Has anyone here ever quit a job without having another lined up first?

[Zimbabwe]

Wondering how it worked out if you guys have jumped into the ocean without a life preserver. I was in a really toxic work environment where I was basically the Errand boy for all my colleagues, it didn't help that my manager was a micromanage.

 

[lost_blackbird]

Yes, did it in June of this year. Sick of the conditions, shift work and never being able to get
into a proper sleep pattern, getting 1 weekend off in 5 and worst of all having split days off
each week. Had I been at work this week I'd have had Sunday and Thursday off on my rota.
I just decided enough was enough when I found myself begging and scraping for a days leave,
to a fat corporate muppet so I could tag it onto a rare weekend off and go visit my folks on the
other side of the country. My own supervisor was away on holiday himself and I wasn't on the other
guys crew so my request was refused. I called the sickness reporting line the following day and
happily told the same arsehole to poke his job where the sun doesn't shine. Haven't worked since.
I've quite enjoyed the time off, I'm currently using it to get over a few of my vices. Alcohol consumption
down about 80%, weed consumption stopped completely, on day four of cold turkey tobacco cessation
and day 8 of no fap. Found a gym nearby that seems good value for money and is a walkable distance
from my house so might jump on some of that next. No rush to go back to work for a while.

 

[Zimbabwe]

Yes, did it in June of this year. Sick of the conditions, shift work and never being able to get
into a proper sleep pattern, getting 1 weekend off in 5 and worst of all having split days off
each week. Had I been at work this week I'd have had Sunday and Thursday off on my rota.
I just decided enough was enough when I found myself begging and scraping for a days leave,
to a fat corporate muppet so I could tag it onto a rare weekend off and go visit my folks on the
other side of the country. My own supervisor was away on holiday himself and I wasn't on the other
guys crew so my request was refused. I called the sickness reporting line the following day and
happily told the same arsehole to poke his job where the sun doesn't shine. Haven't worked since.
I've quite enjoyed the time off, I'm currently using it to get over a few of my vices. Alcohol consumption
down about 80%, weed consumption stopped completely, on day four of cold turkey tobacco cessation
and day 8 of no fap. Found a gym nearby that seems good value for money and is a walkable distance
from my house so might jump on some of that next. No rush to go back to work for a while.

Did you also quit without notice like I did? I am extremely micromanaged for things that aren't particularly important, we use paper systems for things that could easily be computerised (taking up hours of my time), every time I bring up a suggestion to modernise things with proof that it makes everything easier and more efficient it gets shot down by management and the other team members.

We even still use a whiteboard and email to announce meetings, when we could just easily do it through Microsoft teams.

 

[SW15]

No, I have not done that though I have considered it. I have been terminated from jobs without having another one lined up. In both of those situations, the company was toxic and their overall corporate strategies were dreadful. I was relieved to leave both of those situations. I found better jobs in both cases.

 

[lost_blackbird]

Did you also quit without notice like I did?

Well, an hour before I was due to start a shift but yes. I was a full time employee and they started
banging on about how 'I couldn't do that because I had to give 4 weeks notice' to which I replied
'This is part of why I'm going, I have to give you a third of the amount of notice to leave than you
want for me to book a day of leave.' I have spoken to my ex manager since as he returned from his
holidays to find I had just gone. I just never went back again, they paid me what they owed me.
Dropped all my corporate clothing off at the clothes bank the following day, It amuses me to think
there's possibly some little African fella running around in my unworn supermarket uniform.
Waste not want not. It was woefully inadequate for my 1 degree Celcius workplace so I wore my
own comfortable, properly fitting and thermally effective clothes anyway.

My old supervisor is coming over for a bit of dinner sometime in the next few weeks. I felt a little
bad that I had left so suddenly but my reference is safe as it will be coming from him, he'sa few
years older than me and part of a straight talking generation that is a dying breed within that
organisation. He said that in my position, particularly my financial situation, that he'd have done the
same thing. I'm just about to submit a CV to the motorcycle dealers that I've recently bought a bike
from. I don't really care if I spend all day cleaning the bikes in the showroom, it's the biggest bike
shop in the UK and they employ a lot of people. I'd be happy working in any role they had there,
from sales, to spares, maybe an apprenticeship in the workshop, even in store security.

I don't need a job right away, nor do I need to earn very much to keep the lights on and food in the
fridge, my house is paid for, I have no debt. I might as well work in a place that sells something I'm
interested in with a staff discount scheme I'd actually make some use of. Failing that maybe a job on
the goods inward side of Ikea, I have a valid fork truck licence. I just got sick to death of all the wokery
rammed down my throat at every opportunity there, I believe it's menopause week again at the moment.
Seems like the last one was only yesterday. Plus the conditions I mentioned before and the fact that it
was a refrigerated warehouse so I'd finish a shift chilled to my bones every day regardless of the time
of year. There's plenty more I could say aboutwhat a bad place it was to work, but I'm outta there now,
on to better things when I'm ready to go back to work again.

