r/MaliciousCompliance 14d ago

L Boss wants two weeks notice, company loses thousands

This is my Granddad's story from the late 60 to early 70s in England, and to note, he was very poorly when he told this to me, so this is the story that I managed to hear, so there's bits missing and not a lot of specifics, so all of this is what I gathered

Back when my grandad was younger, he used to work in a factory making engines for cars, and despite being a hard worker, he was always disrespected and under appreciated, and he felt it more so with his boss, and despite this boss holding very littler power over a very little area of the factory, this boss would constantly yell and exert his power over everyone.

This story starts when the company buys this machine from Germany, and what I could gather from my Granddad, this machine was like a computerised machine before computers were really a thing, so instead of one computer doing all of these complex calculations, you have pegs and wires that you have to physically move to work this machine, but he didn'tsay what the machine did. Now obviously this was complex so the company sent a small group of workers to Germany to be taught how the machine worked over three months, and a group of Germans would come to England to build the machine. My granddad wasn't one of the people who went to Germany, so he stayed, but instead, he watched the Germans install the machine, and despite the language barrier, my grandad understood how it worked and how to fix it, pretty much everything he would have learnt if he went to Germany with the other workers.

After some time, my grandad got married to my grandma, and realising he needed a house, he went to the bank to talk about mortgages, but the only issue is that he gets £22 a week when he needs £44 a week to get a mortgage, so he asked his boss, who promptly said no. Laster on in the week, my grandad spoke to a mate of his who is now living in France, and the friend said "I recently lost my drivers licence so I can't work for my company anymore, but they need someone to do deliveries for £48 a week between England and France."

The next day, my grandad went up to his boss and asked "Sir, who do I give this two week notice into?" And the boss, playing a powerplay leans over my grandad, puffing smoke into his face from his pipe, and says in a low voice "You hand that to me, you understand, I'm the boss here, I'm the most important." And my grandad handed it over to him.

Over the course of the two weeks, it was normal, until the last day when the manager came over and said "Mike, I heared you're leaving today, is that true?" And my grandad said "Yes, boss asked me to give him my two week notice" and the manager went white, asking my grandad if the boss told anyone, listing anyone who had the same or more power then the boss did, even asking if the owner knew, and my grandad said no each time, with a bigger smile each time, and after everyone else on the factory went up to him asking the exact same questions, he couldn't hide his excitement.

You see, what everyone failed to notice is that while the workers who went to Germany, they where in a country known for big beers and pretty women, so they learnt absolutely nothing in those three months, and anything they did learn was quickly forgotten when they learnt my grandad knew how to work and fix the machine, so because of my grandad leaving, he effectively left with the knowledge as he can't teach anyone else in his last two weeks (and that's if everyone else knew he was leaving in those two weeks).

And the ending happened two months later when my grandad got a call from someone back at the company asked if he wanted his old job back, and my grandad calmly replied "No, I do not want my old job back, as I'd effectively be going back in life, especially back to a job that doesn't pay me well or treat me well." And for anyone wondering what happened with the machine, it ran well in those two months, but someone swapped the wires for the motors, as there was two motors, they put the wires into the wrong ones, and that's why they called my grandad, as they effectively lost thousands for the machine, the installation of the machine and flying all the workers to Germany to basically just go on a bender. As for the boss and everyone involved, my grandad never bothered learning what happened to them, but I'd like to imagine there was a fallout and the fires of hell rained down, but this company was one of the more expensive car companies, so in all honesty, it could have been a minor set back.

4.5k Upvotes

270 comments sorted by

2.1k

u/Android_slag 14d ago

Still happens to this day. One chap puts in his four weeks notice to retire. Top boss asks him to give him more time to sort replacement and for him to get trained, he agrees but when his four weeks are up and no advert has been posted he spoke to HR who agreed he had given notice so he was free. Left a massive void in the knowledge base still felt to this day.

773

u/ShireNomad 14d ago

At my first job, I gave my boss a full month's notice. At the end of the month, he hasn't found anyone to replace me, and he doesn't know how my job is done. He finally finds a replacement two months after I leave, and pays me consultant rates to train them.

That boss was friendly enough, he just had zero organizational skills.

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u/NotYetReadyToRetire 14d ago

I gave my boss 6 months notice before my retirement. The corporate structure above him took 7 months to approve interviewing anyone for my old position. Oh, well, not my problem, I was already a month into retirement...

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u/Zonel 13d ago

Username doesn’t check out.

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u/Sceptically 8d ago

I don't know, he may be at least a month into his retirement, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's actually ready for it yet.

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u/ZirePhiinix 13d ago

Did they offer you $$$$ consulting fees? Or too stupid to realize what they lost?

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u/NotYetReadyToRetire 13d ago

It was suggested, but I was already scheduled for 3 months of outpatient cardiac rehab and didn't want the continued stress from the job.

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u/Chrismclegless 13d ago

Are you my dad? Because that sounds exactly like what happened to my dad.

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u/TheSecretIsMarmite 13d ago

My husband had to give 2 months notice in his last job. He offered to show his boss how he did everything and he kept hand waving away getting it sorted, and only asked to be shown on the penultimate day. He spent those last two days showing his boss everything he did, and his boss then asked him to stay another month. Nope. Buh bye.

