Dear There Must Be 50 Ways to Give My Notice,

First of all, did I read this correctly? Your friends are tired of listening to you complain about your work drama? What? I hope they helped in encouraging you to leave your job rather than just telling you to stop talking about it with them. Or, did you drop the subject with them and just do something about it? Friends are some of the best forms of therapy and I am less- than-thrilled to learn that they may not be supportive of you. If they are not, it may be time to find new friends. But that is a different post for a different day.

Back to your immediate problem.

The best advice I can give you in this situation is: DON’T BURN ANY BRIDGES!

Ask yourself this: When you need to put your current job (the one you are quitting) on your resume, would you feel comfortable with your potential employer calling and asking for a reference? You NEED to give some form of notice even though you don’t owe this shit job anything.

From my own personal experience with jobs from the depths of hell, I have burned a couple of bridges that I wish I hadn’t. I am 95% positive that because I left one (0r two) previous jobs on a sour note, that it has effected my ability to land some jobs beyond the gates of hell. When updating my resume, I would get the shakes and a sinking feeling  when I provided my previous employers contact info, and pray that there would be no phone call for a reference. Now, I didn’t leave my job like in the movie “Half Baked,” but I did burn the bridge.

A Note to Everyone

If you are miserable in your workplace, line up another job and QUIT. You have to ask yourself, what is your sanity worth? If it is worth the money to go insane and be miserable then good for you. If not, get out!! Now!!!!  Even if you take a pay cut!!!! Special thanks to you, our Question Of The Week, for being an inspiration to our readers.

That said, here are the steps you can take to quit your job.

1. The Obvious: Give your two weeks notice in writing to your boss. Leave it in his/her slot or on their desk when they are not around. This may be the key to avoid any confrontations. Let your boss be the one to tell your co-workers. Your boss may only tell one or two people to get the ball rolling on the re-hiring process. If your co-workers question you, give a short and sweet answer: “I found something that suits me better,” “I have been presented with an opportunity that I just can’t pass up,” or “I need to get out of this hell hole.”
2. The Less Obvious: A one week notice would suffice. You should give the one week notice to your boss at the end of the day on the Friday before your last week. That way, you have a weekend to prepare for the repercussions. Your boss will then have two days to mull things over and come up with a game plan for a re-hire. At the very least, he/she has time to figure out how to dole out your duties to your co-workers until he/she can find someone to replace you (this is the route that I, personally, would take). You will then only have 5 days of explanations and possible dirty looks. It is a reasonable solution and something you can get through unscathed.
3. The Obvious No-No: It’s tempting. It’s the easy way out. It feels like retribution for the B.S. you have just been through. Quitting day-of and walking away scotch free, burning the bridge, feeling the freedom! Don’t do it. Even though company policy says you can, it touches on personal feelings too much. You say you like your work mates and I am gathering that you have made some friends. It would be better to keep these relationships than to cut them off cold turkey. These people may even be better friends for you than the ones that are sick of hearing your problems. Your boss may feel a personal vendetta as well. Even though you are in a professional environment, they are only human and have a Pandora’s box of emotions that can accompany a delicate situation such as yours.

Find your happy medium, take a deep breath and face your “I don’t want to be a grown up today” real-life conundrum. Step up to the plate, because your future in the work place depends on how you handle this situation. You are obviously a brave and rational person for taking the first step in leaving. Rip the band-aid off and head into your future with your head held high.

Check back Friday for Skippy’s answer. Leave your comments below on how you would handle a work place break up.