At the US Open, a moment that should have been pure joy turned into one of the ugliest scenes of the tournament. A young boy was waiting to receive a cap from Polish tennis player Kamil Majchrzak. He had just received it before, Piotr Szczerek, a wealthy businessman in the stands, grabbed it out of his hands.
Kamil Majchrzak had just pulled off a stunning upset over the No. 9 seed, Karen Khachanov, in the second round of the 2025 US Open. It was an exhilarating five-set battle that earned him a spot in the third round of the tournament. So, he headed to the stands to greet the fans and sign a few things. When he handed a boy his hat off his head, that’s when the true nature of Piotr Szczerek was put on display for the world to see.
He snatched the cap out of the boy’s hand like he was entitled to it. Then, he turned his back on the boy and put it in his wife’s bag. That demonstrates to me that he knew what he was doing was wrong. But he denies any wrongdoing. Where are his PR people, because he isn’t doing himself or his company any good speaking on his own without any supervision.
The boy’s face said everything. Excitement turned to shock in seconds, and millions watching felt the same. Viewers called it bullying, and the clip spread online within minutes.
- “Only an ordinary idiot and a jerk could snatch a hat from a child’s hands.”
- “If the company’s president so unscrupulously stole a child’s hat, if I were a customer, I would no longer use his services.”
- “Stealing from a child is completely disgusting.”
- Imagine how long the list is!
After the clip went viral, Piotr Szczerek vanished from social media. His accounts were deactivated as the backlash mounted and people flooded his name with criticism. He stayed silent until finally reemerging with a statement that tried to defend the grab as “first come, first served,” a line so absurd it only made the outrage louder. As if snatching something from a child could ever be excused that way, people mocked it, saying it sounded like something from the playground.
“Yes, I took it. Yes, I did it quickly. But as I’ve always said, life is first come, first served… let’s not make a global scandal out of the hat. It’s just a hat. If you were faster, you would have it. Regarding online hate, I remind you that insulting a public figure is subject to legal liability. All offensive comments, slander, and insinuations will be analysed for the possibility of taking the matter to court.”
To give millionaires an even worse reputation, not only were his immediate actions proof that he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he felt so entitled that he had to defend what he did. Then, doubled down and tried to intimidate people with the threat of legal action. But Piotr Szczerek must be deranged because, first of all, no one knew who he was until he bullied a kid.
Second, he stole the hat from the kid. It is clear that the hat was in the kid’s hands, and in any court of law, that fact can be easily established. Finally, he can’t sue anyone for anything they say is true. Defamation only applies when the offensive comments and insinuations are based on false information. See you in court, Piotr!
The backlash from his double down has been even more brutal. Szczerek runs Drogbruk, a paving company in Poland, and the fallout has hit his business hard. Contracts are being canceled, reviews are plummeting, and customers are making sure he feels the cost of his arrogance. Reviews for DrogBruk are hilarious on GoWork as a result of the incident, while some are very serious about their disgust.
The negative reviews have made the star rating for Drogbruk sink to 1.4 / 5:
- “I didn’t get a job as a baseball cap thief because someone was better than me!”
- “The interview was brief. The CEO snatched my application and put it in his bag. He tore a photo from my CV and pasted it into his passport. Then he ran out, and that’s all I saw of him. I have no idea if I was hired, but I doubt it, because I wasn’t quick enough and I didn’t have a hat.”
- “Stolen! Stolen, I say! My hat, my crown, my brim of brilliance—gone! Whisked away by some scoundrel with sticky fingers and dreadful taste in fashion! Without it, I am but half a Hatter, a teacup without its saucer, a riddle without its answer! Have you seen it? Tall, magnificent, slightly frayed at the edges, filled with secrets and perhaps a biscuit or two? If you see a thief parading about with it perched upon their pompous head—do be a dear and snatch it back, for a Hatter without his hat is like a March Hare without his madness.”
Majchrzak did what he could to fix it. He found the boy, gave him a fresh, signed cap, and turned the moment back into something positive. His grace and kindness stood in stark contrast to the selfish act that started it all.
Szczerek may have thought he got away with a hat, but what he really stole was a child’s moment and his own reputation. The hat might have been worth a lot, but the damage to his name and his company is already costing him so much more.
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