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What's the fastest you left a job?

Wasn't sure whether to throw this into an ask community or here, but ultimately chose casual convo because I am lowkey also looking for advice lol

I landed a job last week (hired me on the spot, did training 3 days later) as one of those people who stand outside shops/etc. asking people to donate to charities. Reputable charities for the record and without cash donations, so not some scam. But the way this is organised is miserable!! I literally get told where I'm supposed to go the night before I go there. I also get paid exclusively based on how many people I get to donate (this was not on the job ad on Indeed). The job itself is fine, is whatever, but between the chaos of having to schedule my day last minute and never being sure how much I'll make in a month... I need to hightail it out of here.

I get paid on the 15th of May, would it be inappropriate for me to quit right after? I'll give two weeks notice of course. My team leader has been super sweet to me and is already telling me I'm a natural and she wants to promote me inside her team... I did hint at the fact this is just a temporary thing for me and what I really want is an office job, but she keeps insisting I should stay and can earn a lot more here (and tbf she makes €3000/month). To be honest this whole structure feels very pyramid scheme-ish lol minus the fact people don't pay into it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this or any experience you want to share!

60 comments
  • Not me, but about 4.5 hours including half a day of induction. The company I worked for did a lot of crunching data in Excel and producing reports based on that data. This girl started, did her half day induction ("fire escapes are here", etc, etc) then was assigned to me to work on a project. I sat down with her for about an hour and a half and talked her through the easiest part of the project that I wanted her to work on. She nodded, said she understood, then asked what the process for quitting was.

    I've no idea how she got hired because she said she had been expecting the job to be mostly creative, not working with data, and that it didn't interest her at all.

  • Not me, but I started working part time at a Wetherspoons bar in Manchester, UK when I was about 19. Me and this other guy (similar age) started on the same day.

    We got on well, and after a few hours we were given a break, he would go first and then I would go second. Before the guy went on his break, he told that he wasn't going to come back. I was shocked but kinda got it, bar work sucks.

    After 15/20 minutes the manager was frantically looking for him, even demanded I tell her where he was, but I just feigned ignorance. Chuckled to myself that this guy had the gall to walk out and not tell anyone.

    I worked there for another year, in that time he turned up again with his mates, we both recognised each other immediately. I told him how everyone was pissed at him and that I was jealous. A manager asked if he used to work there, but I feigned ignorance once again 😅.

  • Two days?

    A friend worked at a company with a one-man IT crew aka "the friend". Technically they worked part time, but occasionally had to come in and fix things that broke overnight. So they were "always" on call, but things mostly ran smoothly and unless it was super important it could wait until business hours/the next working day. Basically computers working was useful, but not a requirement for this company.

    Anyway I was looking for a job, friend convinced the owner they needed help, so the job was mine, no interview needed.

    So day one I get a look around, get a jist of how things work, get accounts setup, get HR-type stuff setup, take long business lunch and talk shop.

    Day two, meet the owner and eventually the conversation turns to, "So let me know which days each of you are covering." As in a single 30 hour per week job for one person, is now two 15 hour per week jobs for two people.

    Needless to say my friend was mortified. Obviously I wasn't going to screw them over, so I quit. I found a job shortly after that was way better and my friend got a small (although not nearly enough) pay bump. So guess it worked out.

  • Two days.

    I started a job at a 'shake and shingle mill' on the west coast. These places essentially receive cedar logs and produce little slats of wood used for pretty shingles on the sides and tops of houses. Ooo, pretty. The process is unchanged since like the 1700s, and the equipment since the Great War, I think. To make one into the other, first a huge saw cuts the logs into 2' segments. Tip that on end and drive a wedge into it repeatedly via pneumatic piston, and you have smaller pieces. Those pieces would go to the cut saw to be made square and tidy, and then bundled into a unit to sell. So far so good?

