Is it OK to quit a minimum wage job that I hate after 4 months due to these reasons?

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK, first off it is my first job, right now I am 18 and just graduated.

My first job I signed onto was a General Service Technician which shamefully lasted 3 days, and I was forced to quit after 3 days for having no money to repair my car that decided to take a dump on me.

The job I have now I have held since the end of July, and I F’n HATE and DREAD going there.

I work as a dietary aide in a kitchen for a nursing home. I literally took a job, any job, close to where I lived to save up enough money to fix my car, and got distracted along the way and bought a computer. Right now I have about $700 and live with my Mom for free.

My job F******G SUCKS because every time I go in, it’s a new story. About a month ago, the contractors this nursing home hired where too cheap to keep a much needed position and basically got rid of it so their fat cat butts can squeeze out $400 more a month out of the place.

I get payed $7.50 an hour and am expected to remain extraordinarily sanitary (I serve old weak sick people), do my duties, etc. and don’t get a break until the end of my shift ( I work about 7 hours straight, take a 30 minute break, then come back for 30 minutes to clean up).

Due to us being understaffed, the district manager constantly yells at us to get on time, get on the line, be sanitary, wash this, record your temperatures, make sure everything is right! We have to be on the ball constantly, and so does everybody else, otherwise we will be late, and we’re late everyday despite working hard. I and others are burned out due to being overworked and underpayed, being disrespected and talked down to, with them playing games like threatening us with 3 days suspension without pay for simply missing something on their tray, when often times the CNAs who are supposed to deliver them drop them or lose them and throw us under the bus.

The cook has to prepare for 2 meals for 100 people by themselves, filling in special orders, and we have 2 aides. Everybody works hard, but hates working there. Everybody is looking to find a new job and says “I need to get the hell out of here”. We were told we would work Fulltime, an average of 34 hours a week, but often times we don’t work but for 26 hours a week! My supervisor and manager, who are salary, told me both they are already looking for a new job after just arriving there shortly, and work 60+ hours a week easy. We never have the supplies we need to get our job done, there are always some plates missing or cups or whatever, which makes the job more stressful.

Today, I’m fed up. They are pushing me over the edge with working for them and seeing how far we can go. Honestly, I don’t want to go anymore and tried sticking it out for the past month, but it just seems to get worse every day.

Would it be reasonable for me to quit without a notice and just not show up anymore under these circumstances? How should I go about quitting, because I can’t stand it.

I’ve expressed my issues with the new manager, but she says she can’t do anything about it and was told by the district manager to hire people on at $7.50 for the kitchen and $7.25 for housekeeping positions, which I think is despicable for a nursing home and a job that requires true work and the employer isn’t honest to the employee. The manager also stated that she couldn’t have more than 3 hourly waged people working on a shift.

To top it off, I discovered recently that the company I work for tried installing microphones in the kitchen, but was told by the owners of the building that was illegal, and had to stop. Mind you, this is a kitchen where we don’t get people coming in. It’s not really a customer service type of job, the food goes on carts and gets delivered, so they wanted to see what we were saying about the company and our jobs I reckon. The district manager thinks it’s a problem with “Efficiency” even though we work as efficient as we can and fast!

I honestly think I work for the worst company and job in America and don’t want to go back for a day longer and I’ve actually warned people coming in looking for a job about it.

Do I have a valid reason to quit in a future employers’ eyes even though it has only been 4 months and the fact that this is a dead-end job and I just wanted money to fix my car? Will this hurt the perception future employers and hiring managers have of me?

Thank you so much for your time and patience.

2

There isn’t a moral issue in general with just quitting a job you hate. People do it all the time for lots of reasons. However, it doesn’t sound like a wise move for you personally. This will be two jobs in a row that you bailed on (I know, it wasn’t your fault; I am sure it never is). That type of pattern certainly doesn’t look good because all workplaces that hire for those types of positions are quite familiar with the type of worker you are demonstrating yourself to be and try to avoid them like the plague. The better managers learn to spot it before the potential problem even gets done filling out the application.

