The dream is to find a job that pays well and treats its employees like family. Too often, however, a job asks for too much while paying very little. These Redditors share the experiences that made them realize that life is too short to be yelled at, tricked, and otherwise treated as expendable and insignificant, all for a measly paycheck.
1. That’s Going To Be A No
I worked for a privately owned bakery for exactly one week. The owner’s son comes in, walks past the counter and into the bathroom. He comes out a few minutes later without acknowledging me or my coworker, gets into his car, and drives away. We both looked at each other, then opened the door. I wasn't prepared for what we found inside. This guy made a disgusting mess all over the toilet seat and the toilet paper holder.
I called the owner, told her what happened and she said, “Deal with it". I asked my coworker if she wanted to clean it up because I wasn’t going to. She declined and I told her I was walking out. She did as well. We locked up the store and told the owner we quit but would reconsider staying if her son came back to clean up his own mess. She yelled and berated us for 20 seconds before I said goodbye and hung up.
2. Communication Is Key
I worked at a very dysfunctional family-owned company. They put me on probation because the family member (my boss) in charge of IT convinced everyone else he was a genius and could do no wrong, so whenever something bad happened related to IT, he’d just blame his underlings and everyone in power just agreed with him.
A few weeks later when I got the dream job I have now, I said in the exit interview one of the main reasons I was leaving was because I was tired of being on probation for 3+ months. They’d actually taken me off probation but never told me. I still would’ve left regardless, but the fact that they never got around to saying, “Hey we're not about to fire you” blows my mind.
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3. Getting Paid Requires Work
I worked at a restaurant as a server. We’d just catered a large wedding reception. The owner’s wife was chatting with the wedding party all night and occasionally getting the drinks. At the end of the night, she said she’s taking her share of the tips since she helped so much. I say fine even though that’s against the law in our state.
An hour and a half after the party ends, the restaurant is still a mess and the owner’s wife is just standing around talking while we were supposed to clean up. It was almost midnight and I’d worked my other job earlier that day and I could have used her help. I walked out without saying a word. They ended up giving me all of my tips on my last check.
4. Gain One, Lose Another
I had worked for a cleaning company and I had a total disaster of a person named Tina as my manager for about four months. Tina would work the night shift with a crew and basically did nothing. She would leave the majority of the work for me to do during the day when it was a lot harder to do, as I had my own list of duties as well as whatever she left for me from her own list.
I was teetering on the edge of quitting but I hadn't found a replacement when one day I got a call from head office that Tina had quit. For about a month, the job was exceptionally better and I effectively was my own boss. Things were going remarkably smooth again—then I got a text that made me want to scream. It was from Tina asking me to do a bunch of extra stuff.
I called the owner and they told me that Tina had approached them about coming back and that they were rehiring her in her former position and I literally just packed up and walked out about an hour into my shift. I had zero intention of working another minute for that woman and held to it.
5. Maybe He Wanted To Get Caught
I was employed to manage payroll and accounts at a small welding/engineering firm. While entering the timesheets and comparing them with the rosters, I noticed that the miserly owner had been underpaying employees by nearly 3 hours each week for not compensating them for toolbox talks and related activities. I printed the proof, told the boys in the workshop, and walked straight out. Emailed the resignation from my car.
6. Double Standards
Had a job where the people were awful, the management was awful, and the other techs made themselves look better by making other techs look bad. I had two guys on my shift who would go behind me during maintenance or repairs and undo stuff I did and call it out over the radio for all to hear, so I started recording myself making the repairs.
When I got called out and showed my boss the video, I was told, "You're not supposed to have your phone out on the floor" and got wrote up. I walked out with no warning in the middle of the busiest weeks of the year leaving them shorthanded with only two idiots to handle calls.
7. That Can’t Be Allowed
I worked a retail job as a cashier at larger store. One part of that job is to sign customers up for our (rather predatory) credit card. We were supposed to ask every customer, no matter the dollar amount of the transaction. Well, I was helping a woman, and told her she could save $x if she signed up for the credit card.
