Work out: Alison Healy’s advice to those thinking of changing jobs at this time of year
This is the time of year when thoughts traditionally turn to changing spouses and jobs. George Harrison had some experience in both fields. The twice-married Beatles guitarist and songwriter might have been afflicted by the January blues when he spontaneously resigned from the band on January 10th, 1969. When he mentioned the exit from the world’s most famous band in a diary entry, it was clear he wasn’t a man given to hyperbole. In fact, it was such a fleeting reference that a galloping horse would have missed it. “Got up went to Twickenham rehearsed until lunchtime – left the Beatles – went home ...” he wrote. But he also found space to add that he had eaten chips later.The sudden exit followed an argument between Harrison and Paul McCartney over Get Back. The resignation was reversed five days later, but the band broke up the following year. If you are thinking of throwing in the towel this year, there are more dramatic ways to resign in style. Just look at Steven Slater. The JetBlue flight attendant was not having a good day at work when he flew from Pittsburgh to New York in August 2010. Two passengers had argued over space in the overhead locker and, as the plane was making its descent, one of them stood up too soon to take down her luggage. READ MORETerminal Condition – the unfortunate origins of Dublin’s Townsend StreetDid ‘divine intervention’ on Merrion Street lead to a cure for leprosy?Fool’s paradise: Frank McNally on a cliche beloved of obituaristsA Tale of Two Hospitals – Frank McNally on the architectural dramas of KilmainhamAfter she ignored his entreaties to sit down and allegedly swore at him, he got on the intercom and let a string of expletives fly before announcing his resignation. He then grabbed two beers, deployed the emergency evacuation slide and slid off the plane, leaving the airline world behind him for good. Well, not quite. He was later arrested, sentenced to a year of probation for charges related to criminal mischief and ordered to pay $10,000 to JetBlue. No, not for the two beers, pricy and all as beverages are in the sky. The bill was for the cost of repairing or replacing the emergency chute. Anyone who has boarded an aircraft recently may wonder why more flight attendants have not taken similar action. Between the belligerent passengers, people changing babies on tray tables and grimy bare feet on headrests, you might reasonably expect flight attendants to deploy the emergency slide at least once a week nowadays.The former flight attendant returned to the headlines in 2017 when he cheered on the Twitter employee who deactivated Donald Trump’s personal account for 11 minutes on their last day working for the social media company. Some people still maintain the action heralded the happiest 11 minutes of that year.[ What is ‘fractional employment’ and how can it offer late-career opportunities for executives?Opens in new window ]If you are considering pulling the emergency evacuation lever on your own career, timing is crucial. This was displayed with aplomb by an employee whose story was still being told when I joined the same office, years after the event. She arrived as the boss’s new personal assistant and was immediately thrown in at the deep end as he had been without an assistant for a while. He had a lot of weighty correspondence to get off his chest and began rattling off dozens of letters to her. She frantically tried to keep up, jotting it all down in shorthand. Or was it shorthand?When lunchtime arrived, she left the office to get a sandwich. Hours passed, and no sign of the new assistant’s return. She was never seen again. All that remained of her was a notebook full of incomprehensible shorthand. The thought of deciphering it all was clearly a worse prospect than walking out on a new job at lunchtime.But the choice to quit is often taken out of your hands. The Smiths’ late bassist Andy Rourke was once fired from the band because of his drug use. He told how the news was conveyed to him in a postcard from Morrissey that was left on his car’s windscreen. Remember postcards? We often wrote “wish you were here” on them but Morrissey, being the contrarian that he is, instead wished his bandmate was anywhere but there.[ Terminal Condition – the unfortunate origins of Dublin’s Townsend StreetOpens in new window ]“Andy – you have left The Smiths. Goodbye and good luck, Morrissey,” it said, according to the bassist. Morrissey denied leaving the postcard, saying it might have been a prank by someone else. However, no one has ever uncovered legions of Mancunians being sacked via postcards on windscreens, so the story stands. Like George Harrison, it was a temporary parting of the ways and the bassist returned two weeks later. And like the Beatles, The Smiths split up anyway. Morrissey, the avowed vegetarian, once declared he would rather eat his own testicles than re-form the band. He appeared to have forgotten this pledge in 2024 when he entertained the idea of a reunion tour. Happily, guitarist Johnny Marr gave a firm no, sparing him the need to break his vegetarian oath.
