Some jobs take more from you than they ever give back.

So, what would you do if your company refused to give you a single day off for a close friend’s funeral, even after years of covering shortages and sacrificing your own time?

Would you keep dealing with it? Or would you finally consider making a big move?

In the following story, one oilfield worker finds himself in this situation and decides to find a new job.

Here’s what happened.

Couldn’t have a day off, fate had my back.

In my 20s, I spent a little over 5 years working for an oil and gas well service company. It was a 15 on, 6 off rotation.

The first 4 years were at a small shop roughly 7 hours from home, at which point I transferred to a much busier shop that was only a few hours from home.

5 years seems like peanuts in the working world, but in this particular line of work, it was a long time. Decent job security as far as oilfield work goes, but the pay was marginal at best, so turnover was high. At 5 years, I was the most experienced hand in our shop.

It was easier for management to just refuse requests.

The new shop was definitely busier, the money was way better, and I managed to have my days off matched up with a supervisor whose way of doing things meshed perfectly with me.

Everything else about the place? Awful. My breaking point was being denied a day off with 2 days’ notice to attend a funeral for a good friend who was lost to some health complications after a car accident.

I was generally pretty understanding that in our line of work, it could be difficult to always balance manpower. But the day I requested off passed with four other hands sitting around at the shop doing make-work projects to pass the day.

Management couldn’t be bothered to take a few minutes to see if they could make things work; it was easier to just say no.

Then, he got his resume together and sent it off.

To that point in my employment there, I had been extremely flexible with helping out during manpower shortages. I had probably worked in excess of 100 days off and had only ever used one sick day. I thought a little reciprocity would have been nice.

But I made up my mind, I’d fulfill my obligation to work 1 year at that shop so as not to have to pay back the $4k transfer bonus I’d received, and then it would be time to move on.

I was only a few months off that 1-year mark, so I started job shopping immediately and quickly set my sights on a mine we regularly worked for that was close enough to home that I could commute daily. I made some inquiries with people I knew who were working there, and it seemed right up my alley.

Not long after that, I updated my resume and sent it in.

At first, he didn’t know if he could make it work.

A few weeks later, I’m driving back from a job and get a voicemail from HR at the company I applied to. I called back as soon as I had a spare minute, and they were looking to have me come in for an interview 2 days later.

My heart sank knowing that it was going to be a struggle. I talked with the HR lady to see if they had any other dates available, but she explained that they only arrange one interview day once they have enough holes to fill in their crews to justify doing orientation with a group of new hires.

She said she could put me as first call for the next round, but didn’t know when that would be, and she said it would also be fairly short notice. In the end, I agreed to the interview appointment, not knowing how I was going to make it work.

Finally, he found the perfect solution.

I immediately went to the assistant manager to ask for time off, as he was handling dispatching duties that week. I told him something important came up at home that I really need to get dealt with.

Without hesitation, he said, “No, we have a full board this week and need you here. Whatever it is will have to wait for your days off.”

My first thought was that I was just going to call in sick and go to the job interview. The last thing I wanted to do was worry about being fired from a job I no longer want. Then I realized there might be another path forward and went to the job board.

And there it was, exactly what I needed! A potentially week-long job for the company I was set to interview with, and the job was scheduled to start the next day. And none of the jobs had been assigned to crews yet.

His supervisor made sure he could go.

I filled my supervisor in on the circumstances and my plan, and he was on board with it. We went to the assistant manager and offered to take that job.

He was delighted to have us volunteer, as not many crews cared to be away from home for a week, mainly being confined to a rig shack.

Day one went smoothly, and we were done by early afternoon. I used the supervisor’s truck and went home to get some interview-appropriate clothes.

Day 2, we were running a bit behind, but we just barely got the job set up and our tools deployed into the well with enough time for me to grab a quick shower and change of clothes before again taking the supervisor’s truck over to the administration building for my interview.

The manager wanted to keep him.

I got a call the next week with an offer of a start date 2 weeks out. Starting wage was definitely lower than I was making, but they offered clearly defined progression that would have me easily equalling my current income in year 2 and well exceeding it by year 4.

The benefits were better, and the schedule would give me twice as much time off. Went to give my manager 2 weeks’ notice, and he asked where I was going and what I’d be making.

He was appalled I’d leave for such a low starting wage. He asked what it would take to keep me. I told him, “When a person takes a pay cut to leave, obviously that ship sailed long ago.”

Yikes! It seems like he could’ve made some demands to his old job and ended up better off.

Let’s see what the people over at Reddit think he should’ve done.

For some people, this is more important than money.

This reader has a good manager.

Yet another reader who’s treated right by their manager.

He did what he had to, and no one should blame him for that!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.