'I will never forget the expression of defeat on his face': Employee gets 20 days of vacation time after boss sends the wrong paperwork

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 10, 2023 5:00 PM EDT

We also wish we could have seen the look of defeat on this guy's boss's face. 

When you first start your job, you have no idea what your boss is going to be like. As you interview, you might talk to your direct boss once or twice, and you can probably get a good first impression of them, but it's hard to know what your day to day life will be like. Even if your boss seems great from the start, they might start to turn on you after a while, which is apparently what happened with this person's boss. 

This manager sounds so terrible — the OP, u/Tamabest, claims that this boss "made it a habit to yell at me at least once every day and tell me how stupid I am." Talk about a toxic work environment. The OP even spent two years in that job, and reflected on how it negatively impacted their mental health. The OP couldn't even escape their boss outside of work hours, as they write that this manager would call them all the time to insist that the OP fix mistakes. 

At least this boss messed up big time when he tried to terminate the OP. He did it so poorly that the OP managed to turn it into a win for themself, while the boss was stuck trying to salvage the business. Next up, these professional chefs are talented but they aren't perfect, and they shared their funniest and craziest kitchen catastrophes in this post. 

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  • 01
    Tableware - tab AS А D F 'I applied to several companies and was waiting for the responses, when [my boss] decided to terminate me' G B H N J
    via ian dooley on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Boss firing me without a warning and fing up the termination M OC I worked for a small company for the last 2 years as a Software Developer. And with small I mean, that I was the only employee, so for many projects my boss had, I wrote the main part of the code base. In march, I made a mistake in one of the Updates and from then on, my boss made it a habit, to yell at me at least once every day and tell me, how stupid I am.
    via u/Tamabest
  • 03
    Font - Additionaly, he started to call me outside of my working hours, to demand fixes for problems, that at the Most part were his own mistakes (to be fair, my code quality started to go downhill, after I had several mental breakdowns thanks to behaviour). At the start of May, he said to me, that he doesnt want to fire me, but would recommend, that I find another job in the next month. So I applied to several companies and was waiting for the responses, when he decided, to terminate me nonethel
    via u/Tamabest
  • 04
    Font - wrote a termination letter and sent it to my home address, but didnt say a word to me. So I was quite shocked, when I recieved the letter, which stated that I was fired, starting July the first and that I should take my remaining 20 vacation days (which is the rest of my annual leave) in June. But in germany (where I work), the employer is only obliged, to give you the rest of your annual leave, if you worked MORE than 6 months in the company for this year.
    via u/Tamabest
  • 05
    Font - Additionaly, an important project, which I had been working on since february was due in mid-June and not even close to finished, because my boss had prioritized tickets from other projects. So, I wrote my boss, that I would like to take the vacation days immediately, as written in the termination, but if he needed help for finishing the current project, I would be willing to have the remaining vacation days be paid out to me. As soon as I sent the message, I saw in the chat program, that
    via u/Tamabest
  • 06
    Font - He answered, that the number of vacation days in the letter of termination was a ,,minor spelling mistake" and that I only had 6 days left. After a quick chat with an attorney (friend of my parents), who started laughing, when I told him of my bosses reaction, I wrote my boss a formal mail, in which I informed him, that I would definitely take the vacation days, as stated in the letter and because the termination also stated, that the remaining vacation time will not be paid out, I will w
    via u/Tamabest
  • 07
    Font - grudgingly accepted the 20 vacation days and I will never forget the expression of defeat in his face at the last day, when he realised, that the project he took a loan for was about to phenomally fail, because I was the only one working on it and he didnt even try to understand how it works (his Slogan always was: As Long as it works, I dont care).
    via u/Tamabest
  • 08
    Goggles - il_maio I don't understand how he would think the company can carry on having fired the only employee he has...
    via u/ il_maio
  • 09
    Font - Tamabest OP To be honest: I think, he could not afford me any longer. He had to declare bancruptcy for the first time half a year after I started at his company and I have a gut feeling he's running out of money.
    via u/Tamabest
  • 10
    Font - Tekuzo +1 One of my peers had the inverse of that. He was given a formal offer letter with the wrong job title (one that was beneficial to him in our union contract). By the time our employer found out about the mistake it was too late.
    via u/Tekuzo
  • 11
    Font - mistermorrison Good, I'm glad the ba got screwed and shot himself in the foot. Instant karma.
    via u/mistermorrison
  • 12
    Font - grumblyoldman +2. "As long as it works, I don't care." Also known as "F around and find out," to those who do care enough to check in on how things work from time to time.
    via u/grumblyoldman
  • 13
    Organism - missannthrope1 +2. He's a bully. He created a hostile workplace. He brought this on himself.
    via u/missannthrope1
  • 14
    Font - LibraryMouse4321 +2. Good for you! Sounds like a horrible boss and I hope you found a good job after that. He deserves any bad karma that comes his way.
    via u/LibraryMouse4321
  • 15
    Font - SrFarkwoodWolf +1. Only 4 weeks to termination after about 2 years employment? Seems short to me for Germany. I gues after some contracts with a predefined run time? JU CE 4 Tamabest OP Reply Share In germany, little companies with less than 20 employees have special rights, which include the right to terminate every employee with a month notice.
    via u/SrFarkwoodWolf
  • 16
    Font - dennismullen12. If you don't have any kind of no compete clause or confidentially agreement I would go to the customer and offer your services either as a full time employee or as a contractor. Tell them that when your old company fails on this project you will be there to help pick up the pieces, or they can avoid that if they want..
    via u/dennismullen12
  • 17
    Font - Tamabest OP Good idea, but I already got a new job, starting in august :)
    via u/Tamabest
  • 18
    Font - Stamboolie Its funny how many managers act like they don't need developers, but when you call their bluff, they realise they're up s creek. Its one of the nice benefits of being a developer when you have a sty manager.
    via u/Stamboolie

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Tags

FAILS boss workplace-stories toxic-workplace manager FAIL horrible-management workplace Horrible Bosses toxic-work-environment malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit vacations Germany vacation
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