Sadly, the world has no shortage of toxic bosses as we keep hearing stories about how they try to ruin the perfectly good lives of their employees. They think that they are more important to the company and treat others miserably, then wonder what went wrong.
Speaking of toxic bosses, just look at this one, who fired a woman and got a cheap replacement for her. What’s shocking is that he demanded she train the new hire for two months, without pay, and threatened her when she refused! Here’s what actually happened…
More info: Reddit
The corporate world can be full of toxic drama if you end up with awful managers who don't care about you
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The poster was fired due to "budget cuts", but a cheaper employee was hired in her place, and her boss asked her to train the new woman for 2 months, without pay
Image credits: Turbulent-Slide9833
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
When she refused to work for free, her manager threatened to not give her a good reference, but then, she insisted on leaving in a week instead of 2 months
Image credits: Turbulent-Slide9833
Image credits: zinkevych / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Then, the manager backtracked and said that if she didn’t help train the new hire, it would show her poor professional judgment
Image credits: Turbulent-Slide9833
However, the poster's friends advised her not to work for free since she was fired, but this just confused her about what she should do
In today’s story, the original poster (OP) tells us about the toxic drama that took place at her office. She had been working for this company for the past 4 years, but suddenly, she was fired due to “budget cuts.” However, when her boss asked her to train the new hire, she found out that they were just replacing her with someone using a cheaper salary.
The twist is that her last day is in two months, but after that, the manager expects her to wait another two months, just to train the replacement employee. When she inquired about the salary during that time, he expected her to “be a team player” and do it for free. Obviously, this annoyed her, and she straightaway refused to do free labor, but the man got triggered.
He threatened that if she didn’t do it, then he couldn’t give her a good reference. Well, our lady also stood her ground and retorted that she would leave at the end of the week if he did that. That caught him off guard, as he didn’t expect her to fight back, but all he said was that “he will see what he can do.” He didn’t make any promises, so it all sounds very doubtful.
Now, the poster got an email from the new hire (Jessica), asking her about the training. Well, OP’s coworker said that it’s not the woman’s fault, so she should just do it, but her roommate pointed out that she shouldn’t do it for free. Meanwhile, her boss said that it would show her poor professional judgement if she didn’t. This left the poster super confused, so she vented online.
Image credits: drobotdean / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Netizens said that she definitely shouldn't do it for free, and it was actually illegal what the guy was demanding. To get better insights, Bored Panda got in touch with Apoorva Kale, an industrial and organizational psychology practitioner. She claimed that the situation involved a severe breach of the psychological contract.
“This unfair treatment jeopardizes the morale of the remaining staff. Witnessing their manager demand free labor and threaten their future will inevitably cause other workers to lose trust, reduce their organizational commitment, and increase their own desire to leave. They can clearly see that loyalty and hard work are not valued during separation,” she narrated.
Our expert believes that the manager’s request for unpaid consulting reveals an exploitative culture that prioritizes cost-cutting over integrity and respect. It shows incompetence, as a professional manager would have budgeted for proper knowledge transfer, rather than resorting to threatening a good reference to secure free labor, she added.
Basically, he is sabotaging the company’s reputation by having a toxic working environment. Apoorva noted that not only is it unprofessional, but this behavior is also ethically appalling. “It’s a huge misuse of managerial power that shows a lack of integrity,” she concluded. Well, it definitely sounds like the boss was on a power trip, trying to exploit the poster.
Do you think she should just leave immediately or sue him like a few Redditors suggested? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Folks online claimed that she didn't owe anything to the toxic manager, whose demand sounded completely illegal
