The Cardinal Rule I Broke When I Quit My Job
Sometimes we have to listen to our conscience and do what we believe is right.
cihatatceken, avdyachenko | Canva “You call me in here to tell me that this is a team? Screw you!"
“Okay, okay calm down.”
“Calm down? I’m getting out of here.”
“Okay, we can talk more after your shift.”
My new manager and I did not talk after my shift.
I broke the cardinal rule and quit my job as a radio news anchor, resulting in dead air. I’d do it again.
But let me back up. Soon after I moved to Toronto I was offered a job at a local radio station.
I didn’t apply for it but my reputation as a news anchor and reporter in Edmonton preceded me. I was grateful. I needed a job until my next career move.
Dan, the boss, accommodated me with a part-time weekend schedule. I was trying to step back from my radio career. I wanted to try new things like going back to school for architecture (it never happened).
Within a few months, my hours started to increase. “Can you fill in for someone’s vacation? Sick leave?” Whatever the reason I usually agreed. The money was pretty good and it was a job I was experienced at, so there was a level of satisfaction even if wasn’t the career I wanted.
The position didn’t require a commitment, so when changes happened I didn’t let them bother me. I rolled with the punches. I decided if the job started to become something I dreaded, I would simply quit.
Management seemed okay with that and they liked me. Why wouldn’t they? I was pleasant and didn’t complain. Oh, and they were paying me part-time wages with no benefits for full-time hours. I wasn’t going to fight it; I was happy to make some money and still control my work hours each week.
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One of my new coworkers was Eileen, someone I became a fan of years earlier.
I listened to her read the news at my favorite radio station in Edmonton. I worked at that same radio station a few years later and now we were working together in Toronto. We became fast friends.
While Eileen lived in a bedroom community an hour outside of Toronto, I took the train out to her place a few times to visit with her and her husband. Gary worked at the radio station too so I knew him from work. She was calm with a soothing, deep voice. It’s why I was a fan of hers. But Gary was hyper and amped up; I didn’t trust him.
When Eileen got pregnant after years of miscarriages and fertility doctors, they were ecstatic. She was careful about everything she did and anything she ate. They struggled to conceive this baby so they wanted to make sure it stayed healthy.
We hadn’t connected for a couple of weeks since our schedules didn’t mesh. Then I got a call from her one Monday morning. I could tell something was wrong. She burst into tears as she told me her father died suddenly. She and Gary were going up north to her hometown to make the funeral arrangements and to tie up his affairs. I tried to comfort her but I felt helpless. I worried about her and how she was going to get through this.
A week later I got another call from her. I was at work and she was sobbing. I could barely understand her words. She said Gary left her. I was in shock. I thought they had the perfect marriage. He told her he was having an affair … with her best friend.
Her dad’s funeral was later that day and now Gary was gone. It was heartbreaking. I couldn’t believe he did that to her, seven months pregnant and grieving her father.
She had a few days left of her bereavement leave so I hoped they could sort things out. I worked extra hours to fill in for her absence. When my boss called me into his office, I had no idea what he was going to say. Dan seemed shaken and I knew something was wrong. Eileen had called.
Dan said she lost her baby. She wanted me to know. She was now more than seven months pregnant. I knew how utterly devastated she would be. She was in the hospital waiting to give birth to her stillborn daughter, alone.
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In just over a week she lost her father, her husband and best friend, and now her infant daughter. It seemed unfathomable. But fate wasn’t done with her yet.
We call it our Black Friday. It was just a regular day at work. They always start that way, don’t they? Eileen would return to work after the weekend. It took her several weeks to get to this point, but she was looking forward to coming back. Work would be a distraction from her sorrows.
I just hoped Eric, the new manager and quite the jerk, kept his distance. (According to research, when people witness rudeness in the workplace, it can seriously cloud their decision-making due to a psychological effect called anchoring, in which a person fixates on one piece of information.)
There were a lot of hushed conversations around the radio station. Nobody knew what was going on. When Dan called me into his office again he didn’t look happy. He was a kind, sensitive man who hated to deliver bad news.
“The new owners have decided to cut most of our news schedule. We will be down to just a couple of newscasts each day,” he said. I expected him to tell me he was sorry they needed to let me go. I was shocked when his next words were, “We want to keep you with us to help fill in for the new abbreviated schedule.”
