Warning: I walked out of the family shop after 11 years and my uncle still calls it a betrayal
Eleven years I ran the front counter at my uncle's hardware store in Sandusky, and the reason I quit was pretty small compared to how it got treated. He promised me a cut of profits when I took over ordering, and after two good seasons I asked about it and got a shrug and a "we'll see." Then he hired his buddy's kid at more than I was making. I gave my two weeks right there in the back room, and my aunt cried and my cousin stopped talking to me. Fast forward to now and the store's down to three part timers and the shelves look bare, and I keep wondering if I was the jerk for leaving or if they were jerks for acting shocked. Was I supposed to set myself on fire to keep that counter warm? If you've walked away from a family business, how did you handle the guilt trips at holidays?