She seemed interested, but I could clearly tell that English was not her first language. I grabbed one of our pamphlets and made it abundantly clear to her that this is a CREDIT CARD, not a rewards account or something of that nature. When she understood, she said, “Oh no, not today". Understandable. Well, I didn’t know one of my supervisors was standing behind me.
After she left, he asked why I did all of that, and if I try to talk every interested customer out of signing up. When I explained myself, he said, “Next time, sign them up. They don’t know any better". Handed him my vest. That was it.
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8. That Center Needs Urgent Care
I am a physician’s assistant and took a job at an urgent care center. After working there for about a month I noticed some irregularities, such as some medications being expired and sometimes a lack of supplies. I wrote that off as the office manager not being as astute as she should have been and brought it up to the doctor who owned the place.
He said he would talk to her and straighten it out. Then one of the medical assistants came to me and said, “You know this has been going on forever, right?” She then said that things would never change and to get used to it because the expired medications had been on the shelf for months and they were told to never throw them out.
She then also told me that the autoclave (the machine that sterilizes instruments) was broken and all they did was wash the instruments in soap and water and put them in the autoclave anyway to get them as clean as possible. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. That was the end of that. I made out a formal complaint to the state medical board and never showed up again.
The state actually came in the very next day and raided the place. They shut him down immediately. They found so many things wrong that not only did they keep the place out of business, they suspended his license. He was also prosecuted on federal charges because he was running a scam for truck driver physical exams.
9. It’s Kind Of A Big Deal
I was getting married while working a temp job, and I told them on my first day that I needed a weekend off in a couple of months for my wedding. I reminded them every couple of weeks, had it on the calendar, and even reminded them that Monday. That weekend came, and I was on the schedule. I told my boss that I needed it off for my wedding.
She said, "You're just a kid, can't you move it? We really need the help". Admittedly, I was 21 marrying my 19-year-old girlfriend, but still. I laughed at her and left. I was scheduled Saturday and Sunday, and two "bad attendance points" and I’m fired, so I assumed that I'd be job hunting on Monday after my wedding.
I went to another temp agency on Monday and had a job lined up by Monday evening. On Tuesday, the temp job called and asked if I was coming back. I told the temp agency lady what they'd done to me, she was upset that they'd done that, but still tried to get me to go back. I liked the new job better and stayed there.
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10. All About Cheese
I worked at McDonald’s when I was 16. We used to get a free sandwich with a small fries and drink for our lunch break. One day, when I went on break, the franchise owner was there. When he noticed that I had asked for cheese on my burger and he attempted to make me pay for the whole meal because cheese wasn’t free.
I thought he was joking so I laughed and started walking towards the break room. That's when it got awkward. He yelled at me not to walk away from him, in front of customers and my coworkers. I couldn’t believe it, this grown successful businessman was hounding at 16-year-old for a slice of cheese. I told him I wasn’t gonna pay, put the food down, and walked out.
They tried calling me to come to work that weekend I told them no thanks and never went back
11. Work Harder, Not Smarter
Long ago, I sold European rail passes and tickets over the phone. It started out as a great job, booking itineraries, talking about traveling in Europe, of which I'd done a lot. Then a new manager took over and we were given a list of questions we had to ask every caller. When someone called and said, “I need to go from Paris to Brussels for work, and that's it,” I was still required to go down this list of 20 up-sale questions about rail passes, travel insurance, other side trips, etc.
People would get rightfully furiously annoyed because their 2-minute call time would end up being 10 minutes of them saying, "No, I told you I don't need any of that". And us saying, "I know but I need to ask you anyway". This of course increased hold times when calling to 40+ minutes in the peak season because every call took 5-10 times longer than they should.
I quit within the month and within 6 months, the owners, who were Swiss, found out what was happening and the branch manager was canned.
12. That Should Be How It Works
I walked into the interview, everything went well, accepted the job offer. Went to the front desk to do the paperwork and noticed that the contract had a different pay amount, and that I would be "interning" for the first month for $100/week. I asked first about the amount difference, was told, "Oh, this is the standard contract".
They continued, “It just hasn't been updated for your specific offer". I told them they'd need to edit and initial the changes before I would sign. "Oh...that's not how things work here". I thanked them for their time and left without signing anything. They called me back on the day I was supposed to have started asking where I was.
