Thinking of handing in my notice at my job

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I know this will be doing the wrong thing and I will be letting myself down, but I really cannot go on working there either. It is making me anxious and miserable, and I get all tensed up when I'm there.

I work at a care home, just cleaning, and it sounds like it's a simple, stress-free job, but it isn't. The supervisors expect the impossible from us. It is a very big building, and sometimes we have to share one hoover between three of us (each of us at different parts of the building), and yet the supervisors are on to us if the rooms aren't hoovered as we go along, but that is awkward if we have to share one hoover. We have tried pointing that out but they don't listen, and just expect the rooms to be immaculate somehow.
Plus we are there 6 hours a day, which is tiring when you have to be on your feet all day cleaning, but if something needs to get done before we go home, we have to stay behind, even though we don't get paid for overtime. I find the place very erratic, because it is so frustrating when it's half an hour before the end of your shift and a resident has fallen over and somehow formed blood all over their carpet, and whoever was on that suite has to clean that all up, which takes over an hour to get it all up properly. It's all hard work, and it's stressful too.
Also the boss seems to be on to me lately, accusing me of not doing something when I have, and not believing me. And she's quite scary when she shouts, which upsets me. But she never apologizes.

There there are LOADS of other little things that make me feel unhappy and uncomfortable about working there, and it's reached a point where I can only take so much of it, and now I want out. But I can't find another suitable job. I was thinking of taking up a course to gain some skills, but I don't have a lot of time. Oh, and I forgot to mention, at work we even get HOMEWORK! We have to do our homework, otherwise it's a disciplinary and then a further dismissal. So that's even more pressure, and gives me even less time to get motivated to look for another job. And anyway, now that the boss doesn't seem to like me, she will most probably give me a bad reference for the next employer anyway, so I will NEVER get to leave.

So do you think it would be a good idea to hand in my notice? Maybe I could go to citizen's advice, I don't know. I really cannot work there much longer, it is making me ill. What to do?

I'm sorry you're going through this much stress. I would feel like quitting, too.

I wouldn't do it, though, unless you have another job lined up, or you will take a course for a certificate.

That sounds like a really crappy job! I think you should quit.
Is there employment support for people with disabilities where you live? If so, they may be able to help you find a more suitable job.

I have quit unbearable jobs before, and there's no shame in it. You might want to look for another job first, though. Perhaps Google for care homes in your boyfriend's area and apply at some of them? They can't ALL have bad supervisors and not enough hoovers to go around, and you already know you're qualified for the job.

Do you call hoovers vacuum cleaners?

Well I'm not too sure if I want to work at a care home any more. I have applied for a few cleaning jobs where my boyfriend lives (not in care homes), but I got turned down for each of them, because these days people like to get people in who they know, which I think is unfair. My boyfriend is trying to get me in the bus depot cleaning buses, which I think, and he thinks, it would be less stressful for me. In care homes, people are using toilets and sinks as you're cleaning them, so it never really gets 100% done. But I can't just assume a job's going to come up at the bus depot just for me, and even if it does it might not be til next year or something, and I don't fancy being at the care home another Christmas, as they treated me rotten last Christmas. So I don't know what to do. I don't want to go in on Monday.
Oh and yes we sometimes call hoovers vacuum cleaners too.

Joe90 you are in a similar situation to me with work having a big negative impact on your wellbeing. It may be the wrong thing to do but I would quit if I could manage to live on ESA. For me it's not an option but if your situation allows you to do that then that's what I'd do. Being out of work does make it more difficult to find work but on the other hand once you've been out of work for a while (I think 6 months) it seems there is more help available here in the UK to get back into work.

Some people probably will not agree with my advice but I just feel that it's not worth putting yourself through the mental trauma of dealing with work if you can get by on benefits until you can find a job you are able to deal with. Don't feel guilty if you need to take time out and live on benefits for a while because you have a genuine reason to do this. Good luck whatever you decide to do

I felt that way in January. Wanted to turn in my resignation but kept going.

DO NOT QUIT YOUR JOB if you have don't have another job lined up.

You don't get state aid if you deliberately quit your job,.

If you manage to hide the fact that you quit deliberately you'd still get only £250 month housing benefit (cant rent a flat with that) and you only get like 55£ a week JSA (very hard to live on) . And you need to sign on at dole office (unpleasant place).

In other words, life on benefits sucks.

Just keep your job until you find another one.

That's just my advice, you can however do whatever you want.

You do if you've a genuine reason for not being able to handle the job. I walked out of my last job and went straight to my GP about my anxiety. He offered to give me a sicknote for a month without me even asking. In my current job I've also been offered a sicknote by a different GP due to anxiety issues, however I cannot afford to live on benefits so I must continue until I either find something else or have a nervous breakdown. I certainly wouldn't be putting myself through this if I could see another way out.

