Leaving a job is a significant step to take. Usually, it is followed by signing the paperwork and saying your goodbyes—a pretty standard operation overall. However, some people want to leave with a bang. Or with an interesting story to tell, at least.
Such attention-worthy narratives often end up on the internet. We have browsed it to find some of the best stories of people parting ways with their jobs and compiled them into this list here. Scroll down for the accounts, ranging from wholesome moments to temper tantrums, and everything in between.
In order to better understand the subtleties surrounding leaving a job, Bored Panda has gotten in touch with two experts who were kind enough to share their thoughts. In the text below, you will find opinions by Nora P. Reilly—an organizational social psychologist and the director of the psychology program at Fielding Graduate University, as well as Daneal Charney—a start-up growth coach and an award-winning human resources specialist.
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I had to lay off my entire staff (and myself) with 8 hours notice.
I was the contract project manager on a government project (office type work). At our periodic review on a Thursday, the government announced they would not be renewing our contract and our last day was Friday (the next day).
I brought everyone into the conference room first thing the next day, let everyone know that we were all out of a job and that today was everyone's last day. I had everyone email me their resumes, and we went over everyone's on the conference room projector and updated them over the course of the day. I then printed out "reference" sheets for everyone, and we all spent the remainder of the day writing letters of recommendation for each other. I ordered everyone pizza, and bought everyone a round of drinks at the bar next door. Most folks had jobs by the end of the next week.
Awful situation, but this is how you take care of your team! Major difference between a manager and a leader. Well done 👍
My dad went into the boss' office during lunch and said "I have been contacted by the mothership. I have to return to my home planet. Thank you for the job". Shook the guy's hand, left the building, and never contacted them again.
Please tell me he worked for the Space Force! ... Unless it's one of those, "if I tell you, I'd have to kill you." Iol
My cousin got bored and frustrated with his job, decided to leave. Searched and interviewed for a while. Landed a new gig. Friday morning he was going to put in his two weeks notice with his boss. That same Friday she told him, tears in her eyes, that his entire team was being laid off and it was their last day. He got three months' severance pay.
When it comes to workplaces, people come and go constantly. However, in the last couple of years, quite a few of them chose to go out through the door rather than in. In 2021, an astonishing number of people in the US—over 47 million—left their jobs; that is nearly one fourth (23.5%, to be exact) of the entire workforce resigning in just one year.
There can be millions of different reasons for that, but in a lot of cases, one thing remains the same—leaving a job is quite a significant change in life. Especially if it wasn’t the employee’s decision to part ways with the company.
Such situations are unfortunate but not uncommon. 2022 research reveals that 40% of Americans have been let go at some point in their careers. Trying to make it as easy of a transition as possible is always a good idea, but it requires thorough planning, as there are lots of aspects to consider.
Was working at a restaurant in M'boro TN. Found a better job that actually gave me hours and went in to put my two week notice(was more like a week a few days due to timing of the new gig) in out of courtesy. I got a lecture about how I could never come back to the company since it wasn't a full two weeks. I then suggested politely that "that's great, let's say today is my last day then.".
Was such a relief.
Two weeks is only a courtesy. Especially if they're not giving you full-time work. And, you'll often get no notice from employers when being let go.
Was at a job for 3 years, consistently in the top 3 of my department in terms of performance. Asked my supervisor repeatedly if I could be recommended for advancement/promotion and he always told me he was trying his best to get me new opportunities. Found out from a friend in a different department that I'd been considered a top candidate for 4 different promotions and each time my supervisor had blocked it.
When I confronted him with this information he told me it was true and he did it because "I could never find someone who does what you do without paying them a lot more". Internally said f**k this, I quit and found a new job within 3 months. Took all my PTO and on the day I came back I quit 2 hours into the day leaving him high and dry at a peak time. F*** that dude.
My father worked as a manager at a big pharmaceutical in the 80's-90's. Part of his personal yearly evaluation was how many people in his group were moving up in the company. He was incentivized to see his people advance.
My first quitting story - My boss told me that we were going to spend our breaks doing mandatory Zumba, and I told her I was going home.
Controlling your break time? Egads. Reminds me of the time my hair stylist told me her boss made the team pray during staff meetings. To Jesus and she's Muslim and in the Bay Area of California. I told her, that's illegal. She left soon after.
Working at Walmart, after a couple years of being a mindless goon, I save up my 2 week vacation and put in for it. Told them I was seeing family. The last day of work before my 2 week vacation, I put in my 2 week notice. Took the manager a min to do the math “So...you’re not coming back?”