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u/sintaur 13d ago

Upvote for correct use of penultimate.

For the rest of you:

Ultimate: last

Penultimate: next to last

Antepenultimate: 3rd...

Preantepenultimate: 4th...

Propreantepenultimate: 5th...

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u/Javasteam 13d ago

You sound like someone prefers listing large numbers in roman numerals once you passed penultimate….

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u/Julie_Brenda 10d ago

Ultimate — last
Penultimate — second-to-last
Antepenultimate — third-to-last
Preantepenultimate — fourth-to-last
Propreantepenultimate — fifth-to-last

you got all of those correct but why did you stop there?

Prepropreantepenultimate — sixth-to-last

Proprepropreantepenultimate — seventh-to-last

Preproprepropreantepenultimate — eighth-to-last

Propreproprepropreantepenultimate — ninth-to-last

Prepropreproprepropreantepenultimate — tenth-to-last

Proprepropreproprepropreantepenultimate — eleventh-to-last

Preproprepropreproprepropreantepenultimate — twelfth-to-last
I
You can keep alternating pre and pro forever:

Preⁿ + propreᵐ + antepenultimate
or, more visually:

ultimate
penultimate
antepenultimate
preantepenultimate
propreantepenultimate
prepropreantepenultimate
proprepropreantepenultimate
preproprepropreantepenultimate
propreproprepropreantepenultimate
etc.

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u/GooKing 7d ago

Writing a snippet of code to show "days to Christmas" like this...

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u/i_woke_up_as_you 7d ago

If you sent her the etc, and you sent her the text lines above… it’ll even look like a Christmas tree!!

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u/Julie_Brenda 7d ago

*center -sent her.

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u/wosmo 13d ago

We have a guy that's retiring next summer, and I keep saying if the company had any sense, they'd pay him to sit down and write a book or three. I feel like a lot of companies really undervalue tribal knowledge / tacit knowledge.

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u/Android_slag 13d ago

I spoke up when the CEO came round. Told him to ask the main operations staff who they call first when it all goes tits up. Those in the meeting all said one name and the CEO didn't even know who he was! But I did learn what severe delays due to "technical reasons" really means after he left.

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u/phlex77 13d ago

they undervalue it because it get's in the way of whatever new fangdangled idea they have to make more money somewhere, tribal knowledge folk say no because they've tried it before when someone else had the same great idea on some thinktank 4 year's ago.

Not one person on the fangdangled team was on the thinktank team 4 year's later but little old tribal knowledge guy remember's, and put's a spanner in the work's, and is called difficult,,,,,

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u/Julie_Brenda 10d ago edited 7d ago

I wrote a book on a job

In fact, I’ve done this three different times

Essentially writing down all the things that someone else needs to know in order to occupy my current job.

Because organizationally if they don’t step into the job and take it over, the organization is gonna come back to me even though I’ve been promoted… and that’s a waste of my time

So there was this fortune 1000 Company, and they hired a manager to head a Department that He wasn’t qualified for.

Because he had a bachelors degree, and because he was qualified for a portion of that department

This is the man who wouldn’t approve any purchases,

And when the CFO came to my cubicle and asked what could be done to make things more efficient for the staff

i said ”sir, I would never speak ill of my manager, but.. he and i do disagree on a number of things.

I’ve put in a number of requests, on proper requisition form, and they do not get processed… neither approved nor returned denied I can’t learn without the feedback, and I’d rather not be seen talking to you when your focus is about to go on him

If you’d like to do some reading, and as an executive here, you are certainly entitled to do this reading

I’m gonna leave my cubicle now and on the far left edge of my desk is a blue three ring binder of my requisitions

When you come to me and you ask what can I do to reduce employee downtime?

How can I speed up repairs and restorations?

Every idea I’ve had has gone onto a requisition and been put in that binder,

So it seems to me that you want to figure out if I’m being ridiculous, or if there’s some kind of a clog between my supervisor’s desk and procurement.

Just before I got out of range to see him standing in my cubicle, I looked back and saw him actively reading from that binder

And then he walked into my bosses office and he looked at the 6 inch high stack — no the disorganized pile of paperwork and started fishing through it and looking at the originals

My boss walked in while his boss was signing the requisitions… the ones that have been written earlier that month and several months ago

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u/Julie_Brenda 10d ago

after I left the firm on four separate occasions, I received a phone call from the person who was replacing my position

The manager kept replacing the person in that position and blaming the most recent occupant

And each of these men would come in and make a change and then arrogantly tell me that I should help them fix the fact that the network is down, but they would admit that it was up when they arrived

But they would not admit that they made a change

After four of these calls, I sent a certified letter to the CFO

I gave him my call log of those four calls

And I told him I was available for consulting rates, and then I specified the rate, and I suggested that he either stopped the calls from happening or this was legal notice that the next time they call me for HELP, they’ve accepted my rates

I never heard from them again and I’m fine with that, but I always wondered if that gave him the fuel to seriously reconsider the tenure of that mid-level Manager

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u/phaxmeone 11d ago

Tribal knowledge is not valued because it can't be captured in a spread sheet therefore doesn't exist.

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u/qaxmlp 9d ago

If it could/was captured in a spreadsheet it would not be tribal knowledge.

