How awful would aspects have to get in your job for you to quit with nothing lined up?

That would primarily depend on my ability to survive without income for a while. My tolerance level for work bullshit is inversely related to the size of my bank account.

Life threatening something. Ill wait to get fired for not doing my job before I quit

Being able to quit is a privilege. I’ve see others do it where I am but they have the finances to live for a while and I don’t.

For me was disrespect directed at my peers that I could see is coming for me next. Talking berating and condescension infront of others. I quit on spot.

I did it once, and it was the best decision I ever made. Your job is not worth your health. When I closed that door, another (better) one opened.

I did once. I was at the assistant level and had been at my job for 2 years making $35k when they fired my direct counterpart, so i absorbed his entire workload on top of my own. Then the VP of our department told me that while a senior level employee was on maternity leave, i...

These answers are gong to vary wildly depending on people’s personal circumstances.

I did it because I was miserable and couldn’t continue anymore

If I'm asked to do something I know is unethical or illegal. I work in a regulated area and going along with unethical or illegal behavior (i.e. falsification of data) is a kiss of death for your career, and you will most assuredly not be protected by the company.  They are ...

I’m the sole breadwinner, those bitches will fire me before I quit

Not bad at all, I’m looking for any reason lol. At this point I’d throw my hands up and quit if the wifi goes out at the office again or my manager looks at me wrong. I am single and barely own anything, it’s not like I’m chained to a mortgage payment (because they don’t pay ...

I was part of a meeting where a manager and my supervisor's assistant dumped all of their poor planning that was gonna make the next 3 months hell off onto me. Shook all night doing the bare minimum, and decided to take a couple years off.

I did it - lead up was toxic work culture, normalizing hundreds of unpaid overtime hours, celebrating (my) workaholism. 5 years later, quit with no plans. Started a consulting firm. They hired me as a consultant a month later and paid me about 5x my previous salary, every hou...

I did once. I first took FMLA leave and was unemployed for a month afterwards. I was in a very bad state with my mental health due to my job environment. Much better now!

It’s not the income for me. I’ll do what it takes to make money, ethically. I worry about the health insurance. That’s what keeps me in my job and I would have to have another insurance lined up before I quit. Government health insurance quotes me $800 a month for an individu...

Someone would have to point a gun at my face and demand I rape a child. There is no way on God's green earth I'd lose healthcare for my family and half the household income no matter how much I hate a job. My own comfort and happiness comes way way way after my kids being a...

I’ve just done it with a child and mortgage . Had to draw the line somewhere

About as bad as it was this week. Good thing the shit hit hard on a Friday -gave me the weekend to pull myself together. Had it been a Monday I might be unemployed now.

If there is a direct threat to my safety, both physically and psychologically. If the work environment created conditions where I no longer felt safe or supported, it would be necessary for me to resign. I have and it was the best decision.

I was in a job that was not what it was advertised as. It was outlined as strategic planning and operation of a training program (Senior Manager, just under director). When I got there, it was data entry into an LMS using outdated processes I wasn't allowed to change. Like as ...

I've only had something lined up once in my career when quitting. when i no longer feel effective or I've run out of ideas to improve the work culture or my recommendations call on deaf ears, it's time to go. I prefer financial and uncertainty stress over perpetual misery

Physical violence. I'm pretty impervious to attempts at emotional abuse.

I think that depends more on how long you can do without a job than how shitty your job is.

I was able to transition to contract work that’s making more than my previous role in less than a month. If you’re cut out for it grab a client or two off Upwork and throw in whatever minimum notice you want. I wish I would’ve done it sooner. My boss was actively lying that I...

I've got an unfortunate feeling that I'll find out this wednesday... I'm currently quitting as a low-level manager and assuming I can go back to being an IC. But my boss is an asshole, which is why I'm dropping down to begin with... Follow-up talk about it is then. And I've ...

Unless I’m being told to do something illegal or dangerous there would be no reason to quit. Go in, work your hours as best as you reasonably can and then leave and forget about work the rest of the day. Anything else is just you getting yourself wound up for no good reason....

I did after 5 years in my first real grown-up job. It was a coveted position in my very specific field that I specialized in in my masters program. I was too young to see that I was worth so much more than the crap they were shoveling at me. I’m talking low pay, abusive manage...

