Have you ever walked off a job?

And no I have not walked off my job nor am I thinking about it. I ask this as we had one young man working in produce who did not get along well with the produce lead and ending out walking off the job - on his way out he flipped everyone off and said This is to all of you except Rob and Christie (Christie is another AGM that treats the support staff well just as I do). It's nice in a way to have this roundabout compliment but now we are down yet one more person.

And i digress. Have any of you pulled this before? Yes, I have (surprise LOL). But only in the food and beverage world. Rob

My kids were child actors and it so happened that the same week I got a job as a word processor for a market research company, my son got a part in a play at Lincoln Center, my other son got a part in a community theatre play, and my husband was about to leave home for 3 months with my daughter who had a part in Lassie.

I really didn't like the job but I needed it. I really missed my husband and daughter, and hated having to hire someone to drive my son to rehearsals in NYC. After work I would have to go into NYC myself to pick up my son after performances--driving the 40 miles from NYC at 11pm every night. It was a crazy period of our life.

As it turned out there was only ONE window during the three months that my daughter was shooting that we as a family could get together. It would involve borrowing my MILs car and driving to Richmond, VA in the middle of the night.

On the Sunday I planned on leaving, before I left for NYC with my son, I left a voice mail for my boss that I would be taking Monday and Tuesday off due to "family matters" But would return on Wednesday afternoon. When I got back home my son was standing in the doorway. "Mom, your boss called and she said that if you don't show up on Monday, don't come back." Wow. I needed the job. I desperately needed to see my DH/daughter. The kids were all psyched. I stood there for about 5 minutes not knowing what to do while the kids watched me in deep suspense.

Then I said, "Come on, kids, let's get in the car!" It was the most irresponsible thing I had ever done, but it felt so wonderful--I felt like Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider--"headin' down the highway searching for adventure." We had a great time.

By Thursday I was back home and jobless. I had no idea what I was going to do. I went to the office to clean out my desk and the boss called me in. "The next time you do that, just give me more notice." She said. She un-fired me! I stayed on as a word processor more or less for 4 years, until I asked that same boss if she would ever consider making me a market research analyst.

The rest is history. If she had never taken me back, I never would have had my long career in market research.

Yes. I was hired as a VP of Engineering at a startup, and I walked out before I'd gotten past my first day.

Initial introductory questions revealed there was serious financial fraud occurring, and misrepresentation to the board/investors, and I didn't want any involvement with that.

I think several people went to jail from that firm later in the year.

That is a great story catherine!

Come close, but had several jobs walk off from me.
Now at the restaurant, we lost one full time employee who was planning on quitting (weekend day only), when everyone found out my cancer diagnosis. He hung around until some of the stupid stuff the majority owner is doing and left.
Just lost our other opener/dough maker today, and the majority owner who flipped the company truck that was supposed to be put into a personal truck when the ownership changed, today, we may be closed/oob next week.
At least the insurance from the truck will cover my four paychecks and the other bills I have paid for the restaurant.
Have to have a long talk tomorrow, as his plan is for me to work 100+ hours a week, while doing chemo.
So I expect to be unemployed, with no health insurance and having to stop chemo soon. And maybe homeless.

Oh no, TMS. That is horrible and I hope things work out better than you expect.

I can't remember if I've ever shared this awesome anecdote before. When I was 16, my friend Tony had a summer job doing housekeeping at a nursing home. He recommended that I come to work there too. On my first day, he shared some acid with me. Now even if we assume for the sake of discussion that taking acid was a good idea, taking it at a nursing home was decidedly not. Anyway, I was able to manage my responsibilities for the day, but I called the supervisor the next day to say I wasn't going back. So I didn't quite walk off the job, but that is the closest I ever came to it.

2006 - job I had for four years was miserable. Boss was toxic. Extra OT they refused to pay us for, all sorts of stuff. I walked out with $400 in the bank. Had a job a couple of days later. That’s the place I stayed for 13.5 years until I was laid off due tk covid. Boss was furious but they refused to hire anyone else. We were massively overloaded.

