you can't give me a disy for wanting to be paid fairly it is either PTO or a writer but I'm already in Mexico I can't believe you're trying to scam money up get over yourself hello hello and welcome to the Ben Askins show I'm here with Adam um Adam please tell me your story uh hi Ben um so there's two really the first one is from the same company two different two different managers 2016 I was managing and unfortunately my sister her son um was incredibly poorly and ended up passing away um I'm
so sorry and on the um Monday my wife and I had to go up to the hospital because we having him christened um to which my manager got annoyed um we yeah we knew we knew he weren't going to make the week so your nephew was dying in the hospital and you're going up to get him christened and your manager got annoyed at that yes fing hell so when you say annoyed what was he sort of so you said look I need to day off to go up to go to the hospital basically so my sister called me and i' I've gone into
him and gone look I need to go I've got to get to London we're having him christened you know if I I I'll try and get back in time to make sure that all my engineers and that I looked after for the next day cuz I I loved my team and it's like trying to make sure my boys are looked after I said but right now my sister needs me and that's where I'm going yeah no your sister needs you Jesus and my my wife's work they were like okay come back when you're ready like if you need a week you need a wee
k yeah and he was like it's called being a human so I've gone to London and all that and then the following day got to the office early you know just to try and help out catch up and got a phone call from my sister saying you you need to get here now um you you've got hours so Jes got up to London by the time I got there I had five Miss calls oh I didn't answer and then we went through the whole thing with Charlie and it was just like okay and I run the office and said look Charlie's going to be
turning the machines off any minute and he was like okay no well about tomorrow what we going to do about this this and this and I'm like right now I couldn't care less on the same call he went to a status report basically Y and oh my God that's not the end of it he uh and I was like look I'll ring you in a bit right now I need to go and Say Goodbye so we were all in the waiting room and my phone was just going mad so just you had a phone call again where so you've answered loads of Miss calls
about you gone lur seriously I'm about to turn the Mach he's about to literally he's about to die he's I've got to go say goodbye was your line you've then turned your phone off and as that was happening your phone was buzzing again around yeah wow and uh his first questions are will you be here tomorrow you just said I'm going to say goodbye to my listen and his first words were are you going to be here tomorrow yeah and I I just I didn't know what to say so I went in I I went in the next day u
m to sort of do a Handover and try and be helpful but yeah he was it made my life very very hard I mean there's not even anything I say to that because it's so obviously wrong it's so obviously just utterly disconnected with anything like do you truly think people don't go through stuff and the fact that it was happening then and there that's why I can't get my head around like it's almost like real time updates you're literally saying this is happening and he's going what's engineer number thre
e like oh dear Lord that's I mean it's so bad that at the time I just thought he was a horrible piece of work I just thought you're you're an and I don't want nothing to do with you but what I didn't realize is he was being corrupted by the MD he was being told how to act he was being told what to do and he was very much a puppet right so as in his MD was the MD was sort going look you got to speak to him I don't care what's going on you just got to put the pressure on yeah my my immediate say t
o that is that's still from him and what I mean by that is like you have a duty as a manager to Shield your team that is just your job and like if just cave instantly you might as well not be there like you meant to act as a buffer between Senior Management and the day-to-day because you know more things literally you do that your job is because you know more things are going day to day so your job as a manager is to let the MD say no I'm really sorry I'm not calling him again his nephew is dyin
g this is outrageous what the hell is wrong with you like that that's the that's what a good manager does at that point what they did was awful like just there's just no scenar I don't care the manager needs to just grow a pair and actually just sort of sort himself out because you've just got to stand up to your md at that point like if you're not you might as well not be there so I've literally no sympathy for him I'd been there nine years at this point so not even a new St I was yeah you you'
d earned some credit in the bank basically you'd earned you earned enough from that it's the respect thing isn't it that's the the first part of this um dear Lord Adam you're going to kill me here man I promised you You' not heard anything like this um that that manager then left and I actually met up with him afterwards after he left and we cleared the air and I learned Le a lot and this all then got put into practice in 2020 when my sister passed away um God mate I'm so sorry yeah we've had a
rough few years but we know still smiling we're still going so yeah in 2020 my my sister got diagnosed with cancer um just before covid hit it was a rough rough five months she got diagnosed in the febru and pass end of July and on the day that she passed away my MD was actually on a boy holiday with our head of sales and I have done the ciest thing I've rung them and said look just so you know I'm leaving my sister's like I've just been told I've got minutes and I need to get there so I've left
