Did anyone quit their job and just work at something else?

K

Kitties

Member
Hello everyone. As I've mentioned before I work as a registered nurse and for many reasons the job is wearing on me. I'm considering quitting and maybe find something part time that would, I certainly understand, pay probably minimum wage.

Did anyone ever quit a career type job but continued working at something more simple for a few years before completely retiring? I have no delusions that anything like retail is super easy. I'm just looking for a job I can walk away from when the hours are done. I'm still looking into nursing jobs (I'd take a huge cut in pay to work in some clinic or something) but I'm not finding much.

Thanks.
 
I'm actually going in the opposite direction, retired 3 years ago "a little early" but had to take care of a health concern. I just took on a nice part-time job, but have sights on a full time job in the same field that I retired from, partly for the money, but also miss the fulfillment of doing what I do.
 
I quit a good job as a researcher/trainer without having another job lined up even though I was earning good money and had great benefits. Long story……office politics, really horrible boss, very high turnover. Lots of stress. I was miserable. I did temp work for a long time and had money saved up, but anyway you slice it I took a financial hit. I eventually got another permanent, easier job but at a lower level.

If I could turn back the clock I would have grit my teeth and stayed longer.

My advice: don’t quit. But only you know what’s best for you.
 
I did "grit my teeth" and stayed much longer in a job I hated (well, it wasn't the job, it was the unreasonable, petty boss) longer than I should have. I finally quit because my health was taking a hit and my health was more important than the money. After I quit that awful situation, blood pressure returned to normal, as did heart rate and stomach issues. Don't stay so long you do irreparable damage to yourself.

It's a hard decision to make, I know. In the end I felt I had no choice but to get out of there before they had to carry me out of there. Less money is more fun than dead.
 
Thanks for your replies. I've thought of this: It's easier to do this work now than it would be in 5 years. Keep going for as long as I can. The other side is, the job truly is wearing on me with the stress.

I have to keep thinking...
 
I accepted a buy-out severance package. I could have stayed and relocated to a different department, but I was so burned out and stressed that I just wanted to get out of the place. I returned to other work because I still needed to make a living and the stress started again with different short and long term positions til I retired. When your stressed it's almost impossible to look for another job, but that seems to be what I think I could have done. It's hard to know what to do when your in a bad place, but I think I could have done something to alleviate the stress like taken a yoga or tai chi class.
 
As a young guy I would quit a job at the drop of a hat, but I finally decided that wasn't working so when I hooked up with General Dynamics I did "grit my teeth" many times but the reward for sticking it out is I put in 30 years and got a pension when I retired. Now, a person would be lucky to find a job he can last 30 years at.
 
I went through several cycles of "corporate sponsorship" in between my pursuit of my REAL work, teaching martial arts, at least when I was younger.

I started off working for General Foods as an organoleptic technician - someone who is paid decent money to taste and evaluate food. My specialties were Jell-O and Pop Rocks. :p

I only lasted a year with that, then went on to start up my first "real" martial arts school (one not in my basement or in the local park).

I starved for a few years but loved what I was doing. Then I got a chance to work at Union Carbide as a junior chemist, toiling away at making new and improved catalytic "crackers" (compounds that split raw feedstocks such as oil into other more refined compounds). Hated the work, loved the money; hated my boss, loved the intellectual challenge. Lasted two years.

Went back to martial arts for 2 years. A pattern seemed to be developing ... :rolleyes: Of course by now I was married with a newborn son ...

So I ended up becoming a safety director for a large lead battery company. They were facing a half-million in fines from OSHA, and my job was to get them off the hook. I succeeded over the course of a year, only to be "surplused" as soon as I finished the job.

Back to kicking people for a living.

I tried other things along the way - selling security systems (BLEH), running my own cleaning business (good money but the hours - and the aggravation - were horrible), working various maintenance jobs ... but it was always with the thought of returning to teaching in my own school again.

Now I'm "retired" - have been for about 10 years now - and I have one long-time private student to teach 3x a week. The rest of the time I'm a hack writer, but it makes me happy. Once again, not much money but a lot of ego-salve.
 
Kitties said:
Hello everyone. As I've mentioned before I work as a registered nurse and for many reasons the job is wearing on me. I'm considering quitting and maybe find something part time that would, I certainly understand, pay probably minimum wage.

Did anyone ever quit a career type job but continued working at something more simple for a few years before completely retiring? I have no delusions that anything like retail is super easy. I'm just looking for a job I can walk away from when the hours are done. I'm still looking into nursing jobs (I'd take a huge cut in pay to work in some clinic or something) but I'm not finding much.

Thanks.
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My step daughter is a Registered Nurse and is having the same problem despite making $76 per hour. She has done the whole schtick, from ER Surgical and more recently Hospice. She too is having trouble walking away when her shift is done.
 
applecruncher said:
If I could turn back the clock I would have grit my teeth and stayed longer.

My advice: don’t quit. But only you know what’s best for you.
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If you don't mind my asking, how much longer do you wish you had stayed?

Lon, I don't make nearly that wage. I work in a nursing home. But I still make good money. But again the stress and liability. We as nurses have no one to support us. If there is a problem or complaint, the administration will use their staff as scape goats in a second. They want it all done and everything to appear good but then get on us about overtime. And I can't get my job done right in 8 hours. And I won't leave until it is done to the best of my ability. If I get canned for my overtime, there is unemployment.
 
Kitties said:
If you don't mind my asking, how much longer do you wish you had stayed?

