do I need to give two weeks notice when I’m new to the job?

by Alison Green on November 15, 2013

A reader writes:

I’ve read on your site that resigning with no notice is only excusable in rare circumstances. Could you please explain such circumstances? I have been at my company for only a month and I’ve already noticed a lot of questionable and unethical practices. I no longer feel comfortable at this company and want to leave as soon as possible, but I am dreading having to stay for the typical two weeks after I give notice. Since I do not plan on putting this job on my resume, do I really need to give a two weeks notice?

When you’re so new, the obligations around notice are different. You still should offer some notice — you don’t want to just send an email one night saying that you won’t be back, or something like that. But you have more leeway on the notice period than an employee who wasn’t new.

Ideally, you’d meet with your manager and explain that you’ve realized the job isn’t for you, apologize, and then ask what makes sense for a last day — asking whether they’d like you to finish out the week, leave that day, or what. And you can weight the language you use toward leaving right away if you want to. For instance: “I’d be glad to work out the remainder of the week if you’d like, but I realize that might not make sense since I’m so new.”

Depending on the type of job, since you’re new, there’s a good chance that they’ll tell you that you can leave that day, since you’re so new and there’s little benefit to them to having you stay when you’re not fully trained yet anyway (let alone continue to put resources into training you).

However, if you don’t want to take the chance that they might take you up on an offer to work a few days more, then you could instead say something like, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but I think today needs to be my last day.”

Doing this when you’re brand new is very different than doing it when you’re a more established employee — the rules regarding notice are different, because the impact on the employer is a different one. It’s just a different level of obligation.

You may also like:
{ 81 comments }

{ 81 comments… read them below }

  1. Anonymous*

    I had this same kind of situation happen at a call centre. I was only working there for a couple of weeks and it was soooo sketchy, even by call centre standards. I wish I had handled it like this, but I was a wimp and just stopped showing up.

    1. MissDisplaced*

      You know, if the place is that bad or you just know they will go ballistic when you tell them I can understand it.

  2. Meg*

    When I was fresh out of college and absurdly naive, I started a job at an insurance company selling life and health insurance. I only worked there for 7 months, and I quit over the long Thanksgiving weekend by sending an email to my supervisor and the branch manager that essentially said “Effective immediately, I will no longer be an employee of [former company]. Thank you for the opportunity.” Looking back, it was incredibly unprofessional, but considering the shady practices that went on there and how incredibly uncomfortable the environment was (it was a very male-dominated environment which blatantly ignored sexual harassment), I don’t regret it.

    1. Steve G*

      Mmmm, I don’t think this was unprofessional given the shady practices in that industry. They expect employees to come and go.

  3. Audiophile*

    I never understood just not showing up. You never know when you may come across these people again. I doubt, they’ll soon forget that you were the person who just stopped showing up, ignored all calls and pretended you never worked there.

    1. CEMgr*

      Some “jobs” are borderline (or over-the-line) scams and in that case, among very few others, I would not have an issue with someone announcing they’re through and walking out. The chief scamster’s good opinion is worth effectively nothing and there is no obligation to stay and commit wrongful behavior.

      1. Elle D*

        My best friend worked at one of these types of companies – the company had very shady/borderline scam business practices and the boss regularly made highly inappropriate comments to female employees. My friend felt so uncomfortable working there that at 5:00 one day she sent a resignation email, left and never looked back. She has a great head on her shoulders and is generally a responsible employee, she just realized this was a sketchy operation and no longer wanted to feel uncomfortable at work every day. For most normal companies, 2 weeks notice is certainly appropriate but in these types of situations I think resignation effective immediately/never showing back up makes sense.

        1. Meg*

          Yeah, I was in a similar situation. There are a few rare circumstances where leaving like this is okay, and a company that scams employees or clients is one of those circumstances.

    3. Anonymous*

      I think it really depends on the organization.

      When I was very young, I fell for a “management trainee” ad in a newspaper. On my first day, the managers really pumped us up about opportunities for management, but in reality I drove my car to far-flung locations and attempted to sell, door-to-door, cheap artwork. I was not paid unless I made a sale. I was not reimbursed for gas or mileage. The managers engaged in, looking back now, sexual harassment. I stuck it out for about a month before I never went back and never answered calls.

