"Take this job and shove it!" That was country singer Johnny Paycheck’s motto back in 1977. He sang a song about working long, hard hours with little to no reward. Do you ever fantasize about saying those words to your boss? We all feel like leaving our desks and just walking out the door, right? Well, these Redditors actually did it! These stories will make your jaw drop (and perhaps a bit jealous) of their gutsy moves when they finally realized it was time to say: "Screw this job!"
1. No Sale
I was interviewed for a "professional marketing assistant" position and I got the job straight away. I was under the impression that I would be an assistant to the man I was interviewed by. When I showed up for my first day, the same waiting room I was in the previous day was full of people. I quickly learned that we were all hired and that I would be a door-to-door salesperson selling useless items.
I spent my entire day inside a Starbucks applying for other jobs and then went home. I got paid, but I never went back.
2. Sandwich Super-Spreader
It was a sandwich shop in college. I got the flu before my first day and told them I was sick. They said to come in anyway since it was just training. They had me making sandwiches with no gloves. I had a runny nose and was coughing on everything. I left in under an hour and didn't eat there again.
3. Training Days
It was a server gig for a local restaurant. I finished my first day, then I was told that training would continue for six weeks. While I was in training, all of the tips I got had to be given to my trainer. I was being paid less than $2 an hour. I called the next day and said it wasn't going to work out.
4. I Was Floored
I worked a seasonal floor position at Forever 21. The store was always a mess, and it was rearranged every week. No one knew where anything went. I just put things together that looked roughly the same since it was all going to get shuffled again anyway. I quit when I got the flu—they said if I didn't get a doctor's note, it would be a "red mark" in my file.
I said, "Nah, you don't give me health insurance and I'm not in Kindergarten". I quit and got another job at a better store at the same mall a week later.
5. Nothing Is Concrete
I was 17 and working at a pre-cast concrete company. I refused to use a rusted and unsafe ladder. When I voiced my concerns to the supervisor, his response shocked me. He called me a fairy and got up about seven rungs before his foot went through one of the rungs. I heard his foot snap as he fell. I called an ambulance and walked to my car in the parking lot. Bye!
6. Getting Burned
I burned my hands all night on the hot plates as a food runner. They wouldn't let me use towels to carry them and said I just had to get used to it. Nope.
7. Breaking Bad
On the first day of working at an Amazon warehouse, the manager explained to everyone how 15-minute breaks worked there. Walking to the break room would be two and a half minutes. Then, there'd be 10 minutes of actual break and two and a half minutes of getting back to our stations. It took me two and a half minutes to walk to my car and I took a forever break.
8. Money For Nothing
I worked a temporary job once for a Toys R Us warehouse for a few months. I (along with a bunch of other people) was there to cut the tops off boxes. Four employees per large low metal tables. Half the time there was some mistake where we were scheduled to work, but no boxes were available. So we got paid to stand around.
I couldn’t sit on the low table. We had to stand there like idiots and twiddle our thumbs because the boss was mad that he had to pay us.
9. A Life-Changing Day
I went into work intoxicated. Like, almost blacking out. I worked for an hour and a half, cut myself twice, messed up three recipes, went to the bar next door, took a shot, went back in, and announced my intention of checking into rehab. Three days later, I was there. Best decision I ever made.
10. Butter Me Up
I was training a new guy at a movie theater. A customer asked for extra butter. She was nice and normal; not a mean or rude customer. In fact, she was the kind I would pay to handle all day long. The trainee put the popcorn tub down, said he was going to the bathroom, took off his apron and walked out the front door. He never came back.
11. A Chilly Departure
I used to work in warehousing. This one time, one of the new hires was being trained on how to pull and package products off the shelf. After an hour, the new hire told the trainer, "I need to run to my car and grab my sweater". Y'all, it was August in Texas where it easily gets over 100 degrees, especially while working in a warehouse. We never did see that dude or his sweater again.
12. Bad Hospitality
I worked in a hotel for a day. No one told me where anything was and I got chewed out for it. The guests enjoying their meals told me to pay no mind, assuring me that I was doing a good job and that my boss was a jerk. Later that day, I told the manager that I was quitting and that I wouldn't be doing the next shift.
I arrived the next day, returning a work uniform and my supervisor yelled at me for being late. I told her I already quit but if I was working, technically I was five hours early for my shift. Absolute nutcases.
13. Scuzzy Company
I worked at an electronics store. On my first day, we had to attend a class where they taught people how to upsell folks. They walked you through ignoring what they asked you for, as well as using their ignorance of the equipment against them. I thought that was scuzzy. Then they went on to tell us about a commission-style bonus program that forced employees to upsell everyone.
