How NOT to Leave Your Job

As I’ve mentioned before, I once worked at Legg Mason (NYSE: LM), a stock brokerage and money management firm with headquarters in Baltimore. I was quite young when I worked there - I celebrated my 23rd and 24th birthdays while an employee at “Legg”, as we called it - and I didn’t know much about corporate America when I started. I’ve got plenty of stories to tell about the place, but for now I’ll just say that when I left, I didn’t do so in as professional manner as I would suggest to others (though I wouldn’t change what I did either). As background, here’s a quote from John Barth’s The Sot-Weed Factor, one of my favorite novels:

“If you’d live in the world, my friend, you must dance to some other fellow’s tune or call your own and make the world step to it.”

The first time I read the novel, I actually stopped in the middle and took the time to scribble that quote on some loose paper that was lying around. In the modern day, I just jumped off the treadmill a few minutes ago and came across that slip of paper lying around in the mess that is my basement. It inspired me to write this post.

In case you’re wondering, the quote is relevant because it sums up…well, me…that is, I’m the guy who tries to call his own tune and then I either try to get others to step to it or don’t give a damn when they won’t (as long as I can keep stepping to it). It is both a defining characteristic and a source of constant, though manageable, irritation. This is all a roundabout way of reiterating that corporate America, or at least Legg Mason, was to me what a tiny cage is to an animal. So I left.

My immediate boss at Legg Mason - we’ll call him Candido (because that’s his name) - was probably the best boss anyone could hope for. He was demanding, but he brought a lightheartedness to our section of the office that Michael Scott (of TV’s “The Office” fame) tries and fails to do. So when I left, I didn’t have any bad feelings towards Candido, or towards my fellow employees. As for upper level managers and the ubiquitous VPs…no comment (I’ll rip them apart later).

Anyway, when I left Legg, I felt that a little “screw you” was in order, so I wrote to all my friends and acquaintances in the office. It was a farewell e-mail that basically said “I’m outta here and if you’re smart you will be too.” I love speaking in quotes - or at least I do it quite a bit - so I rounded out my message to my cohorts in the cage with a quote from the Eagles (the band, not the football team):

“So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key. But me, I’m already gone…and I’m feelin’ strong.”

They loved me for that one. So much so that they let me take off on the last day of my 2-week notice period (I was smart enough to offer them that) with pay. I think they may have known that they had a corporate rabble rouser on their hands and didn’t want a fond farewell for such a corporate cancer. Also, I had been reviewing and polishing the resumes of at least 5 or 6 fellow employees during those final two weeks - maybe they didn’t want all those resumes too polished.
I’m still happy with the nature of my exit from Legg, but only because I know I’ll never need those references in the future. Which brings me to my point - if there is ANY chance that you will need a reference from the company you’re leaving, I would suggest not taking the “Matt Blevins, piss off everyone at your old company” approach to departing. It may not work out so well for you. With that said, I would recommend the following:

• Give 2 weeks notice
• Work as hard as you normally would through your final 2 weeks
• Don’t write a farewell e-mail unless it is benign, or friendly to the company you’re leaving
• Always leave yourself the option of returning to the company you’re leaving (just in case)

Basically - do the opposite of what I did, and you’ll be just fine!

Tags: 2 weeks notice, leaving your job, legg mason, resignation letter, the office

Share This | Posted in Workplace | No Comments