Australian named, Paul (last name with-held) was fed up with his job in the finance sector – although he was making a decent living, he decided it wasn’t worth the mental anguish he found himself in on the daily.
After much deliberation (and years) he made up his mind to leave his position and become a cleaner at McDonald’s.
The dread that would fill Paul as his weekend was winding down was palpable and riddled him with anxiety as the thought of the coming work week and the accompanying dread that the corporate setting was giving him, would overwhelm him.
“I just got the point where I was sick of managing people in a way I didn’t feel comfortable. So much of the work you do in financial services it’s just paper pushing and million dollar people talking about first world problems,” he told news.com.au.
The father of four had spent the last 23 years in the financial industry as a team leader in customer service but was constantly looking for a way out.
He found himself applying for jobs throughout the workday on the website, Seek and he would submit his resume for positions in a totally different sector…maintenance.
Paul wasn’t getting any replies though, being that his everything on his resume was on his background in Finance.
As luck would have it, Paul happened to apply for a position at McDonald’s as a cleaner. The first job he ever worked, was at McDonald’s…when he was fifteen.
It only took ten minutes after applying for the overnight cleaner position for Paul to receive a call.
The downside was that the pay for the position would be at a cut of almost fifty percent from what he was making at his financial job.
“Let’s go be broke and poor and see if we can be happier.”
So Paul quit his job that spanned over two decades and took up the reins in the overnight position at McDonald’s.
“Job satisfaction is way up and stress is down. There is no constant moving goalposts. No rubbish meetings and pressure to always remember all the corporate language rules. Just cleaning. If it’s dirty, I clean it,” he said.
The best part is that he doesn’t take his work home with him.
In the corporate setting, he was always dialed in…answering emails, calls, the stress of managing a team.
Now, he can go into work but leave it behind when clocked out.
“I get home now and I’m more active in the house and I’m getting back into hobbies as my brain isn’t exhausted.”
The route that Paul had taken to find a way out of a soul-crushing existence is one that scores of people are following in what has been called, the Great Resignation.
People are quitting their jobs in droves because they’re not making what they think they should or they are but they’re miserable.
The willingness to go broke for a more stable mind-set has been becoming the new norm partially due to the pandemic.
Analysts estimate that over 2 million Australians are gearing up to quit their jobs this year as more and more people are not comfortable giving their lives up to languish in a state of perpetual despair.