      This was over 25 years ago and it has never come back to bite me. I doubt it will. I think the owners of that organization should be ashamed of the way they treated us and I am glad I left the way I did. I would, however, never leave a legitimate organization in this manner. As I stated above, it really depends on the organization.

  4. CupcakeGirl*

    When I worked for a library several years ago, we had a girl (young lady, whatever) that gave her notice via our after hours book drop box. She wrote a note saying she was quitting and wouldn’t be back. We found it the next morning during our regular checking in of the books.

  5. jennie*

    Little to no notice can be fine if you know you’ll never want to work there again, but it can still damage your relationship with the company and its employees. You may be barred from future employment there for not giving sufficient notice. And if you’re leaving other employees to cover for you (for example, on reception or other scheduled work), it could poison those relationships in the future.

    But if you handle it like AAM suggests (asking when your last day should be rather than telling them) that should be mitigated.

    1. Anna*

      What relationships? The OP hasn’t been there long enough to develop any of them. Not to mention, if the place is that sketchy, is he or she going to want to work anywhere any of these people work if they’re part of the problem? If they aren’t part of the problem, they’ll get out too and probably know pretty darn well why the OP left so no damage would be done there.

      1. Jazzy Red*

        They probably have people leaving suddenly all the time. The OP would not stand out for that. And who would want a recommendation from scamsters anyway?

  6. Erin*

    I think you should give your notice under the assumption that the day you give your notice will also be your last day. It may be worth waiting to give your notice for a few weeks until you are financially prepared for that.

  7. MissDisplaced*

    This is great advice on handling this in a professional manner. Ideally, you should let them know and then at least finish out the week. You’ll be able to tell what type of company they really are by the way they treat you when you give notice.

    Be prepared though. Some of the really bad companies or managers will go ballistic when you give notice.

  8. Erik*

    Generally speaking, I’ve always given notice, even if they didn’t deserve it. You always assume that you’re be shown the door when you resign. However, if they were doing unethical or illegal, or if that situation is really that bad, then run for the hills and don’t look back.

    In my past I did walk out, but those were reserved for really crappy jobs during college, and when I was lied to about my pay rate (took the job, but found another ASAP and then bailed).

    I’ve also had people disappear too. At one previous company, one person left without notice. I reached out to him later and he said that he didn’t want a confrontation because of some arguments he had over some of his work. Apparently that boss took some feedback the wrong way and went ballistic on him for no good reason. He got tired of the abuse and decided to bail.

  9. Jax*

    At awful places (yes, plural) I stopped showing up. Immature? Yes. Do I regret it? No. They were awful places to work.

    I could blame immaturity or youth or twist my toes in the dirt and say how ashamed I am, but I’m not. I didn’t want to face another day of working there. I weighed the cons (including bad references and the shame of running into ex bosses) and decided, hey, I don’t want to go back there SO MUCH that I will risk it. It helped that I had another job lined up, waiting.

    I also saw how people who did give a notice were treated–and how badly people who had the nerve to leave were talked about (and blamed for mistakes) afterward. It help steer me towards the “Screw it!” attitude on the day I stopped showing up.

    1. Steve G*

      I’m curious for AAM’s stance on this. I did the same thing once. I worked in the Hamptons and there was literally only one road to get where I was going, and they stopped traffic to lift a boulder over the road. I was going to be 20 minutes late. That apparently caused a big uproar at my somewhat new job. Even my boss who was on vacation was texting me as to why I was late. I was so PO’d that they were making drama about this (mornings were very slow there and there were many other people working) and that my coworkers had nothing to do but text my boss about me, and also upset that my boss actually thought this was worth interrupting his vacation for. So I went in, got a sarcastic comment from one person, a nasty one from someone else who gave me a speech about how you need to show up on time no matter what (OK let me come a 1/2 hour early every day for the one in 20 year case when they are hauling a boulder across a road!) and I basically said, “you know what, all of this inconsequential BS is not for me, you can keep this job!”

      1. Anonymous*

        I don’t blame you for quitting, its not your fault the road is blocked.

