Boss asks employee to quit if he is unhappy and he gets a new job right in front of him

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 24, 2023. It has since been updated.

For most of us, there are days when we thank our stars for our jobs and other days when we are not feeling as great about it. But, people who work in toxic work environments feel more unsatisfied and overwhelmed with their jobs. They end up leaving the job and finding a healthier work environment. This happened to a person who worked at a small shop as an electrical apprentice. u/Xgrunt24 shared their unusual story on the Malicious Compliance subreddit with the title: "If I don’t like it I can find another job? Okay."

They explained, "Myself and the shop manager had had a few run-ins and I assume he disliked me as much as I disliked him. I refused to do a job and told him he didn't pay me enough. Another time he wanted me to lie to a customer to make an issue they were having sound like it wasn't our fault. I refused and told him if he want to lie about it, he was going to have to drive out to the job site and do it himself. He told me to keep my mouth shut and did come out. I think the only reason he didn't fire me was [because] I was by far one of the most efficient and versatile employees. This fact had me questioning how much I was getting out of this apprenticeship and was passively looking around for another shop to apprentice at."

That's when their final run-in happened. They wrote, "Que the malicious compliance. It's my evaluation and raises time. My manager calls me up to the conference room and explains that due to my performance and the shop being in a slow period, he was not going to give me the 25 cents an hour raise as my contract said but, was going to give me a dollar more an hour once I became a journeyman. We argued and I told him if I can't trust you for a quarter why would I believe the dollar?"

"The argument ended with him telling me if you don't like it you can always quit. Oh really? I picked up the conference room phone on the table in front of us and called the shop I had been talking with. I asked the owner if I brought my tools over today would I have a job? After a quick and uncomfortable discussion with his partner, he said yes. I informed my manager I resigned effective now. I loaded my tools up punched out and went straight to work that afternoon," they concluded.

Reddit users appreciated the bold move. u/RealUltimatePapo wrote, "Quitting right in front of your manager must have rendered them completely speechless. Would have loved to hear their reaction. It seems like it was totally worth it."

u/Steven Daniels commented, "'If I can't trust you for a quarter why would I believe the dollar? I doubt I'll read anything better than this today." While u/Imbalancedone wrote, "Bosses messing with confident and competent employees rarely ends well for the boss. Glad you had the backbone and self-respect. Excellent MC!"