Being overworked and underpaid is the worst feeling.

It’s especially hard when the job is more difficult because the boss doesn’t give enough time for projects or between projects and it prevents you from having a good work/life balance.

Having kids might be a wake up call about how much you deserve better. It opened up the eyes of this employee and he made a pivotal change.

Boss is going to keep asking me to work shifts when I take time off? How about I take a permanent vacation…

My boss was the kind of boss that every employee hates.

Corners were cut every possible way in order to keep overhead costs down.

He constantly overbooked on jobs, which would result in the employees often working 14 hour days or more.

This really sucks when you’re on salary (no overtime).

He’d approve time off and then during your time off calling or texting you asking if you would be willing to work a day or cut your vacation short.

But once the boss broke this boundary, OP spoke his mind and prepared for a better life.

In the months leading up to the birth of my son, I made it very clear that I would be taking a 5-week unpaid leave of absence once he arrives.

I told my boss that I know 8 weeks would be a huge strain on such a small company so I was willing to take 5 weeks but those 5 weeks would be completely “off the grid.” He 100% agreed.

My son was born on a Friday and after a short stay in the NICU was released on Monday and we took him home. Tuesday morning I wake up to a missed call, an email, and 3 texts all from my boss asking me to call him back ASAP.

I call him back and he tells me there’s a slight emergency and asks if I could maybe come into work that day and maybe work a couple more days that week until he finds someone to cover it.

I lost it. I literally felt something in my neck snap and unleashed a verbal assault on him that I still feel bad about now, a year later.

He said, “I’d be impressed if you could find a better job in this field… Good jobs like yours don’t come along very often.”

After the call I thought about it for about 30 seconds, then I got out of bed, sat down in front of my computer and started looking at job postings.

His efforts paid off and he didn’t leave quietly.

5 weeks later my time off came to an end and my first day back I came in to work, walked into my bosses office and handed him a piece of paper.

“I thought about what you said about how you be really impressed if I could find a better job than the one I have here… So I did.”

My boss reads over what I handed him: a job offer from a competitor for the exact same job I was performing but at a 25% higher salary, an extra week of paid vacation compared to what I had AND a stipulation that company policy was that work hours are capped at 8 per day meaning that once I hit 8 hours on a job I pack up and leave it until tomorrow.

No exceptions.

Boss: “Can I have the day to crunch some numbers to come up with a counter-offer?”

Me: “No, don’t bother. I just wanted you to see it because I know you wouldn’t have believed me otherwise.”

Gave my two week notice and left for my new job. That was a year ago and I could not be happier with my new job.

I get to spend lots of time with my boy and that’s the best job perk there is.

Let’s see what people are saying in the comments.

I loved seeing so many people talking about the costs of alienating skilled, valuable employees.

Great expression. It’s very true! Health has to come first.

Several people found solidarity in this post. It seemed to comfort them.

It’s so true. You’ll never regret not working more hours at a stressful job. You WILL regret not spending enough time with your kids.

Exactly. It’s the same with freelancing. Firing a client is sometimes necessary.

Life is too short. Take that leap!

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.