How to go viral while quitting your job

After one Capitol Hill staffer's elaborate "I quit" email hit Jezebel, some other tips for going out with style

Published September 4, 2014 9:33PM (EDT)

 Liz Wahl, former RT America correspondent
Liz Wahl, former RT America correspondent

It's every disgruntled employee's (and angry lover's) sweet fantasy: leave on your own terms, just when they realize they've been undervaluing you all along, but it's too late! That, and/or get famous on your way out (cause that would be great, too, and you haven't really figured out your future yet).

That's what one Hill staffer apparently did recently, in this amazing email posted on Jezebel's groupthink, titled, "Not So Fond Farewell." This is how it ended:

"After nearly two decades of unpaid and underpaid work, student loans for two degrees, late nights, playing therapist/nanny, dealing with angry phone calls, and always being on call like a sleep-deprived Florence fucking Nightengale, I got tired of hearing "You're not dedicated enough" one last fucking time.

Fuck you people."

Well said, person.

But for those of you who don't want to burn all of your bridges (including future ones), you might want to consider these nine ideas. Except, you know, since people have already done these, you've got to be more original than this:

Do an interpretive dance at 4:30 a.m.

Now Marina Shifrin writes comedy and baby-sits full-time (at least, according to Twitter).

Take a stand on live television

Former RT America correspondent Liz Wahl left the network over ethical concerns, saying RT America was "whitewashing Putin" during coverage of the crisis in Ukraine.

Take a stand, literally

Climb onto a desk and rip your shirt off while playing an audiotape of Nietzsche:

Make a public announcement

Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio of Bangor's WFVX quit in a newscast after six years on the job each. Though they didn't say why on air, Michaels told the Bangor Daily News: "There was a constant disrespecting and belittling of staff and we both felt there was a lack of knowledge from ownership and upper management in running a newsroom to the extent that I was not allowed to structure and direct them professionally."

Hire a marching band

Like this guy named Joey did, when he left his job at Providence Renaissance Hotel:

Hire these guys

And get Steve Harvey on board:

Dress up as a banana

Oh, and a mariachi band.

Bake a cake

Chris Holmes baked this cake for his bosses at the London's Stansted Airport when he quit on his 31st birthday to pursue a career in baking.

Tweet it

Surely many people have done this already, but Jonathan Schwartz, leaving his post as chief executive of Sun Microsystems, was reportedly the first person from a Fortune 200 company to tweet his resignation. With a haiku, no less!

[embedtweet id="8620937722"]


By Prachi Gupta

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.

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