    I started as the low man, the dude who takes the split wood to the saw, and who tips the sewn logs over to position the 2' section for the splitfest. And I'm running back and forth and it's dangerous as shit -- the floor's wet wood because it's a big shed and the incoming cedar is rainforest cedar, and it's always bleeding water out when it's being cut. The entire place is wet. So I'm careful, but the splitter guy isn't. It's not the end of day one and he drives the wedge into his hand. WITH the grain, so he's not losing fingers, but it's gonna be a while melding that vulcan salute back together. Yay, promotion! We short-hand it - oho! - and I'm doing 1.5 jobs until go-home time.

    Next day, like almost first thing, one of the guys running the big saw loses some fingertips. Go see that video, see how the panel drops, and imagine how that could have happened. So he's off to the doc. And another guy steps over and he's gonna show me how to use that machine so we don't fall behind -- and it's like 2 min before coffee and the guy they just hired to fill the job I started at, he slips on the wood in his sneakers and falls out this big hole in the side of the barn where there's a conveyor the wood comes in. He falls like 10 feet onto the ground, hard. It's dirt, but when a 20 year old kid pauses you know he's injured. Yep, he's twisted the hell out of his ankle and fall on his arm a bit. He drives automatic, so he's off in his own car to take himself to A&E. And we're down two.

    During coffee, I go to the boss. It has been a rough two days; and despite how safe it normally is, I definitely need my hands or I don't need to save for the comp sci degree anymore. Reluctant handshake and it's all in the rearview.

    • Good fucking call. Did that place have one of those "no injuries since ___" sign that you watched someone erase twice in your two days?

  • About 6 months when I was 19 years old. 3 months in I tried to book a week of vacation 3 months in advance (they asked for at least 1 month notice) and the power tripping substitute manager declined it immediately without checking the schedule or anything. As far as I remember there was no "first come first serve" BS, he just wanted to be a douche about it.

    So after another 3 months the time came and I went on the most epic camping trip with 8 friends and had the time of my life.

    Came back to civilization to a full voicemail inbox of my direct manager asking where I was, sighing, and eventually saying I was fired for it.

    I regret nothing.

  • Two months. Got brought in as a sales engineer with no one to train me. My days mostly consisted of spending 8 hours alone in my office reading ISO and ASTM standards for the test services the company offered. Got sent to Minnesota for further training for a week with no one to train me there either. Found a job right after and left my boss bewildered like he couldn't believe it after I kept reminding him no one was actually teaching me how to do the job.

  • One week.

    Was asked to be the community manager of an online casino. I couldn't deal with the morality of trying to encourage people to keep gambling away money they didn't have.

  • 3 days of real time, 2 hours of real work.

    1st day, the boss has a problem with a truck, sends his father to guide us to the place and give us the tool. The father never finds the tools, cannot get his son on the phone, tells us to come back next day.

    2nd day : no one on site. I call the boss, he seems surprised i'm here, gives me the number of his father. His father tells me he has an appointment with a doctor, tells me to clean the place til he comes back. I do so, 2 hours later i have nothing left to do. I wait one more hour, he doesnt come back. The boss sends me a message to be there next day.

    3d day : no one on site, no one answer the phone. I waited one hour and went off.

    Never got any message nor explanations. Sometimes they just don't care, and anyway if they cannot provide you with a stable schedule, dont worry too much about leaving quickly

  • My two cents.

    If it's not so terrible that you dread every day, keep it and the paycheck while you look for another job. As soon as you have a new job lined up, quit.

    You seem concerned about making it easy on them, maybe help them out a few weeks to soften the blow. Don't bother, you're taking up their time and training resources that they could be spending on the next person who is going to replace you.

    Be professional in how you quit, but don't be a doormat. Remember this company could lay you off at any moment and the "best" company will only be professional. They aren't your friends. Match that energy.

  • I worked at a McDonalds for a month. I'd done bar work before that and really enjoyed it, but fast food was depressing. Although my colleagues were pretty cool, the managers were absolute assholes. They made fun of all the staff and took the piss for the fact that I had a degree but was having to work somewhere like that. I was 'sick' for my notice period (I'd found work elsewhere).

