To ask if you've ever walked out of a "job?

[longingtoquit]

I am a freelancer who has one client I can't deal with any more. I am burned out. Keep calling in sick.
How do I just quit?

I never went back to two jobs. Both long term supply jobs, I phoned my agency and told them that I wouldn’t be doing any more days at them because they were unpleasant to work in. For one of them they’d sent out a letter to parents telling them all the days I would be covering too!

I have once before, and without another job to go into.
It was worth it, scary, but worth it.

Im seriously contemplating doing it again with my current job. The actual job is boring and my employer is atrocious. But I also have bills and pets that need paying for......

Credit card company - evil bastards. Preying on the poor.
I walked out on the 3rd day half way through the day and never went back.

I called in sick for a while. When I finally went in I was brought into my return to work meeting. I told them actually I wouldn't be returning and handed over my resignation letter.

Yes! Bar staff. We had to pay half price for our drinks. I had just helped myself to some diluted cordial which I thought was free, and turned out I had to pay (the drinks staff had given me before I thought was the cordial turned out to be poundland squash they kept out the back). Manager made me pay half the customer cost for my drink.

This was after a horrendously busy hot night, where we'd been too busy to take any of our breaks, and I'd been giving the bouncers their drinks for free (they could have whatever they wanted, higher up the pecking order). The manager had announced that there was a staff night out the following Saturday, paid for by our tips we all had to put into a communal tip jar, and half of the staff (including me) would be unable to join them as we were rotaed to work. I was on minimum wage and at least £20 of those tips I'd put in there. Final straw we were so busy he made me stay an extra 45 minutes at the end of my shift to help get all the glasses through the dishwasher and restock as we'd gotten behind.

Walked out that night with a sense of calm because I just knew I'd hit my limit and I would never be coming back. Muting their calls the next day when I didn't show for my shift felt powerful.

I did it a couple of years ago.
I didn't have a job to go to, I just left as it was so toxic colleague wise and the conditions were horrible,(think really physical factory work in red hot conditions)
I handed my resignation in on the Friday and called in sick for my week's, notice as I really couldn't face going in for that week.
(I know I was in a privileged place to be able to do this and not worry about bills before anyone starts)
Sometimes you need to be able to step away.
Mental health is important too

Once when I was about 22, it was a year out job and the boss was a tw*t so I put a letter through the door and never went back. I've always resigned properly and worked my notice since then but I have bills to pay these days and need references.

Yes. I walked out of a job I’d been in 2 years. Couldn’t take it anymore. Awful people. Final straw was complete lack of any flexibility with childcare - their choice, but the way they went about it was vile and illegal (tried to force me to work more hours than colleagues - was already full time).

I’m still feel a sense of calm about it to this day. No regrets despite it being quite an out of character thing for me to do. I’d just moved cities for my husbands job and had great employers before so knew they were shit.

Went freelance for two months then started in my current company. Still here three promotions later.

wasn’t it Dylan Thomas who said he liked to burn bridges and watch the flames burn? Think that was me at the time 😂

I've done it before and never regretted it. I was working in a supermarket cash office, the manager was horrendous, my alarm didn't go off one morning and I knew I was going to be late for work, only by 20 minutes because of the bus I'd be able to catch, but knew I would get an absolute bollocking from her in front of other colleagues (she had habit for that) and it made me feel sick thinking of what I was going to be walking in to and just thought, you know what, no job is worth feeling this worried about, so I just didn't turn up, wrote a resignation letter, dropped it in that afternoon explaining what kind of person she was to work under and I wouldn't be coming back because of her. They tried calling me but I just ignored them all until they eventually stopped.

i have

was getting burnout and decided my health is worth more than that job.

Yep, I’m a freelancer too and walked out on a contract with no notice last summer. Long story but I was already unhappy with the work they were giving me when they put me on a project with a new woman (also freelancer) that I just couldn’t get on with. I raised my concerns but they did nothing. One day she really pissed me off and a client meeting promising work that was not on budget. Afterwards asked to speak with her and we ended up in a huge argument. I then happened to be on holiday for a week. I had a feeling she would complain about me and on the day I was back in the office, I got a message from two VPs asking for a meeting. There is no agenda and there was no indication of what the meeting was about so I figured ask me to quit, I emailed them back and said I am not prepared to work with this person anymore, and I am cancelling my contract effective immediately.
One VP responded quite professionally and said OK and asked me to do a couple of administrative tasks and to send a final invoice. This just confirmed my thought that they wanted me to quit anyway. The other VP, who I actually had a very positive relationship with until this happened. Never spoke to me again. Since then I have been working with a new company and they are fantastic. Many opportunities have come my way which I’ve strongly believe would not have happened if I had continued to work with this company. So you may feel that it’s a very risky move to quit but I would do it because as long as you continue to work for them, you won’t have a new opportunity that could make you a lot happier.

