"Anyone here who decided to leave their job on the first day? What made you decide to run right away?"
Questionable Ethics
"They wanted us to make our first sales to friends and family members."
"F*ck that."
"If your first option is for me to make money off the people I care about most, there's really nowhere to go but down (morally)."- Mxysptlik
Thrown Into The Deep End
"They sent me to a room to do a bunch of on-boarding paperwork and those incredibly dull orientation videos companies love so much."
"Less than 10 minutes into it the manager comes in and tells me they need to cover the sales floor immediately because I was the only person for the department that day."
"No training, no computer logins, no idea where anything in the building was or who any of the dozens of other people wandering around were or even what was really expected of me."
"Just go and solo a department that usually had between five and eight staff at any time."
"I gave it a shot for like 45 minutes, and realized the whole place was staffed by miserable entitled f*cks who went out of their way to avoid work."
"I just walked out without saying anything."- SlothOfDoom
Being More Knowledgable Than Your Bosses
"I'm a fish hobbyist and I got a job in the fish department at PetCo."
"On my first day they wanted me to take out all the rocks (substrate) from each tank, scrub them and put them back in the tanks, one tank at a time."
"Moving substrate releases bad bacteria and can get the fish sick or kill them."
"I explained this to them and said that it was best to just do a water change for 20% of each tank."
"They said, basically, sorry this is what corporate says and you have to do it."
"I was like, 'Okay, I'll do it after lunch'."
"I never came back from lunch."- adura_grounded
Under The Sea GIF by Super SimpleGiphyNot Honoring Their Contract
"They lowered the rate from what was agreed upon and became upset when I spoke up about it."- Wonderful-Job3514
Mis-Management
"Wendy’s."
"There was an assistant manager whose only job seemed to be pacing around behind us during lunch rushes, repeating in a dull monotone, 'c’mon, let’s make those burgers. C’mon, let’s go faster, make those burgers'.”
"When I didn’t make burgers fast enough because my only training consisted of watching a 30-minute video, the manager sneered, 'why don’t you just go wash dishes, then? You CAN wash dishes, can’t you?'"
"That’s when I walked off the job."- LanceGannon
And You Thought YOUR Boss Was Horrible...
"I didn't even last a full shift."
"It was Pizza delivery."
"It was the early 90s; I was 20 M[ale]."
"My first shift was in torrential rain, driving a 1967 VW Beetle (with a flat windscreen)."
"Two orders required me to go back because the pizzas weren't the ones ordered."
"Then I arrived back to see that one of the other drivers had been shot in the leg with an air-rifle by Ricky the Shift-Manager.
I started at noon."
"Quit at 8.30pm."
"Can't remember if I was ever paid; didn't care."- EvilBosch
anna faris pizza GIF by Overboard MovieGiphyKnowing Their Self-Worth
"I was a car mechanic fresh out of school, hit up a local shop that hired."
"Their working conditions were trash, I bailed after the first day."
"Second one wasn't much better, in fact it was far worse, but I saw more potential in the work and needed the experience."
"It was a privately owned bus company that needed a mechanic to service their sh*t."
"It was the middle of winter and the garage had no heat, it was badly equipped, no car jacks so laying on the cold ground, etc."
"Also as it turned out, the fleet consisted of brand new buses that had to be serviced at the dealership to maintain the warranty, so I had no work whatsoever."
"Instead the guy wanted me to do basic maintenance work around the HQ."
"Mind you it was so cold outside that in 10 minutes I couldn't feel my fingers and if I went inside the main building to heat up, he complained that I wasn't working."
"Caught pneumonia after just 3 days, went back a week later when I was feeling better and quit."
"Third time was the charm."- DangerousTrashCan
And Yet, They Don't See A Problem?
"We hired someone to work at a freezer warehouse and he only showed up for one shift."
"He seemed ecstatic about the pay (20/hr for basic material handling, picklines, etc) but seemed to realize that humans hate being treated like machines and that's simply not worth it so we never saw him again."
"He was not the only one."
"My favorite time is when my manager hired 18 new people because he fully expected 80% of them to flake and not show the next day."
"Sure enough, only 3 even showed up."- ASaltyBiscuit
season 8 warehouse GIFGiphyDid They Actually Think They'd Get Away With It?!?
"Was supposed to be an office job, straight salary."
"Got there the first day and it turned out to be door to door sales, commission only."
"Not even people who had expressed interest."
"Just literally cold calling but in person at their door instead of on the phone."
"Didn't even stay to hear the end of their explanation of how really if you think about it this is the job they advertised and interviewed me for, just better because..."
"I don't know, some bullsh*t, as I said, I had left by then."- Zer0Summoner
Not Once, But Twice
"I actually did this twice."
"The first time was because I was a college student and needed a job to pay rent."
"Got a job working in a new call center that had opened up in my home town."
"It was awful.""The atmosphere was toxic, the boss was a horrific a**hole, and there were all sorts of shitty 'metrics' and goals, etc. you had to reach."
"I just never went back after the first day."
"Called them the next morning and told them it wasn't for me."
"The second time was a deal where I interviewed for a job that I was pretty excited about where I was going to be leading a team dealing with advocating for some issues in international politics."
"I was super excited."
"The interviews I had were done in a cafe."
"They sent me the address of the office and I arrived for my first day and it was some decrepit, barely standing office with the most outdated computers and office equipment."
"The 'team' I was going to be leading had been referred to as 'a small team' in the job interviews."
"In reality it was one lady who didn't speak either of the languages I speak."- mejok
Third Time Definitely Wasn't The Charm
"$20 for parking wasn't included in for being an employee."
