Everyone has had at least one job that was an absolute nightmare.
You know the kind. It's the job that you sluggishly get ready for in the morning. The one that burns your nerves all day. The one where you dread even a polite conversation with your supervisor. The one where you hold your breath until 5 p.m. You're afraid that there will come a point in time when you just won't be able to take it anymore, and the next words out of your mouth will simply be: "Screw this, I quit!"
Their stories may help you develop the courage to finally quit your nightmare job, or help you realize you don't have it as bad as you think. Either way, there's something here for everyone!
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#1 There Is Good Left In The World
When I was 17, I worked in a sports shoe store in a mall. I had this manager that would constantly require that we up-sell more items to customers and would yell at us if we did not attempt to do so. I had worked there for a few months and had been relatively happy, but this manager was always on our case to up-sell more and more items as it made the store look good to other stores in our franchise.
One afternoon, a boy in his late teens, wearing tattered, old, dingy clothes with mismatched shoes that were falling apart, walked in very aware that people were looking at him and judging due to his appearance. I greeted him and asked what I could do for him. Timidly, he told me he had a job interview coming up and needed a new pair of tennis shoes. I showed him a couple of options, but he shot them down quickly. I could see we were way out of his price range but somehow he was brave enough to ask if we had anything in the $20 range (this was a place that normally sold Jordans and other $100+ shoes). I knew we had a couple of pairs in the back that had been put away after a clearance sale and were supposed to be shipped back to corporate. I grabbed a few pairs in his size and found a pair that worked for him quickly after.
As we head to the register to ring him up, he still has this look on his face that I won’t forget. He pulls out a sandwich baggie of worn dollar bills and a bunch of coin change. Now I know it is probably embarrassing for his guy to come into a shopping mall with this on his to-do list, so I help count everything behind the counter only to find he is about $0.40 short. I grab some change I had in my pocket and told him not to worry about it, he smiles, thanks me for the help and walks out.
My manager came over instantly after and starts to berate me in the front of customers and coworkers about not following store policy and trying to up-sell to each and every customer. She watched the whole sale unfold and just couldn’t grasp why I would even attempt to sell more things to this guy. I grabbed my things from the back and walked out only to go back a week later to pick up my last check. I didn’t make a scene or anything cool, just walked out. Screw that manager and that place.
#2 It Only Took Three Minutes
My uncle decided to get a part-time job at a bait store for some extra spending money.
The afternoon manager told him to be there at 8 a.m., but when he showed up at 7:45 a.m. the next day, the morning manager told him that he was 15 minutes late. Apparently, he was expected to be there a half hour before his shift to straighten up the store and restock shelves.
My uncle was back on the road by 7:48 a.m.
#3 No One Likes Telemarketers Anyway
I worked for four hours as a cold calling telemarketer. Never went back, never picked up my check for the work. The managers were the scummiest people I ever met and I was literally the only person on shift who was sober. Everyone else, managers included, was on something.
#4 And That's How You Get Promoted From Cashier To Manager
I used to work in a really small grocery store that only had one manager and one cashier working at all times. I submitted my two weeks notice and prior to leaving, I trained the new manager who was going to take my place. The next day after I left, the new manager quit two hours into his first solo shift, leaving the poor cashier behind who had been there for even less time.
#5 Health Violation City
I got hired by the owner of a spa as a manager to help train and clean up the unhygienic practices the aestheticians who were currently working there had. They were reusing disposable items like sticks for waxing, nail files and buffers, foam toe separators, sponges for facials, and so many other things.
After discovering these horrifying practices, I spent an entire work shift filling up 5 industrial-sized garbage bags of used disposables and anything that couldn’t be used according to hygiene standards. I got rid of almost everything and assembled one-time-use disposable kits to use on each new client. I had a meeting with the staff and explained why we needed these changes. I stored those garbage bags in the back room until I could bring them out the following morning for garbage collection.
There was one aesthetician, an older lady, who resented me, and trampled all over the owner because she was efficient in her work despite being extremely unhygienic. When I returned the next morning, all my trash bags were ripped open, crap was EVERYWHERE, spilling over into the hallway of the back rooms. It looked like a raccoon tore through them. And then I saw the older lady using all these disgusting used products on a client. I demanded she stops and comes back so I could give her a fresh client kit. She refused and kept working on the client.
So I called up the owner and explained what happened. He didn’t care and said she was being cost-effective. I told him I’m leaving and that I could not work for a place that could be so negligent as to endanger the public like this.
