Reasons Why People Quit Their Job On The First Day
Reddit user KJ-The-Wise asked: 'People who quit a job on the first day, what happened?'
At one point in our lives, we've all worked jobs that we didn't love, or even hated.
Most of the time, we'll persevere till the allotted time on our contract is complete, just to have money in the bank.
Other times, we give it our best shot, but find the job, boss, or work environment so toxic that we hand in our notice in a matter of months, weeks, or even days.
Then there are the very rare occasions where we follow our gut instinct, and make our first day on the job our last.
Redditor KJ-The-Wise was curious to hear stories of why people felt compelled to quit certain jobs on the first day working them, leading them to ask:
"People who quit a job on the first day, what happened?"
Not By The Book
"I was hired as a cook at a Huddle House."
"On my first day I learned that they lied about which shifts I'd have in the interview, I'd be expected to basically run the restaurant alone on graveyard shift after only a week of training, and this place was violating health codes left and right."- kylegilliscomedy
Closing Time Waiting GIF by Still Not A Hippie GiphyWitholding WATER?!?!
"2nd day:"
"Sweating my a** off in the kitchen on a hot summer day."
"Asked for a glass of water and the owner made me pay for it."
"Finished my shift and never went back."- bigfatgeekboy
Family First
"I worked at Home Bargains and did my first shift on a Saturday, I was off on the Sunday originally, and they waited until 11pm on the Saturday to call me and not ask me but tell me to cover a Sunday but the conversation went as followed.'
“'Hey we’ve changed the rota and you’re working tomorrow 8am-5pm'.”
'I was busy on the Sunday as I had family commitments since I assumed I was free being my day off."
“'Oh I can’t work tomorrow I have plans'.”
“'Well that will go down as an unauthorized absence if you don’t turn up'.”
"'Alright then I quit'.”
“'WHAT?!'”
"I then hung up and never went back."- Lochan2468
Bye Bye Goodbye GIF by Pudgy Penguins GiphyLead By Example...
"I took a phone sales job once."
"It was cold calling people to sell tickets to a country western show to supposedly benefit the local police department."
"The foreman had me sit next to someone named Joe and said 'now you watch Joe for a bit, and see how he turns the no’s into yes’s'."
"First call Joe starts his speech and then slams down the phone and shouts 'F*CK!'
"Second call is pretty much the same and he instead shouts 'F*CKING B*TCH!' while slamming down the phone."
"This goes on for about 3 more calls and then the manager comes over and says 'Ok, so you see how it’s done?'"
"Let’s get you started'.”
"I made about 4 calls and then asked if I could take a smoke break (even though I didn’t smoke), and left and never returned."- dma1965
Want To Get Paid? That'll Cost You...
"When I was around 14 I worked for Dickie Dee Icecream (Think Canadian Good Humor) for ONE DAY riding a bicycle/cooler."
"You were paid a commission based on what you sold, but you had to pay for your dry ice."
"Long story short, you had to ride that thing all day in blazing heat to make virtually no money."
"This was the in the mid 80s, I hope this is illegal now."- Robbie-R
Technically, There Wasn't Even A Job To Quit...
'Turned out the ‘company’ was not registered business and has no license to operate."
"They also threatened us we’d have to pay them an amount if we quit during the 60-day training period."
"Few months later, they were shut down."- Low-Whereas8182
In Fashion, One Day You're In, The Next Day You're Out...
"I was working at Zara."
"They didn't do advertising at the time and instead are very particular about how they set up the store."
"My last hour was being screamed at by the woman in charge of the store's appearance for not folding clothes fast enough."
"She was screaming at all of us."
"Imagine an hour of a woman standing on the top floor alternating between 'Let's go, people!' And shouted insults."
"We finished 15 minutes early."
"Which means we got paid less for doing what the screaming lady wanted."
"Then we were asked to clock out for a 'team meeting'."
"We did and the woman screamed at us so much she drove herself to tears."
