History is well aware of many cases where sad results were not caused by some egregious mistakes or malicious intent, but by simple human incompetence or negligence. From small problems in small businesses to catastrophic consequences on a global level, negligence is definitely a game changer.

For example, as it once happened in this story from the user u/Garfish-woosh, where the company not only lost a good manager, but also faced a lack of time to find a proper replacement.

The author of the post had been working for a large retailer in the UK for 12 years

Image credits:  Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual photo)

The author finally got a managerial position but the bosses didn’t rush to give him a new contract

Image credits: Garfish-woosh

Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Garfish-woosh

Several months later the guy decided to apply for a similar job at another retailer – but for a way bigger salary

Image credits: Michael Coghlan (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Garfish-woosh

It turned out that the ordinary employee’s contract obliged him to give a 1-week notice instead of 4 as a manager

So, the Original Poster (OP) says that he had been working for a large retailer in the UK for a whole twelve years, going through a career path from an ordinary employee to a manager. If you have ever taken a managerial position in a large company, you probably know what it is: interviews, trainings and doing the job for 6 months without any extra pay. But our hero went through all these circles of hell with success and became a manager.

True, the author of the post was embarrassed that, despite the official promotion and getting a pay rise, he continued to remain on his previous contract. The OP approached the higher-ups several times with requests for a new contract, but the bosses each time had many reasons and excuses. Well, as time went on, the original poster continued to work under his old regular employee contract while holding a managerial position.

And then, after some time, the OP learned that another large retailer was expanding its chain and actively recruiting staff, not embarrassed by poaching employees from competitors. The motivation, as usual, was standard – a bigger salary. Substantially bigger – in the OP’s own words, they were offering £8k more than he was currently on but for the same job.

So the author of the post applied for this job and was successfully hired. And at this point, his now-ex boss’ negligence backfired – because the manager’s contract provided for giving a 4-week notice, while the author’s old agreement had only 1 week mandatory. Needless to say, our hero filed his 1-week notice and, despite the obvious displeasure of the management, a week later he switched to a new, higher-paid job. Flawless victory!

Image credits: Cytonn Photography (not the actual photo)

In fact, managerial positions do usually involve longer deadlines for quitting notices. “If you’re in an entry-level gig, the minimum two-week notice is ‘still the standard as a professional courtesy,’ Market Watch quotes Rebecca Barnes-Hogg, a small-business hiring expert and CEO of YOLO Insights.” But if you’re in a management role, you probably want to start looking at three, maybe four weeks.” By the way, for executive-level or senior management roles, Barnes-Hogg recommends at least four weeks.

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“Providing more than two weeks’ notice will allow for a less stressful transition all around and may help you to maintain a good relationship with your company. But be mindful, it may be uncomfortable at times,” states Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. , SHRM President and CEO, at the society’s official website. Well, it can’t be said that the original poster burned all bridges, but in any case, the bosses disrespected him first.

Most people in the comments only praised the original poster’s resourcefulness, also noting that bosses usually require staff to do everything exactly according to the rules, while they sometimes do not bother to follow these very rules themselves. “Serves them right for making you do everything by the book, but not doing it themselves,” one of the commenters wrote.

And it seems that such a situation turned out to be far from isolated – one commenter recalled a similar story that happened to their brother, only there the contract required not 4, but as many as 8 weeks’ notice. By the way, if you’ve also ever faced a similar case at work, please feel free to share your own tale in the comments below.

Folks in the comments massively praised the author for being so inventive and reminisced about some similar tales from their own jobs

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