I’m an admin in a niche but important multinational industry. I can’t be more specific because of how ironically small the industry is, and can’t risk being found out. Management is a joke around here. Their answer to being understaffed is always, “normal lah liddat.”
I’ve absorbed the work of two other people, and am only able to do the work because I’ve learned to use AI and other tools to automate a lot of the repetitive tasks. Because deadlines were always met and the work kept getting done, management never questioned how one person was keeping everything running.
We booked our holiday months in advance
My wife and I have our birthdays a week apart so we had planned a joint holiday celebration. Nothing fancy. Just going to Singapore in May for a week. I put in my leave application in February and it was approved.
Once my leave was booked, my wife booked the hotel, flights, tickets to Universal Studios Singapore, and I bought the tickets for Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball.
My boss cancelled my leave
In April, my boss mentioned he was also taking a holiday in May. We compared dates and realized there were two days of overlap. We were the only two people qualified to handle certain parts of the operation, so management insisted one of us had to remain in the office. Despite my leave having been approved two months earlier, he told me I had to cancel my leave and plans.
“Kepala otak engkau.” Was my first thought. My tickets were non-refundable and frankly, I had not considered my boss’s schedule because it’s not my job. I’m not a manager. Two months after approving my leave, he told me he was cancelling it, and if I did not show up for work, he would ensure I was fired.
I went straight to his boss, and came prepared with a coverage schedule that included me logging in remotely for two hours each morning to handle any necessary urgent follow-ups. The rest of the day-to-day work could be handled by my colleagues, with me only stepping in remotely if something critical came up.
The senior boss looked at it, said it looked good and that he’d think about it.
A few days later, after discussions between senior management and HR, the decision was made that I would reschedule my vacation. They rejected my proposed coverage plan and simply insisted I needed to be physically present. No further explanation was given. Management offered just a few hundred ringgit toward the costs. I refused. The concert wasn’t something I could reschedule, and I had spent more than RM5,000 on everything.
That evening I had to sit down with my wife and explain that a holiday we’d spent months planning was apparently worth less to management than fixing a scheduling problem they had created themselves. Looking at the hotel booking, flights and concert tickets sitting in my inbox made the whole thing even harder to swallow.
Management doubled down in writing and told me that while I was a “valued member of the team,” I was ultimately replaceable.
I sent an email back acknowledging their decision and immediately started looking for another job. Let’s be clear on what’s going on here: I told them in February that I was taking five days off in May. And this is somehow impossible to accommodate because my manager can’t figure out staffing and scheduling.
I started looking elsewhere
My industry is niche and my role is somewhat specialized. I reached out to several companies and a few partners where I had built positive professional relationships over the years of working together. People already knew my work, so I had two job offers by the end of the week.
Once the contract was signed, I gave my current employer a full month’s notice, and took all of my remaining leave, cutting my notice period to three weeks instead of four by using my remaining leave per my contract. I spent a week putting together handover documentation and the last two weeks training my colleagues on whatever was necessary manually. I trained them on the official processes only.
I wasn’t going to hand over anything I had built or created in my free time to make my job easier. Everything had been developed on my own time.
using my own tools, personal AI subscriptions and accounts. I was taking all of that with me.
Training my replacement
The holiday we’d planned months earlier stayed exactly as it was and we were going as scheduled.
After I handed in my resignation, I declined the counteroffer from my boss, and refused to extend when senior management asked me to stay another week. I couldn’t help but smile when I reminded them that I had vacation plans.
Management and my boss fell silent at that one. I got the impression they finally understood what this had cost them. I did genuinely thank them for what I had learned there and for the opportunity they had provided. Funnily enough, if they had left my vacation alone, I would still be working there.
I was so replaceable after all
I got established at my new company and a trusted former colleague later told me that my boss had to cancel his vacation because another employee resigned after they were suddenly expected to do the work I had quietly been carrying on my own. Without my personal automation, the workload of roughly three people became impossible to hide.
The same colleague also told me they’re desperately trying to hire, but the salaries are so low they’ve had zero applications.
That’s management’s problem.
Not mine.
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Read also: ‘I gave up my family to pursue my dreams’ Shares 34 YO M’sian woman – In Real Life
https://inreallife.my/i-gave-up-my-family-to-pursue-my-dreams-shares-34-yo-msian-woman/
‘I gave up my family to pursue my dreams’ Shares 34 YO M’sian woman
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