What is the best way to quit your job? Any advice?

[RTDaddy]

Always work out a notice, 2 weeks is usually good. If employer doesn't like that, they can send you on out. I ran a maintenance crew for some years, had a few leave for "greener grass." Most worked out a notice, a couple quit in the above referenced "spectacular fashion." with choice words included. Several of the greener grass bunch came back, including one of the 'spectacular' guys. Greener grass turned out to be crabgrass. He came to my driveway wanting to know if I would take him back, asked him if he remembered what he told me the night he left, he said "I guess that means no." "Correctomundo!" Told him to remember when you burn that bridge you're on you may fall a long way.

 

[68BabyBlue]

ALWAYS have a job to move to before you quit, unless there is an extreme circumstance. Not only is it a huge benefit in negotiations, it looks better on resumes and you will feel better about your standing in life overall.

As far as telling them why? I would. But I would tell them I will tell you my reasons on the last day of your notice. Ask them to set up an exit interview meeting like the last hour of your last day.
I wouldn't tell them about another job, that's your business. Giving them feedback about an abrasive dick on the production floor is their business though, so you should not feel guilt or pause for telling them about their business. Just keep it professional.
EDIT: oh and don't make up stories about another job. If they ask you can tell them you have another job lined up but leave it at that. If they ask where or what just tell them you would rather not say.
Unless it is an absolute ludicrous offer, never take an offer of more money to stay. If you are to the point you want to leave, just do it. Only you know what a ludicrous offer looks like, but as a rule of thumb it should be life changing for your monthly budget.

I had a counter offer when I exited my corporate job, and took a golden parachute in the form of a consulting gig for my prior employer. A major convenience store chain recruited me for a position with their in house tanker fleet. My former employer countered by upping the price of my deal by 50%. I got four years out of it before the company imploded, and I was terminated in a mass layoff. In my case, the extra money for staying with the devil I knew proved well worth it, but as stated earlier, if it's not a life changing increase, you are better off to leave.

I had maintained a good relationship with the small tank line where I had started my career 20 years earlier, and they hired me back the morning after I was layed off. Don't burn any bridges, you never know how the future will play out.

 

[Runcharger]

If you had worked this job a month or two you can quit however you want. However when you've worked at a place for a few years a prospective employer will be interested in getting a reference for the time you spent there, that's why it's important to leave the right way.

 

[Basket case]

have your next job lined up, work out a notice, and tell them excatly about the asshole coworker.

 

[ckessel]

Greg makes a point in which I believe in too. When you get let go, you don't get two weeks notice. Firing works both directions. Make sure you already have some place to land and decide from there. Something to think about too is if you fire them, that stigma may follow you to the next one since they didn't get the two week notice. It's a toss up. You may end up doing the old Johnny Paycheck song, "take this job and shove it" when you've reached your limit. Choose wisely though.

 

[Dave6T4]

As others have said, line up another job. I don't know what your skill level is like, or what job availability is like in your area, but most areas are searching for people who are willing to work. Maybe it is time to find work of a completely different style. Think about things that interest you, and go after that. Earning a living does not have to be a prison. If you find a job you love, you never work another day.
Your employer already knows why you will be quitting. He told you at the outset that you would be working with difficult employees, and has chosen to do nothing about it. If you are a valuable employee, and your employer would rather not lose you, maybe a transfer to another work assignment could be negotiated. Working in a toxic environment is life-shortening.

 

[YoungGun87]

I showed up to clock in one morning, decided I had enough, and just left. Normally I'd give a notice but with that company I just didn't care. They never gave us notice when work would be short and we'd have to take a full week off without pay, would rather hire temp hires from a labor finder company to fill in during busy times rather than pay us more, and a myriad of other things including bad management and that was that. For a company with multiple plants nationwide and profits $2.4 billion a year, they had no excuse to not be paying better wages for skilled welders.

 

[gtx6970]

It's not jail. You can leave when you want.
Write a polite resignation letter, act decent and work hard during the notice period. Don't burn your bridges.
Get a new job.