        One time there was a really bad accident on the highway and I was two hours late, and everyone freaked out at me that ‘this is why you should be more responsible and leave yourself lots of extra time.’ Two hours extra? Everyday? No thanks.

  10. Friday Afternoon Anon*

    Confession: I emailed on a Friday night saying I wouldn’t be returning to the job on Monday morning. I was on the job two weeks. Not my proudest moment, but life goes on. I wouldn’t do it again, but I’d also be careful about vetting new jobs in the future. There were warning signs all over this two-week job that I refused to see at the time. Lesson learned.

    1. Anonymous*

      My job that I stopped showing up to, I thought things were sketchy during the interview but I took the job anyways. Never again!

  11. LD*

    I’m not seeing anyone question the OP about what exactly is happening at this organization that is so sketchy the OP feels the need to leave ASAP. Perhaps everything is exactly as the OP interprets, but I do believe we sometimes make assumptions about things we don’t understand. Just note all the questions here that start or end with some form of “Is this legal?” Just food for thought…

    1. Sourire*

      Definitely an interesting/fair point. I’m giving OP benefit of the doubt here for a couple of reasons. First, it is a month in, which is a fair amount of time in my opinion; it’s not as though she is making assumptions a few days in. Second, she is so uncomfortable there she wants to leave immediately. That throws up red flags to me. Misunderstandings, slightly questionable ethics or borderline sketchy behavior don’t generally have that effect on people. Most people who write in with the “Is it legal” type questions aren’t ready to quit over it.

      Sure, OP could be a special snowflake and who is blowing things out of proportion, but either way I think Alison’s advice here is sound. Regardless of the reason for leaving, it’s only been a month and OP doesn’t plan to use the job on the resume so the standard two week convention needn’t apply.

      1. Jordan*

        Your an asshole I have worked at a place where the boss is an abusive jerk I found another job and fully intend not to give notice he talks shot about people who quit anyways and he tells people to leave right away wen they give notice, when your boundaries have been violated for so long you just want out, my manager already told me if I need a reference in the future to contact him directly and he would give me a glowing reference.

  12. thenoiseinspace*

    OP, I applaud you for your confidence! I was in a similar situation, but as I had no other offers and was incredibly intimidated by my nightmare boss, I stayed, and kept telling myself that it would get better as soon as they got a contract and the money that came with it. Needless to say, they never got the contract (nobody would work with them) and it never got better. In the end, the company folded. I wish I’d had the strength to walk away sooner! Good for you – you won’t regret it!

  13. Lauren*

    Not sure if it’s appropriate to put a question of my own in the comments section, but I’m facing a situation where I am considering asking to leave without 2 weeks notice, and am wondering what others think of this.

    I have been working at a small solar company for about 4 months, on a commission only basis. The industry has been struggling recently with heavy regulation from the utility company, making it near impossible to make any sales. I have been job hunting and although I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch, I had a great interview a couple of days ago and am cautiously optimistic that they will make an offer. The director will be leaving on vacation the week of Thanksgiving and will make the decision before she leaves. She mentioned in the interview that because of the time frame she understands that people will need to give 2 weeks notice and will probably have to start the job while she’s on vacation.

    IF I’m made an offer, I’m thinking I may ask my bosses to leave effective immediately, at least after making sure my contacts are taken care of, so that I’d be able to jump on before the director leaves for vacation. Not only that, in our current industry situation we are so slow that I don’t really see the point in staying on for 2 more weeks without pay.

    If I were working for a base salary + commission, I feel like I’d have more obligation to give a proper notice, but since I’m not getting paid anyway…

    1. Anonymous*

      Not getting paid is more than enough reason to leave a job, and even a reason to leave without notice. If you get the other job, leave and don’t look back.

      1. Ruffingit*

        Agreed. This is a situation where it would make no sense to stay for two weeks as those two weeks are intended to wrap things up for the most part and not leave the employer hanging. In this case, there’s nothing to wrap up and you wouldn’t be paid for the time? Nope, leave immediately.

