Employee has a sassy response to boss forcing her to choose between job and her graduation school

All of us at some point in life have had to deal with some terrible bosses. It could be because of various reasons, but we all remember the day we finally stood up to them. In a very inspiring story shared by user u/SpotlightDesire on Reddit, she talks about how she reacted when her boss gave her an ultimatum and asked her to choose between her job and her graduation school. She begins the story by telling us a little about herself as well as her work. She used to work for a company that advertised knights, horses and real weapons.

She added, "I was a follow-spot operator; basically, you point the big light at the horsie man to highlight them (sic)." Her company didn't seem to want to hire extra people for that position and that's alright too, since the turnover rate was pretty good. On top of that, the pay was ten dollars an hour. After this brief workplace description, she shares a little bit about herself. She said that when she worked at the company, she underwent a major surgery which required her to be in bed for almost two months. It also required a lot of quitting and hiring back at the office, but that was never looked at as an issue.

A few months after her surgery, she seemed to have developed a pre-septic bacterial infection, a small form of sepsis. She also had a 103°F fever along with an increasingly high heart rate. She was quite sick, which resulted in her needing a week off. Now comes the main part. She said, "However, for some reason, I had to miss an extra night of work and forgot to call in, largely because my meds knocked me out." Taking accountability for the same, she also stated, "This was my bad." Let's hold this here while we tell you another simultaneous detail about her life. She had been accepted into graduate school and she had a class she needed to attend once a month on a Saturday.

Now comes the day she finally goes back to her office. She was called into the boss's office, which she presumed was to discuss her no-call, no-show. As she guessed, that's what the boss said first thing to which she apologetically replied, "I'm sorry. I sent you an email and a doctor's note after, as soon as I could. I understand this is an issue though." The boss said that she'd been written up for it, but he had another bone to pick with her. He had a problem with her needing a Saturday off every month since that's their highest attendance day.

She thought it would be fine since the boss had enough notice. However, he was adamant and said, "See, that's just the problem. We've had to constantly lean into your needs and now it's time for you to consider our needs and your team's needs." When she was presented with an ultimatum by her boss to choose between the job and her school, she chose the latter.

As she started saying her goodbyes to leave, the boss started yelling at her. She, however, said: "I told him he wanted me to choose between grad school or this rinky-dink job, and I made my decision. I then took off the costume belt and handed it to him, saying I'd bring the rest back when I had time." As if the universe rewarded her for taking a stand, the next week itself, she got her first real stagehand job that paid her 20 dollars an hour. She ended her story with some real advice: "I have a master's now and I'm set to start teaching at colleges next semester and I'm a pro stagehand." She showed that giving ultimatums to employees is never an avoidable idea. As u/MistraloysiusMithrax said, "The ironic thing, this ultimatum to students seems to happen most often at jobs that are completely replaceable and don’t even pay enough to live on."