This. You do not have to tell them your post employment plans

 

[Bearhunter]

Give two weeks notice if you currently receive two weeks vacation. If you don’t get two weeks vacation, one week is sufficient. And hey, you don’t have to have a job lined up. It would be nice, but you will find another job. Do what you think is best in your heart. I think You already know the answer. And I found it’s always best to speak from the heart in regards to your reasons for leaving. Be honest with your boss and yourself. No reason to blast or vent. And to be able to quit without having another job lined up. That’s freedom. People would be envious. Go do what you like and see where your mind is when you’re ready to go back to work.

 

[ckessel]

When you have an employer who is fully aware of problem children and does nothing about it, find somewhere else to be. Working with rude uppity people wears on a person. You don't necessarily need to be able to hang out after hours with workmates, but if you can it's a bonus. Get your work done, have a good time doing plus feel good about it and your work conditions. Of course you need to be able to provide for your home so that something to put out front on expectations. My last job, part time since I'm on SS, was rough from the get go. Two rude azzholes that were there made life difficult. Owner was fully aware but since they made him money, rudeness was overlooked. When I got my neurosurgery scheduled I gave notice. I had the opportunity to go back, but no thank you. Life is short and you need to enjoy it.

 

[Fran Blacker]

The company I was laid off from called and asked if I wanted to comeback, YES!! I walked in to the company I was working for and quit no notice. Still feel a little guilty about it. The reasons I did it was I trained a guy and he was ready to go so they had a replacement. I got a $9 an hour raise and way better benefits. Daughter was having ear infections prescriptions were expensive, free on the other job. I was po'd, was suppose to get a raise but they didn't have time to do my review, 6 weeks had past. The raised would be retroactive. Don't know how much the raise was, didn't matter.

 

[eldubb440]

poison the first guy and laugh at the second.......

tons of work out there for a good employee.......two weeks notice will result in 2 miserable weeks, just walk

 

[gkent]

A few words of advice ... you never want to burn your bridges. Leave on reasonable terms. Give them notice and if they ask you to stay an extra week, commit to that length of time only.

 

[Kern Dog]

Greg makes a point in which I believe in too. When you get let go, you don't get two weeks notice. Firing works both directions. Make sure you already have some place to land and decide from there. Something to think about too is if you fire them, that stigma may follow you to the next one since they didn't get the two week notice. It's a toss up. You may end up doing the old Johnny Paycheck song, "take this job and shove it" when you've reached your limit. Choose wisely though.

That company that I quit.....
The owner was some coked up, arrogant prick. He would come out on the job and yell out in the open about how "progress isn't happening fast enough and that there are 400 guys on the out of work list at the Union hall and that he had no problem clearing the job out and hiring all new guys".
**** all that. I refuse to work for some prick that looks at employees as cattle.
12 years later, I was looking for work and talked with a foremen that was really eager to hire me. I was a white guy in my 50s with experience and still healthy. They had a crew of young Hispanic guys that were eager to work but inexperienced hacks.
When I found out the company name, it sounded familiar but I couldn't put it together until later...it was the arrogant prick that wanted to fire all the guys on that job 12 years earlier.
I never called him back. He tried to get the Union to give him MY number so he could try to convince me to come out to work.
No way, man. I refuse to work for that kind of boss. I don't think that I am supposed to be treated like Royalty but I sure don't agree with employers thinking that all their workers are just equipment to be used and dumped.

 

[ckessel]

In the late 80's I was working parts at a Toyota/BMW dealer in SLO. The parts/service manager liked to go out at lunch a toke a few bong loads with the tech's and then come back to parts and go ballistic throwing stuff around. One day he threw a set of brake shoes through a pegboard wall, narrowly missing the more senior of us parts guys, then went back to the shop. The owner of the dealer had told us in the past that he had an open door policy and if we needed to talk to him about anything, see him in his office. Ron went to him and told him about what happened and how long it had been going on. Owner said he'll take care of it. Ron then took his scheduled 1 week vacation. Monday comes and as soon as he was on the property, the parts/service manager fired him. Then he came in to Mike and I. Told us what he had just done and if we didn't like it, we could leave too. After he stormed out Mike and I talked about it in between customers coming in, phone calls etc. At lunch time we emptied out the till, gathered up the days invoices, locked the place up[ it was in a separate building], went to the office, dropped off the till money/invoices/keys and told them to pound sand. After that I found a construction job as a laborer. Wanted nothing to do with automotive.
Longtimers in the area still remember hearing about that 30+ years later. I surprise them when I tell them I was one of the culprits.
One of the many reasons I don't believe what an employer says his policies are for **** like that. If I see trouble brewing and figure its not going to be remedied, I give notice and leave.

