Some managers think holding onto a disengaged employee is a reward.

So, what would you do if your boss insisted you stick around for six more months after resigning, even though everyone else got paid leave?

Would you push through out of pride?

Or would you make the most of the time while doing only what was required?

In today’s story, one employee finds himself in this exact situation and decides to make the most of it.

Here’s what he did.

Want a translation? I’ll translate!

A couple of years ago, I worked for company A, where everything was fine until our company was taken over by company B.

My new boss was very fond of himself, although incompetent.

We had some discussions when he wrongfully cut my bonus, and we also went from a strong department with good results to a department nobody would take seriously.

Almost all of my old colleagues quit and were sent on paid leave for 3-6 months.

As the penultimate of my old colleagues left, I realized it was about time.

So, I got a new job and quit with a six-month notice.

The boss decided there was still a lot for him to do.

Soon after resigning, we talked about the details, and he wanted me to do a lot of stuff in the next six months.

I wasn’t motivated at all and expected a paid leave, like everybody else got.

He didn’t want to let me go early, and I should see it positively, and as a praise, he wanted to keep me until the last day.

So we sat down and discussed my future tasks.

As we agreed, I asked him what would happen when I finished everything.

He replied, “We will see…” I asked him to specify, and he did so: “We will see what else you can do.”

OK. I got it.

Fortunately, the tasks wouldn’t take that long.

I looked at the tasks and realized it would take me about a month.

So the next few weeks I made the bare minimum: Went to the gym in the morning (it opened at 8 am), after it to work, did my stuff, had lunch, and then went back home and spent the time with my kids in the open-air swimming pool (it was summer).

Although I finished my work, I gave him the results only in little pieces and held back the rest.

It was funny when he praised my work.

Did I notice his incompetence? Usually, I do a decent job, but with this work, I made the bare minimum.

My highlight came when I had to translate some regulations from English into our native language.

I asked him why he wouldn’t give this to our internal translation service. “This is a specific business language, and they don’t understand this.”

It all worked out perfectly for him.

Well, okay, then.

The intro started with, “This regulation is available only in English.”

Wonderful! I translated it just like this, as he ordered me to.

Later, I realized from other guys at the company I still had contact with that he had given out some of my work as his.

Jerk.

But then, I did the minimum, had time to work out, spent time with my family, and did not care. And it makes me smile when I think about the translation, although it is not a big thing.

Wow! That’s a long notice period.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit relate to this situation.

According to this comment, he set himself up for problems.

Here’s someone who wouldn’t trust him to translate anything.

Harsh words, but that’s what it sounds like.

This part is very confusing.

He asked for it.

You should never expect an employee with one foot out the door to care.

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