"This was when min wage was 11.50.so you work 2 hour and pay your employer."
"F*ck that."
"Another place I worked open kitchen caught fire."
"All the customers could see this."
"They didn't make anyone leave."
"They kept putting food out!"
"They expected me to clean up their now burnt kitchen."
"Nope nope nope."
"Another place had defrosted chicken by leaving it outside of the fridge over night."
"On the floor."
"During the summer."
"Rats scurried away from it when we turned on the light."
"Called the safety department on that one."- Elfere
Inconsistent Would Be An Understatement
"Slowly started changing the terms of employment during the day."
"Started off '10 hour days 5 days a week £8/hour'."
"Shifted to 'sometimes you have to work weekends too'."
"Then 'actually it's crunch season right now so we're going to expect you to work Saturday and Sunday this week."
"Then 'actually we'll need you to stay Saturday and Sunday most weeks'."
"Then 'You'll be working Saturday and Sunday for the foreseeable future'."
"Then 'We'll need you to stay a few hours after work today'."
"Then 'Actually you'll be working 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week for the next 6 months'."
"Yeah nope."- NewRoundEre
Bye Bitch Get Out Of My Face GIF by Becky GGiphyWe've all had jobs we've hated, which we muddle through just for the money.
However, one's self-worth is always more important than a paycheck.
And when you notice your self-worth or safety being threatened, always best to act on it immediately.
One Reddit user wanted to talk to folks who've gotten to live the dream, so they asked:
What's your "Fck this, I quit!" story?
Come, let the heroes tell their tales.
Industrial Drilling
I fractured my orbital socket in an industrial drilling accident. Another employee lost focus at the wrong time was supposed to wait for a hand signal and didn't. We had been working over 90 days straight of 13-14 hour shifts and living in crappy motel a 45 min drive from out work site. We were supposed to be on a rotation were we didn't work more than 3 weeks at a time. It was a close call and could have been a lot worse. I'm glad I "saw it coming" and had time to at least try and get out of the way.
I got sent away after a night in the ER while the rest of that crew continued to work. After spending 2 or 3 days at home the boss called to say that he "needed me in Alaska" in 2 days and that my flight was already booked. Told him I quit right on the spot.
Plot Twist
Was getting screamed at in a meeting by some marketing jerk that was literally demanding my technical group perform magic on a completely unrealistic time schedule with almost no resources. Literally screaming at me in front of about 8 of my peers, calling me incompetent, "just do your job"....all of that.
I stood up, said I refuse to be talked to like that, and left the meeting. Normally if you just get up and leave these types of meetings, you're fired. Boss scheduled a meeting with me later in the afternoon after hearing about it. Figured I'd be walked out and was absolutely ready .. was told they fired the marketing guy.
That was going to be my "eff it, I quit" moment - but the company kept me on and fired the other guy. Pretty happy, it's been a solid place to work ever since.
Thanks, Mom
GiphyMy mom had an 'I quit' moment so she could see me. I was studying overseas and my parents booked a trip to come out at the end of the school term, bringing along my 2 siblings - 1 who lived away from home, the other about to start college.
It was a month long trip, with lots of pre-paid flights, trains, hotels plus it would likely be the last big trip we all took together. Obviously, both my parents requested and secured approved PTO months in advance. It was the month of June - typical summer vacation.
A couple days before the trip was to happen, my mom's boss hands her an assignment. Mom hands it back, saying she can't take it on as she has a month long vacation about to start. (My folks don't believe in hyperbole, but trip of a lifetime would be a fair description). Boss says, oh yea, sorry, you can't take vacation anymore. Mom says if you cancel my PTO, I quit. Boss, blank stare.
Mom handed in her notice and left. We had an amazing trip. She got a new job on return.
Better Than Falling Asleep At The Wheel
I was a truck driver working a regional route that required me working nights. So basically I would drive all through the night, deliver a load, sleep through the day, and take a load back to my original place the next night.
The thing is, sleeping during the day at a warehouse where yard dogs (the guys that move trailers around the lot of the warehouse with little tractor deals) were constantly moving stuff around, knocking into my truck, and often times literally waking me up to move my truck.
I was barely getting any sleep and the only time I had to ever get a good nights rest was during the weekend.
So driving to my first delivery, I told my manager I'm taking an extra day off because I'm exhausted and I have to get a few days of sleep. I was literally getting maybe 3-4 hours of solid sleep a day and energy drinks were worthless at this point. They gave me the go ahead, I dropped my delivery, slept as best as I could at the warehouse and picked up the load to take back with a message from my managers telling me to have a good weekend and rest up.
When I was about an hour and half away from my destination, after driving all night for about 8 hours reaching pure exhaustion, I get a message saying "never mind We need you to work this weekend"
Mind you, I know this stuff happens and you sometimes have to pick up the slack of other employees at times. Things happen, I get it and 99% of the time I'm all for helping out other employees and my managers if they need it.
But this was about the third time this happened. I haven't had a good nights sleep in 3 weeks at this point and I kept trying to call my managers or anyone who would answer me, but it was the weekend and no one would respond to their messages or phone calls. I was literally being ignored and I just snapped.
Luckily, the demand for truckers is massive. I mean I get texts non stop asking if I'm in the market because a company needs drivers. I haven't even been in the industry for two years currently and my phone still gets blown up with calls and texts asking if I want to drive again.
So literally all I did was call one of the numbers that would contact me constantly and immediately was hired after 5 minutes of talking on the phone. Sent in a message saying I quit and good luck.
Funny enough THEN they started responding to my messages and tried calling me.
I know it was probably a dick move and I normally would never do that, but I just broke and could not take it anymore.
