Quitting a job...

[prprincess]

Ages ago when I was in my early 20s and lived with my mother. Now that I'm supporting a family with my husband, I wouldn't dream of it!

 

[LilyWDW]

Yes. I was having anxiety attacks every single day because of that job. Just thinking about having to go and do it had me in tears and throwing up. So after talking to some people who I trusted, I left. I ended up working 3 part time jobs to help make it, but even that was better then what I was doing before. Now I have afull time job and a very part time online job and am so much happier.

 

[wgeo]

I did 3 years ago and it was the best move I've made - however like someone said earlier Huge caveat - I had discussed it with my spouse first and we agreed it was the right call and that we could live off his salary until I found something else.

 

[china mom]

Didn't exactly quit but retired early and unexpectedly without a job lined up.

Original plan, retire in 2014 with a second career lined up. Had a falling out with my Chief in 2010 and told him "I'm outta here" and walked away without a job lined up (was eligible for full retirement at the time).

Fortunately for me, my retirement income was enough to live on with minimal bet tightening.

I tried staying home for a little while. Tried working part time for a couple of years. Now I am back at full time but put about 70% of my pay into savings so that I can walk away from this job the moment it stops being fun.

 

[RedAngie]

I left my job of almost 10 years to move to the West Coast when exH was transferred there. His salary was enough that mine wasn't necessary.

After three years I did get a job there, but realized it was a toxic environment within the first two weeks. I was ready to quit after a month but held on while I searched for something else. Finally after three months there I couldn't handle it any longer and quit without a new job lined up. It took about three more months for me to find another job elsewhere.

 

[dadtoagirl03]

I've wanted to very badly a couple times, however I'm the main breadwinner so it wasn't an option for me. The area in which I live isn't ripe with replacement jobs therefore that plays into the decision as well.

 

[Nakkira]

I want to so hard right now. I am searching for a new job as we speak but it is VERY temping to quit BEFORE replacing

 

[soccerdad72]

Yes - to be a SAHD.

I actually had worked out a flex time schedule with my boss at the time, but upper management nixed it, so I put in my notice at that point. I ended up back at the company about 8 months later when that same boss moved to a new department and was looking for a part time analyst.

 

[mousefan73]

Not since I was a teenager and I'm sure it was for some inane reason considering my then age.

I was also a teenager, either 16 or 17.. In high school. but it was for a good reason. I was simply MISERABLE.

I worked for some telemarketing company. Yes, embarassing as it is, I was one of those annoying people that called you in the early 90s saying "you qualifed for a Discover Card". Worked maybe 3 weekends... I walked into my bosses office and said " I am too young to be this unhappy". The look on his face! I remember it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, I drove home and my mom and dad were like what are you doing home. I told them.. All was good. I had such a feeling of relief, and Happiness.

Months later I overheard some girls in the halls passing between periods at school talking about this company and how they havent been getting their pay checks..Place closed down soon after..

 

[NYCgrrl]

I was also a teenager, either 16 or 17.. In high school. but it was for a good reason. I was simply MISERABLE.

I worked for some telemarketing company. Yes, embarassing as it is, I was one of those annoying people that called you in the early 90s saying "you qualifed for a Discover Card". Worked maybe 3 weekends... I walked into my bosses office and said " I am too young to be this unhappy". The look on his face! I remember it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, I drove home and my mom and dad were like what are you doing home. I told them.. All was good. I had such a feeling of relief, and Happiness.

Months later I overheard some girls in the halls passing between periods at school talking about this company and how they havent been getting their pay checks..Place closed down soon after..

Don't you worry about a thing, prissy mama. With thanks to Stevie Wonder.

For a few summers I worked for Time-Life selling books and TV Guide. Toll free numbers were new and many call recipients still enjoyed getting calls from people outside their area code. Maybe I sold other magazines too but the "Guide" stuck out in my mind due to a call I had where the man on the other end consistently corrected my enunciation of "TV Guide". For him it was pronounced "T" pause "V" pause "Giad". For me it was pronounced "TV" "guid". Didn't sell him a durn thing but it was fun learning about regional pronunciations, LOL. I also worked for a market research company coding surveys and occasionally interviewing subjects (paid more). My favorite coding job was for hemorrhoids and they were called sufferers. For at least 20 pages . The terminology made for great lunchtime jokes.
The money went into my banking account and helped pay for my school outfits and that of my younger sister.

