I was sad because my friend was dying in the hospital. My manager noticed my demeanour and asked what’s wrong. She asked me if I needed to be there, but I said there’s nothing to be done.

Later that day I got a phone call from another friend saying it was the end. I put on my jacket and went to my manager’s office. I didn’t want to, but I started crying. She hugged me, got her jacket, and drove me to the hospital herself. (I didn’t have a car then, I’d planned to take the bus.)

My friend died, and that was the saddest time ever in my life. But I’ll always remember and appreciate the kindness my manager showed me.

My current workplace has a great president and my department head is also amazing.

The president handed me $100 and told me to get a nice bouquet of flowers for my mom who had been just diagnosed with Ekbom. He let me work remote for a week so I could drive out if state to take her to doctor’s appointments.

Recently, I asked again if I could work remote for a month while I help my mom sell her house so she can move closer to me. My department head said absolutely, no questions asked. The president also okayed it.

When I arrived first day on the job, I asked hiw long we took for lunch, and my department head said: take as long as you want. As long as you put in your 8 hours a day and finish your projects, you’re fine.

I love my job. The lack of micromanagement and the trust my employers have in us is worth so much more than I imagined.

When I first came to the USA I obviously did not have an EAD (employment authorization document) which would make it legal for me to work. I started to work at this place as a non-paid intern. 6 months later I got my EAD and I found out that the owner literally logged my hours without my knowledge and paid me a bonus for the last 6 months. He was an Egyptian immigrant and he said he knew how difficult it was. I owe a lot to that guy.

I worked security a while back for a private mom and pop type company. The boss, D, was a God amongst men. First off he had a glorious ass. Second was he was just exceptionally down to earth and kind. During my interview I had just come off a night shift and accidentally swore. I immediately realized and apologized. He just said “Oh I don’t fuckin care” with a smirk. I worked for him for a while before getting posted to a mall. He would pick me up occasionally or drop me off if he knew the busses were bad. Not because my being late would mess the schedule. Just because he could and wanted to.

With all the trauma I was still processing and with severe ADHD, my brain ran wild and imagined way too much. This is really bad when your job is just to stand at an entrance all day. After a couple of days where I just started crying randomly, I went to the security office of the mall that we were contracted to and said I had to dip. Boss called me on the way home asking why and if I was okay. I explained. He said to take as much time off as I needed, zero questions asked.

After a week he called me back asking if I was okay to come back. I said I wanted to take another week. He said sure. He paid me a minimum amount of hours I didn’t ask for in that week and when I brought it up he said that he didn’t know what I was talking about and then said the word wink. After that second week he called back and I was not okay. I was rapidly falling apart. I said I appreciated the opportunity he gave me but I’d have to quit so I didn’t waste his time and I’d bring the uniform in in a couple days. He said he didn’t allow me to quit and hung up. Couple days later I got papers in the mail saying I had been laid off instead so I was able to collect EI benefits and get extra med and health coverage.

Nicest boss I’ve ever had and I don’t know if anyone could come close.

Someone once came into my department’s office and started chewing me out for not getting a task done on time. My boss literally stepped in between me and the other person and told them, “we’ll do our due diligence and get back to you,” and then insisted they leave the office.

He and I then checked, and I had completed the task both correctly and on time. Someone else in a different department dropped the ball.

My boss then went to the office of the person who had yelled at me and gave them what-for.

I worked at a gas station for a while, at the time I was deeply depressed and suicidal. My boss had to deal with me vanishing from being hospitalized over a suicide attempt and he didn’t fire me, or reprimand me, he got me a get well soon card, and told me to let him know when I was up to come back.

I eventually left and ended up on disability, but even when I quit he was understanding, wished me the best, and told me if I was ever looking for work again to apply there.

Good fucking guy, really did his best to make our lives easier, and make sure we were doing ok.

My current manager is the best boss I’ve ever had so far. He doesn’t micromanage and he lets his team be as long as we do our jobs. He also approves almost anything we want to do as long as it’s reasonable. Lastly, he fully supported me to be relocated (which is hard to get approved and very expensive), which basically changed my life.

I’ve had several great bosses through the years. Ones who considered teaching me and developing my skills/career to be part of their primary job duties instead of feeling threatened. I learned a ton from them.

My current boss is also amazing. I’m a nurse at a hospital that just unionized, and she really puts her job on the line to make sure we have what we need to keep the patients on our unit safe. She’s a lot of the reason I didn’t quit a long time ago.

A previous employer. I had left so I heard about it later. A new boss had taken over, after the owner sold up. He was originally head of finance, so a beancounter through and through, or so I thought.

The warehouse manager (relatively young) was diagnosed with cancer. Obviously a big deal. He gave a heads up that he would need to take some time off for treatment etc, but would try and minimise it. He was (effectively) told ‘fuck that’. Instead he was only to come in when he wanted too. If he kept working, that’s fine, if they didn’t see him for 2 years, that’s also fine. No pay cut or worrying about his job.

He came in intermittently, as his health allowed. The warehouse mostly ran itself, since he’d done his job well. He had far less stress, and could focus on fighting, and his family. Unfortunately, cancer still won. The boss, (among other things) organised paying his widow over 6 months of his (the manager’s) salary. He couldn’t do much to help with the pain of loss, but he could make sure that financial stress wasn’t added to it.

It turns out bean counters can have a lot more heart than we give them credit for.

I’m a really shy person and tend to keep to myself but my boss at a startup I worked at once was an extremely friendly guy and got me to come out of my shell. He and his family are still my good friends now, a decade later. They’re my role models for what the family I would create should be. Once or twice a year, I take a week off and stay at their house. (It doesn’t hurt that they live near the beach in Florida now.)

I still introduce him as the guy who fired me :)

Not my boss but a guy who I’ve hired before and absolutely will hire again and again.

In the middle of a major project one of this guys key people learned his wife had terminal brain cancer. She had months to live, they had young kids. Ryan kept showing up and working until one day he didn’t. Assuming the worst I called the owner of his company and asked if everything was ok.

The owner told me they sent Ryan home until he was ready to come back… which meant until after she had passed and he’d grieved. Full pay and benefits for the guy, they just wanted him to spend the rest of her time together with the whole family. They also started a fundraiser for the kids education, that we tried to help as much as we could. They matched every donation.

Subsequently, I’ve hired this firm again even when they weren’t the cheapest option. I want to work with good people, not necessarily cheap ones. That’s how good people operate imo.