Ever walk into your job one day....

[Captain Hindsight]

 

Same here. Except there was this crucial moment for me. I spent 10 years at a company, and after being a faithful stooge, my boss forced me to realize something: that I needed him more than he needed me, and he reached a point of prodding me to the edge.

 

In one meeting, I was being chastised and threatened for, honestly, no good reason, and I had enough. I wasn't going to take his schitt anymore, and I literally stood up to quit.

 

I'm still not sure why, but I chose to sit back down. I apologized for my attitude and assured my boss I would fix it immediately. He was happy to hear it. And I left his office starting to plan my exit. I gave myself a year.

 

This week was my company's 13th anniversary. I employ six people, most with family and mortgages and kids and lives, and it's ridiculously fulfilling. I'm making less money and have plenty to deal with, but I've never, ever been richer.

 

The idea of walking out and telling your boss to shove is a great fantasy, but it's a much better reality when you don't do it out of anger toward you boss, but with purpose for your life.

I am still feeling like I need to quit. Honestly its just making me depressed to have to go in every day. Nothing about the job is interesting to me and it highlights every weakness I have. If I got fired tomorrow, I think I'd actually be relieved more than upset.

 

I like my boss, I respect him and think he is good at what he does, but If I'm sitting in his chair in 5 years, I'll hate myself. I need a purpose, a reason to wake up everyday. This just isn't it.

[Chef Jim]

I am still feeling like I need to quit. Honestly its just making me depressed to have to go in every day. Nothing about the job is interesting to me and it highlights every weakness I have. If I got fired tomorrow, I think I'd actually be relieved more than upset.

 

I like my boss, I respect him and think he is good at what he does, but If I'm sitting in his chair in 5 years, I'll hate myself. I need a purpose, a reason to wake up everyday. This just isn't it.

So three months later and you're still lamenting?? Good God man use your super powers.

[Doc]

So three months later and you're still lamenting?? Good God man use your super powers.

 

He is. He's wishing he took the other job instead.

[Chef Jim]

 

He is. He's wishing he took the other job instead.

So he uses his super power for evil instead of goodness then.

[BADOLBILZ]

I am still feeling like I need to quit. Honestly its just making me depressed to have to go in every day. Nothing about the job is interesting to me and it highlights every weakness I have. If I got fired tomorrow, I think I'd actually be relieved more than upset.

 

I like my boss, I respect him and think he is good at what he does, but If I'm sitting in his chair in 5 years, I'll hate myself. I need a purpose, a reason to wake up everyday. This just isn't it.

 

I disagree with the idea that quitting a job is hard.......it's often pretty easy because it's instant gratification.

 

I'd suggest bearing down and trying to be great at what you do and once you reach that level if you feel the same way then move on.

 

Don't let a job beat you.......kick it's ass......then take the self confidence built from proving to yourself that you can fight thru adversity and build on that.

 

Generally speaking, managers come down on people that they know can do better but aren't fully applying themselves...........and if you dislike the job you may be giving less than a full effort, whether you think it's obvious or not.

 

And I'd echo the sentiment about looking for a job while you have a job........not from unemployment.

 

When you quit a job and then are out looking for a job..........you look like at best a bad decision maker and at worst broken.

 

Even if you get hired it will be filed away by management that you *may* have issues and it will affect how you are perceived/trusted.

 

It can have a very negative impact on your mobility within a company......quitters don't look like management stock and they tend to be kept near the top of lay-off or top-grade-off lists.

[DC Tom]

I am still feeling like I need to quit. Honestly its just making me depressed to have to go in every day. Nothing about the job is interesting to me and it highlights every weakness I have. If I got fired tomorrow, I think I'd actually be relieved more than upset.

 

I like my boss, I respect him and think he is good at what he does, but If I'm sitting in his chair in 5 years, I'll hate myself. I need a purpose, a reason to wake up everyday. This just isn't it.

 

I hit that limit today. I've busted my ass for the past three days fixing a problem, fixed it and did a damned good job, had a status meeting where a peer who just got back from vacation took all the credit, and our boss - who knows she did ****-all, praised her to the client for it.

