I resigned!

deafdrummer

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I did it! I pulled the trigger two weeks ago on Monday. I had a grin on my face when I handed the letter in the envelope to my store manager, and he wondered what was in the envelope. I gently encouraged him to go ahead and open it. He was expressionless as he read the short letter, and we sat down and had a short, but cordial talk about it. I started off with, "Too many changes, not enough coming back." One of the things he said was that REI is going to go through many changes on top of what we have gone through already, and I told him that it was just as well that I go ahead and leave. He was nice enough to share his appreciation for my work ethic and hard work. Of course the door is open for me to come back any time I need to. I won't be going back. The company has a bad rep for sucking people back in after they've failed in their new endeavors. I see now that communism is very rampant there now, with the pulling of payroll from outperforming stores to underperforming store in time of need, and even worse, they have camping staff automatically trained for cash register duty. Because I'm not trained for registers, I could be in a situation where I'm by myself on the floor on a Saturday of all days, and customers get angry for lack of service. Most people are not happy there at this time. So, my last day is April 27th.

Why, you ask?? Because the company had been going through a lot of changes that did not benefit the more senior employees, including eligibility calculation methods that cut my full health insurance eligibility (I'm on SSDI), shorted me on vacation and sick pay accruals, and cut my hours into the bone marrow. On Sunday at work, I saw that I was working 8 hours for an entire week. When I saw that, I picked up that clipboard and went to my store manager, and asked, "What is this?" while pointing to my schedule. He explained cut backs. I asked why did I hear from another employee that they were hiring several people very soon. He said that they were short 10 people. I said, "If you're short ten people, why did you cut my hours?" This is what broke the straw clean through.

Where am I going?? I had been thinking for a long, long time. Lots of you know about my journey through the storm of the million-year epoch that has lasted 25 years so far. I am also leaving Houston (that's why my location says what it does) this year. I will attempt to go into the renaissance faire business, or the circuit, depending on what I do. In the circuit, I would be traveling from faire to faire. If I can't do that, I'm hoping that I will have a trade making something, like chainmaille, leatherwork, sewing things, building things. SOMETHING that is a physical trade. I may have a sewing master (as I am being brought on as an apprentice in any case), as I went to work at Sherwood Forest Faire (off-season now) last week to help him complete small, but HEAVY tents on one of the smaller commercial sewing machines mounted on a big rolling platform. Just the body of the tent weighs about 60 lbs, and it's hard work to spread the tent out and keep it turning like a top as my master sews in zippers, hems, and seams. Good workout, which I enjoyed. I also helped him complete Cameleon dresses in preparation for dyeing. I may be going back next week to do more work, and I also have a carpentry job to go to, expanding one of the booths out at Sherwood. There is a possibility of going to CO or NM to work with my sewing master to make very large tents (2,000-5,000 sq). I will know more details in a week or two. Because of his own doubts about whether the tent making business will continue, I have another option of going to a green community west of here and helping out in exchange for a place to stay.
 
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You resigned without having an iron clad job in the works? I couldn't do that, nope nope nope. Well, then again, I have kids that depend on me and debts to pay.

I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.

Oh wait, You're on SSDI? I guess you got a little cushion and leeway.
 
You resigned without having an iron clad job in the works? I couldn't do that, nope nope nope. Well, then again, I have kids that depend on me and debts to pay.

I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.

Oh wait, You're on SSDI? I guess you got a little cushion and leeway.

You don't understand... I have looked for a way out of here for SEVEN YEARS, and I realized that there is NOTHING for me in the modern world that I would want to do here. I will not do big-box retail and office work again. That leaves me my blogging that makes me a small amount of money. I'm cashing out my 401K, I have savings, and yes, I have my SSDI. I'm also waiting on one of my trucks to be sold. This will be enough to transition me out of apartment living in a major city. I'm even considering finding a replacement to take over my lease. Between blogging and SSDI, it would be enough to pay for my Jeep note and everything else. I am also mentally prepared to blog out of my Jeep if nothing else works.
 
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I have to agree with Ambrosia, never leave a job until you have something else lined up. They don't let people go unless they have someone else coming in and you shouldn't be leaving unless you have another job. In fact, it's better they lay you off because then you can apply for unemployment. You have to be smart about it and leave emotion out of it.

