Blog » Why you shouldn’t burn your bridges

Why you shouldn’t burn your bridges

25th August 2017

There comes a time in every employee’s working life when they mull over the process of how they’re going to leave their job.

Generally it’s after a particularly bad day when nothing has gone right and everybody is annoying them. Their computer’s crashed and lost all their hard work, the boss has reprimanded them for eating at their desk and a client has pulled particularly big contract.

We’ve all had days like that when we yearn for a change and we start to act out the dramatic manner in which we’ll hand in our notice, sticking two fingers to “The Man” and confidently striding out the office door to a more prosperous future where  you’re more valued and can eat a sandwich where you like.

“That’ll show them,” you might think as you daydream, “They’ll soon realise that they shouldn’t have taken me for granted.

“Stuff their job.”

Now, while such a flamboyant exit might work in your head, it really isn’t advisable in real life.

You might think that you’ll never come across your hated boss, colleagues or customers once you leave your job, but the truth of the matter is you most probably will.

You’ll have heard the phrase “Northern Ireland is a small place” before and never more is it relevant than in the workplace.

If Northern Ireland is a small place then the sector of the business world which you work in is even smaller and the particular specialism you have is probably even smaller still.

So the people that you insult on your way out the door could very easily be your colleagues, customers or even your boss in the future.

On many occasions I’ve seen previous colleagues leave in a blaze of glory only to find themselves in a couple of years pleading with the former boss who they insulted in their resignation speech to give them a job.

Then there’s the boss who ends up working under the person who they once treated badly as an underling, or trying to sell them goods and services to make their bonus.

These things happen more than you would imagine.

It pays to hold your cool when you are leaving a job, no matter how strong your feelings because you really don’t know what the future holds.

That’s good advice in life, but even more relevant in the office.

So the next time you think you’d like to jump up from your seat and give everyone in the office a piece of your mind, count slowly to ten and maybe go for a walk.

Even if you’re planning to hand your notice in and have a job lined up, the damage you could do is not worth it. 

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