update: after I resigned, my boss asked me to drive 1,000 miles at my own expense

by Alison Green on September 5, 2014

Remember the letter-writer last year who had resigned and whose boss was insisting that she drive 1,000 miles at her own expense to return company property to their headquarters, as well as spend a week in that city training her replacement, also at her own expense? Here’s the update.

It’s been over a year since I’ve successfully moved on from that terrible working atmosphere… what a nightmare! I have been able to land an incredible position while finishing school. I feel like a valuable and appreciated member of a team again, and I work hard to exceed any expectations. It’s very true when they say people will work twice as hard when they are appreciated.

But the bigger update in all of this is that the former company I worked for that caused me so much distress closed down! Yup – I had a feeling it was coming – but it finally happened! Probably for the best… no one should have to work for someone like that!

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{ 38 comments }

{ 38 comments… read them below }

  1. BRR*

    Congratulations on the new job! I’m happy you found a position where you can thrive.

    What ended up happening with the equipment and replacement training?

    1. AdAgencyChick*

      That is EXACTLY what I want to know!

      To quote the great poet Paula Abdul, “How about some information, please? (Please, please, uh please please.)”

    2. Taz*

      Right? It would be really helpful if OP wrote back about whatever the resolution to those several hanging issues were.

    3. Liane*

      How did I miss this? When I read the (2nd) update & re-read the original post yesterday, I was thinking, “Only the ending sounded bad in her first letter and now the whole job sounds like a nightmare? What got left out and where?” Now I know.

  7. TK*

    I went back and read the comments on this post (I wasn’t a reader here then), and the OP continually provided updates on the situation (including copy & pasted emails with names changed), and it just got crazier and crazier. Glad things turned out well.

      1. AdAgencyChick*

        Although…now that I’ve read all the way to the end, I have got to know: OP, did you get your final paycheck?

        1. Jen RO*

          Read the second update linked by CTO above – in short, yes, she did get her last paycheck, minus two days’ worth.

    2. Karowen*

      Thanks for pointing that out! Talk about a wild and ridiculous ride…So glad everything worked out, OP!

  8. Kateyjl*

    Wow! What an adventure you had to live through. I’m glad you’re done with that place. I wasn’t reading here back when you’re original question came in. I appreciate your providing real time updates. I hope all is going well in your new position.

  9. Cheeky*

    I just read through all of the COMPLETELY BANANAS emails from her former boss (in the previous article). Letter Writer, good for you, what an insane ordeal!

  10. Suzanne*

    I, and several co-workers were once required to travel from Northern Indiana to central Tennessee (about a 7 hour drive) for a one day in-service. The company paid for our hotel the night before the meeting, but we weren’t allowed to leave before mid-afternoon. The meeting lasted until 5:00pm the next day and company would not pay for a second night in he hotel. We were also not paid for our travel time and we arrived home around 3:00 am. So, we in essence donated two work days to the company. We didn’t think it was legal, but this place fired people more often than I floss my teeth, so we knew if we contested it, we’d be gone in a flash.

    So, yes, this kind of crap goes on…

      1. Suzanne*

        The in-service was on a Thurs/Friday, so, no, we didn’t have to work the next day. That might have been the end of me…

    2. Meg Murry*

      I once worked at a company where I gave notice that my last day was going to be on a Wednesday, in order to give them 2 weeks notice but still allow me a couple days off before I started a new job. We had been having an ongoing issue with a customer that was a 4 hour drive away. On Monday, they asked me to take a few people up to deal with an issue at the customer on my last day. I didn’t like it, but I agreed to do it (I had done it before). We were scheduled to leave at 4 am to arrive at the customer site by 8. Except none of the crew showed up except 1 (I was expecting 4). And he was still considered a temporary employee, so he couldn’t drive the company van. I drove 4 hours away, worked at hard, physical labor outdoors in July for 9+ hours and drove 4 hours home. So overall I put in a 17+ hour day as an hourly employee. However, since I didn’t work 40 hours that week, those extra hours that day were all paid as straight time, not overtime. I was so frustrated when I got that check, and so glad to be gone from that company.

      1. CA Admin*

        This is why I like CA’s law–over 40 hours in a week or over 8 hours in a day must be OT. Solves all that sort of nonsense, 17 hours in a day is OT by any reasonable person’s definition.

  12. Artemesia*

    Karma is sweet. I have been doing assorted incantations to wish that on the company that stole the labor for a year of someone I know (a startup that offered equity for pay and then dismissed him after a year of work the day before the equity vested — ). Some companies and their owners deserve misery, glad to hear that sometimes they get it.

    1. Sourire*

      This is said as someone who usually hates the question, but seriously… is that legal?! I can’t imagine it is…

  13. Adonday Veeah*

    I had a boss like this once. It was stunning to me how she would tell me something, then tell someone else (in my presence) the exact opposite, and then try to convince me she hadn’t said what she said to me. She made me doubt my sanity, all the time. It was actually her business partner who recommended that I sneak away when she wasn’t looking in order to protect myself. Bad things ultimately befell her, and I doubt she ever acknowledged her part in them. People like this are wacky. And destructive. It took me several years and some therapy to recover from it.

    I’m VERY GLAD to hear you scraped this person off and are now in a better place.

  14. Angora*

    When I was working for a business college we had a tenure track faculty member submit her resignation effective that August; she submitted it in January so that they would be able to form a search committee etc. She did the honorable thing. Our department head turned around and started hounding her for the dept issue lap top and office keys …. she didn’t care that she was teachinig for one more semester.

    Sometimes they get these “wrong” things in their heads and go with it. I told her that she couldn’t ask for them before the end of the Spring semester and she blew up. This is one of those where I quit with no job lined up. Only time I have ever done that in my life.

    I wish the OP would go after them for the two days of pay.

  15. Josh S*

    Alison, there was a really loud and annoying video ad that popped up in the corner of this post. Not sure if you’re going to start serving video ads now (totally fine if your “Powered by INC” overlords are encouraging that, or if it pays better, etc), I just want to know so I can mute my computer and not blast Shick Quattro Female Razor ads all over the office unintentionally…

    I can email screenshots of the ad/placement/etc if that helps you pin the culprit down.

  16. The Bookworm*

    OP, if you are reading these comments PLEASE get a copy of your Social Security Earnings Statement. One of my husband’s former employers did a lot of bat crap crazy stuff too. By the time the company laid my husband off, there were enough red flags I figured they might not have reported his earnings to the SSA. We got a copy of my husband’s statement – I was right. No earnings were reported for the time he worked for BadEmployer. It was easy to fix with the SSA & the last I heard the owner of BadEmployer went to jail for not paying taxes.

    1. GeekChick603*

      @ The Bookworm:
      We just found out a similar thing (no income reported to State Unemployment Agency) about my husband’s previous company! Boss was a total crazy person. He was super stressed just going in after an absence to collect his personal things. I was glad he was out of there – 9 months of crazy isn’t worth the paycheck!

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