This article examines complaint sequences that terminate
with one party's walking out, unilaterally, on the other.
The analysis of three such extended sequences, using the
Conversation Analytic approach, reveals interactional parallels
among them. The complaints that precede the walkouts are
constructed so as to identify deleterious and generic personal
deficiencies. As these sequences develop, they come to focus
on faults in the current behavior of those involved. In their
final stages, the actions of the leavers appear sensitive to
the persistence of behavior that has been deemed to be at fault.
This combination of features seems connected to both the unilateral
departure and the state of indignation that also becomes evidently
present. This invites comparison with other forms of antagonistic
dispute, such as those that lead to certain instances of murder.