The decision has been made...quitting in July!!!

[MishMash]

After years of Stockholm syndrome at my current soul sucking job, I have finally had enough.  DH and I have discussed and I am quitting this hell hole in July, I'm writing this down here as a form of accountability because they usually find a way to loop me back in when I've just about had enough. 

However, at yesterdays quarterly meeting our CEO said they weren't replacing any of the 1/3 of the company that quit last month and that he thinks we're doing just fine "doing more with less".  Yea nothing is crashing because I've been killing myself to not let anything fall through the cracks.  I also recently asked for a raise to handle this largely expanded work load and was told the funds "just weren't there".  So that's it. I'm done. 

Why July one asks, well that enables me to max out my 401k for the year, I just put 100% of my pay to it, and it also forces them to pay me for the 3 weeks of vacation I have lined up in the next two months.  They don't pay out unused vacation days when someone quits so I am going to be sure to use up as much of my allotment as I can prior to leaving. 

DH was against this for a while until I forced him to look at the numbers this weekend.  He's got 5 more years in the military to obtain the pension, but we went over numbers and I showed him that with his pension and our 1.2 in investable assets we are FI even if we never save another penny, he didn't realize how high our NW had gotten (and that is not for my lack of pestering).

Trying to decide what to do with myself now, I think I am going to start a blog or business pertaining to my side hustle.  We'll see how that goes, maybe get a new job come winter time, I worked for parks service in my first job, paid shit, but man did I love it.  But in the meantime I am going to get healthy (stop the borderline alcoholism this job has sent me to), exercise more now that I won't be chained to a desk for 12 hours a day, and work in the square foot garden. 

[Mr. Green]

That's phenomenal. Congratulations for deciding to step through the FIRE door! It's exciting when the future is full of unknowns and possibilities isn't it?

[sonjak]

I feel such joy for you!  Good for you for making the decision and holding yourself accountable.  Are you going to give notice or just tell them to "make do with less" as you walk out the door?

[runningthroughFIRE]

I feel such joy for you!  Good for you for making the decision and holding yourself accountable.  Are you going to give notice or just tell them to "make do with less" as you walk out the door?

I actually wouldn't recommend this, as satisfying as it may seem.  Worst case scenario if you give notice is that they try to make your 2 weeks miserable, in which case you can just walk out anyways.  No reason to burn a bridge and make things harder on your coworkers, who would get saddled with even more work unexpectedly, unless you really have to.

[Northwestie]

And you never know - someone at the firm, down the road, might ask for your consulting services at a premium in the future.  But sounds like you made a great decision - must be a weight off the shoulders.

[felizcortez]

Awesome news.  Congrats.  I would make sure you handle yourself professionally at the end.  You never know when or where you'll run into someone from the organization.  You've already won the game, no need to rub their face in it. 

[MishMash]

I feel such joy for you!  Good for you for making the decision and holding yourself accountable.  Are you going to give notice or just tell them to "make do with less" as you walk out the door?

I actually wouldn't recommend this, as satisfying as it may seem.  Worst case scenario if you give notice is that they try to make your 2 weeks miserable, in which case you can just walk out anyways.  No reason to burn a bridge and make things harder on your coworkers, who would get saddled with even more work unexpectedly, unless you really have to.

Despite my burning desire to walk out middle fingers in the air saying fuck all ya'll (mainly directed towards the overtly harassing male sales team) I won't.  I respect my direct boss way too much for that, and it won't be a surprise when I give my two weeks to her.  She knows all the crap I've put up with and she herself has been called the "the little woman and told, why would anyone listen to you".   Said ol boys club is also the direct reason the other 1/3 of our company left, everyone's tired of them.   She's also semi Mustachian and knows we are FI, she's not quite there yet which is why she sticks around but we pretty much have the exact same ER plan. 

However, I will be mildly screwing them over by leaving right before a major re licensing event is to take place, and I'm the one that handles that whole component...soooooo yea I feel bad for them but not enough to put up with it any longer, 8 years of this crap (seriously everything from full on sexual harassment to verbal berating for not doing X,Y or Z fast enough) is it for me.

[MishMash]

That's phenomenal. Congratulations for deciding to step through the FIRE door! It's exciting when the future is full of unknowns and possibilities isn't it?

It's exciting but also ABSOLUTELY terrifying I am finding. 

