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A man in the US was left fuming after he was paid his last cheque in grease-covered pennies.
Andreas Flaten, from Fayetteville, worked for A OK Walker Autoworks until November 2020, when he filed his two-week notice after reportedly experiencing a toxic work environment.
His boss, Miles Walker, is said to have been upset by the prospect of Flaten's departure; so much so that he 'froze and stared at [Flaten] for like a straight minute' after hearing the news.
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The former employee told WGCL-TV that, after breaking the news to his boss, Walker ‘gets up, puts his hands on his head, walks out the door, and disappears’, WHDH reported.
Flaten was expecting to receive his final pay cheque after his time at the company came to an end.
However, when January came and the $915 he was owed failed to arrive, he contacted the Georgia Department of Labor for assistance.
The company continued to withhold payment until the middle of this month, when Flaten left his home to find a pile of slimy pennies in his driveway.
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The coins appeared to have been covered in oil or grease, and his last payslip was found in an envelope which read: ‘f*ck you.’
Flaten told Fox 13 News: "This is a childish thing to do."
The former employee gathered the coins in a wheelbarrow in his garage and spent a number of evenings attempting to clean the pennies with a solution of dish soap, vinegar, and water.
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He said: "If I’ve done my math correctly, 91,515 pennies should come out to be about – at two and a half grams each – about 504 pounds."
Flaten noted that it had taken him about an hour and a half to clean a few hundred of the coins.
He added: "I think that’s going to be a lot of work for money I’ve already worked for.
"It’s going to be hours upon hours […] to clean this money up so that it’s even able to be spent. It’s definitely not fair at all."
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When asked about the coins, Walker told WGCL-TV he couldn’t recall if he had dumped the coins, commenting: "He got paid, that’s all that matters."
Despite his efforts to clean the coins, Flaten expressed his concern that the grease or oil used to cover the pennies could be harmful to the environment.
A freshwater creek sits about 100 feet away from his home, and Flaten was worried that the grease may slide down his driveway and make its way into the water.
Basically, the whole ordeal was one big mess from start to finish.
Emily Brown