[Closed] Have you ever just walked away from a job?

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 s****.

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.

Sort of. We'd been asked to stay until the job was done for a release of some crappy internal website that had been redesigned cosmetically and no-one realised that would need a complete rewrite from the ground up in a couple of weeks... this resulted in the whole team working for 33 hours - came in at 8, left at 5 the following day. As I was leaving (for a friend's nearby house, didn't trust myself to drive a long way) I said jokingly 'I might be late tomorrow' the manager said 'oh no, we need you in at 8am'.

I was still just inside my 6 months probationary period, and I took delight in reminding the surprised manager that probation works both ways 🙂

Move on but don't scupper yourself in terms of being able to claim JSA if you need to. I think if you just leave you can't claim straight away, but they might be able to do something if you have a GP note for stress.

In fact, see your GP ASAP, get signed off and give yourself some time to think

I did this last year.

A combination of a schizophrenic company owner, bullying and bigotry (aimed at me) was enough for me.

I made my decision one weekend and rang them on the Monday morning to say I wouldn't be back. They even offered me more money to stay.

As a temp job I had to put 1000s of needles onto syringes for a large medical supply company(apparently the machine was out of order). After the 3rd day my wrists were in agony so I asked the floor manager if I could do another job, like moving boxes. Nope, syringes it was for me. I told her I was off and went home.

3years later I visited the same place as part of my course at Uni. The machine was broken and people were assembling syringes by hand.

Last week of my notice now, made sure I'd got another job before moving but I was on the verge of just ditching the job and had even done the maths to see if possible.

Small Telecoms company, passive aggressive and paranoid director, dodgy (barely legal) sales, clients leaving in droves (faster than new ones appearing).

There are a few long term staff who are mostly stupid white trash with leanings towards BNP.

It's doomed to fail but will probably just phoenix under a slightly different name as happened a few years ago.

To give a flavour, something like 60% of the staff are new to the company this year. The longest serving member; 3years. When recently surveyed 90% of the staff said they would leave immediately if offered a new job, and this is described by one of the directors to me as "needing a steading hand to stop a rocking ship" 😯

Twice

First time was after 3 years working for a recruitment company. It was a horrible horrible company to work for, with an office manager I absolutely loathed. I handed in my notice and took a risk on contracting to get experiance doing something else.

2nd time the company and people were fine, but the job depressed me and I was having a fairly shitty time of things at home. Decided it wasn't for me and left on good terms with no regrets.

Left a teaching job at a bottom league university two and a half years ago.
Didnt have anything lined up so was potless for a good six months.
Now like many on here contracting instead in a role which is far and away the best Ive ever had.

At least 3 times that I can recall - probably more.

I guess my favourite was starting at 9 on a Monday morning and not returning from lunch, I simply could live with the expectation to rip customers off.

Another one I left because they said they had to cancel all holidays for the next 2 months in order to fill an important order that had fallen behind schedule, I wasn't prepared to lose my holiday so left.

Yes, left the RAF and was awaiting a start date formy current employment. To tie me over I got a job as a security guard. I managed one night shift!

A few years ago when at college I worked in a local pub, just doing friday/ Saturday nights and Sunday lunch. I arrived one sunday morning to get ready for lunch when I noticed an unusual amount of police at the place. I spoke to a cop stood on thedoor and asked what was going on, he asked who i was etc, he said "we are going to need to speak to you"
"oh, why" was my reply, the cop said "we have arrested the pub landlord and his wife as they were running a brothel upstairs!" so didn't go back and my dad (who used to drink there) was asked a LOT of questions when my mum found out what had been going on. Funny thing was none of the bar staff knew a thing! (honest) 😀

Yes.

Built my own business over three years with a team of ten. Very profitable, great life financially and a truck load of stress that led to very ill health just as I was expecting my first child.

Made the call to close the business down after a lot of soul searching, and made a significant loss after refunding clients and paying staff out.

One of the biggest decisions (all staff were friends) I've ever had to make, and one of the best I ever did make.

