True story, although an old one.
I had just been fired from Sprint. I had been temping there, and my boss was a complete a**hole. Every time something went wrong he called everyone together and threatened everyone's job. He liked to tell us how “replaceable” we were. Well, I got tired of being threatened so I sent him an email telling him “If you're going to fire me then just do it.”
So he fired me. He didn't even have the decency of doing it in person.
Then I applied for a job at Levi Strauss. I was unemployed and poor, so I was looking for anything that I qualified for. Levi Strauss had a good reputation at the time (I don't know about now). They called me up and gave me an interview.
I totally nailed the interview. It was a done deal. At the end of the interview the guy offered me the job.
And then something happened that surprised me even more than him. I answered his question of “Do you want the position?” with “No. I don't.”
There was a few moments of silence when we were both confused.
He came around first, and asked me, “Why did you say 'No'?” It took me a few seconds to figure out why I had said that. Eventually I realized the reason was because that this was just another BS job and I was looking for a career. Something with opportunities.
It was one of the best decisions that I've ever made. A month later I got a job that fit that description.
I just thought I would share this.