and he's like okay no worse I'll call you tomorrow and I'm like yeah call no worries whatever phone the chairman and again Chairman's first question was well who's in charge so you've called the chairman said my sister's dying and his first question was who's in charge y oh dear lord I was like Greg's there he's running it there's other people there I'm like I've been prepping them so that I can literally walk out and go and they literally were forcing me out the door to like just go they're li
ke don't worry about anything we'll talk to you when you're ready so I've gone and obviously my sister's passed and then the next morning I got the phone call from my MD which I was expecting and he turned around and went is there any chance we can do a little Handover and my my wife quite rightly was like no but I turned around and went actually yeah because it would give me something to focus on for an hour just to try and absorb what's going on my MD at this point said you take as much time a
s you need don't worry about us we'll be here you know this that and the other and I thought right okay lovely I'm going to like take advantage the next day I had three phone calls by midday yeah so this is the Wednesday on the Thursday I think I had something like 15 phone calls by lunchtime so so who's who's calling you you're you're MD or yeah so he's so he can't handle a day and a half without you my response to that was do you need me in the office I'm like what's going on and he's like wel
l you know we're struggling without you we really need you back it's like right okay give me till Monday I need to deal with this and he's like was there any chance you can come back tomorrow go did he actually say that think about what you've just offered him think about that and he's gone no no that's not good enough like that I I'm do you know I'm rarely speeches Adam but you're getting me here and I just turned around to me went okay I'll be back Monday but please do not find me on Friday le
ave me alone I'm still trying to process that I no longer have a sister and they phoned me on the Friday morning and my wife just turned my phone off um that's not the worst bit I've then gone back and obviously being co and everything it took a little bit longer for the funeral to be arranged it was about a month in uh about a month and a half in between my MD's gone on another holiday of course and I've got the phone call right Andre's funeral is this date and I was like right cool I'll have t
he day off before the day off after so I phon my chairman to say this is the date of the funeral I'm having a day off the day after and he essentially threatened me with my job if I wasn't there the day before and the day after and I turned around and went I'm not actually asking I'm telling you and he made it very very clear that if I wasn't I wouldn't have had a job to go back to and so in the end I took the day off before he actually said he threaten he threatened your job bear in mind let's
remind people who are listening and watching this you've been working there for 9 years you're a team lead you've done everything possibly right your team lovey you're one of the most valued employees based on the very fact your md literally can't seem to wipe his without your help because he's just so sh he's actually calling you the day after your sister died I can't get my head around that and at this point in time I I I was kind of relying on the job which I shouldn't have to be but I was so
I did go back the day after the Chairman's called in that morning to make sure I was there and he didn't ask me how the funeral went he didn't say anything to that he didn't he didn't mention that at all no what he said to me was thank you for putting the company first off he can actually I'm livid for you mate you are coming across as like the biggest Saint and I absolutely love your wife in this story as well she sounds utterly incredible but they can actually fck off mate that I'm absolutely
seething for you one day later I started my own company love that good for you I started retraining in a different field anyway and I started my own company and I left I've not been happy it and you know what if I didn't have friends working there I wouldn't worry if it burnt to the ground tomorrow I couldn't agree more that's just one of the absolute worst stories how's the new business going now oh fantastic it's been a couple of years you know we love it I'm happy I'm healthy on my own boss
thank you for sharing I'm so I'm so sorry for what everything you and and your family have gone through that's just awful and the fact there was I mean I always say this but like when something goes wrong like that because stuff happens in all our lives we all work for 30 40 50 years stuff goes wrong stuff happens just awful you have a choice the business you can either be the person who's going to say look I'm actually going to stand by my team I'm going to help them out because in return that'
s good for me because they will want to stay and work for me or you can literally do what they've done which is it's like they wrote down how can I be the worst human being ever and I'm just going to tick him off like a bingo card like it's just it's just not good enough it really isn't that really bugs me honestly thank you and if there's ever literally ever anything I can do please let me know because my God you deserve it app but you are you are so good they are lucky to have you your team an
d I'm so sorry you went through all of that it's just not on
Comments
What kind of sociopath threatens somebody's job for not coming in the day after his sister's funeral? How can you go through life thinking that is an acceptable way of handling that situation? FFS
Some bosses and owners no longer need to be in business.
