As a contract trainer, I did some work for a training company which neglected to pay the trainers. The owner sent an email wishing us all a happy Christmas and craving our indulgence while the company worked its way through its cash flow problems.
Unfortunately, the owner put us all in the CC list, and one of the others replied to all of us that the owner has a history of bad debts and was never going to pay up. This quickly developed into an impromptu action group as we banded together.
It turned out that the owner had been barred from running a company, and had stolen money to manage his cash flow. He ended up serving time in prison.
We never did get our money, but at least I can say that somebody who foolishly CCed the mailing list ended up in prison, so that should be an object lesson.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
