RESIGNATIONS come in two varieties; from those who jump and from those who are pushed.
The political world is awash with pushed resignations a la Maria Miller, the sixth of Cameron's cabinet to bow out disgracefully.
Similarly the corporate realm is full of brass necks who outstay their welcome, but it's the jumpers who interest me. Those individuals who, having suffered silently for years, decide to throw themselves, kamikaze style, into the abyss rather than endure another day. Their departures can become legendary.
In a previous job, I remember one particularly disgruntled colleague's departure. As those of us left behind gazed enviously as she flounced out the door to freedom, one hawk eye noticed her parting memento. Stuck to the door of the boss's office was a Polaroid photograph of her grinning broadly whilst sitting in his seat, feet up on his desk, making a call on his phone and executing a particularly rude hand gesture. While we erupted into laughter, said boss whipped it down and bellowed, with slightly compromised authority: "She must have had help to do this. One of you is in serious trouble." None of us spilled the beans, of course, and it's a memory which still raises a smirk.
Another tale which went viral recently was that of a long-serving member of cabin crew - surely a job to test the limits of human patience - who snapped after an emotional flight. After ranting at a particularly trying passenger, he announced his resignation on the intercom before grabbing a couple of beers from the trolley and exiting via the emergency chute.
My own resignations have been non-events, except one. I'd been working as a bus driver for a hostel in Australia (the true hilarity of that statement only becomes clear if you've witnessed my driving). I worked 12 hours a day in exchange for a bed (a shared bunk in the broom cupboard) and 30 Aussie dollars (a tenner) a week in my hot paw.
My life of drudgery was made worse by the stream of carefree back-packers who passed through the doors with only fun on their mind. One night, in a premeditated moment of defiance, I opted for an all-night beach party. My boss caught me sneaking in at dawn, dripping with sea water. Awkward. I was given a rollicking and sent to my cupboard for the day. Having weighed up my options for a nanosecond, I packed my bag, called a cab, flung the bus keys on the desk and marched out for good with all the dignity my flip flops and wet frock would allow. Delicious.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article