This Horrible Man’s Ghosted Girlfriend Came Back as His Boss, Because Karma Is Delicious
Thank God we live in a world with advice columns. How else would we get to thrill in the schadenfreude of watching other people’s crazy drama? At their best, advice columns are like real-life soap operas, and Ask a Manager is one of the best there is. It’s an advice column about work and employment, but people write into it with the most insane workplace drama. They create their own problems, blame other people for it, and unironically ask for advice about how to get away without any consequences. It’s delicious. This week’s is especially wonderful: An irredeemable asshole is getting karma served up in spades because the girlfriend he ghosted years ago is now his boss, and I can’t stop laughing.
This dude seriously wrote in to Ask a Manager’s Alison Green as though he had a normal work problem. Except his problem is that a decade or so ago he had a girlfriend. They’d been together three years and living together for two as young expats in another country. He describes her as wanting to “settle down.” One day he decided he wanted to break up, but he didn’t want “the drama,” so he just left without a word, warning, or forwarding address.
He ghosted her after three years without even leaving a note
He waited until she went home to visit family for Christmas. He’d previously accepted a new job in a different country without telling her. So while she was gone, he just left. She came back to find the house empty and all his stuff gone.
Can you imagine coming home to your apartment in a foreign country and discovering that your boyfriend had just vanished? She must have thought something terrible happened to him!
Also, it sure as heck sounds like he stuck her with the lease for the apartment they’d been sharing.
But it’s about to get delicious.
Our dude now has a problem. It’s been ten years since he ghosted his girlfriend, and he’s a math teacher at an international school. But he just discovered the woman he ghosted is going to be the new school director. In other words, she’s about to be his new boss.
“I have no idea what to do and how to deal with this mess,” he whines. “It is clear this will be not only embarrassing but I will also be reporting to my ex. I am not in a position to find another job at present. There are no other international schools so finding another job in this country is not an option. Even finding a job elsewhere is not possible on such a short notice. These jobs usually open for school terms so I have to stay put for few months. But more importantly, I am happy and settled here so do not want to move. ”
This is me right now:
This story has the best ending! If only everyone who treated us badly got their comeuppance in the end.
Of course he regrets it now that she’s his boss
This guy doesn’t even seem sorry. Sure, he says he’s sorry about it now, when it can negatively impact him. But it’s too late to apologize without looking self-interested as hell. He sure sounds like a selfish coward who hasn’t changed at all.
I’m not an advice columnist. But there’s no advice that’s going to save this guy that doesn’t involve plastic surgery and a name change. It’s probably too late for that, too. The letter is going viral, and all his coworkers and his new boss have almost certainly seen it. It wouldn’t take much to track the story back to him.
This story is so satisfying. My only regret is that there isn’t a livestream on him so we could watch what was happening to him right now.
How do you think this guy can deal with this situation? Let us know in the comments.
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(H/T Ask a Manager, Image: iStockPhoto / LoulouVonGlup)