When we took the break for lunch that first day I peaced-out and went home. I never was paid for those four hours, but I never regretted bouncing on that.
14. From Dishes To The Door
I was hired at a chain restaurant to be a host. I was so excited because I was a dishwasher at my last job and that didn't agree with my eczema. It was just too painful to do that job. So, I arrived at my new job dressed up to be a host, but then the most annoying thing happened—those jerks took me back to the kitchen to do dishes because the dishwasher just quit. I noped out of there real fast!
15. A Crushing Lesson
A guy was unloading a skid steer (a Bobcat) off a trailer and didn't have his bucket in the right position, so he began to tilt backward. As I took a big step back to avoid getting crushed, the other person outside the Bobcat stepped forward and put his hands up to try and prevent the thousand-pound machine from tipping over. Everyone who was there held their breath.
It didn't end up tipping over, but I decided I was too smart to work for the place and I didn't want to get injured by my colleague’s buffoonery.
16. Return To Sender
I "interviewed" at UPS as a truck stocker back in the day. I was already working a part-time job renovating homes, so this was just going to be another part-time gig. When I showed up, they told me that it was unacceptable to have any other work priorities. I got up and immediately left as she was still going through her introductory speech.
16. Trust Your Gut
It was a job at a gas station. The manager gave me a weird vibe. I made it through the first day but didn't go back. Turns out, deciding not to return may have saved my life. I found out later he cornered another girl in the back of the store and she had to fight her way out. Trust your gut.
18. Lining Up To Quit
I was a restaurant line chef. I worked a 12-hour shift and I was given two breaks of about 10 to 15 minutes 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".
19. Washing My Hands Of It
I was hired to be a server, which has a lower hourly wage due to tips. The entire shift they had me wash dishes in the sink, but they paid me server wages. A few months later, the restaurant was investigated for several unlawful acts.
20. Get With The Times
This job was at a small, independent insurance agency in 2006. On my first day there, the owner (a true fossil) said email and fax were strictly forbidden as he only ‘believed in’ in-person communication. I left for lunch and never went back. I couldn’t imagine the inefficiency I’d have dealt with had I stayed. They ultimately closed their doors, so it was the right decision.
21. A Tough Sell
When I was in college, I 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 went, I was led into a room with about 50 other people and a small stage at the front of the room.
We were all somewhat confused as to what was going on until finally, a person got up on the stage and informed us of the horrifying truth: we'd been selected for an opportunity to sell Cutco knives. I, along with two-thirds of the rest of the people, stood up and walked out.
22. Bad Vibes
I noped out of an interview one time. I thanked them at the end and said it just wasn't for me. Those interviewing, management-level folks, started arguing with each other in front of me during the interview. I figured, if that was the vibe at the management level, then I sure don't want to be their employee.
23. A Disgusting Discovery
I was working at a restaurant. I swept under my station when we were closing. A giant brown pile came out with the broom from under a fridge. At first, I thought it was just rotted leftover meat or something, but then the scariest thing happened—the pile began to scatter. It was hundreds of roaches. I never returned.
24. Cut The Cable
I was young and naïve right out of college and ended up taking a "marketing" job. My interview was great. Nothing shady seemed to be going on and there were no immediate red flags. After four hours of training, my first day consisted of going door-to-door in a suburban town trying to sell cable to older people. We were told to dress for business, so I was hiking around for miles in my best skirt, suit jacket, and heels.
My hours were from 9 to 5, but we didn’t get back to the business until well after 10 pm. Not to mention, the person I was shadowing was able to make a sale to an older gentleman who seemed to have memory issues.
25. "Stormed Out In Tears"
I had interviewed to work full time. They hired me to work full time. I was trying to quit a horrible job, and this place was on the other end of town. I needed enough money for the bus pass and to make up the difference of quitting my old job. They showed me my schedule and I showed up for my first day. Things were going well...until my manager called me in and sat me down in his office. He explained to me that they'd have to cut me down to 15 hours a week because they'd hired too many people.
I explained, painfully, that I had to take a bus an hour each way and wouldn't be able to pay rent or food after that. He said I could always hold out and hope people quit. I told him he could start with me.
26. You Dig It?
I had a summer job working for a landscape architect. I got to the job site and my boss asked me to dig a hole in some rocky dirt. I asked for a shovel, but he didn't have one. I asked for a hand spade and didn't have one. So I asked him how I was supposed to dig the hole, and his answer made my blood boil. He told me to dig the hole with my bare hands, then he drove off to another site leaving me completely alone. I dug for a little bit before saying "Screw this" and leaving.