"The woman who hired me apologized on my way out and I told her I wouldn't be back."
"I didn't even pick up my check."
"Nor have I ever, ever, ever bought anything from Zara ever again."
"Even secondhand, I won't do it."
"I have like a PTSD reaction to that store."- BaseTensMachine
Talk To The Manager... If You Can Find Them...
"I got hired for the local Taco Bell."
"On my first day it was a busy Thursday night and everyone was stressed and yelling at each other."
"I was asked to come in at 3 but never told when I was supposed to leave so I asked, because if I was going to be there for a long time I also wanted a break."
"The person in charge wasn’t even a manager and they told me they didn’t know what to tell me because they don’t have a manager right now to make schedules."
"She mentioned they were open until 3 am and asked me how long I would stay."
"I got really sketched out so my next question was about how they were counting for my labor since I was new and wasn’t in the computer yet, and there was no manager on site to input my labor manually."
"She had no idea what I was talking about. I never walked out of somewhere so fast in my life."- No_Significance6785
"You may think that I am exaggerating but Venezuela is the land where everything is possible and not exactly for good things."
"A few years ago, I was hired to help run the account of a store that sold online through Mercado Libre (basically the same as Ebay)."
"I was excited because it was in a mall so it would be a nice store I figured, silly me, I had to go through the basement to get to a sort of warehouse that had been converted into something like a store."
'If you are claustrophobic you couldn't work there."
"The owner wanted us to work non-stop, just a few minutes for lunch and we had to do it in the same store and there was no water to drink, we had to respond to the customer in less than 2 minutes after the message arrived."
"I wanted to leave that same day but I needed the money because things are really difficult here."
"When I was about to leave, the owner told me not to forget to bring my own toilet paper because everyone uses their own and he was not going to buy it."- ExiledEverywhere
What's Surprising Is That They Ever Opened
"I worked at a daycare for one day."
"They put me in the 3 year old room with two other staff members."
"The staff members were so mean to the kids."
"They yelled at one child for 'being late', as if she had any control over that."
"They made another child cry by telling her she was going to be sent to the directors office for asking to use the bathroom during outside time."
Maggie Simpson Episode 20 GIF by The Simpsons Giphy"They also bragged to me multiple times about how the daycare didn’t have cameras and 'never will'."
"Then they both fell asleep at nap time."
"I never went back and told my sister in law to pull her baby from that place."
"For everyone concerned- this daycare closed a few years ago."- nannerbananers
There's no denying that everyone needs money to live.
But your self-esteem and peace of mind should always take priority over a paycheck.
And if your health, safety and well-being feel threatened on the first day, always go with your instincts, rather than "give it a few weeks".
Finding a career is not easy.
And many professions are stressful and prone to burnout.
So what do we do?
Apparently, we keep going.
We have to work in order to get money and survive, right?
But some career choices just don't seem to be worth the coin.
The folks on Reddit stepped up to help us avoid certain career paths.
Redditor kk-sahinul wanted to chat about the jobs that make the money not worth it, so they asked:
"What profession do you find unhealthy?"
I worked as a waiter. That's all I say.
Heavy lifting...
construction GIFGiphy"Construction, breathing in all kinds of dust all day, working in weird positions, heavy lifting, loud, dangerous tools and so on."
thatsoneuglybaby
On the Road Again...
"I imagine trucking comes with a lot of problems."
Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
"My grandfather was a trucker his whole life, he started his own business and raised 3 kids off of trucking. It killed him."
"Sleep deprivation, sitting still for 10+ hours at a time, an endless stream of black coffee and later energy drinks to stay alert, eating nothing but fast food and truck stop fare."
"And even when he was 'home,' the phone rang non-stop, usually brokers asking him to run another load from VA to CA."
"And to top it all off, he would be gone for weeks at a time, missing significant chunks of his children’s lives. And all of this, just to enjoy retirement for 2 years before dying of total kidney failure."
