I've only done this once in my life.


While I was working at a job (small business network consultant), I stumbled upon the payroll information of the other employees.

It turned out I was being woefully underpaid (which I suspected, but now had proof). This upset me quite a bit, since it was to the tune of about $15k. There was also some of the strictest time tracking software I had ever encountered. I literally had to log every minute of the day and it was reviewed weekly in a full staff meeting. Time not logged was taken from vacation hours. Our monitors were also in clear view of the owner, who made it abundantly clear how important it was to be billing work. This was less of an issue, since the business model depends on billing multiple customers for labor.

I started immediately going to interviews for new jobs. Got a call one morning after two interviews with a company. They offered me about $20k more than I was making. I quickly accepted and asked that they scan the offer letter to me. They asked when I could start...

I gave them a line about how I had already given my current employer notice that I was searching for a new job, and I could start the following Monday. They were stoked.

I went back inside absolutely giddy. I subtly gathered my things, and turned off the work cell phone. I placed it in a drawer and printed off a "sad keanu" photo. I cut him out and taped him to the top of my monitor.

Then I simply got up, walked to the door, and drove away.

It was the biggest adrenaline rush I've felt in years, mainly because of the risk I was taking.


It all ended extremely well, as I loved that company and worked there several years.

12/29/2010 9:23:42 PM

did you put the old company as a reference?

i would have a friend call them for a 'reference' just to get some lawls

12/29/2010 9:30:47 PM

I should totally do this and record it.

They probably don't even remember me, though.

12/29/2010 9:38:55 PM

I will probably end up doing that within the next year or two. Thing is, though, I would lose what's called as the End of Service Benefit (ESB) if I broke my contract. ESB is 50% of a month's salary+benefits for each of the first 5 years with the company, and a month's salary+benefits for each year after the 5th year.

12/30/2010 3:26:45 AM

How long would you get the ESB??

I walked out of a retail job the summer after I graduated undergrad. I moved to Wrightsville Beach just to work and chill before I went to law school. I got a job at a health food store for something like $8 an hour. Worked there for about two weeks before I finally got a job being a door guy/barback at a beach bar and another morning job as a busboy at Middle of the Island. Had to start the next day so I just walked out and never came back.

Actually felt horrible about it...but considering the circumstances, I knew it wouldn't affect me.

12/30/2010 8:54:41 AM

Once upon a time, I walked out of a retail job after an altercation with my supervisor.

Best feeling in the world.

12/30/2010 10:51:46 AM

I have done it twice.

1: When a sophomore I worked at a vet taking care of the kennels. I had requested Fall Break off, but at the last minute they told me I couldn't have it. I came in the morning before Fall Break started, took care of all my responsibilities, then put my key on my boss's desk.

2: Outside Sales job with a Telecom Company about 5 years ago. My boss was a prick, expected us to work 7AM-7PM M-F. He was a micro-manager from hell. I was there 6 months before I was offered a job with a competing Telecom Company. I accepted the job, and got on our weekly conference call with about 10 employees, my boss, and the regional VP. I interrupted about halfway through and told them to kiss my ass.

12/30/2010 11:04:12 AM

Quote :

"How long would you get the ESB??"

You get it at the end when you leave, assuming you didn't break your contract. You get the ESB for your full time there. So if you work for 10 years, you would get 7.5 months salary+benefits, for 20 years, 17.5 months salary+benefits.

12/30/2010 11:15:55 AM

Overheard my co-workers conspiring to cover up product deficiencies from a customer. I was so disgusted that I came back to the office late that night with my key, my laptop, and a letter stating my immediate resignation. There were other questionable practices there so this was more like the last straw.

I wasn't working for them for very long so I don't put the company on my resume.

[Edited on December 30, 2010 at 11:23 AM. Reason : .]

