BTS of a BSHT BMX Firm I worked some years ago. NDA.

-Boss seems pretty chill huh?

-Well, he's a boss

Those were the words of the guy who taught me everything I knew about BMX... during the 3 weeks he lasted before jumping ship.

Picture this:

You enter as a new recruit at a renowned, "prestigious" BMX brand. There are three other people in the office. First week seems nice, second week goes smoothly, and by the third week... you are completely, utterly alone.

What the actual fuck?

Turns out, I hadn’t just joined a company; I’d joined a sinking ship where the captain expected me to operate the entire engine room by myself. To make things better? I didn't know shit about BMX. Honestly, I didn't care about it then, and I don't care about it now. But suddenly, I was the one who had to handle the wrath of hundreds of pissed-off customers.

Because let me tell you about the shipping times. Orders took months. Sometimes, to be totally fair, the excuses were actually real. We were literally told that the overseas foundries were delaying our bike parts because they had to prioritize manufacturing military equipment and weaponry for the war in Ukraine over cranks and hubs. Crazy, right? But other times, the excuses were just pure, unadulterated bullshit to cover up the internal chaos.

And if you think the clients had it rough, let’s talk about my paycheck. I was making minimum wage, which would already be depressing enough if it was paid on time. Instead, my salary came in fractional, random payments. At one point, I went 50 straight days without seeing a single dime. Try paying rent with "corporate passion."

If you’re wondering how a business functions like this without immediately going bankrupt, here is the plot twist: it wasn't a real business. It was just an expensive toy for a grown man. The whole operation was kept on life support solely because a wealthy relative kept pumping cash into it to keep the owner’s ego afloat.

That’s why nobody gave a shit. We were so broke on an operational level that we almost lost our entire website because they couldn't even pay the monthly hosting fee on time. I am not joking. A "world-renowned" brand, nearly wiped off the internet over a double-digit bill.

At the beginning, I used to stress out and worry about everything. But after a while, the lack of pay and the sheer volume of work broke something inside me. I completely checked out emotionally.

The boiling point came during our biggest argument. I was drowning, completely unable to handle the workload of three people by myself. My boss, completely detached from reality, looked at me and asked, "What would you do with an employee who doesn’t do the work expected of them?"

At that point, my give-a-fuck meter was at absolute zero. I just looked back at him, shrugged, and said: "Do whatever you think is best."

After that massive argument, things weirdly went back to "normal" for a bit. He hired the new guy, and out of nowhere, my boss approached me and asked, "Hey, when are you taking your vacation days?"

We picked a date, and my final task was to train the new recruit until that day arrived.

When the day finally came, my boss took me outside the office, making sure his shiny new hire wouldn't witness the scene. He looked at me and said, "Look, today is going to be your last day at the company."

Honestly? I almost hugged the guy out of pure relief. But I had to play the part and act indignant, so I hit him with a standard, "Well, I don't agree with this decision because of x and y."

The funniest part? When we walked back inside, the new hire had already prepared and printed out all my unemployment and severance paperwork for me. I told you that guy was good—he literally knew how to do everything, including processing my own firing.

But the universe has a twisted sense of humor. While I was in the process of handing things over to him, we had started doing some deep cleaning of old paperwork and digital files.

What we found was pure comedy gold:

We unearthed 5 different resignation letters from the previous two years alone.

To top it off, on the ancient, dusty PC they assigned to me, we stumbled upon a file named: "Resignation_Letter_Template.docx".

They literally had a standardized, ready-to-go template for people quitting. That’s the level of turnover we are talking about.

I left, and that amazing, highly-skilled replacement who printed my paperwork? He realized where he was and resigned exactly two months later.

AMA.