"Mandatory Non-Paid Vacation"
My first job... I was assigned to a specific area, and I thought I was doing my job well. One Monday, I was pulled in to the office and asked why (whatever thing it was, I don't remember) hasn't been done for the last two weeks. I replied i wasn't aware it was part of my duties. My supervisor said he was putting me on a "mandatory non-paid vacation" for two weeks. No warning, no explanation on why I all of a sudden had to do work for a different department. So I said "don't worry about it, I quit."
It was a lousy job anyway, I was only getting paid 18 hours a week but was doing more than that! Sixteen and stupid, I guess!
Forced
I worked for a group home. We had a difficult group of residents, but the company made things so much worse.
Every resident was 14-22 years old. They had moderate mental development delays (65-75 IQ range), they all had a psychiatric disorder (from severe ADHD to schizophrenia), and they had also all been convicted of a violent sexual crime.
I worked 3rd shift. My normal hours were 10:30pm to 9am. Four days a week.
About six months into working there, they did a massive layoff.
They went down to bare minimum staff to student ratio each shift, with nobody extra to call in if needed. That meant if someone called out, a person on the previous shift was forced to stay.
It got to the point, where I was being forced 3 out of 4 shifts per week. And not just a few hours. I was working 10:30 pm to around 4:30 pm the next day, and still having to come in for my following shift. I had an hour commute each way.
So I'd get home at 5:30 pm from a 16 hour shift, and have to leave the house again four hours later.
Managed that for about a month. Then one morning I was told last minute I was being forced. Told them I was done and walked out.
That month took a huge toll on my mental health. Swear it took me like a year to recover.
In Training
GiphyA little Greek Restaurant I worked at early in high school.
Got hired, and spent the first two days cleaning everything the owner and son were to lazy to clean. Years worth of old grease in the deep fryer's interior, mold in the fridges, stains in the bathrooms etc. Just fcking gross.
I asked about payday on the end of the second day and it went something like this:
"So, how does payday work here? Is it weekly, bi-weekly, what?"
"You are on training, if we like the job you do we will hire you with pay".
Confused, I ask "So you're saying that you're not going to pay me for cleaning years worth of mold, grease, and bathroom stains?"
"No, you will be paid for work once your training is done"
"Oh! Ok. F*ck this, I quit"
How Was Your Weekend
After taking a few days off work while my father was having a brain tumor removed (and still checking emails and attending conference calls from the hospital) my boss gave me a new project.
She gave me a Monday morning deadline for a project that would take 6-8 days to complete - on a Thursday afternoon. I worked 16 hours a day to get it done. When we met on Monday she asked how my weekend was: "I worked all weekend." Then she asked if I got to visit my dad in the hospital "No, I didn't get a chance because i worked all weekend."
A couple weeks later she pulled me into a meting and said "I feel like you were resentful because you had to work and I feel like I was really good when your dad was sick, maybe you're just tired. Are you tired?"
She'd also make comments when I would leave the office on time - not early, on time. "It's great that you just get up and go when your day is over, like I have to go because I have a daughter, but you don't have any kids and you still just leave at the end of the day"
um yeah, i don't live here. i don't go home and sit in a dark room counting the hours until i get to come back here. i'm also not curing cancer, nothing we do here matters to anyone outside of here. i give you 100% when i'm here, but when my day is done, it's done.
I no longer work there.
Tire-d
I worked for a big chain tire store in a very rich part of town for a while. I was overqualified for the job, but its what was hiring. One day I get a call saying another tech got fired for failing a pee test.
I get in and our lead tech comes in with a torn bicep and has to be gone for a few months.
So I'm now the most knowledgeable person in the shop, taking on a ton of extra duties and extra hours. So working 60+hrs a week as the only tech with ANY diagnostic abilities I ask for a raise/promotion. That's not what happened.
Instead, the guy that was hired on a week earlier, was an amazing tire buster but couldn't do any mechanical repair past changing an air filter, got a double promotion and a dollar per hour raise.
Put in my notice on the spot.
- xJD88x
Parents Explain Why They Regret The Name They Gave Their Child | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Bait And Switch
Got a summer job while I was in high school at a place that made fibreglass tanks. I was told I'd be doing grounds keeping and yard work. Figured I'd scored an easy gig of bombing around on a ride-on mower and whatnot.
NOPE.
The first day I show up, in a t shirt and jeans, I was told the yard equipment 'wasn't 'ready'. So they had me cut raw fibreglass for 8 hours with an exacto-knife and no ppe. Being a dumb kid who didn't know any better, I didn't immediately quit and did this for three more days. At least after the first day I'd brought my own gloves and long sleeve shirt.
On day three they were doing tank coatings. So about ten feet away from me are two dudes in full PPE. We're talking coveralls, rubber gloves, glasses, face shields, and respirators. Ten feet away from me. In a poorly ventilated room. Spraying the exterior of a tank with presumably fibreglass coating.
I only made it a few hours before having to go to the bathroom to puke. I was told to quit being a p*ssy and go back out on the floor. That's when I, fortunately, had a moment of not being a stupid kid and said "I quit" and walked home.
Both parents were mad when I told them I'd quit. Joke's on them though because a few years later that company killed two dudes. A guy asphyxiated while working inside one of the tanks and the person that tried to rescue him also ended up dying. Whole place got shut down permanently.
Google?
Joined a call center with the obvious shady pay structure. They said the calls are inbound so I thought hey that's not too bad then. Turns out the inbound calls were generated by their robocall system indirectly implying that they were google but never saying so and we were directed to use some dubious answer if someone asked 'Are you google?'
