this is what scares me the most, because I need the money.
Everyone else is right. Try to line something new up first. But I was once in the position of quitting without something lined up, and the decider for me was that if I didn’t quit, I was likely to actually take my own life. It’s a matter of perspective at that point, and clearly, surviving was the better option.
I had a miserably toxic job, and, yeah, I know that pit of despair and what it does to our decisions. I opened the search to the world, but came up with a domestic job about 3000mi away.
I grabbed the go-bag and all but bugged the fuck out, quitting on a Thursday, boarding a plane on a Friday and starting my new job on the Monday. She sold the house, got the movers (fuck moving) and shepherded all our worldlies to the new place. She’s not military but she faked it really well.
Always line something else up first. If possible, also have enough money to last 3-6 months without a job - makes things a hell of a lot less stressful. We would essentially just bank any bonuses throughout the year, and it would afford us a nice nest egg in case something ever happened. However it needs to remain untouched.
If you need the money then start looking for jobs now, and quit when you’ve got something.
This is true.
Look, the moment you know you need a new job, you’re done at the current shop. So get looking.
When a job is toxic, I send off a job application for someplace else every evening. It makes the job I have bearable cause I feel like I’m already gone but the toxic boss still thinks they have power over me. Gives me a chuckle.
Every time I left a job to find something better, I doubled my salary as well.
I’ve left two jobs because they were toxic. I always had something else lined up beforehand though.
I left a few toxic jobs before. At one I left with my middle fingers in the air, throwing chicken nuggets from a bucket at employees I didn’t like on my way out. And then when I saw my fat manager I just went MOOOOOOO on my way out.
20 years later, still worth it. I still laugh.
I feel like everyone deserves at least one job related “fuck you” style moral victory in their lives and that qualifies for sure.
For me it was when the WORST manager I have ever had called me back a year after I quit to ask me to come work for her again and got to laugh in her face and tell her I’d have happily accepted half the pay at her place to scrub toilets as long as it wasn’t working with her, but instead I was making double what she paid me to do my dream job.
I’ve never done cocaine, BUT I’m pretty sure I know what it feels like.
Answer based on European standard where worker have some basic rights
-
Not happy in the job : do the bare minimum while looking for something else guarantees that pay keeps coming, worst-case they fire-you giving you a severance pay (not necessarily big if you’re new in the company) and keeping your right to unemployment (which in general are lost when you quit).
-
Toxic environment impacting mental health : Go to your doctor and take sick-leaves, and please do it before being in full burn out, then come back to previous point
-
Very toxic environment, like harassment : Talk with a lawyer or an union representative you may have a case to sue the company, and even quit on the spot while keeping severance pay and unemployment rights, but you may-need a legal advise for it
-
I just one day said fuck it and gave notice with no plan. I burnt out to the point I was probably getting fired if I stuck around much longer. Besides, If I stayed I was going to quit life instead.
It was a miserable month or 2 of draning my savings finding a new job and I had to take a small pay cut once I did. It was worth it alone for the better work environment.
Line something up if you can, but get out before it gets worse for you.
The requirement for a steady paycheque is what keeps everyone working in terrible conditions. I’m lucky enough that I’ve always had a lot in savings and it has come in handy a few times. Twice I’ve walked off a job and never went back after failing to negotiate proper working conditions with the boss. Both times I burned through about $10,000 in savings while searching for a new job. Almost nobody has that much saved up. If they did, terrible bosses would lose employees on the regular.
Bingo. Low paycheck is not only because of greedy bastard want all the revenue, it’s to keep poor people poor, preventing them from become a competitor. If employees live paycheck to paycheck, wear themselves out everyday, work long hours, and demoralised, they will very likely to stay. It’s learned helplessness.
Do the math. See how rational the fear is. Whatever the result, admit you’re afraid and decide if you also want to be brave and act despite the fear. Make a plan. Start working on it. Hopefully things are better on the other side, but either way that fear will pass.
Fear is a natural part of human life. Often useful, but also often not. But as long as you can manage to act despite your fear, it won’t harm you.
Ok, cortisol and stress exist, but you have bigger things to worry about.
Don’t quit, slowdown, make them fire you, collect unemployment and get a better job
Bad advice for a toxic workplace. That’s just going to ruin your mental health.
I see that in the bad spots, though – people are looking but not landing a new post, so they cope by doing the minimums, peacing out on the dot and getting their sleep. They no longer care about the success of the company, and while that’s admirable, it’s a social issue to abandon the tribe and it can eat on people.
I’m so happy when they land a new post, happier still if I do before I just … stop going. And that’s what I do: I lose interest in going if I can’t find a new post within the year I usually allow (I’m picky).
This last move I told my boss he had a year. It was like 13 months.
Still, if I can drag down the mental health of management with me, that’s a win.
I call it “the fear”. Being unemployed or underemployed or having the risk of no income fills me with it.
This is why I have two jobs. The second one fills with work until every 5 years it seems I abandon the day job and bulk up on the second job to make ends meet and burn its queue down.
It’s not intentional but it works out that way.
No. I haven’t doubled my salary, but I’m on the wrong side of 40 where I’m happy to be employed in this toxically ageist field.
My wife has done super well and sometimes beats my day job pay cheque, so we finally have that buffer too. And she doesn’t quit her jobs as she’s a super team player and instead gets promoted to fix problems. (Kinda got a crush on her for being so awesome)
I’ve never been paid enough to really do anything but feed myself, so I’ve never had to choose between working a shitty job and being homeless. Yet.
If I ever got a job that paid me enough to afford rent, I’d definitely be less willing to bail unless it was really shitty.
I’ve never had trouble finding new work, so it hasn’t been too scary for me. Once I got laid off and found another job before the severance ran out but that job turned out to be a disaster and I got laid off there as well, only months later. That was definitely discouraging but a relief as well. I got right back on the horse.
However now things have changed a lot. I am much more senior and earning a lot more. Senior roles are fewer and more competitive. And the job market has been a disaster this year. It used to be that I’d get a couple of recruiter emails per week and now I can hardly get a response to any job applications I send. So yeah. At this point the financial hit terrifies me because I have a lot more at stake and I don’t know when I could get back to where I am if I left. I’m not miserable but I am unhappy as well as bored. For now I’m just dealing with it. I’m a little afraid to be “dealing with it” for the rest of my days though.
This is me right now. The job market has been so shit I’ve just keeping it together while trying to utilize my accumulated network of connections and start my own business.
Ooh starting your own business must be so exciting. I wish you all the luck with that.
It scared the shit out of me, but was one of the best decisions I took, on my next job I learned to impose limits from the start.
I managed to find something very soon, but if I were in a similar position nowadays I would first find something new.
I am a homeless man in San Francisco because I quit a public sector job that I was not allowed to fix with my good-ass coding skills. I have no regrets.
