Have you ever just walked away from a job?

Feel like doing exactly that!!

Joined a smallish company in August, and I don’t think my stress levels have been normal since. Company is massively disfunctional with warring directors, and I’m fast becoming the whipping boy for all the ills that have built up. Staff morale is rock bottom, and there’s no where to turn. Feel like just saying “sod you” and walking away.

Yes done it twice, once when I was a teenager the other time when I had a mortgage, child and wife to support. Health is the most important thing in your life and stress can ruin you.
I didn’t have a job to goto, I became self employed.

Yes, when charity commission was about to investigate why £1.2m that should have been spent one way was being spent another – and my dept was meant to be the beneficiary of that money, and yet was income generating for the other ‘wrong’ dept.

I’ve certainly quit rubbish jobs. Life is far too short for that. That said if you have bills to pay and a family to look after it needs some thought. Are things likely to change? If not then you need to do something

Yes. Many, many years ago. Joined a company in the bike industry (No, I will not be telling you the name. Sorry) and left after a week, as it turned out they had massively mislead me/lied to me through the whole interview/recruitment process.

Not one single iota of regret.

Done it with a car dealership, Scotts a VW place in Sloane Square, awful crooks did 2 weeks and just never went back.

Yes when the stress became too high and I just knew I needed to get out. I left with no real plans or job to go to, I got a contract job a few months later and earnt more the following year than the 2 previous despite 3 months off.

Yes, but only when i was a teenager so it made little difference to career prospects or security. I’d decided to leave school and get a job rather than carry on in education and get qualifications. Once I realised the mind numbing reality of the jobs that I was qualified for I jacked them in. One took me a fortnight the other two days.

If I was doing it now, I’d be sure to do it on my terms. Either get something sorted before you leave or be sure you’ve enough cash in the bank to tide you over until you can get a new job. You want to make sure if anyone is getting screwed by your actions that it’s not you.

Yip. Same as yourself I was in a job where the stress levels were ludicrous. Company got taken over by a big multinational who’s horrible bullying management cut our time spent per job by half, then made a load of people redundant. To achieve these new impossible timescales, they said that our contracts of employment had a clause saying we were obliged to work a ‘reasonable’ amount of (unpaid) overtime. In their interpretation this involved us working 7 day weeks, every week. Unpaid for the 2 additional days.

I told them they could **** off and walked out. In fact, over the space of a few weeks, pretty much everyone told them they could stick it. An entire department walked out over the course of a morning. Last I heard they were advertising for jobs and not getting a single applicant, as everyone had heard what they were like.

I was married with a mortgage etc, but just knew I couldn’t stomach another day there as it was making me ill. Went freelance and never looked back

No – but nearly did exactly that, near 20 years with same company, but felt rotten in the last few months – signed off wit stress, came back bit better, still not great – before I could jump, they made me redundant. Result!

Twice.

Yes when working for a mobile phone company i was living in Belgium and loved it they promoted me against my wishes to london. I did 2 weeks and asked to be allowed back. Director said no so i handed him my keys laptop and other bits. Packed my stuff and walked out. Jumped on a plane and got a job in a bar in Brussels. I was much happier. Talking to an ex colleague the boss couldn’t believe what id done and thought i was bluffing lol

Yes. It felt like a weight had been taken off my poor, bowed shoulders.

Yes , i got the job as sales manager for a family owned sports car dealership . Arrived on day one to find no sales team – they’d all left in the month between my interview and start date . Owner said it was time for a complete new team and I should start the recruitment process and get my own team . Day 2 owners wife parks on the forecourt in a customer parking space – owner appears shouting and swearing at her -get that f#####g car moved you stupid c### thats for space is for customers .I was in a taxi and gone in 10 mins after I brief exchange of views on his ability as a human being .

Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. If you decide to leave then go on your own terms. Once you have made the decision to leave then the stress should drop as you no longer give a ****. Use this time to find a better job and the worst that can happen is that they try to ‘engineer’ you out. You’ll be gone before they get chance.

Not without having somewhere to go to, but left a few relatively abruptly.
I always have at least 3 backup plans though, just to make sure.

Yes. Most satisfying. Mid year review, I hated them, they hated me. Stopped my prick of a manager mid sentence and told him I would make it easy for us both and walked out. Got a month of garden leave and my company car for the duration. Rode my bike constantly.

Yes, three times: once when I worked for a bike shop, on £2.50/hr, once when I had the misfortune to work at a BT call centre (CCTV in the toilets FFS!) and then again when I worked for a very large American IT Outsourcer. First two were just student type jobs, last one was after 5 years – got a new manager who was absolute scum. I decided to go when I started plotting ways to lure him into the server room and activate the halon flush. Resignation letter got him fired and launched me on to much better things.

