Although most of us have had our own bad experiences with a boss, there’s something about seeing what others are no longer willing to put up with that can give us some perspective.
And over the past year, we’ve had a lot of opportunities to hear about the limits workers have as so many of them have been quitting their jobs in droves. And whether it’s because they weren’t being paid what they were worth, they were being micromanaged to death, or their bosses felt entitled to what little free time they did have, it’s often hard to argue with their decision.
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This is especially true when it can be argued that a boss is doing all three of these things at once, which is the nightmare scenario that one worker recently walked away from.
Because their former company is known to be extremely litigious, the person we’re about to hear from kept quiet about who they worked for and what they did.
But for the purposes of the story they told in their Reddit post , we only need to know that they were also doing freelance work during the weekends that was in a completely unrelated field to their main job.
Nonetheless, it became clear after they were called into a meeting with HR that their company wanted them to stop taking these gigs.
And when the employee explained their other work wasn’t going to cause a conflict of interest and that it was outside of office hours, this didn’t seem to matter.
In response, one of the company’s executives expressed that they could intervene in this worker’s other matters because they were salaried exempt. According to the Washington Department of Labor , this means the employee was exempt from the protections afforded by the Minimum Wage Act, including overtime and paid sick leave.
And when the employee asked what the executive expected them to do when the office was closed, they were told to spend their free time helping to make the company better.
This meant developing strategies or training programs for other departments.
As the employee saw it, this more or less translated to, “If you have any free time it should be spent working for us, because we pay you a salary.”
After a few minutes of arguing, this conversation led the employee to quit immediately and send a resignation letter to HR.
In their words, “They tried to convince me to stay. When that didn’t work they explained to me how I could never find another employer that would pay me the same.”
However, it turns out that it only took this person a few weeks to find another job.
And while their former bosses were right that it technically pays less than their previous job, their salary amounts to more per hour because they no longer need to work for more than 60 hours a week.
Since they also described their previous CEO as a “maniac” who constantly expected tasks at the last minute, they can definitely say they’re not feeling as stressed now and have more time with their family.
As they said, “In the end, I’m glad this happened.”
h/t: Reddit | InfiniteMaf
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