University employee tells off toxic CFO after being denied $2,000 bonus: '2 can play that game!'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
May 20, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

If you ask many managers, employee retention just isn't as cool as hiring a brand-new person into a role. Sure, that company could dole out a few thousand dollars each year in raises or bonuses, leaving their current employee happy and loyal. Instead, many companies would rather fire that employee and spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring a new person. They have to use their resources to find and hire someone, which can take weeks or months of interviews. Next, they have to negotiate out a salary and then onboard that person. That salary might be higher than what they were paying the last person! And when they get tired of that new employee, they'll do the exact same thing to them, and send them packing instead of offering a simple raise or bonus. 

This person was expecting a $6,000 influx of cash to be split between 3 people, but the boss had other plans! Check it all out below. 

Up next, read about the 30-year-old woman who wants to quit her stressful job in order to be a stay-at-home spouse living the "soft life" inspired by a TikTok trend: "She says she's okay with downgrading our lifestyle." 

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  • 01
    TL;DR: You won't pay me properly and won't listen? I'll restructure myself out and leave you high and dry. About 7 years ago I started working as part of the finance department for a university. I started there as a generalist, data-entry type person, then picked up more responsibility as I learned the processes etc. A couple of years into my job, the entire structure was changed and centralised and with this I
    via u/moomatey
  • 02
    managed to make my way up to chain to (gasp!) middle management and leading a team. This went well as everyone got a fresh start, we got to know each other and started working well together; eventually we started focusing more on what we could do to make everyone's lives easier and improve efficiency across the board. We had various changes to systems and getting into more systems that allowed us to really gauge the volume of work, where everyone's at and
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  • 03
    what processes require too much effort for very little value. Over time the size of the team diminished due to the number of international students dropping and the university facing a budget deficit; this did not hit my team very hard because we were already prepared to do more with less but it did mean that when a few people left, I couldn't re-hire for those positions as we didn't have a budget and it was almost impossible to justify. The ones that were left did not suffer and
    via u/moomatey
  • 04
    were still part of a very good team environment and had good learning opportunities for them; we became (probably) the most efficient team in our department. I like to think I was good to everyone and played their strengths while also adding to their individual skillsets; I was also very against working extra and only ever asked for volunteers to do overtime on a couple of occasions when we needed to do something urgent without interruptions. Due to its
    via u/moomatey
  • 05
    success, the system we had in place for logging work got adopted by other teams and eventually it was rolled out to the entire finance department. My team was a very big part of that success and everyone got. involved with testing and training. In terms of senior management, the CFO was a bit of a my boss' boss (AW) was an but absolute legend who constantly advocated for us. My direct manager (DM) was good too,
    via u/moomatey
  • 06
    although she didn't get very involved in discussions about my career growth or help me achieve personal goals (despite that being part of our annual review requirements). She was good in terms of being a decent person and being smart enough to recognise that it's best not to get too involved in the details of our work and give me the freedom to actually do my job.
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  • 07
    Now that the team was running like the well-oiled machine it was, I was given more things to do (all without the extra pay or extra staff): Manage a second team doing data entry while new automation software is obtained; Be part of the project team that sets up and delivers said software; Train everyone (EVERYONE) in using this platform; Be a contributor to other projects that dealt with automation; Identify every single
    via u/moomatey
  • 08
    paper form on our network and convert it for electronic signature and/or coordinate with IT to convert these to web portal forms. I did, it was a lot of work and during a time that we were expecting our first child... but it did teach me a lot about delegating work and I got my senior staff trained and ready to manage the day to day. It was great on many levels - the satisfaction of getting something completed (that nobody wanted
    via u/moomatey
  • 09
    to touch), getting more technical skills, being introduced to project management and getting my guys step into leaderships roles. It was truly a good feeling to close everything off right before the end of the year and then going on parental leave knowing that things won't be on fire while I'm away. Two things happened right before I went on leave:
    via u/moomatey
  • 10
    For delivering the project, we were promised a bonus (nothing too fancy actually, it was something like $6,000 split between 3 of us for almost a year's worth of work); the CFO and his boss agreed. The CFO left because... ego and whatnot; one of his direct reports (call her EB) was asked to act in the role until they went through the usual recruitment processes. She was told about the deal in point 1. CO ID hits while I'm on leave and
    via u/moomatey
  • 11
    the acting CFO hits the deal of a lifetime; due to CO ID and the risk to existing employees, restrictions are put in place so that for a time you can only recruit internally; externally not allowed unless it's under extreme circumstances and the candidates need to be already living in the area (no relocations). So the acting CFO goes from a 6- month acting arrangement to a 3+ years full contract without so much as an interview.
    via u/moomatey
  • 12
    Cheezburger Image 10507668992
    via Vadim Sherbakov on Unsplash+

