He Had Already Given Notice When Management Ordered Him To Translate An “English Only” Document, So He Followed The Instruction Exactly As Written
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Long notice periods can feel endless when a difficult boss refuses to let someone leave early.
This employee finished his assigned work quickly, but his boss promised only more tasks once everything was done.
Instead of rushing, he stretched the projects across six months and followed one translation request very literally.
Read on.
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, even though he was incompetent. We had some discussions when he wrongfully cut my bonus. With him, we 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 one of my old colleagues left, I realized it was about time. So I got a new job and quit with a six-month notice.
He wanted to know what would happen if he finished the work early.
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 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.
The work would only take about a month.
He replied, “We will see…”. A asked him to specify, and he did so: “We will see what else you can do.”
OK. Got it.
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 that 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).
Then, one day, he asked him to translate some paperwork.
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?
The whole thing still makes him smile.
“This is specific business language, and they don’t understand this.”
Well, okay then. The intro started with, “This regulation is available only in English.” Wonderful! I translated it exactly as he ordered me to.
Later, I realized from other guys at the company that he had given out some of my work as his.
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 was a long notice he gave the company.
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Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think about what happened in this story.
Great question.
Well, that’s what it sounds like.
This reader wouldn’t want his services.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a lifeguard who saves a child only to be confronted by parents angry about the paperwork.
Here’s someone who wants to know where he lives.
This employee stretched one month of work across his six-month notice while enjoying the gym, family time, and very relaxed afternoons.
For one assignment, he followed instructions so literally that a document saying it was available only in English received exactly that translation.
His boss requested specialized business language and got the most technically correct sentence possible.
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