Are you threatening ME?

Here's the story about how I quit the highest paying job I have ever had, and later found out that I was being underpaid by $30,000/yr based on the national average.... it all started, on April 25 2022:

Email From: Jared  (Boss) 

Got reminded (finger wagged) this morning that we are not putting in estimates and low time worked numbers in Azure…..Please make sure you get your estimates as well as time spent values in throughout the week. As usual, Amy is available to help if you need it.

After this email, I updated Azure.

Email From: Jared

A reminder on this. Almost everyone on this list has either not closed out and updated hours and/or provided estimates for the tasks in ADO. I know this is not a fun part of the job, but it’s not going to go away and now Paul is getting frustrated with the lack of participation. It’s not going away, and we’re going to have to get used to this being a part of each task going forward.  I would recommend that if you don’t know why you are short or if you need help with what exactly you are responsible for, just let me or Amy know. Now is the time to get it right because the next step is not pretty.

Next week, we will meet with Amy individually and do a little report card session to evaluate what has happened to date.  But it would be better to go into that meeting with nothing to report……

Email From: Me

I am completely lost here. I have updated every card I have on the sprint board with hours worked and remaining hours. I’m assuming you must be talking about things that I’ve done that don’t have a task or card associated? Am I supposed to make a card for each thing I do? I’m not sure what else I can do at this point, but you and Paul are really on my ass about this and I don’t know how to help here. And now I’m being threatened with a meeting with Amy and “the next step isn’t pretty” but I DON”T KNOW WHAT TO DO. Please help.

Email From: Jared 

For weeks (actually months), Amy reached out to everyone to explain what they were responsible for. She has offered help at every turn, and as much as we all don’t look forward to the paperwork part of the job, this is what’s happening. It is each individuals responsibility to raise this issue as the calls for getting it right became louder.

The threat of punitive action DID NOT come out of nowhere. If you need help with understanding what the missing info is, Amy may have some time to help, but she is busy just like all of us. I suggest you reach out to her and find out where the gaps are. I’ve CC’d her on this for transparency.

After this email, I reached out to Amy and, guess what, I updated Azure AGAIN. Turns out I was supposed to be DENYING requests to fix things or change things without a task first... Why not just TELL ME THAT? Why threaten me? I've been an exemplary employee for almost 10 years with Jared as my boss or my supervisor's boss. There has NEVER been a need for threats, just ask me to do it. Guess what, I WILL! WTF MAN! Anyway, fast forward 10 days then this chat happens with my boss happens:

[8:51 AM] ME
I think we may need to rearrange Quest (a project that was coming due before I would have time to finish it). I have next week off and the design isn't final yet. Even if I were to start right now I don't think that's enough time to finish it by tomorrow. Would you like me to start on it and get as far as I can, or what?

[9:25 AM] Jared
Yea, going to have to start.... You're out all Convention week?

[9:26 AM] ME
yeah, I am out thru the 16th. I will start now and see how far I can get done.

[9:27 AM] Jared
Man, we're going to have to have a come to Jesus meeting. This seems to happen a lot

[9:28 AM] ME
We had talked about this time off in January, before we knew convention was going to be in person this year. Wife has a surgery scheduled, I would have changed it if I could have.

[9:29 AM] Jared
Yea, it just seems to happen all the time

[9:29 AM] Jared
then combined with the not coming in, etc. One might thing you're not invested

[9:30 AM] Jared
The situation is starting to look unappealing

[9:32 AM] Jared
Essentially, if we can't rely on people to be around when we need them, how does that benefit us>

[9:32 AM] Jared
Then I have people working from home acting like they have a bad deal

[9:32 AM] ME
How can you say that? I've invested 10 years with this company

[9:32 AM] Jared
thats some bullshit right there

[9:32 AM] ME
I've never shown anything but fully invested.

[9:32 AM] Jared
Cmon

[9:33 AM] Jared
This is part of the reason Travis didnt want to manage anymore
(I found out later from Travis that this was an exaggeration, he stated he)

[9:33 AM] ME
You act like I sprung this on you.. You approved this time off MONTHS ago.

[9:33 AM] Jared
he was tired of having to deal with crap that you left him. every Friday / Holiday, etc

[9:34 AM] Jared
And I am not a Front End manager, I don't need the extra work

[9:34 AM] ME
That is absolute news to me. I have never heard a single complaint about my work ethic or scheduling. Nor have I ever been written up about any issues.

[9:34 AM] Jared
I have Lance blowing shit up live right before Convention, and you not seeming interested in being here. I just dont need it

[9:35 AM] Jared
I don't see any volunteers when the shit gets thick...thats for sure

[9:36 AM] Jared
No one gets written up.....but there have been times......

[9:37 AM] Jared
Also, you've never heard about it because Travis just didnt want to rock the boat....but I am not Travis. I will flip the bitch over if I have to

[9:38 AM] Jared
People working from home have no idea how good they have it.....and they just want more and more, not being thankful for the situation they already have. I have no sympathy for you

[9:46 AM] Jared
Also you are also not answering/responding in a fashion to my liking. Do I need to cancel work from home to drive the message?

[9:47 AM] ME
I am working on quest right now and will get as much done as I can

[9:49 AM] Jared
I still don't think you understand where we are

[9:50 AM] Jared
I also don't understand why it takes so long to have a back and forth here. Is a call better to make this clearer?

[10:16 AM] Jared
Given the difficulty in reaching you, perhaps its better if you start working in office full time

After this chat, I spoke with my HR partner and basically said, "I have next week off, but I need to turn in my two weeks notice due to this hostile/toxic work environment." She asked me to hold off for a while, because she wanted to talk to some people involved. Later she said, "Jared and Paul really want to work this out". I just kept thinking... You can't "work out" disrespect, threats, and blatant disregard of another person. Especially after I've given 10 years of my life to this company, including countless weekends, late work nights that sometimes stretched to 3 or 4 in the morning. And for the last 5 years I should have been making similar wages to the national average, which I found out when I was job hunting that they were underpaying me $30,000/year. There's no amount of "work it out" that can fix that. He clearly woke up and chose violence. In the end they accepted my resignation, effective immediately, and paid out my remaining PTO of 121 hours.