I am so sorry, TMS. I also hope the situation gets resolved for you and the business. This is the last thing you need. My son is a restaurant server, and I know the challenges in staffing these days.

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Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff

Come close, but had several jobs walk off from me.
Now at the restaurant, we lost one full time employee who was planning on quitting (weekend day only), when everyone found out my cancer diagnosis. He hung around until some of the stupid stuff the majority owner is doing and left.
Just lost our other opener/dough maker today, and the majority owner who flipped the company truck that was supposed to be put into a personal truck when the ownership changed, today, we may be closed/oob next week.
At least the insurance from the truck will cover my four paychecks and the other bills I have paid for the restaurant.
Have to have a long talk tomorrow, as his plan is for me to work 100+ hours a week, while doing chemo.
So I expect to be unemployed, with no health insurance and having to stop chemo soon. And maybe homeless.

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I know we haven't always gotten along, but.....I'm sorry. I wish you better than this situation that you are in. Rob

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Originally Posted by catherine

I am so sorry, TMS. I also hope the situation gets resolved for you and the business. This is the last thing you need. My son is a restaurant server, and I know the challenges in staffing these days.

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I honestly don't know if I could even do restaurant work these days. It's always been crazy but since the pandemic it's truly off the rails. Not a day goes by that I don't feel gratitude that I found my way out of it. Rob

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Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff

Come close, but had several jobs walk off from me.
Now at the restaurant, we lost one full time employee who was planning on quitting (weekend day only), when everyone found out my cancer diagnosis. He hung around until some of the stupid stuff the majority owner is doing and left.
Just lost our other opener/dough maker today, and the majority owner who flipped the company truck that was supposed to be put into a personal truck when the ownership changed, today, we may be closed/oob next week.
At least the insurance from the truck will cover my four paychecks and the other bills I have paid for the restaurant.
Have to have a long talk tomorrow, as his plan is for me to work 100+ hours a week, while doing chemo.
So I expect to be unemployed, with no health insurance and having to stop chemo soon. And maybe homeless.

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OMG. So sorry to hear you’re going through this. And I’m glad you mentioned it was a restaurant. I don’t think I remembered that.

I will echo everyone else, TMS. I'm so sorry and hope that the situation doesn't turn out to be so bad.

Thinking about it right now. It's having an emotional impact on me, and it's not even negative. I never had someone who directed my life towards something, and this new boss, female, is doing that, "Do you want to take this course? I think it'll be good for you." She's investing in me, in my future, no one ever done that. Investing in me, leads me to invest in her, which leads to invest in the department, and in the company. By doing so, her problems, are also my problems. Her problems, are company problems. The company future, becomes, in a sort of crazy way, my future, because I don't want to disappoint, or lose, something that is investing in me. I'm ambitious now, competitive now, I want results, I want to show progress in my metrics. But my life's goal is not to be found in professional life. That's a waste of living, in my view. I have to readjust myself, and I have to push certain things away from me. Leo Tolstoy once said, “Rejoice! The purpose of life is joy. Rejoice at the sky, the sun, the stars, the grass, the trees, animals, people. If this joy is disturbed, it means that you’ve made a mistake somewhere. Find your mistake and correct it. Most often, this joy is disturbed by money and ambition." He's very right, I now see that. I'm distracted, I'm not seeing the birds, and the trees, I'm thinking about my future, my goals, how to achieve them. This is, yes, a waste of living. If I don't manage to cut ties, I'll probably quit.

I've never walked off a job but my predecessor at my first job out of college did. I sat down at my desk my first day and opened the drawers and there were a pair of high heels in one. I pulled them out and asked one of the other women, "what are these?" And she responded, "Oh, those must be so-and-so's. She left for lunch her first day and never came back." Apparently she decided while at lunch that she didn't even want to come back and get her shoes. In hindsight I should have taken that as a sign... The day I got fired from that job was one of the best days of my life although I didn't realize it at the time. 34 years later though I'm forever grateful to my boss M for putting me out of that misery so I could go on and find much better places to work.