At this point in my career and with the market being what it is, they gonna have to fire my ass

Changes with age and circumstances. I have quit with morning lines up and stayed off of work for 6 months, but I'm also in a LCOL area and my husband makes over $100k with the only real debt being the mortgage. That was when I had 1 kid. Removed kiddo from daycare to cut that ...

I've done it before in 2022. Reached a breaking point with my manager who was super toxic and gave me shit on my performance review with no opportunity to rebut. She blindsided me and I, in turn, resigned overnight and packed all my shit. Director called me first thing in the ...

I have managed exits for hundreds of employees over 20 years in HR. The ones who quit with nothing lined up almost always had the same trigger. It was not money, workload, or even a bad manager. It was the moment they realised staying was costing them their health. When you s...

I left a high paying (for the position) role at a global tech retailer on the management team due to senior leadership micromanaging the small things that made shifts unbearable for me and my direct supports. I’m talking “customers being greeted 15 secs after entering vs 10 on...

Literally nothing. I’m a female security guard and am constantly on understaffed work schedules, get harassed almost every shift, and have had a 🔫 pulled on me once so i truly can handle any shift. Maybe if I actually got injured by somebody and couldn’t do my job during reco...

I started thinking “if I got hit by a bus on my walk to work, I’d be fine with that.” and that’s when I knew I had to quit.

Did it last year. Turned in a 3 weeks notice - mandated by union contract. Had absolutely nothing lined up. Worked there for 25+ years. Not a single manager to be seen on my last day. No goodbye, no thank you, no good luck in the future. Nothing. My direct manager I had known ...

I am always teetering

Pretty bad. It’s just a job.

Really depends. If you have kids in my opinion, you need to suck that shit up. If it’s just you and you have 6 to 8 months of money put away have at it.

I wanted kill myself everyday in my way to work, and my manager just made it even harder when I tried to talk to him about the issues at work.

If the job market wasn’t so screwed up I would have done it 6 months ago. I’m still tempted to. But I was laid off prior to this role and have that gap and another would almost be a nail in the coffin. And I still debate weekly if I can handle one more hour of this job.

I’ve actually just done this, so sharing my 2 cents! - 12 years as a product manager with varying levels of seniority and leadership, super burnt out and have been for years if I’m being honest with myself. handed my notice in with nothing lined up following a “straw that brok...

For me it would have to hit a few clear lines. If the job started affecting my physical or mental health, like constant anxiety, sleep issues, or dread every single morning. If management was openly toxic or disrespectful and it was clear nothing would change. Or if the worklo...

I did this 3 years ago now. I was so stressed and depressed, did not get appropriate wages/raises/accolades for work done, culture was manipulative and 'family' style. Overall, extremely toxic workplace. Getting it from the bosses, getting it from the customers, and direct re...

Genuinely depends on if I feel comfortable enough in my ability to get a new job soon (1 month). I try to have something lined up because as a lot of people stated- it’s a privilege to be able to quit on the spot.

Depends on one’s level of FU money. I’m the breadwinner (husband works but I outearn him by a lot). I walked out of my 6 figure job in June 2024. Toxic hell hole. They were trying to PIP me out but I didn’t want to have to explain a firing in interviews. I took the summer off ...

I wouldn't. I'll eat glass before I put my family through financial hardship.

Incessant microwaving of fish.

Crying most days with no mental energy to apply for new jobs

Usually when just starts hurting health, energy, or long-term career growth. A thought phase is manageable But constant chaos, no path forward, and bad leadership is when many people decide it's time to leave.

There’s just a point where I wouldn’t be able to swallow my pride.

I’ve only done it once. They didn’t give me a raise for two and a half years, then moved me to a slightly different position but had me train my own replacement, then tried to fire the replacement employee via a letter slid onto their desk at 4:55pm on a Friday. When she was b...

Insane manager blocked upward mobility and made day to day hell. Bled goodwill with clients due to manager effing things up time after time. Chipped my front teeth from stress grinding, and all diagonal managers/firm partners were cancelling my desperately scheduled check in m...

Not that bad. Too much inconvenience or irregularity and I'll quit. I've done it before and was hired into another role a few weeks later. I value my time. If the company doesn't, I leave.

