I Will Not Resign Myself To My Fate, I’ll Just Resign

Many years ago, I worked in hospitality at a friendly local bar, good staff, locals, and management. All in all, a pretty good gig.

My girlfriend at the time was studying about a five-hour drive away and was an ex-workmate at the same bar. We’d worked together over the summer and then got together once university started.

Our local sports team had a game coming up in a couple of months, playing in her city. It was always a big party night in a student town, so I decided to get tickets and take the weekend off to spend time together. I duly put my leave request in, and with six weeks to go, this was accepted by management. Everything was looking good for a great long weekend away with her.

Nearly a month later, on a Thursday, fifteen days out from the big event, my boss came to me and said:

Boss: “I’ve decided to attend the game myself. I’m cancelling your leave; I need you to do closing shifts over that weekend.”

Me: “But you accepted my leave! I already have tickets and have also booked accommodation. This won’t work.”

Boss: “As long as you work here, you have to work that weekend.”

I instantly saw the solution. I literally grabbed a napkin off the bar and wrote my resignation out under his nose and handed it to him.

Boss: “I’m not accepting that.”

Me: “It will be foolish not to have cover for me starting in fourteen days, as that is my notice period and I am going, regardless of whether you accept it or not.”

So… I had a marvellous weekend away! He had to work that weekend as he was unable to replace me, and when I bumped into his wife a week after returning home, she told me he had been slammed on game night, and they still hadn’t replaced me, and eventually asked if I could come back. 

We agreed on a meeting time and had a good chat about things, and I got offered my old job back with another $1.50/hr thrown in. I ended up working for him another four years with no drama after that.