'Feels good': Worker quits and leaves their terrible boss scrambling, others share their stories

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 24, 2023 12:00 PM EDT

Toxic managers have one thing in common: Their belief that their authority is absolute. It's almost as if they think it's impossible for anyone ever to leave them, acting like workers will continue to put up with the most dreadful working conditions and their abhorrent behavior for the rest of their careers. So, of course, they're completely blindsided when their most pivotal workers hand in their notice, with the news sending them scrambling to figure out how they're going to maintain the continuity of their business once the worker leaves. It's not uncommon, probably due to stress, to see these managers wait until the last possible moment to start initiating handoff and—with no proper replacement—vital tasks and institutional knowledge slip through the cracks and remain forgotten.

By the time they've managed to get things straightened out, there have been two or three workers hired to do what the one (woefully underpaid) worker was doing before. Even then, there are tasks that remain untended. Will anyone care? Probably not. That is not until that skeleton jumps out of the closet and brings the whole operation crashing down.

This worker shared their story of how they quit, pulling the string that unraveled their terrible boss's operation. Their narrative of events prompted other readers to share stories of their own in the comments, resulting in a collection of entertaining accounts of how people left their terrible positions.

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  • 01
    Outerwear
    via Ben White
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/investorsama 7 hours ago My boss put me through holl and I returned the favor by quitting It's been a while since I quit and I'm keeping it vague so this doesnt come back to get me. Basically I was brought into a company and my manager was very narccisctic and unhelpful in many ways. They always talked s about coworkers behind their backs with me and seemed to be very hands off with work despite their seniority in the company.
    via u/investorsama
  • 03
    Font - They had beef with a coworker and fired them and I was the new guy on the block. I got handed the coworkers job on top of my current role. I had a week to learn it. eventually began to work 2 roles. Finally, a third role was handed to me. I began to stay up countless nights til sometimes 1 am working so I don't fall behind. For 9 months, I worked the roles of 3 people for the same pay.
    via u/investorsama
  • 04
    Font - If I asked for help or advice, I'd get lectured or yelled at, and it got to the point where I felt abused. I cried in front of my manager before and they could feel the stress on my shoulders and even after that, they never made the effort to hire more people to help or try to assist me. I eventually dropped the news on their desk when they came back from a trip and said I'm calling it quits. I made a few shO pdf guides of some of
    via u/investorsama
  • 05
    Font - my roles and responsibilities and I made them purposely very convoluted processes that my manager could never understand due to their lack of technological knowledge with the softwares I was using. I was told my manager was crying the last week leading up to my departure because they couldn't find a replacement. I just shrugged and said not my problem.
    via u/investorsama
  • 06
    Font - The last day came and I just drove home with a smile. i checked the career page the following week and saw two roles posted up just to cover me, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was one more. My manager basically got handed the job of 3 people and now they're under so much stress. Before I left, a few coworkers also approached me and said good on me for leaving, they're also thinking the same. Feels good to get revenge!
    via u/investorsama
  • 07
    Font - RahulRedditor . 7 hr. ago I was told my manager was crying the last week leading up to my departure because they couldn't find a replacement. I just shrugged and said not my problem. Nothing is more beautiful than the sight of chickens coming home to roost. 904 Reply Share
    via u/investorsama
  • 08
    Font - Responsible-Loan-166 · 6 hr. ago There was once a coworker that was genuinely horrible to me all the time, when I put my notice in some of my more technological work, fell to them, and I heard they were crying. They were so stressed out, having to do my work they actually threatened to quit if they had to use the machine I did. This was the same person who is keeping medical records on notebook paper before I started. Still makes me smile thinking about it all these years later. 282 Reply
    via u/investorsama
  • 09
    Font - bnr090909 6 hr. ago My husband was a lead in a warehouse. Thr company kept complaining he was working too many hours and kept cutting them back after they went to a skeleton crew. He had had enough and kept telling them he was leaving once he got another job. That job came and he told them they had 3 months to get a replacement so he could train them. They never did. He goes in for his final shift and his manager asked him if was coming in that weekend for inventory, my husband said "no I
    via u/investorsama
  • 10
    Font - FerventApathy. 5 hr. ago I was in a similar situation where I was doing my job, the job of my boss, and then they expected me to fully cover someone's maternity leave (from another department!) instead of hiring or finding temporary help. I expressed concerns and came prepared with metrics and data so they didn't think I was just bg but was just told we are "just going to have to be okay working more than the normal 40 for a while." A while was 5 months and I worked 55-60 hour weeks alrea
    via u/investorsama
  • 11
    Font - The fy didn't stop there, though. Once I left they reposted my job at a lower title and made my direct report do my old job with no promotion or pay increase. They also expected her to manage the new employee that was her same title. So she got everything I had plus extra with no incentive and less pay than I got for it. Obviously she's leaving, someone else on the team has already quit, the new hire is about to quit, the one coworker had the baby and is out, and old boss still doesn't kn
    via u/investorsama
  • 12
    Font - department is basically down to 2. I'm getting secondhand info that they are incredibly stressed are failing and upper management is furious and it's glorious. They are finally trying to get temporary help as well and can't hire anyone because everyone declines to proceed because they are being deceptive that it's temporary and manager is being disrespectful to the applicants. I would still be there if they had put the tiniest amount of effort to find maternity leave coverage. Corporate A
    via u/investorsama
  • 13
    Product - . Bitbatgaming 6 hr. ago Ha, you were told that your manager was crying? When she made you cry in thousands of moments? I mean it's just karma. 97 ↓ Reply Share investorsama OP. 6 hr. ago One of her coworkers told me that in order to guilt me into to changing my mind, I just shrugged and went home 110 Reply Share
    via u/investorsama

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