What are your best/ worst resigning from work stories?

I don't have one, but I saw this one day:

I walked into a McDonalds during a busy lunch hour. Some kid/employee was filling the ketchup dispenser... you know... the ones where there is a huge metal kettle with a pump on it ? Well, anyway, he was walking across the lines of people and dropped it. The kettle dropped on the floor, the ketchup splattered all over everyone, even hit the ceiling. He removed his apron and walked out the door. People weren't that pissed actually. Most of them were laughing hysterically. Awesome.

After I graduated, the job market for engineering wasn't great so I took any job I could get, which landed me at a Staples working full time. They gave me a lead position and keys to the HT closet (high ticket items) and things weren't terrible. I got the job in the beginning of November and worked through the Christmas holiday (I picked the busiest time of year to work in retail, go figure) and the day after new years was at work feeling like I was going to get stuck in that place and never get to use my degree. Something was wrong with a bunch of prices for printer ink or whatever and I went to tell the manager about it, as I couldn't fix it and had to do my job. He tells me to go fix it and I say, "I can't right now I have to help customers, and that's not my job anyways." He responded, "Whatever I tell you to do is your job, so do it." At this moment I knew I had to get out of that place and look for a real job, so I held my composure, did the price fixing, and at the earliest moment I could take a lunch break I did and before I clocked out I left a post-it note on the office desk that merely said, "I quit." I never took the shirts back and let them keep my last check. I landed an engineering job a month later (which I wouldn't have gotten if still working at Staples since I never had the time to look for jobs) and have been working at it since. I went back in the Staples recently to buy some blank DVDs and a flash drive and saw the same manager working there, a year later, hating his life more than ever. He and I went to the same college except he got his degree in sociology (probably to take classes with a bunch of chicks) and obviously hates his life now. Leaving that place was the best thing I ever did.

TL;DR When I was in high school I got fired from Pizza Hut after only a week for taking too much free pizza home every night.

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When I worked at Payless Shoes I was trained by one of the best managers ever. She taught me how to sell while appearing friendly and approachable, yet always maintain the bottom line. Soon I rose in ranks to become assistant manager. In fact, she trained me so well that I was transferred to a failing store in order to boost their numbers.

After three weeks of being responsible for my co-workers lack of skill, I posted a note in our break room. It read:

• The customer will be greeted as soon as possible upon entering
• Employees will compliment customers selection
• Employees will mention current sales items at checkout
• After checkout, employees will thank the customer and smile

The manager of that store told me that, as assistant manager, I was taking charge too much. So the next day I showed up to work just long enough for the shifts to change and be alone in the store, and I walked out. The warm Spring day seemed so beautiful.

When I worked at a large chain bookstore, we got a new manager. Our location was not making any money and the new manager was under a lot of pressure to try to turn things around. I was right there with her trying to make it work out.

Well, after a while the pressure got to her and she began blaming me for everything, and soon wrote me up. She made me sign the slip saying that I had read/agreed with it. No way--I wrote a long note on the slip stating that I did not agree. I was working my ass off to save that store.

But I could see the writing on the wall. She telling upper management that she was working on the "problem"--meaning that she was going to fire me in order to look like she was doing something. So I quit. (I found a better job immediately.)

About a month later, I get a call at my new place of work. She (and her new assistant manager) asked me to have lunch with them. At lunch, she proceeds to apologize, almost weeping, saying how very very wrong she had been. Everything had fallen apart after I left (which I knew would happen) and she would like to have me back.

I said no. But it was intensely gratifying to hear her say she was sorry, and had been so wrong, and that without me the store was being closed down. Ha!

When I was working at Starbucks, I had the most terrible time. The manager, the assistant manager, and my supervisor were very cliquey, so if you're on one person's bad side, you're on all of their bad sides.

I had worked there for three months until I couldn't take it anymore. I learned all the drinks, took the classes, and made an effort to be happy. That last point was the hardest part of the job. My supervisor was on my ass all the time, making sure I pull drinks and shots perfectly when I was on the floor. When she didn't think I was doing it right, she would make me do a full slide (cleaning the milk sugar station, refilling the carefes, cleaning the windows, sweeping, etc). My manager would call me to come in on my days off, when he knew I had class, and would get angry when I couldn't come in. I was always called to open, and never called to close. I was available on weekends, and was only called on weekdays, thus reducing my hours and pay to the lowest possible amount.

One day, my manager was working the espresso bar, and I was the cashier. He made a chai latte with espresso, when the customer just asked for a chai latte (which is supposed to be steamed milk and chai tea syrup). I brushed it off and thought he knew the customer, so he put that espresso in for them. But then he did it again with someone who was clearly foreign, and that's when I knew he was just making the drink wrong. When the line of customers cleared and we were idling, I pulled him aside quietly and told him that a chai latte was made without espresso. He blew up and told me not to embarrass him at work like that, and told me I was wrong and stupid. That pissed me off so much, I took off my apron and hat on the spot and threw it in his face, telling him I quit in front of a line of 5+ customers. I left him to be the only person on the floor until 8 am (this was at 5:30 am) when the next person to help would come in. I hope it was a morning of hell for him.