“No. No I’m not. Take care”
I worked for Best Buy back in the early 2000s, before Geek Squad, as one of their computer techs while in college. The job itself wasn't horrible, but it was boring as hell because anything past a simple upgrade was sent out to some depot, so I wasn't very invested in the job. On top of that, they never got around to ordering my work shirts, so I just walked around in a black polo I already owned instead of a black Best Buy polo. You'd think that was a hint that they didn't give a s**t about their employees, but then came all the issues with scheduling. I had a very rigid and predictable school schedule: 8AM to 330PM every day. I told my boss when he hired me about it, and he said it wasn't an issue. However, they kept scheduling me for Noon to 8PM or some weird s**t that conflicted with my schedule at college. After the first few times of "Where the hell have you been!" it kinda became a running joke...and I realized maybe a better job was a good idea.
Cue the biggest shopping day of the year: Black Friday. Store was set to open at some ungodly early hour like 3AM, so they wanted everyone at the store at 2AM to get ready. I drag my a*s in, and an hour later all hell breaks loose. Customers being a******s, coworkers being grumpy, and the store manager being a d**k to everyone. It sucked, I was tired, and we quickly figured out that there was no intent on giving any breaks even though we were scheduled enough hours to legally require one.
About 5AM roles around and coworkers are getting pissed at management for no breaks and started treating customers like c**p. Manager comes over and starts yelling, so I take off my name tag, throw it on the counter and tell him I quit, right in front of the computer dept staff and customers and grab my coat and start walking out. He yells after me "YOU HAVE TO TURN IN YOUR SHIRT RIGHT NOW!" to which I turn around and yell back "I'VE BEEN HERE THREE MONTHS AND YOU NEVER GOT ME A SHIRT!"
Petty, but damn that felt good.
I did the retail thing for 10 years. I'm not surprised by any of this.
The organizational social psychologist and director of the psychology program at Fielding Graduate University, Nora P. Reilly, told Bored Panda what are some of the important factors to consider before letting someone go. “Be sure to plan ahead. Be sure to follow the organization’s policy. Be sure to be consistent in the application of the policy. One would hope that the organization had a policy for regular performance reviews, feedback opportunities, and performance improvement plans (PIPs).”
In addition to that, the employer should ask themselves certain questions about the situation in order to properly evaluate it. “Before you let someone go for cause, have you documented past performance deficiencies? Was the employee aware of them? Have you tried to develop their skills and knowledge? Did you speak with the employee before this last resort? Were you, as the employer, aware of any special circumstances that may have affected the employee’s performance (was the employee or a family member ill, was there some major life event that was distracting them, etc.)? Don’t blindside the employee,” Nora pointed out.
While I was a conscript, I had two of the world's greatest idiots in command of my unit. Both had been stuck in their current rank for years, and neither gave a f**k about how the unit was run. At the whim of either of them, we could be expected to wash and scrub all the cars and garages (transport unit of around 50 vehicles) up to 4 times a day, and be deliberately held from leaving until the last bus has left the base. It's a 2km trek from the company line back to civilization.
One day, about 2 weeks before I was scheduled to leave, they decided to f**k with medical records. I had a doctor's appointment previously approved by the army's doctors one day, and for reasons only known to himself, one of the commanders decided this would be a good day to lock everyone up in camp and delete my appointment record from the company's system. I checked with the other commander (technically his superior by 1 rank), who basically told me to go f**k myself and stay in camp.
On the final day of my service, I brought all my medical documents, including my appointment records with the army doctor's approval, to the battalion CO (who was about to release me to civilian life). To my understanding, they both got slapped with a pretty severe fine and are no longer eligible for further promotions.
Worked at a job for over eight years. Was promised a promotion if I stayed when I was about ready to look for something else. Was called into the office down the road a bit to be informed they were bringing in an ex employee who had quit a year or two before for the job I was promised. I had heard a rumor of this and had already made my decision. The boss looked shocked when I said I quit. I punched out and left. Simple but sweet.
A former employee that held my position BS'ed the DM about his sales being higher so without doing any checking, DM said my services were no longer needed. Fine by me, I'm fed up with your BS anyway. Went to the competitor 4 doors up and 75% of the clients followed me immediately. That was 2008. Even though I'm no longer in that field, those customers stayed with the competitor. DM got busted down to store level and that former employee left within months of taking my position he so badly desired because 1 lack of clients and 2, clients had had enough of his c**p the first time around. I still have the P&L statements showing his sales vs mine. At best, his were 60% of mine.