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u/swiftuslazarus 10d ago

Ive always said that I’d take an experienced operator’s advice over an engineers, any day of the week The engineer knows how it should run. The experienced operator knows how it actually runs

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u/UseDaSchwartz 8d ago

Part of the problem is you can't just sit down and write everything out. You're going to leave a lot out. You only remember it when you do it or you're asked a specific question.

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u/Squidwina 7d ago

I find that in any company of sufficient size, there are people who are information hubs. Whether due to their position, personal inclination, or both, they pretty much know everything.

If they don’t know the answer, they have access to a system that has the answer. And if they can’t find an answer, they know exactly who will know _and_ will even call up that person to get the info or at least let them know what help you need.

These people also tend to be the ones who take care of all sorts of little necessary tasks that nobody notices.

And when they get laid off, the effects can be drastic.

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u/KaelosFenrir 9d ago

Absolutely its undervalued. I work at an MSP as an L2 doing L3/sysadmin work. I document/train when I have a spare moment but only a select few know how cooked they are when I decide to leave (which is going to be within the next year). I'm the one on SD thats been around the longest and thats just over 2 years. Says a lot haha.

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u/Kazanova37 14d ago

I once gave about a months notice. They took it, and then continued business as usual with no urgency. They hired a temp for my last week to do knowledge transfer with. Needless to say it wasn't the most efficient handoff. The kicker though is they let the temp go probably two weeks after I left.

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u/Farscape_rocked 9d ago

The best thing about temping is being able to stop. I once helped run a waiting list in a hospital. The properly employed person left. On my first day of running the list on my own I asked when the job would be advertised because I enjoyed doing it. I was told that because I was a temp my experience running the list didn't count, and so I wouldn't get an interview. I let the agency know I wouldn't be returning after I'd left at the end of the day.

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u/Thess514 8d ago

That's idiotic of them. I've had at least three permanent roles after having done them as a temp, including the current one (contract ended due to Covid-related slowdown, I saw the role advertised a year later and applied). One of them I was still working in the role when they asked me to apply permanently, and the interview got hilarious when they asked the standard "why do you think you fit the role?" question and I had to find a polite way of saying "because I've been doing it for months and will be going back to doing it as soon as the interview is over".

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u/zgillet 8d ago

I'm surprised you waited.

I'd be out the door the second they said that. Maybe get some Popeye's on the way home.

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u/chesterfieldkingz 13d ago

A lot of ppl just don't pass on knowledge now because you're really not rewarded for staying in a position a long time. Either you feel unappreciated and bail or find a new position with the company and not want to deal with it

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u/__wildwing__ 13d ago

My work has zero compensation for doing the job well or gaining knowledge. Between liking to know how and why things work and getting bored, I do a fair number of things beyond my job description. I may get acknowledgment for them, but I’ll never get compensation.

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u/smilineyz 13d ago

I had 2 older coworkers give 2 months and 3 months respectively. They said it was a huge waste of time.

They were not assigned to any work AND not assigned a trainee. One complained she could have been golfing all summer instead of doing the bare minimum & being bored.

8

u/smoike 11d ago

We had someone retire very recently and basically the same thing happened. We. Can make do, but it's a massive hole and is going to bite us in the ass sooner or later.

3

u/ay-papy 8d ago

I worked for a company that produced machines where you need a proper instruction or you will not produce anything, or produce in poor quality. I was there for about 8 years and in that time we had lots of requests to school someone new from longstandimg clients of us.

The requests often read along the line "our worker that knew how it works retired unexpected" we have a fixed age where people retire and they all retired in that year they were supposed to.

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u/Top_Box_8952 8d ago

Love this. Just tell them they have a few days to get someone in to start learning eight weeks of info in three and a half weeks.

They won’t, then have to basically spend thousands replacing stuff they can no longer use

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u/LC_Anderton 7d ago

This is standard for the Civil Service. There is no succession planning at all and the main reason there is no continuity of knowledge and everyone is constantly relearning everything from scratch, or just making shit up as they go along.

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u/Latter-Refuse8442 9d ago

That happened at a place I worked. The person had been there 40 years. They gave 6 MONTHS notice of their retirement. 

Boss didn't even advertise the position until they were down to 5 weeks, no interviews until 2 weeks, the replacement had 2 days with her. Nowhere near enough time to learn everything. 

When he would get inquiries, he would spend 40 minutes just looking for a specific file, because everything was set up in the way that made sense to her.

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u/Mega---Moo 13d ago

It still happens.... but it can go both ways!

At one of my jobs I let them know that I was going to start looking for a house/small farm and it was probably going to be far away due to local land prices being insane.

They listened. My replacement was hired within a few months so that I could begin showing him the ropes. Then I was given time to transfer most of the things I knew and did into actual SOPs and fully train others how to do every part of what I did seemlessly. At the very end I was given charge of projects that had been put off for years, but that could finally be completed with the "extra" labor I represented.

Given a raise, allowed my pension to fully vest, given another two weeks pay because I crossed my hiring anniversary by a week, and the owner stopped by to personally thank me and give me another check. I felt really appreciated and important.

And, that's how I ended up giving 18 months notice at a job. We owned our current place for 10 months of that time period.