Had the job specified that I needed to supply my own tools, I could have, but it didn't. I wasn't going to work for somebody that expected me to dig through hard, rocky soil with my bare hands.
27. On The Road Again
I went into orientation for a new job as a truck driver. I knew I'd be away from home, but this was the worst—I'd be out on the road 30 days at a time, working six out of seven days, not getting paid a good wage, and not being allowed to bring a pet of any type. In essence, I would only be home 18 days a year.
The no-pets rule was the final straw for me. I will not be out for 30 days alone with no little friend to keep me sane.
28. Quitting Was Set In Stone
Working in precast concrete was by far the worst job I ever had. I was always in intense heat, breathing in cancerous dust and dirt all day long for measly pay...yet they were always pushing us to work harder and harder. They’d boast and say, "this is the best quarter we’ve had in the history of the company," but there were no raises or bonuses.
We got a "Good job!" and a pat on the back whenever we did something worth praising. Then I'd go home living paycheck to paycheck because my pay was so little, while the owner drove away in a Maserati.
29. A Tale Of Two Nopes
One time, I got a telemarketing job but I didn’t know what it entailed. After an hour of working there, I knew it was a terrible fit for me. I was auto-dialing people during their dinners, trying to sell them stuff they didn’t want, reading a horrible script while sitting in a soulless, grey cubicle. I got up, went to the manager, apologized, and said I was quitting. He seemed understanding.
Another time, I attended a "make easy money at this job" seminar and it turned out to be some gig selling knives door to door. I didn’t technically "quit"...I just noped out at the end of it.
30. A Church In El Paso?
I was a cashier at this cafeteria for a large company in my town. The people that worked at the company would put their tips in a bucket and there were like 10s and 20s in there. The manager of the cafe wouldn’t let me have any tips because she said that cashiers couldn’t be trusted. Instead, she did something so selfish—she said she always shipped the tip money to her church in El Paso, but we knew that was a load of bull.
I just never went back. It’s also unlawful, I think, to collect money for one thing; but to do something else with it without disclosing who or what it is for is a whole other story.
31. Alarm Bells Ringing!
I had an orientation for a job at an alarm company. The manager called me and said I didn't need to meet everyone at "Planet Hollywood" as they usually do to get to know the employees better over lunch. The next day, I went into the office and another employee whom I had not met said, "I know who you are". I was like, "Huh?"
They responded, "Light-skinned, pretty boy" is how the manager described me. In the same conversation, I found out no one else had ever been invited for a "get to know you" lunch. I noped out of there real quick!
32. State Of No-Pay
I got what was supposed to be a prestigious political internship that came with a security clearance and everything. I found out at orientation that the "part-time" internship was 40 to 60 hours per week. It was unpaid and no intern had gone on to work with the organization. They also never got a leg up for other federal posts.
We were supposed to facilitate meetings with heads of state, coordinate conferences, and assist the employees with composing published research papers for which we would not be credited. They were drinking their own Kool-Aid, so I bounced right on out of there.
33. Not What I Signed Up For
I answered an ad for a babysitting job. I was already working on a casual basis but it was sporadic, so I thought some after-hours babysitting would be good extra cash. Little did I know what a nightmare the whole arrangement was. The couple were both in the armed services and proceeded to tell me that I would be staying in the spare room looking after their six-month-old child around the clock as well as doing the housework.
I would have one day off every two weeks. They said it would be cash-in-hand so I could sign onto the dole (unemployment benefit) to make up the rest of the money. I left on the spot. They wanted a live-in house cleaner and nanny, not a babysitter, and they were not able to pay for one.
34. This One’s A Riot
My first internship was at a Brazilian teen detention center. It is akin to a prison, but Brazilian law has some distinctions between adults and teens—teens go through socio-educational measures. I was walking through a courtyard with my supervisor when some doctors came running, flailing their arms and screaming while officers came running from the opposite direction.
I was pulled aside by my supervisor who told me to run back to our office. I was shocked at what she told me had happened. These teens, who were as young as 12 years old, had escaped their block. A few minutes later, an officer came knocking on the doors of the offices, yelling for everyone to run outside because a fire had broken out. Some of the teens had set the mattresses on fire in their cells.
I noped out of there fast.
35. Crafty Move
I used to work at a craft store as a cashier but I quit when I moved. Then, a couple of years later, I ended up going back to make some extra cash...but this time in the framing department. During the interview, I told them I refused to have any full cashier shifts and they swore up and down I would only ever be a backup.
On my first shift after the interview, I was put down for framing, but when I got to the store, I was totally blindsided. They put me on cash and told me that most of my shifts would be on 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.
