'I found out today that my current company just acquired my old company': Employee leaves old job on poor terms, now manages his former coworkers

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jan 26, 2025 8:00 AM EST

Quitting a job is never an easy process to navigate. This can be especially true if you are relatively new in the working world and are hoping to procure a letter of recommendation from your soon-to-be former employer. That being said, as challenging as quitting can be, one should never be so intimidated by this process that one scares oneself into staying in a miserable position at the same company. Never do yourself a disservice so as not to inconvenience a company.

Thankfully, this employee had the sense to stand up for themselves when they realized that they were being mistreated, and their final two weeks on the job only further proved that they were making the right decision. Keep scrolling below for their full-circle story!

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    RESIGNATION
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Here, we have an employee who was relatively new in the working world but understood early on in a new position that they were being treated poorly by management. It's that classic dynamic where the red flags don't start appearing until a few weeks after you start working there, but once you notice them, they become increasingly impossible to ignore. 

    Eventually, the employee got a better offer somewhere else, so much better that when their manager heard about it, she felt salty that their soon-to-be former employee would be getting paid that much more than her. This kind of petty behavior only further emboldened the employee, proving that they were making the right decision in putting in their two weeks' notice. Then, things started to get even more fishy…

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    I once worked for a company that didn't treat employees well. I was a junior just starting out in my career so I didn't see the red flags until after I joined, other than a super r de recruiter who
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    questioned my skills and said I was "replaceable" when I tried to negotiate my offer. After only a year I ended up getting an offer from my dream company for twice my salary, so I gave my 2- weeks notice. My manager was
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    not happy and asked if I could stay for 1 month because I wasted their time hiring me, and I agreed because I was trying to be nice. But then I was instructed to keep it a secret and I wasn't allowed to tell anyone I worked with that I was leaving. They said if I left even one day before 1 month that I would not get a reference.
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    Then multiple managers told me I needed to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice (including packing up my desk after hours so no one saw me doing it)
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    because they were apparently having meetings to discuss. whether they should fire me and me out of the building. My manager also asked me how much the new company offered me and got mad because it was more than she made-- she said I'm not worth that much.
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    It was impossible to do any work because I couldn't commit to new projects but I also couldn't tell anyone why, so my coworkers were confused and thought I was suddenly being r de. Finally after
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    two weeks of this I just told management I wasn't coming in anymore, then of course they begged me to come back to finish something critical. I said no and I didn't mind not getting a reference. Bridges were burned.
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  • Thankfully, before the story ends on a sour note, the former employee gave an update a few years later, demonstrating what happened after they became a successful manager in their new role. Let's just say karma reared its head for the employee's former coworkers.

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    Fast-forward several years, I am now a senior in my field and have been successfully managing my own team. I found out today that my current company just acquired my old company, so my old coworkers will be joining my team. Ugh
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    RE
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    Here's what folks in the online community had to say about all this!

    Lieutenant_Horn • 22h ago Recommend firing the ones who were bad managers and treat the other employees like a good manager should.
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    gargravarr2112 • 21h ago "The toes you tread on today may be attached to the a you have to kiss tomorrow." Remind your old managers of that...
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    GenericMelon • 22h ago . Often, with acquisitions, people from one or both companies end up being laid off because the merged company simply doesn't need that many employees. Consider who's really critical and go from there.
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    ProfessionalSwa... . 21h ago A friend of mine was in a similar situation. She heard musings of being fired, so she quit (same day she got another job offer). Turns out her new position at new company does audits on the department she was "fired" from at former company. They tried to back track so quickly.
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    Cautious_Sessio... . 21h ago Do you know if they'll be joining your team? When I joined a company in the middle of an acquisition no one from the parent company came to the new company and vice versa
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    They operated independently, with maybe some small instances of when clients required specific experts and data
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    • LadybugGirltheF….. 20h ago They wouldn't give a reference to a company that already hired you? What kind of threat was that?
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    Putrid_Ad_2256 • 21h ago Get rid of everyone that made things toxic at your former place, if you have the authority. If not, talk to people that have the authority. Just tell them that
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    the person in question was toxic. Although, if you have the b, initiate a meeting with them and their manager and let them know that the toxic behaviors from the last place were done and that you believe in a clean slate,
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    but that you remember the toxicity. Let them decide how they want to grow with this new company or if they need to part ways.
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    garybwatts • 20h ago Explain to your new managers that you used to work at that company. Tell them about the red flags and how the management operated.
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