Market research and restaurant work helped pay my way through my first college degree and I still answer every "sillay" survey giver that calls in empathy for the crappy job they currently have.

My older sister had more fortitude than me. She spent a summer working for a trucking company listening to a man curse out his children, wife, and mistress, as they asked for money, and called her outside of her name. At the end of the summer she un-alphabetized as many files as she could, threw files in the air, and dared him to report her to whoever. I'd have screwed him over in June or July. I still recall the purple patch pocket jeans she bought me for school. They were as ugly as sin but gosh I wanted them.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Once, almost 23 years ago.

I had just had our son. He was premature and couldn't go to daycare because of that. (He wasn't old enough) I was at the end of my 12 weeks of Family Leave.

Now, my employer had extended leave for others, but they weren't willing to do it for me. Or at least my manager wasn't willing to do it for me.

I was told to come in or quit. They figured that I would figure something out with daycare.

My husband told me to tell them to . . . . well, in a round about way, Johnny Paycheck it. So, I did. We had some lean years for a while. But looking back, it was the best thing that I ever did. I am very blessed to have been about to not work full time since.

 

[WDWBarb]

I did once about a decade ago. I hit that last straw and literally walked out. I had been putting money away for awhile because I just didn't know if I could continue to take it. After my grand exit, I was terrified because I didn't have anything lined up at all and I had a strict non-compete.

I was very fortunate to find a job that ended up being a dream job almost right away.

I can't say that I wouldn't do it again, but in retrospect, it was incredibly risky to do.

 

[low-key]

Since High School I only had 2 jobs, Navy 78-82, (Current Job 82- )once you let me in, Im not leaving

 

[OhhBother]

My husband did last year. He was a newspaper editor. New management put processes in place that were not in line with my husband's morals and ethics. So he walked away. He ended up in a much better job a couple of months later. But when he walked out, we had no back-up plan. We just knew he couldn't stay.

 

[dotfurio]

It was easier when the jobs I quit were minimum wage and didn't require any skill set. I knew I could go out and find something else. Plus I was still living at home so no major financial responsibilities. It's a lot harder when you're on your own and depend on the income. When I had to quit my x-ray job due to an injury it was terrifying because I had invested so much time, money, and education into it. Plus there was the added expense of going back to college for a new career.

 

[ronandannette]

I've wanted to very badly a couple times, however I'm the main breadwinner so it wasn't an option for me. The area in which I live isn't ripe with replacement jobs therefore that plays into the decision as well.

This. In my imagination I quit very dramatically, very often! IRL I’m also our primary source of income and with 13 years in a well-compensated mid-management role, a lateral or upward move elsewhere just isn’t going to happen. So I work to live, give 100% for 50 hours a week and leave it all completely behind when I walk out for the night. I couldn’t handle laying awake nights agonizing over it or letting it make me sick so I keep it very compartmentalized emotionally. If I hit the lotto tomorrow I wouldn’t even go back to say goodbye.

 

[lanejudy]

I left a job once when I was in my mid-20's. Management was changing, and it just wasn't a good fit anymore and I was extremely stressed over it. I wasn't able to adequately job-search while working. They even had the nerve to send me a letter by FedEx the next day that was C.O.D. - I refused it, which I'm sure ticked them off to no end as they then had to pay to send it (I guess there were legally required to inform me of options for Cobra). I was young, single, and self-supporting. I didn't exactly have another job lined up but I did have a plan -- the very next day I signed up with a temp agency and accepting assignments from them within a couple of days. I also picked up a part-time retail position. After about a year of (mostly) long-term temp assignments, it lead to a temp-to-hire position with my current employer.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Yep. In the mid-90s, I had worked for two largish corporations and was tired of the big company politics and atmosphere. I took a job as a account executive for a small PR agency. Before starting, I could tell the owner/CEO was a bit different. He was kind of loud, had a big personality, seemed quirky. But I had encountered lots of personality types before that and he seemed fine otherwise. He explained his plan and vision for the agency and thought my prior experience and skills would fit in nicely.