After getting yelled at and cussed out and constantly getting people who had been called many times before and were clearly irate, I just got up and left in the middle of the day.
I also complained to google that these guys were pretending to be google. And these guys were scared of getting complaints like that.
Donut Strep
Had a super s****y job at a donut shop. I was promised a raise, which I never received.
We always worked alone at the shop, so I never got to know anyone else, never got their phone numbers. Yet the non-written policy was that you would find someone to cover your shifts.
One day, I woke up and knew immediately that I had strep throat. Went to the doctor and he confirmed that it was strep, and it was really bad. Worst I have ever had it. So knowing that I was contagious for at least 2 days, and knowing that I shouldn't be around people or food, and am not even able to speak, I texted my boss.
I didn't have a shift scheduled until the next day. Told her I won't be in for at least a week because of my strep. She told me I will have to find someone to cover my shifts. I told her that's not possible because I don't have anyone's number, I can't speak, and in all honesty was in so much pain I just wanted to pass out. She told me that if I cannot find someone to cover, I will have to come in. And if I don't come in I won't have a job. I replied with "cool, guess I don't have a job then"
I returned my gear 2 weeks later once I had recovered. Never spoke again
- [reddit]
Denial
Office Space GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphyKinda long, sorry. I was a manager at a company where the executives were ineffective. I worked 60 hours a week most of the time and had to do all of my director's duties because he didn't understand our systems. The work environment was also pretty hostile and passive aggressive.
People cried on the job daily in other departments, slightly less in mine. Managers and staff would snap at other departments the same way the executives did because of the stress. I tried to take care of my department and make sure they weren't being abused or taken advantage of.
I had three days leave for a death in the family, but had to work every day from home and the funeral itself. It was especially vexing because it was to re-do the same thing every day that my boss would just forget to complete and need done again the next day. I brought this to his attention, as well as all the other issues, and he said he would try to do better. Months went by and it got worse.
Finally, our team sat down with him and told him things needed to change. I told him that the environment was more hostile and aggressive than ever and the team agreed. He told me that was my perception and we needed an attitude change, then left for a meeting (which I had provided him the data for). I cleared out my desk and left, quit with HR.
For me the kicker is that he kept assigning me tasks and insisted that I was still working there for days. Never been more relieved to quit in my life.
Leaving For School
My old boss had been emotionally/mentally manipulative to the staff. There was a high turnover rate and it always came back to them. It came to the point where we staff members were wondering how they weren't reported (we worked at a daycare). I'd been there for 2.5 years and can honestly say it was like a roller coaster.
What got me to quit was the fact that I was being yelled and told off for things that had nothing to do with my work and had to do with another staff member. By the end of it I had enough and was getting very annoyed by the situation and decided I'll go back to school. I got accepted to a college program and gave in my 2 weeks.
I asked if I could tell the parents that I'll be leaving and they told me that it wouldn't be appropriate.
At that moment I knew that I really didn't care.
So I told the other staff this they said 'Yeh no, this won't do' and proceeded tell everyone that I was leaving for school and the parents and staff members gave me gifts. My boss, on the other hand, ignored my existence and I gave zero fcks about it :)
Nights Crying Over Physics And Algebra
I have struggled for 3 years of my high school getting academic awards and working to attend a recognition event. This semester, I found myself doing great, making A's, and getting that recognition.
Until the pandemic, which made the school discard all the scores since we're "repeating from scratch after the lockdown."
I lost hope. My restless nights crying over physics and algebra were wasted. I feel so unmotivated now and that made me say "Fck this, I quit!"
When Basic Sanitation "Wasn't Important"
When I was a young teenager, the only job that would hire kids under 16 was dishwashing and food-prepping at a local restaurant. I started to get irked when I realized they made their pizza sauce from scratch by sticking THEIR ENTIRE BARE ARM into the bin so they could squeeze the tomato chunks away. I had to do this several times, and got grossed out thinking about arm hair and skin cells even though I washed it. First strike.
One busy Friday night, the mostly toothless crackhead-looking chef lost the nicotine gum she had been chewing. We never found it. Could be in someone's colon to this day. Second strike.
Finally, 3 months into the job, one of the workers came over with their big tub of barbecue sauce. It was Sweet Baby Ray's in a container similar to a milk jug, a LOT of barbecue sauce. This woman, I swear on my life, sets it down in front of me and says, "I've been working here for 9 months, and I've never seen anyone wash this. So you probably should." I open it, and there's thick LAYERS of hardened, crusty barbecue coating the inside. I had to use a little tool that resembled a toothbrush, but with wire bristles, to scrape it off. The blokes had been refilling it for months without rinsing it out. Took me almost an hour to fully clean, and I got in trouble for falling behind in dishes by doing something "that wasn't important." Third strike, I was outta there.
I quit after the boss called me into his safe room to lecture me about arguing with my coworkers that it was disgusting and should've been done a long time ago.
Save The Wood, Ignore The Injury
I accepted a job for minimum wage at a sawmill.
Spent the morning there running the timber through the mill without gloves and hearing protection. Neither was offered by the company. During the half hour lunch break I couldn't get my ears to stop ringing.
Went back to work, started working again and injured my hand. I started bleeding (just a little) and got a but of blood on a piece of lumber. The boss was right there and started walking over right away.
I was explaining that I wasn't really hurt, but he walked right past my hand and examined the wood. During the afternoon break I got in my car and went home. Never got paid for that.
3 Weeks
I was working for a landscaping company and had to be there really early every day. Started on a Monday. We were supposed to get paid every week. Thursday morning was supposed to be payday; but not for me because they held the first week.