I put in my two weeks at a call center and my supervisor (who was great the whole time i was there) said "Yeah, I'm just gonna give you two weeks paid vacation. I know how done you are with this place- with your notice in, I give it an hour before you would call the first rude customer you got a c********r. Have a nice life man, it's been good working with you"
Wherever you are these days Chris... good call, you were 100 f*****g percent right. F**k that place and its customers.
Next time I'm doing research with our call center folks, I have to ask the supervisors if this is true. Two weeks paid is a dream!!
The award-winning human resources specialist and growth coach for start-ups, Daneal Charney, emphasized the effect laying off an employee can have on their former colleagues. “Any termination of employment diminishes trust between employees and the company so positioning the why is really important,” she said to Bored Panda.
“Employees who are directly impacted (and even those who are not but have a strong relationship with the departing employee) will want their questions answered. Companies should always arrange one-on-one conversations following a termination as well as an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session in a layoff situation.
“Especially in small companies and growing startups, social connections are tightly interwoven. One termination can lead to other employees leaving and take the company by surprise. Even with non-solicitation clauses, when employees move to other companies, they tend to pull their former workmates with them,” Daneal added.
I was a janitor at an elementary school. I worked there for several years and was popular with that k-1st grade teachers. I had to move to a different shift so I could work another job. So I swapped with another janitor that the 2nd grade hallway teachers liked. It made them mad I suppose and they would file complaints on my work and I often got called into the office. I was doing my job, but they wanted their other guy back. They were even being rude to me to my face.
After several months of this, I get called to the office. My supervisor says "one more incident and I'm going to write you up" I was calm and said, "that's ok, I'd like to put my 2 weeks in". He looked shocked and said "Uh, don't you need some time to think about this?" I said ""I have. Their opinion of me isn't going to change, and I rather save us some time " while not that epic. The look of "wth?" On his face was priceless. It was nice being able to quit like a calm reasonable person. In conclusion, I went back to school and got a much better job I enjoy.
Teachers would file complaints, just because they liked the other guy better? Sounds suspicious.
I really like my supervisor but hated my job. He was a real cut up so that made it livable.
I got a new job and handed him my written two weeks notice. Just my luck it was April 1st, he didn’t believe me. Every day I’d remind him how many days left. He started getting testy, he’d played a long game himself but this was too much.
Apparently he was quite surprised when I stopped showing up!
Promoted to assistant manager at Gamestop, specifically to go to another store to help deal with one of the biggest Loss Prevention disasters the district had been dealing with for months. Had worked for the company for four years, including the transition from EB Games. Survived *multiple* "Nearly the entire store is fired for stealing" nightmares. Because. You know. I don't steal.
Help clean up the store, and get everything back on track. One morning, I even found $2000 worth of XBOX 360's that weren't in the inventory. Double check. Triple check. I could have walked out the door with them, and nobody could have known. Call the district manager, who thanks me and tells me to enter them in inventory.
Overall the store is doing better. Not great, but things are moving in the right direction. Get a much better job offer, though I'm not going to start for a month. Immediately give my notice. Soon after that, the company isn't pleased with the Store Manager's performance, so he's fired, and the temporary store manager *and* the District Manager *beg* me to not quit early, since the Store Manager was a good friend and they thought I'd be pissed. I assured them that I wouldn't do that.
Last day comes and goes, leave on good terms. A few months later, i decide to reapply as a sales associate to get some extra cash during the holidays. They tell me I'm on the no-hire list because the store I had worked at had lost so much money to theft. Yes, the very same store I was hired to help clean up. The one where I'm on record having brought $2000 worth of hardware to upper management's attention that I could have walked out the door with.
tl;dr - F**k Gamestop.
I was working as a field manager for a company that had a small team. They had recently hired 2 new guys who were fairly green to the industry but not totally brain-dead.
One guy, let's call him Gary. He's kind of quiet, kept his head down. I had a distinct feeling that he didn't like me, because as his direct supervisor it was up to me to train him up. Granted, I wasn't the best teacher, as I was somewhat blunt and direct. But never insulting or demeaning.
It's a slow week, and we're cleaning up our warehouse. The five of us are all knocking it out so we can get out early, but Gary is kind of slacking off. Since he's not really putting much effort in, I ask "Hey Gary, can you run the garbage out?" So he loads up the truck and heads out to the dumpsters behind the building (we had a lot of trash). But leaves behind the cardboard... So I think he's making two runs, to kind of stretch out the workload, right?
