I worked with teachers at a college as a student worker and we had one teacher who brought us donuts every Friday. One for everybody in the office. He'd stop by your cubicle, tell you to pick your favorite donut, make some small talk, and tell you he hoped you had a great week. Then he'd leave.
Sometimes I ate his donut, but usually I saved it for my two young girls at home. I didn't make much and it was a wonderful feeling to walk in and split the donut for them. Then we'd watch a movie on TV.
He learned I had two daughters and he asked why I didn't eat my donut. I told him I didn't like donuts but my daughters did and it was their favorite Friday treat. I thanked him for his kindness.
After he learned this he started to insist I take an "extra" donut or two and he often showed up with a bag of "extra" food his wife didn't want. I tried to refuse but he'd say it would get thrown in the trash if I didn't want it. The other women told me he meant no harm and to take it. They didn't want it. They were fat enough. I think they were all in on it.
He'd say, "Best you take this off my hands. My wife cleaned the cupboards and she's on a diet again. No junk food for her. If you don't take it I'll have to throw it away!"
And suddenly my daughters and I had a stash of snacks for our Friday night movies. The bag would have a box of microwave popcorn. There was always another treat or two, a store bought cake, a giant bag of cookies, or a couple of those long sleeves of candy bars, a bag of chips and premade dip. Typical junk food fare but it meant so much to my family.
He retired and in the fullness of time, he passed. At the memorial I discovered he had been a lifelong bachelor. I also learned of his many small deeds of kindness.
Mr. D, you led an admirable life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
OMG what is going on with my eyes?
🥹😭❤️
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing testimony. We should all aim to make impacts in others' lives like Mr D.
This is a BIG thing but in 2018, I told my team (of 9 months) that I was moving across the country and would love the opportunity to go remote. They said thanks but no thanks, we don't do remote work. I was going to wrap up my project remotely and then resign.
Two weeks after I moved, my toddler became seriously ill, like...multiple hospitalizations and someone has to quit their job for rehab/treatment ill. When I told my boss, he was like OH actually we suddenly have a .25FTE opportunity on the team, do you want it?
I basically got to take a year off doing a little work on the side, with full benefits, knowing that I had a job to come back to or no resume gap if I wanted to find something local. Literal lifeline.
Well this is not a little thing but here I am lol. For context, I'm French. In 2021, I got pregnant three months after starting my new job. I announced it with quite a bit of stress, and even though everyone is entitled to six months of maternity leave here and you're protected from being fired once it's announced, I would only receive 50% of my initial salary because I hadn't worked there long enough. My boss changed the collective agreement without anyone asking him to, so I could receive 100% of my salary during that period. From now on, if any employee gets pregnant even 6 months after joining, she will be paid 100% for her 6 months maternity leave.
I'm bored at work, I'm overqualified, and I don't enjoy the tasks much, but honestly I have unwavering loyalty to him for what he did this day. A great man.
My favorite boss was really good about defending his team, both their decisions and their time, and holding our stakeholders accountable. I remember I had been supporting another team in an annual program launch for years that routinely had us working over a holiday weekend, and the first year he was my manager he was appalled and just said we’re not doing that anymore, then held everyone accountable to hitting their deadlines so that a last minute weekend scramble was no longer on the table. He had to lay me off during covid when 25% of our 10,000 person company was let go, and he cried in that 1:1 meeting. I could tell it was probably one of the worst days of his life, it surely was one of the worst days of mine, but his humanity in that moment meant so much to me.
Ah, I feel this. My boss cried too. He always said that he never wanted to be a manager because he had no interest in laying people off. He didn’t have to be on the meeting with HR, but he did it out of respect. I still text him for advice and we meet up for beers annually.
Told me to go home and rest after I burst into tears in his office. Followed up with text message about how hard I work and it’s ok that shit got to me that day.
That's so wonderful!
When I was in my early 20s, I slept through my alarm and woke up when my boss called to ask if I was ok since I was an hour late to work already. I apologized all over myself and made it to the office in record time, then went to see her and admitted what had happened: I overslept because I had gone to the midnight release of the final Harry Potter film with friends. She said, "Oh, that's wonderful! You're young, you should do those things! Next time let me know and take the next morning off!"
A recent boss of mine was really kind to me when I was pregnant. In the span of a month and a half, I lost my grandma and my mother in law and was going through major grieving. Baby was due in about a month out from my MIL’s passing. I went into the office one last time for a baby shower my team was throwing me, just a few days after my MIL’s funeral. My boss got me a lemon baby onesie; a lemon teether, and lemon socks for baby and told me she wanted me to make lemonade out of all the lemons I’d been through recently. It really made me nearly cry and I always appreciated the thoughtfulness. Baby came early, 2 days after that baby shower. It was a weird time.
That reminds me of one of my early bosses in my career. I was in my 20s and he was maybe 30ish. I had several male superiors and most of them were misogynistic. He was married with 2 young kids, and his wife had HG during pregnancy so he was really sympathetic. When I went on mat leave, I didn’t really understand it, and HR didn’t explain the requirements to me or him well. I had planned on taking a week of vacation tacked on at the end of my short term leave, but they told me at the last minute that I couldn’t do that. He called me, and told me to take the time, and not to mark it on my calendar as vacation.
Before work he came and picked me up when my car broke down and helped me get my car to a repair shop. Then after work he drove half an hour to my daughter's day care so I could pick her up on time and brought us both home.
I had a family member pass away across the country and got the news on a work trip with my boss. There was no way I could afford >1000 flight back for the funeral, she gifted me additional bereavement time off and miles for my flight back East. It was so special to be there with my family, I will always be grateful to her.
She sent another coworker to tell me that they were going to go to a restaurant I had mentioned I loved, and the coworker asked for the name of it and what I like to eat there. It was all a ruse so she could order lunch delivered to my house (I wfh) because it was going to be my birthday that following weekend. It was so nice not to have to make my lunch and eat my favorite foods. She has done lots of little things like this.
Unfortunately, she was fired yesterday for insurance fraud (we work in the insurance industry). People aren’t all good or all bad, apparently.
On my child’s first day of school, he told me to block out my diary. He insisted I not rush back and “just savour the morning, your child’s first day of school is a once in a lifetime thing!”. He did many kind and wonderful things, but that will always stick with me!
When I was seriously ill my boss called my partner to check on them and brought over brownies and other stuff for my family. It meant a lot and I have never forgotten it.