Thursday morning came around and the supervisor came out to the job site and told the other guys on the crew that they weren't going to get paid again. They complained that they hadn't been paid in 3 weeks.
Before the supervisor even finished his argument I walked over to my car and went home. Didn't even say goodbye. Got a check for that 6 weeks later.
It Changed Overnight
I had a good job with a local theater, but it went under from mismanagement so I grabbed the first job I could find - retail at a pet store. Didn't pay well, but it hired, so it was better than nothing.
I grew up on a farm, had worked retail before, I'm good with register, and I believe in giving my job my best, so I quickly became the store leader's favorite out of a sea of teenagers trying to have a fun part time job.
Worked there for two years with 0 problems. Loved my job, loved my coworkers, still didn't pay much and it was a 30min commute, but I had no other social life in the area aside from my wife, so I had no problem staying.
All of a sudden my store leader was transferred after another store's manager walked out. Normally, another manager I liked would have been promoted - but as this was unexpected he had just been promoted elsewhere, and they had to get the 3rd in command manager to become the store leader.
Third in command is someone who is hyper-dedicated to his job. Hospitals wish their doctors cared as much as this retail monkey.
Everything went from a fun and casual atmosphere to working on a chain gang over night. Everyone hated him, everyone complained, and shit rapidly escalated as we found he had a horrible temper. He wrote up an 80 year old for coming in 5 minutes late after church, broke our only store phone in a rage after someone lost the other one, broke his own watch throwing it at an employee, etc.
Somehow I avoided his wrath for months, until the old manager asked if I could transfer stores to work with him again. I told him I would think about it, but I liked my coworkers and they asked me not to go. Few days later, after I've told my new manager I probably won't take the offer, my wife drops me off at work.
I text her, telling her when to pick me up, and my new manager comes into the BREAK ROOM to yell at me for being on my phone on the clock. I apologize. Hours later I'm responding to my wife saying she'll come for me, in a back room, and he bursts in to yell at me again. Turns out he had spent the entire day following me around to make sure I didn't text again.
Told him mid-scream I would be transferring. He spent the next two weeks begging me to stay, but I stuck it out and went to the new store.
Made new friends at the new store. Got a promotion a YEAR LATER, because it turns out the d-bag manager had written me up without telling me and I couldn't get promoted for a year over it.
Pretty much all of my old coworkers have left now, and he apparently made another manager cry hysterically and quit on the spot so I'm damn glad I transferred.
The worst kind of job is one that has no regard for your health and safety. "State of emergency? You better still make it to your shift!" "In the hospital? Too bad, be here or else you're fired." Everyone deals with an unreasonable and inconsiderate boss at some point in their working career.
Redditor u/clusterpucks asked... "What is the most bonkers thing that happened to you or your work and your employer STILL expected you to continue your work day?" and people responded with ridiculous work horror stories.
20. It was like a hurricane didn't just happen
"Hurricane Katrina was going to make landfall that day, and the owner of the restaurant I was managing at the time got super pissed when I said I wasn't coming in..,
After the storm hit and devastated New Orleans, the owner was calling me because they needed people to open the restaurant. The roof had blown off of my house, and I was asking him where was I going to live while I worked for him. He said to just get a hotel, as if he was paying me enough to afford such a thing. I also think hotels were pretty well full? Not sure."
19. Designer pirates
"Worked for a small graphic design company fresh out of school. They used cracked software, didn't really pay anyone and were generally shady but I didn't really think anything of it, until the FBI showed up.
Apparently they also didn't pay their taxes and so my boss was taken away in handcuffs and the office was closed.
Or so I thought.
Our boss called our creative director from jail and told us to work from this seedy motel room he set up to finish up the assignment or else we wouldn't get paid.
Nobody showed apparently as we all decided now would be a good time to look for new opportunities."
18. It'll be there forever
"Someone spilled (or poured out) a bottle of deer attractant on the floor under the shelves in the sporting goods section of WalMart. Stank of deer piss for...well, actually, it probably still does. They never cleaned it, and we had ammo to sell."
17. Hopefully the managers let it slide
"The bank across the street from my office was robbed. Not only were we expected to keep on working, the CEO sent out an email forbidding employees to discuss it and telling managers to discipline those who did, even if the employee was on break/calling their family to tell them they were ok."
16. Maybe be nice to the person caring for your loved one
"I work home health aid. Nice old lady but the daughter is a wack job. Long story super short, I was called an imcompenent idiot because her mother had an accident IN THE BATHROOM and it got all over the floor. I was so floored I didn't say anything. So I assumed I would be sent home (24 hr overnight care), she then told me to not be mean to her mother and left the house."
15. When management doesn't care about your major accident
"Part of my job at a vitamin company was doing pick-ups and deliveries. One day when I was bringing a load of stuff back for a big run I got t-boned by a lady talking on her phone and running a red light, she scrunched my van into a telephone pole so the fire department had to cut the van apart to get me out. Once I got to the hospital and was able to make a call, I called the company to let them know what had happened. The production manager only wanted to know why it was taking so long and how soon was I going to be back and he didn't want any excuses."
14. Eyes are more important than fried chicken
"During my study I worked at a very well known fried chicken restaurant. When taking the chicken out of the fryer some frying oil came up and landed in my eye. Of course I went straight for the eye shower to clean it out. While I do this the manager walks up to me and asks if I couldn't have put the chicken on the plates and into the elevator first. I quit the next day."
13. The supervisor couldn't even pretend to care
"I was a nurse working in a dialysis clinic and got a call from my grandmother saying she didn't feel well. After doing some telephone triage, it was apparent she was having a heart attack and needed to go to the ER immediately... I left after notifying my supervisor. I hadn't even made it to my car when I got a call from the nurse manager, who verified that I had left. I told her yes, my grandmother is having a heart attack and I'm on my way to meet her at the ER. She then asked me what time I would be reporting for my shift the following day.