 

[Kern Dog]

Here is a fun way to give notice.

 

[cosgig]

You are polite.
I worked construction where your employment status could change by the hour. A boss with a grudge could cut someone loose immediately if he felt like it.
One job I had was intended by me to be temporary until my regular employer was starting up again. I was on this job for a week and a half. The foreman was a dick, as are many construction bosses. On a Tuesday, I got a call from a boss from the old job...they could bring me back Thursday.
At lunch, I told the dick boss that I was quitting that day.
You mean you're quitting, just like that?
I gave it back to him...."Well, when you want to get rid of a guy, you fire him just like that..."
He had this great look on his face....it was classic That ****** has a point!
I've never regretted any job that I quit, never regretted any job that laid me off or fired me either.

I’m in construction as well, and was talked into going to a union rough crew by my brother-in-law who worked there. Worst week of my entire career. But, even after a week of being berated, yelling, name calling, and silence out of the entire crew out of fear of retribution, the straw was when they tried to knock me off the trusses with a rack of piggyback trusses on the crane Mind you I’ve been in the industry a long time. At the end of the day (Thursday) the foreman came up to me, here’s the conversation….

Foreman…”what do you expect to be making here”?
Me….” To tell you truth, tomorrow is my last day”
Foreman….”why”?
Me….”to tell you the truth, I'm more used to fixing **** work than doing it”

Now, they had been used to most people leaving by first break on Monday, so they had never heard this from someone on a Thursday. The next day was Friday, and as soon as the boss son came with the checks (9:30am) the cords got wrapped up and off they went to a scab job to drink the rest of the day. More conversation…

Me….”I’m buying the beer, what are you all drinking”?
Them….”silence”!

They had never had a guy stay on for a week, talk back to the boss, and buy the beer on Friday. At the scab job they couldn’t be nicer to me, even the foreman. I wanted to tell them that I might be the kind of guy they’ve been chasing away with their macho BS, but I know it would fall on deaf ears. I fully expected to not get that weeks pay at all, but it came about 2 weeks later, full union wage.

Bottom line for me, I don’t pull punches, and I know how to express myself in any way needed. If I were the OP, I would simply say that I’m giving my notice, and the reason is that my 2 co-workers make it impossible to perform to the best of my ability, which I feel only hurts the company and my productive ability. See, he gets paid the same whether he’s happy or sad, so it’s not about money, and he is not singling out any specifics, and putting the companies best interest ahead of his. Whether that’s true or not, it doesn’t matter, to them it’s the most important thing, and shows that no amount of money will change his reason. Unless of course they shake up the other 2 co-workers. Puts him in a pretty good place.

 

[dodgedifferent2]

What i could never understand about people.
Find another job before you quit!!

Otherwise you may be out of work for a long time and then we will have a thread about how you can't find a job. These kind of people I cannot stand.

 

[Budnicks]

Tell them the whole truth & nothing but the truth
tell them if you like, that you don't like the task/work or people if it sucks
best is, to be honest
I know I had always appreciated it...

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you may enjoy this

I quit a job I worked between contracts when times were tough
I needed more $$, Lisa had recently passed, I felt like I needed a change too
I did what I had to...
So I worked for a cranes/aerial equipment & utility truck builder,
P.U.E.C. Sacramento
as a new build boss, engineer for new build contracts...
I did all the bids, and drawings & ran new construction/fabrication side of the shop...
(mostly building for cities & municipalities, counties or state depts, CHP etc.,
all of which would frown on his embezzlement)
1st time ever, P.U.E.C. during/in my 2 years stint,
as the newbuild engineer/foreman
they made well over a million profit (more than 2 million, in the 2nd) each year
on my side of the shop, I was salary & put in way more time than I had to
I opened & closed the place, sometimes 6-7 days a week, 12-14 hrs a day...
I'm loyal as hell (a good dog) when treated right, paid right...
Vengeful Mo-fo when I'm not...