12/30/2010 11:21:22 AM

I was working at a diner in high school and the place was a dump. I never made shit for tips and the boss was an asshole. One night after I had swept and mopped the entire floor dude says to me that I didn't mop the floor good enough and that I would have to redo it. I took of my hat and apron and threw them at him.

1/1/2011 6:40:31 PM

I walk out on my current company every Friday and tell them to hire me back on Monday.

1/1/2011 9:59:56 PM

Yes, while waitressing at Crazy Fire near Crossroads. Sucks it ended that way, back early August '04, but I had my goals to work on, remaining a tire monkey and taking a class or three. None of this, of course, worked out. My sincere apologies to the Crazy Fire Army or the time, all twentysomething of you.

1/2/2011 12:53:22 AM

My buddies got me a summer job at The Fun Park in Concord after my senior year of high school. I 'interviewed' and 'trained' a few weeks before school was out on the expectation, more or less the promise, I'd have a set schedule of a couple nights a week while school was still going on and then I'd work the weekends.

Well, this motherfucker Trey, who was our age had apparently tongue massaged enough ass to land a manager position called me at 2:35 the first Monday after training to come in and work. The fuck? What happened to a set schedule? So I drive the 20 minutes down there, work for 1.5 hours and then he says I can leave because we are overstaffed. Trey, god damnit.

Again, on Wednesday this asshole calls right after school is done. I've been going for 4 years straight with sports and school, and I just wanted to chill out for a couple weeks and this dick is harshing my mellow. So I go in, same drill, cut early.

He calls my ass the next day. I don't answer. Calls back 5 minutes later, I don't answer. I'm napping. This dick calls back 15 minutes later and I blow up at Trey on the phone telling him he doesn't know how to do his damn job and has he ever heard of a schedule and I'm sick and tired of interrupting my afternoons for this asshole to tell me I can go home. He starts stuttering and I tell him just to forget that I exist and lose my phone number.

I ended up working a manual labor third shift job that summer...so, I guess Trey really won after all

1/2/2011 8:38:24 AM

i would hope you got paid more for manual labor

i know my buddies were all getting min wage at mickey d's

and i was busting my ass at the rock quarry for what i thought was $texas at the time

1/2/2011 12:29:23 PM

I was working at Best Buy in Cary/Crossroads back in 2004...just a part time gig while I was still at NCSU.

I started out on the sales floor in the Car Audio dept. After a few months of this, I got bored and decided I'd rather be an installer in the Car Audio Installation bay. I worked in the installation bay for about a year. The whole time, the store manager Charles was a total fucking dickhole to me, and other employees. He refused to learn how to pronounce my name, and constantly talked down to the employees.

Well, Mr. Charles told me that he wanted me to get my MECP certification (which I was stoked about, because Best Buy would pay for this training/exam). According to Best Buy pay-rates, getting my MECP certification would also take me from about $9/hour to $14/hour) if I passed the exam. I studied HARD for about 2 months in preparation to take the exam. TWO days before the exam was to be held, Charles came by the installation bay and informed me that I would not be taking the exam. He literally told me that he "just wanted me to make sure I knew this stuff and that there definitely was not going to be a pay raise". Best Buy had already paid for me to take the exam, but Charles had gone behind my back and canceled my seat for the exam. Sonofabitch just didnt want to have to pay me the higher wage.

That didnt bode well with me and I immediately blew up in Charles' face. In front of my department manager, and 3 coworkers, I told him that what he did wasn't right and that he was a lying sack of shit and has treated me like shit since day 1. I said that everyone thinks he's a pompous asshole, and then literally told him to go fuck himself. I pulled my car around and loaded up my tools and never stepped foot back in that store.

tl;dr - FUCK CHARLES and Best Buy for making a completely incompetent and self-righteous shitstick like him manager.


[Edited on January 2, 2011 at 3:36 PM. Reason : fucking asshole.]