I never "walked off" a job, but my very first job as a teen was at a local pizza place. My first day I was told that my duties included answering the phone, taking order (both phone and in store), waitress the dine-in tables, clean up tables, ring up tabs, and at the end of the day, do the dishes in the back kitchen. I was also told I would eventually learn how to cook some of the foods. All for minimum wage - which back then, was REALLY low. By the end of the day, I earned a .25 tip and told the owner it wasn't going to work out. LOL.

This was 30 years ago but yes, I did walk off a job. I was 3 weeks into a new job and 1. still knew nothing about what I was hired to do, 2. the boss was too busy to train me as most days she didn't come into office until after lunch and then she was too busy because she was catching up, 3. the last week I was informed that my benefits were being delayed due to them "changing", and 4. when I finally took the initiative to learn my job by talking to the other employees, I was called out for "socializing". It was clear that things were not going to work out with things deteriorating that fast. I still had some momentum left over from my job search with resumes still circulating and getting callbacks so just decided to cut my losses right off the bat. Since my boss didn't bother to come into the office until late, I got fed up with waiting for her to show up so I could have the necessary conversation and just left.

It is not an action that I am particularly proud of, yes, it was unprofessional but so was my treatment from the place. I got home to answer a couple of phone calls for interviews and got a better position shortly after so I guess being "unprofessional" that one time paid off.

Talked to the idiots girlfriend today, she spent 3 and a half hours at a dmv trying to get a copy of the idiots license. Only two employees and one had enough, quit and walked off the job.

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Originally Posted by Portuguese John Here

Thinking about it right now. It's having an emotional impact on me, and it's not even negative. I never had someone who directed my life towards something, and this new boss, female, is doing that, "Do you want to take this course? I think it'll be good for you." She's investing in me, in my future, no one ever done that. Investing in me, leads me to invest in her, which leads to invest in the department, and in the company. By doing so, her problems, are also my problems. Her problems, are company problems. The company future, becomes, in a sort of crazy way, my future, because I don't want to disappoint, or lose, something that is investing in me. I'm ambitious now, competitive now, I want results, I want to show progress in my metrics. But my life's goal is not to be found in professional life. That's a waste of living, in my view. I have to readjust myself, and I have to push certain things away from me. Leo Tolstoy once said, “Rejoice! The purpose of life is joy. Rejoice at the sky, the sun, the stars, the grass, the trees, animals, people. If this joy is disturbed, it means that you’ve made a mistake somewhere. Find your mistake and correct it. Most often, this joy is disturbed by money and ambition." He's very right, I now see that. I'm distracted, I'm not seeing the birds, and the trees, I'm thinking about my future, my goals, how to achieve them. This is, yes, a waste of living. If I don't manage to cut ties, I'll probably quit.

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I can really identify with this. I'm an old-school simplifier from the days of Your Money Or Your Life, and this conundrum has plagued me to this day. I chose the road less traveled, after securing financial stability. Which meant I could never really Give myself to the companies I worked for, even though I had good potential and disappointed a lot of people along the way. I was an excellent ... third tier employee, constantly rejecting any offer to advance up the ranks. Yes, I've left jobs (and websites, ahem) when the burden of responsibility for them got too great, and sometimes through pure ghosting. I wouldn't do that now, but at the time it felt like the only way to escape the anxiety of expectations I didn't want on my back, the discomfort of being shunted down the wrong path.

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Originally Posted by kib

I wouldn't do that now, but at the time it felt like the only way to escape the anxiety of expectations I didn't want on my back, the discomfort of being shunted down the wrong path.

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Why wouldn't you do that now? You think sacrificing for a company, accepting responsibility, would be beneficial? Most do that for the money, but you achieved financial stability anyway. Do you think you'd like to have a challenge and see how far you could go? At what cost? I know people that lost their family. I know another you developed a hearth condition thanks to work induced stress. They get to retirement, and they don't have anything to do, because they didn't developed anything they'd like to do before, their focus was their job, but now their job is over.

