Being in nearly the same situation, I know from where you speak.

In Spring, 2001 my situation at the University got to the point of insult. Diana and I talked about it and realised it would be better for us for me to pull the plug and move on. Luckily we could live nicely without my income till September when I planned on going back to work. Well thanks to 9/11 six months turned into three years, but I wouldn't trade a moment of that time.

If you're in a situation where bailing isn't going to be a hardship, then there is no shame in getting out, especially if the job is damaging your health (mental or otherwise) and/or your home life.

Ideally, you'd line up a new job before moving on, but these days that's not always an option. Lifewise, if you can't survive without your income, you might have to buck up and keep swallowing it till something new comes along.

In the end, you have to do what you feel is right for you.

After a year? Heh, that's not quitting, that's learning from experience.

Do you think the bank feels that they owe you any more than two weeks notice (or salary in lieu of) ?

Do remember, though, about a bird in the hand and how the grass always looks greener. Make sure you're going to end up someplace better than you are.

Discretion is the better part of valor...
Knowing when to quit is half the battle...
He(She) who quits and runs away lives to fight another day...

And any other pithy comments of the same ilk.

Seriously though... it's not "quitting" it's moving on to something that is better for you. I wish I could get off the dime and do it myself already.

I do not think that you are being a quitter. You have been very clear with them that you are supposed to be part time and you are signed up to be a part time person for very good reasons. If they refuse to commit the resources to honour the contract that you have with them then, having given it a substantial commitment yourself to helping them get through a rough patch you are perfectly entitled to decide that they are never going to deal with this rough patch and move on so that you can have the work life you want to have.

I expect you'll feel bad about the people with whom you work who you could be categorised as 'leaving in the lurch' but the fault for that lies with the management and not yourself so try to shed the feelings as they arise.

You are not a quitter! I year of this crud is way more than a quitter would have given.

I agree w/all the other comments. Giving them a year to figure things out and get you back to part-time isn't being a quitter. Sometimes the best thing is to move on, esp if you're unhappy and have given them ample time to fix their problem.

Do what is right for you. It isn't a matter of quitting, it's a matter of what makes you happy. Things change, sometimes for the worse.

I'm finally getting there myself after being almost to the point of quitting for coming on 2 or 3 years. You owe it to yourself to be somewhere that youa ren't frustrated and aggravated.

Voting with your feet is not a character flaw.

Is there any sign that management is TRYING to make it better? Are they hiring the necessary staff, but the process of getting them up to speed takes time? Or are they dragging their heels, and expecting you and your associates to 'just make it work'?

'Quitter' is not a word I'd EVER use to describe you, m'dear. But you need to do what you think is right for YOU. Believe me when I say that your employers definitely plan to do what they think is right for THEM.

I can chime in from the opposite side of that coin - as someone who stayed *far*, far too long at a bad job in order to avoid being a quitter. Leave. Leave now while you still have your health, self-respect, and sanity. Bad jobs suck far more out of you than most people realize, and not just emotionally.

You've given it a fair go, and then some. You're not walking right as things have changed, you're not walking without trying to make things work, or make them better. That's not quitting, as someone else up there said, that's learning from experience. I think your karma is safe :)

This isn't a question anyone can answer for you. There are times when it's right to stick it out, and times when the only sane thing is to make a change. To answer the literal question, "just because it is difficult" isn't a sufficient reason; but I don't know how difficult it is, and what the alternatives are.

You have to think carefully about why you're calling yourself a quitter, especially if your feelings about such things have served you well before. There might be a good reason, something you're overlooking. Or it might be that someone is playing a guilt game on you. I'd want to make sure I understood what my doubts really were about before making a critical decision.

from what little I know - they have taken advantange of you for a while now - I think it is smart to protect yourself, and it isn't quitting if you've made your needs known and they have continued to take advantage of you.

It doesn't sound like you're getting out just because it's difficult -- it sounds more like you've bent over backwards to try and make things work and just aren't getting any cooperation from the management. That means THEY'RE not honoring the contract you had with them. It's hardly being a quitter to give them notice and move on in that situation.
Best of luck with what ever you choose to do.
Hugs -- Khadagan

It is definitely not less than honorable to leave a position which continues to be suboptimal, after having discussed the problems with the people capable of making change.

Debbie G's theory of worklife... It's not reasonable to expect work to be enjoyable all the time, but when it starts being unenjoyable most of the time, then it's time to be looking for something else. For some people, that's a change in job. For others, it's a change in career.

I even tell my staff this. They know _I_ live by it, and they know I expect them to live by it. We spend too much of our adult life at work... we should not be doing it somewhere that makes us unhappy. (This is, of course, a best-of-all-worlds scenario, ignoring things like "I had to take a job in fast food in order to not go bankrupt" ... some things can't be helped, but they're also not generally expected to be long-term.)

My personal benchmark... if I find myself, on a regular basis, not wanting to get out of bed, because getting up would mean admitting that it's time to go to work, then I know it's time to look for something else. My feeling that way about my previous job (which had many things to recommend it, including excellent benefits and decent salary) is what led me to my current job, which is about as close to my definition of The Perfect Job as I'm likely to find. Does it still suck sometimes? Oh, hell yeah... especially now in the blizzard of paperwork that accompanies fiscal year-end. Do I dread coming in? Only very rarely, and seldom for more than a couple of days in a row.