My Resignation Was Rejected By My Boss

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The American Museum of Natural History is an iconic institution and many people clamor to work there for the prestige it brings. I was lucky enough to be part of the team for nearly a year.

I started out as a team member on the guests services side. Managers noticed that I easily converted sales into memberships and had a knack for outselling even those on the membership team. An invitation to switch teams was offered to me.

The switch took nearly six months, but was relatively painless.

"Ed, it's great to have you!" Jeron, the membership executive, said. He showed me around the comically small office.

"Thank you," I said.

My first week flew by without an issue. Everyone seemed pleased with the move. It felt like the honeymoon would never end. During the transfer, there was no talk of me going from full-time to part-time, so I assumed that I would continue to get 40 hours per week. After the first two weeks, though, I was only scheduled for one day.

"Is this a mistake?" I said to Jeron.

"We need to train you on some things," Jeron said.

It was fair, and I had expected that there were policies and procedures that I would need to be taught. Instead of throwing a fit about the hours, I asked if I could take some vacation time to supplement. It was approved by human resources almost right away.

"They just need to train me," I thought. But something felt off, and the next schedule released had me on for half a day. I decided then that I had to start looking for a new job.

"When were you planning on training me?" I said. My thought was to push the issue and get an answer.

"Soon," Jeron said.

---

The training never happened. The hours I was given were spent selling memberships on the floor. Despite my success selling them when I was with the guest services team, it became clear that my methods were not looked fondly upon by membership management.

"Would you like to learn more about a museum membership?" I said to a guest. They agreed, heard the pitch and signed up.

"That doesn't count as a sale," Liz, one of the supervisors, said. Though, she never explained why it wouldn't count or what I was doing wrong. The levels of frustration were incalculable.

On days when I wasn't on the floor, I was forced to sit in the office with nothing to do. I began to complain that I needed a challenge, to learn something new.

"At least let me do some work in the office," I said.

Jeron looked around the office and shook his head in the negative. There was nothing for me to do. Irritated and ready for a challenge, I picked up my job search. Every day I put in at least ten applications and sent my resume to headhunters. Nothing was happening.

"I'm looking for a new job."

"Why?" Jeron said. We were in the office and the newest schedule had me working four hours. When I pointed out that my vacation time was nearly gone, and I wasn't getting hours, he sighed, "We have to train you."

"When are you going to do that?" I said, feeling impatient.

The answer was that it wasn't in the cards. A social media marketing company offered me $50,000 a year to join their team. I accepted.

---

Since I didn't have any hours at the museum, getting the paperwork done with the marketing company was easy. I went in and talked to my new supervisor and explained the situation.

"Things happened fast, and I need to put in my notice with my boss. Do you want me to start and just carve out the time I have to work at the museum for the next two weeks, or would you prefer me to start after that's done?"

"Put in your notice and see what happens," Chris said.

The game plan was that on the days I had to work at the museum, I would work late at the new job. It would be tough, but I knew that it was the right thing to do.

I went to see Jeron the next day, walking through the museum felt weird. In my mind, it was because I knew I was quitting, and I projected that knowledge onto everyone else.

Once in the reception area, I walked over to Jeron's office door. I knocked on it, hoping not to wrinkle the resignation letter. He called me in.

"Thank you for the opportunity, but this isn't working out for me," I said.

He looked at me and shook his head, "I do not accept this resignation."

I had no idea how to handle this situation. Never before had an employer flat out refused to allow me to quit. Feeling lost and confused, I reached out to my friend Katrina, who worked in human resources at my old job.

Standing in the middle of an exhibit, I paid no attention to the people streaming around me as I explained to Katrina what happened with Jeron.

"You did the right thing by telling your immediate supervisor. Now go tell human resources that you're putting in your notice, if you don't have a copy of the letter with you, email it to Jeron and to HR," she said.

Taking the advice, I went to the HR office. After a short wait, Karen brought me back to her cubicle. She listened as I explained what happened.

"He refused your resignation?"

"He did."

Karen made a note and assured me that everything would be taken care of, though she did ask for a copy of the resignation letter. She watched as I sent a copy to her and Jeron.

"Make sure to show up and work your last shifts," she said.

"I plan on it."

After working the last two scheduled shifts, I left without saying anything to my former colleagues. A quiet end to what had been an overwhelmingly positive experience until the last few months.

A few weeks later, I got a call that stunned me. A coworker was training me on how to write social media posts that were able to be boosted. After apologizing, I answered my phone.

"Ed, where are you? You've been a no-call, no-show for three shifts now," Liz said.

"What are you talking about? I don't work for the museum anymore."

This was a surprise to her. She claimed that Jeron didn't tell any of the other managers about my resignation. After hanging up with Liz, I called the museum's HR Department and asked to speak to Karen.

"Jeron continued to put me on the schedule and has me down as being a no-call, no-show for three shifts," I said.

"I have your resignation letter on hand," I could hear her typing in the background. "Let me send this out to some managers above him and get it cleared up for you."

Less than five minutes later, there were replies from multiple people that assured me that my record would not be impacted by this situation. And that it would be handled. Even with the reassurances, there were complications that arose from the rejected resignation.

When my employer asked about my termination from the museum, they were told that I abandoned the job. I had to pull up the emails to show them that I had, in fact, quit.

An employer cannot reject a resignation for any reason. When there is an adversarial employer, they might pull something like the American Museum of Natural History did to me.

Make sure to have a paper trail to show future employers. In most cases, it won't be necessary, but on the occasion it is, it's better to be prepared and not need it than to need it and not have it.

After Jeron rejected my resignation, I was glad I had proof.