'I'll find out whose stuff I'm getting when the surprise package arrives': Employer calls ex-employee 16 months after they quit for being called 'insubordinate' for using FMLA, claim they have their 'personal effects'

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Apr 4, 2025 10:00 PM EDT

After you leave a job, you might never look back. Maybe you connect with your former employees every now and again if you were particularly close, or maybe you ask them for a reference. But you've probably crossed your t's and dotted your i's and don't really want to hear from them again. Quitting a job can be an emotionally taxing decision. 

You have to tell a workplace, that you've probably invested a massive amount of time and effort to, that you're not going to keep showing up there every day. It can be as awkward as a breakup. You give them a list of reasons and you hope that they understand. You put all your ducks in a row to make sure that you have a smooth exit. You might even help them look for your replacement if you're an especially nice person. But once you leave, you hope you made a clean break.

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  • 01
    す 1815 msi NOV
    via Nubelson Fernandes

  • That's not what happened in this story, with enough twists and turns to be in an Agatha Christie novel. After one employee quit after being unfairly reprimanded, they never expected to hear from their workplace again. But when they got a confusing call, they realized something else was going on. Read on for the story and see what you think.

  • 02

    I left my job 16 months ago. They contacted me today, and I think they had me confused me with another ex-employee.

    I rage quit my job of many years 16 months ago, the last straw being my boss telling me I was "insubordinate" for using FMLA to my crippled father to a doctor's appointment, six months after the health incident that crippled him.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 03
    I'm laying in bed this morning and my phone vibrates. I check the number and see it's the HR number for my former employer. It's also about an hour before the HR department started their day when I was there, so rather ofd.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 04
    I answer, and the woman on the other end doesn't give her name, instead saying "This is [Name of former employer] from Employee Services," so it sounds like the anthropomorphic personification of my former employer works in HR and is calling me.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 05
    My first thought is that this is related to a job application I put in weeks ago with a sister company of the business that owned my previous employer. My former employer is notorious for rehiring people who should never be rehired, including someone whose stupidity almost caused a fire in a building that could have spread to where patients are treated.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 06
    figured applying to the other company might be possible. Instead, I found out that people who almost racked up a body count are rehireable, while people who use FMLA have their personal external account blackmarked through every company owned by the parent business so it gets locked if they ever apply again, complete with a pop-up telling them their account is now locked.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 07
    But it wasn't about that. I was informed they were cleaning out my "personal effects" and needed to confirm my shipping address. After I did so Little Miss Anthropomorphic Representation lets out the most exasperated noise and complains how "Facilities or somebody" is cleaning out my desk and so she was put upon to contact me. Then she hangs up.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 08
    Here's the thing. About a year before I quit I made sure I had no personal effects at the facility. I had seen what a half-a job they've done in the past returning stuff to people, including just throwing out stuff of people they didn't like, and knew whenever I left I was unlikely to get my stuff back.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 09
    I'm honestly left wondering if someone got laid off or fired recently, they somehow got confused with me, and I'm going to get whatever they left behind. When I was there I was mistaken for other employees, both male and female, so often you'd have thought you were watching a sitcom.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 10
    I guess I'll find out whose stuff I'm getting when the surprise package arrives.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 11
    CAGE 8h 50 min 4
    via Nubelson Fernandes
  • 12

    Workers chimed in with their thoughts on the situation.

    EmbeddedSoftEng • 2h ago What an organizational stshow.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 13
    StolenWishes · 1h ago They wanted Cog 23147 not Cog 23174.
    via u/StolenWishes
  • 14
    Hoffi1 • 2h ago How common is your name? Might be they had someone with the same name.
    via u/Hoffi1
  • 15
    OfficePsycho OP 2h ago • It's incredibly uncommon, to the point that if you typed it into Google only two other people show up, one of whom is a relative of mine.
    via u/OfficePsycho
  • 16
    LamzyDoates . 2h ago Two things pop into mind (aside from it just being a disorganized shitshow): 1. Retribution for using FMLA (including the lockout) - did you report it? 2. It could be not the employer at all, but someone verifying an address for scam- related shipping.
    via u/LamzyDoates
  • 17
    . Nachocheese50 • 15m ago The way that company takes care of its employees' possessions reminds me of the time my old job moved offices. They ensured us that we could leave our desks as is and the moving company would transfer our desks and
    via u/Nachocheese50
  • 18
    replicate them upon arrival at the new space...... I was skeptical so I boxed up most of my stuff. Sure enough whoever the boss hired (probably the cheapest offer) just threw all of our sh into a giant cart (like an industrial hotel laundry cart) and then
    via u/Nachocheese50
  • 19
    upended it in the middle of the new communal office. It was just a giant heap of office supplies piled high. We were digging our sh out of the mountain of stuff for the entire day. Business card boxes broke open during this move so we had to sift through thousands of business cards to get them to the rightful owners.
    via u/Nachocheese50

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