Obviously, they got shut down a few months later.
#6 Sounds Like Someone In HR Lost Their Job Too
I needed a new graphic designer in my unit so I told HR and they came back in a couple weeks with someone they had hired. When the new hire met the team, he was really confused. Turns out, he was an accountant, not a graphic designer. They had hired him as an accountant and had asked him lots of accounting-related questions. We called HR and he left with them. I never saw him again. I hope they kept him on as an accountant!
#7 I'll Cheers To That
I quit a part-time job when my idiot of a manager changed the schedule on Wednesday so I was scheduled to work on Thursday, which was a night I had made clear I couldn’t work due to my full-time job. Of course, he doesn’t tell me he changed the schedule. I get home Thursday, dead tired, and pour myself a glass of wine and settle in for my first quiet evening in ages. And the phone rings. It’s the idiot of a manager’s boss asking why I wasn’t at work. So I pull out my copy of the schedule and tell him exactly when I was scheduled to work. He asks “so, are you coming in?” I paused as if I was considering it, then answered: “no, I’m quitting." Zero regrets.
#8 Hablas Español?
I worked at a phone store in a very Hispanic neighborhood. A candidate my manager was interviewing claimed to be fully fluent in Spanish. Once he was hired, he learned pretty quickly that he actually needed to know how to speak Spanish.
In a matter of a few hours, he got super stressed and stormed off. I later found out that he stole a $900 Galaxy S5 with him when he left.
#9 Make ME A Sandwich
I found out that the owner of a sandwich shop had been rounding my hours down on my paychecks and when I confronted her about it, she blew it off and said I was making way too big a deal over some $40.
Then she said, "The soda order isn't going to put itself away, you know."
I went out to the front of the store just as people started to line up for the lunch rush and I took my apron off and left. Halfway to the door, the store manager caught up to me and we left together and the store owner only caught on to it as she saw us leaving the parking lot.
#10 Just Running To The Restroom Real Quick!
I had a number of construction laborers quit on the first day, including several roofing laborers who started at 7 a.m., climbed down the ladder for their 10 a.m. break, and never came back.
#11 Literally Insane
I had just started working at a secure psychiatric facility for emotionally disturbed children at the start of the summer (end of May). At the interview, I told the HR person that I had a pre-planned trip home for later in the summer and that since I was driving, I was going to be away for two weeks (I hadn't been home to see my family for 2 years). I made it clear to her that if this was going to be a problem to let me know right then and I would seek employment elsewhere. She reassured me it wouldn't be a problem and that she would leave a note in my file saying as much.
So the time for my trip nears, I give them the two weeks' notice as agreed upon in the interview, but my immediate supervisor refuses to approve the time off. Figuring it was a miscommunication, I tell the immediate super about the interview agreement with HR, and that the issue was already settled at the initial interview. So she gives me this run-around and asks me to give her a couple of days to come up with a solution. Next day, she calls me into her office and says, "Okay, I know how we can work this. You can work a double shift on Saturday (18 hours, mind you) then leave for home right after and make your drive (30 hours non-stop) visit your family for 3 days then drive back (30 hours non-stop) and arrive in time to work another double."
I couldn't stop myself. I laughed uncontrollably. I asked her if she was seriously suggesting I stay awake for 48 hours straight, 30 of those spent on highways crossing the country. She just gave me this stupid smile and said, "Yes, you can do it. You have a responsibility to the center." I laughed in her face and told her I wouldn't work for such a cesspool, a place that would dare suggest I put my personal safety in harm's way and wouldn't honor an agreement made.
I quit on the spot. I was still scheduled for the rest of that week, they had the nerve to call me at home that night asking if I was coming in. I told the person who called "no way" and I told him what happened. Then the super called me and basically said I had to come in, I was scheduled. I suggested she could cover my shift, I mean she already worked 9 hours, what was another 18, she could do it.
I left for my trip the next day.
#12 But Where Did He Go For Four Hours?
I hired a delivery driver who was responsible for construction materials. On his first day, he was assigned to drive a 26-foot box truck and make three stops at the local market, about two hours from our warehouse. He left at 7 a.m. and got back at 11:30 a.m.
"Wow, that was really fast," I told him. He then went outside for some air and told me he'd be right back.
But instead, he got in his car and left. We opened the truck and everything was still there, exactly as loaded. We tried calling him but he wouldn't answer his phone. We never found out what happened.
