Burning Bridges

[Sofiyya 1,687]

In my very, very young days, I had a boss who was a raging b!tch on wheels. On a day that I had circled on my calendar, I left my desk at 5 minutes to 5, went to HR and handed in my ID and keys without notice. The next day, my husband and I gathered up our twins, flew to Miami, then to Rio. I never looked back and from that day on, I worked for myself. Funny thing, I got a year long consulting contract with the same company in a different city 20 years later. No one knew who I was.

I say walk away. Life is too short to be miserable a day longer than you can help it.

[Alex & Rachel 78]

I have walked away from a job before.

Normally I would say yes, it is a courtesy to give two weeks' notice.

At my last job, we had a change of management; my boss was let go and replaced with two bosses from hell. The entire team was looking for new jobs the day after they'd joined! (I can't express how awful and absolutely hopeless these people were). A couple of months later, my old boss rang me with a job for me, but she needed me to start immediately.

I went to my new bosses and said I was leaving. I did offer to come back in the mornings for training, but in the end I only went back for two days - it was a complete waste of my time; they'd hired even more hopeless friends of theirs and I was teaching both these new employees (on double my salary) AND the bosses how to do things they should've already known how to do.

But... I didn't screw them over, either. I left two binders full of very detailed and clear instructions for every part of my job. I left them every single password they'd need. I also did not delete any files, or do anything spiteful upon leaving.

Also, I know I could probably get 5-10 good references from other people who worked at that same company. I'll never have a need for a reference from either of those bosses, and if I ever knew they were working at a particular company, I'd avoid that company like a plague anyway.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

I see I'm in the minority! My general philosophy is to be as considerate and professional as you can, even if your employer isn’t. I'm cautious by nature, I suppose. If I felt that I’d truly been mistreated, I’d be much more tempted to walk out the door, but if it’s just a case of a mismatch, I’d stay professional and give them notice. No one owes anyone anything, but courtesy is important.

[Dave-n-Oksana 49]

I see I'm in the minority! My general philosophy is to be as considerate and professional as you can, even if your employer isn’t. I'm cautious by nature, I suppose. If I felt that I’d truly been mistreated, I’d be much more tempted to walk out the door, but if it’s just a case of a mismatch, I’d stay professional and give them notice. No one owes anyone anything, but courtesy is important.

I understand what you are saying, and under normal circumstances I would have given notice, but the owner stepped over the line and any thought of staying was made impossible. On friday he had given me a project to work on and had pointed me to a previous project to use as a template. As I started working on this, I quickly realized that the two projects had nothing in common and required new developement. Then after I had been working on this for about 3 hours, he told me I needed to use different information source causing me to again redevelope the project as again the data formats had changed. The final straw was as he was walking out the door for the night, he asked me why I wasn't done and that the project shouldn't have taken me half the day to do.

So I left my office keys on the desk, packed all my things and walked out never to return again. When I arrived home, I sent them an email saying I would not be returning and the reasons that I had left. Maybe things will be different for the person who replaces me, but I doubt it.

So now I am at the new job and already feeling that I am where I am supposed to be.

[fozzie 41]

I'm lucky that I can confidently give two weeks notice knowing full well that they will let me go the same day and pay me out on the two weeks + any outstanding vacation. Win-Win situation when I finally do find something new.

I would usually err on the side of caution too unless I felt couldnt take two more weeks of a bad situation. In that case I would just walk away.

[EminTX 131]

I've, personally, only walked off once. And in that circumstance, the company manager was so hostile and hateful (from reprimanding me about how I drive --on my first day, my first hour-haha) to the general hostility that permeated the air (DON'T you use MY sink to wash you hands. In a clinic. In a hallway. Outside MY exam room. haha) to the general methodology of every person having a different protocol and having to keep track of them from memory because notes were "unprofessional". haha

After 3 weeks of being there because my doctor asked me to work there with her, I went to the area manager at lunch and told her that I was not very comfortable there. She sighed and said that she understood and that it was an ongoing problem. She asked me if I would be willing to finish out the day. That was all she wanted. No hostility that wasn't already in that place and I did not leave the single deserving person in a bind. (The 3 weeks that I was there, each of the other 3 people in that area had taken a 1 week vacation.)

To the company manager, I quit with no notice. To the person in my profession that mattered, I had helped out where they needed someone and left on a good note.

It doesn't hurt to say good-bye in a nice way and it might benefit you. If it doesn't and they show you the door, well, they were going to do that anyway.

AND

The company that I currently work for has a policy about this. If we do not give a full 3-week notice online in their form/survey, we won't be paid our remaining accrued PTO (vacation time + other paid "hours"). That's more that 2000$ gross for me right now soooooooo....

[Empress of Groovy 373]

I understand what you are saying, and under normal circumstances I would have given notice, but the owner stepped over the line and any thought of staying was made impossible. On friday he had given me a project to work on and had pointed me to a previous project to use as a template. As I started working on this, I quickly realized that the two projects had nothing in common and required new developement. Then after I had been working on this for about 3 hours, he told me I needed to use different information source causing me to again redevelope the project as again the data formats had changed. The final straw was as he was walking out the door for the night, he asked me why I wasn't done and that the project shouldn't have taken me half the day to do.

So I left my office keys on the desk, packed all my things and walked out never to return again. When I arrived home, I sent them an email saying I would not be returning and the reasons that I had left. Maybe things will be different for the person who replaces me, but I doubt it.

So now I am at the new job and already feeling that I am where I am supposed to be.

That's good to hear. Good luck in your new position.

[Nessa 23]

If I was between a way better job and a reference letter from a job I hate and have only been doing for a few weeks, I'd go with the better job. But if they agreed on waiting for me so I could give 2 weeks' notice, I'd definitely give the 2 weeks.