I was working a job at a college while I was going to college. At the time, I had two jobs. The college cut back my hours and it wasn't worth the drive to work anymore. Two weeks before I left I sent an email to my boss saying I would not be working there anymore. I got a call on a day I would have been in work, nobody had read the email. One of my co-workers said they were pissed and that I would never be able to work there again. I told him I didn't go to college to work a part time job for someone who didn't know how to manage their department(it was kind of laughable).

The job is only there to get you money to survive. It's great you like it, but it's not a personal thing. Your co-workers are not your friends, they are only your co-workers and they will take your job if they can get it.

I'm glad you made the right choice for you.
 
I know how you feel… I worked in a warehouse for 20 years but closed down due to other company bought us out and they don’t need that warehouse.

Now I’m working at a retail store as receiving clerk (hardware store). This location just opened last October and we had full crews. Just 2 months ago, we had to cut down the expenses as we laid off half of us. At receiving department, we supposed to have 4 crews (including receiving manager) and now only me and receiving manager – it doesn’t stop there, most of the time I had to ride with our delivery truck to help driver unload heavy stuff that left receiving manager alone to handle the receiving department.

I can see how difficult to work in a retail… I hope you can find something that you’ll enjoy to work.
 
I have to agree with Ambrosia, never leave a job until you have something else lined up. They don't let people go unless they have someone else coming in and you shouldn't be leaving unless you have another job. In fact, it's better they lay you off because then you can apply for unemployment. You have to be smart about it and leave emotion out of it.

...

The job is only there to get you money to survive. It's great you like it, but it's not a personal thing. Your co-workers are not your friends, they are only your co-workers and they will take your job if they can get it.

I'm glad you made the right choice for you.

I understand what you said (and you're preaching to the choir), BUT I had been trying to get out for seven years and stuck with it, and then they cut my hours WHILE hiring people. You have to also understand that the store manager is the FIRST one to be hired outside the company as a lateral move from another company. Previously ALL store managers came from being part-time sales. They brought him in to "clean house." In retail, they NEVER lay you off - why would they want to pay unemployment? Keeping you at 5-10 hours per week is cheaper than paying the state unemployment. The ONLY reason I'm working this week is because one of my super friendly supervisors who used to be over my department looked to see if I was working next week (schedule hadn't been completed yet, and was about to be completed) and found that I had been taken off the schedule ENTIRELY for the final week in retaliation for my resignation. NOBODY is really happy there. I see the young'uns really scared to lose their jobs through their ingratiating behaviors with customers (who can blame them when they have NOTHING to fall on).

I also learned yesterday that one lady who had been in the process of leaving came back, and after hearing what I was going through and the fact that she has a full-time job with crappy insurance (better than no insurance for her), she apparently found the courage to leave this time. I finally had enough. I wouldn't have done this, but offed myself if I didn't have the cushions I have today. I just HAD ENOUGH of the work conditions, the customers, the SSDI/health insurance debacle, saying PLEASE LOOK AT ME WHEN YOU TALK, I AM DEAF, the accents. I have been in "retail decline" for a very long time. I'm finally losing my ability to understand people clearly at least a third of the time. It's become too exhausting, and I've been burned out for a long time.

Over two years ago, I cried when I came back from Ohio as I saw the city skyline, because it represented another year of hardship ahead. I was miserable there. That is no way to live, to be in such misery that I would eat two lbs of pasta AND a whole bag of potato chips at the end of the day in order to ease the anger and frustration inside. It will be over soon. There is NO WAY that I was going to escape the company through death, decades from now. It's a living death there. I find a little of myself dying each day. No more.
 
I know how you feel… I worked in a warehouse for 20 years but closed down due to other company bought us out and they don’t need that warehouse.

Now I’m working at a retail store as receiving clerk (hardware store). This location just opened last October and we had full crews. Just 2 months ago, we had to cut down the expenses as we laid off half of us. At receiving department, we supposed to have 4 crews (including receiving manager) and now only me and receiving manager – it doesn’t stop there, most of the time I had to ride with our delivery truck to help driver unload heavy stuff that left receiving manager alone to handle the receiving department.

I can see how difficult to work in a retail… I hope you can find something that you’ll enjoy to work.

I'm surprised they laid anybody off. That was DUMB for their bottom line, as they have to pay unemployment. They could have redistributed the balance of the hours they could afford to pay out among the crews. I believe that if they only give you 5 hours a week, then you may not be considered "unemployeed" or laid off. That is what my company does. In rare cases is anyone laid off at the store level. Instead, hours are cut.
 
