by Glenn Shepard | glennshepard.com

Ever heard of “Quiet Quitting”?

It’s a passive-aggressive way of quitting a job that started with young people as a trend on TikTok in 2022.

I wrote about it from an employer’s perspective in this newsletter last year but recently experienced it from a customer’s perspective.

My beautiful bride and I take a fitness class at 6:30 am twice a week. We like all four instructors, but one had been losing his energy and enthusiasm (which is important first thing in the morning) for a while now.

Yesterday, we found out that he’s leaving for another job.

Although he’s still physically there, he mentally and emotionally checked out months ago.

It reminded me of Dave Ramsey’s explanation of why he declines a two-week notice. He said…

“The day you turn in your resignation is the day you’re out of here. It’s not because I’m mad you’re leaving. It’s simply because if your head and heart are already somewhere else, I don’t want your butt still on my payroll.”

At the opposite extreme, meet Jerry Starnes.

I’ve shared speaking stages with his wife Anissa for years. She’s the ultimate professional and is a woman of great integrity.

I’ve met Jerry but never knew much about him except that he graduated from my alma mater, Georgia Tech.

Anissa posted this picture of him at his home office at 5:00 am on the morning of his last day, still giving 110%.

There’s a term for employees who are getting close to retirement and start to slack off. They’re called “Coasters”.

The way Jerry left his job is the opposite of that.

I don’t know of a term for the opposite of Quiet Quitting or Coasting, so I’m calling it “Jerry’s Way”.

It’s kind of a cruel reality of life, but people are remembered as much (and often more) for how they leave a job as they are for how well they did the job.

No matter your age or where you are in your career, “Jerrys Way” is the right way to end your job when it when you leave.