Yes, sometimes cutting your losses makes for a decent step up.. 😀

I’ve walked away from a temp building site job because I felt cleaning roofing tar from windows with petrol at the top of a wobbly ladder in t shirt and shorts wasn’t meeting my health and safety requirements

I would like to walk away from my current job after six years in the post but wife, kids, house etc. dictate I should wait patiently for the official start date for the job offer I have or find another job first.

I’ve done it a couple of times. First was a minimum wage job at a bowling alley where management were taking the piss. It came to a head when I had my wage docked for ’till shortages’, which was an outrageous lie – I’ve never had a till shortage in my life and I hadn’t been asked to sign the relevant paperwork to acknowledge it. I investigated and found that my boss had forged my signature.

Whilst I was still boiling from this, there was an incident where someone had scribbled on a wall somewhere, the manager decided that this was either a member of staff or, if it was a customer then down to staff negligence, and decided that the room should be repainted and the cost taken from the wages of every staff member that had been on shift since his last shift. That was the point at which I told him to roll it tightly and grease it lightly, and walked out.

The other was a few years later. I’d gone for a position and they asked me if I wanted to do a different one. I say no, it was an area I was trying to get away from; they countered with a job offer with the proviso that I helped out in the other role occasionally, which I accepted.

What happened next was a bait-and-switch. I was pushed more and more into the job I didn’t want to do, and the company was completely disengaged with the job I’d been hired for. That came to a head when after weeks of me chasing the company car that came with role X, I finally got told ‘role Y doesn’t come with a car.’ Without the car it wasn’t economically viable for me to do the long commute required every day, and my mood was firmly between ‘miffed’ and ‘vexed,’ so I handed my notice in. I was only there a couple of months, so still getting job offers on the back of when I’d been searching previously.

Once you have made the decision to leave then the stress should drop as you no longer give a ****

True, tell them you have some serious issues in your private life to justify your sudden lack of commitment and the fact you leave bang on time every evening. Delegate everything, yes, everything.

Yes!

Yes, twice, once literally. I was working as a graphic designer in my early twenties – the ‘team’ were requested by the management to work nonstop on a project for a client until it was finished. The manager/owners slept in sleeping bags while we soldiered on through 36hrs without a break. The bulk of the work was mine as was sole designer and everything that had to be printed was first created by yours truly. We got the work done. Insult to injury I discovered the job was outsourced by the client who was a ‘designer’ . He sold the job for 1k. I was given £35. I sat there calmly, tidied up my drawing board and desk and then just walked out and waved at the team. A few open mouths. I went to the newsagents, purchased a local paper and sat on a bench in the cemetery looking for jobs. Never went back. Claimed unemployment benefit and won the tribunal.

Really extreme example but it felt goooooood to walk. I’d have been an idiot not to.

Health is the most important thing in your life and stress can ruin you.
I didn’t have a job to goto, I became self employed.

This^^

not exactly but close, once.

a) got made redundant from my existing job
b) got a new job, starting the Monday after the effective date of redundancy. Started new job
c) daily commute 45 miles each way into Sheffield from the north. Get to job, ask supervisor “do you have any coding for me to do”. Supervisor replies “I’m a bit busy at the moment, I’ll get back to you”. OK, ask development manager the same question, and get the same answer. So I’ve driven an hour and a half to sit on my hands all day. reverse journey home
d) after two weeks of this, another interview came up. 15 miles nearer home, same system as I’d been working on before (a), and 25% higher salary. a couple more weeks passed and a second interview, then eventually I got the job offer.
e) handed in my notice after a whole 6 weeks in the job. They let me go at the end of the month, so I was there for a whole 8 weeks.
The best bit though, when I handed my notice in, my manager said “we’re disappointed. we had big plans for you”. Shame that didn’t extend to actually giving me some work to do

Yes, twice, but both times when I had no or minimal financial commitments. It might happen again next year but I’ll have a plan drawn up first 🙂

Yup, twice. Once, having moved from London to Glasgow, only to find the company a shambles, and I was supposed to be in charge of looking after the day to day running of the office. Lasted 4 months. They’ve now been bought out by a competitor 😆

The other time was due to the company having no money to sort out major H&S problems, which had it all gone pear shaped, would have left me in a very sticky situation. Felt sorry to go, as it was nice place to work, but I slept a lot more soundly at night.

Both times I had my then gf to fall back on, and though I was out of work for a bit, I soon found something else.

