7 Memorable Ways to Quit Your Job
Here are seven ways employees have quit or been fired from their jobs.
Sept. 5, 2012 — -- intro: Quitting a job with flare or giving your boss a piece of your mind may be common fantasies, but the latter may have cost one investment banker $2 million.
After learning that his friend was fired for refusing to accept a lower salary, Jason Selch, a former investment banker at Wanger Asset Management in Chicago, mooned two bosses in a meeting in 2005.
Here's more about Selch and six other memorable ways workers said "bye-bye" to their employers.
Watch more on extreme quitters on "20/20: Work Wars" Friday at 10 ET
quicklist:category: Investment Banker Drops His Pantstitle: Mooning media: 17152627 text:
Jason Selch was eventually fired for "egregious behavior" when he mooned his bosses and had to forfeit contingency payments worth almost $2 million. After he sued for breach of contract, an Illinois appeals court ruled against him last week.
Selch could not be reached for comment.
quicklist:category: Marching Band Resignationtitle: Joey Quitsmedia: 17152651text:
Last fall, when college student Joey DeFrancesco had had enough of his job at a hotel in Providence, R.I., he asked his band, the What Cheer? Brigade, to accompany him when he quit. He also recorded a video of the resignation called "Joey Quits" and started a website about hospitality workers rights.
Almost a year later, the YouTube video has received nearly 3.5 million views.
quicklist:category: YouTube and a Guitartitle: Microsoft Worker Signs Off With Melodymedia: 17152830text:
In the spring, program manager Karen Cheng recorded a heartfelt good-bye to her Microsoft co-workers before she started a new job at a startup in San Francisco.
Cheng strummed a guitar and recapped her three years at the company using Excel lingo, singing, "forever recalc or die" to the tune of "American Pie" by Don McLean.
quicklist:category: New York Times Op-Edtitle: Goldman Sachs Employee Zings the Investment Bankmedia: 17152607text:
In March, a former Goldman Sachs employee resigned from the company in a New York Times op-ed, saying Goldman Sachs had a "toxic" environment that did not focus on clients.
The company responded with a statement, saying it disagreed with Smith's assessment of the company but went on to investigate his claims.
Smith later reportedly landed a $1.5 million book deal with Grand Central Publishing.
quicklist:category: Theft title: Pharmacy Worker Quits, Steals, Leaves IOUmedia: 17152763text:
Police in Uniontown, Pa., said a man stole $697 from his employer, a Walgreen's pharmacy, then quit with a note to his boss and an IOU.
The note reportedly included the message "I quit this place;" "This place is a joke ...;" and "P.S. IOU," according to the Associated Press.
quicklist:category: Public signage title: Taco Bell Employee Gets Creative With Lettersmedia: 17152675text:
An employee at a Taco Bell and KFC in upstate New York made a memorable statement when he left a message for his boss on the restaurant's exterior sign. The message outside the Depew, N.Y. restaurant read, "I quit - Adam/ F**k you" with a smiley face.
quicklist:category: Mass Emailtitle: Public Official Emails 500 Co-Workers About Work Ethicsmedia: 17152664 text:
This past spring, a German public official retired and told 500 co-workers in an email that he hadn't worked for 14 years, which was leaked to the press.
The man in North Rhine-Westphalia wrote he had earned about $952,860, or £600,000, but he was "not really there," the Daily Mail reported.
