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Walked out of my job
Rainhands
Posts: 18 Forumite
Hi all.
Last week I informally quit my job. I worked for a retail store for two and a half years after dropping out of uni due to personal reasons. It is a little long winded.
After failing to complete my degree, I started to work full time and put my heart and soul into the job. A lot younger people are employed here, so perhaps they don't take it as seriously as those of us in our mid-twenties.
I learned every facet of the job available, a few of which the shift managers did not seem to know(but they knew how to tell you to hurry up with it). I worked any hours that they scheduled me, whether it be 4am or 11pm. When I had no money to put on my oyster card, I still came to work on time, walking 6 miles to work and back. I never once complained. When I was sleeping on a friends floor looking for somewhere to stay, I still came to work.
No matter what, I had shown a good amount of dedication that very few people working here can match. And not be be big headed, but I was one of the best at the job which I took pride in. Yet I was never promoted. Can you believe that not only did my manager fast tracked people that joined the store 1 year after me to management, but to top it off he had me train them on things they didn't know?!! So I was effectively training the people that months later would tell me how something was supposed to be done. I have to laugh! :rotfl:
Everytime I questioned my pending promotion it was always "You have a bad work attitude, you like to argue with people". It took me a long time to realise that in this job no matter the facts, you just have to remain quiet and agree with your superior. Sometimes it makes you question why you even have a mind in the first place. Then after I stopped back talking, he said that I needed to complete a work program before I could get promoted(which I had been on for more than a year but because it was so poorly organised myself and the 5 other people on it had still never completed it at this point). I asked why 3 other people got promoted without doing the work program and was told it was because they showed good promise in a short amount of time so they were fast tracked. Apparently I showed good promise too before my hiccups with the management.
Fast forward to March and I had applied for a transfer to another store as I saw the game my manager was playing. He was never going to promote me. And the store manager of the other branch liked my work and personally told me that if I joined her store she would promote me immediately. Once again my store manager blocked me from leaving. I can't transfer without his permission.
In July he called me into his office after a typical day of work. He queried "Why do you think you have not been promoted yet"? I replied because of a certain managers negative preconceptions about me. He then said that he thinks I'm one of the best people here and believes that I can go far in the company. He would have promoted me a long time ago however I did not complete the work program. It was clear that the script had officially been flipped. No mention of the now 8 or so people that had been promoted ahead of me by now who did not have to complete this unorganised shambles. I just nodded my head but secretly applied for other jobs with very little luck.
Fast forward to last week. I had a successful interview with a large nationwide company and they took me on as an entry level. The pay is 19k which in London and especially on this forum is not much, but coming from minimum wage I am thankful for it. I did not hand in my resignation, instead I booked a holiday and if I did not like my new job I would not return. My manager did not know this.
On Friday I was called in to put away the delivery. I told the shift manager that I was not supposed to work today, so I would only come in as a favor to help on delivery then I will go home. Nothing else. I made this explicit and he agreed. During work my store manager asked me to go on the shop floor, I told him that I was called in for delivery today. He said there was a change of plan. Again I told him that I only came for delivery, otherwise I would have stayed home as it was my day off. From here on he got serious. Note that I was finally going to be promoted the following day. He asked if I was getting signed off the work program the next day. I said yes. He retored "You can forget about that, you've got no chance of a promotion". As I was starting my new job in a couple of weeks I didn't care and simply replied "OK". He then came out after I continued the delivery and took the guy that I was working with to spite me and replaced him with a bumbling idiot that just leaned on the wall and talked non-stop.
I questioned what I was doing there. I came in to do a favor, but instead of being thanked I am treated with contempt and lost my right to a promotion. I slaved away at this store for more than two years of my life on minimum wage and put my all into it. When nobody else cared, I cared. Despite what I had to go through at work, I still wanted our store to do well and tried my best to please my managers. I even joked with a colleague that if we collected the amount of sweat we worked off in our time here, it would be enough to fill a swimming pool. It was shocking to see that all of that hard work meant little in the eyes of my manager. I was shocked to say the least. After a few minutes of debating my next move, I clocked out, grabbed my jacket and bag then headed out the door.
