I joined a small company about 6 months ago. In the interview, I was promised “a good and friendly team you can rely on”. After joining, everything was going well. I was getting used to work culture, learning their procedures and after a month or two, I had a pretty good handle on things. In fact, I was able to learn/understand a lot of processes/tools without proper training or documentation. According to my manager “I am grasping everything very well” and he was pretty happy with my work here.
A month and a half after joining, my manager resigned and my teammate(same level and working 8 months longer than me in the company) became the lead and his attitude changed drastically after becoming my manager. At one point he told me I had to inform him if I am off my desk even for 5 minutes 🤯 anyway We were now only 2 people in the team. Him & me. We managed helpdesk and infrastructure.
A month after he became my manager I asked him if I can start work half an hour early and finish early only on Mondays so that I can take my 11-month-old kid to swimming classes. I thought it was simple request and out of nowhere he told me NO because as a helpdesk/sysadmin team, we are supposed to support 9 to 5. I agreed with him and asked if he can cover for the last 30 minutes and again, the answer was NO.
So the next day, I set up a meeting and asked the same thing to the senior manager and he told me “because we had a couple of departures from our team, he can't give me that flexibility. And there are no plans to hire anyone anytime soon.”
I mean, 2 people already left in last 2 months (my manager and another colleague), are you ready to lose another just for this one small request?(I guess they are lol)
Anyways after this meeting, I started applying for jobs while working with my previous company. I’d just do my 9-5 and that’s it. I stopped giving opinions on anything because my insecure manager would always do/plans exact opposite.
Fast forward 3 months(a couple weeks ago), I was asked to go to the office at 10am for some silly reason on my WFH day. Normally, I’d just catch a train and go but on that day I was taking care of my 13 months kid so obviously I requested my manager if he could go please because I couldn’t keep my kid alone at home.
And guess what, last week, I had a meeting with my manager and senior manager that I was being let go because I couldn’t perform my duties well. So I asked him if on my WFH day, do you expect me to leave my 1 year old home all alone and come to the office??? He did not have any answer. Anyway, that meeting lasted 5 minutes. I asked when I’ll get paid for that month, my one week notice period and unused leaves and left.
BEST. DECISION. EVER.
After that meeting, I was so relieved. I was able to move houses on the weekend without any stress. And guess what, I WAS ABLE TO FIND ANOTHER JOB WITH BETTER PAY IN LESS THAN A WEEK.
So the whole situation feels like the joke’s on him. Now my EX-manager is going to the office 5 days a week. LOL. Just because of his ego, now he’s handling IT all alone, going to the office every day.
Cherry on top. I sent him this email after signing another offer:
Hi,
Just wanted to say Thank You for letting me go at the right time. I was able to move houses, attend my citizenship ceremony and take care of my sick kid without any stress.
And guess what, I was able to secure another job with better pay in less than a week. It worked out superbly for me.It was a blessing in disguise.Â
Cheers,