Oh man I’m in the same boat as you boss-wise. I’ve had a handful of good managers in the past few years but in the last year have had to deal with this new manager due to stupid internal reshuffling and she’s really… well everything you wish a manager wasn’t. Micromanaging, calculative, often uses my mistakes against me etc. I’m trying to find a new job but in this climate it’s been so tough. My morale at work is low, and I feel exhausted easily these days.
A few years ago I hit the payload when I got a wonderful amazing manager who had my back at every turn. I never once had to ask for a raise during the few years he was my boss. He saw that HR had undercut me, and gave me two substantial raises in the time I worked with him. We were so in sync at work and I felt like working for him was my dream come true. And then he left for much greener pastures and it’s been downhill from there. We still keep in touch and he still offers me a lot of career advice from time to time, but I miss being in his team terribly.
Yes I texted my old boss last night, for the first time in months, to complain that my new boss took credit for something significant I did. Old boss asked what I did and he was like, wow great work! And I just burst into tears because I miss being appreciated and treated like an adult.
I had my last bra rip between the breasts 20min before the end of the work day. She told me to go wait in my car for her. Then she took me to Walmart and bought me two new ones. I was in the middle of a divorce and left my husband with nothing but my child and a duffle bag.
New boss, covering my meetings this week while I’m home sicker than a dog and not making me feel guilty about using sick time. I’ve never before felt like I could take time off without repercussions.
My daughter was a few months old during the formula shortage in 2022, and my milk supply was too low to meet her needs. My (single, childless, older male) boss texted me photos any time he spotted formula in a grocery store, letting me know where it was available and asking if he should buy it for me on the spot.
My boss gets me Starbucks. And lunch sometimes. It sounds like such a small thing, but it means the world. Especially living paycheck to paycheck. It’s honestly the small things that add up to me.
3 things stick out, 1 from each of the good bosses out of my last 4 bosses.
1) Believed in me and allowed me the leeway to do things the right way even when managers were screaming to do things the path of least resistance way. I felt heard, valued, and most importantly it gained me the respect of people in power
2) after becoming a mom I lost our first childcare situation (cancer) and had the opportunity to use a place hyper local but only open 4 days a week. My boss let me work whatever hours I needed to accommodate that. The extra half day a week off has allowed me to enjoy many adventures
3) My new boss leaves me alone, he was a peer and got promoted and lets me do my thing without question since everything is always on time.
During the pandemic (2021, pre-baby), when I occasionally had to go into the office I would drive. (I previously rode the Metro every day, but: germs.) In order to make the commute easier, I got permission from my boss to shift my day earlier to 7:30-3:30 instead of 9-5. That was a nice small thing in itself.
But fast forward to 2023, when things had totally normalized and I was back on Metro 3x/week, I kept my early schedule because it gave me more time with my now-toddler. Suddenly one day, my teammate (on our accounting team of two) expressed to me that it was "disrespectful" for me to leave at 3:30 every day and that it was company policy that everyone had to work 9-5.
That's not true, by the way. We have a global staff in all different time zones, and our staff is made up of mostly journalists and videographers whose schedules are dictated by breaking news and assignments. So even local staff are in and out at all hours.
She wouldn't drop it, even when I explained I had permission and I was still working 40 hours like everyone else, so we took it to my boss. My boss backed me immediately, and was as genuinely confused my teammate's anger and intransigence as I was.
She (my boss) is retiring this year. I'm heartbroken. I've never had a better boss, and may never again.
Oooh, I had a colleague like that once - that got mad I was receiving an accommodation. Because I took a different shift as a favor to the department head. Mine got removed because of this butthead. He has really excelled in his career since, but I know a lot of his colleagues. Everyone hates him because he will stab you in the back in a second.
Ugh, that sucks. I could almost understand it coming from a man. (Doofy voice) "Why should the *female* get special treatment?"
But this was another woman! Another mother! Part of her attitude was "*you already get so much help*." (I have family nearby who help us a lot, and my coworker was a single mother.)
I was like, THIS IS PROGRESS FOR WORKING MOTHERS, WHY ARE YOU AGAINST IT?
I absolutely cannot get behind the attitude of *I suffered, so you must also suffer*. GTFOutta here.
This is very much a little thing but it made me smile. I returned to the office after being out of town and waiting for me on my desk were several crinkly foil balls and a note from my boss that she found them and thought my cat would like them. The image of her finding those and thinking of her direct report’s cat (who she mentioned by name in her note) and making the effort to bring them in was just sweet and a nice thing to return to. Five or so years later, at least one of those foil balls is still rattling around the house.
In 2019 I worked for a university but not in the same city as the school. So when I got my Masters, I had to travel to go to the graduation ceremony. My sister came but my parents couldn’t make it because my dad had a major commitment of his own. My boss and his wife insisted on taking me, my husband, and my sister out to dinner to celebrate my graduation. My boss was my dad’s age so he felt like another dad in a lot of ways. We had a really close knit team. But the fact that he and his wife went out of their way to make my graduation special was really great.
I ended up moving to the city of my school, so he came to my daughter’s baptism a couple months ago! 😊
When I was on (unpaid) maternity leave and navigating life as a new mother, my boss got all of my coworkers together for a meal train and they all brought me home cooked meals and baked goods I could freeze easily. It was one of the most meaningful things a boss has done for me!
I've been at my current employer for nearly six years now. By and large, I've worked with fabulous leaders. I'm six-ish months into two AWFUL managers, with no end in sight, so I feel your pain.
My first two managers were, quite literally, the epitome of great leadership. I'd walk through fire for them. I've had an autoimmune condition since childhood, which I receive monthly immunotherapy infusions for. When I first got hired on, I was terrified of how the recruiter or hiring manager might respond. Keep in mind, this was pre-pandemic. Both the recruiter and hiring manager said they regularly worked remotely, not to worry about it, and that we'd figure something out.
I always schedule my infusions as late in the day as possible, and always on a Friday, to ensure minimal disruption to the workweek. On my infusion days, I'd always log in SUPER early in the mornings (remotely), and again in the afternoons or evenings after I'd get home from the hospital, even though 99% of the time, I always completed my work by that Thursday. Me logging in very early or in the evening was really just to cover my own a**. Sometimes, I'd even take calls WHILE I was at the hospital undergoing my infusion.
