Bosses never seem to know which employees are actually the ones who keep things running.

And for some higher-ups, their egos are so inflated that they completely discount those employees, trying to raise themselves higher on the totem pole in the process!

They always picking the one employee that’s keeping the ship above water, and decide its their mission to knock that employee down a few pegs.

Well this story is the perfect example of that, when a CEO told a web developer to “act his wage”, which ultimately led to him having to let 30% of his employees go!

Be careful what you wish for, and check it out!

You want me to act my wage? Alright then…

This was my first job a few years back. I was a working student at a Startup as web developer.

I was specialized in the field they deployed their software in as well as the used technology.

The first year was great, I learned a lot and though I had a contract for 20 hours I worked at least 40, more than a few weeks even 60.

I identified myself with the company, with the product, with the people.

Fast forward a year, when OP raises questions about a certain feature his start up wanted to implement.

Come another year down the road, people wanted to implement a feature.

I raised concerns that I might be difficult to implement (given the software architecture at that point) and also probably useless because the metrics were a mess.

The CEO told me to “Act your wage.“ And I thought to myself “Alright, will do.“

And so OP acted his wage, and not a penny more than that!

I strictly committed to my 20 hours per week, didn’t work a second longer. I updated my cv, got an interview and a new job, quit with a month notice.

The company leadership was horrified and had to take actions, which I learned later.

In order to hire a new web developer who could pick up where I left off, they had to fire almost the whole sales department.

My resignation caused them to lay off almost 30% of their workforce, and today the company operates with 35% remaining employees.

Wow! 30% of your workforce all because you had to be a smart-alec to one of your employees.

And not just one of your employee, from the sounds of it the employee you needed the most!

Reddit was in full support of OP and this user said experiences like his are why they clock out on the dot!

But this user had a different perspective, saying overtime hours are a give and take at a tech startup like this one.

This commenter said the CEO’s comment was a wake up call to see how little they valued him.

And finally, this person said with workplace loyalty on the decline, everyone should be looking out for number one!

Don’t give your time to an employer who doesn’t respect you, because there’s always an employer out there who will!

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