Good for you on both staying firm to your convictions and for getting out of a job that you no longer care for!

I sure will be glad when I retire from my current IT job in a few years. I used to rather like it but it has gotten out of control of late and it seems that I am relied upon to be the subject matter expert on the entire system that I work on. It is very stressful but so far I've been able to roll with the tide and not let it get to me.

Yes! YOU need a break. 22 years....wow! You did what your supposed to do as a responsible employee...now it's time for ME TIME! I'm happy for you.

I went through 4 plant closures in the high tech industry and travel industry. They had psychologists onsite for all the crying and "what will I do if I lose my job people". It was very stressful. I was glad to start my own business. I like that old saying.

One door closes, another opens.

Good for you! 4 years without a vacation? I'd go bonkers!
I'm SO looking forward to retirement - 5-7 years probably. Ugh.

Best wishes for a job you will like much better in your future!

Have I ever been elated? I've only worked four jobs total? I think. Two part time, two full time. I was glad to leave part time number 2 if that counts. That was hard work and I knew someone else would take care of what I did. Full time job number 1? I stayed to the end, closed the door on the office the last time. I was so sad. But dude who was buying it (also insurance!?) was shifty and I told the boss to protect himself from him. He didn't. And a year later when they were coming after him for the taxes, I was glad not to be a part of it. So yes, I was elated. It's good to get distance ourselves from that, isn't it?

If the job environment had problems (no vacation sounds like it was a small one) , why did you stay at all? You maybe should have left some years ago when you saw the problems.

Contrary to your expressed concern, I think leaving a toxic work environment under circumstances you can explain is a plus on your job history - staying is more likely to be seen as a negative.

Good luck.

Yes, there were times that I wanted to click my heels in the air as I walked out the door on the last day. More than once! Good lord, a crematorium?? How did you stand that so long? That alone would have driven me out long ago. So glad you are getting out.

Not leave the place of employment, but sure glad to have a couple of the

jobs within it over. Enjoy the freedom and getting rid of the stress you

are feeling.

I stayed in this role because I had a goal of either my own agency or running one for my brother. In order to do so I needed to learn more about the agency standards and practices. There's a lot to it if you want to be successful at doing it. In the 4 years that I've been here I've seen at least 20 agents come and go. All with high asperations. I knew the more I learned, the more successful I would be in the long run. There's more to it than selling home and auto insurance. Most companies need/mandate financial planning - life insurance sales and they put a premium on that. I may have purchased or partnered had it not been some recent changes with the company I've written for that I don't believe will enhance the agency brand. I had no control over the crematorium moving in next door. Vacations I could put behind me if the end result got me what I wanted. The pain would have been worth the reward had it not been for the changes I was seeing. It's time to leave and I feel very good about it. If things change in the future I'm leaving with a good record and can make a few calls with inquiries about purchasing. Some things are not always obvious.

My last job, where I worked for 10 years, had become increasingly horrible over the last few years. Truly a very toxic and miserable place. We had been planning to move, and for me to retire, but I was holding out as long as I could (because after all, it was 10 minutes from home, and a salary is a nice thing). When everything came together, we sold our house, we thought we bought a house (long story about the purchase but it all worked out) and I was turning 65 hello Medicare---- I gave 3 weeks notice and was absolutely elated, jubilant you name it. So many people commented to me that they had never seen me look so happy and smile so much.

So to answer your question YES. (and I am very happy for you)

yes, several of them! the 2 I think of right off were both with local government agencies. 1 was run by the wife of the local chief of police. won't say to much but when I started there they were 3 months behind in processing incoming checks and 6 months behind on warrants. it only took me 2 wks to get the warrants current. if those in charge had spent less time on their personal lives during work hours they wouldn't have been behind. It caused problems for the officers serving warrants and the court. Who got blamed for the backlog? the worker bees of course!

the other one was also a government agency and I loved it until the manager retired and his replacement took over. It was never the same after that. She liked to terrorize people. People kept taking 'early retirement ' all around me. People hired in and most left within the year. One only stayed 1 day. One had previously been a good friend of hers and co-worker for 20 yrs. Even she took 'early retirement' 5 yrs early. I planned to take early retirement too but 6 weeks before I was going to put in for it I was out on disability and never released to go back. so I was out of there anyway. I survived my last yr there by taking Wed off (using up my vacation time). I worked 2 days, 1 day off, worked 2 days and then the weekend.