Unfortunately, nearly everyone else had been laid off. I was almost afraid to ask. “What about Eileen?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I had to call her at home with the news.”
It was unbelievable. I knew it wasn’t Dan’s fault so it wouldn’t do any good to get mad at him. He told me to get back to the newsroom because he needed me to finish the afternoon drive newscasts. He was headed home.
Of course, I would do it, but I asked him to please keep the new general manager out of my way. I was fuming. Dan took one look at me and said he would tell Eric to stay away from the newsroom for the rest of the day.
I wasn’t just blowing off steam. I was serious. If they wanted to keep me, then Eric better stay away. I was furious they let Eileen go, and couldn’t believe they would be so cruel — especially knowing she lost her baby.
You can probably guess what happened. Eric couldn’t stay away.
As soon as Dan left the building Eric strolled into the newsroom, cocky and arrogant. The nerve!
I glared at him but he smiled and asked me to follow him to his office. I figured he was going to tell me to hit the road too. But no, he wanted to give me a pep talk.
“We’re all part of a team here and we have to stick together. We are confident you will help us get through this difficult time.”
Eric had only been on the job for a couple of months. What did he know about “the team”? I was seeing red. And I blew my top.
“A team?” How can you do that to Eileen? Do you know what she has been through?” I was livid.
“Yes, but…”
“You call me in here to tell me that this is a team? Screw you!
“Okay, okay, calm down. We can talk more after your shift when you’ve calmed down.”
He sat behind his desk with his hands folded in front of him, his eyes as big as saucers and his mouth hanging open as I shouted, barely stopping to breathe. I barely heard his last words as I slammed the door behind me.
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Dead air is a no-no.
My hands were shaking and I felt sick to my stomach when I walked back into the newsroom. My face was drained of color. I sat down and stared at my blank page. I didn’t have a prepared newscast to read and it was ten minutes to air.
It’s a common nightmare for anyone in broadcast news. The intro plays and you have nothing prepared. You’re tongue-tied. The first cardinal sin of radio is “Dead air is a no-no.” I remember waking up in a sweat after that nightmare more than once.
How did Eric think I’d be able to write and read the news like nothing happened? And then it occurred to me. I don’t need this. They didn’t care about me or anyone else in the newsroom, so why should I care what happens to the radio station?
It went against everything I was taught by my parents about responsibility but I had to do it for my satisfaction based on my beliefs and values in right and wrong.
I went into the DJ booth and told the announcer I was planning to walk out but I didn’t want him to tell anyone. I said, “I want to tell you so you aren’t caught with your pants down when there is dead air after the news intro.”
He was dumbstruck until it sank in and he burst out laughing. As he slapped his desk he said, “Of course. I’ll wait until there’s dead air before I call Eric to tell him I can’t find you.”
The plan went off without a hitch. I was nervous I might run into Eric in the elevator, but luckily that didn’t happen. Eric had to cancel the rest of the news that day. There was no one there to go on the air.
That night, my coworkers decided to have a party at Eileen’s — a chance to regroup and commiserate with each other. I was worried about seeing her. But the moment our eyes locked she burst into a huge smile. She ran over and gave me a big hug. Everyone called me a hero. Even Dan.
A survey conducted at the Pew Research Center found that the majority of workers who quit a job in 2021 said low pay (63%), no opportunities for advancement (63%), and feeling disrespected at work (57%) were reasons why they quit. The survey also finds that those who quit and are now employed elsewhere are more likely than not to say their current job has better pay, more opportunities for advancement, and more work-life balance and flexibility.
Sometimes we have to listen to our conscience and do what we believe is right.
I believed my coworkers deserved to have a voice and I was in a position to speak out, if only to express our frustration and anger — even if it cost me my job. It all worked out for us in the end.
Some of my coworkers went on to be news announcers at other radio stations, TV political reporters, and business news producers. Dan found a great job heading up the writing desk of a major Toronto newsroom. The last I heard from Eileen, she moved back out west, met a man, fell in love, and is living happily ever after.
I went on to a career as a TV News producer. I got a glowing recommendation from Dan and landed the job. That move changed the direction of my career and of my life. Some things are meant to be. And sometimes — the people we care about must come first.
Darren Weir is a writer after retiring from television in Canada as a news producer, writer, anchor, and reporter. He has traveled extensively and loves adventure, sharing his travel stories and photos.