I quit on the spot."
12. Sales over everything
"Last year I worked in a small store at a mall and halfway through my shift a guy had a heart attack and died in the back of our store. We had to close the store so the paramedics could try to save him without people in the way. Our district manager told us it was up to my manager if she wanted to stay closed, because it's kind of traumatic to watch a guy die, and my manager said she'd discuss it with my coworker and I. Then, while my coworker was having an existential crisis in the back room, I saw her reopen the store without even talking to us and started ringing out customers on the security cameras (one of which got really pissy with me when I was trying to close the store originally, because I wouldn't open the jewelry case to let her browse our jewelry...). I left, taking my panicked coworker with me. I don't work there anymore."
11. I wouldn't ask to leave
Giphy"If there were tornado sirens, we were supposed to stay seated keep working until the boss said so."
10. A sign on the door would have sufficed
"Right after Hurricane Sandy, the bank I worked for had no power for days, so obviously we couldn't do any banking. Rather than just close, my manager insisted that the entire staff show up for shifts as usual, just so we could sit in our normal seats in our uniforms and winter jackets to tell any customers who wandered in that we didn't have power and couldn't help them with anything at all.
Just about every single person asked us some variation of 'then what the hell are you doing here?' It sucked."
9. They go to take their ties off, how thoughtful
Giphy"The air-conditioning broke down and people started passing out from the heat.
But they let us take our ties off, so that was generous."
8. I'd sneak on home then
"Federal agents with a search warrant shut down all the computers so they could image the drives.
We puttered around for hours before we finally got sent home at the regular time. However, long lunches and gym visits were permitted."
7. Who hasn't sat in a powerless/internetless office "just in case"?
"The power went out at 8 a.m., but we weren't allowed to go home. We sat around doing nothing for nearly eight hours, 'just in case' the power came on. Then our boss said if it didn't come on by 4 p.m., we could go home and the work schedule would be pushed ahead a full day. Power came on at 3:50 p.m. and we had to do our full workload."
6. Blood splatter is bad for business...
Giphy"I was working at a pet store and was used to being bitten by the pets we sold, hamsters, ferrets, birds - no big deal.
This day, however, as I was helping a woman who had brought her dog in, it attacked me. Luckily it was a small-ish/medium sized dog so it didn't get my face, but I had big bleeding holes all up and down one arm. The lady never said sorry, and my manager told me to go to the back, get cleaned up, and come back out and ring on the resister. So I did, with big blood splatters all over my yellow uniform shirt."
5. Some employers just don't listen to their employees
"I told my employer I was moving across country and that my last day was in two weeks
The day came and they called me as I was on the road asking if I was going to come in"
4. When results matter more than safety
"Automotive painting. Been complaining about my mask parts needing replacing for a few weeks. Finally my mask broke and I refused to paint because toxic fumes where coming into my mask. Being the only automotive painter.... work came to a halt. I was told to get in there and paint or else. I pointed at the security camera and asked him to say that again but a little louder. He fired 2 people that day but I wasn't one of them."
3. Don't let employees bleed in a workplace
"After leaving school I had an evening job at the cinema and I was punched by a patron, was still then expected to carry on for another 4 hours despite my bleeding everywhere
Let's just say I didn't come in for another shift after that!"
2. Do your own paperwork!
"I got a call one day from my cousin saying our house had been broken into. I went home to deal with it and file a police report, and it was honestly so stressful. My supervisor then rang me to ask what time I was planning on coming back to work later in the day because she had paperwork for me to finish."
1. Getting hit by a car wasn't a good enough excuse
"I had been in an accident where I was hit by a van when on my bike. I was on my way to the hospital and shot a quick text to my immediate boss to let him know that I might not be in the next day, as I didn't know what the damage was and how long I may be. He told me to take the day off to be sure I recovered properly.
The next day, his boss called me and asked me where the hell I was.
I told him I'd been hit by a van and he said, 'And?'
I didn't work there much longer after that."
Do I Live Here....
GiphyBeing scheduled on basically every day I was supposed to have off.
Such Fashion....
Lately whenever the mother of one of my students pisses off the father (they divorced >4 months ago) he will send all three of their kids in mismatched clothes with shirts that have some variation of "I love my Dad" or "Daddy's kid."
I have not seen the same shirt twice and believe mom throws the shirts out and dad just keeps buying more.
Is This Normal?
"Do this task. What do you need?
- I need 30 computers and 20 USB3 flash drives.
- Here's 15 computers and 7 USB2 flash drives.
- What? I need 30, where's the other 15? And these flash drives won't do, the system won't even work with those.
- Budget cuts, sorry."
Later...
"How's this task going along?
- Everything is set to go, but as is it won't fulfill the task.
- What's keeping you from doing the task?
- I need 15 more computers and 20 USB3 flash drives.
- Ok, we'll order more ASAP, they'll be here in two years. Make sure everything's running by September though."
Are things like this everywhere or is it just at my job?
I'll get back to you....
I have a vendor who gives me the same answer every day that I email him: "Let me check and get back to you."
His shipment has slipped by over two months at this point and it's driving me nuts.
He's doing the same thing to other people in my office on other projects. He's on a quick list to be blacklisted, but unfortunately, the clients love his stuff.
Edit: Furniture, he sells furniture. Why does everyone think it's drugs?
Final Notice....
GiphyI handed in my notice at work and my boss suddenly stopped talking to me. LOL...
