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?

Not exactly quit but I was running a station during a big local event in London when this manager came on and basically criticised how I was every decision I made and micromanaging everything. So I gave him the station keys and radio and left the site to work at another station nearby. I said, if you think you can do better, crack on. He tried to reason with me (he'd never run that place on his his own before) but I was so demoralised I buggered off.

This particular manager had form for thinking women didn't belong in positions of responsibility. Hie was a sexist old fart.

I was back the next day though.

I can't actually walk out as I'm a HCP, but I had one horrendous locum day where I'd turned up and the optical assistant/receptionist couldn't speak English.
It was a cataract clinic and I was the only person working and it was the dispensing optician's day off. Basically, she couldn't do anything apart from making sure the frames didn't get stolen. I was having to see all the patients, answer the phone, deal with the queries and deal with irate people.

At one point we were running about 2 hours late. The practice owner conveniently switched his phone off until mid afternoon - when he did then turn up and help. At the end of a very long day, I went home about 90 minutes late, having eaten nothing all day and told him not to expect me the following week.

I very occasionally have a dream about it.

@longingtoquit Sorry I didn't answer your question, how do I quit?

Email them and say that unfortunately you're unable to meet their expectations. Ask if they want you to tie up any loose ends and give notice as per your contract to them.

I've done it twice.

The first time was a weekend job when I was 18. I walked out mid shift and they phoned my mum to tell on me.

The second time was when I was 30. My boss was awful. Truly awful. I couldn't cope anymore. I phoned my doctor who signed me off so I left immediately. I never went back. The weight off my shoulders was amazing.

I did it once. I was working for a bunch of misogynistic men, although I don't think that was how they viewed themselves. They thought they were great.

I lasted two weeks there, and that was two weeks too long.

As I walked out on my last day the security guard of our office building said that this company had had a very high staff turnover for my position, with many people (all women) not lasting longer than a few days. The employment agency I was with confirmed that and told me that they were done with those people. They wouldn't be sending them any more candidates because it never worked out and so no fees were ever paid.

Yes, my manager was a micro manager and had hiding places where she would watch people who she had a grudge with, would be then called to her office and screamed out if they weren't doing what she wanted! I got called to her office instead I picked up my bag and left!

@underneaththeash thank you
Am sitting in bed in a sea of dread
It's just not worth this. And yes I am not meeting their expectations
Thank you

Years and years ago I worked in a nursery

Idea was,I'd do a week at college and a week at the nursery

40 hours a week at the nursery for £39.50

Only they refused to allow me to do the college time-i had to be at the nursery week in,week out (college didn't want to know and neither did the agency I'd signed up with-it was pure slave labour)

It was the most evil,boring,bitchy and dirty job I've ever done-and nothing I ever did was right for them (if your face fitted,you where fine-mine didnt)

The last straw was starting at 8am,no lunch/loo breaks all and finished at 6pm-it had been crazy busy all day

As I was leaving,I nipped for a wee and the boss came out of nowhere

She started screaming at me for going for a wee as 'you've done fuck all today and now your buggering off to the toilet!' (She fully expected me to stay on until 7pm even though nobody else was) and she ranted on about how useless I was with the biggest smirk on her face

Fuck that-i grabbed my handbag and coat before opening the door and walking out-I'd done a full 7 weeks at that point

(My narc mother made me go back to say sorry-no point as she didn't listen to a word I said about the nursery and how i had been treated and they'd replaced me within the day with another girl id gone to school with-she lasted a week)

It shut down a year later

Once. I worked in an office for an accountant. There was him & 3 office staff. He was a strange man. In the interview he told me about his wife's 13 miscarriages & how she finally had a baby who now has heart trouble. I was very uncomfortable but needed the job.
Was there a couple of weeks & although I liked the job, he was very difficult & everyone was walking on eggshells.
In week 3 he called me into his office & screamed in my face. I could feel the spit on my face. The entire place could hear him.
I calmly walked out, got my coat & bag and left. I never went back.

