Boss asks employee to choose between job and his critically ailing wife — he didn't hesitate a second
'My employer did not care about my situation, so why should I care about a notice?' he asked.
When a man was asked to choose between his job and his family, he made the obvious decision and never regretted it. An employee (u/bripaticus), working as a lead developer, decided to quit without notice when his boss asked him to pick what's more important — his ailing wife or the job.
Before the incident, he mostly had no complaints about his job; in fact, he loved the company and enjoyed working with his coworkers. He was responsible for website development, and despite having to commute 3 hours daily, he enjoyed every bit of his job. However, he wrote, "Two years ago, my daughter required surgery, and the following day, I fell and broke my arm. I was late for an important meeting the next day. I was issued a written warning and placed on a probationary period. That should have been enough of a warning to me, but I put it behind me." The man moved on, but he was shocked to watch the company turn heartless when his wife suffered a major heart attack.
His wife's condition was serious, and she had to be put on the ventilator with a pump inserted into a major artery to help relieve the workload on her heart. Besides, she went through an angioplasty. The man called his boss and informed him about the personal turmoil, explaining that he wouldn't be able to come to the office until his wife was stable. He followed this with an update on his work group. "Her condition was still critical, and she was still comatose in the ICU. She remained that way in the ICU for a solid week," he wrote. The man missed a week at the office, and on the eighth day, his boss called him, saying they needed to have a meeting with HR. "I was placed on another probationary period and written up yet again. He told me that there comes a time when I just have to decide what is more important, my job or my wife. I was to come back to the office 5 days per week, or I would be fired," he recalled. His former HR suggested that he take the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the man agreed.
"I intend to use every last PTO day I have left, and then I will return my development laptop and quit. In the interim, I was contacted by a recruiting agent who told me of a job opportunity only minutes away from where I live," he said. The man interviewed there and secured a job, and the new company agreed to wait for a couple of months before he could join the office. "I will start there in just over a week from now. I feel that my employer did not care about my situation, so why should I care about a notice?" he asked. Meanwhile, the man updated the audience about his wife and wrote, "My wife is recovering and doing very well thus far. Her outlook is good!"
Work-life balance has become a dream for many. According to a survey across doctors, engineers, and teachers, many professionals failed to own up to family responsibilities because of work commitments. To be specific, 41.67% of doctors and 45% of engineers confessed they occasionally prioritized work over personal life, even when family members were ill, and 55% of university faculty members responded "rarely." Besides, 35% of doctors said that they often missed family programs due to work. Reacting to the outrageous story, u/fair-literature8300 commented, "You are not wrong; loyalty is a two-way street. Even the biggest jerks I have worked for have recognized that family and health emergencies come first."
u/marvinator2003, who had a different experience, shared, "I worked in IT in an office. I took the bus to work. One day, my wife called, having been in a near head-on collision (not her fault). My boss overheard me telling her I would meet her at the hospital as soon as the bus could get me there. He stepped into my office and said, 'Grab your stuff; my car is right downstairs.' He drove me to the site of the accident. (Right across the street from where I park my car to take the bus.) It was the best place I ever worked! Work/life balance is very important in a job."
More on Scoop Upworthy
Woman explains why you shouldn't let a job consume your life: 'They don't care about you'
Woman explains why quitting the job after 10 years without notice was the 'best thing she ever did'
Share on Facebook