[Chrissy]

Aside from taking the vacation weeks, will you also dial back to a normal amount of hours?

July is only 8 weeks away...

[AZDude]

I feel such joy for you!  Good for you for making the decision and holding yourself accountable.  Are you going to give notice or just tell them to "make do with less" as you walk out the door?

I actually wouldn't recommend this, as satisfying as it may seem.  Worst case scenario if you give notice is that they try to make your 2 weeks miserable, in which case you can just walk out anyways.  No reason to burn a bridge and make things harder on your coworkers, who would get saddled with even more work unexpectedly, unless you really have to.

I agree. The last two weeks are generally the easiest and least stressful weeks of your entire employment with the company. They know you can walk away at any time, so they ask less of you. Most of the time, its easy money. Once in my career I had a psychopathic supervisor who made the last days miserable, but that is offset by one company that handed me a check for two weeks pay and told me good luck before showing me the door that same day.

[CheapskateWife]

That's phenomenal. Congratulations for deciding to step through the FIRE door! It's exciting when the future is full of unknowns and possibilities isn't it?

It's exciting but also ABSOLUTELY terrifying I am finding.

Congrats on having the FU $ in place to accomplish this!  I recall reading your previous horror stories about work and wondered whatever happened to you.  So glad you are finally pulling the ripcord and jumping out of that crashing plane!

Oh, and why not let your immediate boss know that you would be happy to consult for twice your current hourly rate :D

[elaine amj]

CONGRATS!!!! Very excited for you!

[MishMash]

That's phenomenal. Congratulations for deciding to step through the FIRE door! It's exciting when the future is full of unknowns and possibilities isn't it?

It's exciting but also ABSOLUTELY terrifying I am finding.

Congrats on having the FU $ in place to accomplish this!  I recall reading your previous horror stories about work and wondered whatever happened to you.  So glad you are finally pulling the ripcord and jumping out of that crashing plane!

Oh, and why not let your immediate boss know that you would be happy to consult for twice your current hourly rate :D

Your analysis about it being Stockholm syndrome has stuck with me since last year, and it's something that has helped me realize just HOW bad this has become.  It got easier for a while after the board room smack down which is why I stayed, but with said exodus, it's all back to being a giant shit storm.  It's pretty much me and my boss (as the only females in the company) versus the old boys club on a daily basis.

There is no dialing back of the hours without getting screamed at for not getting something done immediately (because of course everything is an emergency).   I will just shrug and know the end is near (FINALLY).  In fact, I just got out of a meeting where I was told they expected me to provide 24 hours 7 day a week support for an asshole client of ours (who only brings us 3k a YEAR in revenue) for the next 15 months to support his pipeline project.  I literally had to hold myself back from snorting and telling them to F off.

Honestly, I don't even want to do consulting for them when I leave, I want to cut ties and be done forever. 

[Candace]

Congratulations! I hope you update this thread often between now and quitting, and afterwards. I look forward to hearing about your experiences and their reactions etc! It sure would be nice to also hear if they miss your productivity when you're gone, if perhaps your direct boss lets you know. Sounds like a richly deserved FU is coming, even though you will probably be professional about it.

[dougules]

I feel such joy for you!  Good for you for making the decision and holding yourself accountable.  Are you going to give notice or just tell them to "make do with less" as you walk out the door?

I actually wouldn't recommend this, as satisfying as it may seem.  Worst case scenario if you give notice is that they try to make your 2 weeks miserable, in which case you can just walk out anyways.  No reason to burn a bridge and make things harder on your coworkers, who would get saddled with even more work unexpectedly, unless you really have to.

Despite my burning desire to walk out middle fingers in the air saying fuck all ya'll (mainly directed towards the overtly harassing male sales team) I won't.  I respect my direct boss way too much for that, and it won't be a surprise when I give my two weeks to her.  She knows all the crap I've put up with and she herself has been called the "the little woman and told, why would anyone listen to you".   Said ol boys club is also the direct reason the other 1/3 of our company left, everyone's tired of them.   She's also semi Mustachian and knows we are FI, she's not quite there yet which is why she sticks around but we pretty much have the exact same ER plan. 

