Friends called me a Fake Engineer, I bought their dinner
I am not The OOP, OOP is u/old-guy-50
Originally posted to r/pettyrevenge
Friends called me a Fake Engineer, I bought their dinner
Editor’s Note: CPA is Certified Public Accountant
Trigger Warnings: public humiliation
Original Post: February 2, 2024
My daughter 17, asked me to post this here. And Im the Dad who does as the women in my life tell me, which is how I ended up in a restaurant tonight with snobs. So the characters, my wife, wife’s coworker 1 and her husband arrogant engineer 1(AE1), wife’s coworker 2 and her husband my CPA, and Lastly AE2 and his wife. Each couple has two teenage children with us.
We are at a Japanese steakhouse in America where the chefs cook in front of you. CW1 and AE1 invited all of us for their youngest daughter’s birthday. Since their daughter is close with our daughter. So the parents are at one table and the teens at another.
At the teen table my daughters (17 and 14) order sushi appetizers, mocktails, and shrimp with scallops.
At our table the Sake is flowing along with a few top shelf drinks. My wife and I order our appetizers, drinks and dinners. We are all paying for ourselves and I see AE1 and AE2 seem to in competition for who can spend the most. My CPA and I chuckle at them and stay out of the fray.
Until AE2 hears my daughter order and says to her, “careful now your daddy is only and agricultural engineer. He doesnt make as much as us real engineers.”
For context they are structural engineers with Bachelor degrees, Im an agricultural engineer with a PHD. I work for governments, private investors, and several agro corporations. I own my own consulting firm. I help build sustainable reusable gardens. And this work allows me to travel to poorer countries and help them use what they have to start growing their own food. Apparently these men thought All I did was travel to impoverished places and teach people to dig in the dirt. They believed I did all this work for free and therefore made very little money. Im not “rich” by any stretch, but Im comfortable. We dont do extravagance, so we have savings and my wife works.
However in 2023 I was awarded a handsome contract to design tower gardens in several states. Its a seven figure contract over three years.
Back to dinner These guys ask me about the most ridiculous things. Like “is it good to grow onions and carrots in the same garden?” And were laughing at me and my work until their wives told them to stop.
I chalk it up to drunken arrogance and dont even bother to answer. My CPA was laughing so hard he almost fell out of his chair. Apparently, he is AE1’s CPA as well. And knows the ins and outs of both our finances. AE1 taunts CPA to tell the table what he brought home last year after bonuses. CPA pulled up the figures on the phone and tells us. Its about 1/3 of what I brought home in 2023. The CPA says “I have yours up want me to share?” I decline. And he nods. Que another round of taunts. I go to the restroom and find the waiter. I pay for the whole check and leave a generous tip on top of what they added for a big party. After our sobert the waiter thanks me in front of everyone for the tip and wishes everyone a good night. AE1 and AE2 stare at me for a moment.
I smile nod and tell CPA to tell them my income last year. After which I simply said goodnight. Petty absolutely, gratifying damn right
RELEVANT COMMENTS
gerbil_111 Ha, way to stick it to them.. by paying their bill. And then disclosing your salary. I know money can't buy class, but you guys didn't have to prove it so thoroughly.
OOP I know, but we did. Most class less evening of my life. And Im okay with that.
haji1096 Talking about how much one makes in that manner is gauche.
Those guys are fucking morons
OOP Man we all were tonight. I was just as much a jerk as they were. But I got the last laugh
Agreeable-One-4700 Even if comps were all equal you protect the food supply where they follow a rule book written by smarter PEs and say “yes this wall meets code and probably won’t fall down” lmao good on you for putting them in their place OP.
OOP In all honesty I was going to ask AE1 to look at a structural design and bring him in on the contract. I do need a structural engineer for this project, but not that guy!
Particular_Mud6525 Ugh, they sound like horrible company!! What douches!!!
OOP Things we do for our daughters.
HomeschoolingDad When I was an ignorant teenager trying to figure out what to major in, my dad asked what I thought about agriculture engineering. I made some joke comparing it to sanitation engineering (ignorance squared), after which I learned that my dad had majored in it (ignorance cubed) before the Army had put him on the computer science path for his masters degree. My dad set me straight.
OOP I’ve heard the jokes. I like my job, its fun to work with plants, water, sun and make it all combine to produce food. But I’m a nerd like that
Herbalturtle4444 Keep the receipt and call him after telling him this. Its now a business dinner where you were interviewing prospective engineers to bring on for your upcoming contract, they werent the right fit, and your CPA can attest they failed the interview hahahah.
OOP My wife was on the phone with her co-worker who was apologizing for AE1’s behavior. She spilled the beans. Im glad she is cute or I’d be mad.
Update: February 4, 2024
Hello everyone, this is Old Guys Daughter (17) with an update. Firstly, Dad is overwhelmed by the comments and DM’s he will get to them all at some point.
One point Dad didnt put in the original post was I was only there because AE1 has a son my age who was my crush. Not now, he was laughing harder than his dad at my Dad. Jerk. He even asked how much money my dad stole from the charity to pay for dinner. They really thought all my dad did was charity work. None of them realized his has a PHD.
Mom agreed with a lot of you that Dad got played. She has really enjoyed reading comments about it. I think she might get reddit soon and troll him. She has been kinda smug seeing those posts. She and Dad are the couple that laugh all the time and this has made them do that laugh until you kiss it out laugh. They are gross but cute at the same time.
My sister and the birthday girl had a huge fight because apparently AE1 and his wife started fighting after the dinner. Birthday girl blames my Dad when clearly it was her Dad who was being a jerk.
Mom and her co-workers agree they married little boys and have clearly not raised them to be men yet. They all vowed to so better and had a girls night last night just them.
Dad is really glad so many people are asking about his job. He is getting resources together for everyone asking how to break in, and had a thesis level essay for a guy with about 40 questions. So expect responses to you DM’s this week. There are a lot so be patient please.
As for the arrogant “engineers” neither of them will speak to our family. Not that we give a crap.