For the next six months, anytime anyone in the warehouse was having a bad day, they'd say "I'm going outside for some air."
#13 Retail Is The Literal Worst
I worked for a local big box store in electronics. A store manager (who was not my direct manager) called me at my father's funeral to ask where I was and why I wasn't at the electronics boat (cash register).
Days earlier, I had told my manager that I wouldn't be there because I had to attend my father's funeral, and was told it was okay. But this other manager just wasn't having it and explained to me that she was in the store the same day her child was born.
I have never worked for a more ignorant and inept manager.
#14 They Just Needed A Little Time To Prepare
We had a new hire who was a no-show on his first day. About eight months later, he contacted us to say he was ready to come to work.
#15 All Out War
Former front desk clerk.
I was 18, and it was my first time working alone on a Friday night. The assistant manager left early to be with her boyfriend, and assumed I could handle the rest of my shift alone. Unbeknownst to both of us, the maids screwed us over big time by marking every room as clean despite not actually having cleaned them all. I sold our "extra" rooms to walk-ins and suddenly discovered that we had oversold about 20-30 rooms. The people that were without clean rooms were the ones that had booked far in advance. This was a tiny hotel, so we had no maids after 4 pm, and I got to experience first-hand an angry mob full of people yelling at me in the lobby, demanding refunds, and all but threatening bodily harm. One lady even accused me of giving her cancer (neat!). Since I was young and didn't know how to handle it, I actually excused myself from the desk for a second to cry in the back room. Eventually, I pulled it together, called my manager, and started working it all out.
Then someone called down to have me unclog a toilet. In my distressed state, I got poop on me. I came down to my manager and said I was done. Screw that job, it wasn't even very good on the best days anyway.
#16 This Employee Was In A Coma For Four Months
I worked in sales and a new hire never showed up on his second day. He never answered his phone whenever we called so we just figured he quit. Four months later, he called and asked if he could still have the job, because on his way home on his first day he got into an accident and was in a coma! He called us three days after he woke up.
#17 That Wasn't In The Job Description
I was a nanny for three kids. They were horrible to deal with. One day, I told the 11-year-old it was time to sit down and do homework. Apparently, this angered him because his response was to try to STAB ME. After I took it away from him, I immediately called the parent and told her to come home now. I was done. As soon as she got home I left.
Her response was, "Well they've hit all their sitters..." She never told me before accepting the position that the children had such severe issues that were way out of my league. I occasionally go by their house on errands and every single time I see the kids with a new nanny. They all just quit shortly after being hired.
#18 She Needs Her Beauty Sleep
I used to manage a grocery store. We had to come in at 6 a.m. to prepare the loads and get the store ready for the day. The new hire came in five minutes late on her first day, gave me back her locker key and told me she couldn't do the job anymore because she had never woken up so early in her life.
#19 The Case Of The Nonexistent Raise
It was just when I was in high school working at a fast food store. Before they would give you a raise you had to do all this stuff like train people, watch videos, and take quizzes. It was all really easy, but annoying and tedious. I did all of this and didn't get a raise. I asked every store manager and they said that it would show up on my next check. Eventually, I called the regional manager who had put his phone up in the break room, but he answered "Don't call this number" and hung up on me. So I told my boss I quit and just walked out.
#20 Good Thing She Was Already At The Prison!
I worked at a prison. We had a woman come in for her first day to do a fingerprint scan, physical exam, and TB test. She had gone down and didn't come back after four hours, so we called to see what was up. Turns out, she was wanted in two states for identity theft and was now being housed at intake.
#21 A Shift That Went Up In Flames
I'm a cook, and one busy Saturday night, everything went sideways. I had order tickets puking out of the machine with no end in sight. About 3 hours in, I remember going into the walk-in freezer and closing my eyes while breathing deep and hard in a panic. I was just trying to calm myself. I think it was the first time in my life I actually had a panic attack, or close to it. I finished the night, cleaned the kitchen up, and went home. I wrote out my two-week notice and gave it to my boss the next day. No job is worth that level of stress. We should have had 2-3 cooks in that kitchen for how busy it was on the weekends, not 1.
#22 At Least He Was Honest
On his first day, the new guy came in, picked up his stuff from IT, did the rounds to get introduced and started doing some work.
The next day, we found a note on his desk that read: "My stuff is in the drawer. This isn't for me."
We never heard from him again, and never figured out what really happened to him.