He comes back, and proceeds to not also take the cardboard. "Yo Gary - can you also do the cardboard." He gets pissed, storms out to the office, and proceeds to scream about me being a d**k to him, to the bosses.
Important note, I did not know this. I figured he was going to hit the bathroom?
I walk into the office about 5 minutes later to hear him complaining about how I'm an a*****e. The people he's telling this to look at me over his shoulder, and I realize that he's talking mad s**t about me. He realizes it, turns around, and it's a classic "oh f**k."
So my one boss, he tells Gary that I am his supervisor and while he may not like me, he has to at least do as I ask, provided it's within reason. And taking garbage and cardboard out is part of our regular duties, and we all take care of it. Gary gets insanely pissed, starts screaming about how we're all just buddy buddy, and quits. He removes his keys from his belt (we have truck keys) and literally THROWS THEM at my boss, and storms out cursing.
We're all in shock and I'm feeling kinda bashful.
Gary comes back in 5 minutes later and asks for the keys... because his own car and house keys were still attached.
Once he gets them, he says "f**k you" to all of us, and storms back out.
So epic. To this day, still my favorite of all time quitting stories.
I may have told this story on here before.
In high school, myself and a bunch of friends worked at a newly opened Steak n' Shake restaurant in town. At first it was fun. We could work and goof off a few days a week after school. As the months went by, most of my friends quit and I was the last person of my group left working there. As my friends quit, the management didn't bother hiring replacements. On the nights that I was scheduled, I was working a three-person station all by myself.
A few weeks of this went by, and it was incredibly stressful. Trying to keep up with orders from the dining room and drive thru, with no help was daunting. On top of that, I'd have waitresses coming back and screaming at me, the drive thru guy screaming at me, and eventually the managers coming back to yell at me.
After one particular rough evening, my shift finally ends and I head to clock out. Literally as I'm heading for the door, the manager on duty (a particular omega-class a*****e) runs in front of me, blocks the exit, and says that I can't leave, because they don't have someone coming in to cover the overnight shift (it was a 24-hour restaurant). I explained to him that I'm a high school student and cannot work past 9 pm. I also have homework and studying that I need to do.
After a few minutes of arguing, he won't budge. Rather than continue this charade, I pretend to clock back in, then walk to the back and proceed to climb out the drive thru window. As I'm walking around the parking lot, the manager sees me out the window and throws his hands up like, "WTF are you doing?"
I respond by firing back with both middle fingers and a lude gesture. It felt so satisfying.
Lewd gestures aside, this sounds like a legal case waiting to happen. And I hope it did too... Smh!!!
My friends story:
She was getting laid off by a firm whose business dried up. She was hired by another firm and quickly realized the CEO, while good at the stuff the company did and a good salesman had no idea how to manage people, plus he was really cheap.
He was constantly changing his mind, making outrageous demands (once she got called away from her birthday party on a Saturday night because he had an idea and wanted all hands on deck to make it happen *now*) and underpaid everyone.
So her year end review comes. And bonsues were supposed to be a big factor in compensation. She has had positive reviews by her direct bosses for most of the year.
And the ceo tells her she isn't good enough to get a bonus.
She's livid but needs the job so she bites her tongue.
Then she goes and job hunts like a m**o. Winds up getting a better job offer (well better salary, theoretically the bonus would make this job better). So she goes to his office about two weeks later and asks him to reconsider etc. Points out when she was hired this was sold as a major part of her compensation.
No dice he says. It's not a given and he just doesn't think she's good enough.
She says she has a job offer. So you need to match this or I'm quitting.
He then said fine, but I'm not paying out your vacation and you need to work the next two weeks.
He didn't know her supervisor had already approved a two week vacation for her, and was absolutely livid.
When it comes to the pivotal moment itself, the superior has to be well-prepared for the meeting. Firing someone is rarely an easy thing to do; however, there is believed to be a right way to do it. Of course, no two situations are the same, but there are some points to remember to make it less painful, likely, for both of the parties involved.
“We’re talking about empathy here. Be sure to conduct a one-on-one termination interview in a private location but have another representative from the organization present as a witness. There is a debate about whether this meeting should be quick, like ripping off a band aid, or whether the employer should provide some limited amount of details,” said the social psychologist Nora P. Reilly.
“The employer should have information about picking up personal items, receiving a last paycheck, and arranging for any other benefits they may be entitled to. Unless there is a security concern, avoid a perp walk. And provide access, or at least specific information about, employment counseling,” she advised.