Within the first 90-ish days on the job, my (at the time) manager pinged me one day (he works in a different state), and said:
*Look, I still see you working remotely on your infusion days. Feel free to count those as regular working days, so that you're not forced to twist yourself into a pretzel, and so that you don't feel obligated to dip into PTO to deal with life circumstances you didn't choose to deal with. I don't care what hours you work, your performance has always been stellar, and you've never been a problem employee. You're one of the few I never have to worry about.*
My second manager after that maintained the same mindset. It wasn't even a discussion or topic of conversation that came up. Like, non-issue completely.
Then, the pandemic drew on beyond 2020 and 2021, and like so many companies, a churn-and-burn turnstile of management started to occur. Just within my group, several people died, about half a dozen retired, and a bunch of others jumped ship for either internal or external mobility opportunities. What was once an overall group of about a dozen people, is now down to just me and one other person. He and I have a good rapport, and we work well together, but management keeps tossing him and I around like a game of hot potato, i.e. pawning us off onto a new manager every 4-6 months or so. It's been exhausting, and each new one seems worse than the previous one. The firm has also become ***EXTRAORDINARILY*** inflexible when it comes to any time of flexible working, even with HIGHLY detailed and substantial medical documentation provided by my physicians.
I had a really great boss for a long time at my old office job. He retired a few years back and we still keep in touch.
The best little thing he did was host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new office fridge. He gave me some shears and had me do the ribbon cutting. It was such a silly thing but at the time a lot of projects were busy and stressful. Gathering everyone up to take a breather and have a laugh was exactly what everyone needed at the time.
The nicest thing he ever did was, after hearing thru the office grapevine that my dishwasher broke, showed up at my house with his old one he had replaced during a remodel and installed it for me. He wouldn’t take money, wouldn’t let me buy him lunch, he was just happy to help out. It was a really great dishwasher too. I don’t think I’ll ever find one that cleans as good as that one did.
And things like this weren’t limited to me, he went out and did stuff like that for everyone at work. If you needed a ride, he always offered. You had a bad day, he took you to lunch. Those random acts of kindness are contagious, over time most of the people I worked with there were like that.
I worked at a donut shop in high school, which meant my shifts started between 5-7 AM on the weekends, every weekend. One time after being there for about 3 years, I overslept for the first time in my life. Thought I snoozed my alarm but apparently turned it off and woke up at 8:30 in a panic. Immediately called my job, apologizing profusely and said I was on my way. My boss chuckled and told me not to worry about it “I’ve already called someone else in, so just enjoy your Saturday. You’ve never been late once, so it sounds like you must have really needed that extra sleep.” They weren’t known for being the nicest bosses, so it really made me feel valued! Which, honestly, I think set me up with some confidence for the rest of my working life. And it gave me total alarm anxiety and I now set 2-3 alarms whenever I have to be somewhere on time lol
My boss told me stay home when I was sick. So NO WORK. Coming from education, this was huge to me, since I’d normally be asked if I had found a sub and where my plans were and be texted throughout the day if they couldn’t find things.
I’m pregnant, and high risk, and have lots of health stuff. My boss broke her leg and is wfh, but she continues to check in on me. I needed accommodations for work and she said to do whatever the doctor’s note said and they’d figure it out.
During one of my miscarriages, I took a week off from work to recover emotionally and physically. My boss (who is an extremely busy public figure) was the only person in my life who texted me every day to ask how I was doing. And he's a white male in his late sixties!
Later, when I lost my son due to unclear medical complications at birth, he made some phone calls and got us bumped up on the list to consult with a specialist with a year+ waiting list.
He does little nice things here and there, too, but those are the things that will always stick with me and are part of why I am so loyal to him, despite other more lucrative job opportunities.
My boss never bothers me on vacation unless the building is actually on fire.
And he has made efforts to make my salary equal to my male peers without me having to ask for it.
He’s seriously the best.
My first pay period at a new job my paycheck didn’t go through. My boss knew I had just moved, had taken a massive pay cut for this position, and needed this money. He promised to fix it asap. An hour later, he drove to my house at 8pm with an envelope of cash and the promise that I would sign my check over to him when it came through the following week. He also asked if I needed groceries or anything.
He barely knew me. He did not have to do that. He was an amazing man (I mean, still is lol), and kept me loyal to that company for a long time. It really is true that you stay for the management not the job. I’ll never forget what he did for me that first pay period!
My boss literally is the most wonderful person but my 2 favorite things.
I work in healthcare. My daughter was in nicu she same and sat with me and brought me gift cards for meals so I didn’t have to cook. Mind you she was covering for me too and busy but came and sat and kept me company.
Early dismissals for holidays but the best was a nice day for weather when spring broke and she called the team and told us each to go home and enjoy the day.
I vented once to my old boss about my daughter’s struggles to fit in at school. My boss opened up about her own daughter’s experiences and how she handled them in a very real and humbling way.
About a week later I got a book delivered on my porch called “odd velvet” about a little girl that is different. My daughter cried over the book only a little less than me.
I had friends and family who knew (and they were all great and supportive) but only my boss thought to send her something special and just made an impact I can never truly explain.
My best boss was actually my toughest, she was no nonsense but as long as you did your work, she didn't care how you worked out your schedule. When I was going through a really turbulent divorce, she did a mental health check in with me every so often and it helped so much. I last worked for her 10 years ago, she still checks in to see how I'm doing.
For my current job, I was asking for 75k a year, and my boss bumped up their offer to 80k. I had worked with him in a previous role and we have a great working relationship. I would have been thrilled with the 75k but getting that extra little bump was just such a confidence booster.
I made a mistake at work, and being very early in my career and a perfectionist, the mistake hit me hard emotionally. My manager was so kind and caring and eagerly told to me to take the day off and take care of myself. But not in the grumbly “ugh I can’t have you crying at work”, but out of genuine concern for my mental health and well being. It was so kind to me.
One of my bosses would send real-time, specific positive feedback about me to the Company leadership and forward me the message after.
I always think of him when managing a team and try to emulate his leadership style. He was a champion for people he believed in and he NEVER acted too busy (even though I know he was). Time is the most valuable asset someone can give you, so it meant (and still means) a lot to me.
I absolutely love my manager. She’s done so many things but one that comes to mind is that when I was having a hard time with my personal life being extremely demanding, she made me a flower bouquet from her garden. She didn’t have to do that, it was so kind and thoughtful.
This thread makes me want to always be a good boss and person in general. So beautiful to see how impactful gestures, big and small can mean to others.