Lon, I don't make nearly that wage. I work in a nursing home. But I still make good money. But again the stress and liability. We as nurses have no one to support us. If there is a problem or complaint, the administration will use their staff as scape goats in a second. They want it all done and everything to appear good but then get on us about overtime. And I can't get my job done right in 8 hours. And I won't leave until it is done to the best of my ability. If I get canned for my overtime, there is unemployment.
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I think if I’d hung on another 6 months +/- and put more energy into looking for a comparable or better job I would have found something.
 
Kitties-----I don't understand. Your profile shows you living in California where nursing positions for RN's are varied, plentiful and very well paid. Surely you could find some thing within this broad field that could make you happy.
 
applecruncher said:
I think if I’d hung on another 6 months +/- and put more energy into looking for a comparable or better job I would have found something.
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Thanks applecrucher. I think I quoted the wrong post though. I meant to quote Lon's post. Oopps.

You would be surprised. There are 5 nursing homes in the town I live in. The corporation I work for now owns 3. the forth I got fired from (for my attitude not nursing skills) It's the nicest and newest one in town and the worst patient load I have ever had and that's saying something. I was so grumpy all the time because I was so overwhelmed. The last has one horrible administrator. Can't believe they are still there. I can't go back there (and wouldn't) because I wrote a scathing one page letter of support for the Nurse Practitioner they fired. She won her case and it was so worth it.

Doctors only hire "assistants now" I look online and I don't see much. Nothing really. I don't want to do home health. I don't like to drive and I don't like going into people's homes. I'd take some clinic job. I'd take a big cut in pay. I don't care. I will keep looking.
 
How about a phone job with an insurance company or a big medical practice? Insurance companies have nurses who talk to their insureds about whatever, and big medical practices have nurses who answer their after-hours numbers. Not being a nurse, I can't be more specific, but I do know that those jobs exist.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
How about a phone job with an insurance company or a big medical practice? Insurance companies have nurses who talk to their insureds about whatever, and big medical practices have nurses who answer their after-hours numbers. Not being a nurse, I can't be more specific, but I do know that those jobs exist.
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I've heard of these and have no idea how to get them. If it were a job where I'd have to deny coverage sometimes, I could never do that. I have no corporate mentality.
 
Kitties, most city un-employment offices offer employment workshops free of charge, if you look online in your city's unemployment office website. This would help you get a list of your skills and where you would fit in and you can go from there and get a resume together. There are also temp agencies that could help you find something.
 
Wife and I quit good paying/good benefits jobs in Colorado in 2007 to move away from "Old Man Winter". I had had a hip replacement done there in 2005 and a RC surgery in early 2007. The RC surgery was directly due to a fall in ice/snow in front of the house we had there.

After leaving the best job I think I'd ever had, w/the best salary I'd ever made, I had an extremely hard time finding another one. I was on UI, applying online for different jobs in my career area, only got a few interviews, and when I turned 62, wife and I decided that I should take my SS Early Retirement. By that time, all of my UI had been used. I had no money coming in at all. So, SS saved me! That's what I did. Do I miss working.......NOPE, not one darn bit! But, then again, I really keep myself occupied with things at home. I clean the apartment, do the wash and run errands at times. I do these things while my wife is at work. Many times, I have supper ready when she gets home.

Now, my wife, with her Bachelor's Degree, numerous OJT classes and lots of past experience, she didn't have much of a problem finding a job after leaving Colorado. Actually, her resume' makes mine look like I barely got out of Grade School (even though I did graduate from high school and go to college for awhile). She loves being at home with me, but also likes working because working keeps her mind occupied. She wants to continue working a full-time job for 3 more years, then take Late Retirement at age 70 from SS.

Now, the problem with her working: if she was retired, we sure could do more things during the week that we can only do on weekends now.
 
I am worried that perhaps I couldn't find a job in anything. Why hire me when there are plenty of 20 year olds out there. I have to keep thinking about this.
 
I had to stop working after retirement because of my heart issues and the stress my job caused working long hours. I now am currently searching for a part time job not far away.
 
Foxy, I hope you find something. I'm not sure how much experience and dependability is appreciated.

I'm just waiting to get written up for my overtime, yet I know how some get out on time every single shift. But like a told a co-worker: No nurse ever lost their license because of overtime. The job maybe.
 
Kitties said:
Foxy, I hope you find something. I'm not sure how much experience and dependability is appreciated.

I'm just waiting to get written up for my overtime, yet I know how some get out on time every single shift. But like a told a co-worker: No nurse ever lost their license because of overtime. The job maybe.
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Kitties...There use to be an excuse of being over qualified...meaning you were not hired because of some experience that would bring in another company's way of doing things. That did not last long. Where I live it is not what but who you know. For me I just wish to work from home and not for someone else if I am able to find something that is not too taxing.

Yes, I have seen nurses lose their jobs because of working too many hours. For examble, I went into have a test done and a nurse tried to apply an IV. She had a hard time and I asked for another nurse. The first nurse, I found out, had been up all night with a sich child after her long shift ended. That is scary. But I have also seen nurses that have worked long hours that did a very good job.

I wish you good luck in finding what you wish.

A blessed Easter to you and everyone
 
I left my job as an IT specialist in my 50's and found a job as a school maintenance man/janitor. The kids were pretty obnoxious and there was virtually no dicipline in the school. The Principal was a waste of space and so were some of the teachers. The support staff were in general, better qualified and more experienced than the teachers, and some did the job ,not for the money, but because they could afford to do a low pay job that didn't require much skill.

Actually, the janitor's role wasn't badly paid at around £19k (about $30k) a year, and I learned a lot of practical skills. I packed up after 2 years and retired properly - still in my 50's.
 
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