It's always better to enjoy your work and where you work than be miserable to make more $s. my son called me yrs back when he was thinking of leaving a job with the state he lived in to go back to doing what he did to work his was thru college which was something he loved doing and had flexible hours. I told him 'go with what you love doing even if it is less money. your life and happiness are worth it. ' He already owned 2 houses (paid for) he rented out and lived free where he was as its caretaker. He wanted to spend more time with his kids while they were young. I told him to go for it, the kids would be grown and gone before he knew it.

Not really. I knew it was for the best. My first job at Subway, evolved into a management position but I knew I was not going anywhere with that, so I signed up with a temp service when I was 19 and started factory work. I got laid off my next job and while I was living at home and could have gotten unemployment, I got another job a week later in the stock room of a tire factory. That was a contract position. When we were informed of the loss of the contract, I loaded my resume onto monster.com and was contacted for the position I currently have. I have been there over 10 years. All of the jobs I held had enough good qualities for me to be kinda of sad to leave. I do worry somewhat about the state of my current job due to some changes that are being considered, despite the constant reassurance that our department will "always be needed." But if I must go i will, and i will be sad. I don't really worry about finding another job if i have to. Night minions are almost always in demand. But I would miss the work itself, and the people that work there, as well as the unique opportunity to meet so many different types of people. I have met thousands over my time there, from all over the country,originating from all over the world. I am lucky in that.

I am also lucky in that regarding direct supervisors, I have always had great ones. Now,THEIR bosses haven't always been the best,but for the most part they really have. My boss now is good. He does everything he can to make our job easier, and he does not micromanage. Like our last one, he simply leaves me alone unless I mess something up and I like that. And if I do happen to mess something up, I get a short friendly email about it pointing it out. That's it. And as of now everyone over him in the pecking order is pretty much the same way. If we need something they are there but for the most part they leave us alone to handle things. I really appreciate that.

So no, I haven't been elated to leave a job. I hope against hope i can stay in this one until I retire. But I am elated for you and your new freedom!

That's so funny kathyg. I've always been told I have a great phone voice as well. One particular job was customer service 6 pm - 6 am. My boss would call about something and just raz me about how good I sounded and he blamed me for the increased traffic during my shifts.

Except for the last one - every one! The last one is the only one that I didn't choose to leave, they chose for me. They closed the office and laid off all but the top managers so that they could send the work to India. I've had some pretty horrible jobs in my past but usually the reason why I left wasn't the work itself but the terrible way people were treated by middle or top management. Car wash (first job), hot, dirty factory work, stock-room work - you name it. My last job was a good job compared to all that - I had to work hard and wear a lot of hats for the terrible pay (publishing) and it was finally a clean comfortable environment but the bottom line finally won out.

Absolutely! I was a school secretary for 27 years and had 9 different principals but thankfully I was able to retire when the last one was hired! He was a young Whippersnapper who thought he knew everything, and knew nothing! Thankfully I had a great Superintendent who was wonderful to me and understood my problem. Thankfully, that Principal was fired and is working in a grain elevator!

Not a job that I didn't like, but a boss. I transferred to another department within the company. The boss did not have a life and expected her employees not to have a life either. I was their three weeks when she found out I had a preapproved two week vacation coming up. She was not happy. She only allowed her employees to take one week at a time. Sorry b_tch , but you can't do anything about it and yes I am going away for two weeks. I have a life and go away for two weeks at a time. I lasted my mandatory 6 months to transfer, but ended up finding another job with better pay and benefits with a different company before I could transfer.