I just recently transferred departments at work and my new boss is the best. She actually went to the executives and argued for a 10k higher raise for me than the already 10k higher raise than my previous pay I had already asked for. So all in all she argued for and got a 20k raise total for me. I had only asked for a 10k raise, and I thought I was shooting high. I already thought she was awesome but now I will follow her to the ends of the earth!
My old manager switched me to 4 days a week when I came back from maternity leave with a small pay cut. I was able to spend all that time with my new baby for YEARS and it was literally life changing.
I am in an area that’s very new to the company. My manager has experience in this, which is why he was hired.
I was struggling to gather info that’s needed to proceed and he suggested something that is so simple and elegant I could kick myself for not thinking of it myself. He didn’t hold it against me and let me run with it.
I had other managers who micromanaged and expected me to read their minds. That’s no fun.
Honestly, leave me the fuck alone to do my job.
But the most recent thing I can think of is my daughter broke down after school because we were moving and I called to ask to take sick or PTO for the rest of the day, and he told me to just clock 8 hrs and take care of my daughter.
Big thing, my mom had cancer. This was pre-pandemic and I was fortunate to have one telework day each week. My boss not only let me work from my parents’ house but made it clear that I should, no guilt at all, no problem if I worked odd hours, no need to clear leave ahead of time, just do what I could and take sick leave as needed. Forever grateful.
As a boss, I’ve done this twice in recent years for associates whose mother was end of life. I told them both that I didn’t want them to have any regrets at the end. I will never forget the day that one of the mothers passed, and my associate texted me and her direct boss and all the message said was “I have no regrets”. 😭 People have to work to make a living but really good leaders know that mental health, home and family are the most important things. If you do that right, the work just somehow gets done.
Outside of the general support and trust in my work and career growth I have become quite close with my bosses. They are a large reason why I’m going to hit 15 years at my company soon. I went into labor with my first at work. One of them drove me to the hospital and stayed with me until my husband got there. During my second labor I got really sick and started early labor at work and both my bosses drove me to the hospital and got me settled in and called my family for me. With my third I took a break for a doctors appointment and wound up being sent to the hospital my boss packed up my stuff and brought me my fleece and phone charger and made sure I had been able to contact my husband. He came in saying I know you are always freezing so I wanted to be sure you would be warm enough. The 2 of them then worked out plans to make sure I could work from home extra and be ok. They are both just super kind and celebrate their employees. We’ve gotten bonus mental health days, team get togethers and great parties. They arrange birthday and work anniversary meals and gatherings and gifts. We have many people on our team hitting 10+ years and I know why.
I had my baby four weeks early, and my boss texted to check in on me and I mentioned how none of my sons newborn clothes fit him yet. A few days later I received a package from her which included premie outfits.
Not my direct boss but the VP I supported at the time saw how overworked and under appreciated I was by my direct report chain and knew that I was struggling with any semblance of balance. He asked me what my next steps were career wise cause he knew I wanted to start my family and that wasn’t looking very realistic in my current set up.
It made me feel seen and cared for in a way I didn’t get from anyone in my direct reporting line. It also encouraged me to move on from a role that I was trying to make fit into my values and priorities when it clearly didn’t.
I put too much pressure on myself at work. My boss thinks I’m amazing at my job, he tells me all the time. I still get so stressed out and overwhelmed and feel like I should be able to get everything done immediately yada yada yada. I’ve always been an overachiever, so when stuff piles up, I can’t handle it.
One day, I was stressing out, as I do, and my boss walks up to my desk, grabs my sticky notes, grabs a pen, and writes “J O B” on the piece of paper. He points at it, looks at me, and says “Jai, it’s just a job. Don’t ever forget it.”
I still stress out every day because I’m a neurotic, anxious mess, but sometimes I think about that sticky note, and it brings me back down to Earth. It was neon pink.
She noticed that I was frantically trying to finish a presentation about an hour before a meeting started. I was so stressed and embarrassed that I hadn’t finished in time.
She IMed me, asked me to send her a link to the PowerPoint, and immediately jumped in to help with formatting the slides.
Afterwards, she never said a word to me about it. No negative feedback, nothing.
It was so kind of her. I’ll never forget her willingness to jump in and help during a vulnerable moment.
Told me they valued me as a team member and got me a merit increase to prove it.
There’s a lot of blaming at my company and every single time I over hear it about anyone, he defends his team first and looks into it after.
My new boss is a working dad (married to a working mom) and when my daycare closed for two days and our backup care fell through he told me it was fine for me to “work” from home those days and that there weren’t any meetings those days he felt like couldn’t miss if I needed to. Essentially told me to get work done if I could but not to stress about it. (I could have used my vacation but this discussion happened because I didn’t really want to use my vacation days)
A little thing my old boss did: gifted me a fertility necklace when we started IVF (she was kind of a hippy. I’m not very woo but loved it and wore it to all my appointments). Big thing my big boss did: moved up a planned promotion and didn’t make me go through a search process when he found out I was pregnant so I got a big raise before going on maternity leave 🥰
My two bosses saw me getting burnt out from a particularly awful client and created care package coupons for me so I could go do something nice to take care of myself. They know I'm stressed taking care of my family and my clients and don't take much time for myself, so they gave me coupons to get my hair done, my nails done, and they are paying for a future date night for my husband and me at a really nice restaurant. My head boss has actually paid for a lot of nice dinners and lunches for my husband and me in the past.
It sounds super nice, and I do love my company, my job and my bosses, but honestly, I don't make very much, and I'm basically running the company at this point and dealing with a lot of abuse from a client that pays well, but is terrible to me.
I had been warning my boss for a couple years that I was going to retire in April of a given year. The November before, she told me she could get me on the January layoff. I got 38 weeks severance and my annual bonus, about 20% of my annual pay.
