Advice Advice! sticky situations with bosses

amother

Thu, Nov 04 2010, 12:36 pm

I started working at this office four weeks ago. two weeks into the job I was offered a job, ( guess they fished out my resume) a really good offer. at first I said no but after thinking a bit I realized my obligations to myself and my family and if I was offered a better job shorter hours and more pay. the part that wasnt fun was letting my boss know that I will be leaving. he was quite upset.... I gave him my final answere today and officially gave my two week notice.. now the akwardness starts... lol.I felt so guilty for doing this to my boss so I offered him to work half days here and half days at my new place for aprx three four weeks.. ( with the permission of my new boss of course) but now I'm thinking how am I gonna handel it? so many hours... and how do I start negotiating about the pay- I get a weekly salary. I feel like I just jumped into hot water and sticky situations... OMG OMG advice advice!!!

amother

Thu, Nov 04 2010, 12:42 pm

Tell your old boss - the one you said you wold do half and half that you thought it over and it won't be possible. you gave him 2 week notice which is fine, he doesn't owe you anything and you don't owe him anything if he can't find someone in 2 weeks which is good enough to find someone in this economy with everyone job searching it's his problem. You can't drive yourself nuts, if you got a better job take it and move on, if you want offer the old boss telephone assistance but only for a bit of time. This happens all the time in the working world. If someone offered me less hours and more pay I would jump on it in a second and of course be nice to my current boss and wait 2 weeks which is the normal period in between jobs.

Fox

Thu, Nov 04 2010, 12:48 pm

I agree that this is a difficult situation for everyone. You are correct to accept the offer you received, and your current boss is correct to be really annoyed. But that's why bosses are paid more!

Rather than focus on giving your current boss additional hours, I would focus on your willingness to make the "transition" go smoothly. Offer to spend a little extra time training your replacement or documenting elements of your job that might be unclear. Offer to be available by telephone for a few weeks for your replacement.

Focusing on the transition will provide a significant gesture of goodwill (plus, it will ensure that your boss doesn't drag his heels in hiring a replacement!) that will go a long way in ending the current job without recriminations.

Fox

Thu, Nov 04 2010, 4:00 pm

The two weeks' notice you're giving should be plenty of time for your boss to hire someone (or at least have several good candidates lined up) and for you to document your responsibilities for your replacement.

Other than making yourself available for a reasonable number of phone calls during the day during the first week or two of your replacement's starting date, I wouldn't do anything else. Obviously, you may have to finesse such calls with your new boss, but most people are pretty reasonable about things like this.

Personally, I would absolutely not ask for any compensation for doing the above. The goal here is not to make a few extra bucks, but rather to do the mentchlikeit thing in a situation where you have caused a big problem for someone else (despite having legitimate reasons for doing so). I'm a big advocate of never "burning bridges" or leaving on bad terms when it can be helped. You never know when in the future you might bump into your boss or someone at your current job -- and middah keneged middah has a funny way of showing up when we least expect it!

Sweet Valley Gal

Thu, Nov 04 2010, 4:12 pm

Fox wrote:

I dont know if you should even do that. As you said, your obligation is to yourself and your family. And since you didnt (im assuming not since you didnt mention it) sign a contract, then you have no obligation to your old place.

Of course, the NICE thing to do would be to offer to work extra hours, take phone calls bla bla bla, but there is NO obligation to it. You dont even have to give a 2 week notice. Its not a law, it is just a proffesional courtesy, which are two different thing.

You are doing a nice thing by offering so much to your boss but technically you dont have to. I personally would not offer to let them call me during my new job. You dont want to, and you shouldnt start off on a bad note with your new place. You need to focus on your new job and being trained in. You shouldnt be bothered with old stuff.

I understand your feelings because I would feel the same way. Terrible. But thats life and it is what it is. You found something better and you need to worry abt yourself now...

Good Luck!

You dont want to so to speak "waste your favors" on this...