It's all in the timing
Some years ago the department in which I worked got a new manager. At first he seem alright but it soon became apparent that he really wasn't cut out for the job. He was, in short, an idiot. This was his first management job and it showed. It was a very busy time for our department and being one of the more experienced guys I got more and more work added to my load. Before long I was working sixty or more hours a week and was tired and stressed. It got to the point where I'd decided to wait two more weeks to see if the situation improved and if it hadn't I would resign, even without a job to go to (easy to find a new one back then).

At this point New Boss tells me to feel free to say no if he gave me too much to do. "Ooh" thought I, "Perhaps he's realised I'm doing too much. That's good." Silly me took him at his word and said no when he asked if I could take over a major project from somebody else who was struggling to complete it. This did not make him happy. This, combined with a couple of silly mistakes on my part (you drag somebody who's lacking in sleep out of bed at 3am to fix something and they're not going to be on top form) tipped the balance and I was called into New Boss's office one morning to be told that he did not see me as being part of the company any more. They knew they couldn't sack me as I'd really done nothing wrong and he knew I'd have a valid unfair dismissal claim if they did. So instead I was offered redundancy - three months pay, keep the work computers I had at home and complete the training course I'd started recently (so all in all, the equivalent of about 4 months worth of pay). Combine that with his thinly veiled threat to make my life hell if I didn't accept the offer and you can guess which I chose.

If only he'd waited half an hour. I'd planned to type out my resignation letter that morning and tell him where to stick his job. Instead, I had a nice paid holiday, a free MCSE (back when that meant something) and a list of job offers for me to pick from.

(within 6 months half of the department resigned because of him and then he himself was "encouraged" to leave before he did any more damage)
( SteamedCleaner, Fri 3 Apr 2009, 11:19, Reply)