36. Cooking Something Up
It wasn't exactly the first day, but I didn't show up after my second shift. I worked at a rather popular cafe chain in my country and was hired to work in the kitchen as a cook along with another senior cook. It was a nightmare because not only did I have zero cooking knowledge, but the senior cook would also leave the kitchen every five minutes to take a break outside.
So there I'd be, alone in the kitchen, with orders printing quickly. I'd honestly just stand, there not sure what to do. The waitress would then come over and yell at me to cook the dishes on my own. But that's not even the worst part—later on, the senior cook told me they had at least two rats running around the kitchen.
They defecated on a plate and he showed it to me before serving it. I never came back and I'm glad the place got shut down.
37. Absentee Boss
It was working at a petrol station and the manager wanted me to work for free until I had learned their computer systems to a level he deemed satisfactory. I agreed to do it because I needed a job, and he brought me in at 7 am on my first day. However, he was not present to go through the training with me, so I was just standing around helping on the forecourt, not really knowing what I should have been doing.
I was not learning anything. After about an hour and a half without the manager showing up or anyone training me on anything, I decided that I wasn't going to continue to be taken advantage of. I told the cashier to pass on the message to the manager that I had quit.
38. McNope
I worked at McDonald’s years ago as part of their assistant manager training program. On my first day, I met with the store manager. She spent the majority of the time doing entry-level work and then working overtime to do her store manager duties. She told me this was common because of the type of people they’d hire.
Her "office" was a counter and she told me she had bought a chair for herself, but corporate made her remove it. She was nice, she worked hard, and she was intelligent, yet she’d been at McDonald’s for 10 years. I imagined myself in her shoes and I decided I wasn’t going to work for a company like that.
39. Alarming Interview
I didn’t quit, but it had a horrible interview many years ago. The position was for an administrative assistant. I got to the place and it was in the back of a strip mall; just a small parking lot and a forest in the back. I went into the interview and the guy told me it was, in fact, not an admin position, but an alarm system cold-calling position.
I immediately knew he was wasting my time and his, but I finished it out anyway. He told me there would be many evenings where it'd be just him and I. Um, I don’t think so. He also said that he loves to reward his team for good sales and always takes them to Mexico. I walked out and told my husband there was no way I was taking that. I got a call for a second interview but never picked up the phone. So sketch.
40. I Quit Before I Started
I technically quit before my first day. I was hired at a well-known gift store. I was hired with the understanding that I would work Saturdays, Sundays, and a total of eight hours a week (so two four-hour shifts). Also, they said they would pay me minimum wage. Not a problem with me, done that before; I would just pick up a part-time job for the rest of the week.
But then came the twist: that wasn't allowed. The manager thought that was a horrible thing and "disrespectful" to her. I should work for them and only them and I should have better control over my money if I can't survive on $64 a week before taxes. Yeah, I didn't show up. She called me and was angry that I wouldn't show up to such an opportunity.
41. Here’s A Tip
My very first job was at a little drive-in restaurant close to my high school. I showed up to work the first day, and the woman said I had to pay her $50 for training. She showed me around the place and said that my pay would be $4.50/hour as a carhop and all the tips I made went into a bucket with all the other girls’ tips.
At the end of the night, she counted the tips, kept 20% for herself, and split the rest up evenly among every employee. It seemed super shady. I left after listening to her go over all these rules. My dad was angry with me until I explained everything to him and another girl confirmed my story. My dad agreed that I did the right thing.
42. The Job Didn’t Stick
I had a warehouse job, putting stickers on file folders. It seemed pointless and the floor was just a mass of these same stickers, so they were either falling off constantly or people were shirking work by emptying their quota onto the floor. I went to ask the boss a question and found him asleep in an empty office. But that's not even the worst part.
He’d taken off a sock and had draped it over his eyes to block out the light.
On my way out the door, the other girl who had started that day said, "Please come back, don’t leave me alone here". I couldn’t stop laughing.
43. "What A Scam!"
I applied for an event planner job, having previously worked as a wedding planner, and I got an interview with a company based in the city. I went to the interview the next day. Something was off, but I couldn't figure it out. They asked me to work a trial day, and I agreed to it. I arrived at the morning briefing and my trainer said we'd be working away from the office.
I thought to myself, what sort of event was this? What would I be doing? How exciting! In the end, I was standing on a street corner in the rain trying to get people to sign up to give to charities. What a scam!
44. Vacuous Vocation
I was a ‘salesman’ for Kirby vacuums. The first sales call was to a single elderly woman who was supporting her son in the hospital (they got us in the door by offering a free carpet clean as a demonstration). The supervisor training me told me to push for the sale until this old woman was in tears. Just as she was about to sign the paperwork, I had an epiphany. I asked if she wanted the vacuum.
