Employee loses their promotion after missing training for the new role, all because they were forced to cover for coworkers who called out: 'I am livid'

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Jul 1, 2026 2:30 PM EDT

We've heard a lot about employees who decided to quit their jobs because they didn't get the promotion they were after, but how many employees reach their breaking point after they have a promotion taken away from them?

Imagine how annoying it is to work so hard, give everything you have to this workplace, only to have the one thing you have been working towards taken away from you at the last minute. And not only is it taken away from you, but it's also stripped away after you were already given it. 

That is enough to make anyone rage quit, which we honestly wouldn't blame. Why would you want to keep a job that has no problem promising you so much only to take it all away for no reason whatsoever? That would make anyone in their right mind want to run away and never return.

Whether or not the employee who shared the story below is going to quit is up to them, but we would seriously reconsider our position in the company if we were them. They worked really hard to get a promotion to a new role with a pay raise and better benefits, and today was their first day with this promotion. The only term the company had for this new role was for the employee to go through a mandatory training class.

However, while they were in the training, other coworkers all suddenly started to call out. People had all kinds of issues and excuses for why they could not come to work, which left the team extremely short-staffed. It was then that the employee's manager walked into the training class, pulled the employee out, and told them they had to cover for the people who didn't show up.

This meant that the employee couldn't attend the training and therefore couldn't get the promotion they were promised. To have all of that taken away because of someone else's mistake is a terrible fate indeed…

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    Serious young businessman with spartphone outside office
    via Getty Images

    Serious young businessman with spartphone outside office

  • 02

    Lost my promotion because most of my coworkers decided to call out today

    My organization was asked to work an event yesterday which lasted a while longer than we had anticipated. Most people did not get home until midnight or later.
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 03
    Around ten o'clock last night, a handful of coworkers made a pact to all call out for today, because they were "too exhausted to work." I thought it was a joke. It was not a joke.
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 04
    Today was my very first day in my new role. There's a significant pay raise and guaranteed 40 hours a week plus some other company- specific perks. I have to start with
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 05
    a five-week in-person training class. It is legally required that I take this class; I cannot call out or miss it or I am moved back to my old position. All five of us in the class (including our trainer) had
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 06
    worked the event the night prior. I got home at 23:45 last night and clocked in on time at 8:00 this morning, it's really not that difficult.
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 07
    All throughout the morning people kept interrupting the class to ask to cover the coworkers who had called out. All the floor staff had called out, can a couple trainees come to the floor? No, it's
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 08
    important that we don't miss this. I left my car at the event last night, can anyone drive me 1.5 hours each way to pick it up? Absolutely not, we cannot miss this class. The guy who was supposed to unload
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 09
    our truck didn't show, can someone help us out? Okay, we actually did help with that one, but only because it was a 30-minute task that took up our lunch break.
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 10
    Office group training
    via Austin Distel

    Office group training

  • 11
    Around noon our trainer is called out of the room to talk to our manager. She comes back looking pensive... but continues the class. Not too long after that our manager comes in. We had three
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 12
    events scheduled today--two were cancelled due to staffing issues, and one has no staff but absolutely cannot be cancelled. The manager walks into our
    via Party_Attitude5617
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    training room, points at me, points at another woman, tells us to follow her. Because the other staff had called out, the two of us were chosen to
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 14
    fill in for the event that could not be cancelled. We went back and forth for a bit about how we couldn't miss our training class and the "compromise" given to us
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 15
    was that we would be allowed to enroll in the next class (end of August, tentatively) and had to return to our previous roles until then.
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 16
    My promotion is gone. My payraise is gone. My extra hours are gone. I'm absolutely livid right now. The whole situation is almost hysterical, though. I could have had the day off today! I hate all of
    via Party_Attitude5617
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    my coworkers. I hate this company I work for. Oh, and the reason me and the other woman were chosen to fill the event staffing instead of one of the
    via Party_Attitude5617
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    other trainees? Because the manager says we're "flexible." LMAO. Never give your 100% at work.
    via Party_Attitude5617
  • 19
    Dakaraim Thats actually insane. I am mad for you, the absolute injustice
    via Dakaraim
  • 20
    solomons-marbles Start looking asap, quit with zero notice. How expensive is this class? Will another employer require it? If so, quiet quit, take all your PTO this summer, get the credentials and walk.
    via solomons-marbles

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promotion boss workplace-stories employee manager job tales-from-the-workplace ceo raise overworked-employees workplace training company
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