Quit my job so I can go to school full time

I’ve been gainfully employed for 14 yrs. at various places, hoping and waiting for the right employer to help me out with financial aid in the form of tuition reimbursement. At my first job (4 yrs.) they were privately owned and did not offer any assistance. My second and third jobs were only 1 year stints and did not last long enough to take advantage of the benefits (first was a temp job, second I was laid off – well my whole department was – during the last “recession” in 2001). I was unemployed for the better part a year after that…

Then I started at this small market research firm (30+ employees) in July of 2002. I was just turning 26 and had very high hopes. I stayed with the company (am still working for them currently – age 32), and slowly climbed what little ladder there was to climb. As Manager of Creative Services, I approached my CEO about helping me pay for online night courses to help further my career. He was supportive at first but then refused to help with finances. Thought I should go for it but wasn’t prepared to offer this assistance across the board so I was on my own. What I should’ve said to him at that point was “Everyone who works here already has their degrees! You’d be safe in offering this benefit because I’m the only one that would take advantage of it.” Clearly it was irrelevant because he had made up his mind.

So now that you have the background, let me give you the latest and greatest as to this major decision I’ve made…

At the end of every year the company gives out major end of year bonuses. This past year we got NADA – with NO warning. There goes nearly 20% of my yearly earnings out the window. Then they laid off 5 people in early Jan. So that brings us to last week – they laid off 7 more people and forced one more into retirement – leaving us with a grand total of 22 employees (only 3 females, btw). They let my entire department go – except for me (thankful for small favors I suppose) – so I’m now doing the work of 3 people. Additionally they’ve cut our salaries by 10% indefinitely. So in the last 2 years I’ve had a salary decrease of over 15%.

Since I’ve hit the ceiling here, they’re not willing to help me advance my skills, I don’t have a degree, we’re in a recession, there are no jobs for those who have massively better credentials than me, oh and did I mention that I’m single? Yeah – so to boot I’m going through this as a single professional woman trying to make ends meet.

THIS IS NOT WHAT I HAD PLANNED FOR MYSELF. So now’s the time to change it. I’m officially taking control of my life and making CHANGES. Major ones. Quit work and go to school is one of the highest priorities.

Thanks for reading and giving me the time to vent. Very cathartic for me…

Hopefully this item will be checked off come mid-August 2009. Stay tuned.

I’m having a hard time actually “quitting.” I’m thinking I want to get my sick time paid to me. I can’t actually do this without a sick note. Classes have begun and I don’t plan on returning to werk while classes are in session. I’ve put in for vacation time so as to use it all up, I’ve also put in for personal time off so as to use it all up. Now I just need a doctor’s note and I plan on calling in on a favor. Yay! Although all this clandestine fooling around has me really anxious and I feel a depressive episode coming on. I’m sleeping a lot and can’t seem to focus well at the moment.

Sooo things are still going well, but I’ve decided to extend my sentence at werk for one more week. This is mostly because my supervisor will be on vacation. I’ll take advantage of his absence wrap up a few things at werk, get paid, and go to class. Oh yeah, I got approved for my student loan.

15 more werk days. I call it werk these days. Aaaaaah!!! I can’t wait. It’s almost as if my supervisor knows about it because he’s being a super douchebag towards me. He’s so evil! he marked me as an unauthorized absence for 2 days I didn’t call in because he told me I couldn’t come in until I had a doctor’s note. My MD didn’t have an availability for a few days and I told him this. needless to say I now have an unauthorized leave on my werk record And didn’t get paid which launched a whole chain reaction of payroll crap and my check ended up being $485 now I have to find $ somewhere for rent. 15 more days, 15 more days, 15 more days. sigh!

I’m deciding how exactly I’m going to deplete my benefits before I leave my job. Theres a bunch of partial sick time that i’ve earned, however, I can’t use it unless I have a doctor’s note. Doctor schmockter! I’m laying the ground work with my doctors to be stressed enough to go out on stress leave. Hopefully it will work, I mean they’re MY hours! Why can’t I use them whenever as I’d like to?!

So I’ve decided on a date. I’ve also found out how to deplete my benefits before I quit. I’ve begun to tell my clients about my departure. I have been working hard to get things done for my clients before I leave.

I’ve been running scenarios ala Office Space on how I’m going to quit. One of my favorites is getting on the building speaker and playing take this job and shove it.

As background info: My cool boss quit and I was allowed to go to school as discussed during my interview. We got this new guy who totally sucks. He does not allow me to go to school or flex my hours.

Wow, somehow I have completely failed.

I was so ready. We interviewed applicants. We decided who to hire.

Then I found out I couldn’t transfer to the university for another 3 semesters. I have the right number of hours, but the wrong particular course.

I found out I am losing my health insurance when I get married next week.

And then every single one of our applicants, one by one, refused the job or fell through in some other way.

And then my boss offered me a $5,000/year raise and free health insurance.

It was like the universe was telling me something. Telling me to wait just a little longer. So I did. I committed to one year and we will revisit the issue then.

I feel kind of like a failure, but I also kind of had no choice.

This is all very surreal right now…

so i’ve been working at a decent job for the past 3 or 4 years now. its an ok job, its not even a dead end job, i could move up in the company i just don’t want to because its not where my heart is. just recently, i’ve been looking into goin back to school. this semester, i even enrolled in a free math class at my local community college that i go to twice a week and i love it and would love to pursue it full time, i just don’t know how i could. i’d love to quit my job, work part time to have money in my pocket and have money for bills and focus on my dreams. i just don’t know how its possible. i make too much for financial aid and i feel like i’m stuck. i’m going to make an appointment with a counselor and find out what programs they offer for people that are in situations like me. i really hope i can figure something out so i’m not wasting my life away in a damn cubical.

Oh god it’s so close now and I’m so freaking scared. But it’s happening. We have a job posting up on our website, we’re asking people to apply, we’re going to set up a training schedule, and I’m getting out of here. I can’t wait to focus on school – I feel so guilty that I slack on school work but it’s truly because I don’t have the brainpower for everything all at once. When I can just focus on finishing my degree I will have such a weight lifted.

My boss is trying to hang on to me. She said the other day I could work part-time even while I was going to school full time. I told her, there’s no way my job can be done by a part time worker! She said “yes it could, if we shuffle things around”. That may be true, and I know she is just trying to hang on because she likes me so much, but I would really like to perhaps NOT have a job. I know, sounds crazy, but really I haven’t been unemployed since I was 16 years old. I think it’s a reasonable desire.

I want to go to school. That’s ALL I want to do. If I can just do that and get scholarships and even if I have to take out loans, I will, then maybe I can feel like I’ve done something. Right now I haven’t done anything to truly better myself in over 3 years. I haven’t learned many new things, I haven’t met any new people, I haven’t been anywhere at all. I want to live away from my job for a while and it’s going to be really hard to convince her of that as the next year goes on.

She’s going to continue to try and hold me down. And I understand, I really do. I know she needs me, or someone like me, I know she wants me to stay because I’m familiar to our clients and colleagues. I know she wants me to help her business grow and flourish. But sometimes you have to just do things for yourself and I think this is one of those times. I might look back in three years and find out I was completely wrong. That I should have stayed at the law firm and worked my ass off and quit school and that would have been better but I’d rather look back and regret it from a distance than sit at this desk and regret NOT going back to school every day.