My job was terrible. In a year of working there, we had something like 30 people quit and maybe ten people join. I can’t speak too much about what I did because it was classified, but I switched to a similar career field that was just different enough that I went from senior to mid level. This was used to justify why I couldn’t promote or get a raise, but also why when asked for help I was told, good luck! You’re on your own!
At one point I was doing two other people’s jobs (who had quit right as I got there) and as soon as I got that under control, another girl was fired—I was trying to hold out through another project and train a new girl when I decided I had to quit. The new girl wouldn’t pay attention, would roll her eyes and pick her nails and I ended up doing her work anyway. (Daddy got her the job) We also had a senior level leaving soon that we couldn’t find a replacement for, and I knew that despite being denied a promotion to her level, I was going to be handed her work without any discussion or formal recognition just as before. I had been holding on because our team was struggling, and my boss knew my long term goal was to transfer to another team in a new state in a year. I just couldn’t do it anymore and had a panic attack at home.
I sent my boss (who I formerly had a great relationship, mostly due to my prior senior level role’s leadership skills—I kept several employees from quitting, got coworkers raises, prevented conflicts, etc before they got to him…the turnover slowed after I got there in my section) my “intent to resign” over email with no formal date, and made a joke that I had a dental appointment a month away that was a minimum benchmark. I told him I tried to give him a call beforehand, but asked if he could discuss our transition plan the next Monday.
He. Freaked. Out. He responded that we could talk Monday, but no longer in the secure space because I no longer worked there. He included HR, and our next six levels of bosses in the response. And to clarify, I can’t do any work from home, so I can’t bill hours from home. I went from having a job to nothing. All because I had been his back up plan for everyone and I took that away from him. No job, no health insurance, just because I didn’t want to be abused by this man’s poor leadership anymore.
Small malicious compliance. I doubled down on the not being allowed into the classified space. All of my work is on my computer, and I never uploaded into our classified share drive which was the norm because I was so busy. I didn’t give him time to think through that. I asked our security manager to debrief me, which includes removal of my profile first thing Monday. When he called me later that week, I gave him a quick overview of my projects and told him my work was on my profile and not the share drive, and that I was debriefed. The silence that followed was He is probably doing it, since the new girl is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.