        1. Lauren*

          Thanks for the advice from both of you, I agree and it’s giving me the confidence to do just that (usually I wouldn’t think of leaving without the full 2 weeks unless they asked me to leave earlier). It’s unfortunate because I do like the company and it’s not their fault, the whole industry is suffering from what got dropped on us fairly recently. I don’t want to burn bridges but I also don’t think it makes sense to stay any longer since there’s no work to be done and no potential to get paid.

          1. AB*

            I think that if you present a folder with any information that may be useful for the transitioning, and offer to stay for 1-2 days (since you mentioned “after making sure my contacts are taken care of”), it should be easy to leave with a great reference without staying the 2 weeks. I think it would be better to offer to stay a day or two, though, rather than expect to leave “effective immediately”, even if there’s not much to do, just to give the company a chance to figure out if there’s anything (passwords, client contacts to follow up with, etc.) they need to be aware of.

            Also, if you get to leave sooner, make sure you explain to your new manager that your old company was fine with you not giving 2 weeks notice due to the lack of work. Otherwise, this could raise a concern for the manager that you might want to do the same thing (leaving without notice) in your new job, and that’s not the impression you want to give. Good luck!

    2. Steve G*

      I happen to work in energy (Demand response). I would quit immediately. It’s not going to help your resume if you made no sales. Yes, the regulations are getting crazy. Almost all of the sales reps at ESCOs, lighting companies, demand response, and consultantcy companies I know are at least partially salaried, some of them have high bases (I’ve seen anywhere from $35K-90K bases) so if I were you I’d have absolutely no qualms walking off if they couldn’t even pay you the minimum wage.

    3. Denise*

      Lauren, do you mind if I ask what this solar regulation is you’re talking about? I live in California, and in the past 2 weeks three people have told me they’re getting solar installed very soon, and just this morning workers showed up at the house across the street to install solar panels. I had just figured solar was now cheaper or easier to get?

      1. Lauren*

        This is in Hawaii, Oahu specifically. We have only one utility company on the island (HECO), and they are solely in charge of approving interconnection to their grid for PV installation. If you are not interconnected with HECO, you would need to install a back up battery system to store electricity from PV generation, which most customers do not want to consider at this point due to cost. We will have battery technology available for retail sale in a few months, which I think will be better sales-wise, but I can’t hang on financially until then.

        In September, HECO effectively halted all Net Energy Metering agreements pending an interconnection study, without notifying contractors or customers of a timeline when which this study would be complete. They asked all PV contractors (over 300 companies – it was a booming business until this) to stop installation until further studies could take place. Keep in mind that solar has been a fast growing industry for the past few years, and HECO has had quite a bit of time to foresee and address this problem (too much generated electricity being fed to the grid at once). Of course, they chose not to as customer generated electricity presents a huge threat to their business.

        Recently, they released new information to the effect that customers would have to wait a minimum of 85 business days to have their system approved, installed, and meter switched out. This is the best case scenario – in the worst case, customers would have to wait over 9 months for the whole process. I can’t wait that long to complete a sale! Plus, in areas with high amounts of PV, they are charging customers for equipment upgrades amounting to thousands of dollars. That’s enough to make many people walk away from the project altogether.

        Yes, you are right when you say that solar energy is easier – as in more people are interested in considering this path, and prices have dropped so that it’s not only for the wealthy to take advantage of. Since our electricity rates are so expensive in Hawaii ($0.35 per kWh), it makes sense that people would want to get PV. But HECO is now making it as difficult as possible for people to get it :(

    4. Chuchundra*

      I’m of the opinion that it’s not a job if you’re not getting paid.

      Since it doesn’t seem likely that you’ll make any sales/commissions after you give notice, they have no reasonable expectation that you should forgo paying work to for them for free.

  14. Victoria Nonprofit*

    I once left in the middle of a shift. I was 16 or 17, working at a ranch that took tourists on trail rides. I don’t remember everything that was wrong with that job, but here’s some of it:

    – They (illegally, I now know) didn’t pay me for “training.” Training involved shoveling shit (literally) in the barn; the job was supposed to be leading the rides.

    – They didn’t treat the horses well. It wasn’t abusive, and it didn’t make me want to call animal control, but it wasn’t the level of care that I’d been taught (and always used) with my own horses.

