What does Voluntarily quit mean?

Answer 1

Voluntarily Quit

It just means that she doesn't work there anymore. Layed off, fired, quit, died, etc. They aren't allowed to give a reason.

I worked at a natural foods store for three months as a "sales representative" and actually as an underpaid and untitled assistant store manager.

There were a lot of things I got out of the job, and I want to be able to talk about the skill set I developed working there, because I am applying for a job at another grocery store. For the most part, though, I was expected to perform all of the same functions as the (also new) store manager, and I worked open to close every day (10:00-7:00 pm, and often times I didn't leave the store until 8:00pm). I did not get paid overtime, etc etc.

After I'd been working there for three months, my mother passed away. I was VERY clear with my manager about what my capabilities were for scheduling, and as of the past two weeks, I'd only been scheduled on Wed/Thurs, and came in voluntarily other days--my mom was in the hospital. And my supervisor was pretty willing to work with me about this, in all fairness.

The thing is though, after she died I told my boss I could not come in the following week. I'd already had requested that week and the next off for a workshop unrelated to my job (made the request months in advance) so I shouldn't have been scheduled to work anyway. Obviously, I didn't go to the workshop because my mother died a couple days before it was going to start. I did say if she REALLY needed me, she could call, and I might be able to come in.

So, the day of my mother's funeral, the phone company turned off my cellphone. We're on a family plan and apparently my mother hadn't paid the bill in six months. Service was back that Monday, which was, according to my termination letter, the day I was supposed to come in to work.

I don't know where the disconnect was, but I received a saying that I didn't show up to work on Monday and therefore was terminated for job abandonment.

I didn't actually care at the time because I was very depressed over my mother's death, and like I said, they were pretty abusive in terms of what they required from me for near minimum wage.

But now I don't know what to put on my job application, because it's such a complicated scenario. I don't feel like saying I was terminated accurately reflects the situation (there's no room for explanation), and while I feel like "voluntarily quit" is more accurate, since the allegation was that i chose not to come to work during a week i'd requested off a month in advance, then again for different circumstances, on a day that I wasn't regularly scheduled to work anyway--

I think, even try to explain all of this in writing looks like I am trying to make excuses, or omitting certain details. Like i said, my phone wasn't working for three days, but outside of that weekend, I hadn't received any call from them, and they did have other contact numbers for me.

in my opinion, the story sounds ludicrous. I hear it, and think, "Obviously, your boss wanted to fire you for other reasons, then"

and i think that perhaps they let me go so quickly because I'd already expressed wanting to leave the job (for the reasons i mentioned), and simply the fact that I couldn't spend time with my mother because of very unnecessarily long shifts.

i also think my supervisor threw me under the bus with the district manager for political reasons. Mostly that she was new and had already been yelled at by the district manager several times for poor performance issues. Both of these women seemed to like me well enough, but they were also always poor communicators with me and each other. It made the job extremely stressful and was, according to my predecessor, the reason everyone leaves that job.

I want to just say I voluntarily quit. but i worry that if they contact my previous employer, they'll say that i was terminated for job abandonment.

so...what do I do?

Additional Detailsoh yeah, what about "may we contact?"

I truly don't know what my boss is going to say to future employers. We got along okay, and according to a coworker, she didn't even say i was "fired" just that I "left" because of my mother's death.

But like I said, she kind of threw me under the bus, and when I asked her why I was fired, she put me on hold for fifteen minutes before i hung up. When I called again later she said, "well, we hadn't heard from you. hang on--" and did the same thing, again!

Best Answer - Chosen by VotersI'm not sure that I would worry to much about what your boss would say - most companies now have policies which prohibit their supervisiors from talking to other employers.

I would NOT put your former boss down as a reference, and, if asked if it was OK to contact the former boss, I would decline and just explain to the new boss that the goals of the previous company and your goals began to diverge, so you decided to seek employment elsewhere - you would not be lying about this.

When you get an interview, you need to turn the focus on what you would do for the company to fix their problems, not focus on your past. Every job exists because there is a problem to be solved, and you can best win the job by focusing on telling your interviewer how you would do the job.