What's the most drastic thing you've done in your career ?

[RancidPunx]

Ever said fuck it and quit a job on the spot ?

 

Ever totally changed career course on a whim ?

 

Ever started from the bottom up again and retrained ?

 

Has anybody ever jacked it all in to follow their .........gasp....... passion ?

 

Or are you fortunate enough to genuinely enjoy your profession?

 

 

You have my ear, tell me your story !

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I was getting treated like shit by my boss at Toy Master years ago. This fat cunt fell over pissed and broke her arm just before Christmas so basically the woman who is supposed to be in charge of the maddest period in a toy shop was out of the game and we had to do so much work. The heater was knackered as well, and I swear it was fucking freezing in the place. Beyond the acceptable conditions, but we struggled on freezing our bollocks off. So much was wrong in this place.

 

Anyway after Christmas, her attitude totally changed with me for no reason. Come to find out, she's a bully and the person who was there before me was on the sick because of how anxious she was. The security guard told me she used to really have a go at her all the time. Anyway she was giving me the odd bit of shit. None I didnt mind taking. I'm not thin skinned in real life (only on here!) But one afternoon she had a right go at me about something and I was fuming as I was going home.

 

So my final day comes (I didnt expect it to be my final day), and it was just me and the assistant manager that day. I'll never forget because it was February 14th and fat arse was off that day because she was spending time with her boyfriend who was literally fucking her (he'd spend all her money on weed). I mean there's no way anyone would go out with this whale unless there was add ons. Piss licking bulldog face with the personality of Jay Strongbow at a funeral. So I was wearing my fleece that day because I've got asthma and I'm freezing cold and dont want to die and all that. Its a black fleece that I had previously worn for months, but now its a problem because she wants someone to fuck with and the only staff there are the assistant manager (who is bipolar and has already went nuts at her) and her boyfriends sister. Who I liked and was chatting to on facebook at the time, so if there wasnt a potential shag in it, that bitch would have hit the skids because fat arse hadnt informed head office about hiring her lad's sister and I've got no pride and would have happily got her the sack if this game of human chess went down that road. So who is going to get it? Me obviously. The only one doing any work.

 

Around 10.30am the boss comes in doesnt she? She's going to get her hair done next door and spend the rest of the day spending all her money on the Boy From the Black Stuff. First thing she does is say "what have I told you about wearing that, get it off." So I went up stairs to the locker and instead of removing my fleece, I put my leather jacket on and came down to the shop floor. She said "what you doing?" I replied "I'm off home, you can fuck off with this shit." And slightly kicked the Hornby train set display and they all came crashing down. Which wasnt meant to happen, because I half expected a bill through the door for damages as the weeks past. I didnt realise until I saw the security guard in town that he'd said "Aye, she had work all day because you had to have two in the shop all the time." So the knowledge of fucking up her valentines day raised a smile, I'll not lie. Bare in mind, I've spoke to people in mental health circles and they seem convinced this was a bit of a breakdown, but at the same time I never felt more free than walking away from that job. The shop is closed now. It went under not long after and is now another toy shop. With nicer owners so I'm told. She eventually got demoted and then sacked.

 

Needless to say, I had the last laugh.

[herbie747]

@Ian - fuck her - she sounds like a right cunt. I love the leather jacket bit though - like you were the Fonz or something.

 

 

 

 

I was stoned one afternoon in a friend's house in 2002 watching a Jim Cornette RF shoot interview, and decided to launch a Wrestling Channel.

 

I had no qualifications, no money, no resources, no contacts, and wasn't even in the ideal country. But I thought "fuck it - why not at least look into it? If it doesn't happen, I've lost nothing. But imagine if it did happen? Imagine! That'd be mental!"

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Working for Showcase Cinema at the time, I was growing frustrated at the constant changes going on with the place, for example a new manager had come in to replace this stuck up Brummie twat, who had been given the boot after being found to be on the take from the cinema,  and one of the first changes he had made was to put everyone on zero hour contracts (at the time i was working 20 hours a week as well as doing a business course in college). One week I'd be rota'd for 3-4 shifts but then I'd go sometimes 2-3 weeks without a shift, which wasn't ideal so when an old friend from my previous bingo job got in touch to say the bingo club she was now at was taking on, I jumped at the chance to get away. This is where my most drastic thing comes into play as I actually done a shift swap with my mate to go attend my interview at the club, which happened on a Saturday (Saturdays I used to do a double shift of 12-4, come home for tea then go back at 6 till 11). I had the interview, got offered the job on the spot then walked into the cinema that evening safe in the knowledge that I was leaving, banged my notice in the next day and left on the Thursday, starting the new job (which turned out to be a bad mistake) the following weekend

[Chest Rockwell]

That was beautiful, Ian. Brilliant stuff. If I wasn't on mobile and getting ready for work I'd be putting that in the POTY thread right now.

[FLips]

I could swear Ian has told that story before, except it was in a newsagents and he felt guilty because the owner was nice.

[Keith Houchen]

Maybe that could be the basis for "Two More Weeks At McCools"

[JNLister]

12 years ago I did this:

 

 

 

Today I exchanged income for freedom.

One month after handing in my notice, I finished up work today. I did so defying every known rule of adult behaviour, because I don't have another job to go to.

Leaving was pretty much 50% the job and 50% me. I won't go into the details of the job, other than to say the aspects I really enjoyed were, for too long, taking a backseat to aspects I didn't enjoy at all. As somebody once said, I lost my smile.

But the other 50% was me - I'd just got sick of doing the same thing in the same place in the same way every single day, and it struck me that 2004 was completely indistinguishable in my mind from 2003, with 2005 looking no different. The prospect of spending my 30th birthday next year in the exact same situation was pretty scary.

