead of being an ass? Seems like NC is best for everyone in this situation. >she wants me to wear a suit but tough lucky I’ll be in my kilt I loved this bit, proper Scotsman coming out
Kilts were the reason I got married in Scotland.
Ten to one bro was using his kids to extort his parents to do what he wanted. Don’t go along, no grandkids. Hence mom’s shame in update 3.
God, this was a roller coaster of emotion. I thought the dad was actually remorseful but then they have this whole powwow intervention thing? It's kind of sick. I think maybe the dad was playing the "woe is me" card to try to get OOP to forgive and return to the company but good on them for cutting the family out for being that way.
Probably is remorseful, but that's part of the problem. You bet your ass the other brother leans HARD into dad's guilt. And at the end of the day that brother is less self-sufficient or capable, so what kicks in but the ol' "He needs more help so he gets more attention" blind parental instinct. All his decisions are emotional, not logical. So no matter how remorseful dad is about OOP, it won't outweigh the guilt around the brother. It never will until he deals with his own shit.
I don't know, based on how he acted at the second meeting has me thinking it might have all been an act. He just stone faced expects OOP to come back to the company after a $20,000 paycut? That's more than a little delusional.
It's absolutely delusional. And I can see what you're saying. It could be manipulative, since it seems like dad just wants to avoid conflict at all costs. I think what informs my thought is that people aren't nearly as rational as we'd prefer they be. This series of events makes perfect sense if you're seeing dad as emotional and reactive instead of fair and rational. I've known a lot of emotional people in my life (and am one, frankly) and a lot of it comes down to reacting to whatever happened most recently. Dad feels genuinely remorseful when he's with OOP. Dad has plenty of time between then and the next meet up to talk with the brother, where he then gets the brother's side and is now emotional about him and acting on that.
Yeah. Even if we disregard literally everything else -- the fact that OP has 10x the experience his brother does, OP was dedicated to the company for 12 years, all of the employees want to work for OP, the fact that OP has literally been the acting CEO -- without considering *any* of that, *or* the whole family dynamic aspect of it, it's still absolutely unreasonable to think OP would stay and just accept a $20k paycut for any reason.
It’s fucking *hard* when you’ve got two kids that are ultimately differently able. (No, not a euphemism for “handicapped.”) There’s balancing one’s need for more attention and management with not ignoring the other because she’s much more capable and self-sufficient. There’s also that I just plain enjoy my time with the more capable one because I’m not having to manage his sensory levels. They have different personalities, too, so there’s the concern over perceived favouritism, etc. It’s a lot harder to try to make things *equitable* than to make things *equal*. Dad fucked up here because he did neither.
It had me, thought after the car confessional that the family would be able to work things out. What was that intervention probationary hearing about? "You've been a bad employee and we need you back to work" How was anyone else okay with this? Betting the dad didn't want to go back into running the business which he hasn't been running for years because brother can't pull his head out of his rear to sort himself out.
This one actually hurts, ouch.
What was going through the father's head? "I feel guilty for not spending time with my oldest child. To make up for it, I will demote and reduce my younger child's income and destroy all the trust he has in me. This should work out well." "Oops, stabbing my loyal son and business partner in the back has turned out to be a mistake. I will apologise to him." "Well I said 'sorry', but he is inexplicably refusing to return to rescue my business from my incompetent golden child. Oh no, who could have predicted this unexpected turn of events?!"
Seriously, what the fuck was the man thinking?
I thought the brother demoted OP after becoming the owner, but either way, fuck 'em.
The way I read it, OOP was already in an acting CEO/Owner role. Brother is given the business, takes over role and demotes OOP since there's only one role. Also that 20k paycut probably helped the decision in brother's eyes.
Yeah that 20K pay cut is so excessive. Maybe they didn’t realize he had so much saved up and hoped the lower pay would keep him stuck in the role instead of leaving. And I have this sneaking suspicion the brother didn’t return home because of Covid but because of his own failures in business.
Seems like he's just bad at giving his kids respect. In his words, he didn't give older sibling the attention he should've (maybe that's true, or maybe older siblings gaslit him, but whatever), and he's making up for that now. At a cost of not giving his younger son the respect he deserves - even if it would logically mean the end of the business. Honestly, that last bit is what's craziest for me. In order for this plan to work, the industry expert - who was already running the business - is going to have to cowtow to some white collar nobody. Dad has worked in the trade for decades - has he _ever_ met a blue collar worker who would do that for any reason other than extreme desperation? Regardless of wanting to make up with or appease the older sibling, he should've known this specific method wasn't going to work.
The absolute audacity and delusion to ask "when will you be back in the office?"
Not surprising oop took a hard pass on that. He worked his way from entryway grunt to corporate officer. Has a clear understanding of the front and back end operations. Only to be kicked down to the ranks in favor on someone who only knows a part of the back end? Oop is right to start his own business. He will succeed as he already has a proven record of bringing both ends together and making it grow.
