Sometimes a solution to a problem at work presents itself at the right time, and all of your instincts prompt you to choose it.

That’s what happened with this worker and his extremely hostile boss.

See how things changed for the better.

“FIGURE IT OUT, AND DON’T COME BACK TIL YOU DO!” ok buddy, if that’s what you want

I worked at the office of an interior designer.

I’d been looking for tech work and an acquaintance had recently been hired on as office manager, so she brought me on.

I was happy to land a job providing tech support, and to be earning a decent hourly wage with flexible hours.

But little did I know how bizarre this place was.

“Bizarre” became a severe understatement…

My acquaintance, the new office manager, was never in the office.

The designer, “Boss,” was also rarely there.

He was an older guy; he constantly ground his teeth and clenched his jaw; he always seemed distracted, and had a general vibe of just being weird.

So I get this new gig, and pretty immediately find myself alone in a nice big office space, with no onboarding, no training, and nothing to do.

Literally come to work, surf the web for hours, go home or to class.

Every now and then, Boss would randomly come in, ask me to do something vaguely tech related, like create a spreadsheet for client names.

And then he’d ask me to show him how to do the same thing. I’d do it, he’d be thrilled and give me a bonus on the spot.

Sweet, right? Right.

Until Boss started coming in and losing his mind about random things.

Like the green ink on his printed Excel spreadsheet was the wrong hue.

Or the office manager had called in, and why the heck did she need the day off?

Or any number of other random things.

None of which were my fault and many of which I had absolutely nothing to do with.

Boss was ripping my butt a new one whenever he was in the office. Which became more frequently.

I learned from the office manager that Boss had been cleared to return to working more hours by his psychiatrist.

Wait, WHAT?

Turns out Boss was never around when I started because he had a mental breakdown, and had been advised to step back from work.

So the distractedness? Meds.

The teeth grinding? Uncontrollable stress reaction.

He even did it in his sleep

! It was so bad his dentist had concerned about his jaw bone having micro fractured.

Oh great.

Things start looking up, but then look darker than ever.

So the guy gets back into the swing of things and takes EVERYTHING out on me.

I’m 22, my wife’s in grad school, I need this job.

But I’m feeling the stress, I’m always thinking about work, stewing over the last thing I got unfairly yelled at about.

I’m waking up 3 or 4 times a night for no reason I can think of, my wife says I toss and turn when I do sleep.

This goes on for a week or two.

Then Boss walks in with a new, handheld digital voice recorder.

Hands it to me, says “when I record a voice note, I want it to be saved in there as Boss_date_note_##” and I need you to show me how to use it.

This is actually in my wheelhouse, so I take the recorder, grab the manual, and start tinkering.

I come up with a quick how-to curriculum, and then read a note in the manual: “Voice recordings are saved in the device as vr####_TIMEDATESTAMP.vrn. Once you import them to your PC, you may rename them as required.”

So Boss’s initial request is not possible with the hardware, but there’s a simple work around.

I document that as part of my curriculum, and go sit with Boss to go over it.

Naturally, he blows up that he can’t rename the files on the device.

He can’t believe I can’t figure this one thing out.

Did I even look at the manual?

He KNOWS it can do what he wants, I just have to do my job and learn how to make the changes.

Enough was enough.

Then, he said, “GO HOME RIGHT NOW! AND DON’T YOU COME BACK UNTIL YOU HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO WHAT I WANT!”

So I do. And since I know that what Boss is asking is impossible, I never even consider returning.

I don’t call in the next day I’m scheduled. I don’t go in.

I try to forget the whole ordeal.

I DO begin to sleep like a baby.

Two weeks pass. I’ve moved on… Looking for another job, doing school, normal stuff.

I get a call from Boss, outta the blue. “GRS_one, you haven’t been in in a while. Is everything ok? When are you coming back to work? I’ve got some tech issues I need your help with…”

I’m floored.

This guy is talking to me like the last time we spoke he wasn’t screaming at the top of his lungs, spewing spittle everywhere.

So I say, “Dude, you TOLD me not to come back until I figured out that voice recorder thing. So I didn’t come back. Cuz that thing is never gonna do what you want.”

Boss: “Oh that? I took it back to the store. So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Me: “Ummm…Nope. I figured I was fired, so I’ve got another job. Please mail me my last check, but don’t call me anymore. Thanks, bye.”

And I disconnected the call laughing.

It never felt so satisfying to be unemployed.

Here is what folks are saying.

Same here. I make sure I never have to be in that position.

It’s quite a feat! I hope he isn’t used to abuse at work.

Interesting. Maybe an artist thing?

That’s awful. I hope you can get out soon.

I feel bad, too, but he shouldn’t be a manager when volatile like this.

Maybe he’ll rethink mistreating his employees now.

Probably not, though.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.