 

I just hung up the phone in the middle of the status meeting, and went and played with my cats. Didn't get mad, just thought "Why do I think I have to put up with this bull ****?" and hung up the phone on my 35+ managers. Spent the rest of the day sending out resumes...because !@#$ 'em.

[The Poojer]

I had a recruiter email me in response to a conversation we'd been having since last week. He asked me what $$ amount would entice me to make a move. Having a job made it easy to seriously inflate the amount. I'm OK where I am, but if they bite, I'd probably jump in a heartbeat

[PromoTheRobot]

Count to 10, update your resume, go to work tomorrow and look for a new job while you still have A job

Ditto. Don't wear the scarlet letter "U" when looking for a new job. Also, while quitting a bad job may seem noble, it's a red flag to most potential employers. I've been in your situation many times but I never pulled the trigger until I had my next gig lined up.

 

At the end of 2003, I finally became self-employed. It's scary, but if you have a skill people value being a hired gun can be exhilarating. Oddly enough, some of the things that made me a bad employee, according to some of my bosses, made me a great freelancer. I don't know what you do but consider the freelance route. You could start down that path while employed, like I did.

Edited July 27, 2016 by PromoTheRobot

[Saxum]

And know you need to quit?

 

 

That happened to me today. I did something for work, messed something (minor) up and got scolded. I walked out of my bosses office and decided right then that I'm officially done there. Its been a year, I still don't feel comfortable there and don't enjoy anything I do for my job. I'm done.

 

Now what? Anyone ever been in this position?

 

Yes it is a bit long.

 

I saved a contract by working 80 hours straight (no sleep, change of clothes, etc) while boss and entire rest of team were all away overseas. He called from England on a Monday asking if the software help system would seriously take 160 hours to complete as I estimated; I told him yes and I warned him that the demo he was there for would not pass without it. He said that they have asked to see it, very first day and I told him to delay it until end of demo. I worked from then until Thursday afternoon non-stop only leaving lab for bathroom and snack machines. I then contacted him and told help system was ready for testing. He said what happened to my 160 hour estimate? I told him it was only half done but it should satisfy test with some words such as "We have stubs in for all the online help implemented but we need to work with site expert on wording it properly for operational use". He said still does not explain estimate being so wrong. I told him I had not left work since I spoke to him on Monday working straight without sleep to get prototype interface to work including testing all of the plugins to software. He just was quiet for a few minutes and then said he would have engineer update software from files I sent him and hung up.

 

We got approval for contract to continue with provision that context sensitive help system (which the customer stated was best part of program in ratings) was filled in. Without it we would have lost contract.

 

Two months late I get my review expecting a raise and everything is rated well except there is note on my appearance in office citing a manager comments from another team. The only time I interacted with that manager was during my 80 hour software session and I explained that to my manager. He stated he under the circumstances but I should have taken time out despite it. There was no time to do so I told him but he ignored me. I got a review of C with negative remark and no raise. I was told to sign review even if I did not agree with it. I did also signing notice I was resigning and my resignation date. Coincidentally the date was April 1 which was last Friday of period. He asked if it was a joke and I said no.

 

Later I was visited by several officers in company including president of company. President said he did not want to lose me and offered to move me to any other program which had the budget. I asked if he knew I saved the program from my actions and did he realize that the criticism was due to that effort. He said he did, several others in company said that manager had missed that this was a hard requirement in demo. I asked if I stayed would my review be changed and the answer is no and policy does not allow manager's reviews to be overridden. I told him then my resignation and date specified was final.

 

I contacted a former assistant manager who was at another company and told he had an opening for me and I could go earlier than my resignation date but I told him no, I would commit to new job but at new date. For remaining time there I had multiple managers come down to see me asking if there was anything they could do to get me to stay but I told them even they were able to get me a promotion with raise it would not remove the stain from record there and best to get a fresh start. One talked me into doing work 'on the side' for him when I left. My boss never gave me any new work for rest of time at company telling me just to document all of my previous work but all of the work had been documented far beyond company standard already.