I walked out of a job about 6 years ago, joined a small start up as their Head of Engineering when the company was supposed to get a massive cash injection. That didn't materialise and after 6 months of flying around Europe doing investor presentations to VC funds whilst uncovering just how far behind schedule / how hopeless their development team were / how crap the company was, I got very ill. Started not sleeping and having panic attacks all the time, eventually I realised that either I quit or the job would probably kill me, so I just walked out one day after a Board meeting telling the CEO I wouldn't be back. Took several years and a lifetime on SSRIs to recover from that experience.....

Yes when I had no family I was "ordered" to do something I didn't want to, told the manager to stick his orders up his arse, sideways.

Walked again a few years back after the company bought in a new director who regarded the place as his personal punching bag, stress was sky high, nobody knew who'd be bawled out next so I went home and didn't go back.

Walked out after not being paid promptly.
They asked me back after two weeks.

A friend of mine who was a senior designer for a medical company walked when without any prior issues she was summoned to a meeting and handed a final written warning for "unhelpful facial expressions".

She won the tribunal. The MD was a total nutter.

Yep. Best thing I ever did..

The MD was a total nutter.

We had a CEO who fired people if he was in a bad mood (which was often). We kept the local solicitors very busy with compromise agreements. Eventually he was fired (well actually paid off very generously).

Was an insane period.

Yes - best thing I've done - was being put under undue amounts of stress, got signed off with stress then got dismissed on my return.

Spent a couple weeks general labouring & then got offered another job for a competitor. The new company is about 100000000000000 times better to work for!

Yup, three times at least. Worked out for the best each time.

But as the current (American) boss says: "life is like a sh1t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh1t you have to eat".

Not quite enough bread to pull that stunt off again, in my case

Walked out of plenty of jobs , which is probably why I've never achieved what I think I could have . Spent most of my working life as a chef and there has usually been high demand for decent chefs so it's never been a really scary thing to do . I have always had the decency to tell people that I was leaving , I think to go home and just not come back without telling anybody is a pretty low trick . Saying that I have never been in a job that I have really hated and quite enjoy the cut and thrust of people trying to shit on me while I tried to make sure that they didn't . Also spent plenty of years doing relief work , where the nature of the job puts you in a pretty powerful position .

So, just so I got this straight, we have Chef Ramsey on the forum?

🙂

I've engineered leave a couple of companies, no point leaving with out safety 'net' 🙂

And most recently I didn't even attempt to get my contract extended, at the NHS - even though I'd nothing to go to. I thought I could make a difference and improve things, how naïve.

Worked ok, started a new contract two days after it'd finished.

Yep, I walked out one day after being dicked about once too often by my manager. Wrote a letter of resignation, walked back in to hand it to [i]his[/i] boss, spent half an hour explaining why it was all a crock of shit and persuaded them that it needed to change.

Which it did, so I stayed.

Even though I never followed it through, that moment of realising that I didn't have to put up with that rubbish and that it would be possible for me to walk out and carry on with my life has always been a very empowering and positive memory for me.

Twice. Once from a bar job when I was at uni, but that's not a very interesting story.

The second time was another university job, at a Budgens supermarket. During the course of an evening shift (4pm-10pm) I became incredibly ill - I was shivering, sweating, delirious, the works. I was working on the tills near a drafty door, and I got so cold I asked the manager permission to wear a hat (I was so out of it it didn't even occur to me to ask to go home early). She refused, and made me stay there until the end of my shift.

The next morning I was rushed to hospital in an ambulance and spent the next four days in an infectious diseases unit with suspected meningitis.

Needless to say I didn't go back. About a month later I got a letter saying if I didn't return my uniform I would be billed £200.

I've done it a couple of times, though a fair few years back. Thing is though, I'm in hospitality and bloody good at what I do so know I'll always be able to walk straight into another job.

As long as you have something to fall back on, do what makes you happy

A few times, working for an agency, got sent to site in wales, mid november, thick snow,freezing cold, to manufacture shuttering for some factory, arrived, signed in looked around and walked out and home.

Few hours later had this crazed teenage woman screamiong at me i had let the company down, obviously she had watched to many of The Apprentice and thought she was a contestant.

She then told me i was fired.

