I used to work for an international financial institution. This particular one was notoriously awful to their staff, but I was young, and put up with it for far longer than I should have.
To give a bit of background, here are some of the things I (stupidly) accepted:
- Moved my entire department to a new (less expensive) location on the other side of the country. Offered existing staff the opportunity to reapply for their jobs at a significantly lower pay scale, and without any moving assistance. Refused to notify newly hired staffers that hadn't yet started, because they needed the coverage while existing staff was relocating or leaving for other employment, with no intention of letting them transfer because they hadn't yet completed their six month probationary period.
- I accepted the offer because I wasn't salaried, would be earning crazy OT while the department was revving up, and because I had been planning to relocate there anyway. The amount of OT I was earning nearly doubled my shitty 45K per year base income. Three months later, I was promoted to a salaried position with an 11K raise. I.e., a MASSIVE pay cut. To make things worse, the new hires in the same position were all earning around 5K more than my new salary, even though I was one of only two high performers. A strategic email to HR got that adjusted and my MGR was pissed that I hadn't just waited for end of year adjustments.
So eventually, I had enough. I interviewed with and was hired into a less toxic department. My current manager stalled on approving the transfer because they needed me so desperately. He claimed that I couldn't transfer per HR guidelines, because I had not been in my current roll for a year. He claimed that the year started over after my move (it did not, and I had already confirmed this with HR.) The new department went to bat for me and current manager eventually conceded.
So he called a meeting to let me know what he'd negotiated in order to “allow my transfer”.
I'd be required to stay in my current roll for three months, to help smooth over the transition. To sweeten the deal a bit for me, I'd be given a special project he'd made just for me, and I'd have to finish this project before I could transfer. I assume that he thought that my new department would drop me rather than waiting it out.
I calmly listened to this smug jackass tell me all about the project. He asked me to discuss it with the new department to see if they'd be ok with the three month wait, or if they'd prefer to recind their offer. What he didn't know though, was that I had already accepted an offer with a consulting firm in another city. Once he was done telling me all about his great idea, I smiled and handed him my resignation letter. The letter gave two weeks notice, and I'd already forwarded a copy to HR.
He was stunned. His only response was:
You let me give you that entire spiel and now instead of getting your help for three months, I'm only getting two weeks . . .
This was the perfect time to mention that I had already received approval for previously requested vacation.
Six months later, I heard that they moved the entire department again, and everyone there lost their jobs.