However, I will be mildly screwing them over by leaving right before a major re licensing event is to take place, and I'm the one that handles that whole component...soooooo yea I feel bad for them but not enough to put up with it any longer, 8 years of this crap (seriously everything from full on sexual harassment to verbal berating for not doing X,Y or Z fast enough) is it for me.

Once you're close to ready to go out the door, maybe you should call them on their sexual harassment.  Are there other women there that they're making life hell for?  You might be doing them a favor. 

I kind of have a  general theory, if more people were Mustachian, would work environments get better?  With so many people spending every cent they make and living paycheck to paycheck, companies can get away with treating workers like dog food.  If more people were able to get up and walk out the door, it seems like things would get better quickly.  And would that help or hurt all the other folks who are not on the path to FIRE?

[runningthroughFIRE]

I feel such joy for you!  Good for you for making the decision and holding yourself accountable.  Are you going to give notice or just tell them to "make do with less" as you walk out the door?

I actually wouldn't recommend this, as satisfying as it may seem.  Worst case scenario if you give notice is that they try to make your 2 weeks miserable, in which case you can just walk out anyways.  No reason to burn a bridge and make things harder on your coworkers, who would get saddled with even more work unexpectedly, unless you really have to.

Despite my burning desire to walk out middle fingers in the air saying fuck all ya'll (mainly directed towards the overtly harassing male sales team) I won't.  I respect my direct boss way too much for that, and it won't be a surprise when I give my two weeks to her.  She knows all the crap I've put up with and she herself has been called the "the little woman and told, why would anyone listen to you".   Said ol boys club is also the direct reason the other 1/3 of our company left, everyone's tired of them.   She's also semi Mustachian and knows we are FI, she's not quite there yet which is why she sticks around but we pretty much have the exact same ER plan. 

However, I will be mildly screwing them over by leaving right before a major re licensing event is to take place, and I'm the one that handles that whole component...soooooo yea I feel bad for them but not enough to put up with it any longer, 8 years of this crap (seriously everything from full on sexual harassment to verbal berating for not doing X,Y or Z fast enough) is it for me.

It's one thing to say "I'm leaving in two weeks.  I know this puts you in a rough spot, but I'll have all my documentation updated and I'll try to get other people trained as much as I can." and quite another to say "I'm quitting effective immediately. Deal with it."

From the sound of it you have a horribly toxic work environment, and handling it professionally is admirable.  (Congratulations on the FIRE, btw)

[MishMash]

I feel such joy for you!  Good for you for making the decision and holding yourself accountable.  Are you going to give notice or just tell them to "make do with less" as you walk out the door?

I actually wouldn't recommend this, as satisfying as it may seem.  Worst case scenario if you give notice is that they try to make your 2 weeks miserable, in which case you can just walk out anyways.  No reason to burn a bridge and make things harder on your coworkers, who would get saddled with even more work unexpectedly, unless you really have to.

Despite my burning desire to walk out middle fingers in the air saying fuck all ya'll (mainly directed towards the overtly harassing male sales team) I won't.  I respect my direct boss way too much for that, and it won't be a surprise when I give my two weeks to her.  She knows all the crap I've put up with and she herself has been called the "the little woman and told, why would anyone listen to you".   Said ol boys club is also the direct reason the other 1/3 of our company left, everyone's tired of them.   She's also semi Mustachian and knows we are FI, she's not quite there yet which is why she sticks around but we pretty much have the exact same ER plan. 

However, I will be mildly screwing them over by leaving right before a major re licensing event is to take place, and I'm the one that handles that whole component...soooooo yea I feel bad for them but not enough to put up with it any longer, 8 years of this crap (seriously everything from full on sexual harassment to verbal berating for not doing X,Y or Z fast enough) is it for me.

It's one thing to say "I'm leaving in two weeks.  I know this puts you in a rough spot, but I'll have all my documentation updated and I'll try to get other people trained as much as I can." and quite another to say "I'm quitting effective immediately. Deal with it."

From the sound of it you have a horribly toxic work environment, and handling it professionally is admirable.  (Congratulations on the FIRE, btw)

Yea I am not sure what they will do, I'm the only one that does what I do for the company so there really isn't a way to train anyone up, and everyone that is left is also overworked.  We have WAY more chiefs collecting high salaries for not doing a whole lot, all the Indians have quit with the exception of me and 2 other people.  And I'm pretty sure one of the other Indians is in my boat just biding his time.  Standard time with this company is a year or less for most people.