Ha. I handed in mine because they treat me like a punching bag and now they are being nice and chill about everything like they are my best friend.
Should have just been that way to begin with you idiots!
This other Woman?
A third party keeps insisting that an individual worked for my company. They did not. We have searched everywhere. We have punched in every variation of their name, birthday, social security number into our system. Dude didn't work here, and "Well this other woman says he did" isn't an argument.
ETA: As much as I appreciate all the replies, this is not my first rodeo as an attorney, and I wouldn't be complaining if this had a simple fix like "tell them to f--- off" or "stop replying."
Oh the Journeymen....
I manage all the tools, parts, and materials for a small electrical company. We have a ton of little fittings, couplings, and such that are very small and have multiple parts. We recently let one of our journeymen go, and I'm in the process of clearing out his van. Turns out he was hoarding tens of thousands of fittings in his van, all mixed together with absolutely no organization.
To top it off, at least 60% of them were completely disassembled before being just chucked in to drawers, boxes, and bags along with mixed bolts, nuts, fasteners, etc, so it is now my job to take these collections of assorted hardware and dump them out, separate them, and reassemble as many as I can before restocking them in my already overflowing shop.
Nobody Likes You....
It's my boss' birthday, not a lot of folks respect her. I'm new to the department and was asked by Don to collect money on Friday to get her flowers. He was going to bake a cake and bring it in. He was sick yesterday so didn't come to work. I collected a measly 19$ from others, awkward af because no one even likes her, topped it up with my own 10 to get a decent bunch of flowers, bought yesterday evening and brought in this AM.
Don is in and says "I couldn't find the money you collected, do you have it" I said "I used it yesterday to buy the flowers, wasn't that the plan?" He replies with an attitudey "well no..." I ask why it matters and he says. Well I couldn't bake the cake because I was sick so I don't know what we're going to do now if the money's used up, we can't get a cake now"
Another girl nicely chimes in that she will run out and grab a cake and don't worry Don it's all fine. Don's a snippy guy so I don't bother asking him how I was to know he's too ridiculous to go get a cake himself.
Others are running around asking me if I've seen the money because apparently Don's making it well known that I was supposed to collect money but no one has seen the envelope (obviously, I took it yesterday), then I have to explain that I used all the money so I look stupid. Keep throwing in that I was doing exactly as was asked of me but Jesus Don would it kill you to communicate your change of plans to people???
Understaffed....
Bar manager and 20% of the staff quit. Owner hasn't hired anyone. It's been 3 months. No one can take unexpected days off or call in sick and inventory is at an all time low. (Except the kegs. So. Many. Kegs.) We keep running out of everything. I (and others) have offered to help over the summer and nothing has come of it.
The restaurant is expanding and we need more employees but my boss is too focused on having us dust (during construction), replacing glassware with crystal, and setting up public accessible training courses to bother with actual management. Oh, and communication is non existent, so I regularly show up to work and have no idea where stuff is or what the new procedures are.
The Good ole CC....
GiphyI work with a woman who cc's her boss on all emails. Her boss follows up on all of the emails 5-10 minutes later. They looks like this:
Woman: "Hey Ganglebot, we're starting this new thing so can you send us X, Y and Z when you have a chance - thanks!"
Her boss, 5 min later: "Ganglebot, as per [woman's] initial request, we need these things to move forward. In our previous meeting on May 4th, at 2pm you indicated you could send these to us. I ask you to please send these along ASAP as our initiative depends on good information. Please confirm receipt and indicate when we can expect these documents."
The Goodbye Girl....
Girlfriend took the time off in advance to see a best friend she hasn't seen in two years for literally one day. Work is currently telling her that they're scheduling a mandatory employee meeting everyone needs to go to or else you get fired. Keep in mind there is barely anything important that ever gets announced at these.
Next Paycheck...
I was offered a job at another location. I told my boss about it and my current company offered me a raise to stay. I took it. It's been 2 months and I haven't seen the raise in my paycheck yet.
UPDATE: I emailed my boss and asked for an update. They assumed I understood that the raise would begin at our new fiscal year which starts July 1. So it will be in my next paycheck.
Damn Jeff....
GiphyJeff cuts his fingernails every damn day in his office. How do they grow so fast? Is he a werewolf?
Also, he scrapes every last tiny damn bit out of his yogurt container. It's so loud and he does it for like 3 minutes straight.
As Time Goes By....
Boss doesn't understand how time works.
I had a boss once come to me and say, "Stop what you're doing, nothing else matters. Focus 100% of your time on this." So I did.
The next week he comes to me again and says the same thing. Literally word for word. I remind him that I'm not finished the super important thing from last week and he says it doesn't matter, the new thing is important, put 100% of my time on it.
The following week he comes to me and asks me if I finished the first task. No, I say, I stopped working on it to work on the new task. But, he says, I told you to work on it 100%.
I said, "You want me to work 100% on task A, AND 100% on task B?"
Yes. Yes he did. Not 50/50. 100/100. He didn't understand time.
The Target.
I wasn't able to hit the target goal for the cancer screening program I work for this year. Basically my head office asked me to increase the number of people we screen for breast cancer this past year. I agreed to the increased goal but they then didn't increase my budget enough to actually cover it.
So come the end of our fiscal year and I'm having to explain to them over and over why it happened. And my boss JUST called to ask if I can increase my goal more for next year with no additional funds. The Peter principle alive and well.
Such a Bot....
Two of my co-workers were promoted out of the department and no one was hired to replace them, leaving me to do the work of three people (minimum). Upon expressing that my own hours weren't enough time to get the work done - even with overtime, I was told, "You have to get it done. If you can't get it done it means we'll have to find someone else who will."
