advice on quitting
Aug 28 2007
[Not sure whether this was was right for this thread or the more general one, but I guess it falls more under workplace issues.]
I really want to quit my job. I am deeply unhappy and working here everyday makes me even more so. My boss is weird - he barely says anythign all day, except to criticise over minor details. It's really de-motivating. It also doesn't help that my work is boring (I write about finance) and geared towards the evils of capitalism, etc.
Plus, my colleagues are either surly or quiet and antisocial and I can't say I have any proper freinds here other than a few people who I sometimes socialise with outside of work.
I don't think it's me being odd as I make friends easily in other circumstances and in other workplaces.
The problem is, of course, money. If I leave I'd have to find another job pretty much straight away. Fair enough - I reckon I could get some freelance work and a bar job or somethign to tide me over. But probably not enough in the long-term. I live in London so the rent is enormous (£550 per month for my half). And that's before tax, bills, etc. Scary ...
I am interested in other people's advice or stroies - has anyone just quit when they've been in a similar siutation? Was it good, or did it turn out to be a disaster?
Aug 28 2007
#2
Marshall,
In twenty year's time you'll look back on your decision to walk out and realise it was the obvious thing to do.
Lose your awe of money. Always - automatically - list money at number six in any set of problems.
Go over to your boss, kiss him full on the lips, then walk. I'd say go for a pint but then I'd forgotten what London beer is actually like.
Regards
Peter Good(TCA)
Aug 28 2007
#3
How long have you been there?
Aug 28 2007
#4
cheers for the comments so far ...
been there since April last year - my job before that was for three and a half years (I don't know how I managed that!)
Aug 29 2007
#5
i would have thought the best thing to do is keep looking for other jobs and set yourself a deadline for being out of the job, like say october or november, at which point you just leave regardless, that will probabaly make it more bearable
Aug 29 2007
#6
cantdocartwheels wrote:
i would have thought the best thing to do is keep looking for other jobs and set yourself a deadline for being out of the job, like say october or november, at which point you just leave regardless, that will probabaly make it more bearable
^excellent advice^
Peter, you're living in a fucking fantasy land.
Aug 30 2007
#7
Although my sympathies lie with Peter and as much as I would love to walk out I know I am going to have to stay. 
Not good I know, but the alternatives are worse. I have a bit of money saved, enough to live on for month and half/two months, but if I spent that I wouldn't have anything to fall back on in a real emergency (eg, I need to get my wisdom teeth fixed soon).
Wish finding another job weren't so bloody hard though ...
Aug 30 2007
#8
Quote:
I'd say go for a pint but then I'd forgotten what London beer is actually like.
London beer's not bad - Young's especially.
I'm a Lancastrian by birth, though, and you can't beat a good pint of Thwaite's. 
It's impossible to get down here
Aug 30 2007
#9
It is indeed. Looking at this, it would seem that Thwaites stretches only as far as the West Midlands. 94 miles away from your favourite pint. 
Aug 30 2007
#10
Quote:
It is indeed. Looking at this, it would seem that Thwaites stretches only as far as the West Midlands. 94 miles away from your favourite pint.
it's awful, isn't it? Even when I lived in Stoke it was hard to come by. However, when I go back home for the weekend it is a veritable utopia of good beer.
Sometimes you can get their Lancaster Bomber beer in supermarkets and offies down here, but only rarely ...
Aug 30 2007
#11
Marshall,
There are still pubs oop here that have no muzak, no gambling machines, live conversation and excellent beers (Timothy Taylors is par excellence!) pulled from the pumps.
It puts a whole new perspective on work and money and what it is that is worth living for.
But good luck with your work and I hope something better comes along for you.
Regards
Peter Good(TCA)
Aug 31 2007
#12
£550/month is fuckin expensive. Whereabouts in SE London are you, if you don't mind me asking?
Sep 2 2007
#13
I quite my job about 6 months ago - I've been working around 20 years but decided I didn't want to carry on doing the same old thing until I retired. It was scarey but I'm really glad I've done it. Whether we like it or not most of us are gonna have to find some way of earming a living. I think the key is trying to work out what it is you really want to do and then work a plan out to achieve it. If you think you can earn some money through free lancing of whatever test it out. Good luck but I'd say go for it!
Sep 3 2007
#14
Quote:
£550/month is fuckin expensive.
tell me about it mate! I live in SE22 - E Dulwich - which is very quiet but dear as fuck. I got the place not too long ago with my now ex-other half, who had higher standards than me when it comes to places to live. 
Mind, I've lived in my fair share of dives and shitholes, so a bit of suburban gentility is a nice change, even if the place is overrun with fucking yuppies.
I have a front and back garden with the flat too, which I have made good use of this year by growing some veggies and plants (that mostly got eaten by slugs or drowned in all the rain we've had).
[As an aside, Maggie Thatch moved here (well, the village, which is the mega-posh part - I walked through yesterday after a stroll in the park and got funny looks from people, coz I obvisouly don't look like I earn a six-figure salary) after she quit as PM, but hated it because you have to drive through the then decayed, but now gentrified/fying areas of Brixton or Camberwell to get here. The nerve of the woman!]
Sep 3 2007
#15
RPG - thanks for the words of advice. I think the best thing to do is try and work without always having to go into an office everyday ... zzzzz ... I think it's the repetitive monotony and the lack of creativity that bugs me the most. And pretending that you give a shit about things.
I gave some old contacts a call and looks like somethign will come of that - so it might not be too long before I tell my boss where to shove his job (nicely, tho, coz i'll need a reference ...).
Trouble is, ultimately, I just don't want to work. I am lazy! Would much rather spend my time reading and thinking and writing - or down the pub. 
Sep 3 2007
#16
I don't want to sound like a career coach or anything but having an objective of limiting the amount of time you work is no bad thing - my partner is trying to achieve this at the moment! George Bernard Shaw once said that 'if you find a job you really enjoy, you'll never work again'. I'm going back to studying although I had considered gardening which I love. You say you love 'reading and thinking and writing' - there's a lot you can do with that as you already know.... anyway as I said 'good luck'!
I've done that quite a few times. It's a very nice feeling being freer, but then the bills come and all of a sudden you're eating potatos and macaroni for food everyday. So it's definitively not good for your personal finances. Try to find a new job before quitting, even if it's just temporary.