Knowing When to Leave - Quitting the Job that Doesn't Serve You

If you're debating whether or not your current job is worth keeping, I can provide some insight on why I left mine and how it impacted me. Good evening friends, Steemians, and lurkers alike- Tonight we're going down the rabbit hole on key indicators that you might just be at a dead-end job, and what you can do about it. We hear tons of stories from friends and colleagues that their jobs are horrible, but for one reason or another they can't leave. This simply isn't true.

Are you trading away your future and sanity for money?

_{Let me accurately explain what this post is about (Photoshop CS5).}

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Reevaluating the Situation When Things are "Not so Bad"

In a few of my early posts here on Steemit, I've written about the seemingly happy and carefree life of working as hostess for a Japanese restaurant in Honolulu. I would greet, seat, book reservations, and operate multiple phone lines while providing what can be argued pretty damn good customer service. Sometimes regulars would bring me gifts, or my coworkers would buy me lunch. Managers cared for my input on various topics, and I was picked as a person up for promotion after being hired back only a few months prior.

I say "hired back", because I was bought out to work from a different company that time last year. After a year of being gone, I saw an additional $7/hr difference in pay when my position was re-offered to me again this year. Being paid $15 an hour to smile, open doors, and walk people to tables doesn't seem like too bad of a deal! These were "the pros" for my situation, and for a lot of people this may be enough, but although things seemed to be prospering on the surface, behind the scenes my life began to fall apart because of this. Over time, my managers realized that no matter how many hours they gave me, or how high my pay was...
it would never be enough.

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I Almost Failed out of School to Keep my Job Happy

Because I was working so much, I failed to notice how far I was falling back on my studies. It wasn't until I received emails, from my counselor and financial supervisor stating that my GPA fallen so low that if I could not bring up my GPA over the next two classes, that I would lose my eligibility for financial aid entirely.

To put it all into perspective, I attend classes online at a private, for profit college called Post University. I have 24 hour around the clock support, including free tutoring. Attending year round, with accelerated classes changing every two months (modules vs semesters), you absolutely need to have a high degree of self control and discipline to keep up with your studies and finish all of your work on time. More freedom, more responsibility.

_{I legit need to practice drawing. Art posts incoming.}

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Being Abused for Being Reliable

I lived in walking distance from my job, and when anyone called out, I was the first person contacted. "They need me," is what I told myself, so I always went in. However, this would happen several times a week. My Operations manger, for 4 weeks in a row (around the time I started to fail school) would pull me aside and ask kindly if I could work another 7 shifts the following week. There were a lot of issues at the communication level not being properly addressed. Every Friday, during the "all managers meeting" they would discuss overtime, but for me, it was never a problem... for them. After a while, it felt as though they had ownership over me.

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When Your Job Stops Caring About Your Availability

If you have school, or other main responsibilities, you need to state that in your availability and never go back on it. Don't ever feel bad for your employer if it's not your career nor dream job. They CAN replace you, so don't let them ruin your future. Many of my coworkers were between 18-21, and being in the restaurant industry, you can expect people to constantly call out because they partied too much or were otherwise not being responsible. I was willingly letting other people take away the time that I needed for school so that they could get high or drunk, and the only person that was losing was me.

_{Not everyone will care as much as they claim. Wearing your heart on your sleeve, can be a dangerous gig at times.}
It wasn't even that I didn't plan my schedule. My availability was set for 5 days a week, so I could focus on my studies and turn my work in on time. On almost every off day, I would be called in to cover someone else's morning shift... then the night shift would no call, no show. They knew about my school schedule, and declined my change of availability down to 4 days, twice. I'm normally one of the most positive people I know, and I didn't want to believe that they were hurting me.

But I had to realize that they weren't going to pay for every thousand plus dollar class I was failing.

I offered as much as I possibly could but they still wanted more. I would always see consistent hours, and then got offered the promotion with a additional 2 dollar pay raise to what I was making. Sure, I could be making $17 an hour, and when I resigned, they were shocked because they had offered me so much... They were blind to my needs. When I graduate, and sit in a 50 thousand dollar deficit, what are they going to do for me? When my dream employer calls them; what would they say, that I was a good server? Would any company, in business, or tech... take me seriously at all, (tearing the **** up remembering this) when my focus was only on the immediate gratification of my hourly wage, and I had no vision of my own future? The answer is no, so why even go to school?

That's when I knew I had to leave.

If you're at a job for the hustle, to grind hours for wage- that's fine, but if your current line of work doesn't align with your personal goals and aspirations you have for yourself, you need to consider when to leave.

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This is What I do Now

Currently I'm a full-time student with a B average, that I'm slowly climbing to an A. When I'm not doing homework, which is actually pretty often lol, I write blogs here on Steemit, because I love learning. I get some support from my loving, nerdy, sushi chef boyfriend Jake, and I repair laptops and tablets on the side. It may seem like a stretch to make each part of your life enforce the future you want, but it's not. Due to my blog writings alone, I can safely say that my capabilities for writing academic papers is the highest it's ever been, and the scholarships I am looking at for the end of the year are all going to be competition essays. This will help drive down my debt over time, and I'll have tons of fun doing it.

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To Recap: When You Should Leave a Job

1. When working takes priority over your personal responsibilities
2. You are failing college because of how much you are working
3. Your managers and coworkers make you feel like they need you, and you feel bad and NEED TO help
4. Being constantly scheduled outside of your availability
5. After expressing your own needs to the company and nothing changes

By leaving that job, I learned that I can make each activity I undertake serve a greater future purpose. I hope that by reading about my experience, you can decide what is important, and make the decision that helps you the most.

Even when I follow my dreams, do what I say I will, and try my hardest, there will still be many challenges, hardships, and setbacks to overcome.