Employee doing the jobs of 4 people gets fired leaving company stranded without any equipment: 'I'll take it all down with me'

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Oct 15, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

You don't know a good thing until it's gone: a phrase that is applicable to so many areas of life. And it fits quite neatly in the sense of employers who are asking far too much of their best workers with little recognition or fair compensation.

This media designer slowly found themselves, over time, burdened with more and more responsibilities that were unrelated to their own actual role, over time eventually taking on the equivalent roles of "at least" four people. Finding themselves on the hook for their own materials and equipment as if they were a contractor despite, you know, being employed by the company. Over time, they built up their own inventory of all the necessary high-end equipment, totaling many thousands of dollars, that they were using for their work to host all of the company's production needs.

Foolishly, their boss let them know that the company was "downsizing,"… aka they were being laid off so that the company could employ someone fresh-faced and cheaper. Well, it turns out "cheaper" is a relative thing when the company doesn't own any of its own equipment, and the company was short-sighted and foolish enough not to realize what it had going for them was a good thing… The media designer, of course, took all their equipment with them, seeing the fear slowly growing in their boss's eyes as they packed everything up that was theirs.

The poster unfortunately didn't elaborate on what happened from there, but we'd like to think that, having all the necessary equipment already, they went on to start their own business. 

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    Let your best employee go? I'll take it all down with me. M This happened a couple of years ago, but I was thinking about it recently. I worked for a company doing their media design (graphic design, photography, live event AV, video editing, ect.). This company held big events and over my years at the company I
    via everybodys-therapist
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    was given more and more unrelated responsibilities until I was doing the jobs of at least 4 people. They also never helped pay for any materials so all of the necessary media equipment was paid for out of pocket. All of them had my name on them to make sure that it wouldn't get lost if I lent it out. Over the years I had accumulated a pretty impressive supply through second hand purchases and watching for deals.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    By the time I hit my 5th year there I had thousands of dollars in high end equipment that was used for almost every part of the organization's promotion and event production. I think you can see where this is going.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    One day I was brought into my boss's office and told that they would be downsizing and had found someone fresh out of college (with no real life experience) that will be taking over my job(s) as well as a few others. I was completely caught off guard. They then had one of the people from corporate follow me to my office to assist in cleaning out my stuff. He specifically said "take everything that is yours. you won't be coming back". So that's what I did.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    They clearly expected the usual paper box full of some photos and a plant, but instead I had them hauling crate after crate of our media and event supplies to my car. I had a 2004 Ford Explorer at the time and by the time I left it was filled to the brim. With every box that we took out to my car my boss began to get more and more panicked. At one time he said "you can only take things that
    via everybodys-therapist
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    are yours" and through my sadness and anger I was able to find it in me to kindly tell him that every single thing I was taking was mine and that I kept all receipts if he wanted proof.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    The final nail in the coffin was when I told him that I would need access to the arena's AV Booth and the catwalk. I still remember the fear in his eyes. We went and I unplugged all of my cameras that I had been lending to my events team, all of which were clearly marked with my name. I felt like the Grinch just walking around and taking all the random things in the building that had my name on them.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    Driving away I was heartbroken that a company I had given 200% to in every way had picked someone younger and fresh out of college to replace me, but I won't lie, the smugness of watching their face as I stripped the place bare was worth it. Looking back on it, that was the worst and most toxic job I've ever had. The company only lasted another year before they folded entirely and I like to believe that I had a hand in that.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    And to think, if they had just compensated me fairly and purchased the necessary things themselves instead of forcing me to provide my team with things, they wouldn't have had to start from scratch.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    The author had this to say about their experience with a little hindsight reflection:

    everybodys-thera... OP I was young, dumb, doing a job I loved, AND it was my first job. working in my field. It was the perfect storm for being taken advantage of. I've learned a lot of lessons from that job. The biggest being that even if you love your work, you don't give a company more effort than you're receiving in return!
    via everybodys-therapist
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    smooze420 • 6h ago So in other words, you had (have) all of the necessary equipment to start your own business doing what you were doing before?
    via everybodys-therapist
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    HockeyFan_32 · 6h ago It's like the roommate that uses your pots and pans, microwave, plates, cutlery, glassware, washer, dryer, tv and then shows the sad face when you move out because he got you evicted!
    via everybodys-therapist
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    ocdscale · 5h ago • The company only lasted another year before they folded entirely and I like to believe that I had a hand in that. It was probably in the process of collapsing already. You were fired because you were an expense and someone was looking to cut as much as possible to stay afloat.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    Which is a great analogy because if you cut up a boat that's taking on water you end up sinking faster.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    • SW_Zwom 6h ago. all of the necessary media equipment was paid for out of pocket. That was the moment I knew the company was a pile of dung. Remember guys: Love your job - never the company you're working for!
    via everybodys-therapist
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    Glass_Operati... • 5h ago On more than one occasion I have seen companies that thought that no one was indispensable let go that one indispensable person.
    via everybodys-therapist
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    dhgaut 6h ago . Businesses that don't appreciate their employee's contribution are always in for a rough time. I shop the local stores rather than the big box stores and I keep an eye out for new employees. The stores that are able to retain employees are the better-run stores.
    via everybodys-therapist

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