Andreas Flaten paycheck: Georgia man owed $915 from former employer, A OK Walker Autoworks in Peachtree City, finds 90,000 pennies dumped on front lawn five months after quitting toxic work environment.
Five hundred pounds of greasy pennies. A Georgia man has received his final paycheck of $915 in 90,000 pennies after quitting his job some five months ago, in what he decried as the result of a toxic workplace environment.
Andreas Flaten was owed $915 after leaving his job at A OK Walker Autoworks in Peachtree City in November.
He had handed in his two-week notice, flagging a toxic work environment and high staff turnover, AP reports.
The former work manager claims having experienced difficulty in getting his final payment, alleging his former boss accused him of damages, leading him to turn to the Georgia Department of Labor for help.
Earlier this month, Andreas discovered the pennies, which had been covered in an oil-like substance, at the end of his driveway.
On top of the pile of pennies, he found an envelope with his name on, which contained his final pay stub and explicit parting message: ‘f**k you’.
Andreas described the pile of pennies as ‘a childish thing to do’.
With the pennies left covered in the slippery substance, Andreas now spends each night cleaning them so that he can cash them in.
He said it takes him roughly an hour and a half to clean off several hundred of the coins.
Explained Andreas: ‘I think that’s going to be a lot of work for money I’ve already worked for.
‘It’s definitely not fair at all.’
The owner of the shop, Miles Walker, spoke with WGCL-TV, stating he didn’t know if he did or didn’t drop the pennies off at Flaten’s house.
Employer from hell?
‘I don’t really remember,’ Walker told the TV station. ‘It doesn’t matter he got paid, that’s all that matters.’
Flaten’s girlfriend, Olivia Oxley, said she hopes her boyfriend’s story sheds light on how people ‘are treated so poorly by their employers.’
She said the pair have stopped being angry and are looking at the petty act in a positive light.
‘With that many pennies, we’re bound to find a few treasures. I’ve already found one from 1937,’ Oxley said. ‘After the first shovel full, all we could do was laugh because this poor miserable man took so much time to be vindictive and cruel.
‘We absolutely refused to let him ruin a single moment of ours.’
And then there was this eye opener comment on social media that caught this author’s attention: ‘If he treats his employees like that. Imagine customers and products that he tries to sell to you.’