I told them because I didn't sign the contract, I was never an employee. If they wanted to provide an amended contract for me to sign, I’d be right over.
13. Can’t Read The Fine Print If There Isn’t Any
Back in 2012, I was looking for a job in anything other than food but got desperate. This burger place had just opened up and really needed workers. They advertised on their window $11.75 an hour starting for all positions. I applied, had an interview basically the second I turned in my application, and got hired 20 minutes later.
At the end of my first shift (which was about 3 hours), they said they would start me at minimum wage, “Because you haven’t finished your bachelor’s degree yet". I was speechless. If I had finished my bachelor’s degree, why would I be working here?! And for such low pay! I told them to cash out my pay immediately and I would not be returning because of their deceit.
There weren’t any stipulations anywhere on the sign that said anything about needing an undergrad degree for that much pay. They cashed me out at $11.25 per hour and I left. They closed down back in 2018 and a seasonal Halloween store took over the location.
14. Broken Bones And Severed Ties
I worked at Walmart for a short time. I worked as hard as I possibly could to unload their pallets of merchandise. I always thought I was so fast; I studied the process and I believed I perfected it. EVERY SINGLE DAY, my manager came up to me and told me I needed to be faster. So, I did, and the fast pace made me lose a little focus, causing me to break a finger.
I let management know that I might be a little slower due to my injury and they straight up told me, “We won’t tolerate any laziness,” and wrote me up when I didn’t meet their ridiculous standards. So I went home after my shift and never returned. Never called, never formally quit. I just never came back.
15. You Can’t Make Me
I was at a company for about a year and a half as an assistant project manager. In that year and a half, I had 3 different bosses. The newest one being a heavy micromanager, I was getting paid about 20% below the standard salary for the position, overworked without any additional compensation, and the overall culture of the company was just flawed.
My boss started nitpicking my work at the end of every day, I told her I had plenty of time to get it done before the end of the day, but she kept pushing and escalating. She was borderline screaming and I just cut her off and said, "I'm not doing this anymore, I quit". She yelled back, "WELL I WILL NEED IT IN WRITING!"
I said back with the straightest face, "I don't have to do anything you say because I’ve already quit". I quietly packed all my stuff up, said good luck to my coworkers, and left. A year later, I accepted a Project Manager position with a competing company and make almost twice as much as I was making at the previous job.
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16. That’s Not How This Is Going To Go
I worked at a Persian restaurant. I overcooked a steak slightly, the owner came back threw a plate at us, then a hot meat skewer, before storming off to his office. I dropped my apron, grabbed my bag, and told him I was leaving. He responded, "Okay at the end of the night you can go". I said, "Clearly you don't understand. I'm leaving right now, here's my parking pass, I'll expect my cheque in the mail".
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17. Do It Yourself
I worked at a large banquet hall as a busboy. I expressed my needing to leave at 8 pm to the owners. 7:50 comes and the manager is barking orders at me to do things that would take another hour. I told him I was done at 8 pm and he said, “You’re not going anywhere until this party is over!” (Most receptions went past 10 pm).
I said, “Fine, I quit". His response was, “That’s fine, you’re outta here as soon as you can find a replacement". I replied, “No man… if I quit, I’m leaving now. See ya". He followed me through the entire reception room, the back hall, the kitchen, and to the parking lot repeatedly yelling, “No one talk to him! He quit—he’s gone for good!” Owners called me back into the business to pick up my check.
They asked me if I would please come back. I lied and told them I already had another job just to avoid any potential begging. The manager was their uncle and they clearly weren’t happy with him, but were afraid to fire him. From what I was told he continued shouting at workers and eating food meant for guests all while having a heart attack every couple years.
18. The Menu Is Too Secret
I worked at a sushi restaurant and we had secret menu items that no one went over with me. The owner was sitting with a guest (I guess they were friends) and he ordered one of the secret menu items and I said, “I’m sorry we don’t have that". She immediately stands up and started to scream at me and called me a “bumbling fool".