 

[In2theGame]

May be a bit of a risk but I have done it however not FULLY, since my other source of income was trading the financial markets.

If anyone is going to jump ship from a B.S. Job, at the minimum, you should have very minimal, if any debt. This is the structure that keeps the majority of the population enslaved to an employer. Debt.

One of the most important aspects in life is to solve the money problem of the lack of it. Once you can figure this out, life (at least financially) becomes boundless and your freedom restored. Going to another Job that may be better will eventually lead you to the same place you are now...

Corporate/office politics, ridiculous Human Resource rules, sh!t head coworkers/managers...

It's all the same structure.

 

[devilkingx2]

It's okay to do this if you know your job is easily replaced or if your immediate financial situation isn't dependent on your next paycheck.

Obviously never quit a job that's difficult to replace without a ready to go backup plan.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Nope...my job is pretty much stress free

 

[xplt]

I have kind of one time.

Worked a ****ty job for an IT supplier. Unbearable, toxic boss and lots of unpaid overhours.
My mother got a stroke one day and was lying in ICU in another city, so I got unpaid free days and hours. After two weeks my boss wanted to sign me a document where I should have promised to be in the company 40hrs a week, regardless what happens. He told me straight to the face, he wants me to be there, even if my mother dies. I refused to sign.
He then asked me, if I wanted to be kicked out.
I told him, if this was a reason for him to end my contract, I'm happy to leave. This was my last day at this company and I didn't regret.
Found another Job within two weeks in one of France's biggest enterprise company, but if you have valuable IT skills in Europe, you won't end up unemployed if you don't want to.

Regardless, in another situation I will only quit, if I have something new lined up, have too much money or if the job is a risk for my mental health.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Get yourself fired. Then you get unemployment.

I don’t think one should leave voluntarily without another job lined up.

 

[EyeBRollin]

So you just gonna keep taking the disrespect, the mistreatment, abuse because you don't have another one lined up?

Yes. If it is actual employment abuse I can take legal action. In the mean time, suck it up until something better is on the table.

That sounds like having a toxic relationship but not leaving because you don't have another girl....

Not comparable. Women don’t pay any bills.

 

[EyeBRollin]

I'll never sucked it up, and never will.

That’s silly. In the West we aren’t working in a sweatshop.

That's why you save, for emergencies like this ine, but I get it, 50% of people live paycheck to paycheck while spending everything they earn.

Irrelevant. You keep the job for negotiating better pay and benefits. Unemployed people have no leverage.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Options gives you leverage, like having multiple job offers, if you don't have a skill needed then you need to suck it up and keep being disrespected while living paycheck to paycheck until something else comes along.

You will be low balled when you are unemployed. Doesn’t matter how many options you think you have.

 

[Zimbabwe]

You will be low balled when you are unemployed. Doesn’t matter how many options you think you have.

Why tell them you are unemployed? Just tell them that you are looking to "change jobs" because you want career progression and you think that you have the right transferable skills to succeed with this new company.

 

[corsica]

So you just gonna keep taking the disrespect, the mistreatment, abuse because you don't have another one lined up? That sounds like having a toxic relationship but not leaving because you don't have another girl....

I don't know if it applies for other States (in US) but when you apply for unemployment benefits in Texas, you can explain why you quit and there are 3 reasons.
- Health
- Safety
- Last one I can't remember but it was something related to morals. If your boss is constantly disrespecting you in a clear way (to explain and quantify) you might have some base. One thing is for your boss to insist in calling you an idiot in front of your colleagues and make you clean the toilet when your job position is not janitorial. Another is to cry because your boss mentioned publicly that he voted for Don, eats meat and had straight sex with a hot woman and it's not calling you by your prefered pronoun, causing you a mental breakdown.

It doesn't matter how much you make. You should have savings to stay afloat for 3 months.
It's important to know your rights so you don't take crap. That way you will not be humiliated by your boss(es). I wish I could share a story but I would be revealing too much. But when my boss and his boss tried to pile up on me I replied in a way that put them at their places and they never bothered anymore. They even became friendlier!

 

[EyeBRollin]

Why tell them you are unemployed? Just tell them that you are looking to "change jobs" because you want career progression and you think that you have the right transferable skills to succeed with this new company.

Lying about past or present (un)employment is grounds for termination. Or you will just fail the background check and not get hired.

Why are make this complicated? It is a disadvantage to quit a job vs. sucking it up and finding one while still employed.

 

[EyeBRollin]

You've never been in it then. The longer you stay the more stuck you feel and the harder it is to leave. I am talking about really abusive and manipulative environments. There is little to no legal protection there.

Obviously if it's just a job you don't like, you don't consider leaving without back up.

I’ve been in jobs I hated. Last job I had, I stuck it out for over 6 months. Hating every second of it. My new job is better and I got a 10% raise.