'New boss gives me an impossible task': Overworked IT employee stands up to boss, demands guarantee of never working overtime again

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
May 8, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Making your employees work constant unpaid and unplanned overtime is one of the quickest ways to pit workers against their bosses. 

So many employers don't understand that people try to work to live, not live to work. They only see the professional who clocks in 40 hours per week, but they don't see that person as a fun-loving friend, a parent, a caregiver, a family member, or just a person who has a life outside the office. Some bosses seem to think that their employees should spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, considering what's best for the company. That's such a bad idea, though, and it'll quickly lead to burnout. People aren't robotic, and spending time recovering from work is important. Just think about how good you feel after a long weekend where you spent time outdoors and got plenty of sleep. If you're overworking, you won't feel that, and you'll probably feel just awful. Workers really need time to recharge, and constant overworking will make every day feel like an endless slog. Then, it makes employees wonder what is the point of working hard if they're not going to get rewarded from it, and they're still going to have to work overtime? 

This IT worker's boss wanted them to literally do the impossible, then got upset when they did their very best. How demotivational! Check out the full story below, as well as comments from people who had some interesting insights about this person's job and mentor. 

Next, read about the worst tips that waiters and waitresses ever received, like one waiter who got tipped a handful of change… covered in BBQ sauce. 

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  • 01
    I don't know if this is exactly malicious compliance, kind of a revenge story. I used to work for a big IT consulting company notorious for not paying overtime. I worked for a client's migration project for almost 1 1/2 years leading the functional migration team.
    via u/mdlapla
  • 02
    The three of us worked for the client 3 years before the start of the migration project, so we knew the data we had to migrate, all the nuances and, 2 weeks before the migration date, 99% of the data was already migrated and validated, we only did the day- by-day new data and sag off pretty much those 2 last weeks. Other manager (that outranked me) became extremely angry about our calmness, because the part she led was behind schedule
    via u/mdlapla
  • 03
    8 xn (x-12-y tới. al3a3g+x) x=0 xn +45.565 +4x-12-y+n... +2a+21 +455 (1+x+y+2a)-(3a+3g+x) X=0xn5+x+k+2a+21 0 10 +452 01010123.85 +2ax+a 0 10 10 10 10 19109+ 2a+21 100011010 10
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • 04
    (due to bad scheduling) and everyone was being overworked because of her mishaps. Come migration date (saturday, starting 9am), everyone was expecting long long hours of work but we clocked out at noon with the data validated with the client and the go ahead signed, sealed and delivered. My team got a written commendation from the client.
    via u/mdlapla
  • 05
    The manager's team spent the entire weekend there. She got a complaint letter from the client. The manager complained about us and made me and my senior analyst spend the next month waiting for incidences/bugs/complaints. We got 5 in the whole month. My senior analyst spent 8 hours a day studying a new language, I took the chance to update my CV (I wanted out) and pretty much help a couple former colleagues
    via u/mdlapla
  • 06
    that needed to solve bugs and problems within the manager's team responsibilities. A couple weeks later, evaluation time. At the IT company, everyone was graded A to D. A being "exceeding expectations", D being "you're out of here", B was good, C was pretty much "I'm starting to think you might not be good to work here".
    via u/mdlapla
  • 07
    Given the commendation from the client, I was expecting an A. My evaluation was done by the manager and my mentor (close friend with the manager). They gave me a C because "we didn't see any pressure on your work, and you certainly lack motivation". I complained and took a long overdue already planned month long vacation. This was June.
    via u/mdlapla
  • 08
    After that, back at work, I was assigned to a project on another client led by manager's husband. He wanted me to prepare 122 integrations with different systems in 4 months. I told him that, in the previous project, led by his wife, they took 2 years to have 12 integrations ready, but I would give it a shot. I even emailed him the planning where it clearly showed the time they took.
    via u/mdlapla
  • 09
    Two of those months were July and August, months were pretty much everyone on the client goes on holiday. Manager and wife also went on holiday pretty much all August. I spent those two months chasing people around the client's office, but, starting September, 6 integrations were closed and 6 more were almost closed pending validation.
    via u/mdlapla
  • 10
    Manager came back from holidays and was furious. He called me a slacker and started telling me that his wife was right, that I lacked motivation and that I would need to spend the rest of the project duration working till midnight to make up for loss time. And I said "NO, I won't do an hour more than what you're paying, I told you that your expectations were unrealistic and you went ahead with them anyways.". He
    via u/mdlapla
  • 11
    went ballistic. I replied "I just lack motivation to work in your project, I want out of the project". I was out of the project in no time. I got a call from my mentor, she said that they were evaluating firing me without pay because of this. I told them about the unrealistic planning, she said that I was being unrealistic, and that the planning was good. I produced the email I sent the manager.
    via u/mdlapla
  • 12
    Cheezburger Image 10502905344
    via A. C. For Unsplash+

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

  • 13
    My mentor went quiet. A minute later she told me "what do you want". "If you can't guarantee I won't do an hour of overtime ever again, I want out, full severance and then some and I want the company to make it look like I quit, not that you fired me". She went quiet again. She said she'll see what she could do. I was out of there, smiling, by the end of the day.
    via u/mdlapla
  • 14
    PS: from the team that remained in the project, 4 guys were on my team before the migration. project. They all complained. They all got out of the project as well. PS2: AFAIK, the project took twice the expected time to be completed, manager's husband got nearly fired (wife held a lot of power and managed to save his a ).
    via u/mdlapla
  • 15
    TLDR: After me on a prior project, manager gives me an impossible task, I tell him that it's impossible, he goes ahead with it anyways, complains about my work when reality hits him and tries to fire me without pay, gives me grounds to get a bigger severance than the usual.
    via u/mdlapla
  • 16
    00bernoober Not the point of your post, but I want to point out that a mentor (among other things) is a person that has your back and advocates for you. Your mentor doesn't sound like much of a mentor.
    via u/
  • 17
    4dwarf So in the two months you worked on it, you got 6 done and 6 one step away from being done? If I'm reading your post, right? You did the same amount of work they almost did in 2 years.
    via u/
  • 18
    I know nothing of your field of work, but it sounds like you just knocked them out as best you could in a reasonable time frame.
    via u/
  • 19
    Ehtism Yeesh, sounds like that place is set to unravel any time now, kudos for using your time productively with the CV and getting out!
    via u/
  • 20
    mizinamo we didn't see any pressure on your work "So you are penalising me for good planning?" -- Seriously they should mark based on results, not on how stressed people seem. That seems like completely the wrong metric.
    via u/

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