Employees reveal the wildest times a former employer didn't listen to their warnings: 'The company was reduced to 1/20th the size'

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Aug 13, 2026 9:45 AM EDT

There are times when the company does not know what's best, but that doesn't mean they will listen to other opinions.

Not every role can be a winner, and every once in a while, an employee is going to take a job at a workplace that seems to be going nowhere fast. Quite a lot of companies are run in ways that are neither sustainable nor profitable in the long term, and not only are the workers some of the first to notice that, they are also the first to face the consequences when things get tough. Almost all employees are considered to be some level of replaceable, after all.

When it is a role that they are invested in, or they simply do not want to quit that paycheck, it can be frustrating for those who work for a failing company to try to get their voice heard about the issues they are dealing with. More often than not, the bosses are more interested in what works for them than what may actually produce results and some level of employee satisfaction at the same time. There are a lot of people in management roles who probably shouldn't have that level of power.

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  • A male employee carrying a box of belongings through an office
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A male employee carrying a box of belongings through an office. Image for illustrative purposes.


     

  • What's the craziest story you have about a company not listening to your warnings right before letting you go?

    I didn't warn them at all. I got a call with a great offer after my department head had already been hired away, and I was going to accept the offer. The place was mismanaged and nobody was happy working there. But out of courtesy, I went to the company president (the only person above me) and told him I had an offer.
    via Aarunascut

  • This company didn't know what they were going to be missing.

    He couldn't have cared less, said he didn't even know what I did for the company. He told me he didn't need two weeks' notice. Happy to be released, I left.
    via Aarunascut

  • They were going to have to pay extra for the service.

    Not long after they figured out that they needed me after all. The system needed important new features and their choice of contractor couldn't get up to speed in time. I did make changes for them at $400/hour, but after I was done, I was done.
    via Aarunascut

  • The employee was glad to have moved on.

    I had a lot of crazy and eye-opening experiences there, witnessing corruption, embezzlement, and a shocking amount of infidelity. I think they had enough warnings without my input.
    via Aarunascut
  • A female employee carrying a box of belongings through an office
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A female employee carrying a box of belongings through an office. Picture does not depict real parties.


     

  • This employee knew that they were in the danger zone.

    Theydontlikeitupthem Worked for a company who's parent company was in a different country and I always felt they could cut ties pretty quick with no ramifications. A "review" was called for by the parent company and the wording, timing and who was handling it were all giant red flags. I spoke with one of the senior VPs on my concerns and he
    via Theydontlikeitupthem

  • Management didn't seem too concerned.

    was completely dismissive, thought there might be a 5% reduction in staff but it was all good and we are far too important to our parent company for them to get rid of us, if they wanted to it would take years of process/knowledge transfer.
    via Theydontlikeitupthem

  • They took it as their sign to leave.

    I got my CV done up that night, I was out of there in 2 months and within 5 months that VP was gone and the whole company was reduced to about 1/20th the size.
    via Aarunascut
  • Another male employee carrying a box of belongings through an office
    via Vitaly Gariev

    Another male employee is carrying a box of belongings through an office. Models for explanatory purposes only.  
     

  • Expansion doesn't always equal success.

    eleventykerjillion I worked for a large American Retailer in the early 2010s that had a disastrous expansion into Canada. There were a lot of things that the new hires like us identified in terms of the software used to order and stock the shelves wasn't nuanced enough for the individual floor plans of all the stores. The major assumptions
    via eleventykerjillion

  • Canada was a different market to the US.

    that just in time delivery could still work during a Canadian winter, and the increased price point. I remember going into meetings and trying to bring these things up and offering solutions but the attitude was it was too expensive to fix in the software and that the company's popularity was so high that the customers would forgive
    via eleventykerjillion

  • They continued nonetheless.

    a lot. I didn't mesh with the broader company culture either. I quit and they gave me a severance package before they could fire me. They rolled out the opening in 2012 and two years later all 120+ stores closed. For a lot of the reasons that me and others saw, they couldn't keep the shelves stocked, but the old guard were too far up their own to
    via eleventykerjillion

  • The business practices weren't fair on the employees.

    believe they could fail. I wish I could say there was some schadenfreude but it was just a mess and a lot of good people lost their jobs.
    via eleventykerjillion

  • This one was a serious safety issue.

    neoengel I kept warning the owner and top management they need to improve maintenance of equipment, and they dismissed my warnings right before the deep fryer caught fire AGAIN. The previous time it happened the fire department came and the franchise owner demoted and
    via neoengel

  • The company got what they deserved.

    punished the manager in charge, which of course is very illegal, and documented as such in their own records. Their own meticulous record keeping of routine law violations ended up being used against them when corporate seized all assets of that franchise in glorious Schadenfreude.
    via neoengel

  • This employee had a big job on their hands.

    No_Abroad_6306 I was hired to help a swamped project manager working for a small private company and everyone thought it was cute that the newbie was concerned about little things like not paying key vendors in a timely manner.
    via No_Abroad_6306

  • Finances were not this company's strong suit.

    No finance person on staff, just the owner who was a smooth talker and liked to collect expensive toys. I threatened to torch the corporate jet (yes, a company of less than 100 people had a plane!) if we spent money on it before certain vendors were paid. I found an amazing candidate for CFO who never got
    via No_Abroad_6306

  • It got to a critical point.

    a call back. My concerns went from being careful with our limited financial resources to hey, this is starting to look like financial malfeasance. My concerns were ignored or downplayed. Fairy godmother investor swooped in to help and the owner got worse. I left at that point.
    via No_Abroad_6306

  • The company owner ran out of good luck.

    Investor pumped in enough cash to trigger a full takeover and the full financial audit (finally!) revealed that it was worse than I imagined and the owner had been raiding the cookie jar for years, even in periods where he wasn't able to make employee payroll. Owner was forced out of the company he founded.
    via No_Abroad_6306

  • Another case of the megalomaniac boss.

    Critical Hurry3374 Ugh. I worked for a small company that published magazines for a particular niche interest and held educational conferences through the country. The owner was a full-on narcissist who believed that rules just didn't apply to her. I spent about a third of my time putting out fires and
    via Critical_Hurry3374

  • Employees had their work cut out.

    finding ways to appease people she had wronged. Among the things that both her accountant and I warned her about: Refusing to pay people she had contracted to do certain jobs (at least one of these a quarter)
    via Critical_Hurry3374

  • This was one seriously unethical employer.

    Lying to hotels to get better conference rooms and rates Misrepresenting things to conference presenters Firing people over trumped up accusations
    via Critical_Hurry3374

  • She turned against one of her few supporters.

    The final straw for me was at a trade show. She ordered me to go around to other booths and tell a lie about a competitor. I refused, then had to drive 9 hours back home with her berating me most of the way. I sucked it up, completed the next issue, and turned in my notice. Then I found
    via Critical_Hurry3374

  • Things got worse for her from there.

    out that she had already been advertising my job in the newspaper for days (this was decades ago). After I left, the lawsuits started coming, one after another: contributors, conference presenters, hotels, former employees, suppliers, her DAUGHTER. Within in a year she was out of business.
    via Critical_Hurry3374

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