She said it was lovely but she couldn’t afford it. I took the paperwork away from her and said not to worry. Outside, I told the supervisor I quit, to which he replied I would’ve been fired anyway. No love lost. I hung around for half an hour playing on my phone to make sure the supervisor left because he was a real piece of work.
45. "Bunch Of Scumbags"
I got suckered into door-to-door sales when I was 17. I was naïve and desperate for a job. They were the biggest bunch of scumbags I ever met. The guy driving the van had some kind of relationship with the girl sitting in the passenger seat and they were arguing loudly. Then, out of nowhere, she made all of our jaws drop—she just straight up jumped out of the van while it was moving.
Everyone's immediate reaction was: "We should get out of here". They wanted to ditch this poor girl in a random suburb that was an hour and a half from the city we drove from. The only reason they picked her back up is that I swore to God and heaven above that I would give everyone's names and addresses to the authorities.
A few of them had warrants or were undocumented immigrants, so they didn’t like that. I had been working there for like two weeks at this point but I didn’t go back after getting home that evening. Reprehensible garbage. A pretty decent product, though.
46. Locked Down
I took a job at a residential treatment center as I was desperate for a job. The interviewer said that most of the kids were court-ordered and were a step away from juvie. The interview didn’t go well, so I was honestly surprised when they called and offered me the job. On the morning of training, we went over all of the state and federal laws that governed the place, like resident rights and staff-to-resident ratios.
That afternoon, we went on a tour of the facility, during which it became readily apparent to me that exactly none of the laws we’d just covered were being followed. I left at the end of the day and never came back. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen at that place. A few months later, they were shut down after a night riot, resulting in several serious injuries to both residents and staff.
Glad I wasn’t around for that.
47. "The Worst Job I Ever Had"
Forever 21. Legit the worst job I ever had. When I was hired, they explained that we had to wear fashionable clothing. No sneakers or comfortable shoes were permitted. I asked what they expected me to wear on concrete for the 10-hour shifts and the manager's response was so absurd I just had to laugh. "Heels, flats, sandals or boots. Heels preferred". I wore combat boots and flats most days and I still got wicked blisters!
They never taught me which clothes went where, so it was just guesswork based on the tag or if it looked similar to other things on the rack. When I asked if anyone could train me on where things went, I was laughed at. They told me to come back and shop in my free time to learn where everything went. The worst part was it took us hours to close the store.
The mall closed at 9 pm and sometimes I wouldn’t get home until 3 am the next day. If you were done with your section, you had to wait until everyone else in the store was done! I'd be finished my duties, but still, be forced to help the people who goofed off all day. They also made us clock out before midnight and then clock back in at 12:01 so they didn't pay overtime.
I was too stupid to realize that I was being taken advantage of. The last straw was when I found out my mom had a cancer scare and I had to go to the hospital to see her. When I told the manager, she said something so appalling it made my blood boil: "She won't die in the next eight hours, you can deal with her in your own time". Deal with her, as if she was a parasite or something!
I legit told her to screw herself and threw my lanyard at her. I never shopped there again!
48. The Arrogant Chef
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, and at the time, I remember him coming off as very arrogant. I paid no mind to it as that behavior 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.
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 as it was another hour or so before service started. He unexpectedly stopped me and said something that immediately ruined my mood: "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 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.
49. Throw The Book At ‘Em!
My first ever job was I was 13. I was delivering phone books from the back of a van through people’s letterboxes. I'd be there with the phone books and an older guy would drive slowly while I went back and forth to each of the houses with the books. At one point, the van was getting quite empty, so there was more space for me to move around. We had finished the delivery in the street that we were paid to deliver to, so he drove to another.
While driving there, he drove aggressively and I fell inside the back where the remaining books were. I wasn't sitting in a seat as the van had no seats in the back. As I put my hand out to steady myself, I accidentally laid it across a portable radio that had its antenna extended. It would have been fine...but I was in for quite the surprise. The antenna ended up being broken halfway and razor-sharp.
It sliced the palm of my hand clean open, leaving a gash that was three to four inches big. I can only describe what I saw as gruesome. I told him to pull the van over since I needed help. He saw my hand and just threw me a plastic bag, the kind you'd get at a supermarket, and told me to wrap my hand in it. Then he continued with the deliveries, distributing the remaining books himself.
I should have been taken to a hospital or at least home to my parents. I quit after that and never showed up again. As you can imagine my parents were quite angry at him. I should have sued.