She then snapped her fingers saying, “Servants!” calling the other servers over. At this point, I was already taking my apron off and grabbing my keys to walk right out of there.
19. Promises Are Cheap
I had asked for a raise and was told okay, no problem. Friday morning, I was told by the same person who agreed with the raise that I should put a few more years in and then we’ll talk again. Locked my toolbox at the end of the day and called my wife to come to pick me up. Shop manager was shocked on Monday to find an empty spot where my tools were and couldn’t understand why I left.
20. Now Is Really Not The Time
My grandfather, who I considered like a father, passed after a long stay in hospital. We were closer than he was with his own kids, and our bond was quite special. I spoke to my manager about getting the day of his funeral off, since I was organizing part of the arrangements, and having a day or two of bereavement leave, and he agreed.
The day of the funeral finally comes and the staff start calling me, leaving me messages asking why I'm not at my shift, and telling me, while I'm in a suit hosting family members at the funeral home, that I have to find someone to replace me or face repercussions. Needless to say, I told them to figure it out, and never looked back.
21. A Multi-Levelled Opportunity
Answered an ad in the paper for what seemed to be an office job making sales calls. I did a phone interview and was called back for an in-person interview. When I go to the interview, I'm led into a room with about 50 other people and a small stage at the front of the room. We're all somewhat confused as to what is going on.
Finally, a guy gets on the stage and informs us that we've been selected for the opportunity to sell essential oils. Me and the majority of the others stood up and walked out.
22. Not Good Enough
A long time ago, not long after getting my papers as a chef, I had an interview at a hotel for a position in the kitchen. The Executive Chef and I chatted in his office for about 20 mins, at the time I remember him coming off as very arrogant, which is quite common in this field. I didn't think much of it at the time as the pay was decent and the shift was what I wanted. Turns out, that was a huge mistake.
As I was leaving his office, I turned to leave through the dining room (the way I had come in), which was closed at the time. It was another hour or so before service started and he says to me, "No, not that way, go through the kitchen, you're not good enough to go through the dining room". I was so surprised by what he said, I just did what he asked without a word.
Later on, after I had got home, I phoned him up and said that after having a close look, I decided that his menu wasn't good enough and that I wouldn't be accepting his offer.
23. Manager, Not Owner
I worked for a custom cabinet shop as an installer. So, I would go install my cabinets, come back, load up for the next day, and head home. I only had one car so my girlfriend who was pregnant at the time would come and wait for me when I was about to get off. Well one day I got in just a tad early and completed my work and proceeded to clock out.
The general manager stopped me and said, “Oh no, we need you in the shop building cabinets". I replied my pregnant girlfriend is in the car with no AC waiting and I’m leaving because I’ve finished my work. She told me she owned me from 7:30 am to 5 pm and that she didn’t give a hoot who was waiting for me. I told her she didn’t own a single thing and walked out.
24. We Must Value Each Other
The boss wanted my team to work extra shifts over the weekend to finish the next project milestone, so we can show the client that we are capable of finishing before the due date. We worked 14 hours daily for four weeks with no weekends, and the last two days we worked for 36 hours straight with no breaks since the due date was a day away.
Everyone was exhausted and on edge; no smiles, no small talk, nothing. And we don't get paid overtime. After finishing the milestone, he thanked us and called us for a meeting saying we have to continue working like this for an unknown period until they hire new staff members. I refused, as did another few of my colleagues.
We said that we will work for what we get paid for, which is 9 hours per day, five days a week. He didn't take us seriously, but we were absolutely beyond caring at that moment. We worked the next two weeks accordingly; he called us and said that he was extremely disappointed and that we don't value the company. I walked out, collected my stuff, gave my resignation letter to HR, and said, “See yah!”
25. Technology Isn’t That Scary
My older in age boss didn't understand how an excel spreadsheet worked. Fresh out of graduate school, I did some calculations for him as he requested, printed them out, and he proceeded to freak out on me because I didn't do them by hand. Yelling, he berated me in front of everyone in the office. Then he took it up a notch. He took my water glass and threw it against a wall, breaking it to pieces.
