My last boss threw out three managed network switches (~$800 each at the time). I asked if he minded if I took them. He said sure go ahead, what do I want with three broken switches. Power supply from one + motherboard from the second + RJ45 ports from the third = one working switch. I came in Monday and said something about it. He told me he wanted it back. I told him he could pry it from my cold, dead hands.
We went through a lot of equipment every year as a tech/phone company and he never threw out another single piece of equipment again while I worked there. Not one single thing. We had broken phone equipment from the 70s that no one needed and he just kept stacking it. Another employee told me they threw a bunch of it out after I quit five years later.