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

  • 13
    Now, since the university was already under pressure with the budget, CO ID made it even worse and almost everyone needed to start thinking about restructuring their respective areas in an effort to reduce the cost; it's sh but some attitudes needed to change because it has been too long where senior management was careless with the costs like managers just - hiring more people instead of fixing a broken system (or
    via u/moomatey
  • 14
    procedure), or hiring more people to do some of the jobs they're meant to do themselves. A few weeks before I was due back a work, I get a call from AW, asking me if I would like to work directly with her as she needed someone to gather data and metrics that would help determine the headcount in a new structure and also to look at the existing processes and make them more efficient. The point of this was that once a team is
    via u/moomatey
  • 15
    formed and everything centralised, I would be leading it. It sounded really good so I jumped on it; it gave me new challenges but also I was working independently so I had a better work-life balance. We got the first part done within 3 months, everything ready to be presented to EB. This is where it gets "fun"... AW was undermined by EB quite often (gotta love superiority complexes); with this in mind, when I was drafting the
    via u/moomatey
  • 16
    potential solutions, I thought I would say that everyone (including my position) has to apply for a role in the new structure; I believed that was the fairest way and it also gave me an - out if things go south, I can strongly consider lining up another job and taking redundancy at this place. I then started on the processes, expecting that we would hear back about a restructure (we were made to believe that this
    via u/moomatey
  • 17
    - would happen soon and it would run quickly). EB kept stalling, and stalling... to the point that some good people left in frustration; 3 more months went by and AW tells me that she is leaving too because she had enough. I start seeing where this is going – EB is stalling in the hopes that enough people leave on their own accord and she doesn't have to pay as much for redundancies. Well, two can play that game! I put my head down, pretend all is well and just get my work done. Eventually
    via u/moomatey
  • 18
    (4 more months) she announces the restructure and all affected staff are called into meeting where they are told that their positions are being made redundant; they are presented with their choices (take the payout or apply for the new roles) and are told that it's not personal... Not sure about that last bit, considering the new structure was clearly targeting only one part of finance, while other departments (historically
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  • 19
    and constantly underperforming but friends with EB) were being left untouched, some even getting more staff or higher salaries. Her response to this (it was an anonymous question) was that she didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, where key people left and things blew up. She went with the model I was proposing for that area but she cut too much from the staff numbers. I submitted my feedback, highlighting that I have
    via u/moomatey
  • 20
    all this analysis showing that the proposed numbers are too low and not sustainable, while a different team has higher than anticipated numbers; because the skillsets are almost identical, consider moving some people across. She asks for my proposal, I give it to her, even draw it up because she's "a visual person". My colleagues in a similar situation say the same thing, the numbers are too low; we're not even proposing adding more to
    via u/moomatey
  • 21
    the baseline, all we're saying is that you should consider moving some people across teams (net nil). She thanks us for the feedback and invites us to a meeting; everyone seems to think that maybe she got the point and wants more details on how to make it happen. How wrong we were... the meeting consisted of her talking over everyone and essentially saying she knows better and we can I off. Oh she lied about how she arrived to that conclusion too.
    via u/moomatey
  • 22
    Shortly after that, the recruitment process begins and everyone either applies for jobs or signs the redundancy paperwork. As I got my letter, I decide f it; the job market is pumping, this place turned to sh and the payout would be almost like a third income in our household (maybe I can even stay home for a few months and just relax). In saying that, I also wanted to stick it to EB.
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  • 23
    So I email her (cc HR) and ask for consideration on increasing my redundancy pay. I mention all the stuff I did on top of my job, that I was just short of 7 years and redundancy calculations were made on completed years of service (meaning I would lose a couple of weeks pay on my redundancy) and lastly that we were promised a bonus right before she became CFO. She says she can't make any adjustments because they need to be consistent with the rest
