Leaving a job can be awkward enough without your manager suggesting that your resignation should have come as a warning. One Reddit worker says their resignation triggered an unexpectedly tense conversation, including questions about why they had not disclosed their job search earlier and whether the company could match their new offer.
The worker shared the experience on Reddit’s r/work, explaining that after submitting their resignation, their manager said they had been “expecting this to happen” and felt the employee had changed.
The manager also reportedly questioned why the employee had not revealed that they were interviewing elsewhere and had already received another offer. That advice appeared to surprise the worker, who said it contradicted guidance they had received elsewhere about keeping an external job search private until an offer was secured.
The counteroffer came but apparently too late
The situation became even more complicated when the company made a counteroffer. The employee asked whether their current employer could match the salary offered by the new company. According to the post, the manager responded that there was little they could do at that stage because the employee had already accepted the new offer.
The manager then reportedly suggested that the company could simply hire someone else who would be paid less.
That remark became one of the most striking parts of the discussion, prompting commenters to question whether an employee's current salary should ever serve as a benchmark for their replacement.