Before I could leave my manager hauled me into his office and said "You are acting like somebody that doesn't want a job". I said maybe I don't. Then he pulled out a piece of paper with a pen and demanded that I sign a letter of resignation right there and then. I refused as I don't like being pressured into signing things. He then said that if I left he would sack me for gross misconduct. I said "Do what you want" and then left. I had another job with better pay and more prospects to go to, honestly I did not know why I stayed that long. That place ran me dry, in the end I had to walk out because I couldn't stay. I had nothing left to give. My hopes, my aspirations, my will to perform well were all gone. I felt very much disrespected.
Sorry for making this so long, I just had to get this off my chest. Has anybody else been in a predicament where they thought the job was not worth it and simply walked out?
I must say that this was a good thing in the end. I thought after not completing my degree that I would never work for a big company or get my foot in the door of an organisation where I could progress outside of retail. It also let me know that I had been there too long, and started viewing my means to an end as a career path when that was never part of the plan all along. :beer:
Last week I informally quit my job. I worked for a retail store for two and a half years after dropping out of uni due to personal reasons. It is a little long winded.
After failing to complete my degree, I started to work full time and put my heart and soul into the job. A lot younger people are employed here, so perhaps they don't take it as seriously as those of us in our mid-twenties.
I learned every facet of the job available, a few of which the shift managers did not seem to know(but they knew how to tell you to hurry up with it). I worked any hours that they scheduled me, whether it be 4am or 11pm. When I had no money to put on my oyster card, I still came to work on time, walking 6 miles to work and back. I never once complained. When I was sleeping on a friends floor looking for somewhere to stay, I still came to work.
No matter what, I had shown a good amount of dedication that very few people working here can match. And not be be big headed, but I was one of the best at the job which I took pride in. Yet I was never promoted. Can you believe that not only did my manager fast tracked people that joined the store 1 year after me to management, but to top it off he had me train them on things they didn't know?!! So I was effectively training the people that months later would tell me how something was supposed to be done. I have to laugh! :rotfl:
Everytime I questioned my pending promotion it was always "You have a bad work attitude, you like to argue with people". It took me a long time to realise that in this job no matter the facts, you just have to remain quiet and agree with your superior. Sometimes it makes you question why you even have a mind in the first place. Then after I stopped back talking, he said that I needed to complete a work program before I could get promoted(which I had been on for more than a year but because it was so poorly organised myself and the 5 other people on it had still never completed it at this point). I asked why 3 other people got promoted without doing the work program and was told it was because they showed good promise in a short amount of time so they were fast tracked. Apparently I showed good promise too before my hiccups with the management.
Fast forward to March and I had applied for a transfer to another store as I saw the game my manager was playing. He was never going to promote me. And the store manager of the other branch liked my work and personally told me that if I joined her store she would promote me immediately. Once again my store manager blocked me from leaving. I can't transfer without his permission.
In July he called me into his office after a typical day of work. He queried "Why do you think you have not been promoted yet"? I replied because of a certain managers negative preconceptions about me. He then said that he thinks I'm one of the best people here and believes that I can go far in the company. He would have promoted me a long time ago however I did not complete the work program. It was clear that the script had officially been flipped. No mention of the now 8 or so people that had been promoted ahead of me by now who did not have to complete this unorganised shambles. I just nodded my head but secretly applied for other jobs with very little luck.
Fast forward to last week. I had a successful interview with a large nationwide company and they took me on as an entry level. The pay is 19k which in London and especially on this forum is not much, but coming from minimum wage I am thankful for it. I did not hand in my resignation, instead I booked a holiday and if I did not like my new job I would not return. My manager did not know this.