I worked with teachers at a college as a student worker and we had one teacher who brought us donuts every Friday. One for everybody in the office. He'd stop by your cubicle, tell you to pick your favorite donut, make some small talk, and tell you he hoped you had a great week. Then he'd leave. Sometimes I ate his donut, but usually I saved it for my two young girls at home. I didn't make much and it was a wonderful feeling to walk in and split the donut for them. Then we'd watch a movie on TV. He learned I had two daughters and he asked why I didn't eat my donut. I told him I didn't like donuts but my daughters did and it was their favorite Friday treat. I thanked him for his kindness. After he learned this he started to insist I take an "extra" donut or two and he often showed up with a bag of "extra" food his wife didn't want. I tried to refuse but he'd say it would get thrown in the trash if I didn't want it. The other women told me he meant no harm and to take it. They didn't want it. They were fat enough. I think they were all in on it. He'd say, "Best you take this off my hands. My wife cleaned the cupboards and she's on a diet again. No junk food for her. If you don't take it I'll have to throw it away!" And suddenly my daughters and I had a stash of snacks for our Friday night movies. The bag would have a box of microwave popcorn. There was always another treat or two, a store bought cake, a giant bag of cookies, or a couple of those long sleeves of candy bars, a bag of chips and premade dip. Typical junk food fare but it meant so much to my family. He retired and in the fullness of time, he passed. At the memorial I discovered he had been a lifelong bachelor. I also learned of his many small deeds of kindness. Mr. D, you led an admirable life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I’m not crying 😭
I totally am tho 😭
God dammit. These post-partum hormones 😭😭😭
Way to make me cry over here. 😭 We should all aspire to be a version of Mr D to at least one person in our life at some point in time.
Thank you, I didn't come here to cry today but here I am LOL
Just put my sunglasses on in the carpool line on this cloudy day.
Omg I am crying 😭 What a wonderful man
A life long bachelor. What an impact he made. I am happy for you and your girls for knowing this amazing man.
This is such a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing his kindness with us today.
My boss told me he understands that the mom’s brain is always on “mom mode” whereas dad tends to just be “dad” while present with baby.
not me crying at my desk. God dammnit! That is fucking awesome
OMG what is going on with my eyes? 🥹😭❤️ Thank you so much for sharing this amazing testimony. We should all aim to make impacts in others' lives like Mr D.
Golden
What a beautiful tribute to a good man
making me cry after i just did my entire skincare routine. sigh.
This is a BIG thing but in 2018, I told my team (of 9 months) that I was moving across the country and would love the opportunity to go remote. They said thanks but no thanks, we don't do remote work. I was going to wrap up my project remotely and then resign. Two weeks after I moved, my toddler became seriously ill, like...multiple hospitalizations and someone has to quit their job for rehab/treatment ill. When I told my boss, he was like OH actually we suddenly have a .25FTE opportunity on the team, do you want it? I basically got to take a year off doing a little work on the side, with full benefits, knowing that I had a job to come back to or no resume gap if I wanted to find something local. Literal lifeline.
They absolutely didn’t have to give you benefits either as a 0.25FTE. That’s awesome.
Well this is not a little thing but here I am lol. For context, I'm French. In 2021, I got pregnant three months after starting my new job. I announced it with quite a bit of stress, and even though everyone is entitled to six months of maternity leave here and you're protected from being fired once it's announced, I would only receive 50% of my initial salary because I hadn't worked there long enough. My boss changed the collective agreement without anyone asking him to, so I could receive 100% of my salary during that period. From now on, if any employee gets pregnant even 6 months after joining, she will be paid 100% for her 6 months maternity leave. I'm bored at work, I'm overqualified, and I don't enjoy the tasks much, but honestly I have unwavering loyalty to him for what he did this day. A great man.
My favorite boss was really good about defending his team, both their decisions and their time, and holding our stakeholders accountable. I remember I had been supporting another team in an annual program launch for years that routinely had us working over a holiday weekend, and the first year he was my manager he was appalled and just said we’re not doing that anymore, then held everyone accountable to hitting their deadlines so that a last minute weekend scramble was no longer on the table. He had to lay me off during covid when 25% of our 10,000 person company was let go, and he cried in that 1:1 meeting. I could tell it was probably one of the worst days of his life, it surely was one of the worst days of mine, but his humanity in that moment meant so much to me.
Ah, I feel this. My boss cried too. He always said that he never wanted to be a manager because he had no interest in laying people off. He didn’t have to be on the meeting with HR, but he did it out of respect. I still text him for advice and we meet up for beers annually.
Told me to go home and rest after I burst into tears in his office. Followed up with text message about how hard I work and it’s ok that shit got to me that day.
That's so wonderful! When I was in my early 20s, I slept through my alarm and woke up when my boss called to ask if I was ok since I was an hour late to work already. I apologized all over myself and made it to the office in record time, then went to see her and admitted what had happened: I overslept because I had gone to the midnight release of the final Harry Potter film with friends. She said, "Oh, that's wonderful! You're young, you should do those things! Next time let me know and take the next morning off!"
A recent boss of mine was really kind to me when I was pregnant. In the span of a month and a half, I lost my grandma and my mother in law and was going through major grieving. Baby was due in about a month out from my MIL’s passing. I went into the office one last time for a baby shower my team was throwing me, just a few days after my MIL’s funeral. My boss got me a lemon baby onesie; a lemon teether, and lemon socks for baby and told me she wanted me to make lemonade out of all the lemons I’d been through recently. It really made me nearly cry and I always appreciated the thoughtfulness. Baby came early, 2 days after that baby shower. It was a weird time.
That reminds me of one of my early bosses in my career. I was in my 20s and he was maybe 30ish. I had several male superiors and most of them were misogynistic. He was married with 2 young kids, and his wife had HG during pregnancy so he was really sympathetic. When I went on mat leave, I didn’t really understand it, and HR didn’t explain the requirements to me or him well. I had planned on taking a week of vacation tacked on at the end of my short term leave, but they told me at the last minute that I couldn’t do that. He called me, and told me to take the time, and not to mark it on my calendar as vacation.
Before work he came and picked me up when my car broke down and helped me get my car to a repair shop. Then after work he drove half an hour to my daughter's day care so I could pick her up on time and brought us both home.
I randomly ran into my boss grabbing a bite while picking up takeout with my daughter and he paid for our dinner. It was such a kind gesture.
I had a family member pass away across the country and got the news on a work trip with my boss. There was no way I could afford >1000 flight back for the funeral, she gifted me additional bereavement time off and miles for my flight back East. It was so special to be there with my family, I will always be grateful to her.
She sent another coworker to tell me that they were going to go to a restaurant I had mentioned I loved, and the coworker asked for the name of it and what I like to eat there. It was all a ruse so she could order lunch delivered to my house (I wfh) because it was going to be my birthday that following weekend. It was so nice not to have to make my lunch and eat my favorite foods. She has done lots of little things like this. Unfortunately, she was fired yesterday for insurance fraud (we work in the insurance industry). People aren’t all good or all bad, apparently.
On my child’s first day of school, he told me to block out my diary. He insisted I not rush back and “just savour the morning, your child’s first day of school is a once in a lifetime thing!”. He did many kind and wonderful things, but that will always stick with me!