1/2/2011 3:31:10 PM

I started a job at the very beginning of last year. The guy (my former boss) who owns the company sold it to me as a "start-up" company; apparently they didn't actually have any manufacturing going for their product, despite having worked on it for over a decade, but they claimed they were close and just needed a little extra push. They also sold the position I would be applying for as an internship. Despite these warning signs, I figured that the work sounded interesting. And frankly, having any work was better than having no work. So I decide to go through with it.

The honeymoon was barely under way before various problems began to present themselves. It quickly became apparent that my boss was something of a control freak, and at times had unrealistic standards and expectations. If you failed to do something precisely how he wanted it, he'd pull you to the side and give you an earful about how you don't listen, you're a poor communicator, etc. It also gradually came to light that he cared more and more about presentation and perception. Suffice it to say that his product doesn't fully work as advertised, so we more often than not had to "cheat" during demonstrations.

Well unsurprisingly, this company made no money whatsoever during my time there. In fact, it lost money as its stock became increasingly worthless. I'll give props to my boss for being able to sucker people into giving him money for over 10 years for a product that still works like shit. But anyway, he decides that one of the ways to fix this predicament is to give the company's website a face-lift. He decides that I'll help participate in this, even though I don't really have any background in web design. I give it the old college try, but even though I have other people checking the changes and they see that it looks good in their browsers, my boss continuously says that my changes look like shit (it eventually comes to light that the reason everything looks awful to him is that he's reviewing the changes in Netscape Navigator, a browser that I'm sure hasn't been supported for quite some time). Eventually he loses his patience and says that I'd better not disappoint him this badly ever again.

At that precise moment, I knew that there was no future with this company. I got tired of taking flak for things that were beyond my control, I got sick of his self-righteous lectures for the tiniest of fuck-ups, and frankly I reached the conclusion that he has no idea what he's doing. He talks way over my head about economics and business, but I'm convinced that this is simply a smokescreen for his own ignorance, which is very hypocritical of him since he routinely denounces this behavior in others.

But to finally get to the end of this rant, I left my keys to the building at my desk before I went home, emailed my resignation the next morning and then took off.

1/2/2011 3:31:51 PM

I was working a 2nd shift network install tech job. The blue prints were shit and I had to keep asking the supervisor on what was the next step. He finally told me if it is on the blue print do it. One of the rooms were slated for a new network lines, so me and a co-worker tackled it. Of course the job had fallen behind on the blue prints time line so we ended up cutting live network lines. The new lines we ran would not work with the old server. (Probably cut an old token ring network line and put in cat 5 cable)

My supervisor jumped all over us and I walked out. The most fucked up thing was when the temp agency called and said I was fired not for the mistake but for letting my hard hat slip off the back of my head. They called that damaging company property.

1/2/2011 4:58:29 PM

yes, my first job out of college

1/2/2011 6:31:02 PM

Quote :

"i would hope you got paid more for manual labor i know my buddies were all getting min wage at mickey d's and i was busting my ass at the rock quarry for what i thought was $texas at the time"

Maybe marginally. Funny story, we were making $7hr on third shift and after a few weeks I found out from my aunt, who was the plant managers assistant, the first shift guys were making $8hr with generally easier work (salvage dock at Food Lion). So before we left work one morning I wrote a note to the manager saying that we demanded to be paid equal to the first shift guys and had everyone on the shift sign it.

The next evening the manager was waiting for me and said he could have me fired for "attempting to organize a union" but that I must know people in high up places because he had received the message to raise all our pay to $8hr (unbeknown to me, my aunt actually talked to her boss and he had a heart).

1/2/2011 8:57:43 PM

might've turned out more interesting if you'd been fired, considering it's illegal

1/2/2011 9:24:59 PM

I was 18 and working the job for some gas/movie/food money for the summer. Had I been fired, I would have gotten a nice taste of the real world sure, but that taste would have lasted a couple days tops. Working a third shift manual labor job in the summer heat for a dick supervisor with a bunch of flunkies (one of which tried to fight me) for not a lot of pay left a flavor that will never be forgotten.

