# Take this Bluelight Special and Shove it!-or Guin finally quits her job at Kmart **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 20, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673 "2002-09-20T00:18:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/21 "2002-09-20T03:38:55Z")
Wow! Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/22 "2002-09-20T03:50:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \* > \*\*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. \*\* Very meaningful! :rolleyes: You did the right thing Guin, now do it again in finding what you really want to do. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/23 "2002-09-20T04:23:54Z")
Yay, Guin! I’m very happy for you… the last day I worked retail was a fine day indeed. Never look back. Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/24 "2002-09-20T04:56:16Z")
Congratulations, Guin. I believe you have made a very important decision in your life. Your job sucked and it was making you miserable…and it was great that you finally decided that this particular job was not worth the detrimental effect it was having on your life. Now for some potentially worthless advice that you’re free to ignore: I don’t know anything about your educational background, so I’ll assume that you haven’t finished college, if you’ve started it. Have you considered going back to college? Get a student loan if necessary, but a degree is _worth_ it, particularly if it is in a field that leads directly to employment, such as the medical fields, business, or education. I’m an audiologist, and I happen to know that there is an enormous demand for speech-language pathologists right now. Might want to check that out, and see if it appeals to you; it can be a very rewarding profession. Leave the K-mart experience behind, and try not to dwell on it. The best revenge is living well. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/25 "2002-09-20T05:04:49Z")
_sniffle_ I’ll miss your wonderful customer idiocy posts! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/26 "2002-09-20T06:25:23Z")
good luck! I hope you find something you enjoy. That can make all the diferrence in the world. ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/27 "2002-09-20T06:35:14Z")
Good for you, **Guin**. Here’s hoping you get the kind of job you deserve (needless to say, I mean that in a _good_ way). Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/28 "2002-09-20T09:30:13Z")
Muchas smooches! Congratulations! Keep your chin up, ear to the ground, and nose to the wind (or something) and you’ll find something better before you know it. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/29 "2002-09-20T11:55:41Z")
**You GO Guin!!** I’m so HAPPY FOR YOU!!! You done gone and did the right thing - and it’ll all work out for the best lady! PS - you’re about the LAST person I’d call a whiny crybaby too - I think you rather rock! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/30 "2002-09-20T12:03:23Z")
Well done, definitely the right choice. Life’s too short to spend it unhappily when there’s even a slight choice of being better off. I’ve quit bad jobs where I had nothing to do but sit and read email all day and not regretted it even when the next job wasn’t great. Think of it as a lucky escape, and because you had the guts to do it’s also a well-deserved escape. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/31 "2002-09-20T12:48:14Z")
Good for you **Guin**! Enough of a bad thing is enough. Glad you put Marthaland behind you. You will find a better job. Oh, and on the school thing, I agree, if you haven’t finish, go back. It will be worth it. After all, a bunch of us Dopers said so, so how could it be wrong?😃 ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/32 "2002-09-20T13:03:05Z")
Good for you **Guin**! Enough of a bad thing is enough. Glad you put Marthaland behind you. You will find a better job. Oh, and on the school thing, I agree, if you haven’t finish, go back. It will be worth it. After all, a bunch of us Dopers said so, so how could it be wrong?😃 ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/33 "2002-09-20T15:21:08Z")
Go Guin, Go Guin! I echo the sentiments here, do what you have to do to make your life work. That’s the least we all owe ourselves. Btw, I didn’t know that you were a LaRochie. I taught there during our brief sojourn in da 'burgh. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/34 "2002-09-20T15:29:30Z")
I took a job as a assistant manager at a regional fast food sub & ice cream chain right out of the service, as I was desperate for work. I hated the job and the management, and the long hours. I didn’t mind the customers nor the high school kids that worked there. After nearly a year of torment- I started getting a damn ulcer. One day at work, I started getting shooting pains in my gut. I was a bit stunned. I toughed it out that day- I called in the next day and quit-- OVER THE PHONE. Told them to mail me my last check. Best thing I ever did. I worked a few more jobs then went back to community college. Did well. Went to University. Did well. Went to Law School. Did well. Now I am working at a decent public sort of legal job, and am happy (but have student loans). The reason I did well, is after working those crap jobs I knew the cost of failure. I was well motivated 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/35 "2002-09-20T15:54:48Z")
Well, the hardest part-telling my father I quit-has yet to come. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/36 "2002-09-20T16:07:03Z")
Good stuff. This thread really shouldn’t be in The Pit- too much love an’ stuff going on. 😃 I’m very, very happy for you. Reiterating **Mademoiselle’s** suggestion via email, what about becoming a researcher? Go have some cheese fries. Put gravy on them. You deserve it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/37 "2002-09-20T16:07:25Z")
Well, you can’t stay at a job that makes you want to jump out the window every day, that’s for damn sure. I know the feeling: half of me wants _so_ much to quit my current job, and the other half is going, “what’ll I do if they _fire_ me?!” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/38 "2002-09-20T16:11:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Keep your chin up, ear to the ground [george carlin] I don’t bend that way!! [/carlin] ---
**Author:** ![Gravity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gravity/32/14322_2.png) [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/39 "2002-09-20T16:43:40Z")
About eight years ago I got a job as a grocery store clerk in the local Grand Union. After working there for more than three years, standing on the bare concrete did terrible, long-lasting things to my back. I was in agony every single day. They had one rubber shock-mat that they had cut into 1’x1’ squares, one per checkstand, other than that, it was just the concrete. I was also having a really hard time with the rock-bottom morale that comes with any grocery store, especially one that had declared bankruptcy three times in three years. I had my yearly 20 hours of vacation time saved up, so I went in and said that I was going to use it for the next week. That I _had_ to use it, because I wasn’t fit to work. They said that they wouldn’t do it. That I would be in on Monday morning at 6:30 like usual, _or else_. I couldn’t believe it. The reason that I was ‘first cashier’ (the first one in in the morning) was because I was a hard worker, reliable, competent and honest, and I had not asked for a shift change, or refused a call-in because someone was sick in the entire time I had worked there. After 3 1/2 years of working there I was still making just $0.50 more than minimum wage, as minimum wage had risen at only a slightly lower rate than my raises. So, absolutely shaking with anger/fear, I quit. I _hate_ confrontation, and it was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done. On top of it all, my former workmates treated me like crap every time I went back to do my shopping. It was the only grocery store in town, and I don’t have a car. I just smiled and didn’t treat them any differently, and eventually it passed, but it was really hard for me. Now, years later, I see that it was really THE best career decision that I’ve ever made. Now I have a job I love, with reasonable bosses and pay, and great coworkers and atmosphere. I wouldn’t be here if I were still there. I would be miserable if I were still there. I would have been miserable every day in between then and now. Think of all the days of happiness that you have to look forward to now. Think of when you’ll be able to look back and say “Wow, I’ve lived 100 days fairly happy, when I would have been miserable…” As for telling your dad, I suggest sooner than later. It’ll just get harder if you have to explain why you put it off as well. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673/40 "2002-09-20T16:54:53Z")
Well, that’s one less reason to go to that KMart. Congratulations, Guinastasia. I’ve noticed that Carnegie Library in Oakland has a really good Job Center which might come in handy. I can also tell you first hand about the joys of job hunting in Pittsburgh. E-mail me if you need support, consolation, or a general bitch session, and good luck with your father!! Hey, us unemployed 'Burghers got to stick together. CJ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-this-bluelight-special-and-shove-it-or-guin-finally-quits-her-job-at-kmart/128673.md?page=3)