Slashdot Mirror
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?"
Yeah, it might be fun, but you never know when you will bump into people you worked with down the road.
"Derp de derp."
You NEWER know where someone will end up in 5 years. The Boss you screw over today could be interviewing you in 5 years at some other company.
I know a guy who used to work in a specific industry, then went to work for one of the large consulting firms. He was sent to one of the companies to pitch a $30M project. He ended up pitching to someone he had seriously screwed a number of years earlier. Needless to say regardless of his current companies abilities, they didn't get the contact.
Seriously, AC is giving you solid advice -- don't burn bridges. Doesn't matter if he's an asshole. You never know who you're going to work with again or why circumstances should conspire to make you do so...
never burn bridges.
Unique.
Well, you could do that. Or you could go a step further and: replace everyone's desktop with a bitmap image of their desktop (of course I like to make a batch file that runs at startup and just continuously renames the desktop so icons disappear and reappear), sign up the companys mailing lists to as many spam lists as you can find, jam pencil leads in the dollar slot of the vending machines, wd-40 his break pads, leave sexually harassing notes for your coworkers from your boss, and eat all the good donuts in the breakroom. Of course if you had a single neuron in that skull of yours you would not have the audacity to assume that you're new job is going to work out. Assume for just one moment that maybe having options to fall back on is a good thing. Now quit posting to slashdot and decide something for yourself. I think you know the answer already.
Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
Don't piss anyone off! While it may be satisfying to finally tell some one off, it's just not worth it. Look at it this way; it doesn't cost you anything to just quietly and politely leave. Whereas your boss or some one he knows may one day be in a position to make life difficult for you. I've burned bridges in the past, and have almost always regretted it. I have never had occassion to regret the few opportunities I've been smart enough to take the high road. You can certainly express unhappiness as you leave, but I would avoid doing anything rash. Just my two cents.
"fist in the air in the land of hypocrisy"
I've known _of_ employers who would offer a job but not follow through if the prospective employee was willing to dump their previous employer without notice.
So, you say you're already employed?
Yes, but I'm not very fond of the work
So can you start immediately?
Sure.
Sorry, can't hire you.
That is a really pissweak way of quitting if you don't mind me saying so.
Running away isn't going to fix anything. You should have given your original presentation and added a slide to the end saying that if the trainees have any questions, please see the person who made the process changes.
You would still have a chance at losing your job but you would have a ton more fun in the process.
If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
Discretely pack up your things and save any documentation or files you want to take along, and write a polite letter giving two weeks (or however much you agreed on) notice.
Ask if "they" would like feedback, and write a list of what bugged you, what was good, and what could have been done better.
Finish what you were working on if you can, offer to take care of any handover work, as you firmly should state that you will not be available for it after you have left.
Don't burn bridges; it's not so much that these people might come back to haunt you someday, as that it's an adolescent thing to do.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
Actually, they can take legal action. Criminal legal action, at that. Any damage done to the machines would count as vandalism; over a certain threshhold of monetary damage and the action moves into felony range.
There are also laws on the books regarding not only relieving one's self in public, but you could probably fit excreta into the definition of hazardous or medical waste; certainly improper disposal laws would apply in this case.
Finally, if somebody happens to walk in during the... er... process of elimination, it's called indecent exposure. Were he to be convicted of that last count, it means manditory registration as a sex offender.
As fun as it might sound, I wouldn't consider it worth the risks.
There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
- Do some kind of childish stunt. That might make you feel good for a while, but it won't convince your asshole boss that he treated you badly. In fact, he'll use your childishness to justify his assholedness. "You see why I was easing him out?"
- You can find some way to make upper management aware that you're leaving in part because your boss is an asshole. Think out that will make him look with his boss.
That's the basic choice. I'm sure you can fill in the details yourself.The scenario that you have just presented is something that I have personally dealt with..
I had someone who applied to me for work and as I interviewed him, it became clear to me that he was quite good and I fully intended to recruit him.
But towards the end of the interview when I asked him when he would be willing to join, he stated something along the lines that "sooner is better" since he wanted to slight those who were then employing him.
I told him that I couldn't employ someone with that attitude and he lost, what would otherwise have been, an excellent job.
"Mr. Smith? Hi, this is Mr. Anderson over at Fubarco? You hired one of our former employees, a Mr. Jones? I just needed to tell you that his reference status has changed---he is no longer eligible for rehire. Federal law prohibits me from specifying the particulars behind why there's not a chance in hell we would allow Mr. Jones to work here ever again. Just thought I'd let you know. Which reminds me---and this is a completely different and unrelated topic that has nothing to do with the reason we won't allow Mr. Jones to work here ever again---do you have any knowledge of how to remove dead fish from a ventilation system? No? Just thought I'd ask. Well, best of luck!"
This is not my sandwich.
Also, I would strongly urge you not to quit "with style." What you call "with style" is really anything but. You should always try to maintain cordial and polite relationships with your former employer. Every job I've ever left, I've given a written letter of resignation, naming my last day (at least two weeks, sometimes more) and letting them know that I would be available free for "quick questions" on a short term basis to ease the transition. (I did not state, but implied, that if it was more than a "quick question" they should expect to pay me for my time.)
In 2000, this served me well. I had just left a large Internet Company, and discovered the company I went with was going out of business after only two months. I went back to work for the Internet Company, got a pay raise and full-time telecommuting. And that's the job I've held for the past 4 years through a crappy economy while all the other geeks were whining about outsourcing.
Bridges are good, a thing of utility and a thing of beauty. Never burn them unnecessarily.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
I agree with everything except the negative sentiments towards your old job (even if talking with a new company).
ALWAYS present leaving a job on good terms, if you can.
You might not think about it now, but do you really want a future employer to even have to decide if you left because your old boss was a jerk or you were the jerk?!?
Bad jobs happen... people have bad worker/employer fits all the time.
You want your future employers to see that you were able to handle a bad situation gracefully; it'll add to your credit.
(Although not in the parent of this reply, but from the original poster): "you're not going to use them as a reference" suggests you'd rather have a multi-year gap in your employment history than show you were gainfully employed? Bad move.
Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.