Yes, but I couldn't express it. I'd worked there for only 8 months, and mainly took it to bump my salary level. It wasn't toxic, but it wasn't supportive. I'm glad I left on good terms, though, even though I was leaving not only the state but the region, because a couple of years later my old manager was with my new company. Don't burn Bridges, but take the path that works for you.

I was self employed for years doing taxes and loved my job. When I needed more free time I sold my office to a CPA and then worked for him during tax season only. I still loved my job. Then he sold to a franchise who charged folks so much more than the CPA or I did. It hurt my soul to see the clients I had worked with for so many years getting charged exorbitant fees. (A return that we may have priced at $75 would jump to $250, a more complicated return was much more.) For the first couple of years they let me lower their prices somewhat so the increase was less painful -- and they were more likely to retain the client. The year they said that would no longer be done was the year I retired. Happily.

norar, H and R Block was charging us almost $500 to do our "very complicated" tax return. My husband now does it himself, not all that complicated really!

I posted something quite a while ago about the high cost of franchise done tax returns and someone put it down, saying something about CPAs being much more expensive. HA!

Two25, I am very happy for you being able to leave your current job situation and take a break.

A long time ago, early in my career, I was very happy to leave one job. The people I worked with and the work itself were great, but the boss at the top was awful. He had staff meetings where he rambled on for an hour and a half about nothing. He would endlessly talk about himself and what HE had been doing, as he was always on the road in DC or somewhere. It was all blah, blah, blah, and none of us could ever figure out what he had said and what it had to do with what our mission was. None of us ever really knew what he was up to as he didn’t really bring us new work. We later found out he had some nefarious deals going on, along with another supervisor who was always pretty shady too. These were government employees who were ‘reassigned’ as I found out later. I was the only female engineer and it was really hard to imagine getting ahead or promoted. I started applying for jobs and sure enough, got a call one day. I didn’t realize just how really unhappy and stuck I felt until I got into my new job. Best move I ever made.

Elated to leave? Yes, once. The final job before retirement. I'd been pulled back into the main office, and reorganizations weren't helping because management never dealt with the root of the problem. It was a very frustrating two years. Finally new leadership came in, but they wanted to take the office in a direction that didn't suit my skill set or my temperament. So retirement was a timely blessing for us all. Honest story: the last morning as I drove in to sign my paperwork and say goodbye, the clouds formed a "smile" in the sky! Rejoice!

Other times I left jobs, I was elated to go to a new challenge, not to get away from bad situations. But that last one, yeah.

When I retired, I can't say that I was elated but here's how I felt:

I had worked 31 years for one employer, 30 of those years in the same position. I was burned out. I very well remember leaving on my last day, the last day of April, a beautiful, sunny spring day. (I had requested no farewell party, no special recognition, and, in fact, my boss was not even there that day.) I left at regular closing time and opened the door, stepping out into the sunshine. I felt as if a weight was removed and the warm sun was smiling down on me. Relief, freedom, and gratitude for a long and successful career was what I felt.

A couple of weeks ago our dept announced 25% of staff had to go, and voluntary redundancies were being offered. I couldn’t get my application in quick enough.

It was then a waiting game to have confirmation of its acceptance........I’ve literally just had the call to tell me my leave date!

I’m so much more than pleased, I’m hugely relieved, and the double life of living for days off and getting through the work ones is officially on its final lap.

I’ve been imagining waking up every morning with no pressure to get up and instantly ON, and now it’s within touching distance!

This summer will be the first one since I was 12 years old that I will be able to do as I want, and I have zero expectation of that being time that is in any way difficult to fill.

Bliss.

I’m not sure if I’ll end up looking for another part time job or not, all I know right now is I’m smiling, a lot.

I worked for an electronics chain here and took a 30% pay cut to go back to a retail job in a drug store I said I would never go back to. At the time, my husband was off work and our only income was my new $10 an hour job. We had 2 teens living at home and still had a mortgage to pay. We literally lived paycheque to paycheque without a dime to spare until my husband was able to go back to work. Was I happy I left the electronics job? YES! I would be in prison now if I hadn't because I was thisclose to hurting someone there for the way they were treating me.