This is actually shocking, I can't believe that there really are companies out there with managers like this. So happy he's doing well now!
What an absolutely heartbreaking story, I'm so glad that he's now happily working for himself, he deserves nothing more!
My current workplace gives us 5 paid days for bereavement if an immediate family member dies. I took all five days when my Grandmother died during Covid. I lost an Auntie to Covid and I used some of my annual leave days, which they were really good about letting me take a short notice. Just human empathy and being supportive, it’s a shame not everyone is capable of that
There are so many totally heartless inhumane managers, at all levels.
It's incredible to hear how...unhuman some MD's/bosses can be... how do they go home and when their other half asks 'how was your day, what happened?' they proudly say 'yeah our best guy thought he could take a few days off for the death of his sister, I put a stop to that'.
Sorry to hear this but working for yourself is amazing! I've had many bosses be so bad I've always told them to F/off.
Poor guy! I had a boss deny my request for time off for my father's funeral and to be with family. Legally, employees have the right to take a day off to attend the funeral of a close family member. Since the funeral was on the other side of the country, I needed a few days. I honestly did not think she would deny my request, so I advised her that I was going anyway. Didn't lose my job over it, but it was still a jarring experience.
A pity this company couldn't be named and shamed. Disgusting behaviour. Pleased he's thriving now.
I have worked for some awful people, but this makes them seem kind. I would (and have) left for less.
Genuinely. I would have to take regular mental health breaks if I listened to there stories day in day out. I really do hope he's taking care of himself.
My God! That's just awful! I'm so glad he left that mess, and he's doing better.
The whole thing with cancer really hits home. For me it was my spouse. 4 months from diagnosis to death. The lip service was "take all the time you need" but my direct manager wrote a negative review due to the amount of time off (all of which was covered under the benefit plans we had) among other things. When I went to our health services center and told them how I was feeling and needed some counseling, they fixated on some hyperbole I said to write me up again and suspend me (which only could have been known to HR if health services violated their "confidentiality" clause and told them). First day back I put in my notice to quit. Never been happier. I still have friends there but unlike the guy in the video, I still wouldn't care if the burned to the ground.
My wife was dying of cancer and I was working as a general manager for a company and she was about to die at any time and I asked my district manager if I could work less hours and literally said to me that I am killing him and I said my wife's freaking dying what would you do. Then after she died it was about a month later and he said he was going to take the gloves off and literally went after my management style and I was fired a little bit later. He was terrible. This was in 2004 and I have never forgotten about it. I will never work for a company like that again or a manager like that
It would be lovely to know the name of this company... just sayin... It would also be even more lovely that the clients of this company learn about how they treat their employees...
Sounds like my previous line manager who is also my Dad. Incapable of being able to see past one task. ie. He wants to know what’s happening with work and can’t hear or process any information outside of the answer he’s looking for.
I would be devastated if these things happened to me. Who would be able to focus on work when things like this happen in your life?
This is becoming a really good channel.
Companies will say all day long how "we're a family" to try and guilt trip you into doing things you shouldn't or getting you to look the other way. However the second, anything is flipped, they could care less about you. There is no reason to try at a job anymore, just do the minimum according to your description. Companies do not care about you.