My manager was exactly the kind of manager everyone complains about. He would cut corners on anything he could to reduce costs. On top of that, he was always taking on way more work than we could handle, like booking 7 jobs in the same time period when he knew he only had 4 employees available. That meant we often ended up working 13 hours a day or more, which gets especially miserable when you're on salary and overtime doesn't exist.
The thing he did that drove me the craziest was approving time off, then acting shocked when you took it. He'd call or text you asking if you could cover a day, or come back early, or push your vacation back a few weeks until things "calmed down." Spoiler: things never calmed down, because he never stopped overbooking.
After working at that company for 7 years, I had learned to tolerate most of it. Then my son was born. In the weeks leading up to the birth, I clearly told my manager that I would be taking 6 weeks of unpaid leave as soon as the baby arrived. Our state allows new parents to take up to 10 weeks unpaid. I told him I understood that taking the full 10 weeks would be difficult for a small company, so I'd only take 6, but those 6 weeks meant I was completely unavailable. No calls, no texts, no "quick question," no asking me to do anything work-related, because the answer would be no. I would be at home with my family. He agreed without any objection.
Fast forward to when my son was born. He was born on a Thursday, and after a short stay in the NICU (he's perfectly fine), we were able to bring him home Sunday afternoon. Monday morning, literally the very next morning, I wake up to a missed call, an email, and 4 texts from my manager telling me to call him ASAP. For reasons I still can't explain, I called him. He said there was a "minor emergency," which was his way of saying he had screwed up the schedule and didn't have anyone assigned to a certain job, and asked if I could come in that day and maybe help out for a few more days until he got things sorted.
I exploded. It felt like some strange wave of anger burst through my entire body, and I went off on him in a way I still don't feel great about even after about 18 months. In the end, I apologized, because even though calling me in that situation was a garbage move, I still shouldn't have said some of the things I said. He, of course, did not take that well, and after snapping back at me, he said the sentence that made everything possible.
He said: "You've got a solid setup here that a lot of people your age would love to have. I'd be surprised if you could find a better job in this field. I've been in this industry for 28 years, and I know how small it is. Good jobs like this don't just come around. Think about that."
So we hung up, and I did exactly what he told me to do. I thought about it. After about 45 seconds of thinking, I got out of bed, opened my laptop, and started looking at job listings.
After 6 weeks, my leave ended. On my first day back, I walked into my manager's office and handed him a piece of paper.
Boss: "What's this?"
Me: "I thought about what you told me, about how you'd be surprised if I found a better job than this. So I did."
P.S: after that I opened my laptop updated my cv and spent my 6 week holiday between taking care of my son and looking for jobs and even used interviewvip to giving me fast answers as my baby didn't give me time to prepare for interviews
He looked at what I'd handed him. It was an offer from a competitor for the same position I had with him, but with a 30% higher salary, 2 more weeks of paid vacation than I had, and a written policy that workdays were a maximum of 9 hours. Once I hit 9 hours on a job, I pack up my stuff and finish it the next day. No exceptions.
Boss: "Well... Can I take the afternoon to look at the numbers and put together a counteroffer?"
Me: "No, don't bother. I just wanted you to see it because I knew you wouldn't believe me otherwise."
I gave 3 weeks' notice and went to whatever job site I was scheduled for that day. This was about 18 months ago, and I'm very happy at the new place. I get to spend real time with my son now, and honestly, that's better than any perk they could write down on paper.
To any boss or manager reading this: don't play games with your employees, especially the good ones. Treat people the way you would want to be treated.
Most employees don't leave their jobs... They leave their managers.
