People who run successful businesses usually know – or usually employ people who understand – that the employees who do the work every day are the ones you don’t want to lose.

OP’s friend coordinated the volunteers at a hospital, and he was good at it.

This is not my story, this is my mate story, let’s call him by his nickname Yuyud.

Key players : Yuyud : Petty, Friendly, Calm, Helpful, Willing to help anyone in need, Respected by the staff and volunteers alike, The designated “toxic handler”, Volunteer leader

Boss Asu : Smug, Hates volunteers, Degrading and hostile towards volunteers, Blames the volunteers for everything that goes wrong

Important information: The hospital is powered by volunteers, because it’s a non profit. Without them, the operation power goes cut by half.

Story : It was 2020, and the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.

Yuyud was a volunteer at a local hospital, and he was respected by the staff and volunteers alike for his friendly demeanor, calm temperament, and willingness to help anyone in need.

He was also the designated “toxic handler,” the person everyone went to when they needed to rant about something, no matter how small.

Their boss, however, was the opposite of a good manager.

One day, a new supervisor named Boss Asu arrived at the hospital. He was from a different province, and he hated volunteers with a passion.

As soon as he arrived, he began degrading the volunteers and chewing them out for even the smallest infractions, such as wearing t-shirts and jeans instead of the regulation uniforms. Even though the volunteers uniform only a red vest with their logo on it.

Yuyud and the other volunteers were furious and confused. They didn’t understand why Boss Asu was so hostile towards them. They were the ones doing all the hard work, keeping the hospital running smoothly.

One day, Boss Asu saw Yuyud working on a broken computer in the staff office. He flew into a rage and yelled at Yuyud, “Who let you up here? Get outside and do your ‘volunteer’ stuff!”

Yuyud was furious. He went to the break room and told the other volunteers what had happened. Everyone was outraged. In the next week, seven of the thirteen volunteers quit.

He got a nasty surprise when the hospital administration called them both in for a reckoning.

Malicious compliance: The remaining volunteers stopped doing all the extra things they had been doing, such as bringing lunch for the staff and checking the fleet of vehicles regularly.

They also refused to fix any problems that weren’t specifically listed in their job descriptions. Even the paperwork only done half because of the job description stated that the EMS need to fill the later half making work a lot longer to be done.

When the hospital manager noticed that the volunteers were gone and expenses were up, he called an emergency meeting. Boss Asu blamed the volunteers and Yuyud, but Yuyud had a surprise for him.

He had a recording of Boss Asu yelling at the volunteers and mocking them. (Remember “Toxic Handler”, yeah, he uses his influence to secure the recording)

And that’s why you don’t try to blame your underlings for your failures.

The fallout : The manager was furious. He confronted Boss Asu, who tried to deny everything, but the video evidence was undeniable. The manager demoted Boss Asu to staff and destroyed his reputation.

His reputation is ruined, and he can’t be promoted to more higher position. If he quits, there will be paper trail about his discrimination.

I bet Reddit is unsurprised this all happened to a new manager!

This is how volunteers should be treated.

It really is hard to fathom.

And yeah, you’re always going to lose people.

This person says there’s a flip side to the coin.

We all wish the trash took itself out more often.

I have no experience with this kind of thing.

That said, I really enjoyed the ending to this story.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.