I'm quitting if you don't...

[DrFaroohk]

Any of you ever pull one of those? I've done it a couple of times lately and it always seems to work, and that just...seems wrong to me. What the hell kind of manager takes threats like that from their employees?

[katie kaboom]

ha ha, i tried it once, because i was at the end of my rope, and it worked. Told em if they didn't get a fitting room attendant, i'd quit. Within a week we had one.

[BlaqueKatt]

sometimes that's what it takes for them to realize that you're serious about whatever problem you're threating to quit over. I've done it at my current job several times-my boss knows I'm not serious about quitting, but that it's "Kattspeak" for "I'm very frustrated about X, please do something about it before I go postal!"

BlaqueKatt-who finally has a boss that understands her(same boss for the last two years-I wouldn't trade him for the world)

[DrFaroohk]

Wish I had that kind of boss...right now she can't figure out why I have a problem with her...maybe its something to do with the fact that we used to have a relationship, she broke my heart to get back with her junkie boyfriend whom she didn't even last a year with and now I get to see her every day with her NEW boyfriend at the store. Yeah, can't imagine why that's a problem.

[NightAngel]

What the hell kind of manager takes threats like that from their employees?

It depends.

I can see situations where that would be a signal to me something was terribly wrong and the need to fix it.

I can also see other situations where I'd say, "Okay, have a nice life."

It would depend on the employee and the situation on a case by case basis.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I only did that once. It was when my bi-polar coworker tore me a new one for supposedly putting something in the wrong place in backstock, and she went off on me about how I didn't appreciate anybody's hard work keeping the backstock neat, how I'm a lazy piece of shit, how if it was up to her I'd have been shit-canned long ago, and so on.

Then right after that, my sister came into the store and asked bi-polar coworker where I was and she told her "He's probably in the bathroom crying."

Wrong! I was in the store manager's office, telling him if he didn't do something about her, I would be out the door because I do not appreciate being screamed at for no good reason. At my store, we are graded on employee turnover and have to come up with an action plan if too many employees are quitting and being replaced, so at least I had that going for me.

Bi-polar coworker was put on final warning for that incident. A couple weeks later, she lost her temper again and became bi-polar EX-coworker

[draftermatt]

Kind of. I was getting so frustrated with a customer (I had screwed up, he wouldn't accept that it was just a mistake) that I said "if it's not right this time I will just resign" Oddly enough he calmed down.

Did threaten to leave once if I didn't get a raise. Got a huge one.

Might do it today with the shit the owner is trying to pull lately.

[Witch of Endor]

If you don't really mean it, there could be an argument for it being unethical -- not to mention that the boss might call your bluff and say 'Okay, nice knowing you'.

If the situation really is that bad, and you want to leave if things aren't changed, there is nothing wrong with it at all. Sometimes that's what it takes to make things happen. It's not 'manipulative' in the childish headgames sense if something is actually wrong and this action will bring about positive change.

[JustADude]

I think the best term here isn't 'threatening'. Most of the examples (except Katt's, but we all know how she is ) are of people who are genuinely going to quit, but are giving the employer a chance to fix things first. In my book, that's delivering an ultimatum, which is, to me, much more matter of fact and less about blustering.

As for me... I've never really been in that kind of position while mature enough to realize my continued employment was any kind of leverage to use to MY advantage. Probably could've kept that Arby's job when I was 16 if I'd gone to the boss about the asshole doing closing-shifts with me every weekend instead of just quitting.

[Primer]

Several years ago, when the college I work for was facing extremely rough waters, and many rats were leaving the sinking ship, I let it be known that I had a standing offer to go drive a cement truck for a LOT more money than what I was getting at the school. Yes, I really did have said offer. I didn't get a raise, but I got my preferred teaching schedule for several semesters...

[Kiwi]

I dont think I posted about it but 2 months after I started at the gallery, a girl abandoned her job, literally leaving me alone with all of the christmas cash and a gallery FULL of priceless art works to guard. I had never opened before in my life and 20 minutes after we opened (which I had to do by myself) I called her 3 times before her boyfriend called back and informed me she wouldnt be in!
The gallery is situated in a civic building that is open to the public and it was -20 celcuis so all of the homeless were sharing the building's atrium with me and the other civic offices and library were closed so I was literally the only "employee" in a building with 50 or so transients! I wasnt a happy chappy! She knew I would be the only other staff member there and still didnt bother to call. Needless to say I told my boss that I was not comfortable working with her any longer. Our building was a regular hotspot with the police, a knife had been pulled on a librarian the week before christmas, someone beat up a girl in the public bathrooms the week before that. Almost every single week we had problems (thats why they eventually hired a security guard) so when the girl nocalled noshowed she was flying agaisnt policy that was in place to keep the staff safe! She put me in real danger!

The girl ncns for a week and was rightly fired for it, but not offically...she was just written off the schedule (this girl was a knightmare co-worker anyway) until 2 of the part timers quit and my boss approached the subject with the senior gallery attendant (my supervisor) and asked how I would feel if she wrote this idiot on the schedule just until they could find someone to replace the students. I said to the SGA that she could tell my boss my responce word for word. It was...

The day I see her name on the schedule I will quit on the spot, I will gather my coat and walk out of here that minute and I will never come back.

The girl wasnt ever written on the schedule again. Even after I quit.

[draftermatt]

My boss threatened to quit last year. He wanted to get 2 days off a week (he's retiring) they let him have 1, and then he wanted more money. Owner laughed at him (rightly so) and he said "I'll quit if you don't give me a raise" owner told him to go ahead and leave.

He's still here.