On Friday I was called in to put away the delivery. I told the shift manager that I was not supposed to work today, so I would only come in as a favor to help on delivery then I will go home. Nothing else. I made this explicit and he agreed. During work my store manager asked me to go on the shop floor, I told him that I was called in for delivery today. He said there was a change of plan. Again I told him that I only came for delivery, otherwise I would have stayed home as it was my day off. From here on he got serious. Note that I was finally going to be promoted the following day. He asked if I was getting signed off the work program the next day. I said yes. He retored "You can forget about that, you've got no chance of a promotion". As I was starting my new job in a couple of weeks I didn't care and simply replied "OK". He then came out after I continued the delivery and took the guy that I was working with to spite me and replaced him with a bumbling idiot that just leaned on the wall and talked non-stop.
I questioned what I was doing there. I came in to do a favor, but instead of being thanked I am treated with contempt and lost my right to a promotion. I slaved away at this store for more than two years of my life on minimum wage and put my all into it. When nobody else cared, I cared. Despite what I had to go through at work, I still wanted our store to do well and tried my best to please my managers. I even joked with a colleague that if we collected the amount of sweat we worked off in our time here, it would be enough to fill a swimming pool. It was shocking to see that all of that hard work meant little in the eyes of my manager. I was shocked to say the least. After a few minutes of debating my next move, I clocked out, grabbed my jacket and bag then headed out the door.
Before I could leave my manager hauled me into his office and said "You are acting like somebody that doesn't want a job". I said maybe I don't. Then he pulled out a piece of paper with a pen and demanded that I sign a letter of resignation right there and then. I refused as I don't like being pressured into signing things. He then said that if I left he would sack me for gross misconduct. I said "Do what you want" and then left. I had another job with better pay and more prospects to go to, honestly I did not know why I stayed that long. That place ran me dry, in the end I had to walk out because I couldn't stay. I had nothing left to give. My hopes, my aspirations, my will to perform well were all gone. I felt very much disrespected.
Sorry for making this so long, I just had to get this off my chest. Has anybody else been in a predicament where they thought the job was not worth it and simply walked out?
I must say that this was a good thing in the end. I thought after not completing my degree that I would never work for a big company or get my foot in the door of an organisation where I could progress outside of retail. It also let me know that I had been there too long, and started viewing my means to an end as a career path when that was never part of the plan all along. :beer:
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Comments
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Good on you for getting the hell out of there! After I was made redundant I got a very good job at the head office of a fashion company (really expensive but somehow also cheap and nasty clothing, rhymes with Wall Paints) - having come from a manager and a team that I adored, I was dismayed to find my new manager was nothing short of a cow. Very nasty, rude to me and all the other staff and - IMHO, borderline autistic. I stood up for myself one day by speaking to HR about her attitude and my concerns and two days later went for my normal 1-2-1 with the cow. Turns out I was being 'terminated' because of a 'broken working relationship'. I was both devastated and delighted and, even though I was on the dole for the next 7 months, I switched my life around, volunteered anywhere that would take me, and now have a full time job in the charity sector. I come in early and stay late because I bloody love my job, even though it's low paid. Any time you think 'oh no, what have I done' stop yourself. In one year you will have gone so far that this job will be a mere speck in the distance
x 0 -
That wouldn't happen to be a major "sports" retailer would it because it sounds awfully similar to one if you ask me!
Anyway, good on you but I do hope it doesn't come back to bite you on the backside - go out there & do your best in the new opportunity and see where it takes you.Retired member - fed up with the general tone of the place.0 -
Sometimes a manager can feel threatened if they see those underneath them with more brains and a better work ethic than them. These are what you would call poor managers.
Only you really know if your attitude was poor or weather it was the fact that you had a poor manager.
I have had occasions to have been under poor management but tbh I either made it known that he/she was performing poorly and not up to the job Or I just walked.
The fact that I am an electrician helps as I can quite often just go from one contract to the other. I have in the past taken over from the poor managers after the companies concerned realised that their choice of man in charge was flawed.