1/2/2011 9:32:51 PM

Quote :

"The whole time, the store manager Charles was a total fucking dickhole to me, and other employees. He refused to learn how to pronounce my name, and constantly talked down to the employees."

Hahahaha I worked at that Best Buy back in the summer of 2005 just to get some spare money (fun note, bottombaby was working there too). Charles WAS a huge dick but I mostly tried to avoid him for that reason and was for the most part successful. I'm from England and have what Americans would consider a noticeable accent... Charles thought that this was the funniest thing ever and would constantly ask me if it was tea time and stupid shit like that. One of the Harry Potter books was coming out that summer and he seriously wanted me to dress up like a fucking wizard to promote the book "because I sounded like them" but luckily my immediate supervisor was sane and told Charles that she needed me elsewhere.

1/3/2011 10:11:45 AM

i worked security out at the RBC Center, and it was a shit job. I was one of the people who looked into bags as people were coming in to make sure they didn't have pocket knives and food and stuff. I frankly got sick and tired of having to tell old men they had to walk back to their cars or throw away their 50 year old tiny pocket knives to get into the game.

I didn't really walk out i guess... i just never showed back up. The funny thing is they kept calling me to see if I wanted to work so and so event weeks after that.

1/3/2011 11:27:19 AM

Quote :

"Well, Mr. Charles told me that he wanted me to get my MECP certification (which I was stoked about, because Best Buy would pay for this training/exam). According to Best Buy pay-rates, getting my MECP certification would also take me from about $9/hour to $14/hour) if I passed the exam. I studied HARD for about 2 months in preparation to take the exam. TWO days before the exam was to be held, Charles came by the installation bay and informed me that I would not be taking the exam. He literally told me that he "just wanted me to make sure I knew this stuff and that there definitely was not going to be a pay raise". Best Buy had already paid for me to take the exam, but Charles had gone behind my back and canceled my seat for the exam. Sonofabitch just didnt want to have to pay me the higher wage. That didnt bode well with me and I immediately blew up in Charles' face. In front of my department manager, and 3 coworkers, I told him that what he did wasn't right and that he was a lying sack of shit and has treated me like shit since day 1. I said that everyone thinks he's a pompous asshole, and then literally told him to go fuck himself. I pulled my car around and loaded up my tools and never stepped foot back in that store. tl;dr - FUCK CHARLES and Best Buy for making a completely incompetent and self-righteous shitstick like him manager."

This sounds like one of those things that should have been taken up with people above him in the chain of command. Even if you still decided to quit, they should be aware of how he was treating his employees. If they're smart they would cut the real problem (Charles) and keep the people who are actually producing a profit for the company.



I guess I've walked off one job back in the college days. I told a company I needed the week of July 4th off for about a month ahead of time. They kept giving me the runaround. It was like I could take the week off, but only if none of the more important workers wanted to take time off. When it came down to 1 week ahead of the vacation they still wouldn't tell me whether I was "off". I told them bluntly that I would not be there and they need to plan their schedule around it. I had already planned a vacation and at this point it was too late to cancel without screwing up other people's plans. On Friday I gave them my pager and had the "have a nice life" talk. It was very civil. When I got back from vacation I found a job on day 1 of searching.

I wouldn't do it now, but then again I'm making a little more than the $8.50/hr I was pulling in back then. I've never had a true asshole manager like some of you though. I can't say that I wouldn't do it under similar circumstances.