[momcpa]

Congrats on this major decision !!  And who knows......with others jumping ship from your company, you never know who will remember you as a hard worker.  That could bode well for you in the future.  Maybe someone needs a consultant, or knows someone-who-knows-someone who does.   Just in case you should find yourself wanting to work a little longer, or in a different scenario. 

It's really sad to think companies expect employees to continue to 'take up the slack' over and over again.  Wishing you well in your future.

[Mr. Green]

Yeah it feels a bit terrifying for me too but in the best way possible. I think we become so used to the idea of knowing pretty much what every day is going to look like that we lose our imagination. You even know roughly what your weekends will look like because they contain all the crap you can't get done during the week. The realization that all 168 hours of my week are about to be wide open is a daunting thought at first, but in the best way possible.

[MishMash]

Yeah it feels a bit terrifying for me too but in the best way possible. I think we become so used to the idea of knowing pretty much what every day is going to look like that we lose our imagination. You even know roughly what your weekends will look like because they contain all the crap you can't get done during the week. The realization that all 168 hours of my week are about to be wide open is a daunting thought at first, but in the best way possible.

Exactly,  I think I"m going to "go big or go home" on the side hustle, it's a hobby I have had for years and it pays for itself and turns a profit (hunting down and flipping yardsale finds) and it's something I LOVE to do.

[mm1970]

In fact, I just got out of a meeting where I was told they expected me to provide 24 hours 7 day a week support for an asshole client of ours (who only brings us 3k a YEAR in revenue) for the next 15 months to support his pipeline project.  I literally had to hold myself back from snorting and telling them to F off.

I can't even. 
Congrats!

Can't wait to here more about it.

[Cassie]

Wow-your job sounds really horrible. Always leave on a good and professional note. YOu may not want to consult but you never know in the future. It is always best not to slam a door shut although that would feel pretty good:))

[sonjak]

I feel such joy for you!  Good for you for making the decision and holding yourself accountable.  Are you going to give notice or just tell them to "make do with less" as you walk out the door?

I actually wouldn't recommend this, as satisfying as it may seem.  Worst case scenario if you give notice is that they try to make your 2 weeks miserable, in which case you can just walk out anyways.  No reason to burn a bridge and make things harder on your coworkers, who would get saddled with even more work unexpectedly, unless you really have to.

Despite my burning desire to walk out middle fingers in the air saying fuck all ya'll (mainly directed towards the overtly harassing male sales team) I won't.  I respect my direct boss way too much for that, and it won't be a surprise when I give my two weeks to her.  She knows all the crap I've put up with and she herself has been called the "the little woman and told, why would anyone listen to you".   Said ol boys club is also the direct reason the other 1/3 of our company left, everyone's tired of them.   She's also semi Mustachian and knows we are FI, she's not quite there yet which is why she sticks around but we pretty much have the exact same ER plan. 

However, I will be mildly screwing them over by leaving right before a major re licensing event is to take place, and I'm the one that handles that whole component...soooooo yea I feel bad for them but not enough to put up with it any longer, 8 years of this crap (seriously everything from full on sexual harassment to verbal berating for not doing X,Y or Z fast enough) is it for me.

It's one thing to say "I'm leaving in two weeks.  I know this puts you in a rough spot, but I'll have all my documentation updated and I'll try to get other people trained as much as I can." and quite another to say "I'm quitting effective immediately. Deal with it."

From the sound of it you have a horribly toxic work environment, and handling it professionally is admirable.  (Congratulations on the FIRE, btw)

Yea I am not sure what they will do, I'm the only one that does what I do for the company so there really isn't a way to train anyone up, and everyone that is left is also overworked.  We have WAY more chiefs collecting high salaries for not doing a whole lot, all the Indians have quit with the exception of me and 2 other people.  And I'm pretty sure one of the other Indians is in my boat just biding his time.  Standard time with this company is a year or less for most people.

I work in HR so have definitely seen some bridge-burning and don't recommend it.  So, I wasn't suggesting doing so, just asking... :)

[vivek440]

Congratulations :-) Best wishes for your new phase of life!

I am also in the same boat - For now taking a 5 months sabbatical from 1st June (Which is only 25 days from now :-)) but after joining back, will most likely leave the full time corporate job for good! Like you, I am also trying to figure out what to do next :-)

[Dicey]

So excited for you MishMash! So happy DH has seen the light, er, 'stache.

