When it comes to ultimatums, nobody says it better than Hamlet. Stress and anxiety levels are steadily on the rise in the workplace. There’s only so much people can take. I’d like to zoom in on those employees that are currently caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand you have a job that you enjoy but a boss you don’t enjoy working with. On the other hand, you are contemplating the risks quitting and the inability to secure another job. If you are sailing on this precarious boat right now, time to ask yourself some pivotal life-changing questions:

#1. Are you sure you don’t have any issues?
Sometimes Managers can be hard on you not because they want to but because you have performance and behaviour issues. Is there any basis for this? If yes, fix it. If not, and you think that you have no issues, ask the next question.

#2. Are you willing to have some difficult conversations?
Are you willing to confront your Manager on his/her attitude or behaviour towards you? Do you have some recent examples to share? Are you prepared to listen to their point of view? If you think talking about this to your Manager will not work, are you willing to discuss it with HR or your Manager’s Manager? If you’ve tried all avenues and nothing worked (this would be alarming by the way), proceed to next question.

#3. What is your tolerance level?
Are you at a breaking point (as in, “Another word or instruction from this guy and I’m gonna pop!”)? Are you complaining and throwing temper tantrums at every available opportunity? If you are at this stage (or almost there), you have become a hazard not just to yourself, but to others in the office as well. Time to start asking the next question.

#4. Is a job waiting for you out there?
There are jobs out there but whether they meet your expectation is a different story. Are you prepared to do something new for much less while waiting for the ideal job to come along? If you think you need to move on for the sake of preserving your sanity, consider the next question.

#5. Do you have a buffer?
How much have you saved? Will the saved amount be enough to sustain you for a minimum of 4 months without pay (assuming you don’t get a job and are not prepared to do anything else)? Are there any other sources of income? Can you generate income in a different way? Are you willing to make sacrifices? In short, is there a Plan B?

Remember the story of the golden goose? Let’s try to use that analogy in this situation. You are the goose. The golden eggs that you lay are your skills, talent and capabilities (which all have monetary value). The goose can only lay eggs if it is well taken care of by its farmer (the Manager). If the farmer is not doing a good job, the goose may stop laying the eggs. There is also another more grim ending to this story which I will not get in to.

The choice is in your hands. Proceed with caution.

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