I am not trying to be mean or snarky when I say it sounds like you have an immature attitude and a poorly developed work ethic. Again, you aren’t the only one. Lots of other 18 year olds are the same way but you will end up as a dead broke 20 something and 30 something person if you don’t do something to change your approach and thinking. Your current job doesn’t sound that horrible on the scale of worst possible jobs. I can see why you wouldn’t whistle while you work there but that is going to be true for almost any minimum wage job you get.

Feel free to look for another job if you must but do not quit your current position until you have a better one firmly in hand. If you can’t find a better one, make the best of your situation now and you may find that things get better or at least it will buy you time and give you some more things to talk about with better employers when the time comes.

3

No, that’s not reasonable. Give them two weeks notice. If they throw a hissy fit, then you can walk out.

You owe it to your co-workers, if not management, to make the effort for two more weeks so they can replace you.

But you can quit your job. As you say, it’s dead-end and miserable. It will not hurt your future prospects for other dead-end, underpaid jobs, and there ARE better places to work that deserve your talents.

If you are getting guilt from somewhere, your heart, your mother, wherever, ignore it.

If you can stand it, find another job BEFORE you quit this one. It’ll make your life easier. But sometimes that just isn’t possible.

4

Do what you want to do. If you think it reflects badly on future job prospects, just don’t list the job on your résumé. You’re 18 and living at home; if you were 35 with kids and a mortgage you might be asked to explain a long gap (>4 months) in employment.

I’d recommend putting in your two weeks anyway though, as you never know when or where you might run into your current supervisor and coworkers and what you might need from them. You’ll feel better when you have an end date on the horizon.

5

Sorry OP, but I’m with Shag on this one. When I was reading your post, I was thinking, “welcome to corporate America.”

Look for a job while you still have this one, and then quit when you have a new one after giving two weeks notice. It’s the adult thing to do.

6

Thanks for your input.

Honestly, I thought the 2nd paragraph was true too. I’ve felt this way for a month and a half now and read stuff online that said to ‘stick it out’ but it hasn’t gotten better but worse; all the veterans quit now that worked there before the owners decided to contract out their positions and even the manager says we need more people in the kitchen. Working for 7.50 an hour and 26 hours a week busting your tail, you can make more at McDonalds are anywhere else almost for that much money.

My goal isn’t to stay in crappy service jobs my entire life, I plan on enrolling into apprenticeship programs and apply to good paying blue-collar jobs around where I live. I only needed the money to FIX MY CAR because I live in a suburb. I was even told by my district manager that I’m a very good employee and complimented on, but due to more and more work and daily requirements everyday, the job does not remain feasible. We are disrespected by corporate and everybody in the building is dissatisfied.

7

Two weeks notice is the very smart and wise thing to do, I would tell my younger self.

8

Spoken like a true bro. My mind is split on this issue but I will try to find another job.

I’m just IRRITATED about working at my current job so much I want to quit, but my mind tells me “Follow the book! You’re a number, don’t screw yourself over stick it out another 2 months or try to find a new job while you’re there!”

9

Spoken like a bro, man. I’ll follow your advice but in the meantime I will try to find another job.

10

It’s easier to get a new job if you have one already. So I would hang onto your current position until you’re able to line something else up… especially if you’re counting on the money from the current job to fix up your car.

As for the issue of quitting and giving notice: always give notice. You just can’t take these things personally. The people who make decisions about your conditions are often so far removed from you that it’s not even their problem if you don’t give notice. All you’re doing is dumping even more BS on your direct supervisors and co-workers, and they’re usually not the ones in a position to change anything.

Beyond the courtesy of it, you have to treat good recommendations like solid gold.

Oh, and while everyone in the company seems to be open about leaving: consider having your supervisor write you a letter of recommendation. This is a way to put yourself at the front of the line when you’re competing for future jobs.

