Almost every time I've quit my job I didn't have another one.

I am so, so irresponsible.

Now I'm living solo, so I don't have that luxury anymore, but I don't need it because I'm living off of student loans.

Yes I bounced. It felt GOOD! I was burned out and had family to help...or so I thought. My funny ass acting brother and law was just that. Fucker. It was a low time, but I went back to school at the same time. That was a great focus. ANd the school loans and grants came right on time. But staying with my sister for almost 5 months was the lowest point.

But...I'd do it again. I had to get out of there it was toxifying (I guess that's a word) my soul

Only once, and it was absolutely heavenly. I moved out of state the summer I tunred 21 and as it turned out I didn't work the entire time I was there. I paid my rent up front for the entire summer and had maybe only $100 to live off of. I lived on ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches. I sold plasma once in a while for money to go out or splurge on meals at a tibetan restaurant. I met a girl who worked at a small convenience store that had a reasonable amount of groceries available and she harped on me for not eating well and would call me when she was working alone, hand me a paper bag and let me fill it up with fresh fruits and vegetables and cheese and such.

I could do that then, but now, there's no way I could. I can't imagine dropping to no income. I would never, ever make it. I have no savings.


edit to say, I did look fo work when I got there, but it was a small-ish college town and all the summer jobs were taken. I spent my days walking around lakes, hanging in libraries and coffee shops and just generally enjoying life.
[Edited 1/23/07 17:19pm]

CarrieMpls said:

Lawd, that sounds wonderful.

HereToRockYourWorld said:

It was, while it lasted. But I got bored and came home a couple weeks early, too.
I missed my Minneapolis.

Yes; it was one of the most rewarding experiences in my life.

The sad thing is, my whole professional career was at this company (8 years) - and most of the IT skills I garnered were on the job through several promotions. I was not at all confident I could get a job elsewhere in the same field; what I did was pretty unique to our infrastructure. Also, I loved my job so much I kept saying yes to everything piled on me. In my last year, I was working normal hours in addition to 2-4 hours over sleeptime. Mebbe it was sleep deprivation, depression, but just wanting to die became a recurring thought.

So I went balls out and gave notice. Fortunately, working that hard, I never had time to spend money, so I had a net. I managed to not work 3 years.

The first year was great. I felt no sense of urgency about even looking for work. Nobody who new me could understand, with my work ethic, that I could so abruptly stop.

The second year, I decided to look for work, but found none. The market had tightened up. So I went back to school to pursue an Education Cert for k-8.

The third year was fun because I was going to school without working. That is a blast.

However, there are very few happy people in teacherdom. I react poorly to jaded people. Lots of talk about how NCLB is jacking everything (it is, btw). When an opportunity arose, I applied for a job with the same company I left. Everything full circle.

Yes, all the time. Usually I tell my employer that I have to quit because I have another job lined up, but that's bullshit. Instead, I spend a month or six drawing nudie pictures of my neighbors and watching rally car accidents on the internet. I get a new job once waking up at 8pm everyday starts getting depressing.

I have done the same thing for 22 years.

I haven't done it as an adult (except when I went back to school and lived off of Pell grants), but I would do it if the work or workplace made me miserable. Sometimes you have to bail without a parachute.

hell yes, done it many times
but I always had savings or student loans to fall back on

Now, I just want to move forward and not fall out. It seemed it always got me back to square one, not any new opportunities.

CarrieMpls said:

I had a similar life, but in Paris, for five months. I didn't realize my work permit expired a couple weeks after I got there. So I lived on noodles, a tiny bit of savings, and the concierge of my "chambre de bonne" (maid's room) worked at a market and would hang bags of fresh fruit on my doorknob every day. I spent days reading books at the library and nights with friends at the bar.

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

What do you do?

Wow, it's kind of comforting to see that I'm not the only one who has bailed out of a job without having something else lined up. Sometimes you just have to do what's right for yourself. Luckily, my former employer will pay me 12 week severance pay, so I'll have a little bit to live on for awhile anyway. Plus I have some money in my savings, but I'm going to try to not touch that. I'll probably will sign up for unemployment compensation once the severance check runs out, if I have to.

Now I juggle several part-time and/or temporary jobs so if one drops out, I have something else going on. Which suits my personality and lifestyle much better.

If it works for you, then go for it.

heartbeatocean said:

That's even better. Gosh, to do all that in Paris.

CarrieMpls said:

The only bad part was that I was in Paris and I had no money! I never went to restaurants and only a couple museums, I was so poor! I met lots of cute guys though.