Timing is everything, even with leaving a job. What if you leave right before they get an espresso machine? You’d be kicking yourself from here to Tuesday. At the same time, when you have to go, you have to go. That means, though, that sometimes you end up in situations that you wish you hadn’t, like in this story, where a worker at a company that was jeopardized went ahead and found himself a new job. But soon he realized he was leaving a lot of money on the table.

These things are never an exact science, and it’s always better to leave a job on your own terms instead of being forced to. It’s better to be in control of your life instead of at the whim of your employer. Plus, the job market is tough. If you can find a worthwhile job, it’s much smarter to jump ship, lest you miss the opportunity. This is the problem, though, of existing at the whim of a boss. You can find yourself taken advantage of in ways you didn’t even expect.