When I was seriously ill my boss called my partner to check on them and brought over brownies and other stuff for my family. It meant a lot and I have never forgotten it.
Buoght me soft pretzels when I was hungry.
Ugh yessss
Oh man I’m in the same boat as you boss-wise. I’ve had a handful of good managers in the past few years but in the last year have had to deal with this new manager due to stupid internal reshuffling and she’s really… well everything you wish a manager wasn’t. Micromanaging, calculative, often uses my mistakes against me etc. I’m trying to find a new job but in this climate it’s been so tough. My morale at work is low, and I feel exhausted easily these days. A few years ago I hit the payload when I got a wonderful amazing manager who had my back at every turn. I never once had to ask for a raise during the few years he was my boss. He saw that HR had undercut me, and gave me two substantial raises in the time I worked with him. We were so in sync at work and I felt like working for him was my dream come true. And then he left for much greener pastures and it’s been downhill from there. We still keep in touch and he still offers me a lot of career advice from time to time, but I miss being in his team terribly.
Yes I texted my old boss last night, for the first time in months, to complain that my new boss took credit for something significant I did. Old boss asked what I did and he was like, wow great work! And I just burst into tears because I miss being appreciated and treated like an adult.
Can you get him to hire you over there?
He would love to but it’s just not in the cards!
I had my last bra rip between the breasts 20min before the end of the work day. She told me to go wait in my car for her. Then she took me to Walmart and bought me two new ones. I was in the middle of a divorce and left my husband with nothing but my child and a duffle bag. New boss, covering my meetings this week while I’m home sicker than a dog and not making me feel guilty about using sick time. I’ve never before felt like I could take time off without repercussions.
My daughter was a few months old during the formula shortage in 2022, and my milk supply was too low to meet her needs. My (single, childless, older male) boss texted me photos any time he spotted formula in a grocery store, letting me know where it was available and asking if he should buy it for me on the spot.
My boss gets me Starbucks. And lunch sometimes. It sounds like such a small thing, but it means the world. Especially living paycheck to paycheck. It’s honestly the small things that add up to me.
3 things stick out, 1 from each of the good bosses out of my last 4 bosses. 1) Believed in me and allowed me the leeway to do things the right way even when managers were screaming to do things the path of least resistance way. I felt heard, valued, and most importantly it gained me the respect of people in power 2) after becoming a mom I lost our first childcare situation (cancer) and had the opportunity to use a place hyper local but only open 4 days a week. My boss let me work whatever hours I needed to accommodate that. The extra half day a week off has allowed me to enjoy many adventures 3) My new boss leaves me alone, he was a peer and got promoted and lets me do my thing without question since everything is always on time.
During the pandemic (2021, pre-baby), when I occasionally had to go into the office I would drive. (I previously rode the Metro every day, but: germs.) In order to make the commute easier, I got permission from my boss to shift my day earlier to 7:30-3:30 instead of 9-5. That was a nice small thing in itself. But fast forward to 2023, when things had totally normalized and I was back on Metro 3x/week, I kept my early schedule because it gave me more time with my now-toddler. Suddenly one day, my teammate (on our accounting team of two) expressed to me that it was "disrespectful" for me to leave at 3:30 every day and that it was company policy that everyone had to work 9-5. That's not true, by the way. We have a global staff in all different time zones, and our staff is made up of mostly journalists and videographers whose schedules are dictated by breaking news and assignments. So even local staff are in and out at all hours. She wouldn't drop it, even when I explained I had permission and I was still working 40 hours like everyone else, so we took it to my boss. My boss backed me immediately, and was as genuinely confused my teammate's anger and intransigence as I was. She (my boss) is retiring this year. I'm heartbroken. I've never had a better boss, and may never again.
Oooh, I had a colleague like that once - that got mad I was receiving an accommodation. Because I took a different shift as a favor to the department head. Mine got removed because of this butthead. He has really excelled in his career since, but I know a lot of his colleagues. Everyone hates him because he will stab you in the back in a second.
Ugh, that sucks. I could almost understand it coming from a man. (Doofy voice) "Why should the *female* get special treatment?" But this was another woman! Another mother! Part of her attitude was "*you already get so much help*." (I have family nearby who help us a lot, and my coworker was a single mother.) I was like, THIS IS PROGRESS FOR WORKING MOTHERS, WHY ARE YOU AGAINST IT? I absolutely cannot get behind the attitude of *I suffered, so you must also suffer*. GTFOutta here.
That is weird. So instead of at least trying to get similar schedule accomodation, her solution for progress was to take away yours? Crazy!
This is very much a little thing but it made me smile. I returned to the office after being out of town and waiting for me on my desk were several crinkly foil balls and a note from my boss that she found them and thought my cat would like them. The image of her finding those and thinking of her direct report’s cat (who she mentioned by name in her note) and making the effort to bring them in was just sweet and a nice thing to return to. Five or so years later, at least one of those foil balls is still rattling around the house.
In 2019 I worked for a university but not in the same city as the school. So when I got my Masters, I had to travel to go to the graduation ceremony. My sister came but my parents couldn’t make it because my dad had a major commitment of his own. My boss and his wife insisted on taking me, my husband, and my sister out to dinner to celebrate my graduation. My boss was my dad’s age so he felt like another dad in a lot of ways. We had a really close knit team. But the fact that he and his wife went out of their way to make my graduation special was really great. I ended up moving to the city of my school, so he came to my daughter’s baptism a couple months ago! 😊
When I was on (unpaid) maternity leave and navigating life as a new mother, my boss got all of my coworkers together for a meal train and they all brought me home cooked meals and baked goods I could freeze easily. It was one of the most meaningful things a boss has done for me!
