Fair warning, this happened years ago, and will be a bit long.
I worked a fairly difficult, but rather rewarding job for a long time in the building materials industry. Working for a small company in a small town meant a whole lot of hours, but also a good amount of freedom to work the job how I wanted. I came on as a consulting sales person, and ended up in charge of nearly half of the business. This expanding responsibility never really materialized as more pay, however I was completely free of supervision. This environment actually lead to a sense of ownership and pride in my job.
That said, the business, like many small companies, seemed to always be on thin ice. Slow pay customers, a ballooning inventory, and shrinking margins due to pressure from larger companies made every day an uphill battle. I worked my ass off carefully projecting sales, ordering just what we needed, and vetting out potential problems and pitfalls. This meant really long hours, but I was hourly so I was at least compensated for my time. I missed a lot of family time, though, and it really started taking a toll on my personal life. I worked M-S, and every third Sunday. These hours were honestly insane, but we were all just doing what we had to to keep the business going.
Finally, I hit my breaking point. I asked my boss to either reduce my hours or pay me more, as my time with my family was too valuable to me to continue on the way we were going. He assured me that he would figure something out. Cut to a month later, and he has hired a “business consulting” company to come in and tell him what was wrong with his company. IDK how much he paid (it wasn't cheap) but they flagged his side of the business as being over burdened by inventory (I didn't manage anything in that building), and flagged labor costs as being far too high.
I get called in and my boss sits be down and tells me that he is going to cut all overtime for all employees effective immediately. I took a moment, then asked if that also included me. He took a moment, then said yes, I was included. Taking a second to process, I pointed out that I have had a set schedule for years now, and that my entire budget was built around my annual income, which hadn't actually changed for 4 years or so. I said that I am happy to stop working those hours, but that I could not afford for my compensation to change. Salary me, adjust my hourly, give me more responsibility, idgaf, I cannot afford my home if 30 hours of overtime per 2 week paycheck was going away.
He blew up at me, calling me selfish and told me that I was missing the big picture. I pointed out that the savings from having the other employees cut overtime was more than adequate. The work I did was indispensable to the company, and that I was already woefully undercompensated for my work compared to the same position for even our competitors. He conceded that point, but simply said that he could not afford it. So I said, I am sorry, but I cannot afford it either.
I handed in my 2 weeks 30 minutes later. I offered to stay on and train a replacement as well as I could, but my boss basically ran me out, saying there was no point in sticking around. I pointed out that I offered a 2 weeks, and regardless of whether he wanted me there or not I wanted paid for that time, which he agreed to. Then I pointed out that I was owed 3 weeks of vacation, and cashed that out, too. Accounting cut me a 5 week check, and I walked out.
I made 2 calls on the way home, one to my wife to tell her I had quit my job and to trust me, another to a vendor I did plenty of business with to ask for a job. He said yes immediately, and asked me to come in to fill out paperwork. I have been at that job for the last 6 years. I work a normal 8-5 schedule, and get paid far more than I did before.
In all fairness, my former boss was a great guy who helped me and my family a lot. That said, he couldn't afford to keep me and I couldn't afford to stay. The most sour part for me was hearing about how he told anyone that would listen about how I betrayed him and the business in his time of need. The business actually closed 6 months after I left after over 100 years of service.