Reason for leaving? ____________ (a job)

[Star]

I do a lot of job hunting, because I just can't seem to hold a damned job. I think this is an INTP trait -- we're known for making a lot of career changes, aren't we?

One thing that always amuses me is the "Reason for leaving?" field on job applications. Of course I always lie, but it's fun to think what the recruiter's reaction might be if I actually told the truth. The truth of it is, my reasons for leaving are usually just plain crazy. Here are a few of my recent reasons for leaving.

1. Very, very large international company had an all-hands meeting planned, where they were going to introduce me by displaying my photograph on theater-sized screens to thousands of people all over the world. No thank you!

1a. Paralyzing crush on co-worker.

2. Company chose to have "Take our children to work day" instead of "Take our daughters to work day." I put up a few protest posters and walked out, forever.

2a. I was planning to quit, anyway. This was just a way to go out with a bang.

3. Fired! My (healthy) paranoia about network security seemed to have the boss convinced that I was some black-hat hacker. I was surprised at my workstation by security, forced to log off all systems, and shown the door!

4. Sex scandal! My best friend and constant companion at family-values oriented university was a lesbian, and we named an expensive computer system after an infamous lesbian. Fundies were shocked and outraged, part-time preacher boss included.

Anyone else have crazy reasons for leaving jobs? Or am I the only nutcase? :D

[Sir Isaac Lime]

Because they would have just fired me anyways

Thats my reason for leaving every job

[garak]

2. Company chose to have "Take our children to work day" instead of "Take our daughters to work day." I put up a few protest posters and walked out, forever.
?!?! So going from favoring females to neutrality is bad, but going from favoring males to neutrality is good?

Hm.. I worked at a telemarketing place for 2 years and was nearly losing my mind. I just up and quit because I felt like it.

I semi-quit a job because my ENTP boss drove me insane.

I think those are the only reasons other than just finding a new job.

[s0978]

Hmm, well, I'll just list reasons for leaving all jobs I've held longer than a year:
(acronyms for personal reference only)

1) K '89-'91: got sick of it.
2) CPC '92-'94: got into grad school
3) WCS '99-'01: got sick of it.
4) IDC '00-'02: got sick of it.
5) CFA '01-'03: got sick of it.

Well, what do you know, seems like my limit is 2 years before I get sick of it. :(

[nihilist]

Job changes are healthy as I can imagine INTPs getting tired of the same annoying people and tasks in the workplace.

[Hypnos]

Hmm, well, I'll just list reasons for leaving all jobs I've held longer than a year:
(acronyms for personal reference only)

1) K '89-'91: got sick of it.
2) CPC '92-'94: got into grad school
3) WCS '99-'01: got sick of it.
4) IDC '00-'02: got sick of it.
5) CFA '01-'03: got sick of it.

Well, what do you know, seems like my limit is 2 years before I get sick of it. :(
I sympathize. What, no attention-whoring, fireable antics like deepsky? :devil:

[Star]

?!?! So going from favoring females to neutrality is bad, but going from favoring males to neutrality is good?

Whoa, this is crazy. The Ms. Foundation itself has changed it to "Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day", as of last year. It was on their website that I found the very posters that I put up at that old job. The argument was that girls needed special encouragement, and it's nowhere to be found now.

Sell-outs! :rant:

[coffeezombie]

Yeah, I have just gotten "sick of" jobs too. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just sick of the idea of having to work for another person besides myself.

[Star]

I sympathize. What, no attention-whoring, fireable antics like deepsky? :devil:

Sorry. Next time I'll just post a poll with no text!
:laser:

[garak]

Whoa, this is crazy. The Ms. Foundation itself has changed it to "Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day", as of last year. It was on their website that I found the very posters that I put up at that old job. The argument was that girls needed special encouragement, and it's nowhere to be found now.

Sell-outs! :rant:
So you are for special treatment, not equality.

[Hypnos]

Sorry. Next time I'll just post a poll with no text!
:laser:
You're cute when you pout. :smooch:

[nihilist]

The argument was that girls needed special encouragement, and it's nowhere to be found now.


So now you are patronizing and thus already undermining the ability of girls.

[Star]

So now you are patronizing already undermining the ability of girls.

Run-on sentence; I can't make sense of it. Please do use proper English if you want to fight with me. Thanks.