It just frightens me that the country is so overpopulated and there are always at least 20 people going for one job, and usually they get in someone they know. That's how I got my current job, because somebody who already works there knows me well and she put in a good word for me. It seems everybody working there knows at least one person there. It seems to be how the world works these days. But where I live (it's only a small town) jobs are unreliable. There's the Co-op, but I have worked there before on a work placement, and I hated it there. There's a load of girls in there from school who I was hoping to not see again, and I could tell that I wasn't going to fit in right there. Everybody there was aged between 16 and 30, and it seemed like it was some sort of youth centre or clubhouse, and the girls just constantly flirted with the men, and everybody just seemed excitable and over-confident, while I felt shy and serious. I'd rather work with older people anyway, or people of all different ages, race, neurotypes, etc. I find that human diversity generates a more productive workplace, rather than having all the same group of people. That's the only good thing about the job I'm in now. There are people of all different ages, and some Polish and Asian people, and some even have disabilities or differences like me (whatever you like to call it), so some are quite socially awkward or find it hard to find their way in employment and so are just glad to be there. So nobody's horrible to anyone, really. Well, we've had a few arguments among people, but that will happen anywhere, and it didn't involve me at all. Otherwise everybody's just there to get their money and care for elderly people. The job is too hectic to be standing there using the workplace as a playground or youth centre, or bitching about people.

But I just find things hard, because it's such a big building. You're sometimes expected to be in two places at once and to remember too much at once, which I'm not very good at. Maybe other people can cope with it better than me, but it seems to stress me out big time. I feel I will be better working in a small office, where I'm just in one place in one room and can just get on with what I need to do. I know all jobs have difficult tasks on stressful days to deal with, but with me it depends on what it is. I might not feel so stressed if I had a lot of work to catch up on when at a computer, because it's all there in front of me. Yes, I know there comes a day where the internet is down or the computers are playing up and stuff, but like I said I am aware of that. I hate it when people make the ''oh if you're stressed doing this then you will be stressed anywhere'' assumption. With me, everything all depends on the situation, the environment, the type of work, the system, the shifts, the people....I might get on better in another workplace setting. I don't think care homes are for me. Plus I have Emetophobia, which is fear of being sick, and when we have a norovirus going around, it's like hell for me. So I need to work somewhere where I'm at least not in a job role what involves having to clean up sick.

I'd just like to say that I remember how glad you were to get the job you are in now and it saddens me that it turned out to not be a good fit. I also worked at a long-term care facility where I was a nurses' aide-- I was studying to be a doctor (which I'm still pursuing, I'll be a pathologist in about 6 years). It always seemed like there was not enough time in the day or supplies in the storage room to do my job 100%. I was torn between giving excellent care and meeting the demands of my superiors as well. The psychological toll on me was great, I developed general anxiety disorder and left the medical field. I was wrong in assuming I had to work as a CNA to become a doctor, now I shadow real doctors where I'm comfortable with a dead body in front of me but the sight of live blood from a human being still makes me faint. I still remember from being a nurses' aide how vomit and other excrement sickened me because of my very sensitive sense of smell. I think you are very brave and awesome for performing your duties, the thoroughness must be well-appreciated by the patients!

All that being said, I would fully support your decision to leave your job-- however only if you pursue studies that would make you happy, you write very intelligently and I can imagine a curious, logical mind behind those words. I'm currently in the last few days of my two-week notice for my job; I have enjoyed working with the people there yet due to physical issues I cannot perform my job duties. I think it's courageous and smart to exit a job that you are having difficulties with because it would only cause you distress that would eventually wear down your work quality. Struggling every day is no way to live. I really hope the bus cleaning job works out-- it sounds like it would be much more routine and you could listen to music while you do it too instead of trying to juggle your work load around other people. I know for myself if I stayed in my current job my attitude would continue to get worse and I would have more anxiety about going to work if I had to do what I do for even one more day, despite the fact that my employer and fellow employees are absolutely fantastic. I am going to work for another of the same owner's restaurants in a different position (as a cook instead of steward) even though I have to commute 36 minutes each way.

So often life situations have equally good and bad things, where you would love your workplace but hate the job, etc. I think NT's (sorry if that's offensive) probably don't see it that way, but my equalizer brain says, there is equal good and bad in all situations you are just picking which bad you can live with!

Also I find I have to get done with one thing, like a job, before I can start another; I have yet in all my 38 (in May) years have something lined up before I quit a job, the one I have now was the closest because I got the offer right after I quit another job so no gap really. A steady paycheck is NOT more important than your physical and mental well-being, I don't care what this money-driven society has to say about that.