ChallengeLate1947
Toxic
"Welding, did that for 15 years. Breathing in toxic fumes all day sneeze into a kleenex and it would be black."
Consistent-Panic-996
"My dad was a welder and after retiring got lung cancer and caught it early, but lost part of a lung. Luckily my husband is a lawyer and has a friend that does personal injury lawyer specializing in asbestos so my dad has been getting settlements from over a dozen companies. The companies were required to put $ in a fund for settlements."
ketomachine
Too Much
"EMT. Those hours are unbelievable."
Jrk16
"Why are 24 hour shifts so common in medicine? There is ample evidence that mental performance declines over even an 8 hour shift, let alone 24hrs. Seems that of all professions this is one where you'd want everyone to be sharp and fresh as much as possible."
Johnny_B_GOODBOI
"And the lack of sleep, the caffeine intake, the trauma, the assaults, the gas station food."
austinh1999
The Fields
couple dancing GIFGiphy"Farmers. My dad was exposed to toxic herbicides/pesticides and his doctors attributed his terminal stomach cancer to his decades of exposure."
username987654321a
"And that doesn’t even get into the insanely dangerous machinery they work with. I’ve read some real horror stories about guys getting caught in equipment and that’s all, folks."
kittyness02
Farmers are necessary. But not fun apparently.
Chronic
Doctor Hospital GIF by LCLGiphy"Healthcare workers, chronic lack of sleep due to understaffing, potentially combative patients, various communicable diseases, sometimes threats from patients/their families."
HollyRoller66
Shaken & Stirred
"Bartending. There are so many alcoholics on both sides of the bar you become friends with. It can be difficult to keep yourself in check."
Mowings1
"I bartended for 10 years. Stopped almost exactly a year ago and while I loved being in that industry, getting out made me realize that drinking almost every day and doing drugs just to keep being able to handle those crazy weekend shifts wasn’t as fun as I justified it to be in my head. LOL."
freakybe
Not Safe
"Bouncer/Security. In my younger days I spent time as a bouncer, bar-back, and concert security. Nothing like having a drunken a** take swings at you for trying to do your job. Or getting blind-sided by a beer bottle to the head, etc. 100% not a long term sustainable role."
Toxikfoxx
Hazards
"Service work. Healthcare & K-12 teaching particularly. Medicine sucks due to inept healthcare & residency. My mother’s a teacher - overworked, underpaid."
Saint2th
"Where I am the schools are filled with lots of environmental hazards that really are unsafe to work around let alone have kids at everyday (mold, asbestos etc) it's unreal."
"People turn a blind eye or say it's not there but I grew up exploring every corner of that big old school... it's there. My mom was a teacher for four decades, got a different rare cancer 2x. The second one killed her. Underpaid is an understatement."
Bureaucrat_hell-loop
All of Us...
"Pretty much any job you don't like doing, which seems to be most for the majority of people. Forcing yourself to get up everyday to go do a job you hate just so you can break even at the end of the month."
chickadeedeedee_
Do what you love. If you can. And perhaps try to avoid some of these whenever possible.
Do you have any jobs to add? Let us know in the comments below.
There are few feelings more frustrating and disappointing than realizing that a job simply isn't a good fit.
To some people, a job is a job, so they'll force themselves to go to work to earn the paycheck until a better job comes along.
Others however will come to the decision that the pay, be it big or small, simply isn't worth the monotonous, soul-sucking, or downright toxic atmosphere they need to report to, and quit with no prospects in sight.
Most people do this after a few months, or even a year, giving ample notice so as not to burn bridges or potentially harm their reputation.
Then there are the extreme cases, who leave the office for the very last time on their very first day, never looking back and not having one ounce of doubt or guilt about their decision.
"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.
When it comes to working a job, one of the most important things is stability. We are told that it is important to stay at a job for an extended period of time, to never quit one job until we have another lined up, and to try our hardest to make things work at our current company.
All those things are important. That doesn't mean you compromise your comfort or values. If you hate a job or are being mistreated, it is okay to choose yourself and quit. That's what these Redditors did.