I had a position that was a year's contract. The year was coming up and I decided that I did not want to continue past the end date , so I told my boss (a complete moron) that I wasn't going to renew my contract. This was 6 weeks before the contract ended.
Starting from that day I was person non-grata in the office. I wasn't CC'd on any e-mails, not invited to any staff meeting, they had a "team building" event outside the office one day - I showed up for work and no one was there in my department ....they were all out "team building". I spent the whole day just reading a book, surfing the WWW etc.
On my final day, it was about 1PM and I was saying good-bye to people in other departments. The boss comes down and says "we need you in the office NOW"!
I used the phone to call someone and they said that they had planned a goodbye party for me ! After 6 weeks of being treated like sh*t, they wanted to make themselves feel good by giving me a cake.
I said no way - and snuck up to my desk (already cleaned out) and walked out the front door, got in my car and drove home.
Turns out they started paging me for about 30 minutes, then realized that I was gone and the boss got PISSED.
She decided NOT to send out my record of employment so I can collect unemployment insurance. I sent an e-mail to her boss, her boss' boss and the CEO explaining what she did and they had 3 days to get me my ROE and if it did not arrive with my final pay cheque, I would file a complaint with the government and see where it goes. It arrived via Purolator the next day....she was fired 2 months later
So I was managing an IT group in a fortune 50 company. At this time I was trying to figure out how to keep my retirement benefits and retire way early. I have a nice sailboat and took rather long vacations with unpaid time too.
One of my guys and his wife came over for an evening and asked a ton of sailing questions. Later I was gone sailing for nearly 3 months. When I returned there was the usual line up of folks needing to talk. The first guy in line was the one who had taken an interest in sailing.
They had gone to the Caribbean and took sailing lessons. He gave me his notice with a huge smile. They went back to the Caribbean and bought a boat. He managed to beat me out of the door by a couple years. We are both still cruising.
My boss told me that we were going to spend our breaks doing mandatory Zumba, and I told her I was going home.
Little back story - This was at a kids camp where I was a cook. Kids would come in on Sunday and leave on the Saturday, so I was there all week making 4 meals a day plus a mid-afternoon snack for 100+ people. The one break I got in the day was an hour sometime before lunch, but we were working from 7am - 11pm every single day(for $200 a week)
This is the second mandatory Zumba story. Is this a common break time thing?
I once put in notice for my summer fast food job because it was interfering too much with my classwork once fall came around. The manager then stops everything and makes a huge production of announcing to everyone on shift that I was "leaving to go back to school."
I was in 10th grade... he made it sound like I was about to get my PhD in curing cancer. S**t was awkward.
Doesn’t really sound malicious but perhaps a little embarrassment intended.
A co-worker of mine at Subway when I was working during college. It's the lunch shift of one of the busiest shops in the area. Guy gets halfway through making a sandwich, looks at the customer and then our manager and says..."Til next time bro" and just walks out. Never came back, not even to pick up his final paycheck. When I left to go back to school, I left 100 sticky notes in random places throughout the store that said "Til Next Time"
Dallas office, well established company with a new CEO. CEO writes an all-company email with some sort of harmless “inspirational” messaging about how we are going to crush it and do well, blah, blah, blah. Nothing to get worked up about.
A woman in accounting who was mild mannered and a hardcore Christian Texas lady does a reply-all that says something like: “Like we believe a word that pompous f****r has to say.”
She had been with the company for 15 years and came in super early to do the books, so by the time most people got to work, it had already happened. But people there at the time said that her reply-all went out, she made a loud (for her) squeak when she realized her mistake, calmly got an empty box from the mailroom, packed up her desk, walked out to her car without saying a word to anyone, and drove away. She was never seen again.
Edit: spelling
The bottom line is that the employer should aim to be emphatic yet firm. Showing that you feel for the person is not a bad idea, as long as it doesn’t influence the decision that’s been made. There are ways to help the employee deal with the situation, such as providing assistance or coaching, as well as references or benefits if they apply.
“As a manager, you should have speaking points in front of you in preparation for a termination. It is absolutely OK to deliver the message in a caring way but this is not a time to get into a negotiation. Most terminations will be not-for-cause and you will need to stick to the legal language,” the HR specialist Daneal Charney told Bored Panda.
“Don’t get into any back-and-forth with the employees. The decision has already been made, and you are here to support their transition with dignity. That means offering things like transition coaching, references or extending their benefits for another few months. Even sharing their résumé with others if they were not let go for poor performance.”
Didn't happen to me but I got to watch this happen.