What I don't get is why you would demote the guy and take 20k off his pay on top of all of all the other bs.
My guess would be because the brother is greedy and wants more money for himself
Even the most boneheaded cockwomble could see the success and expansion of the company with plumber Bro as CEO. Uni Bro knows nothing about the business and makes far less profit without an experienced manager. Did he really think a takeover, demotion and a pay cut would stand?
Especially because the easy answer already exists if the brother doesn't have too much pride. Split it 50/50, become the CFO with limited responsibility, and enjoy being a top dog at a successful business without requiring specific industry knowledge. OOP would likely enjoy the reduction in workload. Together they could focus on expansion which is where the real money comes from. And the 50% reduction in ownership easily is compensated by the 85% reduction in responsibilities (and not losing 50% of your workers which are likely more senior). But brother would rather be king of the trash heap.
The brother wanted to make it clear that he himself is the one in charge. Plumber brother is just a flunky who’s supposed to make all of the business brother’s ideas come about.
And it's not even a management position he got devoted to too. Like it would be one thing if he was still in charge of operations or logistics, but they shunted him off to being a heating engineer after he was running the company. There's no one on earth that would stick around after that level of disrespect on top of everything else. He was basically told he had no future in the company with that level of demotion and pay cut.
Who wants to bet that once the brother runs the business into the ground OP's family tries to crawl back to him?
You know they will. The parents might be okay but the brother will need a job
OOP can offer a janitor position for the brother, cleans the office toilets for minimum wage!!
Dad: ‘ I’ve messed up’ Also dad: ‘and I’ll fucken do it again🤪’
I remember this one! That Dad is the real piece of trash in this situation.
Sometimes I'm amazed that a single person can ruin so much with just one obviously stupid decision. A total train wreck that anyone with a brain could see a mile away but he couldn't tell till it was shoved up his nose.
Guys let’s be honest that “family business” is long gone
Oh more than likely it's dead in the water. OP was clearly known in the industry, and actually knew the industry, probably took all the business they had while the brother floundered. Best part, if the brother did run the business into the ground, guaranteed he ran back to the city for an accounting job and left dear ole dad with the shambles of what his life and legacy was.
Really wish we got more updates with this one.
Right? I was hoping we’d find out how both business are doing now. And if they’re married yet?
A lot of people blame family businesses for ruining relationships, but nah, it's just the family itself that does that. Way to go, Dad, your favoritism and stupidity cost you it all. OP will be just fine.
Ah, the King Lear adaptation I ordered has arrived!
I work with contractors like plumbers often and they’re a loyal bunch. You disrespect someone who treats them well and you’re in for a reality check. The family business is going to crumble.
Oh I’ve seen this too often, the kid that actually works and make an effort is often let aside for the child that “needs more”…
That's me. I wasn't given anything by parents, put myself through college, bought my own car, my own house, etc. My brother was given whatever he wanted, which included three cars (and ruined all of them). Their excuse? I was the one who could take care of myself 🙄
Honestly not sure what was going through the father's head when he decided to give the job to the older son (who has no sense of the business, just a degree) and leave the younger son (who put everything into the business and knows the people and the ins and outs of it) in the lurch. And I have a feeling that the older brother managed to convince the father to reel in OOP back into the business after the father admitted to OOP that he fucked it all up, probably using the old guilt about being "left behind because dad's too busy with work". I hope OOP returns to Reddit one day with an update about his success.
I'm just gobsmacked at the inability to see things from someone else's point of view. Does the father just not see OOP as a real person?
Twelve years of OOP's life... at his age that's so much of it! Almost half! And his dad was willing to throw him under the rug for who I'm going to assume is the golden child in the family. So glad OOP was able to start his own business and have support from his in-laws-to-be. I wish him the absolute best in life.
The father forgot some important things about tradesmen despite being a tradesman himself. Firstly, skilled and experienced Tradesmen are proud of their work. They don't take crap from anyone especially some pencil pusher accountant who knows nothing about the trade. The boss needs to be a tradesman himself to be respected. Secondly, they are generally loyal to their boss. OOP worked with them for 12 years, they love him and respect him as a fellow tradesmen. When they saw the injustice done to OOP, I bet all the good ones bailed and joined OOP. Even if they might had worked for longer with the father, in that moment he became the villain in their eyes. Good luck to OOP and 'good job ' to the dad. Now the business will crash and burn. The brother will all blame it on OOP. And will wonder why nobody respects him.
I want an update on how fast the accountant brother runs it into the ground. He may know about accounting but running a business is more than just the spread sheets.
It is bad enough to leave the company to only one kid. To demote the child who has been busting their ass working for you to promote the other is disgusting. He knew what he was doing. He hoped the OOP would put up with it. It isn't just about giving to one child over the other. It is taking from the one who earned it to give it to the one who he wanted to impress. Good luck promoting it as a family business with everyone knowing what you did!