- Funny, with one third of the staff out the door, there is clearly a surplus of money at present. Assholes.

- Are you sure they can get away with not paying you for earned vacation time? In a lot of states that is flat out illegal. (Side bar - I worked in CA for a company based in GA. They didn't allow vacation time to roll over, but CA says they have to, so I got paid for my unused time, even though the fine state of Georgia doesn't have the same rule. Pissed them off royally. Hee!) It's worth your time to do the research on this.

- Do not let ANYone say you're not fully FIRE because DH is still working. NO, you will not be "just a SAH spouse". Mine own DH has the same work/retirement timeline as yours. We don't "need" the money, but there's too much on the table to walk away from it. We can't travel right now anyway and he loves his work, but I didn't and life after FIRE is awesome.

- I share the same hobby/thrill as you. I occasionally conduct Estate Sales, which are a ton of work, but pretty lucrative and just plain fun. Might be worth looking into. The keys are good organization and presentation, plus great signs.

[MishMash]

So excited for you MishMash! So happy DH has seen the light, er, 'stache.

- Funny, with one third of the staff out the door, there is clearly a surplus of money at present. Assholes.

- Are you sure they can get away with not paying you for earned vacation time? In a lot of states that is flat out illegal. (Side bar - I worked in CA for a company based in GA. They didn't allow vacation time to roll over, but CA says they have to, so I got paid for my unused time, even though the fine state of Georgia doesn't have the same rule. Pissed them off royally. Hee!) It's worth your time to do the research on this.

- Do not let ANYone say you're not fully FIRE because DH is still working. NO, you will not be "just a SAH spouse". Mine own DH has the same work/retirement timeline as yours. We don't "need" the money, but there's too much on the table to walk away from it. We can't travel right now anyway and he loves his work, but I didn't and life after FIRE is awesome.

- I share the same hobby/thrill as you. I occasionally conduct Estate Sales, which are a ton of work, but pretty lucrative and just plain fun. Might be worth looking into. The keys are good organization and presentation, plus great signs.

Yea our HQ is in GA, and we have the office here in VA, it's legal since we don't have set laws in VA for it, and we have PTO vs "vacation days" employment contract says they don't pay out.

I left the office after I was told there wasn't money and my poor husband got the end of my very expletive filled rant about precisely the fact that they "don't have the funds" but had just wiped a HUGE amount of salaries off the table.

I started flipping stuff on craigslist a few months ago, DH has been amazed at the profit margins (ex, ugly ass mid century modern sphagetti lamp...paid 10, sold it in 2 days for over 400) so that's kind of eased his mind that at least I can earn some income for emergencies and extras.

I'm sitting in yet another meeting where two of our developers just got voluntold to take on significantly more responsibility and it was billed as "Yay! you've proven so responsible and active that we decided to LET you work on building this pie in the sky product"  One of them goes, "fuck...you open your mouth in one meeting..." VP of development just tried to chuckle it off.  However, we did get told that Large Company X in our industry has been sniffing around us as a potential acquisition target prior to IPO, we're all equity holders (non fully vested) so I'm wondering if this is their pie in the sky way of trying to keep people on.

[CatamaranSailor]

Congratulations on your decision! I'm down to 3 weeks at my current job and I'm literally counting the seconds. I am doing a 6 month "mini retirement" and taking my 15 year old son to Europe for about 6 weeks. He'll do online school and come back to his regular high school in January.

Like you, I'm not quite sure what the future career / job will be. I have a bunch of skills, any one of which has the potential of generating a decent income (graphic design, IT, copy writing) so we'll see.

Because I don't know what I want, I came up with a list of things I will never put up with again.

• Working in a cube farm...absolutely never, ever again!
  
• Being a salaried employee, yet still having to fill out  time sheet detailing every single activity
• Working for psychopaths. In my career I've worked for 2!
• Not being able to look out a window when I'm at work.
• Working for a micromanager or someone who does not understand technical details, and constantly requesting everything be put into "laymans terms." Many,many times I've been forced to spent hours explaining what it is we're doing by using "Bob the Builder" analogies.
• Not being able to leave work to attend my kids school activities. If my kid is playing a carrot in the school play, I don't care what fire is burning, I'm going to go watch my kid. (Especially when said fire is as a result of not allowing the team to do their job because they micromanager didn't understand the Bob the Builder analogy and spambot infected the Outlook server!)

