Should I quit my job?

[pokerprose]

I'll try to make this as brief as possible by including points rather than paragraphs.

-I'm 23

-Hired in Dec 2006. It's not a permanent position, but it has a 3 year time frame. I've worked 6 months.

-I don't enjoy it and it's very difficult. People I have talked to are surprised to find out that these responsibilities have been placed on my shoulders. I am trying my best to learn and improve at what I'm doing but it's very difficult and the tools/teachers I need just aren't there. And I don't care enough about this job to devote my life to getting better at it.

-I am applying to Grad school for fall of 2008. I will get in, that's not a question. So at most I'd only have this job another year and a couple months.

-I don't need the money. The insurance benefits are nice, but I can afford to pay for those on my own, or get them through a different job.


Ok...so here are the real issues I have with this...

-The company has paid me a lot these past 6 months and I've spent them all training and learning and not doing anything for them. If I quit now I feel like I just wasted their time and money.

-We have purchased over $10k worth of equipment for this project and have had some time sensitive materials approved. I was hoping to stay on to the completion of this project but that is no longer a desirable option for me. I don't think the equipment money would go to waste, however, as they would likely hire someone else (hopefully more skilled/experienced than I was) to take my place.

Can I quit them??

SUMMARY FOR THOSE ADVERSE TO READING THINGS:

Have job, don't want job, don't need job for $ or for refs since I am going to grad school in 1.5 years and not working in this industry any longer. Concerns are that the past 6 months I've worked here they've paid me well and purchased lots of equipment for me, and I'm wondering if quitting now would be rude/inappropriate/unfair as I've accomplished close to nothing for them.

Thanks

[BoilingOatRunner]

Interesting question. Before I respond, let me ask...do you happen to live near either of the following 2 cities?

New City, NY, USA
Yuma, AZ, USA

[tuq]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting question. Before I respond, let me ask...do you happen to live near either of the following 2 cities?

New City, NY, USA
Yuma, AZ, USA

[/ QUOTE ]
As always, your timing is perfect.

[Klompy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Interesting question. Before I respond, let me ask...do you happen to live near either of the following 2 cities?

New City, NY, USA
Yuma, AZ, USA

[/ QUOTE ]
As always, your timing is perfect.

[/ QUOTE ]

This joke would have gone over my head if you hadn't said anything, although I think it's quite likely that boilingoatrunner is actually your own gimmick account.

[BoilingOatRunner]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Interesting question. Before I respond, let me ask...do you happen to live near either of the following 2 cities?

New City, NY, USA
Yuma, AZ, USA

[/ QUOTE ]
As always, your timing is perfect.

[/ QUOTE ]

This joke would have gone over my head if you hadn't said anything, although I think it's quite likely that boilingoatrunner is actually your own gimmick account.

[/ QUOTE ]
People have called me a lot of things over the years for doing this whacky job. My friends think I'm a moron and have repeatedly told me that no amount of horribly disfiguring burns to my arms and legs could be worth the eventual reward for this job. The women I've been with over the years always leave me, realizing that they'll eventually get tired of putting salve upon my wounds every day, and call me a fool for my job choice.

But being accused of being Tuq may be the most heinous insult of all. How dare you, Klompy!

Besides, there's no way I could be Tuq. That guy is so busy posting on here that he'd never have time to run the oats, obviously.

[pokerprose]

uh, so I don't get the boiling oat runner thing. help?

[Frinkenstein]

Yes, you can certainly quit. If you really don't want to be there, they probably would rather find someone that does.

BTW, what is your job? What do you do?

[pokerprose]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, you can certainly quit. If you really don't want to be there, they probably would rather find someone that does.

BTW, what is your job? What do you do?

[/ QUOTE ]

I like that first part!

As for the second, I am part of a research project proposal. Basically, someone else has written something but is obviously far too important to do it. Thus my job is to learn the techniques and skills he outlines, set up a laboratory, get all approvals that we need and run the experiment. This would not take three years, however the results of this experiment would lead to further work with the grants for money they've received ending after 3 years, at the rate they are paying me.

So far I have gotten all the approvals we needed, set up the laboratory (90% or so complete) and keep practicing the procedures to no avail. If I left this second they would have approval to do the experiments still within the next 270 days or so, 90% of a lab to do so, and no 'technician' (me, I guess), so they would need to hire someone.

[TheIrishThug]

Seems like you already made your decision.
[ QUOTE ]
The company has paid me a lot these past 6 months and I've spent them all training and learning and not doing anything for them. If I quit now I feel like I just wasted their time and money.

[/ QUOTE ]
They wasted your time just as much as you wasted their's. Six months seems like a long time to only to training and still not be able to do the task.

What would you plan on doing after you quit? 1.5 years is a decent amount of time to just hang out.

[pokerprose]

[ QUOTE ]
Seems like you already made your decision.
[ QUOTE ]
The company has paid me a lot these past 6 months and I've spent them all training and learning and not doing anything for them. If I quit now I feel like I just wasted their time and money.

[/ QUOTE ]
They wasted your time just as much as you wasted their's. Six months seems like a long time to only to training and still not be able to do the task.

What would you plan on doing after you quit? 1.5 years is a decent amount of time to just hang out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Play poker (that's where my money comes from and I make more than enough to ever need a job for money reasons, at least at this stage of my life), travel and visit friends, volunteer, find a different job that is more interesting to me and something I'd rather be doing. I don't plan on sitting around doing nothing all day, I think I'd be able to fill my time up pretty well. That 1.5 years also includes the time when I need to be taking tests, applying, etc for grad school. Probably have to update some papers I wrote as well.