Walked out of my job tonight

zetalambda

mrwhimwham wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I just want to clear things up in saying that I don't hate the job I'm in nor do I hate the people I work with, but when you have to constantly deal with people looking down their noses at you each day, the Sahara like heat conditions, the sh1te hours and pay and the simple fact of having no social life come the summer as it's so busy( I only work night shifts mostly), things were bound to come to a head like this.

Going to go in and have a chat with the boss in the morning and see if I can sort things out and hope I didn't do any irreparable damage.

If you end up going to the social, don't give this as the explanation.

obplayer

ardle1 wrote: »

Don't tell him that, tell him the truth.
And if anyone talks to you like that again, tell him your gonna fcuk them up big shytle :cool:

Nice idea but sadly "the customer is always right":(

Maximus Alexander

Yeah I'd say you're more than likely finished there OP, but don't worry about it. You're not going to look back in ten years and say "I really wish I hadn't walked out of that fast food job that time". It's the first day of a new chapter in your life. Yay!

K4t

helimachoptor wrote: »

7.5 years in a supermarket, 3 years in a call centre, I've done my time.

Congratulations. But of absolutely no relevance to the thread.

helimachoptor wrote: »

It's not rocket science, you give the punter what they want and they leave.

Nobody said it was. And again of no relevance to the Op other than further revealing your condescending attitude towards him/her.

helimachoptor wrote: »

Also op posted at 11pm. Big difference in fast food joints between 11pm and 1am

Well done, telling the time has been your most relevant contribution to the thread.


Best of luck, Op. You have a good work record as mentioned and obviously just had a really bad night. It happens (in all walks of life). If you want to keep the job I'd apologise to your boss, promise that it won't happen again but explain clearly the stress you were under and propose that maybe you need a few days off before returning to work. Odds are you won't be working there forever so just try and relax and not let the job/customers etc. consume you. I know it seems tough now but this really isn't a big deal and you'll look back on it in years and wonder why you let it get to you so much. Best of luck whatever decision you make.

obplayer

And the public at it's most confusing and funniest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oneMk-q_U0

Bepolite

helimachoptor wrote: »

7.5 years in a supermarket, 3 years in a call centre, I've done my time.
It's not rocket science, you give the punter what they want and they leave .

Also op posted at 11pm. Big difference in fast food joints between 11pm and 1am

It does not seem to have taught you humility to be honest. Your attitude smacks of looking down your nose. OP walked out this evening, I'm assuming after a period of this building up rather than having started today.

Furthermore things have changed since the death of the Celtic tiger, places had a lot more staff a few years back and many where carried. Having worked in retail, call centres (call centres are a doddle) and food, fast food/catering is way worse than even supermarkets (the arse end of retail to be fair). Working in food is back breaking labour in the worst of conditions. I lasted three months working for one of the better chain food places.

Bepolite

obplayer wrote: »

And the public at it's most confusing and funniest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oneMk-q_U0

A customer with a sense of humour and a bit of criac goes a looooongway! People would be surprised how much more you get for your money when you're savvy and not an arsehat with it.

Ronin247

Bepolite wrote: »

Explain to the welfare they have a degree of latitude to be fair.

I completely understand that not everyone is a 6'2" tall 18stone bloke who spent the better part of his youth being shouted at by hairy reservists who had watched Full Metal Jacket one too many times but the best way to deal with a bully is call them out. Take the moral high ground initially, "John can we have a word"... as soon as they refuse and start shout the the odds I find a loudly spoken "Who the hell do you think you are speaking too" works wonders. Most people haven't a clue what's hit them.

OP I was in retail for 15 years part of that I did a side job as security, I did rough pubs, nice pubs and even a gay pub (a very rough one oddly enough) the very worst place I was ever on the door of was the Abrakebabra in Portmarnock - and that was a quiet one. One lad on a city centre store was killed when a punter walked up to him and stabbed him for no reason.

OP more tales to bore you to sleep but I had what can be described as a 'bad break-up' with a business I was working for. I was out for almost a year. I was very successful and earned a reasonable salary, more than my wife at the time who has a degree and masters from Trinity and a PhD. from UCD. I'm lucky enough to be now retraining as a lawyer. I can assure you that losing a job/being unemployed is a lot scarier than it actually is in reality.

