I applied for a warehouse job and the interviewer loved me and my resume and said I was hired, I just had to fill out a basic literacy test. I was studying at university so it was a silly thing to ask but he said it’s just a formality; they have to do it.

One question said “describe yourself in three sentences”. I wrote something like “I am very punctual. I enjoy stacking boxes. I’m a self starter. I always do more than asked.” Get it? It’s four sentences but they asked for three. The fourth one being about doing more than asked. Funny right?? Yeah the interviewer called me back saying head office didn’t find it funny and I was disqualified for failing the literacy test.

I figured I dodged a bullet because it must suck to work for a bunch of people without a sense of humour!

Not actually fired, but I just resigned from a relatively high paying career position without something lined up.

I work in tech, and some parts of that market are very much in flux due to AI disruption. For this company it led to a shuffle and, in my opinion, a lot of people ending up in roles they shouldn’t be in.

A few things happened during that shuffle. First, I was overlooked for a promotion that otherwise seemed in the bag (to the point where others were equally confused). Ultimately the person who ended up as my boss really should not be where they are. They don’t understand the business and started making other bad decisions without even consulting the team of experts on hand. In fact, they apologized to me for “starting off on the wrong foot”, but the damage was largely done, and they kept making really bad calls anyway – calls which put the team constantly at risk and kept things very inefficient.

And yes, of course they are good friends with the new CEO.

That exacerbated a lot of issues we already had with constantly juggling tasks and chronic understaffing. After that promotion snub, plus being one of the few really holding things together anyway, I realized that the stress of the position entirely outweighed the stress of finding another job. Obviously I also felt like upward mobility was no longer a thing. I was dreading work every morning. I started to get really bad anxiety. I wanted to find something else, but my mental state was such that I didn’t have the drive to seek alternatives or interview while also working at this place. I asked to reduce my weekly workload for a while, and when it wasn’t working too well, I asked to go on leave to try and combat the burnout. New boss was instantly waffling on approval, so I felt I had no other realistic option but resignation.

My wife and I are in a pretty secure financial position, and she’s got her own job that is going well. It is the first time in my life I have resigned from a position without anything lined up, which admittedly does feel weird. Taking some time for better mental health, then to hone a few skills, then will be returning to market.

Took too much unlimited PTO. All of it approved too. Idk.