Well, I told you guys over at Fathom, but might as well post it here too. That’s right-I QUIT at Kmart. I couldn’t take it. I had to leave early on Saturday when I couldn’t stop crying, and I had to call off Sunday and Monday.
I had told Robin I could only work a couple days a week, very short shifts. She gives me another five in a row.
Yes, I’m AWARE that people work a lot more than I do, and they do it well. Yes, I know I’m a spoiled little brat who can’t handle it.
However, since I’m a Spoiled Brat Who Can’t Handle It, and I do nothing but cry while there, I DREAD going in, and I’m miserable at the thought of going back, biting on my lips until they bleed while I’m there, I thought-fuck it.*
I KNEW I wouldn’t be able to get through the rest of the week. I just KNEW it.
Now, I’m done.
In the meanwhile, I’m contacting the career advisement center over at La Roche. SOMETHING has to come up.
(For those who will call me a whiny crybaby, tough shit. I would LOVE to be able to work a full work day without going into a panic attack-however, I’ve tried and tried to do that for seven years, -in retail, at least-and I never could. I was constantly nasty and miserable. It wasn’t worth it. For the record, I am a very hard worker, but I need something CHALLENGING and MEANINGFUL. I need to know that I’m doing something important, that will have an impact. Not just shoving socks and cds over a scanner).
One of the happiest days of my life was when I quit my job of 6 years at the A&P. Yeah, I was looking at poverty for a few months (I was doing my student teaching at the time and couldn’t be working in addition to that), but maaaaaan, it felt sweet.
Burn that K-Mart apron, girl! Burn it!
And if you wanna come on board as my maid, I can pay you in Cheez-Its.
I hear ya Guinastasia, underemployment can be harder emotionally than unemployment and it sounds like you have been working in an unchallenging environment for a long time.
Really, congrats Guin. It can be tough leaving a job, even a shitty one. But it’s always the right choice. Life’s too short to spend any time in a job that’s not suited to you.
Well, that’s it. There is officially No Reason on Earth to ever go into a KMart again. I give thanks nightly that I’ve never had to work retail, and I congratulate you for getting out of it. There’s a good job for you out there somewhere.
You go, girl! I’m for you 100%. I, too, have known the joy of quitting K-Fart. You have a much better, brighter future awaiting you. Walk forward into the light! (One that is not Blue, of course.)
I suggest you look for work in the public sector. Look at government or not-for-profits. Pyschologically it’s very different, much less stressful, and you can feel like you’re actually contributing to the benefit of society.
May I heartily second yojimboguy’s suggestion of gubmint jobs. I worked in our county courthouse the past two summers and spent more time on the SDMB and Fark than anything else.
If you’d worked there a week and hated it and quit I’d tell you to stiffen your back, take a deep breath, and jump once more into the breech. I’d tell you that new jobs, even dream jobs, suck the first week and you have to have the gumption to stick it out. If you’d worked there a month and hated it, I’d tell you to be patient. But you worked there for what, three years? That’s more than long enough to “prove” that you’ve got the gumption to keep going back, but you simply choose not to.
Furthermore, Guin, I daresay that if you had two kids who were relying on you next paycheck or an elderly parent to support, you would go work those five days, you would finish the week. But you are fortunate enough to be in a position where you have choices–don’t for a second feel guilty for taking advantage of them. There will be enough times in your life when you don’t.
Finish your degree, look around carefully, and try to find a job that you can at least tolerate, if not love.
A career isn’t something that just happens to you, it’s something you have to build.
I feel like a jerk for mentioning this, but I came to within a fly’s whisker of quitting my job yesterday, after a particularly nasty meeting with my boss’ boss.
Today, said uberboss promised to take away some of my BS process work and feed me some more challenging assignments.
Some times things just work out.
Some times they don’t, and when they don’t you have to protect yourself.
I know where you’re coming from, because I did exactly the same thing myself at the end of July. I worked in a department store for 5 years, as a sales demonstrator on behalf of a domestic appliance manufacturer, and loved my work. But the store management completely spoiled any enjoyment I got from the job, and in the end I dreaded turning up each day in anticipation of all the crap I would have to put up with. After sticking the situation out for two years, enough was enough and I had to go.
You know, I have to admit that I felt great as soon as I did it. The rhymes-with-rich who was my boss asked my reasons, so I told her in detail and then get the hell out of there. Ditching the job and regaining my sanity has done me the world of good, and I’ve noticed a huge change in myself for the better. As it is I have a short temper anyway, but even that has improved since leaving that hellhole.
Of course, the downside is that I’m living off my savings right now, and my search for a new job has been pretty fruitless so far. But you’ve just got to stay optimistic, because just when you think you’re nearing rock bottom, something always comes up and everything turns out OK.
yojimbo, I totally agree, I’ve worked in the public sector for years and it has a lot of good things going for it. Whatever your job is, you know you’re not working mostly to make a few a lot richer, but you’re providing a service that the citizens of [wherever] want provided. THAT’s the bottom line. It’s meaningful, and on days when you need to feel like you’re actually contributing to society, you can remind yourself of that.
Guin, this is a really momentous occasion, you know that? Congratulations! I hope you find something really good.
