I began working for a software company in 2003 and absolutely hated the monotony. I would sit at a dark desk for eight to nine hours a day whether rain or shine, sick or healthy, and go through a gazillion lines of homogenous computer code trying to debug small errors in a piece of software designed to scan metal parts for defects. Despite my distain for the job, I kept going to work day in and day out, keeping my mouth shut.
After about two years, I finally discovered that my hard work had not been paying off, meaning I was seeing absolutely no rewards. I saw no chance for advancement, and it seemed like I was a faceless entity in a sea of laborers. Spending all of my time working meant that I had no time to go out and play. As a result I had saved up a great deal of money. Since the company was so large, I thought I could probably just NOT show up and nobody would ever notice me gone. My managers were so wrapped up in their own tasks that they had little interest in what I was doing and my job was not very important to these people as they had more important business to take care of. One morning I woke up and had enough.
I simply stopped showing up. No calls, no letters, no layoff. It went on like this for almost a month. I went in the office once a week and picked up my check with no hassle, until it was time to decide whether or not I could continue deceiving them like this. In the envelope along with my second check, I found a letter informing me that the company would be conducting a review of all their employees in order to evaluate their value to their department. I figured what the hell, I’m showing up for that one.
I was somewhat nervous heading in that day but nevertheless sat down with a specialist which my company had brought in to do the meetings. It was like visiting a work psychiatrist, he asked me how I liked working there, about my co-workers, my job responsibilities, family, and everything. The craziest part about this story is that I told him the truth, that is without mentioning my recent hiatus. In a humorous manner, I related my current job with the life of an Alaskan slow dog which they use for mushing. When it was all said and done, I received a raise the following week! I never went back to that wretched office building in New Yuck City, though. I quit and have not looked back since!