Update: 'I will not be following up': Boss asks employee to write impossible report before he leaves the company, employee proves it was a bad idea

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Sep 3, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

Most employees hope to be appreciated and valued while they're happily employed at a company, but the unfortunate reality of the working world is that employers often don't understand that value until they're about to lose you. When that happens, all of a sudden your contributions to the company seem so important that your bosses become increasingly afraid of what the workflow will be like in your absence. As we said, it's a very self-involved line of thinking, since you've been hoping for validation and respect for months (potentially years) and, of course, you're only getting that validation and respect now that you have one foot out the door. On top of that, there seems to be absolutely no interest in you and why you're leaving. There are no questions about what they could have done better to keep you. There is simply the worry of how hard things will be for them without your labor.

This thread and the subsequent update were shared via this Reddit thread, and let's just say that OP fully understands this experience now that he's preparing for a move to a different state and trying to prepare their boss logistically (and emotionally) for the transition. His boss, of course, has no specific understanding of what OP does on a day-to-day basis but understands that it's "important" and no one else knows how to do it. So, they assigned OP with the task to write an extremely detailed, step-by-step report of how to do his job. Given that there are multiple technical programs involved in his job, this is simply an impossible task to complete in such little time. Thankfully, the comments from the initial Reddit post motivated the employee to stand up for himself.

Keep scrolling below for the full play-by-play. For more, check out this story about a former boss who tried to force free labor out of an ex-employee.

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