Email resignation then phone, or other way around?
June 1, 2015 6:21 AM   Subscribe

As per title. In person is not an option as she works weekdays, me weekends. More inside...

On Thursday I was told I was "too slow" and needed to speed up. I was honestly, cross my heart, working as fast as I possibly could. Long story short but over the weekend I decided the pace wasn't a good fit and to resign if I still couldn't pick up the pace on the next shift this Sat. However, the same boss just emailed this evening to ask me to please ring after 11am tomorrow, "regarding your work". I'm worried she's going to let me go, so I want to get in first. Do I email my resignation tomorrow just before ringing, or ring then email straight away? She only works weekdays so in person is not an option. Thanks.
posted by glache to Work & Money (15 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I would email first to get your resignation in writing before your phone call.
posted by amro at 6:24 AM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'd email the resignation right now to give your boss as much time as possible to acknowledge. That way you might not even need to make the call.
posted by pipeski at 6:26 AM on June 1, 2015


Just something to consider. If you're in the US, and you resign, you may not be eligible for unemployment benefits (I'm not sure if this varies by state - in PA you would not be eligible.) . You also may not be eligible if they let you go with cause, but its much harder to document for the employer so they may not contest it.
posted by DarthDuckie at 6:55 AM on June 1, 2015 [26 favorites]


What DarthDuckie said. Unless there's some weird contractual thing you haven't mentioned, there is no good reason for you to resign. None.
posted by Etrigan at 7:01 AM on June 1, 2015 [9 favorites]


I don't know, Etrigan; if the OP expects to find a new position soon, it might help her with interviewing/negotiating/self-image to be able to say (to herself as well as others) "I recognized this wasn't a good fit, and I decided to look elsewhere" rather than "I got fired". "I got fired" is powerful stuff, even if it's only a technicality.

Stuff like this matters, at least as much as getting the maximum possible money, unless you're looking at eviction/reposession/starvation, of course.
posted by amtho at 7:05 AM on June 1, 2015 [5 favorites]


Nthing don't resign just yet, if you're only doing it to preempt getting fired. Your boss might not even be firing you; it might just be an official warning. And quitting without another job lined up does not necessarily look better to prospective employers than being let go.

Do start looking for a new job today, though.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:20 AM on June 1, 2015 [3 favorites]


It's not clear from what you've written that resigning is really the best next step for you to take. It sounds as if you are resigning just to avoid being let go and possibly to avoid having an unpleasant disciplinary meeting.

Before you do this, perhaps consider: do you have another job lined up? do you depend on this job to pay for essentials? do you have savings? do you have family who will assist you if you are unemployed for several weeks / months?

Good luck.
posted by bunderful at 7:30 AM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


if the OP expects to find a new position soon, it might help her with interviewing/negotiating/self-image to be able to say (to herself as well as others) "I recognized this wasn't a good fit, and I decided to look elsewhere" rather than "I got fired".

I disagree. The OP can still say that they saw it wasn't a good fit and decided to look elsewhere (it is the truth, after all), even is they do get let go on this phone call. The OP is under no obligation to say that they were fired, although I would advise them to try to secure at least one reference from that job.

I say wait for the phone call. Even if you do get fired (which you don't even know yet!) if it's just a couple weeks between jobs, being able to collect helps.
posted by AlisonM at 8:25 AM on June 1, 2015 [5 favorites]


If it helps you with unemployment insurance, don't resign.

It sounds to me like this is not a professional job anyway (the kind of hours you work, plus comments about speed) so I wouldn't worry to much about what this looks like on your resume.

And you probably don't want to be hired by employers who care about this sort of thing anyway.
posted by Nevin at 9:32 AM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm assuming you're in the UK or Australia, but I agree that there's no real reason to resign if the only reason is "You can't fire me, I quit"; in the US, at least, it is very unlikely you'll be able to collect unemployment if you resigned (don't know how it works in the UK or Australia, if that's where you are). And as AlisonM notes, you can give the "good fit" reason regardless of who happens to get to the finish line first.
posted by holborne at 9:53 AM on June 1, 2015


"Quitting to avoid being fired" is the exact same thing as being fired for cause for unemployment in CA.

The OP might want to look up the rules in their state/country, but trying to resign ASAP might not actually do any good here. Check first!
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:46 AM on June 1, 2015


"Quitting to avoid being fired" is the exact same thing as being fired for cause for unemployment in CA.

This is true more or less everywhere, but I will clarify that "fired for cause" means fired for misconduct, not being fired because you aren't good at the job. Based on what you've said here, glache, you're not being fired for cause.
posted by Etrigan at 10:53 AM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


I too question whether resigning is in your best interest but in terms of your question --

It depends whether you want to register your resignation first before any effort to fire you, in which case a date and time stamped email should happen first, or whether you are trying to be polite, in which case a person to person telephone contact should happen first.
posted by bearwife at 11:07 AM on June 1, 2015


Response by poster: Thanks for the responses everyone.

@darthduckie: Australia, so doesn't apply. Plus I have too much savings to be eligible for Centrelink (our social security). Which leads to:
@metroidbaby, amtho & bunderful: thanks and here's the real reasons (I always try to keep it succinct then end up telling the full story anyway). Essentially:

a) don't need the money or skills, this is a deliberate gap year and this job was just an unforeseen bonus
b) had an interview for another PT job today which I initially applied for to add to, not replace this but is convenient if I got it, and if not see point a)
c) still on probation so this is going to be as quick as it'll get
d) at 2 months I would have no hesitation leaving it off the resume if I did resign
e) I've suspected for a long time I'm not suited to fast paced jobs,, but could never prove it as I was working FT and didn't know if it was just a matter of working less. At one half Saturday a fortnight this is as PT as PT goes. If I can't cope then it's definitely a problem with pace itself

To clarify, I can't ask for more training. They've told me everything and it's just a matter of putting it into practice. Unfortunately the environment is too fast paced to wait for someone to *slowly* practice getting the hang of things. I'm already working with someone else so there's no other support they can provide.

My original plan was to reassess closer to the end of probation which is still 4 weeks away, particularly if I did end up getting the other PT job so that I had enough time to assess, but this email has just thrown a spanner in the works and as I really feel it's a matter of fit it's going to be an ongoing problem and so just wanted to get in first if this is what this phone call ends up being about.
posted by glache at 2:51 PM on June 1, 2015


In that case, in your shoes, I'd likely quit and would do so via email. No sense in staying in a soul-sucking situation if you don't have to.
posted by bunderful at 7:12 PM on June 2, 2015


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