"He Put His Bare Feet On The Table" — M'sians Share The Insane Reasons Why They Quit Jobs
Ew and also... OMG.
By Laila Zain
1. "My manager didn't let me take MC when I was sick"
"It wasn't one of the main reasons why I left, but it was typical big red flag behaviour.
"Basically during MCO time when we were all getting vaccinated, I got mine first in our company (it was a pretty small one, so there was only around 10 of us and I was the only one assigned to my manager). I felt the side effects HARD the next day.
"I pre-empted my manager the night before that the side effects might affect me and I may need to take MC to recover. Then the next day when I was going through the side effects, I called him to mention that I felt really awful and that I was having cold sweats. He just said 'Oh no. Well, life goes on,' and then proceeded to give me my tasks for the day.
"About two weeks later, he got his vaccination and took three days off to recover. It was just nonsense behaviour like this throughout and eventually I couldn't take it anymore."
- KC, 27, Data Analyst
2. "The boss was a creep and always touching women inappropriately"
"Many years ago, I was working in the media industry and the big boss was just so skeevy and misogynistic. He would always sit next to pretty girls when they were alone and put his hand on their knee, or start rubbing their shoulders or back. He tried it with me, and I yelled at him to stop. He just laughed it off. When he saw I was genuinely angry, he called me a prude and a loser.
"He was middle-aged, married with kids, and had connections to so many powerful people.
"In meetings, he would make sexist remarks about female colleagues and what they were wearing, saying things like 'wow show me more longkang (meaning cleavage), I'm a dirty boy.' Then, he would put down women he deemed unattractive. In particular, plus size women or dark skinned women. Ugh. He was the WORST!
"Everyone knew. He was reported to HR so many times but nothing ever happened. If anything, the people who reported, both men and women, would find themselves 'out of favour.' It's hard to explain, there wasn't any shouting or warning letters, but more like getting the cold shoulder from everyone. You wouldn't be invited to things, you get overlooked for promotions and increments.
"I was one of the people who reported this man. And I kept pursuing my complaint, kept following up with HR. Nothing. Just excuses. I finally left the industry completely, after more than 10 years. I heard he's still around but in another company now."
- Ms Not-all-men-but-definitely-this-one, 46, Manager
3. "They stopped paying us"
"I was at a retail company. It was MCO, we couldn't go to the office/shop, so they announced anyone that couldn't masuk office wouldn't get paid. That was literally the whole of Malaysia.
"At first MCO was only supposed to be two weeks, so it wasn't so bad. Only getting half your gaji is bad lah, but not sooooo bad. But then, as we all know, MCO got extended again and again and again.
"They just sent an email saying that they weren't going to retrench anyone, but as we weren't doing any work, they weren't going to pay us.
"What's really unfair was that the company was still making money because they were selling online. In fact, there was a big spike of online sales so there WAS money coming in. But they justified not paying us by saying that we weren't the ones making the sales, the website was.
"I tried to find another job that I could do remotely, and when I finally secured one, I handed in my resignation."
- Jay, 33, Retail Assistant Manager
4. "The boss constantly berated and humiliated individuals publicly"
"I've working in a lot of different companies across industries, and this one was by far the worst. The work itself was fun and challenging, my colleagues were great, but the CEO!
"She would come to the floor where our cubicles were and just pick a person to humiliate. Just yelling so loudly, calling them names, saying that they're stupid for one little mistake they made on their paperwork. Anyone who tried to defend the person would end up getting the same treatment. So we all knew to just keep quiet and let it pass.
"Many of my colleagues would cry in private afterwards.
"Once, there was a VIP group of visitors and she was bringing them on a tour. And she was literally boasting to them about how she shouts so loud, the people two floors above could hear her voice. Can you imagine being proud of something like that?
"Just a horrible, mean-spirited, evil woman.
"I stayed for one year, only because I didn't want it to look bad on my resume. I left eight years ago and never looked back."
