Employee leaves $52K job after 3 weeks for a $75K job, enrages manager, who tries to offer her $60K to stay

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Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Mar 17, 2026 8:00 PM EDT

Why would she leave $15K on the table to placate her former manager? There's a good chance she wouldn't have even tried to find another job if they had given her $60K from the jump.

Leaving a job can be an emotional process for all involved. Your manager might have thought that you were going to be in the position for much longer than you were, so they might act irrationally upon your leaving. When I was in college, I left a job at the library after five months, and my boss was absolutely devastated. Every time she saw me during my last two weeks, she would cry. At the time, I felt like she was trying to make me feel guilty with crocodile tears. After all, I was getting paid minimum wage to handle priceless archives! A job as a junior security guard or a dining hall employee paid more than this position, and she was expecting me to stay just because she didn't want to hire anyone else. 

If you are paying employees next to nothing, you cannot be shocked when they go searching for greener pastures, especially when they explicitly said in the interview that they are looking for a higher salary than your company can offer. The employee in this story left their new job after only three weeks because they got an offer for $23K more. Wouldn't you do the same thing if you were her?

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  • A woman sitting at a desk with her hands behind her head
    via Vitaly Gariev

    Employee happily sits at her desk after quitting her $52K-a-year job for a new $75K-a-year job.

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

  • I left my job after 3 weeks for a much higher salary, and my old manager is upset with me

    Anyway, I just started a new job. In the interview, I told them the lowest I would accept is 60k.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • They came back with an offer of 52k and swore up and down that this was the absolute top of their budget.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • I needed the job so I accepted, but honestly, I was not happy at all with either the salary or the 50-minute commute each way every day.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • Photo of group of people sitting inside of train
    via Viktor Forgacs

    Employees commuting by train to their jobs in the city.

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

  • 3 weeks into the job, another company I had interviewed with sent me an offer. This offer was fully remote with a salary of 75k.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • It was a no-brainer, of course, I accepted immediately. When I told my manager I was resigning, her tone completely changed.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • At first, she said, "Look, we value you here, let me see if I can get approval for a 60k salary to keep you." I honestly almost laughed out loud.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • I told her I appreciated that, but the new offer is 23k higher and fully remote, and I know they can't possibly come close to that.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • She admitted they couldn't, and then got salty. She went on about the effort they put into my onboarding and how I was putting them in a very difficult position.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • A few weeks later, I noticed she keeps viewing my LinkedIn profile. It seems she was curious to find out where I went, since I didn't tell her.
    via u/Nice_Youth_2761
  • Woman with curly hair working on laptop at desk
    via Vitaly Gariev

    The manager longingly gazes at her former employee's LinkedIn account, remembering how good she had it when she was her employee.

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

  • CreativeHandle9429 She shouldve valued you before you left. That's the risk in lowballing your best people.
    via u/CreativeHandle9429
  • Warped Teacher I had something similar happen once. The former employer was angry and even asked how I could justify leaving after such a short time. I told them that all new employees are on a 90 day probationary period - and that this probationary period worked both ways. They were still ped but I laugh every time I think about it.
    via u/WarpedTeacher
  • at-the-crook I noticed she keeps viewing my LinkedIn profile. I'd suggest that you wait a very long time to update your LI page with any new employer info.
    via u/at-the-crook
  • Redwolflowder They started you out better than her salary, this is why she wants to know where you went. She will be applying there next week.
    via u/Redwolflowder
  • CorrectBluebird5869 Block your old boss.
    via u/CorrectBluebird5869
  • Various_Ocelot5383 Not cool, we work not out of charity but for money. All managers should understand this.
    via u/Various_Ocelot5383
  • tonyortiz Welcome to capitalism. We're mercs. If management doesn't like it they should change the system or pay us what we're worth.
    via u/tonyortiz
  • SuperGlue_InMyPocket They FAFO'd. Too bad for them.
    via u/SuperGlue_InMyPocket

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Tags

job offer salary commute lowballing employee manager job angry job interview budget
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