I started a new job in a different field abd realised on day one it was a mistake.

It was a week before Xmas so I just carried on until the Xmas break ( needed the bank holidays) and didn't go back after.

I was on zero notice that early in my employment and figured they wouldn't want me back in knowing I was quitting as I hadn't stated any proper work yet anyway.

I did it once and regretted it, not for quitting but for not being honest with my employer and myself that it hadn't been working out. I'd been there a year when I went out for my lunch break and didn't return. Luckily I hadn't had any sick days. I went back the following day, apologised and handed my notice in. It felt good to be honest with them (and to get paid).

Call centre. What a hell hole! Unrealistic targets and no breaks unless you have worked out with your colleagues before the shift who does what when... that included toilet breaks!
Obviously no food or drinks at the desks.
I lasted 6 weeks, sadly I needed the money so had to wait until something better came along!

Twice. Once in a job I was leaving a week later anyway (chargehand used the F word at me), then in a job which turned out to have a lot of unpaid overtime every day. That had lasted two days.

I walked out of the casual pub job I had in the uni holidays after the landlord sexually assaulted me. I was terrified. I literally ran away and never went back. The bastard kept my cash in hand wages for the week.

The next time I was sexually assaulted at work I unfortunately desperately needed to complete the work placement as it counted for my degree course. The person was in a position of power, it was pre Me Too and I thought I would be disbelieved so I had no courage to report it. I called in sick for the rest of the placements and was made to repeat it in the uni holidays.

I really do regret now that I did not report either of these but I honestly did not feel it was possible at all at the time

Yes - I left a job with nothing to go to when I was in my mid twenties.

It was awful - small company owned and run by a complete autocrat who was frankly abusive.

I was out of work for 2 months (but had some temp work at various points) and it was awful but better than working there.

I've done it several times. Usually happened at lunch time on the first day: knowing the job was shit, I would just go to lunch and not come back. No regrets.

Yes twice.

once as a cleaner for well known bakery up here, shit safety record, shit management, vile members of staff, I got injured cleaning under a machine that I was told I had to do when I clearly shouldn’t have, ended up in hospital luckily was just a small head wound, walked out same day, and ignored their calls the next day, asking me where I was.

second one was a cleaning job in a school, horrible cleaners, horrible teachers and totally unrealistic area to clean in 2 hours. I ended up in tears most days. One day I really struggled to finish my area, it was muddy, had glitter everywhere, the other cleaners finished their much smaller areas and stood watching me struggle , tutting and telling me thanks you’ve made us late now to finish, no help or nothing. Then I had a complaint from a teacher the next day because I missed a table. Phoned my boss and told her I wasn’t going back, it was the last straw and I was gutted.

bless her though she didn’t sound surprised, put me back into relief work and found me another contract where I’m much happier and still there.

I’ve just done exactly this, the job was so awful I got signed off as I was having panic attacks. I then emailed them my sick note and resignation together and never returned.
They didn’t see it coming, boss was gaslighting me and I just broke. Left on 2nd jan with nothing to go to. Still unable to contemplate it as my confidence is rock bottom but I’m so glad I did it. No job is worth that misery.
lm looking to go freelance now which which help build me back up.

Yes.

They were really short of staff so although I was part time I was working full time. We were due an audit and it became clear that the management were expecting us to just lie about the project I was on to pass the audit.

I was having panic attacks, was under a massive amount of pesssure and finally had a dissociative seizure due to the stress.

I went to my GP and got signed off for two weeks with work related stress and then handed in my resignation at the return to work meeting

They failed the audit. I was really happy because I was worried about it. A more senior manager got sent in to sort it out.

Twice! Walked out of a waitressing mid job - mid service - in the 1980's due to a bullying manager. I got reinstated a couple of days later, much to his disgust and he left the following week.

Then in about 1996 I walked out of a sales job in Dublin and took the company to a constructive dismissal tribunal. I won. 😁

If you are a freelancer surely it is easier to leave than if you were an employee?

Do you have a contract with them?

I would request a meeting and state that this is not working for you and that as a result you can't complete the project. Give them a week's notice and tell them what you will be able to complete in that timeline.

Basically be professional about it.

Yes, I’ve walked out of quite a few and always into better ones.
I think it’s sensible to make a space for something better to come in

I left my job at McDonald's a couple of years ago. I'd been off on the sick with covid and had been really unwell. My GP wanted me to do a phased return but I got told I either did my full shifts (of up to 9 hours when at the time I was struggling to get through a day a my other job which was four hour shifts in a much more relaxed environment) or I didn't come back at all.

Wasn't a hard choice.