[IDBillzFan]

I am still feeling like I need to quit. Honestly its just making me depressed to have to go in every day. Nothing about the job is interesting to me and it highlights every weakness I have. If I got fired tomorrow, I think I'd actually be relieved more than upset.

 

I like my boss, I respect him and think he is good at what he does, but If I'm sitting in his chair in 5 years, I'll hate myself. I need a purpose, a reason to wake up everyday. This just isn't it.

 

First of all, If you're counting on your job to be the reason to wake every day, you have bigger needs than a new job.

 

Second of all, precisely what have you done to better your lot or increase your chances for work at a better job?

[Gugny]

Count to 10, update your resume, go to work tomorrow and look for a new job while you still have A job

 

It really can't be said better than this.

 

After being laid off, I was in the position of trying to find a job before my severance ran out. It was not easy and I ended up taking a Sales job, when I am not a Salesperson.

 

But job hunting while a paycheck was coming in was a hell of a lot less stressful.

 

Good luck. Keep your head up. The right job is out there for you somewhere. Use your experiences over the past year to help determine what it is that you're looking for in a work culture/environment.

 

Good luck, man.

[KD in CA]

And know you need to quit?

 

No.

[BADOLBILZ]

 

Yes it is a bit long.

 

I saved a contract by working 80 hours straight (no sleep, change of clothes, etc) while boss and entire rest of team were all away overseas. He called from England on a Monday asking if the software help system would seriously take 160 hours to complete as I estimated; I told him yes and I warned him that the demo he was there for would not pass without it. He said that they have asked to see it, very first day and I told him to delay it until end of demo. I worked from then until Thursday afternoon non-stop only leaving lab for bathroom and snack machines. I then contacted him and told help system was ready for testing. He said what happened to my 160 hour estimate? I told him it was only half done but it should satisfy test with some words such as "We have stubs in for all the online help implemented but we need to work with site expert on wording it properly for operational use". He said still does not explain estimate being so wrong. I told him I had not left work since I spoke to him on Monday working straight without sleep to get prototype interface to work including testing all of the plugins to software. He just was quiet for a few minutes and then said he would have engineer update software from files I sent him and hung up.

 

We got approval for contract to continue with provision that context sensitive help system (which the customer stated was best part of program in ratings) was filled in. Without it we would have lost contract.

 

Two months late I get my review expecting a raise and everything is rated well except there is note on my appearance in office citing a manager comments from another team. The only time I interacted with that manager was during my 80 hour software session and I explained that to my manager. He stated he under the circumstances but I should have taken time out despite it. There was no time to do so I told him but he ignored me. I got a review of C with negative remark and no raise. I was told to sign review even if I did not agree with it. I did also signing notice I was resigning and my resignation date. Coincidentally the date was April 1 which was last Friday of period. He asked if it was a joke and I said no.

 

Later I was visited by several officers in company including president of company. President said he did not want to lose me and offered to move me to any other program which had the budget. I asked if he knew I saved the program from my actions and did he realize that the criticism was due to that effort. He said he did, several others in company said that manager had missed that this was a hard requirement in demo. I asked if I stayed would my review be changed and the answer is no and policy does not allow manager's reviews to be overridden. I told him then my resignation and date specified was final.

 

I contacted a former assistant manager who was at another company and told he had an opening for me and I could go earlier than my resignation date but I told him no, I would commit to new job but at new date. For remaining time there I had multiple managers come down to see me asking if there was anything they could do to get me to stay but I told them even they were able to get me a promotion with raise it would not remove the stain from record there and best to get a fresh start. One talked me into doing work 'on the side' for him when I left. My boss never gave me any new work for rest of time at company telling me just to document all of my previous work but all of the work had been documented far beyond company standard already.

 

 

Working 80 hours straight for anything short of saving a child's life or the universe is craziness and it got the reverse reaction you expected because it's perceived as a very poor decision.

 

You thought you were being superman......and in terms of effort you were.....but you dehumanize yourself when you do extreme/dangerous things in the name of something that doesn't warrant that kind of risk.

 

They didn't ask you to do that........it bothered them and clearly made them feel uncomfortable that you did it........and further bothered them that you felt you deserved extra credit for it.