#23 Literal Disaster Zone
I worked at a store in Oakland for a bit. I thought it would be good for me because I wouldn't have to take work home with me and could focus on my art. Pay was terrible, but I'm an artist so I'm used to it, right? I do my job well. The store is constantly clean, organized, and well-stocked. I can't afford to eat anything other than potatoes, and the free can of chili I get on the days I work, but I'm making my art. Also, because this place is old school and seniority rules, there is no chance of moving up the ladder. The guys that have been there forever don't do anything except for work the register and read magazines. Again, I don't really care, I'm a hard worker and have pride in my work.
After a bit of this, surprise surprise, I get sick. Really sick. I still come into work but get sent home immediately. I end up missing a week of work that I can't afford and it wasn't even close to vacation. The day I come back in I step through the door only to find the store in shambles. I mean it looks terrible. You ever been in one of those stores where things are missing from the shelves, half-opened boxes tossed everywhere and you just walk out? It was exactly like that. I turned to the other guy on shift working behind the counter, and without looking away from his newspaper, he says, "You should probably start stocking now." It was at that moment I realized that I had been running the store the entire time for minimum wage, and it would never pay off and no one would ever care. I took one last look around the derelict shell of the store I had spent the last 6 months caring about, and without even looking away from the half-stocked drink coolers said, "Nah," and just turned and left.
#24 Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!
We did a tour of the facilities at the manufacturing plant to give us an idea of how hot it can get inside.
On his first day at work, he walked out after 15 minutes because it was apparently “too hot.”
#25 They Said No Tills!
During my interview, I specifically asked not to be placed on the tills and the manager said she'd make sure I wasn't. My first shift comes around and I get placed on the tills by the manager as all the aisle work was taken. I stayed for four hours before quitting.
One time, I went on vacation for a week.
When I came back to work, people were talking about a Frank or something. I had no clue who that was, so I asked.
Apparently, he'd been hired, started working, stopped coming in, and was fired in the span of the week that I was on vacation.
#27 Living Life On The Edge
I woke up at 2 in the morning, sat straight up in my bed and said: "I hate my boss." Then I proceeded to write a scathing resignation letter. I gave two weeks notice, but my resignation letter was such a thorough rebuke that I was walked out within an hour of submitting it to HR. They paid me for the two weeks but had security escort me out immediately. I did this the day after a co-worker snapped, made a big scene and stormed off in a huff.
#28 The Long Drive Cleared Her Head
We hired a girl for a live-in job at a university campus. She was hired and took a four-hour drive down to make it on time for her first day. At some point during her shift, she received job offers from companies that were closer to home. Realizing she had made a huge mistake, she packed her stuff and was gone that evening.
#29 Like An Office Episode
I worked at an office supply store and got transferred to a crappy store where I moved.
After being top of sales for 3 months, the new boss tells me I am the worst seller he ever saw. He told me I didn't sell a single extra warranty for the month and a half I was there.
I told him I was there for 3 months and was on top of regional charts for that entire time.
He told me no, that I had no proof.
I got up and left his office. He follows me into the store almost yelling for me to come back and that he wasn't done.
I took my shirt off, put in on a shelf and left.
I got a call the next morning. My supervisor calls me, telling me the manager screwed up and wanted me back. He mistook me for another guy with the same first name as me.
I told them that they would never see me again.
#30 Come On, It Was His DREAM JOB
I went to an interview at my dream company and came home crying because I thought I had BOMBED the interview. I called up a local grocery store that had offered me another job. The next morning, I went in for training. The HR person who was in charge of my looking after me went home without telling me, for six whole hours, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
Later, I got a phone call from the museum saying I got my dream job. I rushed out of there so fast I had to hang the grocery store apron on the cart return because I accidentally took it with me.
#31 Not Quite Fast Enough Food
When I was a teenager, I worked briefly at a fast food place. I was working a shift wherein I was informed that we were short on staff so it would be my responsibility to work the dine-in counter as well as the fryers. It was the middle of the dinner rush and my manager came out of the back office several times to yell at me about how dirty the dining room was, how slow service is on the fryers, or how long the lines are at the front counter. I asked her if she could come out of the office and back me up, and she told me in a very rude way that typically people of my race are more than capable of handling multiple responsibilities in the restaurant. As soon as the door was closed to her office, I took my apron and hat off and walked out.
