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Quitting a job sometimes results in some bad blood, but the corporate breakup of a Georgia man and a car repair shop has taken things to new heights.
Andreas Flaten said his former employer dumped 91,500 pennies—that’s $915 worth—in his driveway after he left his job as a manager at A OK Walker Luxury Autoworks in Peachtree City, Ga. The coins, he said, were also covered in an oily substance he suspects might be power-steering fluid.
The cash drop was discovered on March 12. Flaten told the New York Times he believes the action was taken as a punishment after he quit his job and demanded the company pay him his final paycheck.
Miles Walker, the owner of the repair shop told CBS46, an Atlanta TV station, “I don’t know if I did that or not, I don’t really remember. … It doesn’t matter. He got paid. That’s all that matters. He’s a f*****g weenie for even bringing it up.”
Flaten said he quit the job because of broken promises over when he could leave each day to pick up his child from day care. He gave notice that he planned to quit late last year, but left earlier after further disagreements at the job. When he did not receive his final paycheck, he filed a claim with the U.S. Department of Labor, which reached out to the repair shop three times.
Flaten said the pennies were delivered by someone who he believes to be a current employee of the shop at 7 P.M. ET on March 12. The load, which weighed more than 500 lbs., came with a short, obscenity-ridden note, he said.
Labor department officials tell the Times that, while unusual, there’s nothing illegal about paying someone in pennies. With a little luck, the last laugh could be Flaten’s, though. Two years ago, an ultra-rare penny was found and sold for $204,000 at auction.
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