An exemplary post for the free bulletin board

Reposted content.
I finally met the "MZ generation" new employee I had only heard about.
I work as a team leader at a small company.
To be honest, when I saw posts or memes about them in online communities, I thought it was a bit exaggerated.
'No way, could someone like that actually exist? It's probably just because we're only hearing the writer's side.'
But then, one joined our company.
First of all, they weren't an incompetent employee.
Their work ability was upper-middle, and they worked hard professionally. They were never late. In fact, they arrived 10–15 minutes before the official start time.
However, they would arrive early, put on earphones to watch something, and then turn on the computer exactly at 9:00 AM.
Their body arrived early, but their professional connection started right on the dot.
Of course, I didn't intend to complain about just that.
But as we spent time together, they kept making me hesitate in unexpected ways.
When I read about this in communities, it was just a few lines, but experiencing it firsthand felt like a month-long serialized novel.
1. We sat at the same table, but we were watching different broadcasts
About once a week, I eat lunch in the office with the employees.
It wasn't always like this.
At first, we just ate together, but gradually, the time spent looking at phones during meals increased.
Then last week, even with me sitting right in front of them, they ate while wearing earphones and watching something.
I tried to strike up a conversation.
They answered once.
I tried again.
This time, they didn't hear me.
Even though we were sitting at the same table, I had to check if the other person was even in a "receivable" state before starting a conversation.
"What are you watching?"
"Oh, just something."
And they kept watching.
I didn't know what they were watching, but I could tell they had no intention of talking to me right then.
So I said it as kindly as possible.
"Let's talk a bit while we eat when we're together. It makes me feel a bit left out~"
They said they understood.
It seemed they stopped watching.
But the earphones stayed in.
My request was reflected only as a "pause."
2. The office was too quiet, so their boyfriend joined remotely
At some point, they started wearing an earphone in one ear even while working.
I didn't say much.
Other employees started noticing too, but I let it slide for now.
Then came Friday.
It was a day when neither I nor the Department Manager were in the office.
I heard from the employees later that they worked while on the phone with their boyfriend.
At first, I thought it was just a brief call.
Since the accounting staff was also making constant chattering sounds nearby, I assumed they were just on a quick call.
But listening closely, it turned out they had been on the phone continuously for 1–2 hours.
They said the employee didn't even hang up when the Deputy General Manager arrived in the afternoon.
The employee worked while talking to their boyfriend,
and the surrounding employees worked while listening to the conversation with the boyfriend.
It was as if an unofficial remote participant had joined the office while I was away.
At the time, I let this pass without much comment.
When I later asked why they needed to listen to music, the explanation was this:
They said they like talking while working, but since they didn't talk much with the Assistant Manager in accounting, the office felt too silent. They said they listened to music because they need a certain level of ambient noise to increase work efficiency.
I thought it was a quiet office,
but to this employee, it was an office lacking background noise.
However, needing music and needing a boyfriend for 1–2 hours were two different things in my view.
3. I said let's talk on Monday, but the employee wanted to rest on Monday
At the time, the employee was in their first month, and the probation period was two months.
On Friday, while I was away on a business trip, I received a KakaoTalk message regarding using annual leave.
I told them let's talk on Monday.
But at lunchtime, I received another message via personal KakaoTalk.
It turned out they were asking if they could take annual leave this coming Monday.
I thought Monday was the day for our conversation,
but the employee thought Monday was their day off.
We had different schedules for the same Monday.
I called and asked:
"If you need to take Monday off urgently, you should have told me in advance so we could coordinate while I was here. Is it urgent? What is it about?"
They said they couldn't say because it was a personal matter.
I was thinking of trying to accommodate them if I knew the situation, but the employee's stance was that they couldn't explain because it was personal.
Eventually, I said this:
"I could accommodate you if I knew the circumstances, but if you bring it up so suddenly without any explanation, I have no choice but to tell you that according to company policy, it is difficult to use annual leave during the probation period."
They said they understood.
The call ended.
It didn't feel like it ended with mutual understanding.
4. I was considerate of the bus schedule, but the work deadline was adjusted to the bus instead
The employee didn't have a car and commuted by bus.
Since the bus interval was about 20–30 minutes, the company was considerate by allowing them to leave 5–10 minutes early to catch the bus.
Then one day, they were working on a task that had to be finished that day.
Around 5:50 PM, they organized what they had done so far and sent it to my KakaoTalk.