Then a coworker looked over my work and said everything was done correctly. I applied for a new job after work that day where I've worked for over seven years now. I can deal with lots of garbage but I'm not dealing with a boss with the emotional capacity of a two-year-old.
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26. Loyalty Is Earned
Worked as a waiter at a place that promised me full-time hours but only gave me part-time hours. They expected me to be at the top of my game despite not paying me enough and barely giving me enough hours to survive. They scheduled me to work on the day I was taking my girlfriend, who was visiting from out of town, to the train station.
And when I asked for one hour off so I could take her to the station, they said no and lectured me on how I was no more special than anyone else who worked there. It was raining and there was a food festival in town, so the restaurant was empty all week. I left that day and never went back.
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27. Don’t Mind If You Do
I was already there 3 hours past the time my shift was supposed to end—along with everyone else who was on my shift. We were all very irate and tired. I get that you often have to stay late when you work in food service, but everyone from the next shift was already there and there was zero reason for us to be there for three extra hours.
Finally, someone asked to go home. What happened next is burned in my memory. In the middle of the restaurant floor, the managed absolutely lost it: "JUST BECAUSE YOUR SHIFT IS SUPPOSED TO END AT 10 DOESNT MEAN YOU GET TO LEAVE THEN. I TELL YOU WHEN YOU GET TO LEAVE. YOU ARE ALL JUST NUMBERS ON A SPREADSHEET TO US, WE CAN REPLACE YOU IN A HEARTBEAT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE HERE!"
So, I dropped all the tip money on the table in front of her and said, "Replace me then". Found out later that they lost nearly half their staff that night because most others followed my lead. There was a huge football game the next day right across the street and they got to deal with that with no servers. I went to the game and had the time of my life.
28. Leroy The Blessed
I used to cut grass in a cemetery. I used a push lawnmower and had to lift it up onto the elevated graves, and then back down and on to the next one. Over and over and over. Minimum wage was $4.25 an hour. After an hour of cutting grass in the August heat, I sit down for my break, and this guy named Leroy asks, "Was that worth $4.25 to you?" I quit the next day. Thanks Leroy.
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29. Memory Of A Goldfish
I worked at Sonic for all of 17 seconds. During my interview the manager asked if I’d be able to work until after midnight; I said no because I was in high school and that wouldn’t work. My first day there, the manager comes up to me and goes, “Hey, so I need you to work until midnight tonight". I turned around and left without a word.
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30. Just Not Right
I worked for a placement agency at a manufacturing facility. I had worked 7 hours of my 8-hour day when one of the supervisors came by to ask anyone on the crew if they would stay for another 4 hours. We all looked at each other and politely declined. They came back one more time a little while later to ask and again, we declined.
Then they came back and demanded that one of us stay behind for the 4-hour shift or ALL of us were going to be written up for attendance. This angered everyone but because we were work placement instead of employees, we were unsure who to talk to. Some of the other crew told the supervisor they can’t because they have to pick up their kids, etc.
When the supervisor left, the crew had multiple people saying they can’t get written up again or they would lose their job. I had scheduled a dinner with my in-laws so I called the husband and told him the situation and that I would stay. Told the crew, I’ll stay—don’t worry. Told the supervisor, and got put on another crew.
I ended up only having to work for 1 hour but was required to stay for the full 4 hours. But that wasn't the end...Next day, I called the main office and explained the situation. They said they had a representative on-site due to this manufacturer being such a large client. Called the onsite representative, and explained the situation. I was told they have a lot of attendance issues.
Again, I explained I had never had attendance issues and everyone on my crew was threatened with being written up for not staying 4 hours AFTER their scheduled shift. The on-site representative still defended the actions of the supervisor and threw attitude at me. Fine, I don’t need you—I quit. And that’s the story of how I learned about my worker’s rights and workplace harassment!
31. It’s Called Common Courtesy
I worked in retail. Our store had recently promoted our assistant manager to store manager. She told me my asking off for my grandmother-in-law’s funeral was “too short notice” and I would have to leave, drive across town for the funeral and immediately return—no graveside service. No staying to comfort my husband (whose family is very small to begin with).