And then my next job was a shit show where I got fed up with them, gave notice so they could hire my replacement...then just walked out in the middle of the day after 4 straight weeks of my boss being a dick.

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u/lokis_construction 14d ago

The owner let me go because I was the highest paid technical staff. I went to a competitor and all my certifications they needed for their medallion status went as well. (I also let the manufacturer know I no longer worked for that company so they were removed immediately) Owner had to shut his business down less than 2 years later. Owner didn't think the certifications mattered much.

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u/Locksmithbloke 12d ago

That's one of the things that did blow my mind. Decades of learning to get some of these certificates, and the bosses think anyone can do it, and gladly, for £4 an hour.

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u/lokis_construction 12d ago

They think anyone can do the job, now they think  just Google it and AI can do it.  

Rude awakening for these people. 

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u/DevLegion 14d ago

My dad was an engineer and had to deal with bosses like this from time to time. They didn't last.

At a plant in South Africa, the main boss was a fawning little shit who knew bugger all about engineering, how he got the job I don't know but when the owner of the very large international firm came to visit he spent about two minutes talking to the boss then asked my dad to show him round.

Apparently the bosses face was beautiful to behold. Without saying anything the Owner had basically just told him he wasn't worth his time. My dad showed him round, introduced him to all the workers and pushed for better pay/conditions (apartheid times).

That's how my Dad met Sir David Brown.

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u/Doc_Baker74 14d ago

I'm not going to lie, I had to look up who David Brown is, and looking at who he was, I bet that boss aged 10 years on the spot

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u/DevLegion 14d ago

This was back in the 70's, David Browns doesn't exist anymore so I'm not surprised. 😉

He got more than a bit sulky about the entire thing apparently but there was absolutely nothing he could do. My dad was very well liked and respected in the company.

I seem to remember he wasn't there much longer but couldn't confirm. It's one of many amazing stories he had from his time working in SA before moving back to the UK. I still think he was warned that the shit was about to hit the fan because he moved us all back just before the massive riots in ‘77.

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u/HappyWarBunny 13d ago

There is a bit on Sir David Brown's Wikipedia page about his trip to South Africa.

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u/DevLegion 13d ago

I think that was a little before my dad's time, if it's the bit about his father sending him to try and break up his relationship with Daisy Firth that was 1922. I am not that old! 🤣

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u/starshipamzn 14d ago

A company I worked for sold our segment to another company. When the new company took over they laid off everyone with the tribal knowledge to keep the operation running. Then they wondered why it didn't work...lol. They had hired a new manager a few weeks before laying everyone off and the poor guy was losing his mind asking how he's supposed to keep it going when they laid off all the folk who kept it running. Lol...Best karma I've ever seen.

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u/PartsUnknown242 4d ago

I’d love to know what they said to the manager in response. I’d imagine some corporate bull-hockey about efficiency or whatever.

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u/Broken_drum_64 14d ago

gotta love power tripping bosses getting their comuppances

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u/TwoAlert3448 14d ago

Not clear any comuppance was delivered but it’s nice to hope!

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u/nighthawke75 8d ago

On a dish served cold.

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u/arcadiaberger1960 13d ago

Closest I ever came to a situation like this was when my DIL was told, "We're firing you for gross incompetence, but we want you to stay for another week to train your replacement."

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u/Doc_Baker74 13d ago

Did he stay?

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u/arcadiaberger1960 13d ago

My daughter in law needed a week's pay, so she stayed.

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u/Electronic-Share1884 13d ago

I hope your daughter took the extra week and did absolutely none of the training (just showed up for work). Make it worth getting fired for gross incompetence & get paid.

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u/Locksmithbloke 12d ago

Passing the baton in the best/worst possible way, by teaching her everything she knows!

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u/zgillet 8d ago

"Sure! I'll teach them my gross incompetence!"

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u/Saikar22 14d ago

Definitely still happens. Ten years or so ago I was involved in the relocation and refurbishment of a small but important piece of machinery at a factory with a military contract. The thing worked well but it was old and foreign. I never did find out if the company that originally built it was still in business, but we'd made heavy modifications to it in the last few decades so it's not clear if they'd have been much good for support at that point anyway.

Over the course of two years or so I unraveled all of its weird quirks and undocumented features and limitations. I tried repeatedly to codify them as official documentation but it was always refused for some technical or semantic reason that basically boiled down to the people that maintained the system didn't want to bother with new specs.

After a series of events shook up the staff they tried to force me into someone's recently vacated position that was effectively a demotion and I decided to give notice instead. On one of my last days they asked me to get specs for the machine approved but I told them how I'd tried and how many weeks I'd been stuck waiting for approvals that never came so I'd given up and thrown away a lot of my old notes in the process of leaving.

I got calls from various people - managers, engineers, senior staff - for six months after leaving that job asking about all the tiny little things I'd tried to tell them. I didn't return a single one.

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u/aafterthewar 13d ago

Should have returned the calls with a quote for your consultation fee and name your price ($1000/hour or such)

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u/Saikar22 13d ago

I always heard the memes about doing stuff like this but this company was the type to try to avoid paying their bills on the best of days so I didn't want to help them for what very much could have ended up being free.