 

Even though they know you are very good at what you do they wouldn't budge on it because their feeling about it hadn't changed and their mortgages were still going to get paid if you left.

 

If you ever work that hard do it for your own peace of mind and stand on your results.........just show them the baby.

 

I've been down the road of being unappreciated after doing unsolicited and absolutely crazy work before so I learned this lesson long ago.

 

Later as an employer I've been on that other end and felt the disgusted "wtf did you do that for?" feeling when hearing about someone staying up all night to do important tasks for work and then acting like they deserved extra credit or leeway.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

 

First of all, If you're counting on your job to be the reason to wake every day, you have bigger needs than a new job.

 

?

My same reaction.

 

It amazes me how people define the meaning of life by the job they do. Recipe for disaster. You will never be happy.

[DC Tom]

Later as an employer I've been on that other end and felt the disgusted "wtf did you do that for?" feeling when hearing about someone staying up all night to do important tasks for work and then acting like they deserved extra credit or leeway.

 

Yeah, I'm doing that right now. My management decided something that wasn't a priority Monday - after being high priority Friday, after not being a priority the Thursday before. etc. for three months - is now "highest priority" today (last night, actually, about 12:30am I got the email).

 

So when I committed to having it done Friday (less out of dedication than out of a sense of "the quicker I get this done, the less time they'll have to change their minds AGAIN") by working the next 60 hours straight, they said "That's unacceptable" meaning they wanted it sooner. I don't remember exactly what I responded to that (something on the order of "You're going to have to accept it,") but **** got ugly shortly afterwards.

 

I understand your "WTF did you do that for?" point of view...but how the hell do you deal with managers who not only expect that, but expect you to bend the rules of time and space to cram ten pounds of **** in a five pound bag?

 

And yes, I'm sending out resumes. I don't want extra credit, I want to not work overtime to bail out my project managers for their incompetent management.

 

First of all, If you're counting on your job to be the reason to wake every day, you have bigger needs than a new job.

 

Yeah...but I really have nothing else. It's work, or internet porn.

[Johnny Hammersticks]

This thread reminds me of some advice I was given by a man far wiser than JH. If you're not happy with your job, accuse your boss of sexual harassment. Then watch the severance package roll in.

[Gordio]

My same reaction.

 

It amazes me how people define the meaning of life by the job they do. Recipe for disaster. You will never be happy.

 

 

Couldn't agree more. Maybe when I was a bit younger I was a little more gung ho trying to climb the corporate ladder but those times are far gone. Maybe it is a lousy attitude but I am in my 40's now & I am where I am & have no intention of busting my ass to get promoted for a job that maybe pays more but also requires a lot more work. I view work as a means to an end. I see some of my other friends that sure they make more money than me but they also put work ahead of everything else including their wife/kids/recreation. I feel sorry for those people. It also helps that I have a very laid back boss & his boss is even more laid back. MY boss is one of my best friends which helps. I get my work done & I do a good job for him & return he lets me come & go pretty much whenever I want. I don't know. A job is a job, nothing more nothing less.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Gordio

[IDBillzFan]

My same reaction.

 

It amazes me how people define the meaning of life by the job they do. Recipe for disaster. You will never be happy.

 

Job they have. Car they drive. Clothes they wear. Diplomas on walls. 'Likes' on social media. Phone we carry. Sports team wins/losses.

 

Our collective sense of importance is in dire need of recalibration.

[John from Riverside]

The old saying "dont jump from a tree branch unless you have another one to land on" is absolutely true....especially if you have family members that depend on you.

 

I worked two jobs a while back one of them was delivering pizzas as a secondary income (and I would use it to fund my daughter's acting project)

 

On day

 

- My daughter told me she was taking a break.....and getting a job

- A co worker at my pizza place.....the oldest driver (I was second oldest) did not show up for work.....which was very unlike him. It was later found out he died in his sleep.

- I was getting worse and worse pain from one of my knee ligiments from the repetative motion of side stepping in and out of my car on deliveries

 

One morning I woke up.....walked into my bosses office and said...."sorry Boss...its time"

 

Gave 2 weeks notice.

[dib]

I did that the last three years of my career.