We had several other employees scheduled that day, and it wasn’t a busy day. I think she was using me as an example. I went back in that day, and that was the last shift I worked. I ended up quitting and got a call from her that I sent straight to voicemail. She told me that I had to put in a two-week's notice. Maybe I would have out of courtesy, which she obviously didn’t show me.
32. He’ll Figure It Out
I’d been left on my own to do packing up multiple times; it was a fancy fish shop with a window display that was 100% a two-person job but the chef/manager was super lazy. I burnt the absolute heck out of my forearm one day while cooking some items we sold, as the batter plopped into the deep fryer harder than I expected. It was the most painful moment of my life—but it was about to get worse.
I had staff from other stores coming to help (with first aid, cold towels) and my manager sauntered past with a salad he’d made for the lunch rush and told me to hurry up because he was heading out early. Again. He knew I’d just burnt my arm and was in no shape to close up. I grabbed the keys, slapped them down, and told him to do it himself.
He had the audacity to ask me how he was supposed to close on his own as if I hadn’t had to close the thing on my own for countless shifts before.
33. Not Good Enough
It was Thanksgiving Day at Kmart and I had been working nonstop for five hours because of all the "good deals". I had a drink under my register and I took one drink of it. The assistant manager looked at me but didn't say anything. Ten minutes later it was time for my much-needed 30-minute lunch. I proceeded to ask for coverage for my break.
The assistant manager told me I didn't get a lunch since I took a drink of my water. I then proceeded to tell her too bad and walked away and got all of my stuff out of my locker and started walking out to the parking lot. Then the store managers all rushed out begging me to come back and work and apologized. They said I could take my lunch.
They even had the assistant manager (pathetically) apologize to me. But it was too little, too late. I was tired and thirsty so I went home and had an ice-cold glass of water while sitting on my couch.
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34. He Literally Can Not Do IT
I worked as a mechanic back in college. A kid came in with some pretty big issues with his car. As a tire shop, we mostly dealt with small repairs and simple maintenance. I told the kid it might be best if he goes to the dealership or a shop that specializes larger repairs like what he needed. A new manager had recently taken over our store.
The customer and I went into the office to tell him what I found while inspecting the car. I didn’t know this manager very well, but I did know him long enough to know that he was more of a salesman than a mechanic. This manager started selling this college kid on replacing all kinds of things to fix his issues, and since financial aid just dropped the kid was considering it.
It would be one thing if the manager knew that what he was selling was going to fix the kid’s car, but he had only ever seen it through the office window in the parking lot. He only knew what I told him, which was that the kid needed more than we usually handle. This guy was just selling a kid thousands of dollars worth of repairs on a car that might not even be worth that much. I was so furious—I had to do something.
Finally, I butted into the conversation with, “Um, we’re not sure all this will fix the issues, and we don’t even have the equipment necessary to do some of these repairs". The manager gave the kid a printout of his estimate and then dragged me into the back to give me a Batman voice saying, “If you ever jeopardize a sale of mine again then it will be the last thing you ever do!”
I promptly locked up my toolbox, and wished him luck on doing mechanical work without a mechanic, and went home. Called around town and found another mechanic job the same day.
35. Don’t Poke The Bear
Before I started working at Dollar Tree, I asked if I could have a day off on Sunday and they said sure and that they promise to give me that day off. During my first week working there, I ask every single day for a work schedule and remind them that they promised that I'd get Sunday off. That entire week, they refuse to give me a schedule.
They also called me at random times of the day to work, which was ridiculous because at the time I had college classes to attend, but I wanted to make a good impression so I made it work. When Sunday came, I was at a carnival with my husband (he bought tickets for that day and it was his only day off to spend time with me) and we were having a very nice day.
My boss called and told me to come to work. I was baffled and reminded her that she and the others promised that I could have the day off since I worked all six days at random times without complaint. In a very mean way, she said that she never promised such a thing to me and demanded I absolutely had to come to the store now.
In that moment, I told her to get over herself, and I quit over the phone. Within the next day, I made a complaint to the company on how unprofessional she and the others were with me and gave them pictures proving how unsafe the environment was for our younger workers there.