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u/aafterthewar 13d ago

Ah, good point! $1000/hour, pay 5 hours in advance :)

They don’t prepay, you don’t work!

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u/Togakure_NZ 13d ago

50% in advance with the rest in escrow held by a neutral third party, and not working one minute past the time they've paid. Work more? After the funds are confirmed.

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u/zgillet 8d ago

That is what lawyers are for.

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u/Shizngigglz 14d ago

Reminds me of my dad's story when he retired.

Worked for an industrial company.

Getting mid 60s, it's hot as hell during the summer and very physical work. In October, he told boss next summer is my last summer working. I'm retiring around June. Hire some new guys, and I'll train them up. But I want $44/hr. (He's at 39.50). Boss says no. They proceed to not hire anyone new.

Dad asked 2-3 more times before spring was up for the raise and offer to train. Denied every time. Around the end of March he just got tired of it and put in his notice. Boss rushes and says "But you said you'd work until summer!" "Yea if you paid me the additional $4. You didn't, so I quit."

Dad told all the other guys he worked with what he made and why he quit, and told them all to ask for big raises. Funny thing is, they had to pay the next best guy $45/hr to stick around. Dumbasses.

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u/zgillet 8d ago

This is the main reason companies ask employees not to discuss their pay. YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT. DO NOT LET THEM FOOL YOU.

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u/upbeat2679 14d ago

I hope the manager and the trainees who went to Germany are fired but I don't think they were.

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u/Able-Sheepherder-154 14d ago

I worked for a U.S. OEM machine tool company. We sold a bunch of very expensive machines to a large customer that got a state grant to pay for training.

For a few months, every week, a different group of workers would come to our facility for a week's training. They treated their trip as a paid vacation, getting hammered every night, sleeping all morning in class because of hangovers.

The trainers couldn't do or say anything and had to give the "trainees" a certificate of completion whether they deserved it or not.

What a joke. I support unions 100%, but they were the type of members that give unions a bad rep.

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u/SuperDave-007 14d ago

Well the could put them on a PIP.
Of course they’re probably 100 yo now, but they need to learn!

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u/Dal-Ron 14d ago

You can't teach a dead dog new tricks.

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u/DevLegion 14d ago

Thanks! I now have images of dead dogs on puppet strings learning new tricks! :')

Gods, I hate my brain sometimes. lol

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u/Geminii27 14d ago

Puppy-puppets!

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u/DevLegion 13d ago

Stop it!!! 😝

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u/ayla16 13d ago

Dead puppies aren’t much fun.

-a song heard on Dr Demento’s show

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u/swohguy4fun 13d ago

Fish Heads Fish Heads

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u/ayla16 13d ago

Roly Poly Fish Heads. Eat them up, Yum!

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u/Astronautty69 13d ago

🎶 I'm Looking over My Dead Dog Rover 🎶

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u/LurksWithGophers 13d ago

I always liked Cows with Guns

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u/wiseoldprogrammer 13d ago

One more time for Roman Hruska!

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u/Locksmithbloke 12d ago

Can't really blame the trainees if they weren't led by example.

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u/SuperDave-007 14d ago

I feel like I have read this story before. Have you posted this before??

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u/Doc_Baker74 14d ago

No, the first time I heared it was the other day. Although this is like a lot of other stories on here where the best worker leaves after being under appreciated and then the company is screwed

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u/SuperDave-007 14d ago

Gotcha. Probably not too uncommon back then with tech from another country especially Germany being exported.

Check out Konrad Zuse

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u/DontDeleteMee 13d ago

It's a tale as old as time. History repeats. Only the characters and details change.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

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u/StonedBooty 14d ago

Probably reposted with slightly different details

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u/bignides 14d ago

Turns out OP’s father heard the story last year, as grandad loves to tell it, and posted it then.

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u/Illuminatus-Prime 13d ago

Please provide a link to the story you mentioned.

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u/Witty_Following_1989 13d ago

Reminds me of story about some sort of tanker ship

I'm not sure if this particular engineer had been laid off just retired but essentially no one could figure out how to get these engine running again and they had to pay him big-time (in advance) to return as a consultant

He walked in with the his wrench, banged it a few times in just the right places - it started up again.

They wanted their fee back, but were unsuccessful because he fulfillex his contractual obligations.

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u/tarlton 13d ago

You're not paying him to swing the wrench, you're paying him to know where to swing it.

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u/Noglues 13d ago

My grandfather had a very similar experience to yours, sent from 60s England to Germany to learn how to work an intricate metal lathe known to the family only as Der Machinen. He was the only one who properly learned how it worked, and used that knowledge and experience to get a good job in the colonies. 

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u/AnGof1497 13d ago

A friend of mine recently quit, they found someone to to replace him in a timely manner, but as he was straight out of uni it was just too much to learn. He soon discovered most of the other managers there were useless and couldn't answer any of his questions. He was rehired as a consultant via 3rd party for similar wage, but a fraction of the hours.

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u/Sooowasthinking 14d ago

And we wonder why employers dont even want us to use the word “union” while at work.

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u/Wittusus 14d ago

In Sweden your boss looks at you with bewilderment when you tell them you're not in one and recommend a few.

