From job loss to payback: A woman who worked as a buyer for a multi-billion-dollar global company shared on Reddit how her employer laid her off just before her retirement—only to call her back months later, desperate for help. Her story, which has struck a chord with thousands online, sheds light on how corporate cost-cutting measures can backfire.

Eight Years of Service, Gone in a 10% Salary Cut

According to her post, she had been working for eight years at the company, which owns several well-known tool brands. When corporate management ordered every location to reduce salary costs by 10%, her office decided to lay off three salaried employees.

“I had been there 8 years and it was well known that I planned to retire in a little over a year at 59-1/2. I had planned to spend my final year documenting processes and procedures that until then had only been verbally passed on to me by my former boss (who had been there 37 years before retiring),” she wrote.

She added that she was the most experienced among the buyers. “There were 2 other buyers who each had less than 1 year with the company. So I was the go-to for all the questions. Our boss (65M–Purchasing Manager) was not hands on. Didn’t even know how to issue a purchase order.”

The woman suspected she was chosen for layoff because her salary was the highest in the department. “Since I was laid off at 58 I couldn’t access 401k funds to live. But my dad stepped in and said he’d cover me for the year. (Only child and he said why wait till he’s dead). So I retired.”

Company Calls Back—But on Its Own Terms

Four months after her layoff—and just as she began collecting unemployment—she heard from former colleagues that both replacement buyers had quit within two weeks of each other. Soon after, her phone rang.

“1st week of the new year, my phone rings and it’s the HR manager. Asking if I’d be willing to come back. So I ask, what’s it paying? She gives me a # that’s only $3/hr more than I had been making. (NOTE: they’re planning to hire me thru a temp agency with no benefits). I said, that’s not going to work for me,” she recalled.

The HR manager asked her to name her own terms. “She said, let me know what you need and we’ll go from there. So I talked to my husband and decided to go for it.”

The Comeback—and a Lesson in Leverage

She then sent her offer via email. “I’ll come back for 13 weeks. Work 4 days a week. I want 5 paid vacation days to take in those 13 weeks. And I want $xx per hour. (Almost twice what I had been making). I went high assuming they’d counter. She called immediately and said great can you start Monday?”

The woman agreed and returned that winter, making “a ton of money.” She spent her time documenting procedures and training a new employee—though, as she noted, “She was asking the same questions the day I left as she was the first day of her 9 weeks of training!!”

When the company later expected her to answer questions without pay, she stood her ground. “I told them if you want to call me and ask questions we need to set up a consulting agreement. They wouldn’t do it. And never called. Thank goodness.”

Sweet Revenge, Served with Humor

In a humorous twist, she also described how she subtly reminded her boss of their past decision every time he sought her help. “During my time back every time my boss asked me a question about how something was done (yes I had to train him too as he realized how lacking he was in knowledge)… I would preface my answer with ‘well before I was fired, we did…’ it was hilarious to see the look on his face.”

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