36. It’s Not Much Of A Mystery
I worked as a line chef. During a 12-hour shift, I was given two breaks of about 10-15 min each. I burned my hand numerous times because they gave me plates that came right from the oven and never said a word. At the end of the shift, I told the head chef I was done. He called me soft and said I was the third person to quit on him after a day. I said, “Maybe it’s the way you treat people".
37. That’s A Little Much
I started a job and asked to work morning shifts because my dad would have to pick me up and mornings worked better with his schedule. They put me for night shifts instead of what I asked for and put me for 39 hours a week for a month. I applied for part-time and what they wanted me to work was full-time without any benefits.
I asked them if they could put me for fewer hours because it was too much and they told me they hired me to work those hours, so I could either quit or work the schedule they had made for the next month. I quit after four days because that's not what I signed up for and I didn’t feel like missing my ride and walking home.
38. Instructions Unclear
I worked as a pizza delivery driver for about two years. The area coach liked to change the schedule halfway through the week and then get mad when we didn't show up. Final straw was him having the new (sixth one at this point) restaurant manager call me and tell me if I wasn't there by noon, I'd be fired. I freaked out.
I got there on time thanks to my mom (wife had my car for her job at that time) and the manager said he was still going to write me up for not being there on a "scheduled date" even though I wasn't scheduled and had a picture of the schedule to prove it. He accused me of always doing this, not checking the schedule after he'd changed it, and told no one.
I decided to quit at that exact moment, took off my vest and hat, put them on the counter, and left. Being unemployed was less than fun, but it was better than being harassed. Never looked back, got a new job, and am actually moving up. So…good for me.
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39. That’s Not A Bonus
I worked as a mechanic at this car dealership. I was told that I would earn $16 an hour and get all of the extra hours as a bonus. First check came in (I worked a total of 103 hours and had 59 hours of bonus) and my check, instead of being $2.3k, was just $1k. I asked about it and they told me I needed to be there for six months to earn hourly wages, until then I’m only getting the bonus hours as my pay. I quit on the spot.
40. Show A Little Compassion
Whilst closing the cafe, a large man came up to the thankfully locked front door and stared me down. He refused to leave and didn't say a word. Just stared at me. It was the only way to exit the shop at that hour so I called my boss telling her I'm about to call the authorities unless you know who this weird creepy guy is?
She just told me it's something I'm going to have to deal with as the coffee shop is next to a train station so there are a lot of vagrants in the area. I called security who escorted me to my car. The guy was screaming into the garbage when I drove away. I got right out of there, real fast.
41. I Came To Work, Not Read
I got a job at an office supply store in a big town during my university degree. The manager gave me a tour of the shop and introduced me to my new co-workers. Well, every time she introduced me to someone, she also told them they messed up or did something wrong. Maybe it was true, but that was the first red flag for me regardless.
She then sent me upstairs to read about the company's values (50–70-page document). The more I read, the more I thought this was not worth my energy. So, I quit after an hour and told them to not bother paying me. She asked me if something happened upstairs and I just told her I realized I wasn’t a good fit for the job.
I landed my first librarian job a month later, so to this day it’s still one of the best decisions I made. My girlfriend was surprised to see me back home so soon, but she was fully supportive. Father was worried, mother was proud.
42. Whose Responsibility Is It Then?
I was right out of high school, and working at a job for the last 2 years. One of my close friends had passed. I told the owner that I needed Sunday off to go to the funeral and memorial service. He said, “I totally understand. Find someone to cover your shift. I would, but Sunday is sabbath and it’s not my responsibility to find someone".
This is the same owner who would randomly come “help” work the lunch rush and collect tips because he earned them.
43. He Can’t Do Anything About It From That Position
The place I worked at had almost zero safety precautions and only allowed 10-minute lunch breaks. They even chained up the fridge so we couldn’t get water out. The day I quit was when a stack of boxes waiting to go to a store fell on a guy and instead of helping him or asking if he was okay, they proceeded to yell at him while he was laying on the ground.
