Everywhere you turn nowadays, people are getting fed up with the way their workplaces and bosses operate and are quitting their jobs.
But for one person on Reddit, things were so bad in their workplace that their quitting led to a mass exodus of employees, and put their boss in danger of being fired.
They weren’t sure how to feel about how their actions had played out, so they went to the AITA (Am I The A**hole) subReddit for perspective.
The Original Poster (OP) asked:
“AITA for causing a mass quitting?”
OP explained:
“I was done with the company as they cut our pay to ‘avoid laying off anyone’ but then we posted record profits but they didn’t increase our salaries or give us the 10% bonus everyone was promised. 20% of the department already quit but I was hanging on a bit hoping to ride in out until next year.”
“Then the boss yelled at an intern for asking to go home early and have time off because her mom just called her to tell her her cat was dying and to go to straight to the vets. She wanted a few days off and the boss basically told her cats were animals and she wasn’t allowed to request time off unless it was a human dying.”
“He was supposed to discuss it in private but decided to just go to a corner of the office where my team overheard him. She was crying and grabbed her stuff and ran out of the office.”
“I sent a company wide email (which is standard) saying I was quitting and highlighted the interaction between the boss and the intern (though I didn’t name names) as the main reason. Then immediately like 10 people emailed me back to ask me who the manager was and to avoid leaving a trace I told them in person and within a few days most people knew.”
“I work IT where finding a new job now is really easy and tons of friends would offer me referrals into their companies immediately. I found another job within the 2 weeks and am starting on Monday.”
“There’s been over 2 dozen people sending quitting emails and now the company is shutting down peoples emails a few days before they leave so they can’t send goodbye emails and link their LinkedIn or phone numbers so current employees can’t find them to piggy back to the next company.”
“The boss came to berate me as he was being disciplined and might lose his job. I don’t feel sorry for him because he’s a jerk but his family is going to be hard hit because he doesn’t have any marketable skills other than PowerPoint. AITA here?”
Redditors were then asked to judge who was in the wrong in this conflict based on the following categories:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
And perhaps unsurprisingly given our times, they had very little sympathy for OP’s former boss.
“NTA and why do people think they’re morally obligated to protect their employers from the consequences of the employer’s own actions?” –OsaWyld
“…OP didn’t cause this mass quitting, the company and its treatment of people did. What the boss did was the tipping point, and what OP did facilitated the reaction.”
“Root cause was the piss poor behavior of the company.”
“Oh and NTA.” –tango421
“It is ingrained in the culture that what is good for the company is good for you. Now this can be true. For example I worked for a company that had profit sharing, which meant that the more money they made the larger end of the year bonus I received.”
“However, this mentality carries over a lot to even when the company goofs up, not the employee. People get mad because the company is losing money, which makes sense. The boss should be mad at whoever lost the company money. In this story it sounds like the manager’s fault, and he may have to lay in a bed of his own making. (his fault)” –LuckythePunk
“NTA.”
“It’s quite literally not your job now to mop up for his terrible behaviour at work.” –Here_for_Tea
“NTA. Who the fu*k is he to tell someone how to feel? Who the fu*k is he to tell people whether they get to grieve and for how long? Who the fu*k is he to judge the value of a life?” –ghostpickleonastick
“NTA you did nothing to get him potentially fired. His own actions did that.” –yourlittlebirdie
“NTA . You to figure out how to support his family on his PowerPoint and terrible management skills.” –Ok_Guarantee7402
“Obviously NTA. They didn’t leave because of you, they left because he’s a bad manager and they took a pay cut.” –brainfreeze4445
“The same thing happened to a buddy of mine! Company had all time record sales/profit, company had a big hoopla, but no mention to the employees about getting their old salary back. I’m guessing that since the majority of the people there are commission/bonus base so they didn’t care, my buddy was salary though so was dicked over.”
“Luckily an old company reached out to him and wanted him to come back, when he told his manager who he was cool with, the manager tried to retain him by throwing him a bonus…..which was still less than what his new salary was going to be. Needless to say, he took the other offer!”
“Oh, back to this one AITA, nope, NTA.” –DVus1
“NTA. Management forgets that more likely than not people leave their jobs not because of their jobs but because of sh*tty management. You had every right to answer why you were leaving. His actions are what is causing the company to look at him not your actions. Find a company that values its employees! Good luck!” –hbm32
“NTA. He has only himself to blame. You didn’t force him to tell at an upset employee (and NO. Cats/dogs/pets ARE FAMILY. Not ‘just animals’. I would be an absolute wreck if my Porchie Pie was being put down)” –HeckinZebra
Hopefully OP is happier at their new job.