TL;DR My manager, assistant manager, and supervisor sucked at Starbucks, saw manager make drink wrong and told him, he told me I was stupid, I quit before the morning rush.

Just resigned on Friday... nothing too bad...

My best, from my perspective happened about 6 years ago.

I was working for a large multi-national. We wrote software for our mechanics and customers to use. We released every 6 months.

I had made the decision to leave to attend seminary in another state. We were wrapping up the spring release and planning was starting on the fall release.

I was supposed to have my 3rd quarter review with my boss, but it got postponed. I said "Can we talk for a couple minutes anyway?"

He later told me at that moment he knew I was leaving. He came in prepared to increase my salary and offer more responsibility.

When we met, I told him I was leaving and why. He said he understood.

I told him "I wanted to give you guys as much notice as possible (6 weeks in all) because I didn't want you to plan on me being here for the next release. I also wanted to see if there would be any way to work from home while at seminary."

6 weeks later, everything went through and I was notified that I would in deed be able to work from home. I ended up working 30 hours a week while in school for 3 years.

tl;dr: no telling the boss off, but got to go do what I want, and still work for the company

5 Years ago I had been working for a webdesigner company for about 6 years. It's a small but well-known company, very prestigious. At some point my boss decides it's time to sell the company with me as the only employee that knows every website (about 200 sites worth), the customers, the tricks in our own custom CMS, how to create templates for our mailinglist system, etc.

So I tell them to finally give me that raise they've been promising for a long time. Nothing happened. They tried to sell the company for many time its actual worth. Time and again.. they fail. I've been trying to get a decent paycheck in years now (young and naive as I was) to no avail.

So at some point I get a chance for a new job elsewhere. Better paid and.. surprisingly.. they were interested in buying my current employer's company. I reviewed my contract and there wasn't anything about what I was planning on doing..

Thursday morning, I ask my boss to come to a meeting I had planned with him and the other influential guy in the office. They sit down, I keep standing. My hands were shaking so I put them behind my back. Here's what I practiced saying all night long:

"I found a new job, with this I tender my resignation. Also, my new boss is very interested in buying the company."

Silence followed. Briefly. The financial guy stands up angrily and yells something like: "You son of a motherless ogre, the price of this company will drop significantly if you leave prematurely! This will cost us hundreds of thousands of Euro's!"

I say nothing, hand them my resignation letter and sit down. "Their offer was just too good to pass on. I simply told them that you guys were selling. They sure can use the customers and brand. You sure can't use the customers without my expertise. Seems like a win-win situation."

I was asked to leave the meeting. They spoke for a few hours. When I was called back in I got a handshake and an apology, followed by congratulations.

Months later the transfer was complete.

Original asking price: 400.000 Euro's. Actual selling price: 180.000 Euro's. My original salary: 1500 Euro's/month. New salary: 3200 Euro's/month.

Meanwhile I'm already at a new employer, the old one with bankrupt after I left. They were idiots that hired people I told them not to hire. Upon my leaving there I got a bible. My bosses were brothers who are young-earth creationists, a very rare sight in the Netherlands..

Bluffed my way into where I work now. Making 4k/month now. Graphics designer and HTML/CSS-God. Apparently with awesome negotiating skills.

My first job was at a Subway. It was awful.

-Manager was 15, i was 16 -Didn't get the uniform for 2 months... it consists of an apron, a shirt, and a hat -Was accused of stealing money that i literally had to put in the owners pocket myself the day before because he had gloves on and we didn't have anymore drop box envelopes -Understaffed -Poor training -Was accused of not knowing how to read english by the Indian owner who spoke broken english if that

Everyone i worked with hated that place, 7 out of the 8 of us all quit on the same day because we were tired of being treated like dumbasses when the owner was clearly at fault. It was such a blow to them they were calling people they fired to come in and work. Fuck that place.

When i was 19 i was working a dead end restaurant job. I was casual, but pulling full time hours. My manager called me in and asked if i wanted to go full time, which would mean a drop in pay slightly but guaranteed hours. I told her that i was actually going to give her my two weeks notice later that day because i'd decided to move to england. She said "Oh fuck yeah, go to england. You'll love it. Do it while you're young. Oh you're gonna have to train your replacement." My replacement was hot so i enjoyed training her.

When I was 15, I worked at McDonalds to earn enough money to buy the mountain bike I wanted ($1300). I put up with the idiot managers screwing up all of the time, not ordering enough of popular items, etc.

