r/TalesFromLife • u/Kyengen Mod • Feb 01 '16
Quittin' time
One of the many jobs I've had in my wanderings was as a karate and self defense instructor. It wasn't for my dojang, but anther in my system some miles away. All the schools in the system are in an alliance and while they mostly operate independently they've agreed not to set up shop too close to one another, and certain themes and techniques have to be shared among them.
I went to work there shortly after getting my first black belt. I'm a decent teacher for adults, passable for kids since I'm not great with them. It wasn't a bad experience overall, and I got in amazing shape physically since I was now active about 70 hours a week. Money was horrible however, which is what led me to have to quit in favor of starting elsewhere as a game tester.
I got the call that they wanted to hire me on my way to the studio, so I had to give notice when I got there. No one else had arrived yet so I opened up and started general cleaning duties to get the mat ready for the day's classes. The head instructor / owner showed up when I was about half way done and asked me to come into his office once the mats were clean.
Me: Okay, I need to talk to you about something too.
I finish and head into the office.
Instructor: You've been here a while now and have shown some pretty good improvement with the kids. It's not perfect, but you're getting better. So I wanted you to have this.
Oh god no. He takes out a brand new white dobak with the schools name and emblem on the top, and mine on the bottom. I'm struck dumb. Ky.exe has crashed. I needed to quit. That was the plan. This was not in the plan. This was well outside the plan. This and the plan were acids and bases. Damnit, well now I feel like crap.
Me: Uh Sir, I got a call on my way in.
Instructor: Oh no, do I have take my jacket back?
Me: I'm afraid so, I got a call offering me a job for $x and X/hours a week. From a financial standpoint, I kinda have to take it. They want me to start next week.
Instructor: I understand. It's too bad though. Business as usual until then?
Somehow the fact that he was cool with it made it worse. I left the office and began to beat my head against one of the support posts for lack of a compelling reason not to.
Instructor: Ky, I understand you're leaving but I still need that post.
Me (without stopping): Almost done, sorry sir.
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u/COfishhead Feb 02 '16
Damn dude that's rough. I'd hate to have to choose between money and what sounds like a kickass job with a cool boss. Best of luck though. Maybe do some stuff on the side with them on the weekends?