Employee refuses to accept dusty Employee of the Quarter plaque, demanding a substantial raise instead

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  A frustrated manager puts his head in his hands while his boss sits behind him in the office.

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

• "My best employee refused to accept the 'Employee of the Quarter' award in front of everyone.

  Anyway, last week we had a department-wide meeting, and I was supposed to present the 'Star Performer' award to one of my team members. When I called his name, all he did was shake his head and say, 'No, thank you.' He wouldn't even get up from his seat to accept the plaque.

  
   

• This guy literally brought the company $7 million in new business this year, and in return, all he got was a 3% cost-of-living raise and his name on a dusty plaque for 30 days. The director was obviously embarrassed, skipped to the next slide, and carried on as if nothing had happened.

  
   

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  A manager speaks over the phone, sitting between his difficult boss and frustrated employee.

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

• Honestly, I found the situation hilarious, but my direct manager is losing his mind. He's telling me I have to write him up for 'unprofessional conduct,' which could jeopardise his annual bonus. I'm not going to do that. I told my manager he'll have to figure out how to handle it himself because, frankly, I found the whole thing comical.

  Has anyone ever seen a situation like this happen before?" 
  
  - meek-breve1a

• This mid-level manager found himself caught between a rock and a hard place on this one. It was his team member who refused to accept this meaningless “Employee of the Quarter” plaque, and he completely understood where the employee was coming from. 

  However, the manager's boss was infuriated by the employee's behavior in refusing to accept said plaque during a company-wide meeting. The manager couldn't help but politely defend the employee, risking his own relationship with his boss in the process. However, as some folks in the comments section below suggested, we believe that this manager could have done more to validate the employee for his hard work. It didn't have to come to this!

• 
  via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

  A manager speaks over the phone, sitting between his difficult boss and frustrated employee.

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

• 
  via meek-breve1a
• 
  via meek-breve1a
• 
  via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

  A manager speaks over the phone while his difficult boss lurks in the background.

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

• 
  via meek-breve1a
• 
  via meek-breve1a

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