[Miss Anthropic]

I do a lot of job hunting, because I just can't seem to hold a damned job. I think this is an INTP trait -- we're known for making a lot of career changes, aren't we?

One thing that always amuses me is the "Reason for leaving?" field on job applications. Of course I always lie, but it's fun to think what the recruiter's reaction might be if I actually told the truth. The truth of it is, my reasons for leaving are usually just plain crazy. Here are a few of my recent reasons for leaving.

1. Very, very large international company had an all-hands meeting planned, where they were going to introduce me by displaying my photograph on theater-sized screens to thousands of people all over the world. No thank you!

1a. Paralyzing crush on co-worker.

2. Company chose to have "Take our children to work day" instead of "Take our daughters to work day." I put up a few protest posters and walked out, forever.

2a. I was planning to quit, anyway. This was just a way to go out with a bang.

3. Fired! My (healthy) paranoia about network security seemed to have the boss convinced that I was some black-hat hacker. I was surprised at my workstation by security, forced to log off all systems, and shown the door!

4. Sex scandal! My best friend and constant companion at family-values oriented university was a lesbian, and we named an expensive computer system after an infamous lesbian. Fundies were shocked and outraged, part-time preacher boss included.

Anyone else have crazy reasons for leaving jobs? Or am I the only nutcase? :D

WOW! You have totally amazing out-of-the-ordinary, but really cool reasons for quitting.
My usual reason: 1. I'm bored
My last reason: 2. I'm injured (besides being bored and bitter because they wouldn't transfer me to a different department)

[Miss Anthropic]

So now you are patronizing already undermining the ability of girls.
No, she is not. Girls do better academically in an all girl school setting from the age of middle school on. They are less self-conscious and able to be more competetive without being around boys through those difficult years when it is critical to develop self-confidence. The take your daughter to work day was a way to encourage girls in some non-traditional (as well as traditional) work settings. Boys don't really need that same sort of experience because they grow up knowing they can be an engineer, or an electrician, or physicist or whatever. At least now there are more women going into medicine. So its really not an equality issue. Boys and girls have different needs at different ages, and take your daughter to work day was to fullfil a need.....now the "equalizers" have taken it over.

[nihilist]

Run-on sentence; I can't make sense of it. Please do use proper English if you want to fight with me. Thanks.

Sorry, it was my mistake. I had assumed you were perceptive to the degree where you can comprehend a lucid idea with a possible fragmented syntax.
Grammatically, the message below still doesn't constitute a proper sentence, but I sincerely hope that you do understand the point.


The argument was that girls needed special encouragement, and it's nowhere to be found now.

Improved Message:
So now you are patronizing therefore already undermining the ability of girls.

[Serotonin]

4. Sex scandal! My best friend and constant companion at family-values oriented university was a lesbian, and we named an expensive computer system after an infamous lesbian. Fundies were shocked and outraged, part-time preacher boss included.


If you were in Australia you could have sued them for unfair dismissal on those grounds.

[nihilist]

....now the "equalizers" have taken it over.
I would find equality much more comforting as opposed to being treated as a handicap.

[Miss Anthropic]

Since you are a male, I guess you don't know what it is like to be a young girl!

[Hypnos]

Since you are a male, I guess you don't know what it is like to be a young girl!
What does that have to do with anything? Pity is a weak argument for special treatment.

I grant that talented women should be encouraged (perhaps especially so), but only because they have something to offer.

[Miss Anthropic]

What does that have to do with anything? Pity is a weak argument for special treatment.

I grant that talented women should be encouraged (perhaps especially so), but only because they have something to offer.
Its about exposure to workplaces they might not experience otherwise. It has nothing to do with pity! It has to do with possibilities that are already assumed for boys. We aren't talking about setting them up with jobs!

[mgb]

Sorry, it was my mistake. I had assumed you were perceptive to the degree where you can comprehend a lucid idea with a possible fragmented syntax.
Grammatically, the message below still doesn't constitute a proper sentence, but I sincerely hope that you do understand the point.


Improved Message:
So now you are patronizing therefore already undermining the ability of girls.

She's right. It was hard to understand. Hardly lucid at all.

Try this:

So now you are being patronizing and undermining the abilities of girls.

[mgb]

As for the bringing daughters to work debate, a better idea would be to have "Bring your daughter to work" and "Bring your son to work" on different days.

