Jump to content

Ever leave a job voluntarily ...when had no next job?


shootingstar

Recommended Posts

No, I'm not like that..except when I left a managerial job...and to relocate with dearie to another province.  It was a big decision...'cause I also sold my place. I guess you could say I left for love.

I didn't land a job until 9 months later. Sure spent effort on job hunt. So it sure wasn't "vacation" for me.

I've never left a job on "principles" nor conflict with my personal values.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...sure I have. When I was a young and footloose hippie, whenever my bank account went over $2,000, I used to move to a different city. :) But those were not exactly "career path" jobs in the classic sense.  I left the Social Security Administration over conflict with my personal values. But I waited to leave until I had the job with fire services lined up.  By then I was tired of being poor.

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I left a job voluntarily with no next job lined up.

I was Chief Chemist of Process Development for Minerec Corp, a mining and specialty chemical subsidiary of Dow Chemical.

One Saturday, I decided to start running again.  I could literally taste many of the chemicals I had worked with during the previous week. At the time, early 80's, Industrial Bench Chemist was the career with the shortest avg. lifespan of college graduates, mainly due to cancer from contact with the wrong chemicals - most carcinogens hadn't even been identified back then - we'd wash our hands with benzene, etc. to clean off tars, etc.

Minerec's mining chemicals business was going downhill and specialty chemicals - the reason I was hired out of IIT - was desperately needed to grow and so I was loaded down with new projects including biodegradable pesticides, non-cancer causing additives to make clothes flameproof, and other large-molecule chemicals.  The synthetic processes for large molecules involve multiple steps which means there's sure to be unidentified carcinogens involved.

And I could taste them when I ran.

I was still living at my parents' house.  So I quit.

Soon, Apple II computers came out - I bought Apple II Plus serial number 000809. In college, part of my chemistry training included how to program, in machine language, the series of Wang 700 computers that came out in the late 60's and 70's. Machine language was THE way to write large programs on the limited memory and small disks of home computers. So I grabbed the opportunity to try writing computer game programs and I began writing stuff for local stores - one that would print out a tombstone with the name, etc. for a tombstone company, a quilting pattern program for another company, etc.  A major local Apple Store, The Logical Choice, had a lot of people figuring out how to do new things with Apple computers and I spent a lot of time sharing info with fellow computer geeks there.

Soon, I completed Castles of Darkness, the first animated computer adventure game according to Softalk Magazine, then the official magazine of Apple Computers. You can find me listed on the Giant List of Classic Game Programmers.  The Logical Choice did the publication, production, marketing, etc. and I got 25% of their gross as a royalty. That kept me in spending money for a while.

Soon people from various game companies were interested in me working for them, but all required moves out of state to non-secure positions.  Others were interested in me doing something educational, and I began developing a game based on Around the World in 80 Days, but I got scooped by Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?  I was also working on speech recognition software I planned to call "SpeakEasy," but got scooped again.

Eventually, I realized that there was so much competition I wasn't going to make it as a free lance programmer and accepting offers to join companies put me at the bottom of their ladders.  At the time, I was a member of the Jaycees and played first base on my chapter's softball team.  2nd base, shortstop, and 3rd base were three brothers, with whom I had gone to high school and whose other brother was a teacher.  The teacher said to me, "I heard your looking for a new job. There's a shortage of upper-level science teachers."

That led me to looking into high school teaching and, with that teacher's help, that lead to a new career - the one I retired from and I started young enough to end up with a good pension.  It was funny, I was teaching full-time while I was still taking courses at night to achieve teacher certification. I never had to to the normally required student teaching to get certified because I was already a regular teacher. Eventually I got Advanced and AP Certifications and taught mostly gifted Chemistry and Physics, spending my last 2 decades at Maryland's largest public school.

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have almost always left jobs without another lined up.  I have been laid off 3 times in my life as my job was eliminated in a down sizing but all other departures were because I wanted to leave.  In two cases I had another job offer before deciding to leave but in others I simply couldn't work for that company any longer.