I've walked out of three jobs!

Yes, fortunately I had a bit of freelance work to tide me over. I have rarely felt such joy and lightness! Lobbed the keys and laptop on a desk and skipped out of the building. Didn't need the reference. I made an appointment with the boss and explained why I would be exiting the place. It didn't last long.

Yes. A banking call centre. Awful, awful place to be. Lasted 2.5 days. Don’t come back after lunch and went back to the job centre to talk to them who were thankfully brilliant. My first job back after maternity leave.

I've told this before, so apologies if you remember it. I had a PT evening job, filling shelves at Asda, for over 20 years. When I came back after a knee replacement (work related injury) I was told to ask for help pulling cages of stock onto the shop floor. This worked fine, until we got a new supervisor. I asked for help, and he said I shouldn't be working if I couldn't do the job. I left the stock where it was, left a resignation note on the office desk, and went home. They paid me up to date, and I never heard from them again.

3 times I've walked out and I've not regretted a single one.

The first one was an admin apprentice in a care company. Dropped a letter through the door at 17 and never looked back. It was a toxic bitchy office and I dreaded everyday. I'd been there about 5 months at that point

Second time was McDonald's. I'd done 3 weeks worth of shifts and they tried to make it my problem that they had rota'd me in on a day that I had said I couldn't do at interview point due to dental surgery with anaesthesia. Emailed the hiring and training manager to resign and highlighted a few bad practices that I'd witnessed for good measure.

Third time was in a job for 2 months for a very large well known company. Had next to no system access for 3 weeks and my line manager didn't seem to be helping gain any so I spent 3 weeks either on the phone to IT or twiddling my thumbs. Then I was set work which had to be quality checked by another team member before I was allowed to work independently- fine except that team member had just started before me and wasn't much more in the know than I. Then it became clear that I had actually been left on my own for 2 weeks with no-one to QC my work so couldn't actually do anything. By this point I was done and just resigned and arranged for the equipment to be sent back to the office.

Very tempted to do this today. Told by a doctor to rest and no work for 4 days. Bullied in to working today and am getting an attendance warning on Friday.
I've handed my notice in for 4 weeks but am very tempted to go to GP and get signed off for the month except I do like my colleagues, but not management

Ok, OP, just quit. This, really.
About 20 years ago, in another country, I had my first job. Administration, office based. Run by my "boss", a spiteful, narcissistic woman and her best friend, a man around 50yo and around 200kg.
His weight and health issues caused him to yell at the top of his voice literally at anyone, plus that inevitable BO. I was 22yo, didn't crack, but he made some people cry and some aggressive. My father was a soldier so I suppose I was brought up to be "tough".
So, one day, after a yelling episode from this man, I simply told them to stick the job where the sun doesn't shine and walked out (with a tight arsehole, but that was it). Happened in the Czech Republic, for context.
Good luck to you! 😁

I have left a few part time jobs in the past, mostly cash in hand so just never bothered going back.
One place I worked for a couple of years and enjoyed it until a creepy manager started stalking me . They moved me around different branches and to cut a long story short I got fed up of them messing me about so one day I just walked out mid shift. I got home, rang the head office and told them to stick the job up their arses
Very satisfying although I was out of a job 😉

I've walked out of a few jobs, mainly when I was younger though, first one was a window selling job, I lasted 3 hours after listening to them force an elderly man to get new windows, poor thing. I worked as a junior at one job and the owner accused me of speaking to her mother in a patronising tone, she was vicious and unprofessional so I didn't go back after lunch. Bar job where they were forcing me to work nights until 3am, when I had been taken on as day staff, when I told them I couldn't do it, they said I should offer another member of staff £20 to cover for me, then refused to let me take a break! Honestly if your mental health is suffering then quit, it really isnt worth it.

I had a second job in a bar that I needed to help pay the bills. I walked out of it after I was sexually assaulted by the Landlord. I didn't report it (it was back in the late 80's) but he would definitely have had sore balls for a while as I defended myself with my knees!
Luckily I was able to walk straight into another bar job where I was happy for several years!