[i]The MD was a total nutter.[/i]

Grabbed a worker by the lapels and threatened him (before I was there) claimed later that he was stressed as suffering from terminal cancer, (he isn't )

mental

Twice. Once supply teaching and the other was Planet X (left after 7 days).
I don't mind hard work, but trying to do 3 people's jobs with no training takes this piss somewhat.

Twice on the trot (years ago). Been a contractor ever since so it's different now.

First time was when I had a totally inflexible and ignorant manager (corporate travel company near Aldershot - in a dreadful town beginning with 'F') and second was a so called development company in London Road in Southampton who were happy for me to sort out the mess which was the web site I was working on but would only let me do so on my own time.

Me 'This (.Net) application doesn't even build. How do you debug it?'

Them 'We just use Response.Write to see what's wrong'.

Me 'But surely your applications must build? That's the way everyone in the industry does it...'

Them 'Other people might do it that way but we don't'

I'm going to make it build...

Ok, but we're not paying you for it.

Bye...

I didn't walk out because I wanted paying but I lasted 2 days in a foam moulding factory before deciding I didn't want to waste my summer holidays doing braindead work with chavs for 10hrs a day. Told the boss at lunch time on the 2nd day, he said fair enough and gave me cash in hand for the 2 days work. Then I got a summer job at Tesco which wasn't quite as bad 😆

I've never walked but usually engineered my way out.

The best on was when the company I worked for wouldn't pay me my bonus of £6k on GM and TO I did. They actually admitted that they weren't paying me because they didn't set any money aside as they thought the targets they set weren't achievable!

Anyway, another job lined up nicely, told them I'd leave unless they stumped up the cash. They agreed to pay but to get it I had to stay...

Well there was no way I was staying so I waited until the FC was at his busiest and asked him for a letter stating they'd agreed to pay me my bonus. He did exactly as I expected and wrote just that, no mention about me staying to get it.

Next day, handed in my notice and waved the letter under the MD's nose about me getting the bonus when he mentioned I'd not get it if I left.

He the took a very different tone, relaxed almost, and congratulated me saying nobody had ever had him over like that before and well done.

I replied, in the most insincere way possible that I didn't know what he was talking about with a big grin on my face too.

Well, Mr.Ray Howard, I did you up like a kipper.

I got paid a month later and the company went under three months after that.

Well running a company in a "no notice state" (Michigan) anyone of my staff can come in and resign there and then. Plus we can fire anyone with no comeback. It's nuts and does my head in for lots of reasons.

As a young (23) bar manager I left. If I'd been older, I'd have had a constructive dismissal case (I suspect) against the area manager. The AM was a bully, made no secret of his personal dislike of me, passed the buck for his failings and took credit for my achievements.

As it was, I knew I was leaving and going back to Uni. I'd saved well whilst working so could afford a couple of months off over the summer.

One particularly busy night (about 1am on a bank holiday Saturday, just received my annual bonus) he was in the venue, making my life difficult.

When he told me he was off on two weeks holiday 6 hours later. I wrote my resignation 'letter' on a post-it, passed it to him, called him a **** (rhymes with cassive munt) got into a taxi and disappeared.

He called the following morning with apologies, explanations for his tw**ishness etc. It gave me enormous pleasure to see him working for the next few weeks.

Would I now with mortgages, school fees, children etc? No chance. I'd need a plan B, C and D before I considered it and even then, would suck it up and not burn bridges.

When I was about 14 I got a holiday job in a local frozen food manufacturing factory. I spent a morning on a production line: one pleb puts foil trays into holes on a conveyor, three rows wide. It slides along under a row of nozzles which squeezed out 'meat' of unspecified origin, some sort of gloopy mince. My job was to use the back of a spoon to spread the brown blob around the bottom of the foil tray, then it moved on. You got about a second per tray, it was moving pretty quickly. Then it went under another set of nozzles which put white paste (allegedly mashed potato) on, and another spotty yoof ran a fork over the top to make it look home-made (apparently).

I managed until lunchtime then just went home, I decided I'd rather have no money than do that all holiday.