Curious about what jobs Redditors just had to quit, Redditor CandyCane147 asked:
"Which job did you quit fastest?"
The Customer Is Always Right...No Matter What
"Dunkin Donuts. A customer threw their donuts and Hot Coffee at me. I dodged. My manager apologized to Them and gave them a discount. Couldn't leave that job fast enough."
– llamallama92
Sell, Sell, Sell!
"I was 18 and fresh out of high school. The interview went well, lots of promises for "Growth and earning potential". The guy offered me the job, and we had a genuinely nice conversation."
"I showed up at the agreed upon time the next morning dressed in slacks and a tie. I pull up and the guy is standing outside next to his car. I park and get out to greet him. He tells me to jump in his car. I asked where we where going. He simply said "The job site". I then realized I had no idea what the job I'd taken actually was. I refused his ride as I started getting the feeling I'd been had."
"So, I follow him, driving for about 20 min. We pull into a Best Buy. I park next to him and ask why we are here. He tells me this is where we work. Thats odd. I didnt know I'd be working at Best Buy."
"We walk in he grabs a clip board and says "Follow me". I follow him around as he corners people trying to sell them Direct TV. "Goddammit", I think to myself. He now hands me the clip board and points to a couple shopping and says "Go sell!". I asked him if it ever worked. He said "If you want it bad enough you can sell anything!""
"I told him that this was the EXACT reason I stopped shopping at Best Buy. I handed him the clip board, thanked him for wasting my time, and walked out the door. Total Time: Less than an hour."
– Lurkist
"That man is a clown"
"If they are desperate enough for people to buy something how about lowering the prices"
– Nobpointe
That's The One I Wanted
"I applied to several jobs and missed out on my dream job so took a grunt-work job. Dream job called back to offer me a position, so I quit the grunt work job after 2 days. Felt bad but I was also thrilled at the new position."
– birds-and-dogs
Shut Up And Drive
"Amazon delivery driver. Dead tired after trying to complete 71 stops with almost 200 packages. Still 5 hours before my 12-hour shift ends. They told me to go help other drivers. Then traffic occurred and I ended up doing a 14-hour shift. But they said they would only pay me for the 12 hours. I hadn't taken a lunch break the whole day, and had only gone for a few quick bio-breaks in nasty porta-potties along the way, and this is what I got? After that one day, I called in and said I'm no longer interested."
"After that, I kept hearing Amazon drivers are getting abused like how they have to deliver packages asap and aren't allowed breaks in between. I even met and talked to a driver in my local and he said it's getting worse; more packages and work but still the same pay. I have never been more grateful for the decision to quit I made that day."
– Simulator587
Say It Again
"A temp job at Wells Fargo, the worst company in the world."
"I was 3rd string Quality Assurance for their mortgage branch. So what that means is I call people, and ask them to verify their personal information for the THIRD time in order to confirm the first two people got it right."
"My day involved a lot of people yelling at me for my job being a pointless waste of time. I agreed. When my manager informed me he'd been doing it for 2 years and did the same thing as me despite being the manager, I noped out of there real fast. Went back to being a teacher's aide at a special needs school."
– Hickspy
Way Too Weird
"I interviewed for a recruitment agency a while back and one of the questions they asked me was what sort of things I would spend the bonus/commission on. I had a think and said probably saving up for a deposit on a house. They asked me to think again and later said that often having multiple goals (e.g. new car, holiday, technology etc) helped you to "put the time into scoring that next commission.""
"They ended up offering me the role but after having a think about the red flags that interview gave me, I noped out of that company (and, for that matter, the entire field of recruitment/sales) and instead moved into supply chain."
– PrimalMoose
I Love Pizza!
"I was 19, in college. Responded to an ad "Make $1800+ per week. Fun and exciting. No experience required. We will train." Went to 3 separate interviews in a fancy office. 3rd interview they told me to wear a suit. They told me how much they liked me and not many people make it to the 3rd interview."
