Photo by Uday Mittal on Unsplash
Rage quitting describes the act of quitting your job on the spot, usually fueled by pent-up anger and frustration.
If you’ve been a working professional for even one week, chances are, you've fantasized (more than once) about making a grand exit from your job. Even when you practice patience, there will definitely be instances where you’re pushed to your limit and considering storming out and calling it quits.
While this can be a desirable fantasy, at the end of the day, most people either speak up calmly about their professional unhappiness or begin searching for a new job.
Table of Contents
- What Does It Mean to Rage Quit?
- 5 Reasons You Don’t Want to Rage Quit
- When It Might Be Acceptable to Rage Quit
And then, of course, a handful of people simply rage quit. While we've all fantasized about taking this route, what we'd say to our toxic boss, and how powerful we'd look sauntering out the damn door for the last time, it's probably not the best move. Sigh, we know.
What Does It Mean to Rage Quit?
To rage quit means to, quite simply, become so angry or frustrated with a situation that you abandon it entirely, leaving before the situation has resolved itself or ended.
The term "rage quit" was coined by gamers to describe quitting a video game in a fit of frustration. We can't speak too much to the video game "rage quit." Our video game knowledge doesn't go too far beyond Mario and Luigi.
In the workplace, it means quitting a job without giving any notice and, further, leaving due to an argument, sustained mistreatment, or a hostile situation.
It comes as no big surprise that rage quitting happens. Work stress and workplace burnout are known epidemics, with the latter being recognized by the World Health Organization as a serious diagnosis.
Here are just a few reasons that people do find themselves rage quitting in the heat of the moment:
- High-stress levels and prolonged anxiety
- Toxic bosses and/or coworkers
- Poor management
- An ailing company culture
- A culture of overwork or unrealistic workload
- Disrespect
- No work-life balance
- Lack of appreciation or recognition
- Alienation or no sense of belonging at work
When an employee quits without giving two weeks' notice or writing a resignation letter, the impression left is usually not great.
It's probably no surprise that rage quitting is a timely topic. Employees feel especially stressed, stretched thin, and fed up if they're continually put in situations in which their safety isn't taken into consideration.
Plus, the pandemic's effects have helped spark The Great Resignation, so many employees may already find themselves considering a career change.
All of that said, if you find yourself in a situation in which you're dreaming of storming out, bridges be damned, it's usually best to take a moment to compose yourself and reconsider or write an immediately effective resignation letter.
Here's why.
5 Reasons You Don’t Want to Rage Quit
Here are a few good reasons that you might not want to go the route of that infamous JetBlue employee. From harming relationships to tainting your workplace reputation to causing you to no longer receive benefits, rage quitting can be really harmful.
1. Burned Bridges
While obvious, the biggest reason you don’t want to rage quit your job is to avoid burning bridges with your company and your managers.
If you rage quit, you will likely not receive a positive recommendation from anyone on your team, let alone your boss, as you’ve inconvenienced them by reacting poorly to a situation and unexpectedly leaving your role unfulfilled.
Although it may seem as if burning bridges is a good option in the heat of the moment, if your boss switches companies in the future and sees your name on a potential resume, or if your company is acquired by a larger firm you hope to work for, it can become easy to regret burning bridges so spectacularly by rage quitting.
2. Loss of Salary
Another reason to not rage quit is the fact that you will be losing your salary—effective immediately.
No one ever plans to rage quit—they are often pushed to do so by a toxic situation or circumstances. This means, however, that rage quitting will cause you to lose your immediate source of income, and you'll have no alternate salary lined up the way you typically would if you found another job and then quit your current one with sufficient notice.
Instead of rage quitting, when you realize you're unhappy in your current role or workplace, conduct a thorough job search, secure a new position, and then quit with ample notice. That way, you can to keep those bridges perfectly in tact.
3. Loss of Benefits
Perhaps even more disruptive than the loss of salary is the loss of benefits. In countries like the United States, healthcare benefits are tied to your employment, and rage quitting your job means losing your benefits immediately too.
Moreover, you cannot collect unemployment benefits if you have left the job of your own volition.
As such, the government will not help you as they would if you had simply been let go.
4. Difficulty Obtaining a New Position
Once you rage quit and the dust settles, the reality is that you still need a job. And, in interviews with other companies or recruiters, there is always the inevitable, “Why did you leave your previous position?” Even if you manage to spin this positively, there is a high chance that your new employer will want to conduct a reference check.
It’s absolutely fine not to include your previous employer on that list, but it does look suspicious once you’ve left the company and are not currently employed by them.
If you are moving within the same industry, your new employer may find out that you rage quit from other sources, which could reflect poorly on you in comparison to other candidates competing for the same position.
Ultimately, employers don’t want to hire someone who could rage quit their job since it would leave them in a difficult position.
5. Bad Reputation
In most situations, it is very rare for coworkers to know the full circumstances or understand why a fellow coworker rage quit a position.
As such, they are likely to find your actions unprofessional—like a bad temper tantrum. As your former coworkers rise in the world—and in the same industry—this could come back to bite.
They'll certainly remember your rage quit actions, which may affect your workplace reputation. If you do rage quit, try your best to reach out to former coworkers to set the story straight, for whatever it’s worth. You don't want anyone in your network to associate you with toxicity or hot-headedness.
6. No Improvement
Last but not least, when an employee rage quits, it's easy for an employer to call them "crazy" and go on with their same toxic workplace problems.
While it's not a single employee's job to hit their breaking point without actually breaking, quitting with reasonable notice gives them the opportunity to try to fix things on the way out. For example, an employee who opts to give two weeks' notice can request an exit interview to share their experience and any relevant feedback.
While an exit interview might feel like a little more than a formality, it's always possible that you'd be helping your soon-to-be ex-coworkers and your replacement by exposing a problematic work environment, excessive work stress, or toxic people in management positions.
When It Might Be Acceptable to Rage Quit
There are plenty of reasons not to rage quit. It's better to push through a difficult situation in almost every circumstance until you can line up another job.
But with that said, there are some situations where it is okay to leave at the last minute.
For example:
- Abusive managers (bad leadership is usually a sign of serious flaws, organization-wide)
- Hostile colleagues
- Toxic work culture
- Misconduct
- Blatant disrespect
- Racism
- Family crisis that is not respected
- Illegal activity
In these situations, it makes sense to rage quit and take some time to recenter your mental and emotional health after having been in such a toxic and dangerous work environment.
When you are ready to search for a new job, be honest about the difficulties or stressors that led to you terminating your employment, particularly given that they were extreme. A good employer will recognize when an otherwise good employee was morphed into a rage quitter by extreme situations.
Ultimately, rage quitting is a common daydream for most professionals, but in general, it is considered a faux pas in the employment world. If your situation is absolutely unacceptable, however, prioritize yourself and your health and leave at once.
While it won’t be easy, it beats staying in a toxic environment or worse, a downright hostile environment. Evaluate your circumstances carefully before doing so—after all, rage quitting can have repercussions in both the short and long term.