I left the Navy voluntarily.  Ditto Stewart Warner Alemite, Litton Laser Systems, Leachmere (big box store), EIL calibration labs. Most of these places served as temporary stops along the road and that doesn't include short term jobs as a mechanic between other jobs.  In almost all cases I left these jobs because the working conditions were unacceptable to me and I no longer wanted to stay.  Most of the places I left closed, were sold or lost significant market share in the years following my departure so each of those decisions was well founded. 

The Navy obviously stayed on but my specialty was rapidly closing out at the end of the war and there was little room for a non seagoing sailor who was only in because of a medical exemption.  That career path should have continued with a defense contractor but I took a different fork in the road because I was sick of all the travel.

 

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No. I can never leave anything of value. The one time I did resign I had the next job ready to go. I left a place that was terrible at keeping engineers back to my previous place of employment that had re-opened under new ownership.  And I actually had to thing aboot giving up the bird in the hand even though the pay and benefits sort of sucked. But I had a decent boss so that is always a good thing. 

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Been in the same place almost 30 years now.

I’ve been in successor companies for about 42 now. Nearing the end of the road. A rolling 1-2 years. :D  My 70 year old cow-orker is on the same plan. He had a few divorces and sent his daughter to a private college. I had two girls, one who went to med school, and live in NJ. 

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes...and the primary reason I NEVER accept or expect an apology.

Including training, the job may have lasted one month before I said "take this job and shove it" as the demands of management were not reflective of my character.

Just received an insurance license (life, health and variable annuity) and hired by a company that had us set up home visits with their policy holders...to sell more insurance, obviously. Part of the training was - be at least 30 minutes late (drive around, visit Starbucks, whatever to blow the time). Upon arrival, of course the are pissed, and you are coming in with an apologetic skit, blaming last appointment (later to be used on them if they can't decide making late for next - non-existent - appointment). The amazing this is that the skit continually worked. "Well, he did apologize..." and they were like butter in my hands.

I became acutely aware of that I call the "Apology Syndrome" and see it repeated to this day. 1) The person giving the apology doen't mean it. You NEVER hear a commitment to change...just 'I'm sorry. 2) People turn over control of their emotions to a person who could care less. I just shake my head and think "you fool" as I hear people demanding an apology.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

The only job I left voluntarily without a real job to go to was truck driving. I was tired of 80 hour weeks but couldn’t find another job because I was always on the road.

My wife’s doctor asked her if I could do landscaping. She said I could do anything. So he offered me six weeks of landscaping work to landscape the new clinic. He provided the blueprint from a ndad architect. That was to give me six weeks to find a real job.

The landscaping turned out amazing and he asked me to stay on and do the landscaping for his country home. It also turned out beautiful. The country home had an inground pool that had not been covered or used in eight years. I drained, cleaned, painted the pool and got the pump and filter running. 

The doctor’s wife was taking up body building and asked me to convert an out building (a summer kitchen) into a home gym for her.

They also had me convert a two car garage into a health food store for her.

I hadn’t found a real job yet but they didn’t want me to leave anyway. The doctor raised exotic animals and there was always work to do with the buffalos, ostriches, reindeer, and Watusi cattle. Finally after seven months he turned me over to one of his friends to do some work for him and then his friend’s wife wanted me to do some remodeling at her women’s clothing store.

They had a big project for me but it was on hold because of a pending lawsuit. I bought a couple rental properties and renovated them while still looking for a real job. I even cut firewood for a lumber company while waiting on a real job.

Finally got hired by the forge and found a home. Worked there for 28 years.

You remind me an awful lot of my grandad.  He had a similar work history, although maybe not quite as varied.  He was also very handy and his hobby was a HUGE garden that we all loved.  He ended up as a snowplow driver for the state roads.  Sadly he got dementia and went downhill fast,  I take more after my father, can;t do shit as far as handiwork, and have little desire to. :D  Mechanical stuff was as close as I got.  I actually succeeded in rebuilding an MG engine, that was my high point, and I loved to work on lawnmowers as a kid.