I went into a Taco John's and ordered a super burrito with no tomatoes or black olives, to go. They weren't super busy but there were a couple of orders ahead of mine.
So I'm standing near the counter watching them put items together and I see that they have started on my burrito. The cook loads it up with everything and wraps it up. He has it in his right hand and reaches up with his left to clear out the order on the monitor. He stops for a moment when he realizes that he f****d up by putting everything on the burrito. He is facing me and he turns around and fires a 100 mph fast-ball burrito against the back wall. He walks into the back room, takes off his Taco Johns shirt, puts on a T-shirt, grabs his smokes and his drink and heads out the back door.
30 seconds later the girl running the drive-thru wants to know where Brian is. I pointed him out to her as by now he is walking across the parking lot toward downtown. I told her that I think Brian gave his notice. She says a few choice words and wants to know what I ordered.
Way to give it the man, Brian!
I’ve walked out a few times. But this? this is EPI. Fastball burrito. 😜🤪🤣😆😜🤪🤣😆
Nameless photography studio that's been in and out of business in certain cheap stores.
They were shady as heck. Like, not ordering customer's images so they could get them to come in for another session to try to get them to buy other stuff.
My regional manager was a b***h and would make fun of employees behind their backs. (One girl she called horse/mule/donkey because she had large teeth. One girl they nicknamed "Hooker Beth" because her outfits were more revealing than SHE liked. Etc.) I'm sure I had a name, but she was terrible and I hated her.
The company also sucked and would clock us out automatically, even if we were still working. There was NO overtime, even though you were expected to work it. And if you did over 40 hours..they'd split it so you'd only get 40 one week and then 40 the next.
So one day (a Thursday) I have a lady come in, looking for invitations she had ordered for her kid's birthday party. They are no where. I call the store manager who says "Oh, I didn't like her, so I didn't order them." Now, I've had enough of this place and had a job lined up that was going to start in 2 weeks. So I tell the lady what the SM said, and gave her corporate's number.
She called them, in front of me, and they basically played dumb. While she's on hold they call me and begin to cuss me out about how I told the customer this/that/everything. They said that I'd be docked pay for this. I laughed, said "F**k it, this isn't worth it." Told the girl on the phone that I was quitting.
Gave the lady some free gift cards for her troubles, shut the store down and left.
Regional manager gave my cell phone # out to all employees to have them prank me. She also tried calling me several times, left some threatening voicemails about how she would ruin me and my career. Still waiting on that.
Ended up going to see a friend that weekend and it was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I slept for 12 hours that Saturday.
Edir-Thank you kind stranger for my first ever Reddit Silver!!!! Although this was a shitshow of a job with a raging c**t for a boss, it gave me the energy and drive to find the best job I ever had with coworkers and bosses that I truly loved. I'm still friends with 90% with them, and it's been 10 years since the job contract finished.
My job told me since they fired the other supervisor I was just going to have to do his job from now on. My original job was insane now they expected me to double that with no compensation. Well it got old real fast and we had a seriously busy day and I decided I was done, I let $1,000,000+ of shipments sit in a trailer back in the corner and and told all my guys thanks for the hard work our day is done. I quit that day and the next day I got a call with them freaking out about all the money they lost, I just hung up on the boss and never looked back.
Yeah, no. This is why you quit before it gets a million dollars worth of old.
Shared this before, but I'm so proud of it, I'm sharing it again.
I was working in a grocery store for several years. The last year and a half, it was like they stopped bothering to try and train anyone else to do anything "extra" because it was just expected that I could handle it.
On top of being a cashier, I was expected to cover the store's coffee bar while the morning person went to lunch, took grocery orders over the phone (because some people apparently don't like using the store's online order form), getting the grocery orders together, light stock work, training new cashiers... you get the idea.
More than once, I either was given my break at the last possible minute (in one case, literally an hour before I was scheduled to leave), or, because I was at the coffee bar all day (because the person scheduled there called out), I was just sent home early since there was no one to relieve me (because the managers didn't want to be back there for a whole half hour). No extra pay for all that. Just an occasional "good job" followed by more work.
But I was eventually given an opportunity to leave, with a safety net-- the better half and I were buying a house well away from the store, and he gave me permission to quit whenever I wanted. Finances were good enough to where I could be out of work for a while.
I wanted to make it hurt, though. Years of being treated like a slave made me bitter as hell.