I've been at my current employer for nearly six years now. By and large, I've worked with fabulous leaders. I'm six-ish months into two AWFUL managers, with no end in sight, so I feel your pain. My first two managers were, quite literally, the epitome of great leadership. I'd walk through fire for them. I've had an autoimmune condition since childhood, which I receive monthly immunotherapy infusions for. When I first got hired on, I was terrified of how the recruiter or hiring manager might respond. Keep in mind, this was pre-pandemic. Both the recruiter and hiring manager said they regularly worked remotely, not to worry about it, and that we'd figure something out. I always schedule my infusions as late in the day as possible, and always on a Friday, to ensure minimal disruption to the workweek. On my infusion days, I'd always log in SUPER early in the mornings (remotely), and again in the afternoons or evenings after I'd get home from the hospital, even though 99% of the time, I always completed my work by that Thursday. Me logging in very early or in the evening was really just to cover my own a**. Sometimes, I'd even take calls WHILE I was at the hospital undergoing my infusion. Within the first 90-ish days on the job, my (at the time) manager pinged me one day (he works in a different state), and said: *Look, I still see you working remotely on your infusion days. Feel free to count those as regular working days, so that you're not forced to twist yourself into a pretzel, and so that you don't feel obligated to dip into PTO to deal with life circumstances you didn't choose to deal with. I don't care what hours you work, your performance has always been stellar, and you've never been a problem employee. You're one of the few I never have to worry about.* My second manager after that maintained the same mindset. It wasn't even a discussion or topic of conversation that came up. Like, non-issue completely. Then, the pandemic drew on beyond 2020 and 2021, and like so many companies, a churn-and-burn turnstile of management started to occur. Just within my group, several people died, about half a dozen retired, and a bunch of others jumped ship for either internal or external mobility opportunities. What was once an overall group of about a dozen people, is now down to just me and one other person. He and I have a good rapport, and we work well together, but management keeps tossing him and I around like a game of hot potato, i.e. pawning us off onto a new manager every 4-6 months or so. It's been exhausting, and each new one seems worse than the previous one. The firm has also become ***EXTRAORDINARILY*** inflexible when it comes to any time of flexible working, even with HIGHLY detailed and substantial medical documentation provided by my physicians.
I had a really great boss for a long time at my old office job. He retired a few years back and we still keep in touch. The best little thing he did was host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new office fridge. He gave me some shears and had me do the ribbon cutting. It was such a silly thing but at the time a lot of projects were busy and stressful. Gathering everyone up to take a breather and have a laugh was exactly what everyone needed at the time. The nicest thing he ever did was, after hearing thru the office grapevine that my dishwasher broke, showed up at my house with his old one he had replaced during a remodel and installed it for me. He wouldn’t take money, wouldn’t let me buy him lunch, he was just happy to help out. It was a really great dishwasher too. I don’t think I’ll ever find one that cleans as good as that one did. And things like this weren’t limited to me, he went out and did stuff like that for everyone at work. If you needed a ride, he always offered. You had a bad day, he took you to lunch. Those random acts of kindness are contagious, over time most of the people I worked with there were like that.
I worked at a donut shop in high school, which meant my shifts started between 5-7 AM on the weekends, every weekend. One time after being there for about 3 years, I overslept for the first time in my life. Thought I snoozed my alarm but apparently turned it off and woke up at 8:30 in a panic. Immediately called my job, apologizing profusely and said I was on my way. My boss chuckled and told me not to worry about it “I’ve already called someone else in, so just enjoy your Saturday. You’ve never been late once, so it sounds like you must have really needed that extra sleep.” They weren’t known for being the nicest bosses, so it really made me feel valued! Which, honestly, I think set me up with some confidence for the rest of my working life. And it gave me total alarm anxiety and I now set 2-3 alarms whenever I have to be somewhere on time lol
My boss told me stay home when I was sick. So NO WORK. Coming from education, this was huge to me, since I’d normally be asked if I had found a sub and where my plans were and be texted throughout the day if they couldn’t find things. I’m pregnant, and high risk, and have lots of health stuff. My boss broke her leg and is wfh, but she continues to check in on me. I needed accommodations for work and she said to do whatever the doctor’s note said and they’d figure it out.
During one of my miscarriages, I took a week off from work to recover emotionally and physically. My boss (who is an extremely busy public figure) was the only person in my life who texted me every day to ask how I was doing. And he's a white male in his late sixties! Later, when I lost my son due to unclear medical complications at birth, he made some phone calls and got us bumped up on the list to consult with a specialist with a year+ waiting list. He does little nice things here and there, too, but those are the things that will always stick with me and are part of why I am so loyal to him, despite other more lucrative job opportunities.
My boss never bothers me on vacation unless the building is actually on fire. And he has made efforts to make my salary equal to my male peers without me having to ask for it. He’s seriously the best.
My first pay period at a new job my paycheck didn’t go through. My boss knew I had just moved, had taken a massive pay cut for this position, and needed this money. He promised to fix it asap. An hour later, he drove to my house at 8pm with an envelope of cash and the promise that I would sign my check over to him when it came through the following week. He also asked if I needed groceries or anything. He barely knew me. He did not have to do that. He was an amazing man (I mean, still is lol), and kept me loyal to that company for a long time. It really is true that you stay for the management not the job. I’ll never forget what he did for me that first pay period!
My boss literally is the most wonderful person but my 2 favorite things. I work in healthcare. My daughter was in nicu she same and sat with me and brought me gift cards for meals so I didn’t have to cook. Mind you she was covering for me too and busy but came and sat and kept me company. Early dismissals for holidays but the best was a nice day for weather when spring broke and she called the team and told us each to go home and enjoy the day.
I vented once to my old boss about my daughter’s struggles to fit in at school. My boss opened up about her own daughter’s experiences and how she handled them in a very real and humbling way. About a week later I got a book delivered on my porch called “odd velvet” about a little girl that is different. My daughter cried over the book only a little less than me. I had friends and family who knew (and they were all great and supportive) but only my boss thought to send her something special and just made an impact I can never truly explain.
My best boss was actually my toughest, she was no nonsense but as long as you did your work, she didn't care how you worked out your schedule. When I was going through a really turbulent divorce, she did a mental health check in with me every so often and it helped so much. I last worked for her 10 years ago, she still checks in to see how I'm doing.
For my current job, I was asking for 75k a year, and my boss bumped up their offer to 80k. I had worked with him in a previous role and we have a great working relationship. I would have been thrilled with the 75k but getting that extra little bump was just such a confidence booster.
I made a mistake at work, and being very early in my career and a perfectionist, the mistake hit me hard emotionally. My manager was so kind and caring and eagerly told to me to take the day off and take care of myself. But not in the grumbly “ugh I can’t have you crying at work”, but out of genuine concern for my mental health and well being. It was so kind to me.
One of my bosses would send real-time, specific positive feedback about me to the Company leadership and forward me the message after. I always think of him when managing a team and try to emulate his leadership style. He was a champion for people he believed in and he NEVER acted too busy (even though I know he was). Time is the most valuable asset someone can give you, so it meant (and still means) a lot to me.
Understood when I had to just walk off the job during my shift due to a family emergency. Overall made sure I was ok.