In answer (after going round the houses quite a bit) no they can't terminate you for walking off. They would need to hold a disciplinary and it's unlikely to be gross misconduct. If you're in there less than a year though they may just let you go and there is little you can do.

Ask yourself though: Is it worth going back?

(it might be to get fired if you think the social are going to be being difficult.)

Go back and explain what happened, apologise and insist that you want to keep your job so that they either a) keep you or b) fire you, you will then qualify for social welfare immediately. DO NOT QUIT or not go back

Mrs OBumble

I sympathise, OP ... almost did it myself one night, and if I had a nasty bitch of a store manager would have worn a tray of burgers on my way out the door!

Didn't in the end though, sucked it up and glad: the reference I got from there helped me get a far cushier job later on. And I did learn heaps of useful information about the way the world works.

TheBeach

I wouldn't be overly concerned about Social Welfare. The most they can withhold your payment for is 12 weeks. But this is totally discretionary. If you tell them you were subjected to awful working conditions I'd imagine they would waver this 12 weeks and give you your Social Welfare as normal. It'll totally depend on the officer who decides your claim.

At the end of the day if you look at it like this. Your job is now available. It is likely that someone who is currently in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance will take the post. And you in turn will receive social welfare. So really it doesn't make any difference in that respect. Ying and yang...

Svalbard

Take it easy on the OP. Any job which involves interacting with joe public can be very stressful, and fast food service has its own particular kinds of hell.

I really think those posters saying a job in fast food couldn't possibly be stressful really just look down on people in such jobs. I'd like to see them try it sometime.

My current occupation involves quite a bit of responsibility and risk, and the training involved working in environments most people would regard as intensely stressful and demanding.

However, as I student, I worked in 2 well-known fast food restaurants and I can still clearly remember the stress I felt in those jobs - not the same stress as in my current job, but not less either.
Treated like crap, demeaned, looked down on, over worked, underpaid, bullied......I never walked out, but others did, and I didn't blame them.

Lots of people walk out on their jobs at some point and carry on with their lives without it ever affecting them. I'm not trying to say walking out is a good thing to do, just that at the end of the day you weren't the first, you won't be the last, and it won't affect your longer term prospects.

Mongfinder General

I worked for more than 10 years in a fast food place. I saw it all in there. The one thing I learned quickly is that most of the public are oblivious as to how much manual labour it takes to get a meal together. When it gets busy and **** starts going wrong, it can be horrible. If you get a load of booze hounds slobbering things can get messy as all you want is them out the door asap. It can be stressful at times.

I remember one time a guy I worked with in the kitchen lost it. It might have been a Paddy's day. The reason why he lost it was not something that would normally cause a reaction so freaky. The place was packed, people lining up out the door. Orders coming in to the kitchen super fast. This guy appears at the top of the line with a supermac's paper cup in his hand. The guy I was working with lost it. He called him a fat beardy **** and to get out. All because he felt that the beardy guy had eaten already so therefore shouldn't be annoying him by being greedy and lining up for more in a different restaurant!

FishingLife

I worked a summer in a big chain fastfood joint in college.
The manager who was later sacked for pillfering was a mong of the highest order.
Most of us staff were in college.
If she didnt like you didnt get hours simple as that.
Her assisatant manager was a horrible little bully too.
Be told to go home early because it was not busy.
Told to not leave the premises for your break as might be needed if it got busy.
The staff room was tiny and half the crew smoked was horrible 1997.
I used do a job that normally two people did but still got treated like ****.
Being a broke student away from home i put up with it till i flipped one day after verbal abuse on front of a regional manager.
A wave of relief left me as i walked out for the last time.
The comradery can be good but can see how someone full time could lose all hope.

padser

K4t wrote: »

Congratulations. But of absolutely no relevance to the thread.

Hold on. There is debate going on in this thread about whether a job in fast food is stressful. A lot of posters are saying "it's stressful because you deal with the public". To answer that another poster started out by saying "I've worked with the public for over a decade and....". It's completely on topic and relevant to the discussion.