I gave my two weeks notice knowing that my last day would be right before the Mardi Gras weekend, when they would need all hands on deck. Especially since the store was near a major parade route. (For those not familiar, basically the later half of the week and weekend leading up to Mardi Gras, the parades really start ramping up in frequency.) And no, during that time, they did not bother training anyone else to do that extra stuff. The best part is that they were likely blissfully unaware of just how badly they were screwed until the new schedule came out that same day, and they didn't have anyone else to do all that extra stuff that they relied on me for.
Edited to add:
Things there got even worse, and as of last year (according to the former coworker I ran into), there's one person handling most of what I used to. Oh yes, and they've thrown in new technology to make things more complicated. As I understand, the Mardi Gras weekend (and the actual day of) was a nightmare, seeing as how I was one of the fastest and most reliable workers.
Why do some managers treat competent employees like c**p? Hire more of those folks and treat them well, and you're job is easier!
Have a colleague who many years ago quit at another company starting his letter with "It is with mixed feelings I leave you, feelings of joy and contentment". He had to go back a year later, went fine though.
My first actual boss hated me on sight, because she hated my brother as he’d refused to work in her department (a man, in his early 20s, in the LINGERIE department in 1980-81???). I told them when they hires me that she’d fire me. Even offended my long term BF enough for him to file a formal complaint after she’d come charging over yelling at me, on the floor, for having my boyfriend in the store. I’d treated him as a customer, which he was. He was there to get the pricy robe that matched the nightgown I’d bought my mother for her birthday. She fired me right after Christmas, I was seasonal, she said. So I got her a thank you card. It had a picture of Olive Oil (Popeyes’s GF) in her awkward pose. It said “Thanks. A whole bunch.” I wrote in it “Thank you for making my first job such an memorable one.” Was told by a workmate that she opened the card, read it, and turned white and dropped it?👹
When people have to be laid off because of reasons other than poor performance, it is important to show that their work has been appreciated. “If there is a reduction in force or elimination of a department and you need to dismiss a solid performer, do your homework. Be aware of the employee’s past performance and document it – in a positive way,” Nora suggested.
“In addition to the above, indicate that you will provide a letter of reference with all the good things that the person has done for the organization. Thank them for their service when you know what that service has involved. Odds are they saw this coming, so make the transition as easy as you can.”
Cafe manager hired a shift leader from outside the company, which was full of young people like me who needed more hours and pay. The new shift leader needed to be full trained likely lied on her job application but was still accepted. She was fired 2nd week after 3 no call no shows , and when I asked my manager why he would hire someone with no experience over me or my coworkers, he said he would have to see me work in my current position for another year . This is a job where they cap you under 28 hours. I told him I didnt know what to say and that he can expect my two week notice... I just heard from my friend that the manager is quitting and they have Hiring ads posted legit everywhere at the moment.
Finally got Manager position at a store in the 90's. We were killing it on some stupid scoreboard corporate cherishes. Our little home town store was beating out big city stores. Guess that wasn't good enough because they changed our DM to a complete jerk who promptly brought in a new manager because "I'm not good enough for him." Fine, I know what you're up to. I transferred to another store and his outside manager destroyed that store and crew then they fired him. All they wanted was for us to stop making those big stores look bad. Only one of those employees are still with the company and he's in another city.
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I worked at a grocery store where we were required to wear a headset. I refused on account that the ear piece was shared by all of the employees. I was called into a meeting and explained my reasoning. My Supervisor, the Assistant Store Manager and the Store Manager were all present. I let them go through their whole spiel and then refused to comment until the Union Rep arrived in person. The meeting was put on hold and I went home. I returned the next day and let them know I would not be returning as an employee....No two weeks notice. The only reason I gave them this courtesy was I that I started my own Grocery Shopping & Delivery business and was going to be in the store regularly. I knew I would feel awkward even of they didn't give a f-
In HS, I worked at a pet store that was co-owned by a couple going through a divorce. The wife hired me without telling the husband and he hated me. I couldn't do anything right and he yelled constantly. I was only there for three weeks. I was trying to catch crickets for a customer and the husband walked up and started yelling at me for the third time that day. I apologized to the customer, handed the husband the net, tipped over the cricket cage and walked out. I never even went back for my last check.
My last job was going really good until my direct supervisor was suddenly "allowed to resign." It was all hush hush and I was a little suspicious but whatever. New supervisor gives me a spiel about how nothing will change, blah, blah, blah. Well, the change happened when I told her that we couldn't add something she wanted to the employee handbook b/c it's illegal in our state. She argued with me and I wouldn't back down. Two weeks later I'm being wrote up for being a bad employee who was coddled by my previous supervisor (although I'd been there 3 years and never had an incident) and a bunch of other s*it. Noped out of there just as soon as I could find another job. Didn't need her cr*p.
