So I’m in the awesome position to quit the job that I hate.
It’s a full-time freelance position that I’ve been at for six months, during which time I’ve been treated like absolute garbage. I finally got my key out (aka legit job which is almost guaranteed to be amazing).
I so desperately want to quit right now, this second. As in, send my boss a short and polite email saying something along the lines of, ‘thanks for this opportunity, I’ve decided to accept a position at ’ and leave it at that. This would totally go against all the really inappropriate and nasty things I’d love to say in reality but I’m over that and just want to get the heck out.
Any advice in this situation? I would really really really love not to have to finish out this week but I also don’t want to burn bridges/leave a bad impression on my way out.
Should I just ask my boss for a five minute chat and then tell him that I’ve accepted a new position? Is it acceptable to just send him an email?
What I was thinking I would do is finish off the week and then send my short and sweet email over the weekend (as a freelancer I don’t officially have to give the two weeks notice) and have that be it. I really want to make this as little of a “Thing” as possible. I just want to be done with it already.
Sounds like you already know what you should do. If you burn these guys, you never know where it’s going to bite you in the future and it’s just not worth it.
Someone told me something like, “going on to greater success is the best revenge,” and its really the best way. Besides, you can always tell anyone who asks you in person what you really think.
tell him in person. Don’t put questionable things in emails.
I agree with Travisimo here.
Since you have great resentment towards your colleagues and boss, going in for the one-on-one will probably push you to say something you later will regret.
If I were you, just resign short and sweet, learn from the experience and move on.
Great that you found a new promising place. Do let us know how its going as we have followed your reports for a while now.
Definitely just ease your way out. Give a two-weeks notice that you accepted a different position. You may not have to work the two weeks depending on how they feel. They could just let you go then and there.
Whatever you do… do not burn your bridges. Just be cool and professional.
For me your question goes sync with the “frustration thread” and pops the question, why designers
tend to be so overly submissive? In a business forum the first two answers might have been
adjusted a little differently.
If you really feel that you were taken advantage of, why on earth shouldn’t you quit within a days
notice. That’s just part of your deal:
As an employer, if I want to find people who are commited and long term partners I will pay and
treat them accordingly. If I decide to work with “freelancers” on the cheap, part of the consequences
is, that a freelancer can leave the job abruptly.
That happens all the time and is absolutely understood by veterans.
Why on earth should you give them 14 days notice? Would they have given you?
I don’t want to affect you to call anybody names. Just act in a way that allows you to still look at
your reflection in the mirror and tell your grandchildren the truth about that day in your life.
Yep, keep it brief, just give your notice, you don’t have to explain your reasons, infact it’s best not to, especially if you’re angry.
I had to terminate a freelance contract with a client, recently. In eight years this is the first time I’ve had to do so. We had only worked together a month but I was getting VERY bad vibes about our future relationship and thought I’d end it before we got any further down the track. So I kept it very brief and didn’t explain.
Thank you for all your advice, but I’m still a little confused.
I definitely am over getting really emotional and angry about this - if I were to have the one-on-one with my boss I’d simply say “Boss, I’ve just been offered a position and have decided to accept it. But I wanted to thank you for this opportunity that you gave me blah blah blah.” Nothing at all offensive, and completely polite and pointedly vague.
I honestly don’t think he’s going to care, at most it will be an annoyance to him that he has to find someone else to do the grunt work.
So- do I send the email (tonight, I guess) and then not show up anymore? Or do I give him the polite chat and say I’ll finish out the week and see what he says (he may just tell me not to show up anymore anyways.)
I don’t really have two more weeks to waste at this idiot place as my new job wants me to start asap and it requires a move (to be compensated for by awesome new employer.)
And re: updates from the past few months… I mentioned I was working with a designer doing a side project… I got my first ever prototypes a few weeks ago and it was such an incredible feeling. She also quit the place I’m at a few weeks ago with the same feelings I did. She sent a very polite and positive good bye email to the people she had worked with and told me she didn’t even get back a response from our boss and a response from only ONE designer. After working with them for THREE years. Just to give you all an idea of this place and its people.
I definitely got the one possible amazing thing I could have gotten out of working for this place (getting to work with that designer and getting protos) and have learned a ton… probably more than I wanted to, hah.
And I doubt he’ll make you put in two weeks if you are freelance. Though, if you have a bunch of work on the table right now and he has trouble finding a replacement, it may be in your favor to be the “good guy,” suck it up and finish out your time. Just tell him, see what he says, and go from there. Otherwise you’ll drive yourself up the wall speculating “what ifs”
Send him an email and perhaps ring and check that he’s got it. And that’s it.
FWIW I was absolutely furious when I terminated that contract I just mentioned, I really had to bite my tongue and sent them a two line email instead. It was one months notice in our contract but of course I never heard from them again.
If you need to vent write it down somewhere or have a good whinge to a friend, but whatever you do don’t send it to them…
Well as someone who has had to pick up the pieces when another person quits it would be nice of you to send that email and allow them a ‘heads up’ even if it’s for the remainder of the week. Why? Well your coworkers will have to finish your work and if they have any questions about what you’ve been working on it would be best to be there for them. It’s not all about you and your job – yet
Congrats on getting a new job, I hope this one is much better than your prior experiences and find what you’re looking for.
PS - You shouldn’t say anything negative, but if you really do have something constructive to say, say it. Years ago I worked in an office with a window, my last month or so I observed smokers cigarette breaks; non smokers didn’t get them. I noticed that most smokers would smoke not one but two cigarettes (or more) usually twice a day. Each cigarette takes about 5-7 minutes to smoke, plus some light talk in between. I put together a package (on my own time) showing them that smokers are taking 2 to 3 hours per week smoking outside, which is a minimum of 1 working day per month, 12 per year, or two weeks paid to smoke outside. They were also more likely to leave early and come in later because they smoked etc… When I went back there a year or so later I noticed they had a totally different smoking policy in effect (very large national company).
EDIT: I have nothing against smokers, just time thiefs.
As others have said, you’re a freelancer, you’re not stuck there. As easy as they can drop you (like that day just telling you not to come in any more), that’s how easy you can leave.
For future business purposes, I’d definitely say not to burn any bridges and if there’s something that you can tidy up in a few days or if you’re currently doing key work for a presentation coming up, I’d finish that off if possible (but only if it’s not going to interfere with your new opportunity).
People use freelancers for the flexibility, but don’t forget that flexibility can also work for you. If they want or expect stability, they would have had to bring you in fulltime and kick out the benefits, etc…to give you some stability, there’s give and take on both sides.
He isn’t your boss, you are your boss, you run a business and they’re the client. Sometimes a client has to be dropped and unless you’re contracted, the ability to instantly be bought in or dropped off is one of the biggest things about freelance. Watch out for being the live in girlfriend doing all the wifely duties but no wedding ring. Unless they’re paying you really well to make it worth it.
Good luck with your new journey, change is always exciting.