Robot. What you're looking for is a robot willing to work 24/7 for a barely living wage. Got it. Glad to know the company values my mental health.
MARIAH KNOWS!!
GiphyI do sound for cover band at a hotel that feels like they're better than or at least equal to an act that sells out stadiums. Every night I deal with 5 60+ year old musicians with expectations that would make Mariah Carey say that's too darn much.
Demo...
Client had a full 10 months to review a demo site that we had up. They made a couple of nitpicks and claimed they were happy with it. The site went into staging a few weeks ago and they immediately came up with a list of 50+ issues with it and demand it be fixed or they won't renew the contract.
Are you Busy?
Sharing an office with OSHA specialist. He has literally nothing to do,each morning he fills up the three band aid dispensers that we have and then stares out the window or sits in front of a blank computer screen all day and keeps damn clicking with his pen and annoying the crap out off me.
Meanwhile I have so much stuff to do shits falling off my table, have tons of emails, people constantly asking for help and he then he leans over the monitor and comments "busy today eh?" I swear to god I hear one more pen click or stupid comment we will have our very first work accident and there will be no one to claim it to.
What's in a Name?
GiphyAssistant forwarded me a call from a friend/colleague of mine. She got one syllable of my friend's name wrong which wasn't a big deal. The friend and I are working on a big deal so she's called multiple times since then. My assistant has got her name wrong every time and despite me correcting her each time, the corruptions are getting further from the mark.
Happened again yesterday, the worst butchering of the name yet. I wanted to yell at her, but I took a breath and I said "her name is XX. When you consistently say her name wrong it sounds like you're insulting her. I know you're not trying to insult her but she is a personal friend and she brings us a lot of business so please do try to get it right."
I don't think I could have handled that better, but she flipped out at me, then told a bunch of the other staff about what a fool I am. Ugh.
Money
budget issues.
we as a management team just waived our annual increase to make sure there was enough for all of our employees.
as we're giving them their annual reviews, raises and new salary info, they don't know we're not getting anything this year.
Chill Out
An inbox full of emails followed by text messages asking if I got the email 2 minutes after it was sent followed by a phone call asking if I got the text message just as the text message notification pops up. The phone call then covers all the information from the email and the text message.
Calm. the. hell. down.
Musical Employees
smh GIFGiphyManagement is to cheap to pay for another worker so the responsibility is passed to a different person every night. It goes against the policy and procedures of the place but they don't care.
5 Days
The sole developer of an application that electrical engineers for some of the biggest companies (Apple, Samsung, Toshiba, etc.) around the world rely on is on a month long adventure in Africa. I am currently the only person maintaining the application and I was given access to the repository just 5 days before the creator became unavailable.
Real Issues
My gluten allergy did me dirty. Boss just told me that she's actually going to take the time I spent in my bathroom out of my paycheck. Thank god this is my last week.
Edit: wow guys thank you for all the support! I'm so glad people actually care about issues like these because it's a real problem.
A friend of mine just got a settlement of $13,000 for being fired over a health related issue, which they were aware of when she was hired. It's nice change.
Problems in the Stars
bbc two space GIF by BBCGiphyAstronomer here! I submitted my PhD (yay!) and it turns out part of the process in the country where this is happening (The Netherlands) is I have to pay to get over a hundred copies of my thesis. The department actually recommends 200-300, because "you'll want to give one to everyone in the department, and send them to luminaries in your field, and just save them in case someone wants one in the future..."
Meanwhile everyone not from the Netherlands will stare at you funny if you say this and say they maybe printed out one copy for their parents and another for their adviser because, you know, we have the internet now. Which I 100% agree with; this mainly seems like a great way to kill trees. Unfortunately for the trees though I've realized getting your doctorate is a "their ball, their bat, their rules" situation, and 400 years of tradition doesn't budge easily, so I'm just gonna have to print the damn things. Sooooo stupid!
What's Up Doc?
I work in a state psychiatric hospital.
The "Doctors" are incompetent and just view it as a puff job to settle into. We treat the patients like crap. We don't treat them, we just feed them drugs. The admin is more concerned with keeping the crappy decision makers happy than actually trying to do what the institution is tasked to do.
And i got in trouble for asking the dietary director "why do you make 200 servings of potatoes for 75 patients".
Where's Mine?
I have own personal sales targets and my branch has an overall target to hit.
My yearly sales target is around £1.2m and with less than a month to go I am currently at £1.8m but the branch fell short 800k.
Everytime in my branch's sales team hit their personal targets too, the branch heavily relies on other sectors sales for specific products for the remainder.
So due to other areas of the company not pulling their weight, my team now look like we're not doing our jobs and are getting crap from HO even though the figures are there in black and white.
Overall this means that there is no 20% payrise and I'll have to keep scraping the barrel for another year just to keep living.
The First 38...
Got a 4th job to help manage bills, save up and pay off some debt. Job pays very well and hourly too, consisting of writing on a topic I'm very passionate about and love to discuss with people and share knowledge on. I already have plenty written for my own personal use and this company basically wants to license me to use it and have me write more.
First 38 hours of work is creating hyperlinks in my sources. Copy article name, paste into Google, click PubMed link, find full-text article or copy DOI into SciHub, copy link, paste into source, copy article name, create hyperlink. Rinse and repeat, for 38 freaking hours.
Not what I imagined myself doing.
The Voice
mimi faust tone GIF by VH1GiphyAccidentally mentioned to my boss that my relationship was ending. He just asked me about it in front of my coworkers, and I got a stern talking to for the tone of voice I used when I told him I'd prefer not to talk about it.
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