The boss pushed me too far one day in the middle of a stressful period of a refit of a retail outlet (won't say which one as it's family-run and the owner's on here!), told the boss he had 30 seconds to apologise. He didn't so I grabbed my stuff and calmly walked out to the car. Just as I was about to open the car door, the point of no return, the owner appeared running down the in-ramp begging me to come back for a chat. Went into a nearby cafe for a bit and walked back in with a pay rise, two day's paid leave the next week and the boss got a serious dressing down!
It wasn't my main job so no worries about bills etc, just an extra so I could go on holiday that year but was still a bit scary walking out!!

The greatest thing I've learned since being made redundant 3 years ago is how important it is to move if you don't like something. Never be that person who says "I hate it here. I'm leaving" every day for a year.

I've had 6 jobs in 3 years after 6 years in 1 job and it's been enlightening, challenging and rewarding. I'd love a "job for life" but they don't exist anymore and I think a lot of people are kidding themselves thinking they deserve to be in one place and enjoy it for 10/15/20+ years.

Always worked notice.

Be happy.

Oh, and WillH, what prestigious occupation are you subscribed to? Is it less plebby than food production? Where do you think your Meal Deal comes from? Meh.

Loads. Well over a dozen. When you're an unskilled 20 something working in catering it's almost a part of the job requirements. You suck up shit until you're full, then walk, preferably on a busy Friday night.

Looking back now from the sage old age of 41, I honestly don't regret a single moment of any of my many awful jobs though... Learnt something from someone at some point at each one. Self employed and uber-skilled these days 🙂

After many incidences of not being paid my final wage, despite working the correct notice period (and working bloody hard too) I finally put some of this learning into practice as a 26 year old student in Edinburgh. I was working at The Bailey in Stockbridge under a tyrannical monster of a manageress.

At the interview, I explained that I had a holiday booked, gave her the dates and she wrote them in "The Big Book of Holidays". A week before I was due to go cycling round Cornwall (three months later), I looked at the rota and saw I was on shift throughout my hols. I took it up with her, she feigned ignorance, got the book out and showed me the Tippexed over page. Then guilt-tripped me into almost believing I wasn't being loyal to the pub.

Went back the next night when the very soft-touch manageress was on duty and told her that madbitchmanageress had authorised a pay advance for my holidays. Took away two month's wages and had a fantastic cycling tour with my GF 🙂

I'm still barred from the pub which is a shame 'cos it's a nice pub.

Freedom is everything - if you've set up your life to where you can't walk out of a job your living beyond your means - I live way more frugal than what many would consider acceptable - the flipside is I am debt free and I have my mortgage paid - my house is small and my bike isn't the best - friends often say - 'if I were you I'd move up the ladder' Or maybe I should get of rid of my old car but I like my car because it's mine not the banks and when I do replace it I'll be paying cash that I saved ... I guess my point is that modern consumerism too often makes us vulnerable due to our outgoings - Thats when we put up with unhappy work environments ... Was trying to give said advice to a mate who's just spent £10.000 on bikes this year bit lives in his girlfriend's house and has no savings or back up plan - can you really enjoy your toys at the expense of freedom? The only job I've walked from was when I had savings to fall back on - we all need to realise that it's not disposable income - rainy days are going to come ..

That's not freedom, that's a grim prison of your own making. Live a little (that said, I broadly agree with your sentiments - just remember, you can't take it with you and memories will be all you have one day).

Only once, it was from a job in a water bottling plant where I was the person who put handles on 5 litre bottles like this:

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Doing this involved slamming the handle down onto the top of neck of the bottles as they came past on a conveyor belt. They came past at 40-60 per minute depending on how many people were manning the line and if you missed more than a certain number a minute an alarm went off and the whole line shut down. By about half an hour in your hands were covered in little cuts from sharp plastic on the rings, after an hour your palm was bruised in a perfect circle where it hit the lip of the bottle, after 6 hours your hands wouldn't open properly and after 13 hours with a half hour break your entire upper body screamed at you.

I managed three 13 hour night shifts and then walked out an hour early and told them to stick it. I was somewhat undermined in my flounce by the fact that I was 16 and had to wait an hour for my dad to come and pick me up.

It took weeks for my hands to work properly again.