A week later I showed up for my last paycheck and it was locked in her office and her assistant managers were all under orders not to allow me to have it. I filed a complaint with corporate and they had the check mailed to my residence. I crossed my fingers hoping she'd lose her job, but I'm not sure if anything came of it.
#32 "I'm More Of A Manager Personality"
A manager in our company was struggling to hire someone at one location. I bumped into an old friend I used to be a server with, and she said she was unemployed and looking, so I recommended her to my manager.
On her first day she came in and said, "Yeah, this isn't for me... I have more of a manager personality." She quit that same day.
#33 That's How The Cookie Crumbles
I worked my way from cook to assistant manager at a booming restaurant. My shifts started doing amazing numbers from our internal metrics by a large margin and getting the big boss's attention.
Store manager starts scheduling very little to no crew members for my shifts. Had no cooks on Friday/Saturday nights so I'd have to do all the cooking AND manage the front of the house. The store manager then promotes her freeloading nephew Steve, whom most of the staff hated.
One day it was just her nephew and me for like the first 2 hours of my shift. Her nephew just walked around aimlessly with a clipboard and wouldn't help at all when I asked. Took off my apron, threw it on on a counter, got in my car and just drove away.
I read reviews recently and it dropped from a 4+ star rating to below 2 stars with numerous complaints of how trashy, slow, racist, and run down the place has turned into.
#34 Ok, Goodbye! Enjoy Being An Uber Driver!
We hired a "machinist in training" for our injection mold building division. The guy had run some CNC's before, but only on a production basis. Basically, we'd need about six months to switch him over.
When he started, we were all busy, so we told him to clean out one of the machines to keep him occupied.
Immediately, he said: "That seems below me. When I drive UBER no one expects stupid chores from me." He literally made it less than 30 minutes.
#35 No Social Skills Required
I literally just quit. So I worked at my company for 3 years and was asking for more responsibility and a raise. Was told there was no room in the budget. Alright, not a problem. The new kid that joined just a few months prior got a sign-on bonus, commission bonus, and raise within 2-3 months (this kid loved to talk about everything). I told my boss I wanted to put in my two weeks and he just stared at me. I asked if he wanted to know why and he said, “I’m not having this conversation while you’re being emotional.” I laughed at him, walked inside and said my goodbyes, and left on the spot.
Now I'm enjoying my summer.
Also to clarify, I'm not a female. My boss just sat behind a computer most of his life and never learned people skills or how to handle confrontations.
#36 Beth Just Didn't Have What It Takes
I didn't get to hire the interns but I had to manage them. My boss had a tendency to only hire pretty women.
There were some great interns and some terrible ones, but when it comes to the latter, Beth takes the cake.
She came in 30 minutes late on her first day. I started to take her through how our business worked, what our industry was like and what she'd be working on. She was on her phone the entire time and got pissed when I told her to put it away. She refused to take notes while I took her through all this.
I sat her down at 10:30 a.m. and asked her to clean a list of our potential clients in Excel. She laughed and said she was getting a coffee, which I assumed was from our office. 45 minutes later, she showed up with a Starbucks and said she was going to go on lunch.
I told her she had already used up her lunch to get her coffee and that she needed to get some work done. She laughed again and left. She didn't come back the rest of the day. I sent a note to her professor about this.
The next morning, I got a call from her professor apologizing for her behavior and letting me know she had failed her internship.
My boss was super angry. He said to me. "Beth seemed like just the kind of person we need around here."
#37 Know Your Worth
My first job. I was 15. The owner was a loser. It was a sub shop with a kitchen the size of an RV. I was doing dishes one day. The sink was really low and I was tall. After a while, my back hurt. I went down on my knees making the sink the perfect height. One look at me and he yelled at me to stand up. I said “you don’t have to yell, it is a small kitchen. He then threw a frying pan at the wall and said, "get up!!!" I slowly stood up and took my apron off. Shook the hand of the guy I worked with and said bye to the cashier. He asked me what I was doing. I said “what I should have done” and walked out. I walked for miles and cried a little. I was embarrassed that I quit my first job after only 6 months. Called my parents in defeat and they actually understood and backed me up! I am 30 now and will never put up with that again.
#38 Those Darn Interns
We had an intern who interviewed really well but didn't end up being a very good employee.
He arrived early on his first day and seemed very positive during the morning induction. We got him set up with a desk and his email account. When it was lunchtime, we told him he had just over an hour and that he was welcome to eat out. He said he would go out and get some lunch and would see us back in a bit.
