So I figured I would share my story here as I think it could help others.
So back before the pandemic ( late Nov 2019') I was completely fed up with my job, the industry I worked in (sales) and most of the type of people I had to work with for the previous 15 years. Earlier that summer i was given a big promotion and then a week or two later my boss was fired and we got a new guy. He came in and started firing people left and right and putting his friends and family members in well paying positions. When I got the promotion I was excited about the new challenges but after a few months I realized that this new boss had other plans. He also hired a young attractive woman to be my “co-manager” to share responsibilities. I had 15 years experience in my role and 20 years in the same industry. She on the other hand had no experience, no training, and had never worked in sales or my industry and was given the job because she (allegedly) was hooking up with the new boss.
All in all my job had gone from unfulfilling to a straight up nightmare.
I voiced my concerns and it only seemed to irritate the new boss.
Then I was given the most amazing gift I've ever been given at a job.
Every month all of the upper management and owners would have sales meetings with middle management and sometimes consultants to go over numbers from the previous month etc. So in November 19 we had our normal meeting and when going over the numbers the new boss put my numbers and statistics from the previous month up on a projector and started going over them. He insinuated multiple times that I had basically lied about some of my sales numbers in order to get a bigger bonus – which I hadn't. I saw my other managers in the room drop the jaws. I immediately walked over to another one of my superiors (who I barely knew because the previous guy had been fired) and told him that I would be happy to go over my numbers line by line to show that I hadn't been lying. His response wasn't very reassuring. A few days later I was talking to a coworker and they let slip that they were aware I was being replaced soon. I confronted my bosses and they confirmed that they were training someone and that “they really wanted me to stay on” but I would be getting a pay cut and demotion.
They wanted me to quit. I wanted to be fired so I could collect Unemployment. I told them I would take the rest of the day and decide what I wanted to do. So I went home and read every line of every rule/law relating to unemployment.
Finally I read that if your employer lies about you to other employees in a way that causes them to mistrust you, and you can prove it, you can quit and collect unemployment.
Which I did. Then the pandemic hit and unemployment kept getting extended
In that free time I ended up starting a new business where I work about 15 hours a week.
I still text my old boss and thank him for the paid two year vacation every now and then.