"Nailed the interview and got the job. Must wear a suit. I thought this was an important job."
"Day 1. We meet in a warehouse. Everyone dressed in business attire. Suddenly they start shouting and chanting. It's their morning hype routine. They're now practicing their sales pitches. I still don't know what my job is at this point."
"We break into groups of 5 with one team leader. We're going to meet at a different location but we're told to leave our cars here. We can ride with our team leader."
"They drove us 40 miles away to a shopping center. I still don't know wtf is going on. We start walking and go right into a barber shop. The team leader busts out some Mountain Mike's pizza coupons and starts making his pitch. "Do you like pizza?" Blah Blah Blah. $20 to buy this coupon book. In it contains 20 free pizzas. Buy one pizza get one free."
"It still doesn't click. Why is our team leader trying to sell a Mountain Mike's coupon book to this barber shop owner? We continue to the next shop. Again, he repeats his pitch. The 4 of us new guys follow along until he finishes the entire strip. He sold one coupon."
"We go back to his car where he pops the trunk and hands us 5 coupons each. He brings out a map of the city and tells us which blocks we are going to go through and to knock on doors and try to sell these coupons."
"It finally hit me. We're door to door salesmen and these coupons are our product. Zero pay. Commission only. We get to keep $7 per coupon sold. We're 40 miles away from my car so I can't leave. I might as well try my luck and knocked on doors for 10 hrs. I'm exhausted and managed to sell one coupon, earning $7 for the day."
"No call no show for me. I was gone the next day and didn't answer their calls."
– neophanweb
There Are No Words
"Worked at dollar general for two days. On my last day a lady drops a jar of pickles and manager wants me to clean it up. I go find the mop. Inside the bucket is filled with what looks like vomit that must have been cleaned up weeks prior. I find no soap and no place to empty and refill the bucket. So I go ask the manager where to refill it. She gets annoyed, tells me there is nothing wrong with the water already in it. “I’ve been using it for weeks like that”. Nah I quit."
– datkidcudi
Not My Choice
"Didn't quit, nor did I get fired, but I worked at UPS as a package handler for exactly 1 shift and was never put on the schedule again. Now I can never apply for any UPS job again. I'm still confused, 8 years later."
– Pamplem0usse__
I'm Getting Second-Hand Embarrassment
"An ISP helpdesk job that I quit after 4 hours."
"My resume got passed along by another place, I got offered the job, I took it and was told to show up on Monday at 9."
"Monday at 9 rolls around, I'm standing outside the ISP, which is closed. Around 9:30 someone finally comes up, unlocks the door, and asks if I'm there to drop off a payment. I explain that I was hired by the general manager. The guy barely says a word and I just kind of blindly follow him in."
"I start doing the new hire paperwork and stuff, and he says "That'll be your desk" and points to one of two stations in the office. He then asks me a few scenario questions about users having issues. I go into in depth troubleshooting mode and he says "NO! We use these settings. If it doesn't work, it's not our problem." Y'know what... fine. I'm already tired of this."
"He says I have some more paperwork to fill out and the other tech comes in. She's already kind of snippy with me. She makes a point of saying that the guy I've been dealing with his her dad, who runs the ISP side, and her mom is the manager who runs the business side. She says "Things in this office stay in this office, and the other way around." Apparently there is a divorce in progress. I'm whelmed."
"I notice the last piece of paperwork is a 90-days non-compete clause, meaning if I leave or get fired I can't work in the computer tech industry (broadly construed) for three months. The daughter says "We all have to sign them. Even I had to sign one." I take it back to the guy, say I'm not signing it, and he doesn't give a sh*t. The daughter is pissed."
"By this time it's like 11 and I start taking some calls and the customers are all pissed off because there are things that can be done to fix their connection issues in general that go beyond 2-3 settings, and every other ISP in the area offers better support."
"At lunch, I just left and didn't come back. I e-mailed the manager and told her I was embarrassed to have been there."
