'My old manager said anyone could do my job… Looks like he was wrong': Client-facing employee vindicated after being wrongfully fired, watching a $75,000/month customer walk out on his ex-company with him

An irreplaceable employee was told that anyone could do his job, so after he was wrongfully fired, he let their biggest client in on his departure. As it turns out, this $75,000/month cash-cow client was unwilling to work with anyone else in the company, and decided that, since their man on the inside was leaving, so were they. 

As the employee walked out with his head held high, management shoved their foot in their mouths, rueing the day that they questioned the necessity of the hardest-working employee. Without him, they were in some deep water. 

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer Jesse Kessenheimer
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  • I've always tackled my career knowing that each job position is likely ephemeral. Like most millennials, I've never had much faith in the system and never bound myself to my employer, and instead, hurled all of my energy into my own transferable skills and experience. While that doesn't work for locked-in family men with their insurance and pensions on the line, the more employees start looking at their careers in a holistic way instead of counting on their bosses to pave their way, they'll be more set up for long-term success and far less disappointed in the system. 

    Like the man in this next story, he kept his cards close to the chest and kept his clients even closer, knowing one day he'd probably walk out and take them with him.

  • Proud employee walking out of the office
    via GaudiLab

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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  • My old manager said anyone could do my job after he fired me. Looks like he was wrong.
    via lenapaulmvv
  • I was fired a while ago for the pettiest reason imaginable. A colleague of mine was let go for harassment, and a few days later, I was also fired for the same reason. Someone filed a
    via lenapaulmvv
  • false complaint against me in retaliation, thinking I was the one who reported the first person. I wasn't. HR gave me some generic corporate response, without any proof, and simply said it was easier to just clean house.
    via lenapaulmvv
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  • My main responsibility was handling our biggest client. I was their go-to person for everything. After I left, the contact person at the client's company messaged me asking
    via lenapaulmvv
  • for a project file, and I had to tell them I no longer worked there. A friend who still works there told me that my old company was completely messing things up with this client, even after they hired two people to try and fill my role.
    via lenapaulmvv
  • Man entering the office building
    via GaudiLab

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
     

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  • About three weeks later, that same client contacted me personally. They wanted me to work for them, at their company, and cut ties with my old company. They didn't even ask for a resume or conduct an interview; they wanted to talk salary right away.
    via lenapaulmvv
  • This client alone brought in about $75,000 every month for my old company. So when they hired me, that revenue stream vanished for them overnight.
    via lenapaulmvv
  • I accepted the offer on the spot. I guess my old company doesn't need to bother looking for my replacement anymore.
    via lenapaulmvv
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  • Edit: I hate that there is no kind of worker protection in the US. It shouldn't be legal to let go of someone for no good reason if you can still afford to pay them but you just don't want to anymore.
    via lenapaulmvv
  • Unless an employee has done something wrong or has terrible performance or the company genuinely cannot pay them anymore, there should be no grounds to let someone go.
    via lenapaulmvv
  • Former Busines... They are wrong. I had my former employer reaching out to me still yet for years now. They admittedly stated they have hired over a dozen people to replace me and still can't and one of the franchises went out of business when I left.
    via Former Busines
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  • 2ndfactor Just chill, and focus on your current role, don't give the old company any drama to bite on. No need to love, no need to hate, just move on.
    via 2ndfactor
  • Good on you. I like to think your current employer knows your character from working with you, hence no questions asked.
    via 2ndfactor
  • Heavy-Anxiety6534. Similar situation. Without going into detail I had a very niche role that I was exceptionally good at, so good that it ran flawlessly and seemed effortless, despite there being
    via Heavy-Anxiety6534
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  • a lot of legwork. They kept stacking me with other work that interfered and when I started saying no, they got pissy and said I wasn't working enough. I gave them 90 days to
    via Heavy-Anxiety6534
  • train someone else, and no one understood the nuances and, whatever, it wasn't my problem anymore. A year later I was having dinner with an old
    via Heavy-Anxiety6534
  • colleague who still worked there and I asked about it; they had three people handling what "wasn't much work." Felt good. Validating even.
    via Heavy-Anxiety6534
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