Most Fun Way to Leave a Bad Job?

medscaper asks: "I have an awesome opportunity this morning. Since the market is opening up, I was offered a great new tech job over the weekend, and have been stuck in a miserable one for the past several years. I spend more time stressing out and anxious about keeping my job than getting any quality work done. I'm SO looking forward to walking into my boss's office this morning to let him know that I'll be leaving. I'm tempted to do it with style, especially because I got a (completely unwarranted) PHB-style threatening lecture last week about my work habits. I really don't need the recommendation or a reference, so it doesn't matter much how I leave. Should I politely give the standard 2-weeks? Or should I have a little fun with it and burn some bridges? Anyone have any stories to relate?"

Comments

One day I quit my phone tech support job...

[c.r.o.c.o]

About a year ago I was working in the tech support department in one of the universities in Toronto. Every summer the older employees had to create presentations to train the new employees before the school year would start. My task, as luck would have it, was to teach them how the wireless network was set up, and what software/hardware was required to connect to it. As any good employee, I spent a couple of my afternoons working on the Powerpoint slides, got it ready on time even though I did not get paid for the extra time I worked on it.

The setup was fairly involved because it required a VPN client that was not easy to set up, and a user name and password, which again, were complicated to obtain. On top of that, each MAC address had to be registered with the server. A day before the presentation, the entire system was changed. the VPN client was dumped in favour of a proxy system, which still required a user name and password. Needless to say, my presentation was worthless, and I was required to redo it within a day. I started working on it, but because I had made plans for the evening, I decided to finish it at the last moment the next day. I never got around to it.

I should mention this was not a 9-5 job, the shifts were 4 hours long. I even had to work from 3-11pm and then the next morning from 8am-3pm. Now for the rest of my story.

The day my unfinished presentation was due was such a beautiful, hot summer day I decided to ride my motorcycle to work. I thought I could wing it on the spot, and the whole way I kept thinking of it. The closer I got to the campus though, the more I dreaded having to deal with a problem I had not created. So I rode into the campus when I saw one of my supervisors walking around. But instead of turning into the parking lot, I just kept on going.

Later that evening I pulled up on a friend's driveway in Ottawa, about 450km away from the stupid presentation and my former job. I came back a week later to collect my last paycheck. That's how I quit my bad job.

That's what happened to me once

[eleknader]

Few years ago I was about to leave to another company and a position.

I told my boss I was leaving, we started organizing my duties to my colleagues etc.

Few days later I was told from my new employer, that my deal has just changed: completely different position. They told me this change by _email_!

I was very happy, that I was nice to my old boss. He let me stay, and I worked about one year after this at my old job.

So, I'd recommend being nice for your boss :)

Eleknader

Re:Better be nice

[Feztaa]

Been there, except it went more like this:

"So, when can you start?"
"Well, I have to give my current boss my two weeks notice"
"Of course. I wouldn't hire you if you didn't."

2 weeks later, my last day on the job was a friday, I had the weekend to myself, and I started work at the new place on a monday.

Re:Burn the bridges

[Hank Reardon]

...He can withhold your last paycheck, your accrued holiday.

I had somebody try this on me once and discussed the issue with a friend who's an HR manager. It seems that withholding paychecks and accrued pay is against Federal labor laws. You don't want to screw with them.

They have to take you to civil court to get you to pay them back for any damages you might have caused.

He can track you down at your new job and spill the beans to your new boss. If you do something illegal, he can call in the police. Or much, much worse!

Depends on where you live. If you're in a 'right to work' state, this is grounds for some serious law suits. And an ass whoopin.

Even if you weren't in a Right to Work state, this is usually not acceptable. From what I recall, even on reference checks, the only things you can really reveal about a former employee are their hire dates, salary and whether they're elligable for rehire.

Depending on what's said, and how much proof they have, you could also slap them with libel or slander.

Re:Leave the Fight Club way

[a_ghostwheel]

This (work safe) will satisfy your curiosity. Just stare long enough on the picture.

Evils of selling baby formula

[Stephen Samuel]

Pandoras vox forgot to mention that, in many third world countries, the water that many people get is pretty nasty. Even if the formula was up to first-world snuff, many kids die because the water mixed in with the formula has all sorts of greeblies in it that they haven't built up an immunity to yet.

Truth of the matter is: If you're in the third world and you're not rich enough to afford really good water (and know about the evils of formula), you're probably going to be better off finding a friend you can pay to breast feed your kid. Chances are it'll be both cheaper and healthier.

It's one thing to sell baby formula to people who need it. It's another thing entirely to market it to people who'se kids are probably going to get sick from eating the stuff. (while telling them precisely the opposite)