New Owner Bullies Employees, Runs Company Into Ground, Fails Court Case

Author image for Eric Lund
Eric Lund
Oct 27, 2021 6:00 PM EDT

There's a rich history of bosses orchestrating their own downfall and this one is a stellar example. This lady's genius idea was to make their product crappier while keeping prices high and treating staff like garbage. Where could that go wrong? Some bosses make it clear right away that playing along won't be worth it. Here are some job listing horror stories as well as reasons people quit their jobs on the first day.

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  • 01
    Font - O r/MaliciousCompliance Posted by u/nicklo2k 1 day ago 63 2 55 59 3 70 32 Either be fired or accept a massive pay cut. Ok, I'll take the firing. oc XL I worked for Company for 14 years. I loved working there for 12 of those years. There were 2 main parts to the job. The first part was the "sales" side of things. This was away from the office, in the customer's location. This involved quite a bit of driving (and on a couple of occasions flying abroad) to work face to face with the customer
    via nicklo2k
  • 02
    Font - The second part was the office side. This was my weaker side. I hated cold calling "potential customers" with numbers I found in the phone book. When it came to answering the phone and speaking to potential customers who initiated contact with us I was fine! But I wasn't great at making the calls. This was my only real not-great part of my job. So, in the office I wasn't asked to make any calls. Instead I prepared product. Designed new product. Trained new staff members (ended up being on
    via nicklo2k
  • 03
    Font - The company had been doing so well that the owner had slowly expanded over the 12 years since I started working for Company. I had joined about 3 months after he started, so I'd been a part of this expansion. I worked out of my nearest office, but often travelled to other areas to train their staff. I was "loaned out" as it were to other companies to help train their staff. At one point I was a guest lecturer at a University teaching medical students how to deliver complicated explanation
    via nicklo2k
  • 04
    Font - Before the new owner bought the company she worked alongside the staff for a couple of weeks to see how we operated. This was before any of us knew she was about to buy the company. As far as we knew she was just another employee, and she was shadowing us to learn. She came with me on assignments in the field and saw my abilities. When the sale was announced and we were informed that she was the new owner, everyone was very surprised. She made some sweeping staffing changes. The manager l
    via nicklo2k
  • 05
    Font - Whilst technically it was a "new company" for the customers it was the same old business. The company still had the same trading name. The only real difference was that there was a new owner and the registered business name was now different. As far as the customers were concerned nothing had changed. My job for the first few months after the sale was to train up the remaining staff to replace the more experienced staff members who had been let go. I recommended a couple of new hires who
    via nicklo2k
  • 06
    Font - Over the next 2 years business started to fall. The reason was simple: The new owner decided to try and maximise profits by increasing prices whilst decreasing the quality of the product. For new customers this wasn't noticeable. They just thought we were expensive and the product wasn't the best. But for old customers who had been with us for 10+ years, they immediately noticed. They were being charged more and were receiving less/worse quality. So the owner doubled down and increased pr
    via nicklo2k
  • 07
    Font - Then I got a phone call. The owner needed me to come to the office. This was unexpected. I had just finished working on location with a customer. My next customer was in 2 and a half hours. It was a half hour drive away. The office was about an hour and 10 minutes away from both locations. If I drove back to the office I would have about 5 minutes in the office before leaving. My mileage was paid above my regular salary, so I was saving the company money by doing this. Also, parking was a
    via nicklo2k
  • 08
    Font - This knocked me for 6. I was the best employee. I read through her list of complaints about my performance and started working on my defence. At the meeting I declined to have a witness. Instead I decided to record the audio of the entire meeting on my phone without informing her. Where I live this is legal and I didn't need consent. The boss' witness was her friend who she had met at Yoga and hired for an office role, firing the secretary who had been there long before the takeover. Ever
    via nicklo2k
  • 09
    Font - To the pathetic: "You were late for work on the 12th of May." "Is that the day my car broke down and I called the office to let you know?" "I don't know." "I do. Here's the receipt from the garage dated May 12th." To the downright lies. This one I can't write as a quote. Basically, she accused me of gross misconduct for breaking health and safety laws in the way I was delivering a product for a customer. I hadn't broken health and safety laws. I knew exactly what I was doing since, as I'v
    via nicklo2k
  • 10
    Font - She finished her list by telling me that she doesn't want to lose me, but she can't justify keeping such a poor employee at my current salary. I had 2 choices: I could either sign a zero hours contract and work for minimum wage, or she could fire me with 2 weeks notice. I countered that she would have to give me 12 weeks notice, since my contract guaranteed me 1 week's notice for every year of employment, up to a maximum of 12. She argued that I had only been her employee for 2 years, sin
    via nicklo2k
  • 11
    Font - When she came back she informed me that since she was firing me for gross misconduct, she didn't have to give me any notice at all. If I wanted to remain and move to the zero hours contract, I could do that today. But if I didn't then she would have to fire me. But because she was nice she would give me the 2 weeks notice. I asked for a couple of hours to go home and think about this. She allowed this. I knew the reason she wanted me to remain for at least the 2 weeks was because one of o
    via nicklo2k
  • 12
    Font - I called the office and spoke to the owner. I declined the offer of a zero hours contract and said I would be leaving. She then said she was giving me my 2 weeks notice. I declined her offer of 2 weeks notice. I informed her that if I was being fired for gross misconduct then surely I cannot be relied upon to safely deliver the product. Therefore it would be best for everyone involved if I didn't return to work. She panicked and said that she needed me for those 2 weeks. I feigned ignoran
    via nicklo2k
  • 13
    Font - For those 12 weeks the Owner barely spoke to me. She resented the fact that I knew my legal rights and didn't just believe her lies. She hated the fact that I could defend myself. She was petty. She accidentally dropped my mug in the kitchen, breaking it. Most petty of all, she paid for every member of staff in the office to have a spa day... except me. I was asked to work my day off to answer the phones whilst everyone else was being pampered. Nobody knew I hadn't been invited until they
    via nicklo2k
  • 14
    Font - The day after my final day 2 things happened. The first was my friend who I had been training up to replace me quit. He was on a zero hours contract so required no notice. He was unhappy with her treatment of me, and was unhappy that she expected him to do my (previously salaried) job for minimum wage. He hadn't informed me of his plans to leave, and I only learned of it when he knocked on my door in the middle of the day when he should have been at work to let me know. The second was the
    via nicklo2k
  • 15
    Font - She refuted my claims for eenstructive unfair dismissal. Said it was gross misconduct. Tried to come up with some more reasons for firing me. But the truth was that the company was making less money because of her business practices, and I was the highest (and only) salary. I had evidence that I was a great employee. I had evidence that she asked me to move to a zero hours contract. She initially tried to deny this, since the "gross misconduct" fabrication makes no sense if she wanted me
    via nicklo2k
  • 16
    Font - The aftermath: The office assistant who had become a friend quit a couple of months after I left. She hated how I was treated and didn't feel feel safe working for such an untrustworthy boss. Several former customers contacted me personally to enquire why I was no longer with the company. Apparently the owner was telling them that I just quit. I informed them that I had been fired for cost cutting reasons. They moved their business elsewhere. Several offered me jobs. One went so far as to
    via nicklo2k
  • 17
    Font - The business is floundering. COVID left the new owner desperate for cash. She cancelled orders but refused to refund customers money, citing an "act of god" clause in the contracts. The business' Facebook and Google reviews have tanked. Most staff left. The business is still afloat, but barely. TLDR - Owner fired me as a cost cutting measure. I sued and they ended up settling out of court, whilst the person they planned to replace me with quit.
    via nicklo2k

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