Any boss worth their salt would tell you that holding talent hostage tends to just push them out the door.

In this story, one employee got the chance to apply for a career-defining role under a CXO who’d already tried to poach him.

So when his new boss hit the brakes hard and dragged in HR, it only sped up the employee’s exit plan.

Read on to see how the situation all unfolded.

My new manager will not let me shift to different department for a way better opportunity

I have been working in this company for 7 years now and in this department for 4 years.

My manager for the last 3 years, A, was AMAZING and honestly I would never have shifted or left as long as he stayed my manager.

But alas, as happens with talented folks, he got a crazy good opportunity in a different department and so I started reporting to A’s manager, M, since April.

This new boss wasn’t nearly as good, and in fact was quite problematic.

This guy immediately had some red flags with his favoritism and behaviour but I wanted to give him a fair chance.

In the last week, a crazy good internal job posting has opened up, like a direct reportee to CXO level and it would give me exposure and learning like I can only dream of.

Moreover, this particular CXO really likes me and has tried to poach me before and I will pretty much surely get the job if I apply.

But when he told his new boss about it, things started to go downhill.

I informed the manager that I want to apply and he instantly told me that “I cannot tell you to go ahead right now.”

Now he has involved HR too.

Apparently he feels betrayed coz he “gave me such a good opportunity” for this year and our current department will fall apart without me.

I’m like?????? I am the lowest ranking and lowest salary of all his direct reportees.

The employee feels there are many other ways the boss could show his appreciation.

If I am so freakin’ vital, then clearly I am not paid enough.

The CXO and manager and HR are all planning to discuss this over next week to figure out how to proceed but now I feel pretty done with the company.

It’s crazy how in just a week my professional life has flipped upside down and I might not stay at this company I genuinely enjoyed working at just because of one person.

Never underestimate the power of a terrible boss.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who refused to keep giving his coworker rides to work because he left a mess in his car.

What did Reddit have to say?

Why not just go over the new boss’ head?

Once HR gets involved, it’s best to have a backup plan.

This user agrees: the path ahead won’t be easy.

It’s a shame when a bad boss holds a good employee back from their true potential.

People don’t just quit jobs, they quit bosses too.