 

  • Awesome 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, twice. Once when my first husband passed and I had three children that needed me. I think I took a leave of absence unpaid for the year. I went back eventually. 
once when I finally decided to move to be with Einstein. I new I could fall back on substitute teaching if I wanted or needed to work. 

  • Heart 1
  • Awesome 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes. September 2016. I hated my job and didn’t like where I was living. Wo7 stayed in OH until her Mom passed away in June 2017. I moved back to Ba thinking I’d get a job easily. Went four months before getting a position at a local credit union. Left there after three years because I got tired of the atmosphere I was in. At my fourth credit union in 40 years. I was interviewed And hired on March 7. Started March 23 and haven’t been into the office yet. Hell, the last time I saw my boss and her boss was on March 7 during the interview.

  • Heart 1
  • Awesome 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Typically all job moves were for when I had something else lined up. 
Right now I am about two feet out the door at work, without anything lined up.. Over the last few months, the company is been going down hill on how they treat employees. 
Not sure if I will be going after another job, or working our little business full time and trying to get it off the ground. 

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Kirby said:

Nope, but I've also never had a job where I thought they wanted me to compromise my ethics or where the people treated me unfairly.

I've never been asked/forced against my ethics. There were some workplace situations /cultures which I wasn't enamoured and did my best just to float along, running my own dept., my way but still within demands/objectives of the firm. 

2 hours ago, BuffJim said:

I quit my job in 2009 to pedal cross country. Went back as a temp for 6 months after I got back. Then started a job search and in July 2010 got the job I still have. No regrets. 

i've always admired people who just left a job...to go travelling.  That's just wasn't me. For me to leave my well-paid job mid-career, to relocate with dearie elsewhere in Canada..was incredibly huge for me. It also a decision on either I wanted dearie in my life or I didn't.

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, twice.

I didn't show up for a shift at a fast food place when I was a kid.  I hated working there.  Absolutely hated it.

When I was in my twenties, I gave notice to leave.  My husband and I left for Oregon.  We had no jobs in this area and didn't know anyone.  We picked a spot on the map, sold our home, quit our jobs and left. We took about a month off to get settled and enjoy our property and the area. It was harder to get settled than we thought.  Jobs here were word of mouth and we were outsiders.  It all worked out. We finally got a job with the lady that we bought our home from.   

  • Heart 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

i've always admired people who just left a job...to go travelling.  That's just wasn't me. For me to leave my well-paid job mid-career, to relocate with dearie elsewhere in Canada..was incredibly huge for me. It also a decision on either I wanted dearie in my life or I didn't.

There is all that, plus I seldom ride more than aboot 30 miles from my nice comfortable house. I would like to work back up to longer daily rides like I used to do on weekends. Securely Egbert I retaar.   Ok, the preceding was what Mr. Otto Correct thought I meant to type for ”Definitely when”. :mellow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Yes, twice.

I didn't show up for a shift at a fast food place when I was a kid.  I hated working there.  Absolutely hated it.

That reminds me...I did that too. Loading truck trailers at a cross dock for a big trucking company. I hated it. Lasted a week. Never showed up for a shift & that was that

I musta been pretty desperate for a job at that point

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, BuffJim said:

There was this one time at summer camp. The head cook left to get married, and they made me the head cook at 19 years old. No training, no talent, just a decent work ethic and some common sense. 1200-1500 meals a day at the peak of the season. I was in way over my head. 
 

It was the baker’s day off and she left me an absurd list of tasks to do that day. I was not the confrontational type, so I had my buddy drive me to the Rhinelander bus stop late at night and went home. 
 

I felt guilty, but looking back, I see now it was terribly irresponsible of the camp leadership to put me in that position. 

 

2 hours ago, Dottles said:

I like it ^^^

...I was expecting some sort of kinky sex punchline. Like the "one time at band camp" stories. :(

  • Hugs 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...