Currently feel like throwing my keys at management and walking out, but not having anyone else to help me out with the bills, it’s a bit more tricky.

Regrets, I’ve had a few……

I once waited tables in a restaurant owned by an ex-footballer. No, not that one you’re thinking of, this one was far, far dodgier and quite possibly even more abusive.
As far as I could make out his (trophy) wife was the registered owner, out of the staff of fifteen, four were declared to the taxman. Everybody else was on the black and paid from the rolls of banknotes from the drawer under the till, which incidentally contained a handgun.
To call it a stressful environment would be an understatement. I lasted a month.

On the bright side, the pay was very good, the tips weren’t pooled and I met some very interesting characters during my time there.

Yes, moved from Swindon back to Nottingham to be living with MrAdamW. Went to a technology company in Beeston (a big one) and had a bullying boss who I found was reading my personal emails (things usually like “I’ll be late for tea as I’m working.”). Stress levels went through the roof.

Handed in my notice within three weeks of being there. Massive weight off my shoulders. Was a bit worried when it was leaving time but got a job paying an extra £7k within three weeks in the area, which was much better. Result!

Forgot I’d done it twice. This was about 12 years ago and I accepted a role with a smaller company but a higher role. All seemed very professional at the interview but within a few weeks it became clear the place was an absolute shambles with a several sociopaths all waging war on each other and everyone else. Culminated with one woman losing the plot at me for no reason. She was shaking with anger as I sat there trying not to snigger.

it was a hot, summer, Friday afternoon and a couple of people did ask why I was taking my desk fan home. I just said it was to keep me cool over the weekend. Packed the rest of my stuff into my bag, left at 5pm, sent the MD an email listing all the problems with the place and re-started at my old employer with a pay rise and a promotion on the Monday. The shambolic company went out of business a few weeks later.

Yes, my first “graduate” job. Applied for the police, spent a few months in tempt jobs till my start date. Got into the police and it quickly became evident that it was not the role for me at that point in my life, so I handed in my notice and left with immediate effect

Spent five months on JSA or whatever it was called back then trying to get into a reasonable graduate scheme. Thankfully had moved back home after uni so mum and dad didn’t ask me for rent which really helped. Eventually got onto the British Rail graduate scheme and got myself sorted. Wouldn’t have been able to to do that if I’d had the committments I have now though

Sounds like you work where I do. Ive handed in my notice and have just under two weeks to go. Its like a massive weight off my shoulders, Id recommend finding something else and getting out ASAP.

Yes, a couple of times. Have always made sure I have an emergency fund to cover 3-4 months of costs as a minimum. Helps enormously with my stress levels to know I can just hand in my notice at any time.

Sometimes a job just isn’t right, I had one that seemed great on paper and at interview but was terrible once I started. Leave soon enough and it’s easy to gloss over!

No

Yes, working for a southern council. I lasted 4 days when i was a student. They were absolutely useless at everything and i later found out that they had an unofficial sick rota! They just used to sit and moan about how hard done to they were and how the managers were out to get them…..yup, those 8.5 hour days were killing them! 🙂

Do it, lifes too short, let them crack on with their politics. Find something more inspiring lad!

Yep. After 2 days strawberry picking. I had such sunburn I just couldn’t face another day! Luckily it was cash in hand at the end of each day 🙂

only once as a teenager. It was my last day and it was a bank holiday weekend. The local banterladz descended en masse about 9.30pm. The owner relegated me from cocktail barman to cleaning up spilled drinks and sick. I walked out after an hour. I felt bad as I liked the other staff. I’ve been back since. I’d like to apologise to the two guys who taught me about cocktails who were left undermanned.

I’ve had numerous crap jobs afterwards. I’ve always stayed til the bitter end.

Call centre crap when young free and single, yes – feeding and clothing my family/career job, no chance. Get your alternative sorted. Then take great pleasure in telling them shove it secure in the knowledgee that your escape plan is fool proof (ish).

Habitat head office. They brought two ex-M&S people in. One didn’t have a clue and made an utter mess. They often did that- mixed in with the politics. We were due a big bonus, this was shrunk, then shrunk further. Then we were told as the business was struggling we’d get nothing.

I walked into HR said bye, I’m off and walked immediately. Funnily Ikea couldn’t sell it or make it work, it collapsed.

Yup, once when I was younger and before I had a mortgage.

Over a course of a few weeks I felt like I was becoming the vent of frustration from the MD, told him I didn’t need that kind of attitude in my life, said I wanted paying up to that point, picked up my stuff and walked out.