50. The Chips Are Down
I got hired at a very small knock-off dollar store in an old, failing mall. The owner was foreign with a very thick accent. He told me I'd get $6 an hour but neglected to mention it was under the table. I spent about an hour stocking the overly cluttered shelves before I was told to get more chips out of the back storage area.
I walked back there and about a dozen men were sitting on boxes, all crammed in a small back room. I asked where the chips were and they just glared at me. They started speaking in another language and motioned towards me. Then, one guy got up and asked what I needed. I told him I was supposed to get a box of chips and he got a box out of the pile and handed it to me.
The entire time these guys were all staring at me. Everything back there looked shady and it was very uncomfortable. A while later, I had to use the women's restroom which was also in the back. That's when things got super creepy. While I was inside, someone tried to open the door. I was the only woman there.
The owner told me he wanted me to come back that night late in the evening after the mall closed. I didn't show up. I came in the next morning and lied about why I couldn't work there. He still gave me the few bucks from what little time I did work. I don't know what that guy had going on there and I didn't want to find out.
51. Stand Up And Fight
I applied for a job at my long-time favorite restaurant. I celebrated my birthday there every year. The owner asked me to come in for a try-out as I communicated I was looking at other job possibilities. I came in and they just stuck me on dishwashing for an hour. No biggie. Then, their dishwasher didn’t show up, so the kitchen manager asked me to stay on for their lunch rush, saying I'd get paid for the hours.
I did, and the kitchen staff was nice, so I was happy to help even though I figured I’d probably be taking a different job. I filled out a time card at the end of the shift and told the manager I probably wouldn’t be back. He understood and thanked me for the help.
Fast forward a couple of weeks—I asked him if I should pick up my measly paycheck. His response caught me totally off-guard. The manager told me it was out of his hands and to email the owner.
So I did, and she told me to take off over text. She said they were "staging" me and that I wouldn’t be paid. When I told her I stayed an extra three hours and that I was told I’d be paid for that time, she stopped responding. At that point, I decided I want to be petty over the 40 bucks, so I got the state labor department involved. A dude went in there and made her pay me for my hours, including the first "staging" hour.
A couple of weeks later, I got my 40 bucks and I never went back to that restaurant. I am very glad I did this and I don’t think it was petty. While sharing the story with others in my city, I learned this practice was very common with local restaurants. I hope that from my small experience, others learn to stand up for their labor rights too.
This restaurant closed down a couple of weeks after I got that paycheck. The owner made a long-winded complaint on a Facebook page about how the food culture had "changed" in the city and her restaurant didn’t fit in. However, most people knew that her mismanagement of employees had caught up to her.
52. Skirting The Situation
I was the only waitress at a newly-opened diner. The boss didn't have me sign any paperwork. Everything was under the table. However, that wasn't what made me quit at the end of the night. To get me where he wanted me to go, he would pinch my skirt at my upper thigh, not quite the butt but very close, and pull me around like it was a leash.
Needed me in the kitchen? Rather than call me, he would come out, pinch my skirt and pull me to the kitchen. Needed me at the cash machine? Again, he’d come over to wherever I was—it didn't matter if I was serving a customer—and grab my skirt to pull me. That act in itself made some customers uncomfortable. Mind you, one couple left an almost 50% tip in the end...but I think it was more out of pity and embarrassment on my behalf.
I was supposed to come in the next day, but I called that night and said the job wasn't for me. I came in a couple of days later to turn in my apron and he just took a roll of cash out of his pocket and paid me immediately. God, he was creepy. I think it was a smart move to quit.
53. My Independence Day
Back in 2002, when I was in high school, I had a part-time job as a shift manager of a pizza shop. I had been working there for over a year as a supervisor. Every year, my friends and I would spend our Fourth of July playing baseball and just being teenagers. I told my manager months in advance that I would be unavailable that day and he said it would be OK.
I reminded him about a month beforehand and he assured me it was fine. Now, my manager wasn't the one who made the schedule, but he was the one who passed the requests to the girl who did. So, the week before the 4th, I looked at the schedule. Lo and behold, I was scheduled as the closing supervisor on the 4th. Not happening.
The weekend before the holiday, I was scheduled to close the shop on Friday and Saturday night. I came in on Friday, then decided at some point that I had had enough of the job. I told my crew that I was leaving and wouldn't be returning. Then, I tossed my work keys on the front counter and just walked out. The boss called me frantic. I didn't care.
I enjoyed my holiday off and had a new job at the Golden Arches less than a week later.
54. Trainer Vs. Manager
I was told to put something on the shelves by the checkout counter. I asked if there was any specific way to do it and I was told, "No, you idiot. It's not hard. You just put as much as you can fit on the shelf". So I stacked stuff on the shelf. "Why didn't you follow protocol regarding displays? You have to count exactly how many you use for stock control and display them a certain way".