One day, we ran out of fries. McDonalds ran out of french fries. After about the fifth time someone ordered a combo and I had to explain that we didn't have any fries, I just said, "I don't fucking need this any more." I walked out and rode my shiny new bike home.

don't burn your bridges. stick out the extra two weeks and don't look back.

I lied to get a summer retail job at a store that doesn't hire seasonal staff - told them I was seriously considering retail management as a profession (which was true until I got into grad school a week before I applied for the job). Anyway, the sales job is great - the store is privately owned so there are fantastic hours, salary ($12.50 + 3% commission on EVERYTHING you sell). They even have shorter weekend hours, so the schedule kicks ass. AND because I had voiced interest in management they were quizzing me from Day 1 and made it clear within the first month that they'd consider moving me up. Anyway the day came to finally give my notice and fess up about grad school (I was going to tell the partial truth - I had been wait-listed and then got in - which was true but it happened in May not August). The day I was going to do it I was told I needed to sit down with the store manager and HR manager that day. I was freaking out -thought they figured out my plans. Then I got to the meeting and they were offering me a management job at the Arden counter with a FANTASTIC salary and a free trip to New York to train at Red Door. I was NOT expecting that and had to tell them..."um, but I was going to tell you I got into grad school...assistantship...blah, blah."

Now I'm teaching full time and while it's nice to have a career that doesn't involve a) retail and b) weekends, it's still sucky to know that I'm making $10K less than they offered me before I invested in grad school. :(

Back when I was 14, I worked at McDonald's. People were hungry, angry and generally dicks. I hated it. One day I did REALLY WELL and I went home and proudly told my mom, "You know what? One day I'm going to become a manager." I stopped for a second, thought about what I said and quit the next day.

I hate talking on the phone. I don't know what it is, but I always wait for a message to be left before I call back. It was shocking to me that someone convinced me to go work at a call center when I was looking for a job. I was selling Dial-up to DSL upgrades to the southern united states. The contract would save the customers about $120/year.

I went through my one week of training already not looking forward to working there, but the pay was good. On the last day of training we were sent out on the floor to listen in on the conversations. That made it a little less intimidating. The next day was my first day on the floor. I sat down, got my first call and totally fucked it up. I froze and kinda started panicking. The lady on the other end apparently used to do call center work when she was younger and assured me it gets easier. What luck that was my first call because it made the rest of the day more bearable.

The next day on the other hand, was filled with people screaming into my headset that they don't want it and slamming the phone in my ears. I already have anxiety issues about talking on the phone, that wasn't helping. After that, my floor manager walks up to my cubicle and hands me papers and tells me that all but one of the sales I made the previous day were cancelled because I didn't read from the script (which was terrible) I still read the contract word for word but apparently it fucks up the sales. I knew the job wasn't for me.

At that point, I stood up handed him the headset, said "fuck this" and walked out. Handed in my parking pass and never returned. I got a cheque for $750 in the mail for training and the day I was on the floor so it wasn't ALL bad. I never had to talk to anyone on the phone during my training and there were a lot of cute girls in the class.

Luckily, my resume was already in circulation at Staples Business Depot at the time and I got hired on less than a week after I quit the call center. I turned out to be one of the best technology sales associates they've ever had. It was reduced pay but a more enjoyable job. I quit Staples for a computer technician job a year after, but I left that place with a smile and a handshake.

In college, I had a retail job. I did the best window displays amongst the staff. Lousy manager scheduled me until 1 am the night before my biggest final exam, because she wanted me to redo displays for a corporate office visit (the only night I had asked to have off, and I typically never worked past 9 pm). She didn't come talk to me about it to work out any kind of compromise. She just posted the schedule and walked away. When I saw it, I took the clipboard with the schedule and threw it at her as she was sneaking off to her office. She told me she took that as my resignation. I thoroughly enjoyed walking out after that.

Years ago, my brother worked at a movie theater. The bosses hated him and were looking for any excuse to fire him. He had to call in sick one night due to food poisoning, and they took that opportunity to terminate his employment. When he went in to get his last check, they said he had to return the nasty butter and canola oil stained polyester vest that served as a uniform before they would give his check to him. The check was for only $12.00, so he said fuck it, he didn't want to deal with them anymore, and intended to never go back. They kept calling him and calling him, bugging him about this stupid vest for weeks. Finally he took the vest, which was polyester, and melted it with a blow torch until it was a little crusty ball, of goo and stuck his name tag into it. After it dried, he left it at the box office without even talking to whoever was working. They never called again.

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A friend of mine often tells the story of working at an Arbys and, on his last day, shitting himself right as he got to work and everyone complained about the smell. Then on his lunch break he went to the bathroom, took off his soiled clothes, put on new ones he brought, and went out the back before anyone noticed.

He wasn't sure what resulted from the finding of shit covered clothes in the bathroom as he never went back.

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