11

Find another job and give the 2 week notice. You’ll be surprised how much easier it can be going to work knowing you’ll be out the door in only a few more working days.

I can put up with almost anything for a few days. That last day when you leave for good will feel so good.

12

Glad you decided to give notice. But you have far from the worst job in the world.
Some of the stuff they want you to do you really have to do for the safety of the people there.
And while 26 hours is bad, 60 hours (and probably at a crappy salary) is worse. About the only way it is going to improve is if the top managers start to suffer from high turnover, or start getting yelled at by the families of your residents. if you jump to a better job no one is going to ding you for it on your resume. That shows initiative.

if you were staying I’d check the labor laws, since I bet 7 hours without a break is illegal in many states. But it isn’t worth it in your situation.

13

I will tell you as I have told others.
A friend of friend is screening applications for a start up company. As you can imagine in this economy he is getting thousands of applications. He was told if the applicant is not working currently to throw the resume out. The owners of the company don’t care how talented, educated, experienced a person is, of they are not working they will not be considered.

It’s not always fair but in general it is easier to get a job when you already have one. That is what employers want to see.

And
Welcome to the real world where most jobs suck and you are just a cog in the wheel.
You are at the bottom of the food chain right now, it sucks to be there but most of us have been there. We all had to pay our dues at suckass jobs, but the suckass jobs toughen you up and make you more appreciative of the semi suckass jobs.

One thing you can do
You can’t change your environment but you can change your attitude towards it. Stop talking negative, stop thinking negative, stop complaining at work. Put a big ol’ plastic smile on your face and go in and make the best of it. Instead of complaining, learn to laugh at it. Being able to laugh at the bullshit in life is better than letting it get you down.

If you carry the negativity into your interviews, you will never get hired.
Nobody wants to be friends with a complainer, nobody wants to work next to a complainer, nobody wants to hire a complainer - even if the complaints are legit.

14

It’s much easier to find another job if you’re employed. And explain to your new employer you’d like to give 2 weeks notice. They’ll like that.

15

It is OK to quit a minimum wage job that you hate.

Actually, it is OK to quit any job that you hate-- but the fact that it is minimum wage and presumably routinely employs unskilled eighteen-year-olds makes quitting especially justifiable.

Having said that, I would ask you what your plan is to avoid quitting one job that you hate and ending up with a similarly hateful one for your next one.

And, I might ask some questions about how you plan to pay for things if it takes a while for the next job to show up-- seasonal retail employs a lot of people, but wouldn’t neccessarily guarantee an income in January and beyond.

That said, if you do quit, don’t just fail to show up. Ideally, you’ll turn in a written letter (typed or handwritten, I don’t care, just legible, dated and on paper, with a signature) that states your final day of work two weeks out.

(If the job gets significantly crappier after you turn in your notice, you may walk off with a verbal announcement that you are quitting effective immediately).

Failing that, at least quit in writing.

Failing that, at least tell your boss that you quit-- don’t just disappear.

And now to read what your reasons are . . .

I’ve got more sympathy for why you hate your job than I started out with, but frankly, work sucks-- that’s why they call it work and why they pay you to do it.

Yes, you may well be overworked and underpaid-- that’s the story of a lot of people.

And yes, it sucks that they suggested that fulltime would be available, but they keep you part time-- frankly, lots of other jobs do that to. (I’m overeducated and underemployed, working retail. The amount of notice I have to give to take time off has increased recently, while they’ve started posting the next week’s schedule later in the week. Add in some other tweaks, and yeah, I want out. But I don’t hate my job as much as you do, yet).

16

One of the rules of life that I learned early is: The best time to look for a job is when you have one.

Start looking for another job now. When you find one, do give the 2 week’s notice. If they show you the door, you have a little off time. Or see if your new employer would be willing to have you start early if such a thing happens.

As far as future employers and you’re changing jobs, most won’t care for someone of your age. Heck most don’t even ask about past employers 10 or more years in the past.

Just saw Ranger Jeff’s reply above and I agree.