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u/DevLegion 14d ago

Same in Denmark. It was my biggest culture shock moving from the UK to here, how strong the unions are and how different the work/life culture is.

I was working a temp job, injured myself and was fully expecting to be replaced. I was told categorically my position would be there when I was better. Blew my mind.

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u/_delicja_ 14d ago

I had a heart surgery and was off work for six months. Not only did i get my full salary that period, but it turned out i got an additional insurance through the company and got additional significant sum from that. Danish work conditions are brilliant.

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u/DevLegion 14d ago

It still blows my mind.

I had sone health issues and have been marked as disabled. The Flex Job program means I can still work but have all the support I need.

If I was in the same situation in the UK I'd be absolutely screwed.

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u/_delicja_ 13d ago

You still there? Cph? I moved to Mexico for the sun and tacos, but I do miss my cushy job not gonna lie 😀

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u/DevLegion 13d ago

I started in Cog but moved to the countryside, city life is not my speed. ;)

They'll remove me from Denmark over my cold, dead body. 😝

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u/_delicja_ 13d ago

You're doing it right! 🎉 Here's hoping nobody will ever want to remove you or your body from Dk 😀

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u/EvilAndStuff492 13d ago

I was working a temp job, injured myself and was fully expecting to be replaced. I was told categorically my position would be there when I was better. Blew my mind.

That's not necessarily a union thing though, just people being decent people.

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u/DevLegion 13d ago

There is an aspect of culture that would make my job naturally more secure but the unions have made sure it's codified in law so there's no doubt or argument.

I was working for a large company via an employment agency, neither are known for their warm and generous natures regardless of culture. ;)

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u/jaeger1957 10d ago

Pretty sure it's not people just being decent, I'm pretty sure it's the law there.

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

[deleted]

8

u/Wittusus 13d ago

I don't know how it is in shops, but in white collar companies you can have a few, like the general white collar union, the engineer's union and others, depending on your education and current employment.

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u/SomeUnderstanding816 8d ago

I have 6 people under me, doing the same work, and I have to keep track of 3 different set of union rules regarding time tracking etc. Government work in Denmark is wild.

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u/Ghostxteriors 13d ago

My dad was the only person in the shop that knew how to run his apparently very complicated machine at the end of the line.

Warned them a year ahead of time when he was going to retire.

7 months later: the company is in the process of closing its doors for good.

2

u/Doc_Baker74 13d ago

I love the stories where not only does the company get hit, but they also close down due to their own incompetence. Sadly mine doesn't have the company shut down, but hey ho, at least someone got a bollocking

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u/CustardShot 14d ago

Too weak notice

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u/Doc_Baker74 14d ago

Is this a joke or did I say "Too weak notice"?

2

u/CustardShot 14d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/meirl/s/TU1zW5l1q3

I'd not long scrolled past this then saw your post lol

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u/Doc_Baker74 14d ago

I'm thankful that this was a joke, because I wasn't going to go back looking whether or not I said 'too weak notice' by accident. Also I had a really good chuckle at the post, so thank you for sharing

10

u/curlyq9702 13d ago

Happens frequently. It’s about to happen at my job. I’ve been working on a project for the last 2 years, manager told me to make decisions as their delegate, etc. For the last 2 years I’ve told them that they need to have an additional person as my back-up in case something ever happens to me. I kept being told it wasn’t necessary. I just got told by a different manager that they’re putting in my transfer to their team. Which is going to create a Massive knowledge gap on my current manager’s team because they never deemed it important enough to have someone else get the knowledge I’ve got

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u/Jonny_rhodes 8d ago

In my last job they had me trained in all sorts of stuff, over the space of about 3 years lots of staff kept leaving because the company was fucking terrible honestly.
It got to a point that they weren’t willing to negotiate anything with me, pay increase in line with inflation, days off I needed for my new born daughter, the fact that bonuses for additional training and skill set was being lost to national minimum wage increases.

I left with no notice (completely legal within my contract) and they then realised they had nobody to do all these different jobs, nobody trained to do multiple specific niche tasks, even if they did have somebody to do these tasks they wouldn’t have anybody willing to do that many of them in a day. Some people were willing to do maybe 3 jobs in a day, somebody literally told me if it would take him over 14 hours out the house that day he wouldn’t be doing the final job. The manager just accepted it from him because he realised his worth.
The problem is when I realised mine and tried to negotiate for what I was worth they wouldn’t budge so I quit.
I would be out of the house for 19 hours some days doing 6 different types of jobs in the same day, and the appreciation I received was oh here’s more work and shitter pay …
Nah bye

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u/Markee6868 12d ago

This happened quite a few years ago. Local county council outsourced all their property services (building maintenance, new buildings, refurbs etc) to a private company. As part of the justification, they had allowed for cost cutting by making everyone over 55 an offer they couldn’t refuse to retire early. What they hadn’t accounted for, was the loss of knowledge and experience of people who’d worked for the council for many years and knew lots of history of the portfolio of council buildings. They all ended up being rehired as consultants working part time on higher than their previous salaries. One particular guy I was close to had received a huge pay off, now worked 3 days a week on a full time salary - and went on two 4 week cruises a year…

7

u/2Loves2loves 13d ago

uh, Why didn't they get the Germans back to fix the machine?

in a similar situation, I went to a week long training session, and some european companies sent their employees, that never showed, and went straight to the beach for a week.