He never came back. We got really worried — he wouldn't pick up his mobile, we went looking for him, we emailed him, and then we had to call his emergency contact.
We eventually got a text message from him that just said: 'Sorry, I don't think I'll be coming back.'
#39 No Time To Be Politically Correct
I was freshly 18 working for a call center that did political polling during election cycles, and brand questionnaires during the off seasons. I had requested time off weeks in advance and had my request denied last minute because I was “too good to not be there” during a busy weekend. I tried to talk to the manager on duty and he said: “quit bothering me about this.” I proceeded to walk back to my cubicle, turned on the auto dialer, gave my manager the finger, and walked out.
#40 Seriously, It Was Just An Accident
I work for a popular e-commerce store. On my first day, I was surprised that the company's headquarters location was pretty run down.
We had a new social media manager start, and on her third day, she went to use the bathroom and accidentally walked in on our copywriter going number two (the bathroom door didn’t always lock properly).
She quickly went back to the main office, grabbed her bag, and we never heard from her again.
#41 Nothing Like A Poorly-Run Restaurant
Worked in a chain restaurant as a server. Management policy was to cut anyone about to hit overtime to secure their quarterly bonus. We were the anomaly of this particular chain, near a lot of tourist attractions and ALWAYS busy, especially on the final day of the pay week, but management didn't care. Cut kitchen, cut expediters, cut hosts, cut servers. We'd have a one-hour wait with half the restaurant empty. This would force management to try to cook, expedite, serve, etc., and of course, not very well.
A few weeks went by where I would pretty much kindly tell people in the waiting area to try other places in the area when they asked for a manager to complain. I would literally tell them the manager was the only cook and they couldn't speak to them. Actually had a few tables wait and sit in my section cause they said they appreciated the honesty of someone telling them why the waits were long.
Eventually, I'm scheduled a double on the last day of pay week and we are slammed. I was making good money, so I decided to pretty much forego my break between shifts and do/fix side work that someone from the day shift did poorly. So I was skipping my meal and cleaning someone else's mess when a manager cuts people in the kitchen then comes to me and says, " this station looked like crap all day, I knew it was you assigned to it." I wasn't. I looked him in the eye, dropped what I was working on, and walked into the office. Told the manager I liked I was done and he saw the look on my face even though he knew I was scheduled for a double. He just said the other manager's name to me and I said yes, and the look he gave told me he hated the other manager more than anyone.
No regrets. Got a much better job and started a new career a month later.
#42 Sir, That's Part Of Your Job Description
We had a guy show up his first day as a janitor and said he would clean everything but not the toilets. He was quickly let go after that.
#43 The Petite Manager With Superhuman Strength
I was unloading trucks at a big box store and this horrible manager comes in saying, "Man, you’re going slow I’ll do it faster than you." Mind you, she’s 5’2" and 100 pounds wet. I tell her, "Okay, you do it," then "I don’t get paid enough for this," and walked out.
It was found out months after that she was stealing money from the registers and buying drugs from another employee.
#44 Smart Woman
I had a new hire that left after signing the i9 form and just before starting her computer training.
My HR assistant ended up not filing the termination paperwork correctly. A year later, the employee successfully sued for unemployment because we never gave her a schedule and she didn't know when to come in next.
#45 'Tis The Season!
When I was in college, I waited tables at a restaurant that was open on Thanksgiving after I had already worked the lunch shift (covering for someone who took off for the holiday). I was ready to finish my shift and head out so I could have Thanksgiving dinner with my family when my manager informed me that they were going to need me to cover dinner shift too because one of the older waitresses called out (probably to spend Thanksgiving with her family). When I told him I had plans already, he said I needed to cover the shift since I had the least seniority and “they wouldn’t need someone who isn’t a team player” (implying I’d be fired) if I didn’t cover it. I told him “I don’t need this job that much to miss Thanksgiving dinner with my family” and handed in my apron and left and never returned.
#46 And They Lived Happily Ever After
We hired a guy at our restaurant. He quit within 30 minutes.
He was lazy and slow, and he quickly realized that we all hustled harder than he was willing.
We ended up calling the next candidate on the list. He showed up 45 minutes later and worked a double.
That guy stayed there for a year and loved his job.
#47 Cliche Unappreciative Higher-Up
I worked at a deli that also did sandwich platters for catering. The boss sucked at ever being prepared for these orders so we always had to work super hard from the first thing in the morning to get them filled on time while also preparing for walk-in customers' lunches.
