Do Sundays stress you out like no other because you know that in less than 24 hours you’ll be back at work?  Do you almost kind of envy your unemployed friend because, even though he’s living with his parents and can only afford to eat ramen every day, at least he doesn’t have to deal with your boss?  Have you ever wondered whether Dante should have thought to include your cubicle as one of the circles of Hell?

If this sounds like you, chances are good that you’ve harbored thoughts of quitting at one time or another.  Whether your daydreams included a dramatic exit or a classy two-week notice, once you start thinking about quitting it’s actually pretty hard to stop.

That’s why it’s very important to know why you’re thinking about jumping ship.  Believe it or not, there are actually good and bad reasons for quitting your job.  Today, I’ll discuss some of the bad reasons for quitting your job, and I’ll address some of the good reasons in a future post.

If you’re thinking any of the following, think again before you take the leap. You may not be quitting for the right reasons:

• I really dislike the work I’m doing right now.  This may be, but take heart. Jobs and responsibilities have a tendency to change, and projects come and go.  Even if you hate the work you’re doing right now, it may not be worth quitting over. (If you’ve been doing it for a year and nothing’s changed, then maybe.) Take this as an opportunity to enhance your own worth.  Look for ways you can improve current procedures or exercise some of your other skills, and suggest these ideas to your boss.
• I hate my boss.  We’ve all either been there or know someone who’s been there.  A bad boss has the rare ability to turn every single moment you’re at work into pure torture.  Meetings with your boss are an exercise in humiliation, and his/her idea of team building is frightening everyone into a corner together.  If you have a bad boss, I really feel for you.  What you need to ask yourself, though, is why you hate your boss.  If you hate your boss because your boss lacks people skills but does a good job of keeping everyone busy and using everyone’s skills to produce the best work, then it may be worthwhile to consider sticking around for a bit.  If your manager never gives you compliments and you feel like you need more encouragement, I would strongly discourage you from quitting for this reason.  It’s a crucial job skill to learn how to work well for a variety of personalities, and this is the perfect opportunity to develop this skill.
• My coworkers are unbelievably annoying.  Maybe they smell, maybe they bring shrimp for lunch every day and the odor makes you gag, maybe they laugh at Dilbert jokes, maybe they even sycophantically follow your boss around and agree with everything he/she says.  Annoying coworkers can perturb you in any number of ways, but they’re not worth quitting over either.  In this kind of economy, it simply doesn’t make sense to quit a secure job because someone was raised by wolves.  There are a number of ways you can cope with these feral colleagues that don’t involve handing in your two-week notice.  If your neighbor does something that makes it difficult to get work done, like eating smelly shrimp every day or listening to Michael Bolton at an unreasonable volume, ask your manager if you can change locations.  If your coworkers are just annoying in general and being around them makes you clench your teeth, resolve to be around them as little as possible without seeming rude.  No one’s saying you have to be best friends with these people.  You can try eating lunch in your car or outside in the sunshine or calling a friend to chat during breaks.  Do what you have to in order to keep your sanity, but don’t quit on account of your Dilbert-loving compatriots.  Trust me, these people are everywhere, and you’d do well to learn how to cope with them.

Have you ever quit a job?  Why did you quit?