“My Boss Told Me I Was Fired As Soon As I Got To Work, Laughed And Walked Off”

It doesn’t matter if you’re a comedic genius, the workplace demands a certain level of professionalism. You need to be able to tell what things you can and cannot joke about. If there are power relations involved, I would say it’s even more important. But the main character of this story could not.

A few days ago, Reddit user –Savathun– made a post on the r/antiwork subreddit about something neither of us would like to experience. Getting fired. But the emotional slump turned into a rollercoaster ride after the boss who brought the bad news later told them it was just an April Fools joke.

However, instead of putting their head down and returning quietly to their desk, –Savathun– refused to put up with this ‘gag’ and took things seriously.

April Fools’ jokes are usually light-hearted and innocent

Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not an actual photo)

But this boss decided to crank it up a notch and tell his employee they’re fired

Image credits: Anna Shvets (not an actual photo)

While this ordeal is certainly an extreme example, there are many more people who are in a similar predicament as –Savathun– and also want to leave their bosses.

In fact, a poll released in September by the Society for Human Resource Management found that over 40% of U.S. workers were actively searching for a new job (the survey of 1,150 employed Americans was conducted from July 2 to 8).

If you also belong to this category, keep in mind that how you quit matters.

Assuming that your manager isn’t giving you a heart attack for their own amusement, try not to burst into their office or fire them an angry email. Instead, leave your desk and take a walk. Do some quick meditation at your desk or vent your frustrations to a friend.

“All of those things will redirect the thought process for the time being and create a sense of calmness,” Toni Frana, a Destin, Florida-based career coach with FlexJobs, told CNBC.

“Making sure you have a laugh, reminding yourself that how you feel is not permanent, that is what can help the most with staving off those feelings of learned helplessness,” organizational psychologist Melissa Doman added.

But if your job continues to negatively impact your mental health in and outside of work and you can financially afford to quit without another lined up, do so.

Doman suggests being honest with yourself about why you want to quit, and even writing it down.

This will help you to be very clear about your top needs and preferences in a new role when targeting other potential employers. Try to come up with a list of the top five non-negotiable things you need, as well as what you would prefer to have in your next job.

In the end, it’s all about making an informed decision!

Pretty soon, the whole office had learned what was going on

Image credits: Dylan Gillis (not an actual photo)

The Great Resignation and the challenges it has brought are encouraging organizations to rethink their employee retention. Or at the very least, not to allow a whole team to walk away because of one rotten boss.

According to the 2021 Wellbeing Diagnostic Survey that was released by Willis Towers Watson (WTW), although almost all companies had identified burnout as a threat to their workers:

• Less than half (48%) had employee well-being programs.
• Only 26% had adopted and articulated a worker well-being strategy with objectives and goals for each program;
• And only 14% had effectively communicated the strategy and value proposition behind their programs and delivered what they promised.

The survey, which was conducted in October, has a margin of error of +/- 5%.

The survey identified the top two actions respondents plan to take in 2022 or are considering for 2023 to improve the emotional, physical, social and financial wellbeing of workers.

Regina Ihrke, the senior director of health and benefits for WTW, told Forbes that, “Since the pandemic, we have definitely seen well-being have a whole new priority for employers that we expected to emerge pre-pandemic—but the pandemic really accelerated the need for more at a quicker pace.”

As people reacted to the story, its author provided more information about their boss and what happened

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