Not for ER...but quitting my second job delivering pizzas did involve an epiphany of sorts. I remember it was a Saturday night, we were under-staffed, and the cash wasn't exactly flowing in. I had gotten fed up with the district manager, who didn't like me, but I could sort of get away with things because I was their best driver at that store.
Well, the stock market was doing pretty well. This was November 2000, and while the tech sector was starting to dive, I was at an all-time high, financially. I decided that the next customer that pissed me off, I'd quit the moment I walked back in the door. It didn't take long. I had to run a delivery almost to the edge of our zone, fighting bad traffic, only to have a snotty kid meet me at the door and give me exact change, no tip. Well, as a driver, I actually make MORE money staying in the store than I do delivering a pizza and not getting a tip, once you factor in fuel, wear and tear on the car, etc. Nevermind the fact driving that far, I wasted a lot of time. I could've had 2 or 3 closer, tipping customers in the same amount of time that this one delivery took.
So, I went back into the store, threw the delivery bag on the table, and said to the closing manager, "That's it, I quit, clock me out". He thought I was kidding. When I made him clock me out, they had no choice but to close down the store, as we were already short-staffed and I was their best driver.
The next day, which was a Sunday, the store manager called me I forget how many times, begging me to come back. I just let it go into voicemail, although eventually I did return his call.
I actually DID try to go back, on a reduced basis, but my heart just wasn't in it anymore. When I worked a regular Thurs/Fri/Sat 5-close, I made good money. I figure it came out to around $16 per hour, after taxes, wages + tips. It was rare for me to clear less than $300 per week. Plus the tax writeoff for the mileage was nice come income tax time. But when I cut down to two nights per week, and was no longer the closing driver, it came out to more like $11-12/hour, and since I'd sometimes get cut early, I was lucky to see $100-120 per week. So, I just gave it up again, after 3 months. I quit on the spot again that second time, but that time I told them that my schedule at my regular job was too hectic, requiring too much last-minute OT, and I didn't want to have to start repeatedly calling out. That left me an out, in case I ever wanted to come back.
And, glutton for punishment, I DID come back! I got bored over the summer of 2001, and started thinking about bringing in some extra cash to help with the whole ER thing. So, I went back to delivering, on September 10, 2001. Well, we all know what happened the following day. That pretty much killed off business, and it just didn't seem worth it to go in anymore, so on Columbus Day 2001, I called and lied and said I got called into my first job on an emergency, and wouldn't be in. And that, unfortunately, I'd have a lot of last-minute OT again, so might as well take me off the delivery schedule until further notice.
It actually wasn't a total lie. In the middle of 2001, my company struck a deal with me, as I was pulling a lot of OT, which was 1.5X back then. They gave me a 10% raise, but reduced the OT to 1.0X rather than 1.5X. I probably averaged around 150-175 hours of OT per year. Not a huge amount, but without fail it would always happen on a night I was scheduled to deliver! I could change the nights I delivered, but then damn if the OT wouldn't switch to those same nights!