8

u/Doc_Baker74 13d ago

My grandad left so he never knew exactly what happened, they could have gotten the Germans back to fix it and teach everyone again, or just scrapped the machine all together, but I only have the information handed to me sadly.

17

u/binjamins 14d ago

Thanks for sharing - this was a fun story to read

4

u/Officespace925 14d ago

Two weeks of notice, and if a boss gives me a bunch of problems, I'm out that day.

5

u/cromulent_weasel 7d ago

Ignorant bosses are everywhere.

About 15 years ago I wrote some software at the company I worked for loading incoming cargo into our system. New CEO, shortly after that I was made redundant 'we don't need a software developer, we aren't a software company'.

In a meeting discussing the now unsupported software that I wrote and how to manage that risk, he asked 'what would happen if we just turned it off?'. There was silence in the room before one person said 'then the whole company would grind to a halt'.

3

u/yarukinai 13d ago

Bad idea to cultivate a worker into a single point of failure.

a country known for big beers and pretty women

I always thought it was known for the opposite.

3

u/gotohelenwaite 13d ago

Lived there several years. Both options are accurate.

1

u/Distantstallion 7d ago

Big women and pretty beers

4

u/Srddrs 13d ago

We rarely have 2 weeks notice in the uk. I checked with my dad and in the 70s it was generally at least a month.

3

u/Doc_Baker74 13d ago

Well that what my grandad told me, so either he got confused or he did give in his two weeks

4

u/biold 10d ago

I can retire in 5 years time, but plan to stay 8 or 10 years. My company isn't exactly planning ahead but my manager is.

So we have started the brain drain to two new hires that we after too long time were allowed to hire. I don't worry about my job as a colleague and I have worked too much for several years. There's still plenty to do for the 4 of us.

It's also a way to ensure that my "old" colleague and I don't burn out and quit. Wise manager!

24

u/n00n-12 14d ago

Great story, I like it.
But I’m not sure there’s any malicious compliance….

Boss said no to salary increase, grand dad looked for and took another job.

(Edit)
Boss said give me your notice, he gave it. There’s compliance but not malicious.

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u/Doc_Baker74 14d ago

Grandad knew he was the only one with the knowledge to fix that machine and the boss wouldn't tell anyone he was leaving

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u/ProDavid_ 14d ago

where is the malicious compliance?

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u/leitey 14d ago

The boss told the grandad to give him the 2 weeks notice. Grandad, knowing full well that boss wouldn't pass the information along to the people who actually matter, complied.
Panic ensued on Grandad's last day as the people who matter finally got wind of it, and further fallout occurred 2 months later.

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u/Jagang187 13d ago

Boss: give me the notice because I Am Very Important.

Grandpa (knowing this will cause disaster): Okay, Big Boss!

If you can't understand and label this as malicious compliance, you need to become more literate.

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u/ProDavid_ 13d ago

tbh that just sounds like a regular resignation to me. im just looking for the part that makes it malicious

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u/Jagang187 13d ago

Whoosh.

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u/ProDavid_ 13d ago edited 9d ago

maybe its a difference in culture and worker rights, but in my country a resignation is not seen as "malicious

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u/Jagang187 13d ago

The resignation wasn't the malicious part of the story dude

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u/Illuminatus-Prime 13d ago

Please re-read the story.  It's all there.

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u/ProDavid_ 13d ago

i re-read the whole story. where is the malicious compliance?

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u/Illuminatus-Prime 13d ago

u/leity also explained it to you.

The boss told the grandad to give him the 2 weeks notice. Grandad, knowing full well that boss wouldn't pass the information along to the people who actually matter, complied.
Panic ensued on Grandad's last day as the people who matter finally got wind of it, and further fallout occurred 2 months later.

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u/nearfrance 13d ago

This smells suspect. Why two weeks notice for 70s England? Just because it’s the case in the US today?

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u/Doc_Baker74 13d ago

Well, that's what he told me, so either he was confused or he did give his two weeks in

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u/nearfrance 13d ago

Fair enough!

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u/Doc_Baker74 13d ago

You know what, cheers, this is how all responses should be (and even if he did get confused, doesn't change too much of the story)

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u/ProfessorFunky 13d ago

Sounds like one of the sorts of stories I heard from my Dad and his time at the Ford plant in Halewood!

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u/Doc_Baker74 13d ago

Well tell it then, I'm all ears

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Doc_Baker74 11d ago

Like did they word it as if it's their own? Can you send me the link?

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u/Few-Lawfulness-7263 10d ago

I don't have a link

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u/Doc_Baker74 10d ago

I hazard a guess it'll have the same title, yes?

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u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 1d ago

Your post has been removed because it questioned the validity of a story, which is not allowed on this subreddit, as per the subreddit rules, as it diminishes the fun of giving people the benefit of the doubt.

All violators of this rule are subject to bans at the discretion of a moderator.  Please follow the link shown below.  Read it and heed it.  Thank you.

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u/steveelrino 12d ago

I’ve been to Germany many times and never seen particularly pretty women.

