'My boss threatened to call my new job': Employee gives notice, boss holds grudge, tries to get new employer to revoke their offer

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Sep 17, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

The way in which an employer responds to news of your departure is perhaps the most revealing moment of their overall character as a boss. There is the possibility that they will keep things professional and will respect your decision to pivot into something different. And then there's the more common response, which is the more selfish one.

With this option, employers will take the news personally. No matter how professional you are, they will make your final weeks at the office all the more difficult. They will be passive-aggressive, they will be overly aggressive, they will sabotage you, they will make you feel guilty, and they will act like a child when one of their toys is taken away from them. We shouldn't be surprised by this kind of adolescent behavior at this point; after all, workplace culture has made it so that most bosses are conditioned to behave in this manner when things don't go their way. Entitled, much? That's exactly right.

In this story, which was shared via this Reddit thread, OP's boss threatened the employee that if they did not fully complete their final tasks before their departure, they would call up their new employer and get them to rescind the job offer. This sounds like a lot of work on the part of the boss, but ok, whatever. As folks in the comments section below pointed out, one of the many takeaways from this story is to never reveal to your current employer what your next job will be. For more tales of workplace drama, check out this collection of stories where everyone quit at the same time.