[Edited on January 3, 2011 at 1:34 PM. Reason : l]

1/3/2011 1:25:25 PM

I worked at the Best Buy on Capital back in 2002 or 2004. I was in Home Theater and was the guy that basically ran the department. One manager, Mario, had somehow managed to get kicked up to Sales Manager after running the warehouse at another store. He was completely useless and would constantly piss customers off and basically just fuck everything up. As one of the few people that would stand up to him and refuse to kiss his ass, he liked to come over to tell me things that I had to do and complain about my numbers. Finally he walked up to one of my customers that I had just closed on a full home theater system with a service plan on everything and started talking to her about what she needed to buy. He refused to listen to me or the lady and eventually pissed her off and she left without the $5k worth of gear that she was buying. He tried to blame me for it because "if I had done my job, he wouldn't need to." I got pissed off and took my break. I came back in 15 minutes later and he's with the store manager and starts yelling, asking where I've been. At that point, I didn't give a shit. I pulled him and the store manager into the office and told him that he was a piece of shit and I was tired of him fucking with me and my sales. He made a comment that I shouldn't take a break at 8:30 at night and that if I wanted to work then I should make sure I was at work. I said "You're right, I don't want to be here so fuck you, I'm gone." and walked out of the office. I got a kick out of shopping there the next month or two and pissing him off.

[Edited on January 3, 2011 at 9:00 PM. Reason : .]

1/3/2011 8:59:02 PM

I hope you at least told the store manager how that asshat cost a 5k sale.

1/3/2011 9:42:33 PM

yeah, that was one of the things that I blew up about after I pulled them both (GM & asshole manager) into the office. I basically told the GM that I wanted him kept away from me & my department (I was the "senior) while I was there and listed a few incidents where he cost us money including that one. The manager asked him about it and he tried to say that I hadn't sold her service plans or cables even though the cart was full of all the monster cable crap that we pushed and I still had her filled out service plan brochures where I was walking her up to get checked out. That's when he went off about the "should be here if you want to work" BS and I started cussing him out so I don't know whether the manager blew it off or not. I did hear that he got fired a few months later but who knows for sure. That company definitely had some of the worst management practices of anywhere that I've worked. It almost seemed that managers got rewarded for shitting on employees.

1/4/2011 12:53:50 AM

Yes, twice, because of crazy bosses. The first was as a farmhand out in Knightdale one summer, for a lady who had 20-30 head of horses but never rode or trained them. I mucked out stalls, fed them, did basic barn chores, etc. The lady bitched I wasn't fast enough or knew what I was doing, even though it was 90-100 degrees in the afternoon, and I grew up caring for my own horses. Not only was she crazy, she was a goddamn animal hoarder (cages of dogs and cats everywhere in her house). It was so ridiculous that I just got fed up and left the farm truck in the middle of the field, manure still loaded, and left.

Second, was I worked as a waitress for a month at a Mexican restaurant my senior year of college. I made shit for tips, had practically no tables (like, the place did no business), and the owner was some crazy religious nut. I got pissed off, dumped ice tea into a bitchy customer's purse, and just walked out.

1/4/2011 10:18:20 PM

Haha.

The only job I've walked out on just happened to be my job at the Crossroads Best Buy even though my husband was in a leadership role.

1/5/2011 4:28:40 PM

Quote :

"dumped ice tea into a bitchy customer's purse"

awesome

1/5/2011 5:44:04 PM

^^Do you remember Charles?

1/7/2011 3:54:17 PM

Lord, yes. My husband only worked with him for 5+ years.

Charles is pretty good at being carelessly offensive to people, especially people of other cultures. He really doesn't have a clue and I never did understand how he got to be a manager.

I loved it when we could convince Charles to go out drinking with the other leadership and all he'd drink were Smirnoff Ices. And you have no idea how many times that man was drunk dialed and harassed....

1/7/2011 5:55:41 PM

Damn I am laughing my ass off at how many of these involve Best Buy.

I worked at Crabtree Best Buy from 01-03. I had one of those shit managers you speak of (Richard, Ops Manager) dude was a complete ass. I gave 2 weeks notice when I quit but I think he let me out of it, I think maybe 3 more days I worked. (which was fine I wanted to be there until payday to grab up some more shit on employee discount)

I never understood how bad best buys leadership culture was as until later in life when I worked for some other large companies in similar jobs.