17

Two weeks notice is the standard, at least in the US, if you want to avoid burning bridges. Sure, it’s generally legal to quit whenever you want, but it would be a good idea to see if you can salvage a half-decent reference from these people, that at least you stuck it out and left on honorable terms.

Can you register for a class? Any class? That provides a convenient filler for any resume gaps. E.g. you were working this one job until November, then you took a class in basket weaving from December to January, then you started another job.

Another strategy is to “engineer” (heh heh) your last day to be in the very beginning of the month. E.g. if your last day on the job is November 5, 2013, you have three weeks to find another job or take a class before any gap shows up on your resume at all, simply because the standard granularity is rarely more fine than monthly.

E.g. if you ended your current job on Nov 5 and started a new one on Nov 29, you could put down:

11/2013 - Present - BetterInc - NiceJob
7/2013 - 11/2013 - ShittyCo - JobTitle

And even if you don’t get a job until December, your resume would show:

12/2013 - Present - BetterInc - NiceJob
7/2013 - 11/2013 - ShittyCo - JobTitle

There’s no way to know that that doesn’t really mean you left on Nov 29 and started the new job on Dec 2.

18

If you’re in the US, this is probably illegal. Check your local laws. My company (which is otherwise a pretty good place to work) is struggling to implement these laws this year after decades of ignoring them, and it’s been a hassle.

Otherwise, let your family and friends (maybe not your work friends) know that you’re looking for work. Applying for open jobs with cold resumes is a tough way to get a job. Knowing someone who’s already working and knows that their company is looking to fill a position is a much lower-stress way to get a job.

19

True. Very few people truly love their jobs but you will be incredibly surprised where you learn valuable skills if you just apply yourself even to the most demeaning and demanding jobs. Do you know how I got my first high-paying IT position in the first interview? It was because I worked at supermarkets for three years 2000 miles away in high school and busted my ass. I knew about all the store positions. They liked my fancy degrees and book knowledge but that is the thing that made them give me the offer on the spot because most of the corporate people didn’t really know what the lower level people were doing and I did just like the CEO who worked his way up through the stores.

I had a personal epiphany a few years ago. All jobs are essentially the same at the core even if the pay and benefits vary wildly. The most important part is the core. That is where you show up on time, do what you say you will, follow procedures and present a pleasant personality even when you don’t want to. That is exactly the same whether you are an astronaut, airline pilot, surgeon or fast food worker. They are all essentially the same job just with different skills required. You have to build that foundation to succeed in anything and you haven’t demonstrated that yet. There is no job that will make you happy until you do that and you fail in a rapid succession of them if you don’t.

The key the success is to pick the one that you like the most (or dislike the least) and build the skills necessary to differentiate yourself from others. That is when you can start to make real money and move up so that you aren’t at the bottom of the chain anymore. However, that takes time and personal exploration at your age. You may find that inspiration comes from where you least expect it. Working in a nursing home can be a lucrative gig and that is a growth industry so don’t discount it right off the bat. You might find that you are interested nursing (or not) based on what you see. You might also find that the delivery drivers have a job you you can shoot for. At this stage, those crap jobs are less about the job itself and more about building those base skills and figuring out what you may want to pursue in the future.

20

The thing I hear coming up a lot is this notion that they don’t respect you. And you know what? You’re probably right. They probably don’t respect you much, because it doesn’t sound like you’ve given them a whole lot to respect. You’re struggling to do the bare minimum they expect of you…what’s to respect about that?

If bare minimum is what you can do, that’s fine for now until you can line something up. But don’t expect respect for the bare minimum. Should they treat you with civility? Yes. But respect is what you give the guy who works 7 hours and then says, “No thanks, I don’t need a break… You know what? I noticed the freezer is all messed up, let me grab Joe and we’ll straighten it out before we start clean up.” (And a good manager makes you take the break anyway, because it’s the law, but she remembers you as a go getter who notices problems, makes plans to fix them, takes responsibility and acts as a leader.)