How did that work out for you? I want to hear your story.

 

In November of 2012 I walked into my manager's office and told him that he is the worst manager I've ever had the displeasure of working for. I then resigned. Course, I had another job waiting.

 

After I had worked for a year as an engineering assistant, my annual raise was five cents per hour. I asked for the title and the pay of the position I actually held.
They said, "No. You don't have a college degree."
I said, "Can I work part time while I get my college degree?"
They said, "No."
I said, "Good-bye." (Try to get another person to correct your designs for a few pennies more than minimum wage. )

Then I enrolled in college and enjoyed some of the most interesting years of my life while working part time as the Senior Design Engineer/QC Department at a small power supply company. I received 40% more pay at that job and another 40% raise when I became the local laser repair/calibration depot of Spectra Physics.

When my sudden change in priorities happened, I moved to Florida and obtained my State Certification as an HVAC contractor.

I believe strantor has already surpassed my accomplishments and shown the courage to walk away from slave wages and abusive relationships.

 

I respect Strantor's willingness to take chances. I've a feeling I'll be calling him 'sir' someday.

 

Maybe Houston is the wrong area for you. Too industrial services oriented. The Dallas/Fort Worth area seems to have a lot of electronics design, build, repair with the heavier presence of military and aerospace (L3, Lockheed, ...)

 

How did that work out for you? I want to hear your story.

Twice.

First time, they made me Engineering Manager.

2nd time, they hired me as consultant at 3x the salary.

 

In November of 2012 I walked into my manager's office and told him that he is the worst manager I've ever had the displeasure of working for...

Word-for-word, this is what I told mine:

You inadequacy as a manager is only superseded by your incompetence as an engineer.

I was his boss after that.

 

I'm more of a just let them bury themselves in their own BS and then walk out leaving them to fend for themselves with no clue how to handle the stuff they weren't even aware I was doing until after I left.

Either that or document all their eF ups and wrong doings then turn that into their superiors the same day I walk out. That always leaves a good feeling in the end. At least for me any way.

It's always a satisfying feeling to see an old bad boss or manager in a store and watch them do a deliberate duck and hide the instant they see me just to avoid having to talk to me.

 

I'm more of a just let them bury themselves in their own BS and then walk out leaving them to fend for themselves with no clue how to handle the stuff they weren't even aware I was doing until after I left.

That's the general opinion around here where I work, but I can't force myself to think that way. I spent too much time as a field service guy and a self employed guy; both scenarios where you are face of the company and anything that stinks about you, stinks about the company, which jeopardizes your employment.

I threatened to quit yesterday morning, not because i wanted a raise or anything, but because i refused to send a shitty product out into the field. I had/have serious concerns about it which I have been blowing the whistle about for months. The president of the company has ignored all of my pleas to have the issue addressed. I know that if it goes out, it will fail. I know that if it goes out, I will be the one sent with it to operate it. I know that when i go out with it and it fails, i will be the loser standing there having to explain why my company's product is a waste of time (very expensive time). This is a huge deal because we are a startup company and this first job with this tool will set our first impression in the market. It will make or break us.

Yesterday i gave it a last ditch effort; I was basically told that my input was invalid, and to shut up and get the tool ready to go offshore in 2 weeks. I pulled the plug on the A/V system in the middle of the video conference with the corporate office and announced to my boss and my team that i was going rogue, and i would be preparing the tool myself, making design changes as i saw fit, without permission, and without any input from the president. I said "if that's going to be a problem, let me know so that i can start looking for a job at a company that isn't self-destructive. I'm sure you can find a mindless drone to replace me."

After a period of shock, there was a period of panicked phone calls and heated politics. By the end of the day all this gave way to an executive decision coming down from the president to let me perform the modifications that i have been suggesting, and giving me an extra month to get them done.

I did explain myself to my boss; "I dont want to do this. I don't want to quit. I Believe in this company, and that's why I work here. I will not be party to its destruction. I want to sail with this ship for years to come, but if the captain is going to sink it, I'm not going down with it."

