I Was Asked to Train My Higher-Paid Replacement — So I Taught My Boss an Unexpected Lesson

My boss told me to stay late every day to train my replacement. She would be making $85K. I made $55K—for the same role. When I asked why, HR shrugged and said, “She negotiated better.” I smiled and replied, “Happy to help!” The next morning, my boss froze when he walked in. I had organized every binder, file, and process into two stacks: “Current Role Tasks” and “Tasks Performed Voluntarily.” My replacement stared at the second pile like it was a mountain she never expected to climb.

For years, I’d unknowingly been doing the work of two people. Client escalations, vendor problems, cross-department coordination, scheduling system fixes—none of it was technically in my job description.

So I trained her on only the basics: logging in, organizing files, sending routine emails. Whenever she asked about anything more advanced, I simply said, “You’ll need to bring that to management. Those aren’t part of my official role.”

Continue reading…