All I can say really is well done for finally sorting out your situation. Sometimes it is better to just walk away and start afresh.0 -
When I was 18 I started working in a branch of a large chain of irish bars (rhymes with o'peels!) and the first year was great, then we got a new manager who was utterly incompetent, so slowly all the good staff left and general morale went down the drain.
After 9 months of frustration, I walked out mid shift and had never felt so happy / high / chuffed / proud of myself, until I got to the end of the street and realised I had left my bag in the staffroom and had to go back in to get it :mad::rotfl:0 -
Glad you found another job before walking out... but, is that 'subject to references'? If so, you need to do things by the book with the previous employer. They may still be waiting on a response even though they've offered you the job.
You should offer to have an exit interview to put on record the reason you felt you needed to leave.
Also, think about the feedback you got about your attitude... Is there any merit in it? You need to be open to the possibility that you rubbed people up the wrong way. Just saying, learn from this so that it doesn't happen again. You admit in your post that you were 'back talking' to managers - don't repeat this behaviour in the new job. First impressions are hard to shake off.
Good luck.:hello:0 -
I've walked out. One company I was there from the start, put in loads of extra hours, built up the company and the systems ... and it was a success (just me and the owner). Owner then went to his rich mate for investment .... and came back from the meeting to say "He's manager of a computer store and will invest in the company if he can have your job". I said "OK".... then I silently went back to my desk, collected my things, sneaked out the back door, pushed my motorbike up the road and rode off.... and that was the end of that.
Let him have my job... the job I'd created, in the company that was a success....... just don't expect me to sit around and wait to be laid off as surplus to requirements.
So long ... and thanks for all the broken promises.0 -
PasturesNew wrote: »So long ... and thanks for all the broken promises.
That's gonna be my exit line soon - I like it!
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I was working as an Architect for a group of guys who dangled the prospect of a ''partnership'' for years. Whilst they were out socialising (or networking mmm), I was the daft bloke, left behind to meet one deadline after another. The crunch came when I was assigned to a very lucrative job for a client based in Dubai. I was promised a bonus of x amount, but when it was clear that it would never materialise, I quit. Boy, was I irritatated at that point in time lol. However, it was meant to be as it was the push I needed to establish my own company. My philosophy in doing so, was to ensure that anyone I employed was 'fairly' treated.
OP, I wish you all the best with your new job 0 -
Tiddlywinks wrote: »Glad you found another job before walking out... but, is that 'subject to references'? If so, you need to do things by the book with the previous employer. They may still be waiting on a response even though they've offered you the job.
You should offer to have an exit interview to put on record the reason you felt you needed to leave.
Also, think about the feedback you got about your attitude... Is there any merit in it? You need to be open to the possibility that you rubbed people up the wrong way. Just saying, learn from this so that it doesn't happen again. You admit in your post that you were 'back talking' to managers - don't repeat this behaviour in the new job. First impressions are hard to shake off.
Good luck.
Yes it is subject to references. I put down two shift managers who I got on well with as my references. I should do things by the book, but it appears I don't have any choice now anyway. I need my p45 for my new job, but when I called HR for my old store I was told that I was still on the system. Then when I called my store I was told that I needed to hand in a resignation form before they could take me off the system and give me a p45.
This also confirms my suspicion that my store manager had no real grounds to sack me, so he just cut my hours and hoped that I wouldn't return. I am not even on a suspension. The swines!
I also note my attitude. Honestly I felt there was a form of bullying, or at least targeted behaviour from the management which I felt uncomfortable with. But if I speak my mind or stand up for myself then I am accused of being 'insubordinate'. Yet if I do things the proper way and file a complaint the manager just has a little chat with them that changes nothing, and I am back to square one. I really am polite with staff. Towards the end I just learned the art of smiling and keeping my mouth shut. It's the only thing that saves me from trouble. I will note my attitude for my next place though because as you say, first impressions are hard to shake off.0 -
And thanks for the positive comments and sharing your stories guys. For a moment I was second guessing whether or not I did the right thing.0
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