Even in this economy, believe it or not, people quit their jobs. Some people resign with dignity, giving a notice, giving their all until that very last punch-out. Others blow up their bridges with enough proverbial TNT to blast a gaping hole in the ozone. When the explosion goes off, there’s nothing left but the awed disbelief that someone, often without another job to go to, would actually have the sheer unmitigated gall to do… THAT.

Thankfully, none of our burning bridges have been quite as bad as the UK stress ball packer who apparently needed a stress ball himself after being told he was being released from his temporary job. Maybe that stress ball would have kept him from PUNCHING HIS BOSS IN THE FACE!

No, none of ours have been that bad, but the ones some of our staff recall here are definitely worthy of a spot on our ‘burning bridges hall of shame.’

Drum roll please…

Our Sevierville, TN office once had a temp who, upon finding out he wasn’t going to be hired full-time where he was working, proceeded to fire off the following mass-email to everyone working at the client, “The fact that you would have me fired over your Napoleon Complex, sometimes misdiagnosed as the GOD complex. However very similar! It’s an informal term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people, especially men who are short in stature. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives. Other names for the term include Napoleon Syndrome and Short man Syndrome. <—-( Thank You Wikipedia) Anyone taller than this man should stand guard and watch their back. I would advise sitting when he is around and slightly slouching a bit to keep this tyrant from exacting his misdirected anger.”

Bow before me or I’ll conquer you like… oops, wrong Napoleon…

Our Marion, VA office had quite the collection:

1) One woman on assignment with us had been working for almost a month at one place before calling in with this excuse, “Well, I can’t go back there. I FORGOT I had twins at home.” She actually stressed ‘forgot!’ (We’d like to assume she had someone else caring for them while she was gone!)

2) Some time ago, a man who applied with us had a few, small gaps in his work history, his explanation for each one being that he had simply ‘quit.’ When he was placed on a job, he quit AGAIN a couple months into the assignment. When we called to ask why he left us, he said, “My wife and I take turns to work, and it’s her turn.”

3) Recently, one man who has worked through us for several months (from mid-2012 to a few weeks ago) called in to say that he was quitting because his tax refund came in, and that he didn’t need to work for a while.

Here are a few from Bristol:

One employee didn’t call or show up for her shift at our client facility, but the police did – looking for her! Needless to say, we haven’t heard from her since…

Wanted: FORMER employee

One employee, upon finding out that his place of employment would no longer tolerate his selecting his own schedule regardless of the hours the company wanted him to work, responded by not only removing everyone’s timecards from the rack and throwing them all over the room, but then proceeding to empty each and every ketchup and mustard packet all over the break-room floor. When asked about it by our staffer later on the phone, he denied it and cussed her. Yep, we’ll put this guy down for another assignment right away!!

One man was released from a client when the warehouse supervisor saw him ‘karate chopping’ a pallet!

FAIL

An employee called us one morning to tell us she was on her way to work. When we called the client to make sure that she made it in, they said she never showed up at all. When we called the employee to find out what happened, she said (yes, she actually said…) that she didn’t have a car or a babysitter, and was walking uphill 2 miles in the snow!

One flagger, upon getting caught with three bottles of Miller Lite in his lunch cooler, got angry and kicked the company truck’s door!

This is, of course, just a sampling of what our staffers and customers have experienced over the years. The moral of the story is if you want to leave a job, it’s probably a good idea to leave that bridge intact. Even if it’s just for a good reference, you never know when you might want to cross back over!