– clubberin
We gotta work to eat, but that doesn't mean we put up with horrible bosses, sketchy worksites, and broken promises. We're all worth a lot more than that!
Everyone has wild stories from their workplace.
But the stories that tend to instantly grab people's attention are those about instances which led people to quit.
Be it low pay, unsafe working conditions, or abusive bosses or managers, hearing what finally led someone to leave a job is always fascinating.
But how about moments where not one person, but multiple people, if not the entire staff, all banded together and left?
Far-fetched as it may seem, there have indeed been occasions where an entire workforce was so over their conditions, that they all gave their notice in unison.
Redditor RealSlicy was curious to hear some of these stories, resulting in their taking to Reddit to ask:
"What happened at work that made everyone quit at once?"
Unsafe conditions
"I worked at a bread manufacturing plant."
"This happened in the bagging area."
"A worker tripped and somehow the way he landed his hand slipped underneath the machine guard and into a chain."
"Cut off his arm just below the elbow."
"The supervisor insisted we just wipe off the machine with a towel and continue running the rest of the already baked product."
"Twelve out of sixteen including myself quit."
"I found out later the manager fired that supervisor that day."- Bignona
Horrible Bosses
"Three of us, the engineers, quit the same week and without any discussion between ourselves."
"Man in charge was an insufferable, insulting tw*t."
"This led to the head office losing faith and the whole subsidiary being sold off."- PicardTangoAlpha
"I worked at a dispensary for a few months, the owner was a really bitter older lady in her 60s."
"The owner was extremely sexist and hated all of the male employees, that included me."
"She would constantly dog on me and all of my male coworkers."
"We had to wear aprons, I had to keep my hair in pony tail, and she would constantly call us dirty bums and losers, etc."
"When she would get in fights with her husband or just have a bad day she would come in the shop and start yelling at everyone."
" I was the manager and after I quit she lost it completely, and tried to not pay anyone."
"Everyone quit that day and her business went under, best feeling I’ve ever had."- Sl33PYH3AD_
Placing Blame on the Wrong People
"Company did a survey of employee happiness."
"It had super limited answers."
"We filled it out and tried to explain that, internally, our team was doing well and we were happy but just about everyone had problems with two other employees outside the team who were bullies in important positions."
"The company asked us instead what 'we' could do better so the bullies don't bully."
"Over half the team quit within a month which is unheard of at that company and our team was/is a corner stone of the entire business."- Butterbubblebutt
Bribery
"Manager kept pitching Amway to us on breaks and then cut hours of those that didn't sign up under him."
"We worked in retail at the mall."- rayrayrayray
Total lack of sympathy
"Worked in a call centre offering free public transport brochures to people living in a city."
"The place was poorly managed, it was contracted out by the local government and only cared about numbers."
"Early during one shift a spate of bombings on public transport killed a load of people around the city."
"After a few calls of getting abuse from people aghast we were trying to get their details to send them bus/train timetables etc, we collectively stopped making calls."
"We assumed management would pause the project for that week at least, maybe longer, out of respect for what had happened.
"Our manager put her foot down and told us we must continue calling that morning, and as we were only on temporary contracts anyone who refused may face being replaced, then she stormed off."
"The entire team quit on the spot, we just got up and left without speaking to her again."
"We called up the work agency to let them know and they did not blame us."
"We were all replaced but the local government office heard what had happened and pulled the plug on the contract with that call centre within a month."- Husper
No or late payment.
"Not my work, but close friends."
"Restaurant owner wasn't paying his staff and checks kept bouncing."
"So one night, they all said 'f*ck this', closed up shop together and left."
"Owner got ran out of town after Social Media and reg media took over."
"He closed down both of his places, the second also had a staff walk out the week prior to the first and sold the buildings."
Since people keep asking, this was in MD."
"And the 'second place' was his second restaurant, Indian place, that had kitchen staff walk out a week prior, but the walk out didn't close the restaurant."
