Take this job and shove it! Luke recounts his greatest resignation

Most of us have wanted to tell
our boss where to go at one time or another. But a big
shot at Goldman Sachs is getting plenty of press for going
out in grand fashion-with an Op-Ed in the Wall Street
Journal.

“I believe I have worked here long enough to understand
the trajectory of its culture, its people and its
identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now
is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it,” wrote
Greg Smith.

Luke can relate. He’s reached the tipping point at
least a few times throughout his well traveled
professional life. And he admits he’s quit at least a
couple of jobs.

“It’s very cathartic. I mean if I’m having a bad week
some time I’ll just go and get a lame side job I don’t
want just so I can quit it angrily.”

But one in particular stands out. It was during his
illustrious but short lived stint at a place that sells
storage containers in Seattle’s University Village.

Listen to
Great resignations in history (Darth Vader
version)

It was the era before cell phones, and Luke had the
audacity to take a phone call in the break room before his
shift started.

“I come back the next day and my manager, she’s so
angry her eyes are tearing up,” recounted Luke.

“You were clocked in while you were on the phone,” Luke
remembers her sputtering.

“We’re standing in this aisle just surrounded by
Tupperware containers and this small little lady named
Wendy is just going off on me.”

It didn’t take Luke long to realize this wasn’t to be
his life’s work.

“So I’m wearing this stupid name tag on my apron, I’m
getting yelled at by this lady surrounded by all this
Tupperware…and I just realize I can’t bring myself to be
in this place for one second longer.”

But being Burbank, he concocted a most dramatic
departure. He reached into his pocket, fished out a
quarter and confronted the manager.

“‘I did the math Wendy on how much money I deprived the
company of with that phone call, I think it was about 15
cents. This is a quarter you can just owe me the
difference,'” he told her. “And I just walked out. And she
was just gobsmacked.”

His days in storeables may be done, but somehow it
didn’t sully his burgeoning broadcast career. Although
there’s still plenty of time to screw it up.