'What are you going to do, fire me?': After employee hands in their notice, micromanager forces them to fire other coworkers out of spite, employee refuses to comply

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Aug 5, 2024 7:00 AM EDT

Once you know you are quitting your job, every single thing you do until your last day can be up to you completely. As soon as you hand in your notice to your boss, you have the right to say 'no' to every task they ask of you, because what is the worst that will happen if you say no, they fire you? The cat is completely out of the bag by that point.

Especially if the tasks the boss asks of you are basically their dirty work. For example – After the employee (OP, original poster) in this Reddit story handed in their month's notice, their boss asked them to provide a list of 'underperforming' coworkers so they could be fired. The employee refused to do such a thing, but that didn't stop the boss from selecting a random coworker and telling OP to fire them, which led to an awkward conversation with said coworker…

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  • 01
    "I got a message that I have to fire a specific person because the boss'doesn't want to work with them" YOU
    via Canva
  • 02
    Boss made me fire a person because I gave my notice
    via u/aka472
  • 03
    I'm a department manager in a small IT company. Recently I gave my month's notice (required by law, as I'm in Europe) due to burnout caused by all the crop caused by my boss, who also co- owns the company.
    via u/aka472
  • 04
    When I gave the notice, pretty much the only thing the boss asked me to do was to prepare a list of people who underperform so that they can be let go at the same time I'll be leaving the
    via u/aka472
  • 05
    company. I didn't prepare such list because of two reasons. Firstly, why would I want to throw anyone under the bus. Secondly, I believe that currently there are no underperforming people, so there's no need to let anyone go.
    via u/aka472
  • 06
    I always thought of my boss as lacking leadership skills and empathy, but the answer I got regarding the empty list of people to fire left me baffled. I got a message that I have to fire
    via u/aka472
  • 07
    a specific person because the boss "doesn't want to work with that person". Of course there was no room for arguing and even the HR department was not able to say a word. Ultimately I
    via u/aka472
  • 08
    participated in the meeting to soften the blow of serving the papers to the person, as it would happen with or without me. I try to understand the reasoning behind this, but nonetheless, this
    via u/aka472
  • 09
    was one of the most absurd things I had to take part in during my career as a lead. Holy ci p, am I happy to jump this ship. Even though I don't
    via u/aka472
  • 10
    have anything new aligned, the uncertainty of the job market beats the stomach-turning stress induced by this h_llhole.
    via u/aka472
  • 11
    StolenWishes · 3 days ago prepare a list of people who underperform so that they can be let go at the same time I'll be leaving the company. Your list should have had one name: His.
    via u/StolenWishes
  • 12
    Nicolehall202 · 4 days ago You can say no to ANYTHING they ask you to do at this point. What are they going to do about it? Fire you? You are already leaving. You work for them they don't own you
    via u/Nicolehall202
  • 13
    Odd-Egg57 3 days ago . • edited 3 days ago I'd have got it all in writing them being fired because someone doesn't want to work with them is not a legally vaild reason to fire someone under uk or eu law. Pass it onto them and then they could sue for unfair dismissal.
    via u/Odd-Egg57
  • 14
    aka472 OP 3 days ago • That's not on the table unfortunately, as some people are on a B2B contract, meaning they pay significantly less taxes, but on the downside, they're not really protected by the labour laws. Very popular way where I live. Still, would be a shame if other coworkers got to know how the boss treats his employees...
    via u/aka472
  • 15
    Shadow_84 4 days ago Squatter 'No I won't do that. What are you gonna do, fire me?'
    via u/Shadow_84
  • 16
    Camango17 3 days ago You should have fired the person in the most illegal way you could so that they can sue the company after you leave
    via u/Camango17
  • 17
    swordstool 4 days ago In the future, in that situation, just explain to the person that "Bob" asked me to let you go, and "Bob" said the reasons are "X, Y, and Z". That's it. It's not on you, so don't make it seem like it is to that person or to yourself.
    via u/swordstool
  • 18
    JustABard 3 days ago Did you tell the unfortunate person in the meeting that this is happening purely because the boss just doesn't like them, and not because of their performance or work ethic? If not, why?
    via u/JustABard
  • 19
    charlie2135. 3 days ago Was told to fire an employee that was close to retirement. Blit reason from the superintendent but I was in good terms with the union rep so set it up so that in the grievance meeting he'd get his job back.
    via u/charlie2135
  • 20
    Found out from the griever when the meeting was over the superintendent threw me under the boss saying I was the one that wanted to do it. Was never so glad as when he was forced out of his position.
    via u/charlie2135
  • 21
    Posted this story before but the reason was that some bad product had been processed through his machine which was because it was operating too fast to remove the materials the machine was designed to do. To placate the customer they were told disciplinary action was being taken to resolve the issue.
    via u/charlie2135
  • 22
    When the operator returned to work, I told him to just make sure the product was spotless. I was then brought into a meeting where the superintendent told me we needed to increase production.
    via u/charlie2135
  • 23
    When I pointed out the reason for lower production here's what I was told verbatim: "We know you can produce a good product, now we need you to produce more of it." Just to clarify, the quality is speed related.
    via u/charlie2135

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boss workplace-stories micromanager employee fired manager job tales-from-the-workplace reddit story overworked-employees workplace Reddit company funny resignation
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