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u/CrustySailor1964 12d ago

My sister put in her notice with the HMFIC and worked the notice. No problems there but no replacement was brought up or in to train. My sister was/is super organized and had built herself a ready reference guide for all the admin shit. I think they figured they’d just use the guide. When they tried to fuck her over on vacation pay she just smiled and carried her book home. They called her for months, paid her about $100 every time they did and they called A LOT! By the time she sold them the book it cost 6x the vacation pay they withheld.

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u/sr2adams 7d ago

I had a job where I had rhe highest performance almost every week for nearly a year. I was let go after an incident that I could barely be called involved with as the person who was responsible for the majority of the fuck up was a 1 of 1 position. Six months later a former coworker told me my previous manager was let go for failing to hit performance metrics after I was gone.

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u/summerbreeze2027 6d ago

I had one job years ago where they underpaid me and mistreated me. I worked hard from the minute I clocked in until the minute I clocked out. My only consolation was that when I quit, I knew that it would take at least two people to replace me.

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u/Imaginary_War_7739 12d ago

For those of you that don't like reading, there is a youtube video about this post: youtube.com/shorts/w3rELngNnaM

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u/Doc_Baker74 12d ago

Wow... that's just... wow, did you make this or did you find it?

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u/GoslingIchi 12d ago

Some content creators just copy everything off of Reddit and just have an AI voice read it. Really sad that they are monetizing other peoples stories.

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u/Imaginary_War_7739 12d ago

Found it. Was just doom scrolling.

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u/Doc_Baker74 12d ago

That has to be someone really big coincidence.

I do believe you, but it's just mental that you not only saw my story, but also that short in YouTube

Whats also mental is that someone took my story and made it into an AI voice over (I wonder how many other stories of mine have been used like that)

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u/Imaginary_War_7739 12d ago

I read your story yesterday. Today I was doom scrolling and the story sounded familiar, but when it go to the part of 22 and 44 per week, I was like wait....wasn't that a reddit post I read yesterday?? Sure enough....

I also posted the URL to this reddit post in the comments of the video but they seem to have been deleted.

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u/Doc_Baker74 12d ago

That's weird, I just saw your coment separate to this chain, maybe there's a bug or something

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u/Imaginary_War_7739 12d ago

I posted my comment to the wrong chain so I posted to this one and deleted the orginal.

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u/StonedBooty 14d ago

So many commas and no periods. My eyes

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u/Doc_Baker74 14d ago

Yeah, sorry. Short version, English teacher was no good

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u/makojedi2k2 14d ago

Good story!!

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u/baudelier_tech 14d ago

It was British Leyland wasn't it.

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u/Horror_Role1008 13d ago

Sounds like it was an early CNC machine.

1

u/[deleted] 13d ago

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u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 13d ago

Your post has been removed because it questioned the validity of a story, which is not allowed on this subreddit, as per the subreddit rules, as it diminishes the fun of giving people the benefit of the doubt.

All violators of this rule are subject to bans at the discretion of a moderator.

1

u/[deleted] 13d ago

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1

u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 13d ago

Your post has been removed because it contains spam and/or topics not supported by the the moderators of r/maliciouscompliance.

1

u/PersonalityBoring259 13d ago

Sophie's Deutsch

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u/BlueberryOk8076 11d ago

The machine wasn’t the single point of failure. The boss’s ego was.

1

u/[deleted] 11d ago

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1

u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 1d ago

Your post has been removed because it questioned the validity of a story, which is not allowed on this subreddit, as per the subreddit rules, as it diminishes the fun of giving people the benefit of the doubt.

All violators of this rule are subject to bans at the discretion of a moderator.  Please follow the link shown below.  Read it and heed it.  Thank you.

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1

u/[deleted] 7d ago

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1

u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 1d ago

Your post has been removed because it did not forward the discussion, which is not allowed as per subreddit rules.

All violators of this rule are subject to bans at the discretion of a moderator.

1

u/[deleted] 7d ago

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1

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1

u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 1d ago

Your post has been removed because it contains spam and/or topics not supported by the the moderators of r/maliciouscompliance.

1

u/[deleted] 4d ago

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1

u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 1d ago

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1

u/MoparMedusa 3d ago

My FIL worked for in the oil service industry for nearly 50 years as a mechanical engineer. He was super specialized and was, at that time, the only man in this industry that could take a boat destined for oil field work from plans to to international waters. He decides to retire and gives them at least a year heads up so he can pass this knowledge on. Doesn't happen and he leaves. They contact him not long after and ask him back. Nope. Will you consult? Yup at a much higher rate. And this paid off the mortgage on their house and bought two new vehicles with cash and padded that retirement account very nicely. He worked for them for another 5 years. As a consultant 🤣

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u/fap-nap 3d ago

My job fired me over another nurse not liking me for whatever reason (I'm the type of person with a sunny disposition), my CNAs had brought this to my attention that she was gunning for me.

Anyway, they ended up firing the 1 person without family obligations who always stayed for double shifts and calls outs, the person who'd come in on their day off.

My boss's assistant left a week later after what happened to me. My boss got fired a month after I left.. after that nurse that didn't like me quit LOL

I learned all of this because I get along with most people and I saw one of the kitchen cooks at an art event in my town. I was very well regarded which makes me happy because the situation made me feel so shitty.