I don’t let shit get to that point. I saw the writing on the wall and changed jobs recently at my company

I’m less than two years from retirement and I definitely have FU money. It wouldn’t take much at all, and somehow that makes the whole job more tolerable. I’m staying for the healthcare coverage (I’m in the US) since I’m not yet Medicare-eligible.

Never

Feeding my family, paying school fees for children and mortgage is more important than my happiness at work. I wouldn't quit until I have something new lined up.

Worse than awful, remember to get a job its best to have a job. Bite the bullet and hang in

Never. I couldn’t afford to walk away from my previous job, so I stuck it out in the hopes of severance. Luckily, I got my wish. I was out of permanent work for six months (I took a temporary gig to keep the lights on while I searched) and without the severance, I would have h...

In this current environment, I'd be hard pressed to think of a circumstance so bad that I'd just quit without a backup. I really don't know...

It would have to be VERY extreme. Like actual mortal danger. Sucks but you GOT to have shit lined up

Essentially, they’re asking me to do something illegal or immoral and won’t take no for an answer. Or, they straight up just start using racial slurs day in and out.

I'm out of the phase of life when a job or health care is optional. I do have a 'back-up' degree/field which I could pivot to, if needed...tho, not preferred.

I work in Quality Assurance. I am comfortable with having to check my car for bombs before leaving work. I had a colleague who had his car windows shot out in the parking lot. I have quit before with nothing lined up, but I was much younger and did not care about things like e...

I quit my last job earlier than expected because 1) I was crying at least twice a week 2) I felt like the manager genuinely had it out for me like she would flag my work for no reason, it was clear she did not want me working there

Seems nearly impossible.

They’ll have to carry my corpse away. I was laid off from a fully remote job after 6 years last fall. I knew the odds weren’t in my favor to find another fully remote role, but I did and I’m not leaving.

I have children, so…*bad* Like breaking the law, purposely destroying the environment, mafia involvement in the business bad.

Won't put up with a toxic manager or colleagues. First (OK second) sniff of that and I'm out. The cost to your mental health, self-confidence and career of trying to work with a toxic manager is just not worth paying.

I actually just did this! Friday was my last day. Finances are not a concern at all. #1 my husband makes good money. #2 I have a ridiculous amount of savings and liquid assets that I could not work for a year and it would be fine without leaning on my husband or him contributi...

I make them fire me. I don't share my living expenses with anyone and have no one to lean on financially so I need the unemployment money. People get fired all the time now for basically no legit reason and I'm always reading how people are fired for performance issues without...

Only one time did I quit because things were bad. Racism was the reason. I'm a visible minority and teetering on the edge of disability. Hired to run a department, and one of my new team members questioned how good I could even be "for what you are". I asked her to elaborate a...

For me it was months of condescending, racist, misogynistic and disrespectful remarks from my boss and me doing 4 people’s jobs (people left and were never replaced until I was the only person left). We had a use it or lose it PTO policy and I asked for 5 days of PTO at the en...

can’t….have mouths to feed.

If I was required to work on projects that I am fundamentally against. However, during my job interview 14 years ago I made clear specific areas I would not work and have relayed that to each new manage I have had since. I have had no issues. I am willing to quit without a pla...

The owner of my company was lucky to get it and thinks it will scale itself. Unfortunately, he also lost a lot of skilled people and is pretty much ignoring it. At the start it was great because there wasn't any competition, it was easy to stand out and make more money. Now, I...

I wouldn’t ever consider it in this job market.

I don't think that's possible.

Not particularly bad. I have savings, great references and a fantastic resume. I had ADHD so sufficient boredom would do it. I’d leave before the adhd started impacting my credibility.

It would have to be something mentally damaging, like bullying.

It took exactly 12 months of an extremely toxic workplace for me to quit without anything lined up. It took a long time to get over the damage to my mental health.

I just did it recently. My last day is tomorrow so reading all this is a little cathartic. The work environment was causing me health issues and I was discussing a medical leave with my doctor when I had to go to the ER-- it was an eye opener how much internalized stress can p...

health consequences. worked at one place and got black poo and other stress reactions - that's a good time to GTFO.

It comes down to respect. I can handle pressure, long hours, and tough situations, but repeated disrespect is where I draw the line. Disrespect doesn’t stop being disrespect just because someone tolerates it. I don’t.