I don't know if this is the kind of thing this sub will appreciate, but it's been grinding my gears. I'm kind of stagnating at my current job, and there's another unit at the organization where I think I'd be a much better fit. I've reached out about my interest both to the person who runs this new unit and to my boss's boss who oversees both my current unit and the new unit. Both of them say I'd be a great fit and that they'd love to have me. The new unit has had a lot of attrition (like every other job lately) so there's definitely room for me.
But it's not fucking happening. The problem is that they're both worried about antagonizing my current boss by poaching me away. The thing is, my current boss sucks. She deserves to be losing people. She's also a first-time manager who shows zero interest in learning to do it right, so I honestly think it would be best for her own professional development for her to lose people and get a wake-up call that she needs to do better.
But no, I'm stuck here, because “poaching” is such a bad thing. And it shouldn't be: I shouldn't be punished for wanting a job that's a better fit for me. My should-be-future boss shouldn't be punished for offering a job that's more attractive for me. And my should-be-former boss shouldn't get all whiny that I left: it's on her that she didn't deserve to hang on to me. It's nobody's fault but hers, but because of some stupid territorial nonsense, I'm the one who suffers.
Here's another story while I'm venting: I started off my career working at a law firm that treated me rotten. (They also were the most highly regarded firm that contested the 2020 election. I was long gone by then but wanted to point that out.) So I left for a smaller firm where I'd have more responsibility, but really I was leaving because the first firm sucked. A few years later a friend from the first firm was looking, and actually we were hiring, so I brought her on (and got a nice bonus for it too). Later I was at an alumni event for the first firm, and I saw a partner I and my friend had both worked for. He shook my hand and said, half-kidding, “I'm not sure if I should be shaking your hand at this point.”
I laughed it off, but I was like, dude, if you had kept either her or me happy, you wouldn't have gotten “poached” by anybody.