1/7/2011 11:00:33 PM

Tram driver at the zoo, trained for a couple weeks, never felt comfortable driving it (parts of the road were too narrow and you would have to hit it just right to avoid the curb, which, I tended not to avoid, this was during training). You had the driver and and person in the back that would tell the customers the next stop...I was find with that.....but you had to switch and I always ended up not switching...I finally called one day and told my manager that I was heading back to college. It was kinda weird cause she was a coworker of my mom...the manager was a school teacher outside the summer months and that job was just for extra income during the summer months.

1/9/2011 7:10:06 PM

one summer in college i was lifeguarding at a pool in the slums of greensboro and we had some rowdy neighborhood kids who frequented the pool on an almost daily basis. one afternoon 3 brothers (1 of whom could not swim) were particularly wild, and i, being the most intimidating in stature at 5'1", had to kick them out. they waited outside for a couple hours for their mom to pick them up after work. did i forget to mention this was a drop in child care center? oh wait, it wasn't.

while waiting, they continued to fight with each other and i can only assume this is how one ended up with a mild abrasion on his arm. when their mother came to pick them up she rushed into the lobby area to accuse me of "cutting" her son. i began to slowly explain to her the nature of their behavior and why they were told to leave but was cut short as she yelled incoherently toward me. a co-worker stepped in and attempted to speak to her but was also cut short. this woman told us we were "all in on it" and could not be trusted.

this back & forth continued for a few more minutes before i cut her off and told her, in a raised voice, in these exact words, the behavior of her children was a direct reflection of her poor parenting. well, that sure made her angry. she told me she had never been spoken to so rudely before in her life, asked my name, and said she would be contacting my superior. as she said this i quickly gathered my things, began walking toward the door, and told her she should go fuck herself. there was a week or so left of the summer and i did not intend to be employed there again afterward so i felt my choice of words was completely appropriate for the situation.

i later received a call from my supervisor informing me i was terminated for the remainder of the summer, my last check would be in her office, and to please come back the following summer if i was able.





[Edited on January 9, 2011 at 11:18 PM. Reason : ]

1/9/2011 11:11:49 PM

Bobby Light, i walked out of the same store when Keith F. the manager with Charles and his side kick who was the sup. of the digi imi. dept kept screwing me on hours badly. I couldnt pay rent off it so i just said fix it or im gone. He said he couldn't and I walked out. Dec 05 I think

1/11/2011 8:46:08 PM

nah

2/9/2011 8:42:04 PM

I did this just once, kind of, as a bartender. The old management (which was awesome) was being replaced by new management (which was shitty). A lot of new and pointless rules came into being, and since the whole thing was a throwaway job anyway, I figured, "Well, I'll just keep doing what I've been doing, make a little extra money, and leave when the time comes."

Ultimately I guess it's more accurate to say that I got fired, but I "walked away" in the sense that I did not bother to work with the new rules. Eventually the lady called me in and, ironically, didn't fire me for any of my blatant violations; she fired me for not wearing a name tag. Hand to God, until that moment I had neither seen nor heard of name tags as part of the employee uniform. But it's alright, I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did anyway.

2/10/2011 1:07:48 AM

I have a friend who might be about to do this shit

stay tuned

2/10/2011 8:16:26 AM

I was once hired on to work a construction type job. I was told I'd be driving around some equipment to assist in new home construction in the typical 8-5 fashion. I started on a Monday morning and by Saturday night I had worked 84 hours and driven no equipment. Other guys on the crews told me this was the norm, despite what I was told. So I walked in to the head guy, told him this isn't what I signed up for, and left.