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Originally Posted by Portuguese John Here

Why wouldn't you do that now? You think sacrificing for a company, accepting responsibility, would be beneficial? Most do that for the money, but you achieved financial stability anyway. Do you think you'd like to have a challenge and see how far you could go? At what cost? I know people that lost their family. I know another you developed a hearth condition thanks to work induced stress. They get to retirement, and they don't have anything to do, because they didn't developed anything they'd like to do before, their focus was their job, but now their job is over.

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Ah, no no, I meant I wouldn't just walk off and disappear - from a job, a relationship or any other commitment - I think I've developed enough confidence over the years to work out an exit strategy that doesn't involve ghosting. I have no interest in giving myself over to a company now, for sure! I'm wholly in support of what you proposed, if you can find the financial means to manage it.

Yes, I would like the challenge of seeing how far I can go, with something, but it probably won't involve money. Still lookin' for my purpose, but with a lot of personal agency and on my own time frame.

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Originally Posted by kib

Ah, no no, I meant I wouldn't just walk off and disappear - from a job, a relationship or any other commitment - I think I've developed enough confidence over the years to work out an exit strategy that doesn't involve ghosting. I have no interest in giving myself over to a company now, for sure! I'm wholly in support of what you proposed, if you can find the financial means to manage it.

Yes, I would like the challenge of seeing how far I can go, with something, but it probably won't involve money. Still lookin' for my purpose, but with a lot of personal agency and on my own time frame.

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Just wanted to say, Good to see you, KIB! Rob

A friend of mine walked off, and we're all so proud of her. She's been at this small company for at least 40 years and was always overlooked for higher positions, and always given a lot of the work others didn't want. A new younger girl came in and was hired as an office manager but didn't really do anything. My friend took a Friday off and popped in that Saturday to see what her desk was like (they would just pile up everything for her to do that should have been done by others). She cleaned out her desk, left a short note and walked out, never to return. They're screwed because no one bothered to learn how to do anything because she did it all. Luckily she had lots of stock options in the company and could afford to retire.

I didn't walk off a job, but did skip out the door of one. For about 8 months I worked one evening a week at a busy health food store to earn extra money. Someone warned me that I was being blamed for a lot of the things not getting done, simply because I wasn't there to defend myself. An example was not cleaning the floor under the mat at the register. Someone is in charge of cleaning the floors every night after closing.....why was it only my fault it wasn't done? The store was constantly being rearranged and sometimes I didn't know where things were moved to. One day I showed up my usual time and was told I was being let go. What a relief! I haven't been back there since then, about 13 years. I keep thinking I should go in there with a mask on and have a look around. The essential oil smell may bring back bad memories. They've expanded since I was there last so I'm curious what it's like now.

I do remember that I walked off a job. I was 21 and in my first year of teaching. On Friday nights I worked at a pizza, bar place for extra money. One night there was a domestic fight, bottles thrown. I left to never return. I did tell the owner I would not be back.

I did once, in my 20s. Worked night shift at a bank processing transactions, checks, etc. I'd been there a couple years, a lot longer than many, never no-showed, even came in when they told me I had to after having a wisdom tooth removed. (wow, you should've seen how sheepish they looked when they saw my swollen face) There was an opening for an assistant supervisor and I was really hoping to get it ---and should have, was qualified -- but was passed over. The supervisor selected a friend she took smoke breaks with. Getting on the elevator that morning I told her I wouldn't be in the next night, or ever. I was pissed.

no, never, not without another job lined up and even then giving 2 weeks notice. Now there have probably been jobs I would have been better off if I walked off, an abusive one comes to mind. But just not a risk taker that way to walk off with nothing lined up.

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Originally Posted by KayLR

I did once, in my 20s. Worked night shift at a bank processing transactions, checks, etc. I'd been there a couple years, a lot longer than many, never no-showed, even came in when they told me I had to after having a wisdom tooth removed. (wow, you should've seen how sheepish they looked when they saw my swollen face) There was an opening for an assistant supervisor and I was really hoping to get it ---and should have, was qualified -- but was passed over. The supervisor selected a friend she took smoke breaks with. Getting on the elevator that morning I told her I wouldn't be in the next night, or ever. I was pissed.

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Good for you!!! Rob