To be honest, that was always the worst day. What could be more boring for a kid than sitting in a goddamned office for a whole day watching one of your parents work when you could be outside?

[Hypnos]

Its about exposure to workplaces they might not experience otherwise. It has nothing to do with pity! It has to do with possibilities that are already assumed for boys. We aren't talking about setting them up with jobs!
Is your thesis that because girls don't have female scientists, etc. to look up to, they feel that they can't do it?

There aren't any Indian players in the NFL -- this has nothing to do with why I think I can't do it. What does curry have to do with tackling?

In this case, what do vaginas (or femininity in general) have to do with professional ability? It's a fact that women are underrepresented in many professionals, but it's a complex question why. Ham-handed efforts like "Bring your daughter to work day" are pathetic.

[Star]

Eileen has gone on at great length explaining the difference between equality and equity; I have posted links to texts by Martin Luther King, Jr and others explaining the same thing; others, including Miss Anthropic and s0523, have taken time out of their lives, repeatedly, to explain this and you still try to start the argument all over again.

If you need the stimulation, go read the old threads. A subject search on gender, race, equality, equity, or feminism should give you plenty to wank over.

This thread is supposed to be about getting fired or quitting your job.

Anyone else have stories? =)

[Geoff]

I seem to have lost track of this thread.

On the discrimination point, I am simply amazed that anywhere in the world would have a "Bring your daughter to work day" which is why i was confused to read that you quit because it became an equality. I work an office that is predominantly women, so it seemed a little strange!

I've never heard of a day like that, anyway. I find it odd that while you are not allowed (in the UK at least) to discrimate on the grounds of gender except for in very extreme situations (eg toilet attendants) that positive discrimination is somehow OK. I find it all bizarre and self perpetuating. Remove barriers positively, not add new ones to the dominant groupings. Ah well, enough of that.

We have work experience for, say, 14 year olds.. quite often someone in my office will bring their son or daughter in for a few days on that. They seem to quite like it - the feedback is that they didnt expect that adults had fun, they expected it to be dull and serious. As if...

On the job front I have been in the current one since 1996, so I may be an oddity in the INTP world - seems that way anyway.... I left the last one because they wouldnt pay for me to do my professional exams (mainly).. which isnt very exciting at all!

-Geoff

[Stem]

2000: Fired. Reason: Boss found me in the drink cooler sleeping, when i was supposed to be stocking.

2001: Realized that my uncle was paying me like an illegal mexican.

2003: Asst. Supervisor asks me to fix his computer for some money, touches my genitals on the way home. Turned in shirt the next day.

[s0978]

2003: Asst. Supervisor asks me to fix his computer for some money, touches my genitals on the way home. Turned in shirt the next day.

:shock: Oh MAN that is sooo FUCKED UP...

[Geoff]

2003: Asst. Supervisor asks me to fix his computer for some money, touches my genitals on the way home. Turned in shirt the next day.

Problems with the hard drive was there?

-Geoff

[Boneca]

Hm...reasons for quitting that I can think of:

-didn't get a long with the boss
-was offered job with better money (twice)
-I wanted to move country (three times)
-I was sick of the job

I move around too much.

[waxwing]

I've never held a job for longer than a year until my current job. Well, actually I've held the current job but have transferred, so it's actually a change of scenery/people/job description. Anyway...

Reasons for leaving / contemplating leaving?
1. Bored. Always either thoroughly bored, or anticipating soon becoming bored.
2. I just want to find a job without structure.
3. I want to make my own schedule.
4. I want to be intellectually stimulated.
5. I get sick of the drama.
6. I hate the gossip.
7. No, I did not have sex with him in the office!
7. I'm just gonna move to a faraway place and figure out the job part later. Mm-hm.
8. Restlessness. I can't sit still, let alone stay at one job
9. dreaming about better jobs, the anti "American Dream"
10. I can't explain it. How bout I just give you a reason to fire me? Is that a challenge?

[Hypnos]

If you need the stimulation, go read the old threads. A subject search on gender, race, equality, equity, or feminism should give you plenty to wank over.

a) Who died and made you moderator? Oh no, file cabinet is dead! :ph34r: In any event, if the discussion (based on one of your reasons for quitting a job) crops up here, so be it -- this isn't a tech support forum.

b) I have read those threads, and found the "traditional" progressive stance to be unconvincing. Equality is too-often mistaken for equity in the leftist dogma, and the economic arguments in favor of institutionalized equity require a certain nuance absent in those discussions. That you would be so convinced of the correctness of Eileen, et al. on these issues, such that you would direct me there for reference, is amusing.