I walked out of a call centre job a couple of years ago after 3 months when the manager failed to help me with a customer every time I asked. The last time the red mist defended, I gathered my belongings, walked out the door with my last statement to the aforementioned manager before I slammed it shut was 'how the fuck do you manage to stand up all day when you don't have a spine'

I was lucky enough to have savings to see me through to finding a new job and just explained at my next interview that I left due to lack of support and I'd rather they didn't contact them for a reference!

Been in this job for 12 years so it's not done me any harm but I wouldn't recommend it.

Best wishes x .

I walked out after being told that, as the newest person in the office, I was the tea and coffee person for the office.
I looked ant the twit who said this to me, said NO! Walked out and went home.
Their problem, as I had been hired to fix their screwed up database and email system. Never went back.

My role was nowhere near as high-powered as the other freelancers on here, but 20-odd years ago I had a Betterware round for 18 months. It was commission-only and consumed my every waking hour, but ultimately it was going to pay for my DD's orthodontic treatment.

Most of the people I left catalogues with were perfectly pleasant about returning them even if they weren't interested in ordering anything, but the people at one particular address left me a very unpleasant message. I made a note not to leave any more catalogues at their address (basically what they were asking me to do, once I got past the bit where they called me THICK in capital letters).

...At that time, Betterware was in competition with Kleeneze, and every so often on my rounds I'd find a Kleeneze rep had beaten me to one street and there were unwanted Kleeneze catalogues waiting on the doorsteps for collection just as I was delivering my (equally unwanted) Betterware catalogues. Naturally, I'd check which Kleeneze distributor was working my route. Their order forms carried their name and address - and about a year after the unpleasant message, who did I find trying to build a career as a Kleeneze rep but the woman from the house that had left me the nasty message! One of her catalogues remained uncollected for a fortnight or so, and eventually I lifted it myself and kept it.

A few months later, at the height of the Christmas campaign and with utterly unrealistic targets to make any kind of bonus, I was getting close to burn-out and knew I needed to pack it in for my own sanity. I'd also discovered, in the meantime, that my DD's orthodontic treatment did meet NHS guidelines and would be free after all, so I no longer needed to work like a donkey. And the money I'd raised was enough to cover the (then very modest) OU tuition fees for several years, so I registered to start a degree on my 40th birthday.

"Oh, not to worry," said my area co-ordinator breezily, "I've taken on a new lady for this side of town - her name is [name of that Kleeneze rep]..." and I replied, "...And she lives at [address], right? Did she tell you she used to be a Kleeneze rep?"

...No, not a word about that! So with a grand flourish I handed over the old catalogue and said, "She left me the most unpleasant message I've ever read. If you take her on, I'll quit on the spot."

My poor co-ordinator had no choice in the matter - the other woman had applied via head office, who simply ordered the area co-ordinator to take her on and support her - but when she said as much to me, I just handed back the forthcoming week's boxes of 150 catalogues and said cheerfully, "OK, I quit. You'd better give these to [Kleeneze rep] instead. Cheerio!"

Last laugh was on me - the Kleeneze woman was equally useless at Betterware and only lasted a fortnight. The area co-ordinator had to cover my old territory herself for a couple of months, telling one customer after another, "SomewhereIslands has left to go to university"...only to hear, over and over, "I'm not surprised - she was much too good to do this for the rest of her life!"

(Moral of this rambling tale: do it! Something better will always come along.)

Hi walked out of my job at sky television. Call centre job. Found it so stressful and no support. Went for lunch and just didn’t come back. I was younger though. Stayed with my parents and they were supportive.

I haven't walked out but I have been off sick and have sent an email today.
The amount of emotional energy i have spent is exhausting.

I was recommended for a job (self employed) after several weeks the whole situation was becoming untenable, so I told the business owner that the job really wasn't working for me, and I felt that he and I obviously had different views about what was required, and that I would send my final invoice the following week.
It was just a discussion between to professional adults.