‘Still fills me with joy and pride': Boss disrespects and underpays beloved manager, so entire staff quits on the spot and 1/4 of their business closes within a year

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
May 9, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

When working a toxic gig, it's common that people who end up staying for a long time are only doing so because they have grown attached to their team. A toxic workplace doesn't have to be because of the coworkers, in fact, it's usually because of management. Good coworkers can definitely make you want to stay even if you have to endure the brute of an incompetent and tyrannical boss. 

 

However, everyone has their limits. If your boss is both treating you poorly AND under paying you, then that just has to be that. It is time to call it. And your friends/coworkers will understand. Sometimes they might even follow you. Like in this case, where EVERYONE decided to terminate their time their the second their favorite manager did because the boss was so atrocious. 

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  • Such a satisfying an epic tale to read online, when most of the quitting stories end in toxic chaos. This one was very orderly and clean. The boss was mistreating the beloved manager, the manager decided to quit, so everyone else decided to quit too. So when she went to turn in her resignation, she also had a stack of everyone else's resignations to turn in too. The stores did not survive for too long after her departure. Justice served! 

  • 0355 6000 "The new manager and I turned in our immediate resignations... AND the immediate resignations of all staff."
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

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

  • "Dear Boss: Wanna See How Much I Really Do for You?"

    Shortly after graduating college (2000) I took a 20% pay cut from my "Blue Big Box Store" asst mgr job to manage a run- down strip mall chain "Fancy Card and Gift Store or FCGS" store because I wanted a challenge and wasn't being treated well in the "Boy's Club" at the Big Blue. You may have
    via MorePotionPlease
  • heard about the multiple class-action lawsuits for crappy pay and discrimination but that's a story for another day. The FCGS owner was a woman and very nice so I was excited to be treated with more respect. Wound up being salary on a 50+ hour a week job. I was
    via MorePotionPlease
  • yelled at for ordering wrapping paper/gift bags/tissue because the walls were bare. I was yelled at for an hour long- distance phone call that cost $5 when my friend was having a meltdown over an unplanned pregnancy. I offered to pay but they wouldn't let me
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  • so they could "teach me a lesson". What?? At 3 months they offered me another bigger brand new store because I did such a good job on the one I was running. Things were great there. I worked less hours, customers and staff were happier. A few months into
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  • that, they wanted me to take over the 2nd highest profit store in the chain (of 12). The catch was I had to do both. No biggie. The store I was currently in ran beautifully with the awesome employees | hired. I asked for a 50% raise and was told I had to prove myself for a month.
    via MorePotionPlease
  • Friends, I fell for it. After redoing the layout, cleaning top to bottom, actually organizing the storage room (remember this is peak porcelain statue time so lots of tiny boxes), and still no raise, they asked me to train this woman right out of college on store operations. She
    via MorePotionPlease
  • and I became fast friends and we started hanging out after work. We started talking. She said she was supposed to take over the big store in which I was currently "proving myself".
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  • The owner never told me this and didn't tell her | didn't know. I thought she would take over a new location. Remember, I'm running all the operations for two high-profit stores and continually increasing sales. She was brand new, no experience, I had 6 years experience in retail
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  • management; her degree was in English, mine was in business marketing; and best of all, she was making $5k more than me, and the most of ANY of the managers. Excuse me? Here's the petty part...
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  • 0000 0000 CLOSED DODO 0000
    via Unspalsh+ (and Earl Wilcox)

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

  • I saw the error of my ways and devised a plan. I talked to all of my employees in both stores (~15 people) and let them know I was planning on leaving and what the owner had done. You know the kind of people who work at FCGSS --- kind, supportive, caring.
    via MorePotionPlease
  • This was too much for them, too. Two weeks later, the new manager and I went to the main office, met with the owner, and turned in our immediate resignations...AND the immediate resignations of all staff but 3 (single moms who couldn't quit immediately). She was
    via MorePotionPlease
  • livid. She yelled and cursed while we snickered. Within 3 months the original store closed. A year after our resignations, the 2nd and 3rd stores closed. That was pretty gratifying. I think my friend and I may have skipped like children out of the office that day. I
    via MorePotionPlease
  • definitely know we hit the bar and took ourselves out for a nice dinner. Fast forward 25 years later I'm still friends and coworkers (in an entirely different field) with one of the 2 main office workers that was there that day.
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  • She has given me the full details and the repercussions of that day. These stories still fill me with joy and pride.
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  • baka-tari Would have been nice of you to send them a "get well soon" card once you learned they were bl ding out.
    via baka-tari
  • capn_kwick Proves the phrase "people don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers (or, in this case bad owners)" is entirely applicable.
    via capn_kwick
  • mdubelite That's awesome. We should all be so lucky!
    via mdubelite

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