I thought that one was a one-off, but the next day I asked what I should be doing after a busy period. "There is nothing to do for a bit. Make us all coffee and practice using the machine". Halfway through making coffee, I was told, "Why aren't you doing a more important task? You don't have time to be taking coffee breaks!" I was about to lose it, but then I realized what was really going on.
Little did I know this was a classic case of "trainer versus manager". It turns out, the trainer didn't want someone else working with her, so she sabotaged me and set me up for the manager to catch me doing the wrong things. I told them they had some issues to work out among themselves and quit.
55. When It Hits The Fan…
It was my first day working at EB Games. I was super excited to be there! The first half of my shift was all about "tidying up the shelves". It was a high-traffic location, so the shelves always needed tidying. After five hours of following kids around and putting things away, I went on my break. When I came back, my manager was standing in his strangely empty store, aghast.
He was staring at a huge steaming pile of excrement on the carpeted floor. A homeless person had walked in and without saying a single word, he pulled his pants down and emptied away. My boss looked at me and said, "Oh good, you're back. Just in time. Clean that up, I'm going for lunch".
I laughed at him and told him he couldn't be serious. I was not going near that. He responded with. "It's your job. I'm taking a break and I want it gone before I get back". I told him he was going to have to deal with it on his own because I didn't need this job that bad. So I quit. I grabbed my coat and went home.
One week later, the district manager called me up to apologize and offer me my job back.
56. The Day I Chased The Boss With A Hockey Stick
I have worked construction jobs my whole life. The amount of angry and abusive bosses you encounter are endless. This one still has the title. This was in the '90s, so he has stood the test of time. A friend quit this job and gave my number to his boss, without my knowledge. I never did thank him for that.
This guy called me out of the blue and asked me if I needed work. I said I did. He said he could pick me up the next morning. I told him I had a car, so I could meet him on site. He yelled and said he would pick me up. I was floored that this idiot was yelling at me two minutes after talking to me. I gave him my address and he said he would be there at 6:30 am the next morning.
At 5:30 am, the guy called me asking, "Where is your house?" No hello, no good morning; just full-on screaming. I said I would give him directions if he would just stop yelling, but he wouldn't quit it, so I just hung up. He called right back and started losing it because I hung up the phone on him. I told him to just leave me alone. The two other guys I lived with were now awake and not too happy with me.
I explained what happened and they just went back to bed. But it was far from over— about 30 minutes later, I was awakened by the sound of a horn blaring outside our house. We lived on a farm, so luckily the next neighbor was half a mile away. My roommates once again woke up and they were livid. We all went outside and this guy was yelling at us to get in the truck because we were late.
He was there half an hour earlier than he said he would be. He also didn't know who was who. I was just about to tell him to get lost again, but my buddy walked up to the truck and said he wanted to get paid upfront. This guy let loose on my buddy. My buddy just laughed in his face. He told him, "If you're going to be a jerk, then you will have to pay me first".
The guy just kept yelling. My buddy said he'd be out in a minute and he better have his money ready. We all went back into the house and watch this guy wait in his truck. He was there for all of five minutes before he started blowing the horn again. We just laughed and poked our heads out the door, saying we'd be there in a minute.
After another 10 minutes, he banged on our door. I opened it and this fool was about 5'2" and maybe 200 lbs. I was shocked by his appearance. He was just about to say something but I interrupted him and said, "Didn't I tell you to not bother coming here?" He was truly confused. He asked me where the other guy was. I explained that he was just playing around before and that I was the guy he was talking to on the phone.
He said, "So you're not coming to work?" I was amazed at what a jerk this guy was. I told him he had to pay me upfront first. He started yelling and swearing again, so I slammed the door in his face. When he kept knocking after that, I finally had enough. got a hockey stick to chase him back to his truck.
It was pretty funny watching him run. He backed out of the driveway and threatened that he'd get me for what I did. He still is the biggest jerk I have ever met.
57. Disappointment And Bitterness
I stayed at a company for almost five years and worked my way up to store manager. My district manager was arrogant, unreliable, and an all-around horrible human being. I hated the company and upper management but I loved my team and my store. I made sure each of my employees felt valued and got reasonable hours.
In the lead up to quitting, I got sick of being told: "Make sure you clock out on time, but also stay behind a couple of hours once a week to make sure you're on top of everything". Being young and dumb, I did the thankless work. The turning point, though, was when the district manager came to my store when I was away on holidays and screamed at my team, saying that the store was a mess, that they were doing an awful job, that everything was wrong, and that I was bad at my job.