    – The managers (who were also 16 or 17) were rarely around (they were always out on trail rides) so there was never anyone available to answer questions, including questions from customers. When I decided to quit I waited for hours to find a manager to talk to. Eventually I gave up and just walked off the property. Nobody asked me what I was doing as I walked away and nobody ever called after I left.

    1. Ruffingit*

      Sadly they were probably used to people just up and leaving. That says more about them than anything about you in my mind.

  15. Stephen*

    One of my first jobs was a construction labour job that paid cash under the table. The second time payday rolled around they aere short on cash and told us to just hold off until the next day. Nine days in a row. Then I had a near-miss accident and could have hurt myself pretty badly (it was one of those places that they call you a pussy if you wear your hard hat) and was told it was my fault for not being careful. I believed that, being a dumb kid. The next day, someone else got hurt. The day after that, someone dropped a12 foot 2×8 on my boss’s head and knocked him out cold. No hard hat. When he woke up I was sitting in his office waiting to quit.

    And every day for a week and a half when he showed up for work at 7am I was already there looking for my money.

    1. Jamie*

      I know some others disagree, but for me I don’t care if you’ve been there for years and are critically important to the company if they aren’t meeting payroll your obligation to them dropped to zero. And on the other side of the table if I were interviewing someone who left a former job without giving notice I wouldn’t bat an eye of it were over lack of payroll.

      I’m working way though posts I missed and I saw there were a couple on deal breakers…the whole not getting paid properly on time is the one of the most valid deal breakers of all.

  16. MrsG*

    I gave a one week notice after working for 5 months in one job. I could tell the manager didn’t want me, especially when she started suggesting that another department director had just lost his secretary and that maybe I could move there. One day she approached me and asked me to flesh out the list of directions that the previous secretary had left and to write some other guides.

    I gave my notice while she was on vacation, and she said “oh good, I hope you find a place that’s a better fit for you.” further solidifying my suspicion that she was going to dump me, either on someone else or out the door entirely. The other manager kept insisting that it was illegal for me not to give two weeks notice, to which I replied that a two weeks notice was a courtesy, not a requirement.

    1. Sourire*

      Ha – it’s rare we see the baseless “this must be illegal” thing from the employer side (or at least on this blog it is – I’m sure there are many misinformed employers out there). Too funny. I’m curious what this manager thought the recourse against this “illegal” behavior was supposed to be? Chaining one against his will to his desk for two weeks? A fine or deduction from the last paycheck of some sort?

    1. Ask a Manager* Post author

      It’s a reason to search for a new job or to quit WITH notice if your finances allow to , but I wouldn’t say it’s a reason to quit without notice, not unless what’s being yelled at you is really abusive (name-calling, abusive language, etc.). You want to take the high road and be professional (give notice) unless it’s truly extreme.

      1. Anonymous*

        I wonder what proportion of managers would consider letting me stay even for one second if I even did something resembling yelling at them. I don’t remember a time when I’ve yelled at anyone, but why do I have the expectation of not leaving immediately when subjected to clearly unprofessional behavior? (As you can probably tell, I’m not someone who takes yelling very well.)

        1. Ask a Manager* Post author

          Hey, I think yelling is a deal-breakers and I’d leave a job over it. But professional convention is that you give notice, particularly if you want to preserve your reputation.

          If I was interviewing someone who told me they’d left without notice because their manager yelled at them, I’d wonder about whether they’d walk off the new job without notice too if someone spoke to them in a way they didn’t like … which happens at the best of companies, and which can be pretty subjective from person to person.

          Leave if you want, but it’s in your best interest to give notice.

          Not giving notice is for extreme situations, like when you’re not being paid, you’re being egregiously abused, or working conditions are unsafe.

  18. Vicki*

    “I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but I think today needs to be my last day.”

    I did this for a contact position. AFter I was laid off from LastJob, I interviewed for, and was offered, a contract position that I accepted. Within the first week, it became clear that the job was not really what had been described in either the job description or the interview. They weren’t clear about the parameters and I admit that I also didn’t ask the “right” questions (if I had even known to ask them t the time.)

