Manager tells employee they’re replaceable in front of the entire team — ends up losing five departments in a single day

A small logistics company was struggling with staff shortages but was unwilling to hire more people. Once every few months, someone resigned due to an intense workload, disrupting the entire office. The company owner would often share his disappointment with the team's performance, but would not hire more people. Frustrated, an employee (u/pledges_hush_2s) confronted him, only to be called replaceable in front of everybody.  The person who had had enough of the humiliation resigned on the spot. Their decision spread like wildfire, prompting 4 other people to quit the same day. They posted the incident on Reddit. 

The company was entirely run by the owner's friends, who had no professionalism at all. The person was always worried about the workload but put up with a lot of nonsense to get some experience before switching. "My team was the one carrying the entire company. The workload was immense, but they refused to hire more people for us, so we were always severely understaffed, with three or four people at most," they explained. Since they had a lot on their plate, they couldn't work efficiently, and the company owner was clearly unhappy with that. He scolded the person in front of everyone, and when they responded, the owner threw out his classic line, "Don't get cocky; anyone is replaceable." What was more surprising was that all the supervisors who always praised the person didn't say a word in their support. "I, however, didn't stay quiet. I yelled back in his face and told him good luck finding a replacement for me," they recalled.

The person immediately resigned. The HR initially tried to convince him, but he himself quit moments later when the owner yelled at him. "That same day, I, the HR manager, his friend in accounting (who was also a key person), and two others who had reached their breaking point all submitted our resignations," the person shared. The single incident shut down 5 different departments, as people who quit didn't even train their replacements. Here, the employees could afford to stand up for themselves, but not everyone confronts the management that constantly undervalues them, despite them working around the clock to meet work commitments. In fact, a survey (The Predictive Index (PI)) of 1,000 workers found that nearly half (48%) of respondents feel their boss doesn't value their contribution. Moreover, 43% said they receive feedback from their higher-ups that feels misaligned with how they perceive themselves. Besides, another 18% of respondents said they are more capable than they appear.

Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit post, u/punkwalrus commented, "One of my first real jobs was an office job for a small business, and I was let go, and they hired someone from a county halfway house program. 'I can pay him half minimum wage, and the county pays the other half,' my former boss exclaimed with glee. 'A chimpanzee could do your job,' he added. That 'chimpanzee' later stole their office petty cash and their $12,000 copier." Similarly, u/therex1282 wrote, "Sounds good. Yeah, you bust your butt and get treated like shit. They quit, and they freak out and try to make you feel bad, but a few months down the road, reality kicks in when they realize what is not getting done anymore! Never go back to that job. Never reconsider. Make up your mind, stick to your decision no matter what anyone tells you, and move on."

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