Next time you're having a bad day at your job, take heart. At least you don't work for this guy.
An unnamed boss wrote to Alison Green’s "Ask A Manager" advice column after his "best employee by far" quit without notice, and he just can't seem to figure out why.
According to the letter, the boss refused to let the employee come in to work two hours late on the day of her college graduation.
The woman had been homeless at one point, but managed to get back on her feet, became "the best employee by far" at her workplace, took night classes and graduated. When the boss told her she couldn't miss work for what was quite likely one of the proudest days of her life, she quit.
Hmmm... quite the mystery there. But it gets even better.
The clueless boss claimed it was an important time at the office due to a new product launch. He also admitted that he let someone else leave work early to attend a concert.
"This was a special circumstance because there was cost involved" as the worker had purchased concert tickets, the manager wrote.
The boss then claimed he was worried about his former employee.
"Even though she doesn’t work here any longer, I want to reach out and tell her that quitting without notice because she didn’t get her way isn’t exactly professional. I only want to do this because she was an otherwise great employee, and I don’t want her to derail her career by doing this again and thinking it is okay."
He also offered to "help" her.
"Since she’s never had anyone to teach her professional norms, I want to help her so she doesn’t make the same mistake again," he wrote. "What do you think is the best way for me to do this?"
Fortunately, Green gave him just the right advice.
"If anything, you should consider reaching out to her, apologizing for how you handled the situation and offering her the job back if she wants it," Green wrote. "I’m not usually a fan of people quitting on the spot, but I applaud her for doing it in this case."
See the full letter -- and Green's response -- on Ask A Manager.
(h/t Raw Story)