Sigh.

That's why I love this site and this community. Wouldn't you rather have employees who were there because they wanted to be there and believed in what you were doing?

Sorry for digressing. To the OP...You rock!

[RobFIRE]

Good for you!

Sounds to me like you have all the essentials worked out and are in a strong position. Avoiding the bridge burning is a good idea, gives you another potential option in the future (though my consultant rate would be more than 2x current salary!).

[Allen]

That is really awesome, I'm sorry you have to give those jerks all the way until July but happy you will be done.

It will feel good!

[Dicey]

So excited for you MishMash! So happy DH has seen the light, er, 'stache.

- Funny, with one third of the staff out the door, there is clearly a surplus of money at present. Assholes.

- Are you sure they can get away with not paying you for earned vacation time? In a lot of states that is flat out illegal. (Side bar - I worked in CA for a company based in GA. They didn't allow vacation time to roll over, but CA says they have to, so I got paid for my unused time, even though the fine state of Georgia doesn't have the same rule. Pissed them off royally. Hee!) It's worth your time to do the research on this.

- Do not let ANYone say you're not fully FIRE because DH is still working. NO, you will not be "just a SAH spouse". Mine own DH has the same work/retirement timeline as yours. We don't "need" the money, but there's too much on the table to walk away from it. We can't travel right now anyway and he loves his work, but I didn't and life after FIRE is awesome.

- I share the same hobby/thrill as you. I occasionally conduct Estate Sales, which are a ton of work, but pretty lucrative and just plain fun. Might be worth looking into. The keys are good organization and presentation, plus great signs.

Yea our HQ is in GA, and we have the office here in VA, it's legal since we don't have set laws in VA for it, and we have PTO vs "vacation days" employment contract says they don't pay out...

I started flipping stuff on craigslist a few months ago, DH has been amazed at the profit margins (ex, ugly ass mid century modern sphagetti lamp...paid 10, sold it in 2 days for over 400) so that's kind of eased his mind that at least I can earn some income for emergencies and extras.

In that case, take as many va-cay days as you can between now and your exit date. I'm sure they will protest, but that's when you can sweetly offer that they can pay you for them instead. It may not be their policy, but since you're leaving anyway, they may have no choice it they want to keep your butt in a seat until the very end.

And yes, I call it modern day treasure hunting, and it is fun!

[Nords]

I love how we encourage people here to quit their jobs, and then congratulate them when they follow through!

However, at yesterdays quarterly meeting our CEO said they weren't replacing any of the 1/3 of the company that quit last month and that he thinks we're doing just fine "doing more with less".
I also recently asked for a raise to handle this largely expanded work load and was told the funds "just weren't there".

Without knowing anything else about your company, that's a huge red flag on their cash flow.  If you have the choice, I wouldn't leave any of your assets in their hands a minute longer than necessary.  Roll the 401(k) to your IRA, make sure you're paid whatever bonus or claims or other reimbursement/compensation you may have coming, vest whatever stock you can in your own account, and archive complete records.

The potential acquirer sniffing around before the IPO may be more of a scavenging vulture than a white knight...

Trying to decide what to do with myself now, I think I am going to start a blog or business pertaining to my side hustle.  We'll see how that goes, ...

Exactly,  I think I"m going to "go big or go home" on the side hustle, it's a hobby I have had for years and it pays for itself and turns a profit (hunting down and flipping yardsale finds) and it's something I LOVE to do.

Oooh, I think that'll go quite well.  One of our Plans B years ago was aloha shirts:  buy for $3-$7 here and resell on eBay (Mainland/foreign buyers) for >$20. 

I know flippers who've done well on eBay for years, and now people are upgrading to Fulfillment By Amazon.  Some are even using smartphone apps to negotiate right in the seller's driveway while knowing that they can resell for quadruple the price. 

As for "blog or business", the answer is "both".  You'll blog about the business while you write a short "how to" eBook and build your e-mail list.  Eventually you'll be selling your own products on the blog (as well as running AdSense and other advertising) while continuing to flip your finds.  You might even get into coaching or start flipping excess retail inventory.

