When I was young, I worked at a company that said things like "we are family" - and knew exactly how to manipulate with it. I'd had a pretty rough year, my las

When I was young, I worked at a company that said things like "we are family" - and knew exactly how to manipulate with it. I'd had a pretty rough year, my last year there - a recent breakup, a deteriorating domestic situation, and a death march at work. Management was aware of all three. In the end, I decided to leave the company. The attempt to retain me was not more money, or really anything around comp - it was something along the lines of (a rough quote): "You really shouldn't leave. We're your family. In times like yours, people can push the people closest to them away, to their own self detriment." And I was shared some links to psychology sites, talking about how folks in crisis can push close loved ones away from them. Being young and naive, I gave some profuse thanks for enlightening me, promised to stay, reneged on the offer with the other employer... and a few days later, thought, "what on earth did they just do?!" Needless to say, I put my notice back in, took the other job, and never looked back. The silver lining is that I now have a pretty good radar for management using the "family" argument in manipulative ways.