The employee who quit to pursue their dreams got nothing but well wishes.
The employee who was leaving to join a competitor got the silent treatment for their notice period.
Both employees are leaving the company for the foreseeable future, never to return and yet it’s their destinations that provokes two opposing reactions.
To take a stab at the reason why…
I think the bad blood comes from those in denial about the crappiness of the company.
These people secretly want to leave and know all too well why that employee is quitting and hearing the news that someone else is getting out reminds them that ‘maybe this is a terrible place to work’ and that thought is irritating and hard to confront.
Because the people who love working in the company will happily wave the quitter goodbye, dismissing them as delusional.
So, when someone is quitting to pursue their dreams it’s easier to justify that it’s not a reflection on the company, they were going to do it no matter who they were working for.
Thomas Duggan 