The one day the owner came out, I excitedly told him about how quickly we had finished the catering and how it was ready to be delivered. In response to this, I got quite the yelling at for having not remembered to turn on all the lights in the cabinet. He was a terrible boss in general, but this was the final straw. I tried to stick up for myself and explain that it was okay and I would turn it on, but this was not appropriate behavior. He got right up in my face and told me I had no respect for authority and that I didnt deserve any job and that if I continued to talk to him that way he would call all of his "contacts" and see to it that I would never work again.
Unfortunately, I have no guts so I waited until he left to go back to his office, covered a coworkers' break, and then walked out. But still. I think it counts.
#48 It Was A Long Lunch
I used to work at a community mental health center. One time, we had a new front office person come in for her first day, leave for lunch, and never come back.
#49 Clearly What Any Petty Person Would Do
I had the night off from my restaurant job and decided to go out for drinks. My co-worker and I had a similar taste in music and a song we were both obsessed with came on, so I tagged her in my Facebook status. Unbeknownst to me, said co-worker called in sick (with doctor's note) for her shift that same night and the staff were pissed because they thought she was out with me. General manager clears ME from the schedule and says I have to meet with him over all this. I ask him why I'm being punished for something when I had the day off and did nothing wrong, to which he says that he's going to see what HR recommended (to fire me). I said, "I'll save you the call."
I quit and walked out then and there. Showed up the next day for lunch with my grandma (she knew what happened) out of sheer pettiness and that jerk gave me my employee discount and hurried into the back of the house to hide from me. Don't try to mess with me and think I'm not gonna be petty about it.
Mind you, same manager would be gone for hours getting "lightbulbs." Dude got fired within 6 months.
#50 Can't Like Everything!
At my last temp job, one guy who started at 6:45 am asked if he could go back to his car and grab his coffee that he forgot to bring inside. We all watched him get in his car and drive off. Never came back.
#51 The Pizza Business Is High Stress
I'm a delivery man for a pizzeria and we hire a LOT of high school kids. We open at 11 a.m. and on her first day, a new girl asked the manager if she could walk over to the coffee shop down the block to grab a coffee. He, of course, told her no. She left right after that.
I actually saw her later that week and asked what happened. She said she applied thinking that it would be a "casual" job.
#52 Third Time's The Charm
I got the “I have to move my car” excuse.
HR came by and asked where the temp was. I told them she was moving her car... and it had been about 20 minutes.
The next temp we hired came in and quit during her lunch break. It was a wild week.
The third one stuck around and she got hired.
#53 Toddler Tables
A couple years back, I was in between getting out of the military and finding a job. I went through a temp service at a call center. It started at 8 a.m., and by 10 a.m. I had enough of seeing people's desks the size of toddler tables. They never not once looked up and they only gave us one 10-minute break. I got into my car and never looked back.
Luckily, I got a call from the agency saying they found a job for me.
#54 "This Desk Is Not Clean Enough"
I was working at a pharma-manufacturing facility and we were hiring a new HR manager.
She got the job, was shown her desk, and she said, "This desk is not clean enough."
She immediately turned around and left.
#55 At Least They Didn't Start Yet
I quit a job the day before my first scheduled shift when the company I was working at offered me significantly more money.
#56 She Just Doesn't Make Sandwiches
Working at Jimmy John's: We hired an older woman to be a delivery driver and told her to put on an apron because when she wasn't driving, she had to make sandwiches in the shop. She said she wasn't going to make sandwiches and left.
#57 I'd Imagine It Wasn't Actually About The Salary
I work at an investment bank in London and after interviewing an internal candidate a couple of times, I called her to offer her the job and let her know the salary we could start her off on. She excitedly accepted, and I immediately contacted HR via email to put the official wheels in motion.
An hour later, she called me back to let me know that she had to retract her acceptance as another internal role she'd interviewed for months ago had suddenly called to offer her that role. No mention of salary, just that she preferred the sound of the other role.
A couple of months later I looked her up on the intranet and she was still in her old role, so I'm not sure what happened. Was it a salary negotiation tactic that I didn't bite into? Maybe the other role fell through? Who knows...
#58 This Employee Went From Zero To 100 In One Day
I was a supervisor at a grocery store a few years back. A guy I knew from high school got a job at my store and a McDonald's at the same time. He told me that at the end of the month he would quit the job he liked less. The next day, he quit from my store.