 

I had a part time job during uni, working Saturdays at Maplin Electronics. I'd worked their for about 5 years and I was the most knowledgeable and experienced member of staff. My manager and I had a good relationship, in fact he thought the sun shone out my arse. He moved on around the time I was doing my final year exams and we got a new boss, a total d!*k head. I approached him to seek a day off in order to revise for a 3 hour maths exam the following Monday morning. He declined my holiday request as he was planning a stock-take that weekend and needed every member of staff in the store, even after I explained how important it was to me that I get the day off and how much more important my degree is than his stock-take.

I told him that my degree in engineering is far more important to me than a part time job in retail and that if he didn't honour my holiday request, I'd simply quit with immediate effect. He thought I was bluffing so he stuck to his guns. 5 minutes later, I walk back into his office with a bit of paper, scribbled on it;

Dear Trevor

Your decision to refuse my holiday has left me with no other choice than to provide you with this letter of notice. It appears that you would prefer to have a valuable member of staff absent indefinitely in order to maintain an aggressive authority, rather than to suffer his absence only for one day and have everyone think you're soft. I will not be working my notice, I will not require references.

Yours
Jayson Keable

 

I was installing digital cinema systems for about two years in the Houston market. Great job, but the company overextended itself and my service area soon spread out to cover Austin, San Antonio, Galveston, and several small towns in between. We had 1 fewer locations than our home market of Los Angeles. Los Angeles had 14 service engineers, and Houston had me. Time came when my work week would be 100 - 120 hours and lots of complaints about slow response. No extra help could be found for me and I was often written up for poor performance and poor attitude by my supervisor, from his comfy office in LA.
B vitamins and Ritalin kept me trucking for about six months of this, until a nasty phone conference where I snapped and said if I don't get any help then I quit.
Found out later from a fellow tech that my supervisor was sent down here to cover the area and he threatened to quit after only six days of work.
Damn, but that brought a big smile to my face. Last word I had was Cinemark and AMC had both dropped the contract here and gone with another service company. I feel vindicated but sad for the techs who lost jobs.

 

Here's an actual online review of a company that I wrote after of one of my last walk outs a few years ago.

http://www.indeed.com/cmp/Savage-Services/reviews?fcountry=US

Pay if fair hours are long review.

Very shortly after that word had it certain people pretty much got drop kicked out the door after that walkout being they went from a crew of 7 to a crew of 2 (the manager and his lackey) in less than 24 hours after I and another guy walked out the door.

 

My probationary period was over. I was promised by my managers that I would get a pay increase if I had performed well. I did perform well (learned several software packages to the point where I was fluent including C#), designed multiple systems and beat all deadlines.

I said after probation "give me three days to think it over". Came in after day 3 and had a meeting with the manager and said I would like a pay rise. They said you have not performed well and feel that you should do another 3 months probation. I said "not performed well...?".

Got out of my seat and said "I resign, good bye". Walked out of the office. I dont mind not getting a pay rise because everyone else wage is low (so everything scales), but dont you dare lie to me about my performance. I had continuous praise from everyone including the managers. They said I had performed really well, know my stuff and a hard worker. Guess I should have not said "I dont know if I like working here" X)

 

I did it once and I meant it.

I felt that my manager had wronged me by disbanding my group and reorging so I reported to one of my peers while I was on a 2 month paid sabbatical and not informing me before I returned to work. He said it was company policy to not contact employees while they were on sabbatical. I called BS and said he could have called me the day before I returned and have me meet him for breakfast before work to break the news so I didn't have people telling me how sorry they were all the way to my desk. He had to agree with my reasoning and helped me find a different job within the company that resulted in me becoming the company expert in a certain area. Because of my success and reputation, I was able to transfer and/or relocate several times over the subsequent 25 years when I felt like I needed a change.

 

I already warned them, "since I am 67 years old, have a heart problem, diabetes, and I am the ONLY one in the Facilities electronic repair shop, the next time a manager climbs up me, I am retired, they can fix this stuff.