The office/sales dept./engineering dept. all begged me to stay,
I couldn't & wouldn't...

The Gen. manager 'Gene' (Eugene 'asshole' Lippincott) of P.U.E.C.
in the Sacramento branch
(now out of business, they sold to the competitor Terex, replaced all mngs)
He was embezzling,
him taking petty cash, out of our (new builds) budget
& using his Gen. Mngrs position to get all kinds of stuff for his personal boat,
($50k bassboat) his personal vehicles 4x4 Tahoe & a Jeep,
my guys basically built, on shop time, thru the company...
All on my side of the shops funds/accounts, right off of my bottom line...
(I got paid bonuses when we profited, over a certain level)
I was pissed...

Then him having the gal for me, to sign for that **** (looks like I'm doing it)
the parts mngr wouldn't the shop mngr wouldn't, sales dept. mngr wouldn't
Then me having to account/justify for that **** !!!
I was having none of that ****...

I called the owner, that day when I got home had a long honest talk
he was up in the Portland branch, never around in Sacramento shop "rarely"
& I told him exactly what was going on...
That it had been happening for a while too, him having others sign for it etc.
& that it affected my ends bottom lines/my pay/bonuses too...
I don't take being played well...

There was other kinky 'booking ****', him taking hrs from one build
& applying them to others
so he could get bigger bonuses on his deals

Eugene/Gene was an old fishing buddy, so he just got a slap on the hand
made to pay it back, but nothing happened...
The next morning the Shop manager Garth, said;
Gene then wanted to punish me, cut my pay...

I went out in a blaze of glory...
Head held high, no regrets...

I walked into his office slammed/shut the door behind me & went off...
I threw a few F-bombs & a--holes, while I was heated...
Right directed in Gene's face, him sitting down at his desk
me standing over him & I told him 110% what I thought of him...
Spineless, white-collar crimes hack...

Then, what the consensus of the shop was about 'him embezzling'
everyone knew it & him taking advantage of the situation...

Then, when I walked thru the shop door
I got a standing ovation from my side of the shop
(I was sort of proud, they honored me like that)
they heard it all thru the walls & me yelling/cursing
all the work in the shop stopped, even the 'service side' of the shop
while I confronted (torched) Gene...

One on my buddies I got a job there, quit the next day too...
I didn't know until one of the office ladies called me at home & told me
they all stood up to Gene... (said; I did a good thing, gave them the guts)
I didn't want him to quit, he was doing well, but he said;
'he had to go out of principle'

I later gave him a job as a laborer, working for me at the dealerships...

I had still had my contactors license & the economy was going good again...

I could get work in construction, I was only still staying at P.U.E.C.
out of loyalty toward the owner, who gave me the job when I needed it
& he didn't give a ****, so I didn't anymore either...

I thanked all the salespeople & the girls in the office...
I had a good working relationship with...
Then apologized for my language, to all of them, shook hands
& said my goodbyes...
I got all my tools & my box, my helmets, gloves cords lifted in my truck,
tied it all off & left in a blaze of glory...

One of the best feelings ever, in my whole working career...
Telling the M-fer the truth & nothing but the truth...

I went back to construction & the dealership facility management stuff...
Started another Golf business/pro-shop, near home & never looked back...

if that helps any,
but sometimes it is completely worth it...

 

[beanhead]

Got a job that just generally makes me sad and depressed. I polish medical stainless. It's a factory type job, put a part in a machine, hit a button, let it do its thing, inspect for flaws, do it again.

No offense here, but they could probably get anyone to do that. You don't owe them anything. Find something else with a better environment that's a better fit for you and move on...they'll get over it.
Life's too short to be 'sad and depressed' at your job, let alone put up with the jackasses you've described.
And seeing as how it's illegal for a previous employer to disclose any information about someone to a prospective employer, I wouldn't be worried about "burning bridges" unless you really think you may go back there someday.
Look at it this way: if they were going to fire/lay you off would they give YOU notice?? NOPE!