Alison Green runs AskAManager.com, a site where she gives management advice to her readers. While she's had some pretty clueless letters before, a recent one has truly taken the cake.
The reader writes that they manage a team of customer support representatives. One day, a worker was scheduled to come in during their college graduation ceremony, but the manager was unwilling to give them a couple of hours off.
They wrote:
I was unable to grant her request because she was the employee with the lowest seniority and we need coverage for that day. I said that if she could find someone to replace her for those two hours, she could start later.
And if that's not the first sign that this person doesn't own a "World's Best Boss" mug, there's also the fact that they once gave someone time off because they had concert tickets. "This was a special circumstance because there was cost involved," they explained.
Unable to find someone to take her shift, the manager told the employee she would have to skip her own graduation ceremony. So, she did what anyone in that situation would want to do: She quit.
The manager adds:
I’m a bit upset because she was my best employee by far. Her work was excellent, she never missed a day of work in the six years she worked here, and she was my go-to person for weekends and holidays.
By now you're probably like:
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.
Not only was this woman asked to miss her graduation, but she worked her damn ass off to get there and her manager wants to know if getting in touch to scold her is a good idea:
She was homeless for a bit after she turned 18 and besides us she doesn’t have anyone in her life that has ever had professional employment. This is the only job she has had. 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. What do you think is the best way for me to do this?
Good on you for getting out, girl. Damn.
People cannot even handle the nerve of this obviously awful employer.
Contender for world's worst manager asks advice columnist how to be more terrible. https://t.co/z9fL5xlvGl
WORST BOSS. I hope that person comes back and reads every comment lambasting them https://t.co/O8nRp8icEx
you garbage manager you deserve to lose your best employee oh my god you are an awful human being https://t.co/GSBBzN8qTp
If it makes you feel any better, Green put this anonymous monster in their place.
What?! No, under no circumstances should you do that.
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.
...
She never missed a day of work in six years, she was your go-to person, she covered for every other person there, and she was all-around excellent … and yet when she needed you to help her out with something that was important to her, you refused.
Read Green's full response here. It's pretty damn satisfying.
Green told BuzzFeed News she was horrified by the letter.
"I originally just glanced at it and thought it was going to be a run-of-mill 'my employee quit in an unprofessional way; can I give her feedback even though she no longer works for me?' question, which I get occasionally," she said.
"But once I started reading the details, it just got worse and worse," Green added.
We can't confirm ~definitively~ that the events described in the letter actually took place, but Green said she really received it. She's also pretty convinced it's real.
"I hear horror stories about employers from people all the time and this one doesn't seem out of place among those, and there have been people commenting today about semi-similar things that happened to them," she said.
She's also never received so many comments from people who think a letter is fake.
"I assume every advice column deals with occasional fakes. But I do think this one is genuine."