I came back to an untidy store, but nothing out of the ordinary. I told my team that they were doing an amazing job and I couldn't hold down the fort without them. I was livid. How dare he come in and criticize my staff? I saw the year out, did the Christmas rush, and then got a call saying I'd have to make sure the store was ready for stocktake—they'd decided they'd do it in a week.
I noped out of there and told them I'd had enough.
58. Scrubbing This Job
I had two interviews for a housekeeping position at a hospital. I got a call the night of the second interview at around midnight. The guy on the phone told me: "I just wanted to let you know we'll be offering you the job tomorrow". I should have taken that as the first red flag.
I went in for my first day of training and he had printouts of my Facebook and my boyfriend’s. He started asking me how long we had been together and made it clear that he knew everything, so as not to lie to him. It was so uncomfortable. I left his office and did some training. We broke for lunch and he sat with me in the cafeteria, asking me how it was going so far.
Then, he told me he expected to see me at his church on Sunday. I hadn't gone to church in like ten years at that point. We all had a quick meeting in our main room and I stayed back after everyone had left. I put my badge, keys, and walkie-talkie on the desk and walked out. I felt bad, but it was no wonder why they can't keep anyone.
He called me for months afterward asking what had happened, saying he was worried sick and that he deserved answers. I had called the hospital’s HR the day after I had walked out to tell them why I quit. They must have told him. He had no reason to keep contacting me.
59. Am I On Candid Camera?
I was a cashier at Lowe's during college for less than a full day. I made it through the multiple-day training, but there was so much stupid stuff going on I almost thought I was on a hidden camera show. All of the employees complained about how hard they had to work while simultaneously not getting enough hours. Nobody understood why they were hiring like four new people (I was one of those four).
The truth turned out to be darker than I could have expected. They hired us because they were progressing through a harassment complaint that required restructuring of the store and firing off some employees. This was known to HR and explained to the new hires (which was against company policy, by the way), but it wasn't known to the other employees.
The hiring manager was inappropriate and told us not to worry about the harassment stuff, assuring us that everything would "go back to normal" soon enough and we wouldn't have to "be so uptight". They fired her the day before I started, along with one of the cashiers who trained me. She also offered me terrible guidance for the application process.
They were looking for part-time help and two of the three days they needed me, I was off from school. I told them I could work most nights, but if they needed daytime help, it had to be on those days. In my first week's schedule, I was working mornings every day that I was in school, and I wasn't given any hours on my days off.
Aside from the fact that I was given two times the hours the position called for (when other employees were shorted), my work schedule was impossible to consolidate with my school schedule. I only went to work on my first day to tell them I was quitting and that their application process was a mess.
Then they asked who trained me and everything made sense. They thanked me for "at least showing up to quit" unlike the other three they hired, who just stopped returning their calls and no-showed their first days.
60. Gone Forever
When I was 20 or so, I was hired to be a temporary floor member for Forever 21 during the holiday season. My training started a week before Black Friday, so the store was already kind of in chaos. On my first day of training, I walked in and the floor manager gave all the new hires a tour, showing us the facility and layout of the store.
After this, I was assigned to shadow a veteran floor member so I could get an idea of what my job was. As soon as I was assigned, the manager walked away, never to be seen again. An hour and a half into my shift, the manager I was shadowing got an emergency family call and had to take off for a week.
When this happened, I found another floor manager, explained the situation, and asked them whom else I should shadow. The manager’s response was startling: "Just do what you can by yourself. You’ll be fine—everyone else is busy". I figured, okay, I’ll try. I don’t know if any of you have shopped in the women’s section of Forever 21 before, but during seasonal sales, there are multiple articles of clothing that look almost identical to each other.
For example, there was this white cardigan with four buttons that looked the same as another white cardigan with five buttons. These different items were often placed in completely separate parts of the store and it was the job of the dressing room employee to return the unpurchased items to the correct section so that the floor employees could put them back on the shelves.
Well, they were terrible at their jobs. I did not know if some clothes were a part of my section or not, so I’d spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to find where they went before realizing, "Wait, this isn’t even my section, and I’ve checked every rack". I’d end up putting them back on the sorting rack before moving on to the next item.
More than 50% of the stuff I was told to reshelve was not in my section. I just did as best as I could and I got ready for my next miserable day. The next day, I came in and the store manager pulled me into her office. That's when everything changed. She told me how slow I was the day before, and if I want to keep working here I need to be very fast.
I explained my lack of training and unfamiliarity with the store and she told me if I did not know where the clothes were in sections I should come in my free time and memorize where stuff was. I spent the rest of my shift putting clothes in random places then never came back for a third shift. Screw that place and their management.
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