BootsnAll Travel Community

So about a month ago I got a huge promotion at work beause my boss was "asked" to quit. It was this huge thing that was NOT good. Anyway, I was asked to fill his position. The money is awesome, but I would feel SO guilty if I quit in a year to travel like I had orginally wanted to do.

My responsibilities are pretty big, so getting away is hard. I'm ging to take my 2 week vacation in January ad go to India or Thailand, but it's still not the 6-12 mth travel plan I had......

Take it for now and see what happens...365 days later you might feel differently. If 6 months from now your travel plans are still up then make sure you work hard to find a good replacement and also train your staff to take your place.

Nothing to feel guilty about....I know easy to say but seriously why should you feel guilt. You would be working your ass off in the year you are there. Maybe they will offer you a extended LOA..so many things could happen in a year.

The fact that you took on this new role speaks to your dedication and commitment, but it doesn't mean you have to alter your life plans. It would be a different situation, I think, if you had been angling for this promotion for a while and THEN left. You stepped up to the plate when they needed you to.

Look at it this way: if the tables were turned, and they needed to let you go for whatever reason (eg. downsizing, etc), they'd likely do it without batting an eyelash. (Mind you I don't know your company, but in general this applies)

And, if in a year's time, you're NOT traveling and are miserable because of this fact, you're no good to them or your colleagues.

And one last thing(!): think about the day many, many years in the future when you are on your deathbed - do you think you're really going to think to yourself "You know, I really wish I hadn't taken that year off to go traveling" ?

Not a chance.

Do what you need to do.

(PS: yes, I am currently in a similar situation)

quote:

Originally posted by TripperIsGo:
The fact that you took on this new role speaks to your dedication and commitment, but it doesn't mean you have to alter your life plans. It would be a different situation, I think, if you had been angling for this promotion for a while and THEN left. You stepped up to the plate when they needed you to.

This is the key- they asked you to take the job, you stepped up and sure it was beneficial to you too but otherwise why else would you have done it in the first place? Have you agreed to a contract stating the length of time you are required to keep the job? If not you are ethically free to go when you choose. Yes, your company would let you go if it benefitted them and you should not feel any obligation to stay for the sake of the company.

I think there's a balancing act of taking pride in our jobs and doing the best we can at them while at the same time not feeling emotionally bound to them forever. You are there to do your job and do it well. For this you get paid in money and benefits. In this paradigm at the end of the day no one owes anyone anything and no one is giving anyone anything. It comes out even. You can take pride in your job and love your job without feeling indebted to your job/employer.

When it comes closer to time for you to leave do your best to get someone new trained up and leave on a positive note that it was a great job and you did great at it. Maybe you'll end up coming back to it after travelling, maybe not.

Both of you make exellent points. Thanks! I'm very much a work-a-holic and take a lot of pride in what I do. This is one of the reasons why I have the job that I have now. I'm a store manager of a large grocery store, in a very peculiar town.

I guess the reason I feel a bit obligated is because the last manager (a man), was asked to leave based on sexual harrassment complaints. They then hired me, a fairly new employee wth the company, because not only could I do the job, but I'm a woman as well. Not to mention the fact that very few people would be willing to move to our town. It's that different!

You're right though, if they didn't like me and wanted me gone, they'd do it in a heartbeat. Things can change a lot in a years time (they already have). The sweet part is that the money I'm making will allow me to do more and for a longer period of time.

Right now, I'm buying my ticket to Spain for 2 weeks in January as part of my vacation time and leaving the rest to fate.

yeah, i can see where you're coming from however remember we are all totally replacable. Please don't take that personally because it applies to all of us. Someone else will always want/take the job and the job will fire you so fast if they want your head will spin. Since you seem interested in the new job and the big raise could help out I think it's a great plan to see what happens and stick it out a bit. Just don't give up your original plans. You can't help that your boss was looking up porn, hitting on office mates, etc. and you shouldn't let that ruin a dream you have. Congrats on the promo and have a great time on your trip!

It's a toughie.

I got an unexpected promotion about 14 months ago to manager. I learnt a lot and did many, many hours overtime to prove myself. I told myself I'd give it a go for a year and I exceeded that.

I've decided it's not what I want so, after trying unsuccessfully to negotiate my working conditions, I quit. I only have 5 more days of my notice to work. I'm taking a temp job for more pay and will go on my RTW after all.

In my case, I don't feel I was being paid enough and I had had enough of working an extra 10 or 20 hours/week. I found that I didn't enjoy being in charge of people who were formerly my colleagues.

However, I never would have known that if I hadn't taken the job. My advice is to give it a go for a year and save in the meantime. You can make a decision then.

Well, here's my take. When you decided that you want to quit your job in 10, 12, 14 or so months and travel the world, you make this decision out of your passion to travel. Not because you're not being promoted or given a pay raise. If this is true, no extra pay or promotions should change that passion. I say, once you make the decision to go, you need to stick to it and GO! I'm having a simialr crisis myself right now, and this is how I'm keeping my focus.

Especially in light of things in your job now....

DON"T FEEL GUILTY! Your job is a job! You need to live your life! (I tell myself this all the time.)

For what it's worth(FWIW), I've learned it doesn't pay to be nice. But first, I always like to do the if then thing too.
If I don't get the good position I want, THEN I'll travel, or move or whatever. If I do, then I'll see how it goes and then decide.
And when I'm nice because I'm completely honest, I'm always the one who loses out. Example if I was you a few years ago, I would've probably declined the job because I didn't want to stay for a year. Or I would've took the job and didn't follow my original goals.
I would always feel guilty too, because I put everyone above myself.

But what always happens? None of it pans out. I don't move, and I don't travel, and I lost out on the years worth of pay and experience! At least that's always been my situation. I don't know the type of job, and how hard it is to train or find a replacement. Those variables aside, if it were me, now I would take the promotion, because at least I've been promoted, and at least if everything falls through in the next year, I'm somewhere. I don't know how they'll feel in a year. I've just made the mistake enough times that I don't think I'm going to bet the farm on things I'll be doing 2-3 years from now and take it a day at a time.

I agree with insubordination too. Maybe you'd quit in a year anyway without the travel plans. And it all works out!
Also, imagine working there for the next year, after you declined the promotion, because you want to travel in 13 months from now. That might be yucky too.

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck Girl:

I'm a store manager of a large grocery store, in a very peculiar town.

I'm very curious which town? unless you don't want to say, which is fine too.
now I'm just thinking which towns in Alberta qualify as peculiar... probably all small towns do, to anyone who's been there and hasn't stuck around. I just hope it's not Fort McMurray....