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  • 24
    (bulls ); I ask again about the bonus, she says she doesn't know. I call her out on that and she again says that she doesn't know and that if I don't have it in writing then she can't help. I mean... even with no record, you know all the work that was put in and you have all the power to fix it yourself if you wanted. Me (cc HR): "Ok, you want something in writing? Here's the signed paper, I'm taking redundancy and so you know, it's
    via u/moomatey
  • 25
    because of you and your refusal to adjust or reach any sort of compromise". I then went to speak with a lot of people and mention the job market, attractive payout and how negatively this is impacting everyone, how our voices are not being heard and how I was treated and that I'm leaving because of the toxicity. People agree, and I see the wheels starting to turn: DM decides to leave, work's too toxic; 4 of our
    via u/moomatey
  • 26
    accountants decide to leave, work's too toxic; a few more managers and accountants do this; two of my staff decide to leave. Some people were rejected when they applied for slightly more senior roles but were then told they will have to do those jobs anyway - an entire team resigned in protest. During the final week, EB was still thinking things would turn around, that people would change their minds. She said she
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  • 27
    was sorry I didn't agree with the new structure and chose to leave; wanted to remind me that she had me in mind for one of the roles (mind you, this would have been an entire full time job on top of my full time job, at the same old pay). She also asked why I didn't mention the bonus earlier, like it would've made a difference. Me: "With regards to the bonus, I was under the impression is was going to happen without me
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  • 28
    Cheezburger Image 10507629056
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • 29
    having to follow-up on it; I didn't push it because I didn't think it should have been a priority during CO ID and the budget deficits; however, the student enrolments have gone up so much for 2021 that it will completely cover the deficit and will leave some to spare. And I'm not leaving because of the new structure; I mostly agree with this and have designed a chunk of it. I don't agree with you, how you handled the entire thing and how
    via u/moomatey
  • 30
    I've been consistently underpaid if you compare my workload to those in a similar role; I'm going somewhere where my voice will be heard and I will be paid what I'm worth." The fallout: she wanted to cull 14 positions, mainly at the lower levels. Over 20 people left, including a lot that she wanted to keep; because of the timing, there was no handover in some roles that will cause issues with compliance. The only project
    via u/moomatey
  • 31
    manager left as well. Most of the people that left went straight into new jobs, others decided they wanted a longer break. For me, I was essentially head hunted into a similar, but more focused role, with a slight pay increase as well. I also stayed home for almost two months, doing some things around the house but also getting my head cleared; and, since I had money, I spent some on myself too.
    via u/moomatey
  • 32
    I wish I could say that I came out unscathed; I definitely thought it would've been easier because I saw it coming and I prepared accordingly. But mentally, it did still have an impact; it was a difficult year and I really loved working there. I really gave it my all over the years and I did it so that the university prospers and gives the best experience to its students. At the same time, I could no longer work with that sort of leadership and it wouldn't
    via u/moomatey
  • 33
    have been fair (on me or my team) to continue with that sort of emotional baggage. Thank you for reading and sorry about the length - I felt that there was a lot of context to add (even so, tried to keep it short and relevant).
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  • 34
    EDIT: the role that they wanted me to take has been vacant for the last 3 months and counting. With the other project manager also gone, there really isn't anyone that can continue to implement the planned automation, so they're still doing things the old fashioned way but with way less staff.
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  • 35

    Commenters were happy that this person is on to greener pastures

    I_Did_The_Thing Higher ed, man. Maximum bulls, minimal pay. Good on you for getting out.
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  • 36
    melbournemeande... My dad went through this last year with the university he worked for too. Massive downsize with people made redundant. He'd been in and out of hospital a bit and honestly hated working there the last few years where all his hard work and
    via u/moomatey
  • 37
    extracurricular activities he planned with students went unappreciated. So he took early retirement and sat back and watched the fun happen
    via u/moomatey

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