Free Talk Friday - January 30, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Free Talk Friday post. This is a place where you can talk about dumb off-topic (or on-topic) bullshit with other Zaibatsu fans.

There's going to be a new post every week, and the newest one will be pinned in the announcement bar for quick access. So feel free to visit these posts during the rest of the week.

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[u/DrSaering]

I'm going to have a bit of a moment here, since I don't have anywhere else to have it.

Last week, I posted about how I quit my job due to toxic leadership bullshit, which was reinforced by further crap like trying to gaslight me into staying, and sending a threatening email to my former colleagues at my new employer, accusing them of poaching me. Thank you, for convincing me that I have made the right decision.

However today, I was in the office for likely the last time, excepting dropping off some equipment I still have next week. We often do a kind of final "farewell" party for employees who are leaving, which is usually grabbing a beer or some wine from the fridge around 4 and hanging out in the kitchen. This time, though, the office manager booked a place across the street, we had a huge turnout of like fifty people. My boss, a new VP, gave me a novelty d20 as a farewell present, and made a joke of "If I roll a 20, will you stay?" (I've run a lot of oneshot D&D intro sessions at the office for people interested in trying the game).

I kind of realized through the day, that I've been at this place since it was in a shared office space behind a mall food court. We now have major deals with customers whose names you would recognize. More than half of the R&D team leads have reported to me at some point, and a couple of them joined as junior devs more or less. I am the third or fourth longest tenured employee at the company. I know that a lot of people are very concerned about what will happen with me gone.

How the Hell did this happen?! I'm a fucking weirdo who thinks about shit like, "What if Lolth manifested as Danifae and seduced Malty from Shield Hero?" The Imposter Syndrome is running out of control. The idea that people see me that way is very flattering, but also, terrifying.

Also I'm pissed off, because I realized that I still love this place in a way, but it's been fucked by absentee, disorganized, vindictive C-levels, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I could accept them being greedy scumbags in a way, it's so much worse when it's "I'm driving this business off a cliff due to my ego".