The Just Quit Archive is a curated collection of global worker stories captured before the pandemic, preserved to document what work was, how it broke, and why that matters now.
What Is The Just Quit Archive
The Just Quit Archive is a digital archive built from thousands of first-hand accounts submitted by workers around the world between 2013 and 2019. These stories document lived experiences of work before the pandemic disrupted labor, leadership, and identity.
This archive exists to preserve:
- how work functioned before mass disruption
- the patterns people felt but couldn’t yet name
- the early signals of burnout, misalignment, and leadership failure
This is not commentary.
This is record-keeping.
What Makes This Archive Unique
Most conversations about work today begin after COVID.
This archive begins before.
The Just Quit Archive captures:
- stories submitted voluntarily, without incentive
- experiences across industries, income levels, and cultures
- perspectives from over 100 countries
- voices that were not shaped by pandemic narratives or AI-era framing
This makes the archive historically distinct.
How to Experience the Archive
The archive is being curated into themed rooms, allowing visitors to explore stories by shared experience rather than chronology.
Examples include:
- Leadership and Power
- Burnout and Exhaustion
- Misalignment and Meaning
- Work, Identity, and Dignity
- The Moment Before Quitting
Each room presents selected stories as individual exhibits.
No commentary is added.
The stories stand on their own.
Current Archive Status
The archive is currently in active curation.
- The full dataset contains over 10,000 submissions
- A representative public selection is being prepared
- New rooms will be introduced over time
This page will be updated as rooms open.
Relationship to Ridea Works
The Just Quit Archive is a project of Ridea Works LLC, a studio that develops long-horizon work focused on career, legacy, and workforce systems.
Ridea Works serves as the steward of the archive and its underlying data.
“This archive preserves experiences from a moment in time that will not return.”