2/10/2011 10:43:44 AM

I was looking for my first full time job as i was finishing up college and saw something in the paper about a sports marketing job. Details were vague but decided to give it a shot. turns out it was for selling discount golf tickets by way of foot. You had to be there at 7am, cover your assigned "territories", and leave around 5 or 6. My 2nd day i was at some strip mall near Wilson asking people if they knew any golfers because i had discounted greens fees. I felt retarded walking from place to place and finally walked to a standalone Belk's. Once inside i tried the pitch on an old lady that she scolded me in a thick country accent as she kicked me out.... other customers looking at me like i was a piece of shit. I drove back to raleigh and picked up a newspaper to look at job ads on the way home. I never even called em... bet it happens all the time

Quote :

"dumped ice tea into a bitchy customer's purse, and just walked out"

that was a thing of beauty btw..

2/11/2011 2:37:41 PM

^ Ha I got approached by one of you several years back while I was in a Borders. The guy had just begun his pitch when the manager came over and threw him out. Sucks too because I was really into golf at the time and if the price was ok I would have bought

2/12/2011 2:23:52 AM

Barry's Cafe back in high school one summer. That guy was an idiot.

Does that place still exist? I'd be amazed as he seemed to have no concept of how to legitimately run a business. Then again maybe he's still running it sketchy and getting by that way.

2/14/2011 2:53:16 PM

It's still there. My friend got screamed at and told to leave after telling the waitress that his food was cold (he was being completely reasonable).

2/15/2011 3:59:02 AM

Seriously considering walking out today. Don't fucking schedule a 6:00am meeting and not show up.

2/15/2011 8:16:04 AM

Who the hell schedules 6AM meetings anyway?

PS - You're not walking out.

2/15/2011 10:03:08 AM

The same asshole who offers to help with a project by sitting back and barking orders around.

2/15/2011 10:33:05 AM

lol...that sucks dude

2/15/2011 10:45:14 AM

at NCSU i tried out for this job that was posted around campus, that promised $15/hr. it was for Vector or CutCo .... the knife company, you know the one.

anyhow, i didnt know what it really was at first. I went there for a couple hour interview process where they had about 6 or 8 of us in this group setting where we role-played and answered questions and whatnot.

i kept asking really pointed questions about details that made the interviewers uncomfortable because they had to sidestep and give evasive answers because it kind of showed how much of a pyramid scheme this supposed knife-selling gig really was.

then at the end they said everyone there was going to start formal training the next day, except to me they said "we don't think you're really CutCo (or Vector, or whatever) material, don't think you're going to work out."

well, then i got pissed. how could they reject me? i was obviously the smartest one there! I could sell these knives like nobody's business. So i protested, and swore up and down that i was ready to sell knives, and was really going to be into it, so they said "okay" and gave me a bunch of training materials and to show up tomorrow.

feeling proud, i got in my car, and on the way home i snapped out of it and threw all the books and papers away when i stopped at McDonalds. Of course i never went back. i think they called a couple times, i didnt return their calls.

2/16/2011 3:05:48 PM

I walked out of a summer au pair job. Basically I was told that I would be the "evening au pair" because the teenager they hired from Sweden "isn't allowed to be alone at night." That probably should have been my first red flag. They also told me that I would just be responsible for watching the kids in the evening, light cleaning, cooking dinner every other day, and my weekends and days would be free.

Well after driving up to New York for this job it quickly turned out not to be what they claimed at all. Basically the parents spent the week in Manhattan and left their kids in the Hamptons alone with us. The pay was crap and they basically expected me to work 24 hours a day/7 days a week. On the weekends they'd come to the Hamptons, trash the house, and expect us to clean it. And they constantly complained/chastised us for the stupidest shit.

I would have grumbled and taken it if the pay had been decent but I quickly learned from other au pairs in the neighborhood I was being woefully underpaid. Maybe even if the two kids had been good I would have taken it but the kids were awful about 90% of the time.

So about three weeks before my time was up I decided I had had enough. The parents came to the house that Friday evening and I told them they could expect me to be gone Saturday morning and to please pay me my final paycheck. Didn't go over well at all with the bitch wife but boy did it ever feel good to get out of that situation.

2/16/2011 10:57:33 PM