Guy Puts In His “Notice Of Immediate Resignation” After Boss Disregards Their Verbal Agreement, Warns Others To Always Write Things Down
One of the best lessons you’ll get from work industry veterans is this: have everything in writing. Trust is something that’s earned. And though the vast majority of your coworkers might be good people, nobody should be naive to think that everyone will be excellent. The same goes for bosses: you’re bound to run into a few great ones, as well as several terrible ones throughout your entire career.
One of the signs of a horrible manager (and, frankly, any person) is that they don’t keep their promises. In a workplace setting, that can cause a lot of chaos and resentment. After all if you informally agreed on certain terms, but they go back on their word when it’s convenient for them, barely any employee would want to stick around.
Redditor u/obdx2 is one such employee. They shared a bunch of screenshots of their message exchange with their boss on the r/antiwork subreddit. The two chatted about how much paid time off the OP had, and apparently, the boss changed their ‘handshake deal’ from two years back. The employee resigned then and there. Scroll down for the full story and to see how the internet reacted, dear Pandas.
Keeping a trail of work-related documents helps keep everyone on the same page
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
An employee shared how they quit after realizing that their boss lied to them and failed to keep their promise about paid time off
Image credits: obdx2
The employee sent over their notice of resignation after realizing that their boss had lied about the two weeks of paid time off. It just goes to show that empty promises are rife even in professional settings. When you find yourself in a situation where it’s your word against someone else’s, the odds are (unfortunately!) that the person with more influence will come out on top.
Instead of trying to fight the boss over the important issue, the redditor decided to cut their losses and quit. They saw that there was no longer any trust there and wanted to move on. Whatever the situation might look like, no matter how bad things get, many of you Pandas will probably agree—it would be civil for the boss to show up to say ‘goodbye.’ This type of closure can help both sides.
However, in the comments, the OP pointed out that the boss wasn’t even there when they showed up to return their key and collect their final paycheck. Some people avoid any type of conflict at all costs. And managers are no different. Instead of dealing with uncomfortable situations, they shy away. It would have been the mature thing to do to look your employee in the eye one last time as they quit. Alas! That did not happen.
What redditor u/obdx2 said on r/antiwork absolutely holds true: you have to have things in writing. Your job description, the terms of your employment, your wage, and how much paid time off you get each year—these are just some of the things that should be clearly stated in your contract. You can’t operate merely on good faith in professional settings. Keeping a paper trail is essential, no matter what sector of the job industry you might find yourself in.
Look, the fact of the matter is simple: people aren’t perfect. They’re fallible. They might forget about what they promised you. They might remember the conversations you had very differently, as more and more time goes by. In fact, every time that you remember an event from your past, your brain changes slightly.
“A memory is not simply an image produced by time traveling back to the original event—it can be an image that is somewhat distorted because of the prior times you remembered it. Your memory of an event can grow less precise even to the point of being totally false with each retrieval,” Donna Bridge, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, explains.
What this means is that we need to have unchanging reminders of what everyone agreed on. Contracts, emails, notes: whatever gets the job done. That way, everyone’s on the same page. Literally.
The OP shared a few more details about what happened in the comments beneath their post
Here’s what some internet users said about the entire workplace drama
The US is HORRIBLE when it comes to vacation. Not only are our businesses stingy about how many days you get, but there is so much resentment from your boss and coworkers when you actually take your vacation days because our companies never hire enough people to make it easy to cover for anyone who's out. You're expected to schedule your vacation when it's convenient for everyone else, and they still make you feel guilty, like you're being lazy for not coming in. The "Puritan work ethic" is a nightmare that needs to die.
Totally agree. I feel sorry for the workers in the US. Here in NZ, the decent employers encourage you to take your leave each year, so that you actually get a break to relax, unwind and refresh. Also if you don't, it's a cost they have to carry over to the following year, which they don't want to do. Where I work we are chased up if we have too much leave untaken. Some staff are too busy or too work-minded to take leave so it soon adds up, then the bosses are chasing them to take it. Glad I live in NZ.
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Not sure if it's a labor law thing, but in Canada everywhere I've worked since the mid-80s you got 1 week PTO and you earned more the longer you worked there. I'm in retail and after 15 years I get three weeks PTO a year. The US is a capitalist-run dystopia with the oligarchs fooling the slave population that "they're the best country in the world" so the don't question anything.
Most of us who work here in the 🇺🇸 know employers are here to screw us out of our time, sweat, and wages. Now they're 'stunned' that there are so many people telling them to FO. Even $15 an HR is a freaking JOKE with the housing cost rape, and even fast food is too damn expensive to purchase anymore.
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It genuinely baffles me how any companies function in the USA. With such poor employment terms employees must be permanently exhausted both physically and mentally. Here in the UK I have a permanent employment contract, all terms and conditions written out, including the right to 36 days paid leave, and up to 12 months paid sickness leave. If I was female, I'd also have 12 months paid maternity leave too. If my company wanted to make me redundant they have to give me 90 days notice and are legally not allowed to back-fill the position. It isn't perfect here, and the statutory minimums are really bad (only 28 paid leave days guaranteed by law for instance). but one thing I KNOW is that my employer can't simply decide to change my employment terms on a whim.
Companies function here by hemorrhaging labor and training costs, and inflating their worth on paper in any way they think they can get away with.
Load More Replies... The US is HORRIBLE when it comes to vacation. Not only are our businesses stingy about how many days you get, but there is so much resentment from your boss and coworkers when you actually take your vacation days because our companies never hire enough people to make it easy to cover for anyone who's out. You're expected to schedule your vacation when it's convenient for everyone else, and they still make you feel guilty, like you're being lazy for not coming in. The "Puritan work ethic" is a nightmare that needs to die.
Totally agree. I feel sorry for the workers in the US. Here in NZ, the decent employers encourage you to take your leave each year, so that you actually get a break to relax, unwind and refresh. Also if you don't, it's a cost they have to carry over to the following year, which they don't want to do. Where I work we are chased up if we have too much leave untaken. Some staff are too busy or too work-minded to take leave so it soon adds up, then the bosses are chasing them to take it. Glad I live in NZ.
Load More Replies... Not sure if it's a labor law thing, but in Canada everywhere I've worked since the mid-80s you got 1 week PTO and you earned more the longer you worked there. I'm in retail and after 15 years I get three weeks PTO a year. The US is a capitalist-run dystopia with the oligarchs fooling the slave population that "they're the best country in the world" so the don't question anything.
Most of us who work here in the 🇺🇸 know employers are here to screw us out of our time, sweat, and wages. Now they're 'stunned' that there are so many people telling them to FO. Even $15 an HR is a freaking JOKE with the housing cost rape, and even fast food is too damn expensive to purchase anymore.
Load More Replies... It genuinely baffles me how any companies function in the USA. With such poor employment terms employees must be permanently exhausted both physically and mentally. Here in the UK I have a permanent employment contract, all terms and conditions written out, including the right to 36 days paid leave, and up to 12 months paid sickness leave. If I was female, I'd also have 12 months paid maternity leave too. If my company wanted to make me redundant they have to give me 90 days notice and are legally not allowed to back-fill the position. It isn't perfect here, and the statutory minimums are really bad (only 28 paid leave days guaranteed by law for instance). but one thing I KNOW is that my employer can't simply decide to change my employment terms on a whim.
Companies function here by hemorrhaging labor and training costs, and inflating their worth on paper in any way they think they can get away with.
Load More Replies...
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