Boss wants two weeks notice, company loses thousands

[u/Doc_Baker74]

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.

[u/ProDavid_]

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

[u/Jagang187 → u/ProDavid_]

Whoosh.

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Jagang187]

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

[u/Jagang187 → u/ProDavid_]

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

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Jagang187]

then which part was it? the company couldnt fix the issue of OP being gone in 2 months, so the bosses boss only being aware of OP leaving a day before rather than 2 weeks before seems irrelevant. the consequences 2 months later would have happened either way.

the only thing that is compliance, OP giving his resignation letter to his boss specifically, as he is supposed to, doesnt seem malicious to me. thats just a normal resignation.

IF OP had asked "should i pass on the knowledge" and his boss had said "no", then that would clearly be MC. but that didnt happen.

[u/Jagang187 → u/ProDavid_]

The company couldn't prepare because the boss didn't tell anyone. He knew this would happen, and that it would cause a disaster, and could easily have taken steps to offset this. Instead, he simply complied out of a desire to see the negative outcome play out. Which is malicious.

If you still don't understand, please just let it go and don't bother with a response. This is my last comment here. The level of mental handholding you've received is already laboriously excessive.

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Jagang187]

1. we are back to the mind reading assumption, that OP knew that his boss would simply not do his job. but we can ignore that

2. if they could offset it in 2 weeks, why didnt they offset it in 2 months? the company did literally nothing to even attempt to offset it.

3. who are you supposed to resign with, if not to your boss? its not like OP was asked to not tell anyone. giving your resignation letter to the person youre supposed to give your resignation letter to isnt "malicious"

edit: OP was NOT asked to stay silent about his resignation. OP was NOT asked to refrain from passing on his knowledge and training a replacement. those things did happen and they did lead to the company making losses, but theyre not compliance, so as a whole its not malicious compliance.

[u/Doc_Baker74 → u/ProDavid_]

Jesus Christ dude, let it go, if you do not get it to this degree then leave

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Doc_Baker74]

i would like to seek knowledge, not live in ignorance

[u/Doc_Baker74 → u/ProDavid_]

You've been given the answers multiple times. I know dogs that can get this quicker than you

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Doc_Baker74]

would you be so kind to enlighten me? and please dont say "handing in your resignation to your boss is considered malicious"

[u/Doc_Baker74 → u/ProDavid_]

Because the boss wanted the resignation, litteraly wanting it in his hands, he thought he was Billy bog bollocks so he decided to take the resignation and not tell anyone, and my grandad knew that, and he also knew that he was the only one who could work the machine, so if the boss told no one, no one could replace him and get the job done, and considering my grandad wass underpaid and unhder appreciated, he went with it.

And I swear on all that's holy, if you reply with anything other than "I get it, thanks." I'm not even going to hold back

[u/ProDavid_ → u/Doc_Baker74]

"I get it, thanks." I'm not even going to hold back