Manager refuses to pay for employee's quality certification that's required for the job: ‘Tell them I'm not paying’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Oct 7, 2026 12:30 PM EDT

Why create an issue where there isn't any?

We all struggle with the urge to procrastinate on every single thing we need to do. We don't want to clean our house, we have no desire to fold the laundry, and don't get us started on tasks at work. We refuse to believe there is a single person out there who is always completing their tasks on time without a drop of procrastination in their bones. It is simply human nature, and you will not convince us otherwise.

That said, adult life has proven to us that procrastination usually leads to more complications, especially in the workplace. If you have a task due in two weeks, it's perfectly normal to stall it for a few days, but once it gets closer to the deadline, it would not do anyone any good if you hold it off any longer. Better to get it over with than start looking for excuses to tell your supervisors, especially since most of the tasks we tend to ignore are ones that can take just a few minutes to complete. As great minds once said: just do it.

The task that the boss below refused to complete is a very simple one: she needed to pay for an employee's quality certification after they completed a course that was vital for the job they were doing. Without this certification, the job simply couldn't be done. We don't know if she procrastinated or if there was another reason why she refused to pay, but the employee didn't want to fight her on it. They knew that sooner or later she would be met with the consequences of her lack of responsibility.

A few weeks after the boss failed to pay, an external auditor arrived and asked about the missing diploma. Luckily, the employee had all the proof they needed to show that the reason why the certification was not in their hands was because of the boss…

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  • Female boss crumpling paper document
    via BongkarnThanyakij

    Female boss crumpling paper document.

    Picture does not depict real parties.

  • "Tell them I'm not paying" Of course I will

    This happened like 4 years ago, I (M31) work at a farm in South America and we were going through the process of a quality certification (similar to Rainforest Alliance).
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • It usually takes one external auditor full time inspecting and auditing every procedure inside the farm for one week, and we were preparing for it in the prior months.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • I had to take a course (40 hours + homework) to become the internal inspector of the farm and I had to prepare an internal audit to show the external auditors that we knew what our weaknesses were.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • After I approved the course we received the invoice and the only payment option was a transfer to a bank in another country in South America.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • My boss saw it and just marked email as read and never looked back. When the external audit was close I reminded her that I needed the payment to receive my diploma which was a requirement to approve the audit and it once again fell on deaf ears.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • Going through important documents.
    via Karola G

    Going through important documents.

    Stock photo unrelated.

  • The second time I reminded her she just shrugged and said: "Tell them I'm not paying if they don't provide an account in our country or the USA", so I did just that.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • I wrote the email to AR@certificationcompany stating: "Hi, sorry for the delay, boss says she's not paying unless you provide an account in USA or other options".
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • Also didn't get a reply. Mind you this is a really respected quality certification and very much needed in our field of work A month later, we all forgot about it and during the external audit everything goes fine.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • After 5 days during the closing meeting with boss and 5 area managers the auditor says: "Yeah most things are fine I just need some documents that are missing from the list, can I have your Internal Inspector diploma?" me: I don't have it auditor: didn't you approve the course?
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • It's mandatory to have an internal inspector me: oh I did approve it I just don't have the diploma auditor: how is that possible?
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • me: we didn't pay for it auditor: I need to see where's the problem because I have the invoice issued months ago me: I can show you the email trail So I pulled out my computer and show the email stating we're not paying, while my boss is seating right in front of me.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • She goes white and says: "Yeah no, I mean we couldn't pay at the moment but there must have been an error I don't know what happened, let me check." She goes to her computer and takes 20mins to make the international transfer, receiving a call from the bank to confirm it was her trying to pay while 6 of us are in sat in the table in front of her just watching her, and the auditor just looking
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • dissapointed. After we approved and everybody left boss just looked at me mad ash land said: "Why did you do that?!" me: just followed your orders remember?
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • It was funny as h I and afterwards she would double check my emails making sure I didn't send exactly what she would say PD: Boss is really cool and we get along just fine, I just did it to mess with her and show her words and ways are important.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • SnooOnions4932 I think OP handled the situation very well. When my boss doesn't pay attention, especially after three interactions on a repeating issue, it is my duty to remind him to do his job. Embarrassment be da ed.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • nsenger11 Good luck keeping that chill relationship with your boss. It was obviously management's fault, but you may have put your job at risk by publicly embarrassing leadership.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • A lot of managers need handholding in the form of over communication to realise there's actually an issue requiring their intervention, otherwise they assume you're just documenting or keeping them in the loop.
    via u/Eriathorn_
  • Illuminatus-Prime This is how it's done!
    via u/Illuminatus-Prime
  • necronboy I feel this. Just been through one audit by one company (ISO 9001). Preparing for audit 2 with 2nd company (ISO 17025), and audit 3 with 3rd company.
    via u/necronboy
  • And we get asked "Who did your internal audits?" "Bob." "Where's his certificate?" "We went with a cheaper option and he did the training but they don't issue certificates." " Not certified?" "Trained but no certificate." "Not certified." "But he's trained..."
    via u/necronboy

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boss workplace-stories diploma employee certification manager job tales-from-the-workplace quality ceo workplace company
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