The harsh reality OP is that some people feel "stress" in loads of different situations and it's generally more to do with the person feeling the stress then the situation. Working with the public has challenges (I worked in retail for about a decade through school / university) and it can be frustrating etc, but if it leads you to have meltdown to the point where you break down and walk away.....it says more about you and your frame of mind than anything else.

Incidentally, to everyone who mentioned it here, quitting a paying job because it's stressful to go onto the social welfare is something our social welfare system shouldn't accommodate.

OldNotWIse

Dowl88 wrote: »

Its fast food, take an order and hand it out. Not exactly stressful

Have you actually worked in a fast food restaurant?

Maximus Alexander

padser wrote: »

Incidentally, to everyone who mentioned it here, quitting a paying job because it's stressful to go onto the social welfare is something our social welfare system shouldn't accommodate.

If providing relief in the interim between two jobs isn't something it should accommodate, then what should it accommodate?

bmc58

On the Social welfare side you could be in trouble there after "walking" out.
Did you tell anyone you had had enough?
Chance going back in today and tell your manager you felt really ill and just had to go home.Then say you are fine again(it was a 24 hour bug or something)and you are ready to work again.
if he/she tells you that they don't want you anymore this might mean that you have been sacked.This will mean that you were willing to work but let go from your job.Then if you need to look for social welfare help you would be in a better position.

Mrs OBumble

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

If providing relief in the interim between two jobs isn't something it should accommodate, then what should it accommodate?

Providing relief in the interim between two jobs when the first one ends due to factors outside your control.

Maximus Alexander

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Providing relief in the interim between two jobs when the first one ends due to factors outside your control.

So if, for example, your mental or physical health were suffering due to the stress of a job, should you not leave that job? Should you wait until your health deteriorates to the point that a doctor declares you unfit to work? Or until your performance suffers to the point that you are let go?

I'm not saying this is the case with the OP, just examining where this line of reasoning might lead us.

Mrs OBumble

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

So if, for example, your mental or physical health were suffering due to the stress of a job, should you not leave that job? Should you wait until your health deteriorates to the point that a doctor declares you unfit to work? Or until your performance suffers to the point that you are let go?

I'm not saying this is the case with the OP, just examining where this line of reasoning might lead us.

It's pretty clear that your health suffering because of the effects of a job is a factor outside your control.

Yes, there's a bit of a balancing act when it comes to things like stress: the type of stress that causes your health to suffer unacceptably does need to be determined by a doctor, not just by yourself.

But the dole is absolutely not for anyone who just doesn't feel like working for a while.

Maximus Alexander

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

But the dole is absolutely not for anyone who just doesn't feel like working for a while.

And nobody ever said it was.

pinkpanter2014

Understand where your coming from...not everyone with desk jobs behind closed doors would understand stress of the public can bring at times...personally wouldn't of walked out.but because you have made that decision you need to talk to a social welfare officer and explain the mental stress you went through..you will not get any social welfare for 3 months because u left your job...take a day and get your head together then go out and try looking for work in a different area

mrwhimwham

Went back into the job two days later and the store manager was very accommodating and understanding as to why I left and gave me the next few days off to recover.

She put no blame on myself and acknowledged it was the other managers fault for leaving us so short staffed by sending people home early.

I apologised to my co-workers for the walk out and as I said, I have never done anything like this before or even attempted to.

Thanks for all the moral support guys over this and at the end of the day we're all human and susceptible to mistakes like any other person.

jill_valentine

Very glad it worked out for you so dude.

Babooshka

Deleted User wrote: »

I look back now and regret being so submissive, I'm ashamed of myself for putting up with it. But I did learn from it and don't take Crap from anyone anymore

That's the problem, nice people blame themselves, it wasn't your fault he was a f*cking prick to be honest.

Dante

I'm currently working in an investment bank and can honestly say that my time working in the kitchens of canteens and fast food restaurants was far more tiring and stressful than what I have to put up with now.

Its a thankless job in which you are constantly treated like shít whilst doing shítty jobs by people who, for the most part, can only be described as shít.