So around 7 mos. ago I left a company I had been with briefly...like 6 months. I knew a couple months in it wasn't going to work. My boss was a workaholic, talked **** about other employees, threw me under the bus more than once. A smaller factor was the company was a big corporatey behemoth and I was small time. I thought I could handle it. I thought I could get used to it. I couldn't.

I gave 2 wks notice to the managing partner, because my immediate boss (another partner) was out of town. That night, with my wife out of town at a conference, one of my kids got pretty sick - throwing up, diarrhea, the works. With wife gone I had to call in. I knew how this looked and made sure they knew I had a sick child and was on my own as far as taking care of her. This lasted 2 days. After calling in on day 2, I get an email from my boss basically saying, yesterday was the end of the pay period. Let's just call it a done deal. The tone of the email seemed very terse though. We spoke briefly on the phone about making sure I turned in a resignation letter (for HR documentation purposes I assume). I moved on, assuming he would run me down to other employees because, well, that's what he did when I was around him.

I emailed today to see if I could treat him to lunch sometime and try to smooth things over a little and make sure things were okay. I think it's important to stay in good graces with work folks after you leave if possible and enough time had passed that I thought any possible emotions would be gone. I got a reply email saying that he appreciated the invite but he was way too busy. Again, seemed very terse. I just said I understood and if things ever changed to let me know - it was a standing offer.

My question is, what could I have done differently, knowing the circumstances were terrible. Also, knowing this guy has probably run my name through the mud with everyone he's met, not just internally but with people outside his company, how do I address it?

Also, am I worrying too much about this.

$30,000 Millionaire said:

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A sucker is born every minute. You're the sucker. Some people only want to interact with you when you can do something for them.

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Meh. My previous bosses keep in touch with me pretty well, despite my being able to offer them nothing really - I am a competitor. It's a small world. And a smaller industry. Burning bridges is bad business. Being emotional is even worst. There may be a sucker here, but it ain't me.

You were there a short time. How many other employees was your boss the supervisor for? Did you really invest enough time in the relationship for
It to last? Does he have time to have lunch with all of you individually? Don't take it personally, it was a short stretch of your life.

I had a boss exactly like this, maybe worse. She was evil, very toxic, always bad mouthing people she didn't like and throwing them under the bus. THe kind of lady that would go out of her way to get someone fired for her own personal enjoyment.

I ended up leaving, and thought she would tarnish my name and reputation with the company and in the industry. Well she ended up getting fired a few months later after I quit, and now can't find work in the industry because her reputation is so bad. Meanwhile the company asked me to go back to work for them, and my reputation is still solid.

I work in a very close industry. Know everyone type of deal, don't burn bridges, careful what you say out loud. My previous boss (whom was very new to the industry) tried this with a very good friend of mine that was a customer and an account for me. Told the guy I was lazy and didn't perform as well as a few other put downs. My friend told him to get out of his office and lost the account. He preceded to tell others in the industry what happened. Needless to say, by previous boss is no longer in that role.