They told him that he was costing the company money by slowing down the line, not to mention the lost product if anything broke. I walked up, clocked out, and went out the door. I didn’t even come back for my final check; I figured it wasn’t worth it.
44. Solid Logic
I worked in a call center in the UK and was phoning people about buying porcelain cats on the day of the London bombings (07/07/05). A man that I rang told me he was waiting for his daughter to call to tell him she was OK and that it was immoral that I was ringing when so many people were waiting to hear from family. I couldn’t argue with that and walked out after that call.
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45. Cash, Not Credit
In high school, I got a job working in a family-owned sporting goods/shoe store. Second day, I worked the closing shift with the owner's daughter. The register didn't balance, and the owner said that half of the shortage was coming out of my paycheck because "who knows who was really responsible?" I had only processed two sales, both credit card sales.
I didn't even touch the cash. Being 17 years old, I was unaware that it was forbidden. However, I was certain that it was completely absurd. I quit on the spot.
46. It’s A Special Sale
I used to work at a craft store as a cashier, which was awful, but quit when I moved. I ended up going back a couple years later to make some extra cash, but this time in the framing department. During the interview they swore up and down I would only ever be a backup cashier because I said I refused to have full cashier shifts.
First shift after the interview is listed as framing, but I’m put on cash and told that actually most of my shifts would be cash since they’d found someone else for framing. I spent the next six hours giving everyone who came to my register 20% off of everything and then never went back.
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47. Do Better
My Dad was in hospice and for three days he was up and down. We had been told several times that he was close to dying. Well on the third day his breathing was extremely shallow and his systems were shutting down. I got the call at work that I needed to come down while they were preparing end-of-life care. I went to my HR person and told her the situation.
Her response was, hands down, the worst thing anyone has ever said to me: "Did he come back to life and die again because I'm pretty sure you've used that excuse before". I told her she could go up a creek without a paddle.
48. Next Time, Bring A Shovel
Summer job working for a landscape architect. Got to the job site and he asked me to dig a hole in some rocky dirt. I asked for a shovel. He didn't have one. I asked for a hand spade. He didn't have one. Then he said something that actually made me laugh. He told me to just dig the hole with my bare hands and then he drove off to another site leaving me completely alone.
I dug for a little bit and then said, "Nope" and left. Had the job specified that I needed to supply my own tools, I could've but it didn't and I wasn't going to work for somebody that expected folks to dig through hard, rocky soil with their hands.
49. He Took Her At Her Word
At 17, I was a young line cook at an upscale Italian restaurant. I was picking everything up so quickly, I knew all the stations on the line within 10 months of hiring. I was getting minimum wage (at the time $7.25/hour) and asked for a $1/hour raise to reflect my diverse capabilities. Got denied and asked the chef when I could get it then.
She said, “You’re too young for a raise, just be happy with minimum wage". In response, I said I may have to start looking elsewhere for a job who’ll pay me what I’m worth. Her response made my blood boil: “Don’t you know how expendable cooks are? If you leave, I can replace you on the spot". It was Sunday evening dinner service, at the height of the night, I took off my apron and walked off the line.
I headed right out the front door. A friend quit with me in solidarity, plus I was his ride home. Felt good for a day or two, but I’ve never quit that way ever since. I’ve been in the service industry for 23 years now, and that was by far the worst experience.
50. Perfect Time For A Vacation
I had an inside hint from HR that there were about to be mass layoffs and my name was on the list. I scheduled my week-long vacation and return date the day before layoffs were presumed to be happening. My boss REAMED me out for daring to take a vacation. She said I would never advance in the company if I chose such a formative time in a project to take a vacation.
She told me I would never be an executive producer if I went on a vacation before project launch (even though I wouldn't be able to touch it for the week I was away anyway) and that I would always be known in the television industry as "lazy". I chilled, took my vacation, and returned. She was mad and said that she was upset with me for having left.
She said I "made her" take care of my project for me—chewed me out in front of the entire company in the conference room. I chilled, because I had the perfect response to get back at her: "Aren't you laying off a bunch of us tomorrow? I'm just waiting for you to fire me so I can collect unemployment". The entire room literally starts panicking all over the place and I went home.
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