'Boss picked up on my quiet quitting': Employee responds to tone-deaf lecture from boss about quiet quitting by actually quitting

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Oct 8, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

Do the horrible bosses of the world not realize that when they give tone-deaf lectures to their employees, they are increasing the likelihood of receiving resignation letters? The two are about as directly correlated at this point as good weather and happiness. The more your horrible boss asserts their backward sense of authoritative power and control, the more people will up and leave.

This Redditor worked in college admissions and created boundaries between their work and home life. For the cynical working minds, this qualifies as "quiet quitting" despite the fact that it's really just finding a healthy work-life balance. Regardless, their employer picked up on these boundaries and sent a strongly worded email urging them to do more. Of course, these extra efforts would not be accompanied by a higher salary; it's just extra work for the sake of doing extra work.

Thankfully, OP responded to this strongly worded email with more guts and bravery than I would have if this situation were to happen to me. He managed to get a better job elsewhere, where he got paid $20K more per year. So he responded to his boss's email by actually quitting. Keep scrolling below for the full story. When you're finished, feel free to check out this post about an employee who confronted his boss about billing for their mandatory company retreat.