People don’t just leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses too.

A graphic designer with 14 years of experience spent three months absorbing a colleague’s full role on top of his own, delivered over 60 assets in 10 working days, and received a gaslight-y follow-up email that credited his intern and an external agency for the work.

His manager never addressed it directly. Instead, meetings were stacked on top of meetings and paper trails got built quietly in the background. Understandably, a panic attack followed.

So after years of mistreatment, he finally decided to walk away from the chaos.

This story is about what happens when a workplace finally takes more than an employee has left to give.

I quit my 6 figure job.

Today I’ve made plans to put a pause on my career after 14 years of working as a graphic designer.

And it’s true — people don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers.

The designer shares more details about his experience.

Long story short, I’ve been absorbing a mid-weight designer’s four-day role for the last three months, with no concrete plan in place for the next six months.

It all depends on whether they’ll have a budget.

Then one day, it all came to a head.

It broke me when I delivered 60+ assets in 10 working days and they gaslit me in a follow-up email, saying that my intern and external agency helped.

This was in addition to a whole host of other responsibilities.

My intern needed extensive coaching, and the external agency designed a brochure that apparently took 17 hours under her briefing.

My manager has only communicated on this matter through our head of marketing.

So he’s been left to handle it all on his own.

Through him, they’ve been creating paper trails and scheduling meeting after meeting, asking me to provide solutions.

The deep-rooted issue is that my manager is not at all equipped to lead a creative team.

This has also greatly effected his mental health.

I’ve received psychological support after a panic attack, and I’m going to report them for negligence, but most likely nothing will happen.

What matters is that I can recover from a severe mental health crisis away from a toxic place that dedicates its work to helping people in need.

He recognizes just how badly he needs this break, even if it sets him back a little.

I’ve been working since I graduated and never had a break, which I am grateful for.

But I also grind hard and wanted to save for early retirement — though I think future me would appreciate my present decision.

Breaks are so important, especially in the midst of burnout and overwork.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a grocery store employee who is fed up after months of going above and beyond for no monetary return.

Redditors flock to the comment section to share their support.

This user thinks up ways this designer can get back at his terrible management.

This user went through a similarly harrowing experience.

At a certain point, the money just isn’t worth it.

This user is contemplating taking a similar approach.

60 assets in ten working days is not an ordinary output. Attributing that herculean feat to an intern who needed extensive coaching is not an ordinary level of audacity.

This designer was working at the top of his game, and for his toxic bosses, it still wasn’t enough.

Anyone delivering this volume of work with that little support was bound to reach the same end: totally overworked and completely burned out.

Everyone has their breaking point — and this designer finally found his.