Nothing kills motivation faster than realizing the finish line isn’t even real.

So, what would you do if you spent years working your way up at a company, only to learn that no matter how hard you or your team worked, a perfect performance score was literally off-limits? Would you just accept the fact and move on? Or would it change the way you felt about your job?

In the following story, one team lead finds himself in this situation and quits his job of 10 years. Here’s what happened.

Impossible to receive a 5 out of 5 on any aspect of your annual review.

I quit my desk job of ten years with no notice last year. It’s an international company with about 6000 employees.

I dropped my equipment off after hours, sent an “I quit” email, and blocked everyone.

But I’m still bothered by something I learned after I got promoted to Team Lead.

Now, I was double-promoted and skipped a role (senior coordinator) after someone else quit with no notice (imagine that).

Fed up, he decided to go to HR.

I was given no additional training and was expected in the office every day, even though my manager was always home, which meant I essentially functioned as a manager and had to deal with issues far beyond my knowledge, people skills, and pay grade.

I had a mental breakdown before I went to HR and told them I had to go back down to my normal role.

But I digress.

This post is about the one and only time I had to do my team’s annual reviews. It consisted of 30 or so questions that you had to answer about your performance, and you would also rate yourself for each question. 1 out of 5, 2 out of 5, etc. I’m sure most of you know the drill.

This was the one policy he did not like.

Then, your Team Lead answers the same questions about you, and also gives you the ratings.

That was my job, and I took it seriously because it affects your pay raise, as I’m sure most of you know. I think this was the only thing my manager ever offered any guidance on, and it was so offensive.

She told me that we are not allowed – never, ever allowed – to give anyone a 5 out of 5 for any part of the review. That was the instruction she herself was given.

No 5 out 5s for anyone, even if they bent over backwards for us, exceeded expectations, whatever corporate buzzwords you want to use, no one was ever to earn a 5 out 5.

Even after a year, this is all he can think about.

There were obviously a million reasons for me to quit that job, but here, almost a year later, this is what has stuck with me.

Why even put it as an option if it’s never going to be chosen? I see it as so dishonest and disrespectful to the desk-level employees who do their best and deliver.

I want everyone to know that, at least at that company, there was no way for you to ever truly win. The game is rigged against you, and you quite literally will never be good enough in their eyes, by design.

All you’ll ever get is chewed up, spat out, and maybe given a 4 out of 5 for all your effort. Don’t go out of your way to please these employers, because they will never appreciate it.

Wow! That’s really good info to know.

Let’s see how Reddit readers feel about this bombshell.

This person’s employer does something similar.

It sure does.

Well, at least he was honest.

Apparently, the Federal Government does that, too.

What a terrible policy.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.