"He closed it and sold it after his first restaurant was shuttered."
"Good riddance." - Reddit
Other priorities
"One of my first jobs was as a dishwasher at a local steakhouse which was always really busy as it overlooked the waterfalls of the the local river."
"My 3rd or 4th day working the whole kitchen staff just didn't show up."
"Except for me."
"Boss grabbed me and taught me how to cook as we went."
"Not only had I never cooked before, this was a Friday night and I was missing a concert, so I was kind of angry about that."
"Probably not the culinary experience some of the customers expected that night, but I tried my best."
"Then, after we closed I had to stick around for another 4 hours to wash dishes.'
"Turns out everybody went to the concert."
"This was almost 40 years ago.'
"Still mad."- MadonnaBinLaden
Wrongful Demotion
"I had a manager at a thrift store that I won’t name."
"She was the type of woman that genuinely cared about her employees."
"She gave us a break if we were having a rough time, or if it was serious she sent us home, and she NEVER questioned if you needed to call out."
"Even if you just said you were having a depressive episode it was ALWAYS 'I understand I’ll try to find someone to cover, and if not one person down won’t end the world'."
"Anyways this thrift store sent their higher ups in from corporate one day and I guess they didn’t like how the store was being run."
"We genuinely always got our work done as a store, we just lived in a crummy area and the customers would wreck the store a lot."
"Anyways they ended up demoting the manager and putting in this brown nose woman who was the type to write you up when you were 2 minutes late from your break."
"About 35 people worked at that location and I’m not joking about 20 quit in the span of 3-5 days."
"They had to consider closing the location because they were so short staffed."- PriorAgreeable8103
Fed Up With Beurocracy
"Late 90s Pizza Hut."
"The manager got fired for putting too much topping on pizzas."
"Corporate had just adopted this ultra-strict regime of making the cooks weigh every topping on every pizza, which took forever and slowed everyone down during busy times."
"He didn't enforce the rules and so they canned him."
"Most of the cooks quit with him in solidarity."
"He was a cool guy who got me my job there."- ToBlayyyve·
Willful Ignorance
"Vaccine mandates was the straw that broke the camels back, but just mask mandates caused a 1/3 to bounce."- basically_anyone
Selling Out
"We got sold to franchise owners."
"They had no respect for what they were doing."
"Wanted us to sell moldy food."
"When one of us put in their notice, the owners literally called her and said 'you need to turn in your keys tonight'."
"It would be a shame if something happened to the store.”
"UMM, WHAT?"
"After about two months, all of us had either gone back to a corporate store or left the company altogether."- ugfuglio69420
Another Casualty Of The Pandemic
"Covid, new managers, short staff."- Wesmom2021
Knew Their Self-Worth
"This is my brother’s story."
"Several years ago he worked as a team lead for a company that was toxic AF."
"Overworked the staff and cut corners on the products."
"Not long after he started there he was already job hunting but not finding anything so he was sticking it out."
"One day they reduced the department by 2/3."
"My brother and the ones kept on staff watched their former coworkers clean out their desks smiling because they were out of hell, with severance."
"Those left behind were going to be stuck with about four peoples’ worth of work to each team member."
"My brother typed up a resignation letter to hand in at the next instance of abuse."
"He didn’t have to wait long."
"The next day the manager and VP called him into a meeting and cussed him out and yelled at him for not being a true leader and told him he better get his worthless team in line."
"Did this in earshot of said team btw."
“'You’re absolutely right', my brother said. 'I’m going to be the leader my team needs starting now'.”
"He pulled his resignation out of his back pocket, threw it on the table, and walked out."
"His remaining teammates all got up and walked out with him and left the manager and VP with no engineers at all in the company."
"As you can imagine the company didn’t last long after that."- AgentCarmichael20
Sometimes, when at a loss of how to handle things, the best thing to do is just get up and leave.
Though, one does hope those that chose to skip work for a concert weren't planning on going back to work the next day.