[jan62]

Congratulations!  after a particularly crappy week at work I love reading that someone is about to quit, sounds like you have well and truly put up with a bad workplace and are well prepared for retirement. look forward to hearing how the next few weeks goes.

[MishMash]

Thanks everyone!

I totally agree there are cash flow problems, the second in command in finance and I are close, as in he and I are the only ones in the office for the first hour or two of the day so I probably know more about the finances then I should.  The problem is we are sinking ALL of our excess capital into a new product that has little to no adoption at the moment (been this way for 2 years).  This is why they want 24-7 support for that client, there is a potential to "get the name out"  Which would be fine, except frankly after 3 years of development this thing is shit, like I work in this field, and I wouldn't use it. It's pretty much the longest beta software in history.

Big company is sniffing around because they want into the federal government space and our install base on another product would give them that prior to their pricing.

[MishMash]

There's only 4 of us in the office today, everyone is off site.  My boss just had an EPIC meltdown in her office.  She'd apparently asked one of said crappy VP X's minions to close out some of his account stuff in our CRM that was listed as expired (by like over a year) and got a nasty gram from VP X about how DARE she try to interfere with his people and their workload and it's still open because they didn't pay us because they refuse to until we develop software component Y for them (gee, didn't know our customers could refuse to pay the agreed upon contract price because a feature that wasn't in the original contract wasn't immediately created...but I digress there).  It was maaaaaaaybe 3 minutes of work, and it's her job to make sure the CRM system remains clean but she doesn't want to close things without having the account owners review it.

She just called I don't know whom, and well....the entire office could very clearly hear her cursing fest.  She then came out showed me the email, asked if she was rude or if it warranted the response she received, again  I said Nope...but did you expect anything different?  She just walked in her office, threw her laptop in the bag, said "fuck it, I'm done" and went home (for the day).   I don't think she is long for here anymore either.

[mistershankly]

Congratulations :-) Best wishes for your new phase of life!

I am also in the same boat - For now taking a 5 months sabbatical from 1st June (Which is only 25 days from now :-)) but after joining back, will most likely leave the full time corporate job for good! Like you, I am also trying to figure out what to do next :-)

I'm in a very similar boat.  A sabbatical sounds like a great option.  How did you go about negotiating a sabbatical of that length of time with your job in tact when you return?  Did you consider a shorter sabbatical if 5 months wasn't agreed upon?  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[YK-Phil]

Congratulations, and all the best in the next phase of your life. And it is always wise to leave in good terms, no matter how frustrated or angry one might be. In my case, my employment contract being over in October, I almost quit my soul-sucking job in a Terminator-like fashion a couple of months ago, but held off. It was very wise to shut my big mouth and not burn bridges, and it paid off. My board just offered me to work part-time, starting June 1, up to 20 hours a week, and remotely from wherever I chose, with the condition I would travel back to Yellowknife for 3-5 days to attend our quarterly board meetings. Not a bad deal after all, and it will allow my wife and I to start in September the road trip to Central America -no precise itinerary or timeline- we've been planning for years.

[Nords]

Congratulations :-) Best wishes for your new phase of life!

I am also in the same boat - For now taking a 5 months sabbatical from 1st June (Which is only 25 days from now :-)) but after joining back, will most likely leave the full time corporate job for good! Like you, I am also trying to figure out what to do next :-)

I'm in a very similar boat.  A sabbatical sounds like a great option.  How did you go about negotiating a sabbatical of that length of time with your job in tact when you return?  Did you consider a shorter sabbatical if 5 months wasn't agreed upon?  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I've been reading excellent posts from YourSabbatical.com.  They're oriented more toward the employer, not as much the employee, but they have great insights on your employer's concerns and how you can pitch your plan.  For example,
http://mindset.yoursabbatical.com/2016/01/26/leaving-for-a-year-long-sabbatical-how-to-gain-goodwill-from-your-boss-and-co-workers/

Requesting a sabbatical is a great way to ascertain the company's true feelings about your value to their success.  If you're shut down with justifications like "Not our policy" or "Can't tolerate your absence" or even "You haven't earned the privilege", then you've been given a very strong signal about your career future there.  If they're not willing to work it out with you then it might not be worth working for them any longer. 

Instead of trying to fix your employer's problems, you could confidently start your new career search and leave for your sabbatical on your terms... in whatever order you prefer.