:hello:

[s0978]

What a dick.

[Dman]

What a dick.

Why? He's just looking for a debate.

As for why leaving jobs, mine are really pretty boring but I like to talk about myself and pretend you all care so here goes -

1) Disrespected – was first employee to arrive and begin working (hours earlier than others), and was denied a break until after all other employees had their breaks. Why? The others complained more. When I finally got my break, walked out and went home.

2) Had saved enough money to quit and go to school full time (ahh, the good old days). They didn’t believe me when I put in my two weeks notice (seriously), and called me a week after I quit to ask why I wasn’t coming in to work.

3) Unofficially “demoted”, under the pretense that I was being “promoted” to additional responsibilities (like sitting at the front desk and answering phone calls – I was an accounting assistant at a CPA firm). When I called them on it and said it was BS, they argued with me and insisted it would further my career and was great experience, and denied my reasons for quitting – I had to finally make up a story that I was having personal problems in order for them to accept why I was quitting. “I’m glad you were strong enough to admit that” was the response. I guess it was easier for them to admit they made a mistake if I blamed myself.

4) Found job that paid more.

5) My last job was sort of a similar deal to 3) but at a higher level – I had streamlined my duties and made my accounting department so much more efficient that when I told the CEO I was bored and needed a challenge he began assigning me duties like cleaning the printer room and making sure the water cooler bottles were stored in a convenient place, among other wonderful projects for the budding MBA student who had been there for 4 years. I told him it was a slap in the face for what I had done for the company, and he told me with a straight face that he thought the additional duties he gave me was a testament to how much he appreciated me and I should take it as a compliment. “If you want a job done well, give it to the person who does a good job”. He said I should work in a larger corporation if I wanted a challenge without doing mundane work outside of my area of expertise. So I found one and put in my two weeks. He never spoke to me again.

Is that the biggest bunch of crap or what? You do such a great job, that instead of promoting you, they want you to do more lower level tasks? That’s twice that’s happened to me out of my last 4 jobs. Is it an INTP thing? I guess it goes back to the whole political thing. It doesn’t matter how good you are if you aren’t in the political loop, playing the people games.

6) Fired for spending too much time posting on internet forums even though I was still excelling at my job. Oh, wait, that hasn’t happened…yet…


Whoa, this post got way too detailed & long. Oh well, I'm sure everyone was fascinated by it - in fact your IQ probably increased by 3.2 points just from reading it.

[Geoff]

5) My last job was sort of a similar deal to 3) but at a higher level – I had streamlined my duties and made my accounting department so much more efficient that when I told the CEO I was bored and needed a challenge he began assigning me duties like cleaning the printer room and making sure the water cooler bottles were stored in a convenient place, among other wonderful projects for the budding MBA student who had been there for 4 years. I told him it was a slap in the face for what I had done for the company, and he told me with a straight face that he thought the additional duties he gave me was a testament to how much he appreciated me and I should take it as a compliment. “If you want a job done well, give it to the person who does a good job”. He said I should work in a larger corporation if I wanted a challenge without doing mundane work outside of my area of expertise. So I found one and put in my two weeks. He never spoke to me again.

Is that the biggest bunch of crap or what? You do such a great job, that instead of promoting you, they want you to do more lower level tasks? That’s twice that’s happened to me out of my last 4 jobs. Is it an INTP thing? I guess it goes back to the whole political thing. It doesn’t matter how good you are if you aren’t in the political loop, playing the people games.


Whoa, this post got way too detailed & long. Oh well, I'm sure everyone was fascinated by it - in fact your IQ probably increased by 3.2 points just from reading it.

After 4 years? Dude, you needed to be out of there way before then! If they are still talking water coolers after that long you should have been way gone.

3.2 points? I only read it enough to gain about 1. Law of diminishing returns, anyway.

-Geoff

[Dman]

After 4 years? Dude, you needed to be out of there way before then! If they are still talking water coolers after that long you should have been way gone.

3.2 points? I only read it enough to gain about 1. Law of diminishing returns, anyway.