"Too many changes, not enough coming back."

A couple of things I would have done different, I would have submitted a more professional and less heated letter and I would found other employment first. I was in a job making me physically sick; I also absoultely HATED my boss and one other coworker, including the management, for five years without a pay increase, yet I pushed on until I found another job. You're fortunate to have SSI but too many people abuse it and use it as a means and an excuse to not work.
 
I sure hope that the REI brass is throwing out a retirement party for you. You deserve it!!
 
think you made your mind up and this just tipped your hand..i regret i never made a change in my work life to late when i did...go for it,you sound well experience with stuff you do and unless you try you will never know,only one life you regret if no give it try.
good luck
 
I sure hope that the REI brass is throwing out a retirement party for you. You deserve it!!

Why did you write that in?

Anyway, the letter only had three lines on it. Too many changes, not enough coming back. My resignation is effective... My last day is... Thank you, signed. That is all I wrote. In person, I kept quiet about everything else, just the fact that I was not happy with many of these changes, and that I was not happy with the number of hours I had been receiving while they were hiring people. Who in the modern world would I go to? Anyway, the conversation ended with him appreciating the hard work I put into my job in spite of the circumstances, and my work ethic. They would be glad to have me back anytime I need to go back. I work hard in spite of the challenges I face every time I'm there, and I will do no less on Saturday.

I don't have SSI, but SSDI. Very different things. I am attempting to remake myself completely in terms of a trade. I really, really want a physical trade as I explained before. Maybe, someday, I will get off SSDI entirely, before a future President signs the same kind of document that Gorbachev signed in 1991 that closed the final chapter on the USSR. Maybe my years of underground financial research will have paid off before it's too late. It at least gave me about a year's of cushion, and it could turn to much longer under the right conditions. I just looked at my finances after my move out to this ranch later this year, and I realized that I do have a decent cushion left over at the end of the month, and that's not counting my blogging.
 
Why did you write that in?

Anyway, the letter only had three lines on it. Too many changes, not enough coming back. My resignation is effective... My last day is... Thank you, signed. That is all I wrote. In person, I kept quiet about everything else, just the fact that I was not happy with many of these changes, and that I was not happy with the number of hours I had been receiving while they were hiring people. Who in the modern world would I go to? Anyway, the conversation ended with him appreciating the hard work I put into my job in spite of the circumstances, and my work ethic. They would be glad to have me back anytime I need to go back. I work hard in spite of the challenges I face every time I'm there, and I will do no less on Saturday.

I don't have SSI, but SSDI. Very different things. I am attempting to remake myself completely in terms of a trade. I really, really want a physical trade as I explained before. Maybe, someday, I will get off SSDI entirely, before a future President signs the same kind of document that Gorbachev signed in 1991 that closed the final chapter on the USSR. Maybe my years of underground financial research will have paid off before it's too late. It at least gave me about a year's of cushion, and it could turn to much longer under the right conditions. I just looked at my finances after my move out to this ranch later this year, and I realized that I do have a decent cushion left over at the end of the month, and that's not counting my blogging.


I was joking on the retirement party :). I do hope you have something to fall back on.
 
think you made your mind up and this just tipped your hand..i regret i never made a change in my work life to late when i did...go for it,you sound well experience with stuff you do and unless you try you will never know,only one life you regret if no give it try.
good luck

Good for you, do follow your heart, and do whatever makes you happy.
 
I gotta chuckle at all the suggestions that you should have found another job before you resigned from this one. I mean, an 8 hour work week? I think they resigned you before you resigned yourself.
 
The supervisor whom I mentioned in a previous post for giving me back hours in my final week that other supers had taken away from me (taking me clean off the schedule in my final week instead of the following week) has also left. Evidently, from what I was told, it was time to move on...

What goes around comes around three-fold. First me, then another coworker, and then this super.

I've been on a ranch all summer, and I will be going back to Houston to house-sit for a month before heading out to develop a small personal farm out by Brenham in October. I'm VERY excited because this is strictly an organic produce farm, and it will be FALL! This has been HOTTER THAN HELL out here! I get out early in the morning and call it a day around 1 or 2 PM. I have enjoyed it out here in the country. My internship here ends at the end of this month.
 
Consider working for yourself doing something. I totally agree with you decision to leave. not worth staying somewhere you are not happy.
 
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