    I finished the week, did a lot of thinking over the weekend, and tendered my resignation on Monday morning when the hiring manager got into the office. She didn’t ask for anything more than my badge and laptop. (In retrospect, that says a lot. She didn’t ask any questions or make any comments. Oh, and being the “hiring manager” I had seen her twice briefly during that previous week.)

    Not a good job. Cut your losses.

    1. aadams4*

      This same situation happened to me. The job I was previously at sold me a load of goods to get me hired and then changed everything once I accepted the position. It made me so mad. They were very disorganized and it felt that the purposefully lied to me to get me to accept the position.
      I know they say that giving a “2 weeks notice” is important- which I agree it is. If you are only there for a few weeks, I think a 48 hour notice is sufficient, especially if you do not plan on putting them on your resume/using them as a reference.

  19. FreeThinkerTX*

    The one job I quit without any notice other than a letter I left on my desk at the end of the day saying my resignation was effective immediately was an Executive Assistant position to the President of a software company. I’d been there 9 months or so, and his behavior was so egregious that he barely deserved that letter. Things like overt sexual harassment, doing lines of cocaine on his desk, tapping employees’ phones to try to find out who told his wife about his affairs [wha? hunh? Why did he think an employee told her??], keeping everyone’s frequent flier miles to use for his personal vacations, filing stripper and prostitute charges on his business expense report (which I know because I did them for him), etc., etc. Blech.

  20. britt*

    I recently relocated to a new city and of course started the processes of job hunting. To my surprise there is a great deal of opportunity. I started with a great leasing company and have only been working there for 2 weeks however it is only part time and the pay is not that great. I was just called back on another company which offerd me a full time position and a lot more pay wise. I do not know what to seeing as I have built such great relationships with my co-workers.. However I really need the hours and the pay which they cannot offer me. Should I resign effectively? Or explain to them why I’m leaving so suddenly?

  21. shoo shoo*

    I am 7 months pregnant with my second child, just started a job at a retail store. Due to my medical issues it is recommended that i take it easy and quit that job. I also need to quit asap. When should i set my last day for?

  22. 20ba79*

    Worked for a e-commerce business, the ownertook a fancy to me and I thought it was time to leave. I was the office manager, call center manager and guru of all other work related things in the office. Once I found a more professional place of employment I gave my two weeks. When I did he actually was tearful. I regretted giving notice at all. For the next two weeks I was ignored to the extend the owner couldn’t even make eye contact with me. On his side it was like morning the end of a relationship. I was amazed by his reaction because I had NO feelings toward him, NOR was their ever anything inappropriate. The entire two weeks was a waste of my time.

    sincerely blown away by ignorance

  23. aadams4*

    I feel so bad. I started working at this job ( which I was only at for 1 week). The job promised me a certain schedule and promised me 20 hours a week. Once I was hired, they changed the house and decreased my hours to 16 hours. It made me so mad, because they told me one thing so I would accept the job, and then changed everything after I was hired. I got so mad, that I quit. The job was 25 min away from my house, and I didn’t think that it was work the drive for only 16 hours a week.

  24. mac*

    I have only worked at my job for 15 days. The boss has called me in 4 times about in complete work and saying I didn’t do a schedule right. I was never trained properly and I have worked almost half that time in the office alone. While the boss is away he is texting another person in the same office and it appears like they are talk about me. Then I hear a laugh and my phone ring and he is asking me what I am doing. I have complained about the employee to the boss before and now they are talking about me. Should I just quit or give notice?

  25. jade pilkington*

    Ive been working 2 weeks for a company. My contract states that in the probation period I should give a weeks notice. Do I have to?! I start a new job next week and cant stand where I am now. Other people in my job throughout the probation period havr just left without notice?! Help?!

