Quitting in disgust

April 5, 2004

Rafe: Quitting in disgust

"I can't wait until the day when I have enough money in the bank to quit a job in disgust. I've toiled for my entire career in a near constant state of disgust about this or that and never had the financial freedom to tell my bosses to take this job and shove it. It's disappointing."

You don't have to be financially secure to quit a job in disgust... I've done it twice, and I wasn't financially secure either time.

Granted, once it was because I was disgusted with my salary and I immediately moved to a higher paying job, but the other time I left myself unemployed and scrambling for work. I was in a situation where I was asked to do something I felt was unethical, and rather than harm my integrity, reputation and conscience, I quit the job. It severely screwed my family financially (we're still digging out of that mess actually), but it was the right thing to do and I don't regret it at all.

Nothing I control is worth more than my integrity and I'll sacrifice a lot to protect it.

I'm not suggesting that Rafe quit his job... heck if I quit my job every time I was "disgusted" at something going on at work I would have stopped looking for new jobs ages ago. But sometimes, the level of disgust necessitates a change regardless of the consequences.