And it looked like they were about to leave.
So I called them over.
"This is work that needs to be finished today, and it's not a long task, so shouldn't you finish it before leaving? If you have to leave early because of the bus, you should explain how much you've done and ask if it's okay to leave first."
I told them to do that from next time, and I let them go that day.
In my mind, I was 'being considerate so they could leave a little early for the bus.'
But the employee's behavior that day seemed closer to 'it's bus time, so I'm sending you what I've done so far.'
Was what I thought "coordination based on the situation,"
while what the employee thought was "a fixed clock-out time"?
5. I suggested talking outside, but I was already outside
And then, Monday.
The employee came to work.
Around 11:20 AM, I left the office for an external schedule.
But while I was out, a KakaoTalk message arrived.
"I have something to say, can we talk outside?"
I was already outside.
We had clearly been in the same office just a moment ago, but after I left, they contacted me via KakaoTalk to talk outside.
On Friday, when I wasn't there, they asked about Monday's leave via KakaoTalk,
and on Monday, when I wasn't there, they requested a meeting via KakaoTalk.
The chat window was more active when I was out than when we were in the same space.
I called them immediately.
"What's going on? Is it something serious?"
"It's serious to me."
"Are you saying you want to quit?"
They said yes.
Around 1:00 PM, I went back to the office to talk.
They said they weren't feeling well due to a cold and wanted to quit immediately.
So I told them to pack their things and go.
Their month of company life ended that afternoon.
6. When I heard the reason for resignation, the entire office appeared
The reason given was that they felt they weren't a good fit because of the things that had happened.
But it wasn't just a story involving me.
They said the Deputy General Manager told them not to openly watch things when eating with the Department Manager.
They said the Department Manager told them to clean the restroom thoroughly during Friday cleaning.
The employee said they felt a sense of disillusionment, thinking, "It's not like I came here to clean."
They said the office was too silent because they didn't talk much with the Assistant Manager in accounting.
They didn't fit with the Team Leader,
the Deputy General Manager criticized their eating habits,
the Department Manager criticized their cleaning,
and the Assistant Manager didn't talk to them.
While listening to the reason for resignation, every character in the office was mentioned.
If I were to summarize what I heard in one line, it was this:
"The people at this company are unfairly picking on me."
Of course, the employee didn't literally say it that way.
It is the summary as I perceived it.
On our side, we thought we were just having necessary conversations as we lived together, but from the employee's perspective, it might have felt like everyone in the company was taking turns taking a jab at them.
7. "I don't care as long as they do their job well"
Since they had decided to quit anyway, I asked candidly about what I was truly curious about.
It felt like I was finally meeting the "new employee" I had only heard about or read about in communities.
I wanted to know what they were actually thinking.
"At your previous company, did you also eat while wearing earphones and watching something?"
They said they did that because they used to eat alone.<
Come to think of it, that was the employee's usual way of eating,
but to me, it was a situation where someone I was eating with suddenly retreated into their own private time.
I asked again.
"Later, when you get promoted and have subordinates, would you be okay if they did the same thing?"
The answer was simple.
"I don't care as long as they do their job well."
This is where the story gets a bit complicated.
In reality, this employee was quite good at their job.
They were also diligent with their tasks.
So, it wasn't a simple story that could be summarized as 'they act like that despite being incompetent.'
The employee thought that doing the job well was everything,
but I thought that the way we work together is also part of the job.
For one month, we had been living our company lives in the same office based on different standards.
8. Even at the very end, if only they had asked just once
After the conversation ended, the employee packed their things.
But then, the bag they were using to hold their belongings caught my eye.
It was a heavy-duty work bag, like a sturdy shopping basket used for moving items during parcel processing at the company.
There was no mention of whether they could take it.
They just packed their things in it and left.
Honestly, I thought, 'how much could one bag be worth?'
But that was exactly where my frustration lay, even until the very end.
"Can I take this?"
That one sentence would have been enough.
When they left early because of the bus,
when they left work unfinished that day,
and even when they were packing their things into the company bag at the end.
I wanted to exchange a word before they moved,
but the employee moved based on their own judgment.
They arrived on time and did their work well.
But in the end, without ever being in sync,
the employee resigned, carrying their belongings in a company work bag.
The story of the new employee I had only heard about and seen in memes.
Whenever I read such posts,
I used to think, 'You can't know just by hearing the writer's side,'
but now, I have become the writer.