  26. jordan*

    I am about to be a no call no show tomorrow morning Monday 9/8/14 after my 2 weeks of employment at a company that hired me to operate equipment they thought I was trained well enough on to operate but yet I don’t feel safe or comfortable operating it because even know I got experience operating the same type of equipment, the machines they run to convert paper and other coated products is so old (made back in the 40s) that during the first few days of my employment I couldn’t even perform or get trained on it because maintenance was trying to fix it. Plus at the rate of pay I am getting to run this (only 12/hr) without future benefits like insurance, vacation, holiday pay, etc I don’t really feel I am losing much if anything. I even got there number blocked on my cell phone if they call it will automatically disconnect the call. So sick of them after the first 2 weeks I dont need money that bad that I got to operate equipment by myself that I haven’t even gotten the chance to be fully trained on yet, they owe me no notice if they decide to fire me, I owe them no notice if I decide to resign from them. And since its withen the first 30 days it shouldn’t affect my eligibility for future unemployment here in Wisconsin since I have already established a benefit year if I need to file a weekly claim in the near future, but I got 3 interviews already today for better paying jobs and no huge financial responsibilities to lose on I figure why not screw it, I quit!

  27. GG*

    I interviewed for a position on Monday morning, was offered the job, and put in my notice that day that I would finish out the week. This new part time job has better hours and is closer to home to suit my kids’ schedule. I was covering someone’s maternity leave until Nov. The supervisor wrote me an annoyed email that I should give further notice. This job was awful! No training, no space to do my therapy with students, no computer access, a lot of tasks that needed to be done without the resources to get them done, and the most frantic stressed coworkers I’ve ever worked with! I was spread way too thin to cover three schools as their therapist. I started losing sleep, having panic attacks, losing weight, and felt like I was in a fog from the chaos of covering too much. In the past, I’ve always given at least a month notice. Not this time. I felt constantly paranoid that I was making huge mistakes due to lack of training and resources. So glad to be OUT OF THERE!!!!

    If a job is causing you undue stress and exhaustion, you put you first! We are not slaves, and in a few days or weeks, they will have forgotten you even existed.

  28. No 2 weeks notice*

    I was offered a better job close to where I live, they have better pay and really good benefits. After interviewing me, they gave me an orientation the day after and during the orientation they have given me my work schedule for the week ahead as well. I was overwhelmed due to the fact that everything happened so fast but I took the opportunity right away and told them that I would be able to work for those days.

    The problem for me is I have another job (NOTE: both these jobs that I have are just part-time since I am only 17 years old) and I have to go to this job 2 days after my orientation at the other job stated above. So I consulted my friends, family, and some of my co-workers and I have decided to just quit this job. I talked to my supervisor and told her that today would be my last day, I told her the truth- everything because I felt like lying would just backfire at me. She was very calm and I think she accepted it. I’m relieved because this is my first job ever and I think that I handled it pretty well even though I did not have a 2 weeks notice just like what everyone is telling me to do.

    Even though everything went by too fast, I couldn’t handle it because of the stress that I was facing. I just told myself “whatever, you’ll be able to recover and just do it”.

  29. rachel jacques*

    I have been in a job since June and have wanted to get out for the past month am being treated like a door matt the supervisor talks to you like dirt and expect you to do all the work all I have filled out is an application forms don’t even know if i have a contract how much notice do I have to give as I have been offered another job which starts monday

  30. Sick and Stressed*

    I am about to quit my new job. Have only been there for 2 weeks and am getting NO training. I’m stressed, losing sleep, not eating. I had a gut feeling not to take this job and I should have listened. Not to mention, I feel there is something really wrong going on there.

  31. Sick and Stressed*

    after this past Friday, I’m not going back and all they will get is an email. Wrong? yep it probably is wrong for me to quit that way but they lied to me in the interview.

  32. bri*

    I own a company and I took this extra side job to make extra income during slow season. I’ve only been at the new job 1 week and the hours are about 25-30 for the week when I was told a set 17. My business partner is overwhelmed with work from the business already. The employer won’t let me leave until I finish my work for the day, when I was originally told I had set hours. I was only trained partially for one day. The employer requires 1 month notice. I feel like I would be in over my head with 2 weeks working there and balancing my business. Should I give 2 weeks notice and ask for set hours outside of my business hours, or should I resign immediately? As a side note, I live in a small town. Also, my business partner is leaving for a 2 week trip in 1 week, and we have a huge business deadline in 1 month.