- Noped Outta There, 44, Brand Manager
5. "The director would put his bare feet on the table and play with them"
"I left when they hired a director over my boss in my department. He was absolutely disgusting. He always took off his shoes and socks, then put his bare feet on the table. He would even hold and touch his bare feet while we were discussing budget plans or having meetings with him. Other nasty habits he had included digging his teeth with his pen during management meetings.
"But what's worse than all those disgusting things is that he was incompetent. He would yell at the whole team all the time to try to intimidate us. Any time we tried to discuss things with him, he would answer like, 'If you want do, do. If you don't want to do, don't do lah.' I mean, what kind of nonsense is that??"
- Zi Zu, 28, Marketing Manager
6. "The COO watched us on CCTV from her home"
"My last company was a small ecommerce startup and it was fun every day. We were a tight-knit team, and because we were small and lean, we grew the business really fast.
"I mean, when you start at zero, there's so much to grow, right? And then around two years in, the founder hired his wife as COO. We were all friends at that point because we hung out after work. But, omg, when she joined as COO, it was terribleeeee.
"She was really smart and working a corporate job previously. But when she joined, she made all these ridiculous changes to things that didn't need to be fixed. She believed that we were slacking and not working because we always seemed to be happy and having fun. (I mean we were happy and having fun AND working at the same time.)
"So, she installed CCTV cameras above everyone's desks and would watch us work while she was at home or wherever. (She only came to the office in the evening a couple times a week). Then, she created a spreadsheet and would note down all the times any of us left the office by watching us on CCTV. After that, she called us in one-by-one every week to ask about each time we went out. Where did we go? What were we doing? Why did we leave?
"The toilets were outside the office space. Every time I went out it was to use the toilet, or go for lunch. She didn't believe me. Said that because I'm a man I don't pee that much. It's not my fault I have an over-active bladder???
"It didn't matter that we delivered projects and tasks on time, never missed a deadline, and continued to scale the business. I left and heard from my colleagues that she continued to do crazy things. The company is closed down now."
- Mr Small Bladder, 39, Ad Buying Specialist
7. "They expected me to commit fraud"
"I was a fresh grad and it was my first job in this small auditing firm. They told me they had 'special clients' once in a while. I was expected to help 'cook the books' for these clients and basically commit fraud.
"I left after a two weeks. No amount of 'bonuses' and 'incentives' are worth that for me."
- AMZ, 41, Auditor
8. "I got a warning letter because I worked from home for one day"
"I loved the company I was in. I really believed in their vision, mission, and culture. They always said we were all family and it honestly felt like it.
"For five years I worked non-stop, after hours, weekends, public holidays. Never complained, never expected OT. I genuinely loved my job. We had awesome team retreats, big parties, good bonuses, and steady increments.
"One day, I wasn't feeling well, so I told my manager I would work from home. Kept in communication with the team the whole day; finished my tasks as usual. The next morning, I received a warning letter from HR for working from home, which included a note that my pay would be cut for that one day.
"This was way before the pandemic so WFH wasn't as common but still... I replied that email with my resignation letter. I had around 20 days of annual leave, so I didn't even have to complete the one month notice period."
- StillAnnoyed, 32, Copywriter
9. "Our pay was cut because we weren't working at our 'full potential' at home"
"Everything about the company was bad. When MCO happened, it got even worse. They made us fill out a detailed time sheet and submit it to HR and senior management at the end of every day. Detailed to the point of adding what email you sent at what time, proof of the work you did at this time, etc.
"Even with that stupid time sheet, they announced everyone would receive a 30% pay cut because 'you don't work to your full potential at home'. They said if you wanted your full salary, you had to enter the office.
"For some people who lived close to the office, they really did that during the pandemic. But I was an hour's drive away. After that, I worked 60% of the time and spent the other 30% of my time looking for a new job or freelancing."
- Cloud, 35, Digital Marketer