  • Not me, but I used to work a role at a company that provided IT services and hardware/support.

    We had a team that sat right behind me, basically they supported customer accounts, and they got a new team leader/manager.

    She came in on a Friday I believe and the rest of the team were out, Thursday night is party night so most people worked from home Friday.

    The next week comes in, IT puts all her equipment on her desk, she isn't there. The next day or so comes around and she isn't there but her team is and someone else strolls over to chat. He mentions he heard they got a new lady boss, where is she?

    I say she was in last week, I saw her.

    "Is she a looker?"

    ... this bloody place. Asks nothing about her other than her looks.

    Later that week IT comes along and collects her equipment, she had left in under a week. I have no idea what happened but that was the quickest I have seen someone leave and on average we had a very short staff turnover time.

  • Personally, 6 months. Sounded great on paper and even today it sounds great, but I really didn't like it. Now I'm somewhere that sounds rubbish on paper and in many ways is, but I'm pretty happy.

    Quickest I ever saw was when I did a 2 week school placement in an IT support company. The whole company was like 4 people including me. Back in the late 90's it was all reinstalling Windows, ISDN lines, that sort of basic IT provided in to companies. They hired a new guy and sent him off to install a couple of Windows PCs for some company. The next day he left as he was out of his depth.

  • How you know this job is a scam, in your own words:

    I also get paid exclusively based on how many people I get to donate (this was not on the job ad on Indeed).

    This means that you're likely getting less than minimum wage, indicating dubious legality and (as you're experiencing) poverty inducing fuckery. It wasn't on the job description because it's likely illegal.

    Also, never ever ever use Indeed. It's a den of lies and villainy. You will find nothing but skullfucking third tier recruiters, AI bots programmed in Hindi, and suspiciously lucrative offers from Dubai that require you to turn over your passport. You will literally have better luck on craigslist.

    I landed a job last week (hired me on the spot, did training 3 days later)

    Translation - no one wants this job and they're desperate for suckers

    Reputable charities for the record and without cash donations, so not some scam

    Cash donations make it too easy for you to supplement the sub minimum wage you're earning under the table, so that's why they don't accept them. Their business model is likely based on a subscription donation model that allows them to hook the donor and get them on their marketing lists. The only way to ascertain that the charities in question are actually getting any donations is to contact them independently. My guess is that if it's not a scam, the charities in question end up with about 10% of the actually donated $ with most of it going to company overhead.


    Personal experience - I worked a number of these types of jobs when I was younger and trying to make my way, including working donations for non-profits and political campaigns, as well as your more traditional pyramid schemes like Cutco. They operate in a very similar fashion, but you're more likely to make at least some money with the regular pyramid schemes - non-profits will work you harder and pay you less, because you're "doing it for the cause" and not a paycheck, supposedly.

    GTFO now. I wouldn't even bother about the paycheck or giving notice. Any basic office temp job will pay better and give you more security. Hell, even fast food workers are paid hourly.

    • Oh this is 100% legal here in Italy! It's called commission based income (or something like that) and there's no minimum wage here either (I worked for €5/hour at another job...) so it's not a scam. Scummy for sure lol but completely legal.

      If not Indeed is there anything else you'd recommend? I landed my previous jobs through connections and never really learned how to look for work online for as pathetic as that sounds haha. Genuinely the basic office job paying €800/month has been my goal for the past few years but they're much harder to get than I thought they'd be, or maybe I just have no idea what I'm doing lol

      • If you've worked in an office before and clean up nice, sign up with every temping agency in your area until you land a gig. Generally, if you're reasonably reliable and show you can hold down a position for more than a few weeks, they'll try to keep you working even after a particular contract expires. It also can (and often has in my experience) provide permanent employment with your contracted employer if they find you a good fit for their team.

        As for alternatives to Indeed, the service that's gotten me the best jobs has been LinkedIn - despite the memes, it does produce results. The only other spot I've had close to as much luck as I have on LinkedIn is craigslist (but you do have to be on your guard for scammers).

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