  33. dale*

    Hi there I signed a contract 3 weeks ago saying I must give a month’s notice but I’ve been offered a job and they want me to start next week so I’m gonna give a week notice where do I stand thnks

  34. Kidd*

    I’ve been at my job for about 19 months, I know it’s not the same but I really want to quit. To tell you the truth I should’ve quit before the trial period 6 months but one day going into work lead to another and before you know it 19 months past. I have that problem of staying at a job that is not the right fit for me for too long. The longer you stay the harder it is to quit. I’m planning on quitting in about 3 months. I wish I could walk out but I’ll put in my notice even without a job lined up. I’m miserable here.

  35. Anna*

    I have just started a job at a fast food place (about 3 weeks now). I am in a tight financial situation and was told hours were easy to come by since I wanted to work days and weekends and that’s what they needed. The first week I only got 20 hours which they said was normal during training. I have had to pick up shifts to get to 35 and worked plenty of nights until almost 2am. I was also told that starting pay was a little low but could be cross trained for a raise. Asked about being cross trained but they said they are currently training too many people and come to find out it’s a 10 cent raise per hour. I was offered an amazing job only days, no weekends, and overall much nicer with much higher pay. I tried to discuss it with the manager and hinted that since I was new I expected they wouldn’t want to keep me long. It was difficult because the main manager is almost never there so I have seen him twice and made small talk. He became extremely upset and started to walk away from me when I was explaining my situation and trying to discuss my last day. He ended the conversation by saying they hold me responsible for my shifts and expect me to be there the next two weeks. He then walked away. Later he sent me a message over the website that just said I would have a meeting with all the managers next week. I feel so uncomfortable and don’t really know anyone well enough to know what to expect. Everyone tells me to not show up and I have never done that but don’t know how to handle this situation. HELP

    1. Kidd*

      You have every right to quit at anytime with/without notice if you live in AT-WILL state. Why would he have a meeting with the managers? People quit all the time. It’s really up to you if you want to show up but don’t let them bully you around. If it gets that bad don’t show up anymore and ignore their calls and if they presist than call the police and report them to the Labor Board and anyone else.

      1. Anna*

        I do live in an at will state. Seemed really nice here at first but was completely shocked how he reacted. Especially since I don’t know him

        1. Cris*

          You owe the management nothing, especially after experiencing his reaction. Any more time spent at that job will probably be a miserable experience. They were also not forthcoming when it came to your expectations.

          If it were me, I’d exit stage left without a second thought! Lol.
          Hope it all works out.

  36. Beth*

    So I just started this job at a local waterpark about a week ago. Originally I applied to be a lifeguard but seeing as all the positions were taken they moved me into groups which deals with events at the park and cabana rentals and so on and so forth. I stay locked in an office all day with no one to talk to as I stare at the computer screen and wait for either a customer or for my supervisor to bark out an order and make me feel incompetent. I’m 17 and this is my last summer as a high schooler since I will be a senior this upcoming year. I feel that I am getting no time to enjoy myself. This park has me working almost everyday from 9 in the morning to 6 or 7 at night, not to mention the stress of having to add events and complicated orders into ticketing the stress of the hours are affecting me as well. I live a good 30-40 minutes away from the job and I absolutely dread going. I cry every night and wake up with no motivation to do anything. They had only one girl working before I joined with them but I feel that the job doesn’t require more than her and the supervisor. I would love to just quit but I can’t until I hear word back from another job I recently applied for. I have the next two days off but I really really really really really DO NOT want to return on Friday and work through the July 4th weekend. How can I politely resign without having to work another day?

  37. randie*

    I never put in a written 2 weeks notice. My boyfriend and I are buying a house and my last day was supposed to be my closing date and knowing that could change anytime I never out in a two weeks notice I just told them it could be my last day and of course the closing got pushed back a again so I told my employer and she says that I don’t have a choice my last day has to be the 13th. Doesn’t she have to fire me then she can’t take away my hours with out firing me since I didn’t put in a 2 weeks I just said I thought that would be the day depending on if the house closed on schedule? Is there anything I can do or anyone I can call?

    1. fposte*

      randie, it sounds like your statement was taken as a resignation and your boss accepted it. That’s legal. It’s nice when an employer can be flexible, but it’s pretty common for them to need an official last date and to stick to it.

Comments are closed.