Fortunately a combination of cheap overheads and stinginess meant I could afford to do this. Bearing in mind there's no income tax, I have the equivalent of two year's salary in the bank. So I can afford to take time to do whatever I want and then move on to a new job as and when I find the right one, rather than rush into something just for the sake of leaving my old job.

Of course, what I want to do is still a mystery. Frankly I no longer know what I want to do when I grow up. I certainly never intended to wind up as a press officer for six and a half years - though I'd be capable of doing it, and it would pay well, the thought of a career in public relations doesn't inspire me. And that's even after doing a job where I genuinely believed in what I was promoting. 

I'd always wanted to be a journalist, but I don't know if I've lost the drive for that, or if spending too long in a mundane/frustrating routine has just knocked all drive out of me temporarily. I'm not sure if "It's what I want to do" still translates as "I'd work long hours for a pittance to be able to do it". If I've learnt nothing else it's that unless you find a job you enjoy unreservedly, work should be a means to an end, not the purpose of your life.

I guess I just have to find out where "what I can do" and "what I want to do" overlap.

So for the immediate future it's two weeks in the US (Chicago and New York), and then a spell of catching up with unwatched tapes, waking up without an alarm clock, eating bacon for breakfast even on weekdays, and maybe finally getting round to learning to drive.

And after that, who knows? I can guarantee I'll be having spells of regret and second-guessing, but for the first time since I finished university, I'm truly free to do whatever I want and anything is possible. I just hope the fact that I'm not sure exactly which of those possibilities I want will put a dampener on that opportunity.

 

Well, I never learned to drive. But the bacon was awesome, I no longer own an alarm clock, and I turned into a freelance writer who hasn't had a "real job" since.

[PunkStep]

That must've taken a lot of guts to do that Lister, fair play. If you don't mind me asking, are you getting by ok as a freelance writer? I've often wondered/dreamed about working freelance or even starting up my own business, but I don't think I've got the guts to give it a go. I tend to play it safe a bit (lol Wenger) but then again I don't want to take too much of a risk with a mortgage to pay and a wife & two kids to support.

[Briefcase]

I remember when one of my previous jobs were trying to manage me out of the business, at the time I thought they were singling me out, in hindsight looking back 7 years it was maybe singling me out and the job just not being right for me and just not getting on with anybody so they were trying to play dirty finding reasons to take me to investigation meetings and disciplinary's etc. This was going on for a good 15 months, me winning disciplinary's, me appealing, me finding loopholes in procedures and pretty much fighting to keep my job for a good 15 months, bearing in mind this was my first job and I had been there a good while in different roles so I knew my worth and likewise they knew what a prick I could be.

 

So with all this heading in a murky direction I decided to look for jobs in a similar industry, had an interview and job offer, anyway I was going to leave it a few days before handing in my notice as didn't see any rush in doing so, then one day I get called into the office with my Union Rep and was told that this was going nowhere and they offered me a lump sum to leave the company, sign a compromise agreement (with a good reference etc) but would have to leave that day and hand back my laptop/mobile etc. Anyway by this point I felt really hard done by so told them to double their offer and I would walk, an hour or so later they accepted and I left the company straight into another job they had no idea about.

 

The following day my new job actually cocked up and asked for a reference but my then it was too late as I had left, took the money and into a new job that I was going to take anyway....the money was a nice little bonus and deep down after 15 months of bullshit I felt I got one over on them.

 

Not sure if thats drastic but I walked out feeling like a right smartarse even if I lucked in with it all.

[RancidPunx]

Not to sound like billy big balls but the impetus for this is I'm strongly considering jacking a well paid IT job with good income for ...................

 

Well nothing .

 

 

 

I'm 36, I've no kids ,no debt, no mortgage and I'm shit sick of my job.

 

Strongly considering taking 3 months out to figure out what I want to do in life and generally clearing my head .

 

I work for a well known S.F. Based company and am generally fed up with my lot, to cut to the chase.

 

 

Brave? Stupid?

[Surf Digby]

If you can, do.

 

You could start a hipster blog where you laud your escape from the confines of working for capitalist pigs over everyone.

[herbie747]

Not to sound like billy big balls but the impetus for this is I'm strongly considering jacking a well paid IT job with good income for ...................

 

Well nothing .

 

 

 

I'm 36, I've no kids ,no debt, no mortgage and I'm shit sick of my job.

 

Strongly considering taking 3 months out to figure out what I want to do in life and generally clearing my head .

 

I work for a well known S.F. Based company and am generally fed up with my lot, to cut to the chase.

 

 

Brave? Stupid?

Do it - clear your head, and focus on something that you enjoy getting up & doing every day. You can afford to, with your financial & living situation. You can always go back - which is your safety net.

[FLips]

Also shit sick of my job, but the savings I have are for moving house this August, and my partner is a student in part time work so basically I'm stuck here as there's fuck all in the way of jobs going locally. Depressing.

[Guest]

@Ian - fuck her - she sounds like a right cunt. I love the leather jacket bit though - like you were the Fonz or something.

 

 

 

 

I was stoned one afternoon in a friend's house in 2002 watching a Jim Cornette RF shoot interview, and decided to launch a Wrestling Channel.

 

I had no qualifications, no money, no resources, no contacts, and wasn't even in the ideal country. But I thought "fuck it - why not at least look into it? If it doesn't happen, I've lost nothing. But imagine if it did happen? Imagine! That'd be mental!"

Oh so that was you!

You changed/ruined my life you rotter /beautiful man