-Geoff

Sadly, I had been looking for another job after being there for 2 years. Employment prospects aren't too good here in Oregon these days. I was also right in the middle of my MBA program, and a lot of companies didn't want to pick me up & foot the tuition bill until I was done.

If you only gained 1 point, you need to re-read it a few more times.

[Hypnos]

What a dick.
Ad hominem is always convincing. Wait, are you one of my exes? ;P

[Apostasius]

Hrm... reasons for leaving... Oh wait, I haven't left yet. In fact, I have been doing the same crap for 6.5 years. Thanks for reminding me--my frustration and ennui were wavering. <grumble grumble>

[kafkaesque]

reasons for leaving:

Tried unsuccesfully to convince my boss that a 350 MHz processor running OS 9.2 was not 'industry standard' for an advertising production department in 2005.

quit my day job to be a full time artist. :rofl:

seriously though, as soon as I sell a painting....I am out of there.

[kuranes]

reasons for leaving:

Tried unsuccesfully to convince my boss that a 350 MHz processor running OS 9.2 was not 'industry standard' for an advertising production department in 2005.

quit my day job to be a full time artist. :rofl:

seriously though, as soon as I sell a painting....I am out of there.
Interesting how on the job application, the space devoted to "address of elementary school" and other bullshit is fairly large, while the space for explaining why you left is usually so small there's not much room there to write anything besides "fired" or "quit" or maybe "laid off".

I usually try to either segue gracefully into the next gig or get snarky.

Some of these places are so micro-managed that you can't get away to even HAVE an interview elsewhere. How many times can you get away calling in sick? Before the age of cellphones it was difficult to try and contact a decision maker by phone. Call from a payphone during lunch hour? Guess what? It's THEIR ( the person you're calling ) lunch hour too! Instead you get an answering machine, where they ask for a number to call you back on. Again, in the old days before cell you couldn't give your home phone out at that time, because they only returned calls during 9 to 5 hours when you're NOT home! You might use up a valuable sick day just making calls to HR bozos, and trying to ARRANGE for an interview, let alone GO to one. Then they call your current job for a reference, or ask if they can. It reminds me of a book about a crook that was forced to work for the FBI as a double cross guy. He finally started to get with the program and attempt to do what they were asking, but the agents kept doing stupid things like they WANTED the operation to fail. Having him call them up during a drug deal to advise them of current status etc.

So what was the snarky way? Make mistakes that someone else ordered done, which you knew were stupid, and would cause problems. Instead of the usual INTP thing where you do what you know works, and seek forgiveness vs. permission later, actually DO the stupid things you were told to do, and let the thing fail. Various other similar maneuvers where you're not actually telling somebody they're an idiot or giving them the finger. Just . . . . . . . . . . an attitude problem. Eventually they will show you the door offering some lame euphemism, and this way you can collect unemployment, vs. being fired "for good cause."

K

[athman]

Reasons for leaving = bored, mostly
1. Rejected - really wanted to be a cop, passed entrance exam and psych test - then rejected - i didn't grow the extra 1/4 inch i needed to grow
2. Bored - had menial job loading furniture trucks
3. Bored - had menial sales job in local hardware store - went to university
4. Bored - joined global mega IT company for 6 yrs, was on a career fast-track but eventually none of the jobs higher up interested me - went back to university to do masters degree and then work for myself in consulting
5. Illness - did well on my own for 5 yrs but then family medical problems struck, went to hide out in a big global accounting firm
6. Bored - Recovered, got bored in big firm, got talked into joining a start-up IT company.
7. Illness- Didn't like hiring and managing 30 people (in fact, hated it and was crap at it), had health problems and needed a rest.
8. Bored - Went to hide out in a big global accounting firm (again) then recovered, gathered strength, went back out on my own.
9. Semi-bored on my own but hanging in there - actively looking to make the transition into something to do with IT and medical research (or at least thats this week's idea)

All this isn't neccesarily something to crow about - I would have done better career wise and financially if it had stayed in the same place for a while - but, I just can't do it, when i'm bored i don't do a good job, so i leave before the inevitable happens and console myself that at least i've had an interesting time.

Along the way have also
owned a resturant with my wife - sold it, got tired with routine day-to-day crap and there's better ways to make money
university lecturer in mba schools - liked it, did it 5 yrs part time, the school was taken over by dull traditional academic types, so i left