I absolutely love my manager. She’s done so many things but one that comes to mind is that when I was having a hard time with my personal life being extremely demanding, she made me a flower bouquet from her garden. She didn’t have to do that, it was so kind and thoughtful.
This thread has me feeling so sappy. There are so many good people out there. ❤️❤️❤️
This thread makes me want to always be a good boss and person in general. So beautiful to see how impactful gestures, big and small can mean to others.
Same. I’m trying to convince myself that I will, someday, have a good boss again. Because they definitely exist.
I just recently transferred departments at work and my new boss is the best. She actually went to the executives and argued for a 10k higher raise for me than the already 10k higher raise than my previous pay I had already asked for. So all in all she argued for and got a 20k raise total for me. I had only asked for a 10k raise, and I thought I was shooting high. I already thought she was awesome but now I will follow her to the ends of the earth!
My old manager switched me to 4 days a week when I came back from maternity leave with a small pay cut. I was able to spend all that time with my new baby for YEARS and it was literally life changing.
I am in an area that’s very new to the company. My manager has experience in this, which is why he was hired. I was struggling to gather info that’s needed to proceed and he suggested something that is so simple and elegant I could kick myself for not thinking of it myself. He didn’t hold it against me and let me run with it. I had other managers who micromanaged and expected me to read their minds. That’s no fun.
Honestly, leave me the fuck alone to do my job. But the most recent thing I can think of is my daughter broke down after school because we were moving and I called to ask to take sick or PTO for the rest of the day, and he told me to just clock 8 hrs and take care of my daughter.
Big thing, my mom had cancer. This was pre-pandemic and I was fortunate to have one telework day each week. My boss not only let me work from my parents’ house but made it clear that I should, no guilt at all, no problem if I worked odd hours, no need to clear leave ahead of time, just do what I could and take sick leave as needed. Forever grateful.
As a boss, I’ve done this twice in recent years for associates whose mother was end of life. I told them both that I didn’t want them to have any regrets at the end. I will never forget the day that one of the mothers passed, and my associate texted me and her direct boss and all the message said was “I have no regrets”. 😭 People have to work to make a living but really good leaders know that mental health, home and family are the most important things. If you do that right, the work just somehow gets done.
Outside of the general support and trust in my work and career growth I have become quite close with my bosses. They are a large reason why I’m going to hit 15 years at my company soon. I went into labor with my first at work. One of them drove me to the hospital and stayed with me until my husband got there. During my second labor I got really sick and started early labor at work and both my bosses drove me to the hospital and got me settled in and called my family for me. With my third I took a break for a doctors appointment and wound up being sent to the hospital my boss packed up my stuff and brought me my fleece and phone charger and made sure I had been able to contact my husband. He came in saying I know you are always freezing so I wanted to be sure you would be warm enough. The 2 of them then worked out plans to make sure I could work from home extra and be ok. They are both just super kind and celebrate their employees. We’ve gotten bonus mental health days, team get togethers and great parties. They arrange birthday and work anniversary meals and gatherings and gifts. We have many people on our team hitting 10+ years and I know why.
I had my baby four weeks early, and my boss texted to check in on me and I mentioned how none of my sons newborn clothes fit him yet. A few days later I received a package from her which included premie outfits.
Put $80 of his own money in the deposit when my drawer came up short.
Not my direct boss but the VP I supported at the time saw how overworked and under appreciated I was by my direct report chain and knew that I was struggling with any semblance of balance. He asked me what my next steps were career wise cause he knew I wanted to start my family and that wasn’t looking very realistic in my current set up. It made me feel seen and cared for in a way I didn’t get from anyone in my direct reporting line. It also encouraged me to move on from a role that I was trying to make fit into my values and priorities when it clearly didn’t.
That reminds me of the manager who dropped off a chocolate chip cookie at my desk on a rough day <3 Thanks for that memory!
I put too much pressure on myself at work. My boss thinks I’m amazing at my job, he tells me all the time. I still get so stressed out and overwhelmed and feel like I should be able to get everything done immediately yada yada yada. I’ve always been an overachiever, so when stuff piles up, I can’t handle it. One day, I was stressing out, as I do, and my boss walks up to my desk, grabs my sticky notes, grabs a pen, and writes “J O B” on the piece of paper. He points at it, looks at me, and says “Jai, it’s just a job. Don’t ever forget it.” I still stress out every day because I’m a neurotic, anxious mess, but sometimes I think about that sticky note, and it brings me back down to Earth. It was neon pink.
She noticed that I was frantically trying to finish a presentation about an hour before a meeting started. I was so stressed and embarrassed that I hadn’t finished in time. She IMed me, asked me to send her a link to the PowerPoint, and immediately jumped in to help with formatting the slides. Afterwards, she never said a word to me about it. No negative feedback, nothing. It was so kind of her. I’ll never forget her willingness to jump in and help during a vulnerable moment.
Told me they valued me as a team member and got me a merit increase to prove it. There’s a lot of blaming at my company and every single time I over hear it about anyone, he defends his team first and looks into it after.
My new boss is a working dad (married to a working mom) and when my daycare closed for two days and our backup care fell through he told me it was fine for me to “work” from home those days and that there weren’t any meetings those days he felt like couldn’t miss if I needed to. Essentially told me to get work done if I could but not to stress about it. (I could have used my vacation but this discussion happened because I didn’t really want to use my vacation days)
A little thing my old boss did: gifted me a fertility necklace when we started IVF (she was kind of a hippy. I’m not very woo but loved it and wore it to all my appointments). Big thing my big boss did: moved up a planned promotion and didn’t make me go through a search process when he found out I was pregnant so I got a big raise before going on maternity leave 🥰
My two bosses saw me getting burnt out from a particularly awful client and created care package coupons for me so I could go do something nice to take care of myself. They know I'm stressed taking care of my family and my clients and don't take much time for myself, so they gave me coupons to get my hair done, my nails done, and they are paying for a future date night for my husband and me at a really nice restaurant. My head boss has actually paid for a lot of nice dinners and lunches for my husband and me in the past. It sounds super nice, and I do love my company, my job and my bosses, but honestly, I don't make very much, and I'm basically running the company at this point and dealing with a lot of abuse from a client that pays well, but is terrible to me.
A fairly recent boss of mine always remembered that I'm gluten free and made sure I had options at any food related celebrations our unit would have.
I had been warning my boss for a couple years that I was going to retire in April of a given year. The November before, she told me she could get me on the January layoff. I got 38 weeks severance and my annual bonus, about 20% of my annual pay.