'This is my supervillain origin story': Boss tries to tell worker that their demotion is a good thing, they leave and sabotage the company

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Feb 29, 2024 10:00 AM EST

Oftentimes in life, we will try and soften the effect that our words will have on the chosen recipient through careful wording and euphemisms, hoping that in beating around the bush enough we'll still manage to get our point across but in a way that doesn't upset the target party. Of course, usually, if the person you're speaking to is getting the point and the point is something that they should be upset about, they're just going to get upset anyway. This renders the entire thing to be a rather pointless and exhausting exercise and you're probably better off just being forthright from the outset.

This principle especially applies when giving your employees a demotion. You're giving them a demotion—there's really no point in trying to sugarcoat that fact and soften the blow of their impending reduction of income and stature. They're going to be upset, and rightfully so, and any attempt you make to ensure otherwise is just going to come across as being in poor taste. They might then decide to leave and cripple your operations at a pivotal moment of their project's delivery… You really should have seen that one coming.

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  • 01
    WATE
    via Saulo Mohana
  • 02
    Boss tries to sugar coat a demotion - I leave one week before deliverables are due I have to be vague in order to avoid being found out. This is my super villain origin story. I had been working in a large Healthcare organization (hco) for 8 years in various roles while going to school. Once I graduated, I wanted to stay on at this organization. The bummer was that the department that I wanted to work in was contracted to a third party. No matter, I decided to go for it. I took an entry level ro
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 03
    About 8 months in, the company I worked for was able to convince the hco to amend the contract, at over 300k per year, to add a brand new role and department. Think facilities mixed with IT and cybersecurity. I would be reporting directly to my VP and actually outranked my manager at the time. To be clear, my pay wasn't 300k, that was the value added to the company's contract. I made a fraction of that. I was tabbed for the role. I was given a raise and promotion to be the department of one. I w
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 04
    I wasn't given a proper laptop and was told to use my own. When I complained, I was told to use a cheap desktop that I could take out in the field--not practical. I wasn't given proper tools. I wasn't given proper training. Nevertheless, I soldiered on. Now I know the role was new and that there wasn't a playbook on how to run this department. However, I knew that other hco that had started doing this had teams of a dozen or more. I was getting killed and had no support from management.
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 05
    I ended up really effective in this role. Went out and got It and cybersecurity certs. I wrote scripts to automate a portion of my job and put in a ton of paid OT to get the launch of the department done. All of my spreadsheets data and software were on my personal laptop. 3 months into my new role, I was called into a meeting. My VP tells me that they were reassessing my title and didn't feel my title was appropriate. He gave me my new title and said that my duties wouldn't change. I would stil
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 06
    I quickly reached out to my old classmates and within a 2 weeks had a job offer. I accepted and put in my two weeks notice. My last day would be six days before we were to give a status update and make good on some deliverables. My boss assumed I would just keep on soldiering along and pretty much avoided me. On my last day, he asked me to give him the run down. I told him everything that I could accomplish with my desktop was on the desktop. I left it at that.
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 07
    After I left, they realized I hadn't touched the desktop and I thi k they realized they f*cked up. I never got a call or any communication. My former coworkers told me that they went full panic mode and had to bring in two guys from corporate to make up for my work, each at twice my salary. They also had to pay for missing a deadline.
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 08
    TLDR: I was demoted and left the company, them over in the process
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 09
    AreWeCowabunga On top of everything else, your boss was a moron for waiting until the last day to talk about transition. 7.0k Mispelled-This Reply Share True, but shockingly common. At my last job, my VP called me at 4pm on my last day to ask me what my transition plan was. I would have told him figuring that out was his job, but I actually had a better plan: I told him I'd given all my projects to a coworker who I knew would be resigning the very next day. It was even better because someone els
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 10
    LaughableIKR I thought I worked for a sho company. We don't allow anyone in with a personal laptop/desktop. You were supposed to be the IT/Security for that application/department and they said 'bring your own?'. Crazy. 2.7k Reply Share Apprehensive_Pay5195 OP Yup, they gave me a full size dell office pc. I asked for Ms office license and was denied so I used open Office. 1.7k Reply Share ...
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 11
    Kaleidoscope Old 7883 There's a lot of these stories in IT, especially in start ups and smaller or older companies. You're under appreciated until you're ready to leave, then panic ensues. 620 Reply Share
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 12
    worsttimehomebuyer. Not a villain, working class hero is more like it. 170 ↓ Reply Share
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195
  • 13
    tradeforfood And these are the same idiots in management who ask "why do so many people quit?" when there's a high turnover rate at their company. Bad management. The answer is always bad management! 412 Reply Share
    via u/Apprehensive_Pay5195

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