When I first started, I guess he was on his best behavior, as he was in my interviews. Other employees were commenting that they were glad I was there because he was being nicer. I learned what that meant after about a month when he dropped the act. He was swearing constantly in meetings (even with clients). He was a horrible snob, calling the assistant to our client CEO a "peon" to her face. He outright lied. He ate constantly, sending the receptionist to the cafe downstairs several times a day to get him greasy food. That was his choice, except he would constantly complain that he needed new pants because his were getting too tight. Then he announced in a client meeting that he had lost 15 pounds in the past six weeks (as he grabbed another cookie from the plate). I came close to calling him out as a liar, but I held my tongue. He also called out every single thing I did if it wasn't his way. I had been writing press releases for years. He showed me one of my drafts and proceeded to explain for 30 minutes why a comma was in the wrong place. I told him it was right either way, but it was a style issue. That was my writing style. He said, "Oh no! If you work for me, you do things my way!" I was not about to become a robot in the image of this clown, so I quit. I was outta there! My DH was working and we had a decent savings account. I was only off work for seven weeks until I found a job I loved. Life is too short to deal with idiots everyday.

 

[Shelley Chiarats]

I quit my first job as a teenager because I was miserable. I had gotten hired for the summer at an Amusement Park cattle call. I was supposed to be in Attractions but then got put into Food & Beverage. The uniforms were awful but I thought I would stick it out selling drinks and popcorn and what not but then they stuck me in the burger shack with this humongous (in my mind at the time) grill that was hot and filthy and told me to clean it. I quit about three to four weeks before I was supposed to be done for the summer.

It was two years later before I got another job but that was because I was doing school and sports and had no reason to. But I did end up at another Family Fun Center this time in Attractions. I eventually moved up in the company and had to work on a similar grill but this time I had someone to show me how to use it and it was clean to begin with.

I quit other jobs five other times when my husband and I moved from state to state to pursue his education and jobs in his field. But I always did those with at least 2 weeks notice and sometimes even more as we knew ahead of time when we moving.

I have been laid off twice in my time. And I have worked for Temp Agencies in many places before finding my permanent gigs in each new town. Only one temp job did I quit before its completion. It was a warehouse pick/pack job. The company was expanding and they needed help but the employees who were already there saw the temps as interlopers and were not very welcoming. So then they started an overnight crew and I agreed to switch. So I foolishly thought that would mean that I would go home to rest up as they wanted us to start that night. But they thought that since we were there we should work some first. After six hours when they reluctantly let me go with (eye rolling) "If you have too." I left and after much upset decided not to go back.

 

[EscalatorKid]

Sort of.

I quit my last job about 8 years ago at a wine/spirit store because I had a couple of $20 shortages in my drawer. (I didn't find out until a few years later that the one night manager was taking $20 from people's drawers.) Basically they would browbeat you into paying it; if you didn't pay it, they wouldn't schedule you and essentially force you out.

I got a random shortage three times within a year and it was ALWAYS an even $20. I called my Mom on my lunchbreak and broke down in tears; she told me that it was fishy and that I should just quit and have a blast for the rest of the summer instead of working for two and a half hours for free all the time. I put my two weeks' notice in the next day and quit on June 28, right at the start of the July 4 rush I know it was incredibly inconvenient. (I harbor no illusions that I was anything but utterly replaceable.) The Manager's eyes just about bugged out of her head when I saw her reading my Two Weeks'. She didn't see it coming and I didn't tell ANYONE. She never said a word though.

I interviewed for my sub teaching positions the following September and was hired immediately. So I took a two-month vacation doing absolutely diddly-squat. I more or less quit about 6 weeks ahead of when I planned to. I knew I'd get hired at those schools, so it wasn't a massive risk. I doubted I'd have a problem getting hired anywhere fresh out of college with my Master's.

So, not a big deal, I guess.