Atlanta, Georgia — The treatment of a former manager of Georgia, U.S.-based AOK Auto Works should be a lesson to all businessowners on how not to foster a healthy work environment.
After leaving his job at the facility in November 2020, Andreas Flaten was owed $915 by his former employee. Left waiting months for his paycheck, Flaten finally received the sums in mid-March–though something was clearly amiss. He had received a pile of 91,500 grease and oil-covered pennies on his driveway in place of the final payment.
Flaten’s discovery of the pile was captured by his girlfriend and posted to Instagram.
Flaten said he quit last November in relation to a disagreement over when he could leave work to pick up his child from daycare. When his last paycheck did not turn up, he filed a claim with the U.S. Department of Labor, which confirmed it had contacted the business several times over the issue.
So far, Flaten says it has taken him around two hours to clean $5 worth of pennies.
All the owner of AOK Auto Works had to tell a local news reporter was: “He got paid–that’s all that matters.”