I asked him why he wasn't waiting a month as he planned. Turns out, on his first day at McDonald's, all of the other people on his shift including the manager went out back for a break and left him running the whole store alone for a couple of hours during the lunch rush.
The owner found out, fired everyone except him, and promoted him to a managerial position. On his first day. He decided he didn't want to bag groceries after that. I didn't blame him.
#59 Life Is Going To Slap Him In The Face Real Hard
This was a few years ago in college when I was still interning. We had a kid start fresh after graduating college and he was gone three days later.
He had never worked a job before except being a camp counselor at a hockey camp. He complained that all anyone ever did at our company was work and that everyone was super old. Yes... All anyone does at a job is work. And the average age of the workers in his department was like, 25.
#60 To Be Fair, Who Really Wants To Clean Out Bedpans?
There were 10 of us nurses working in a six-floor hospital, with anywhere between six to 10 terminal cleans required on each floor daily. The managers liked to have new hires do working interviews, where they would shadow existing housekeepers.
Unfortunately, management would usually start the candidates on the maternity floor, which was one of the more tame floors (usually only a few drops of blood, if anything). Then, they’d be put to work on the ICU/PCU floor (lots of blood, diapers, and bedpans), the mental health floor (strict safety requirements, regular stuff on the walls, sometimes threats to physical health), or the ER (lots of blood, high turnover with terminal cleans between each patient).
We got to the point where the new hires weren’t showing up after lunch, never to be heard from again. We managed to hire 10 people in a week after a job fair. Three didn’t show after lunch, two didn’t show for their next day of work, four quit after a week, and one stayed just long enough to ride out the two-week notice.
#61 Surely There Are Some Labor Laws That Are Supposed To Prevent This
A local catering company was hiring for banquet servers and bartenders. I worked a day job, but needed the extra money and figured this was the perfect opportunity.
I showed up to my shift at 3 p.m., and the event manager showed me around the building. It was absolutely disgusting. I mean, I already knew the bar was kind of on its way out, but I had no idea it was this bad. Slowly, I started to realize that I was the only person who was going to be working this event. It wasn't a huge deal — I had a ton of experience with banquets; it wasn't that hard. Then, the woman let me know the event was actually a bat mitzvah with a party of 130 people expected.
I had to set up tables, buffet tables, and the bar in three hours, all by myself. I was literally almost in tears when the host showed up with 30 kids about an hour early. I honestly almost walked out, but I felt awful for the little girl who was having the party.
The event went about as awful as you'd expect. The bar had no fruit or certain mixers and I had to be my own barback. I also had to take bar breaks to work the buffet stations and bus tables. I made about $20 in tips and was covered in food and grenadine.
My breaking point was when five little kids started witching at me for not having any grenadine left. I walked up to the event manager and said "Sorry, I can't take it, I don't need this job and I've been here for eight hours without a single break. I'm leaving." To be fair, it was the end of the event and 11 p.m.
I still haven't gotten paid despite numerous requests.
#62 Sounds Like A Lawsuit Waiting To Happen
In the late '70s, my dad quit a construction job on his first day.
He was in late high school or so and his employer did property restoration after natural disasters. The supervisor told him and another kid to go into the basement and fortify the foundation without proper safety precautions. My dad told him no. The supervisor threatened a firing. My dad took the firing.
#63 Not The Next Meredith Grey
When I was a second-year surgery resident, a new intern came to work. He had already finished a pediatric residency, which meant that for him, residency time could be over and he could work as a pediatrician if he wanted. However, his father was some sort of famous pediatric surgeon and his plan was to now become a general surgeon, and ultimately a pediatric surgeon (after further future fellowship training). He was put on call the very first night.
The next day, I was told that around midnight that he went to the charge nurse and asked: “Are you in charge around here?” When she said yes, he silently handed her his pager and walked out, never to be seen again. I guessed he had enough of residency and certainly didn’t want to be an intern again. Epic.
#64 Walk Of Shivering Shame
I was working in a ski shop at a local ski resort. They used a shuttle to ferry us up and down the canyon since most employees lived in a town nearby. They asked me if I was taking the shuttle and I said yes, but that I needed to put away the cash drawer real quick.
When I finished and went down to meet them, they were gone. I was stuck on the mountain, without a vehicle, in negative-17-degree weather. Luckily my family had a cabin about 10 miles away to which I had a key. But I emailed my resignation on my walk to the cabin.