Weirdest thing that happened to me: I gave my two weeks at a job because I was offered a better one that would assist with me going back to school. I was more than willing to work the two weeks to get as much money as I could to help with the in between lag between jobs. Two days in and when I get home from work, my supervisor calls and says my attendance won't be necessary for the two weeks and good luck. I was so surprised I didn't argue but it really irked me as I lost days of pay that could have been helpful. Believe it or not, they tried asking if I wanted to work for them during holiday breaks. I all but laughed right at them.
I had to quit a job because the commute was too unpredictable for my very old, worn out car. I knew that even the next trip would probably kill it due to the high, high summer heat so I decided to cut my loss, quit, and find something closer. They were still training us on the job (the group who started together) so it didn't make sense to give a full two weeks due to the current training and I doubted my car would even make it there and back one more time. So I called and the person was LIVID. I explained that it wasn't a preference but practicality since my car wasn't doing well and I wasn't even doing any official work at that time anyway. She still raved about how I wouldn't be able to use them as a reference as if that would magically fix my car. I told her "I understand that," and she was gobsmacked that I still was backing out. It was clear that no matter what the first reason was, that place was awful anyway.
My previous job started out okay, but at some point the petty and unnecessary rules just started piling up a bit too much for my taste. And we had constant surveillance too, so we could get yelled at for even the slightest thing we did wrong, e.g. not sitting upright in the chair. Add to this the toxic atmosphere and the constant intrigues & plotting among coworkers, and you can imagine why I took the first chance to leave...
I worked at a grocery store where we were required to wear a headset. I refused on account that the ear piece was shared by all of the employees. I was called into a meeting and explained my reasoning. My Supervisor, the Assistant Store Manager and the Store Manager were all present. I let them go through their whole spiel and then refused to comment until the Union Rep arrived in person. The meeting was put on hold and I went home. I returned the next day and let them know I would not be returning as an employee....No two weeks notice. The only reason I gave them this courtesy was I that I started my own Grocery Shopping & Delivery business and was going to be in the store regularly. I knew I would feel awkward even of they didn't give a f-
In HS, I worked at a pet store that was co-owned by a couple going through a divorce. The wife hired me without telling the husband and he hated me. I couldn't do anything right and he yelled constantly. I was only there for three weeks. I was trying to catch crickets for a customer and the husband walked up and started yelling at me for the third time that day. I apologized to the customer, handed the husband the net, tipped over the cricket cage and walked out. I never even went back for my last check.
My last job was going really good until my direct supervisor was suddenly "allowed to resign." It was all hush hush and I was a little suspicious but whatever. New supervisor gives me a spiel about how nothing will change, blah, blah, blah. Well, the change happened when I told her that we couldn't add something she wanted to the employee handbook b/c it's illegal in our state. She argued with me and I wouldn't back down. Two weeks later I'm being wrote up for being a bad employee who was coddled by my previous supervisor (although I'd been there 3 years and never had an incident) and a bunch of other s*it. Noped out of there just as soon as I could find another job. Didn't need her cr*p.
Weirdest thing that happened to me: I gave my two weeks at a job because I was offered a better one that would assist with me going back to school. I was more than willing to work the two weeks to get as much money as I could to help with the in between lag between jobs. Two days in and when I get home from work, my supervisor calls and says my attendance won't be necessary for the two weeks and good luck. I was so surprised I didn't argue but it really irked me as I lost days of pay that could have been helpful. Believe it or not, they tried asking if I wanted to work for them during holiday breaks. I all but laughed right at them.
I had to quit a job because the commute was too unpredictable for my very old, worn out car. I knew that even the next trip would probably kill it due to the high, high summer heat so I decided to cut my loss, quit, and find something closer. They were still training us on the job (the group who started together) so it didn't make sense to give a full two weeks due to the current training and I doubted my car would even make it there and back one more time. So I called and the person was LIVID. I explained that it wasn't a preference but practicality since my car wasn't doing well and I wasn't even doing any official work at that time anyway. She still raved about how I wouldn't be able to use them as a reference as if that would magically fix my car. I told her "I understand that," and she was gobsmacked that I still was backing out. It was clear that no matter what the first reason was, that place was awful anyway.
My previous job started out okay, but at some point the petty and unnecessary rules just started piling up a bit too much for my taste. And we had constant surveillance too, so we could get yelled at for even the slightest thing we did wrong, e.g. not sitting upright in the chair. Add to this the toxic atmosphere and the constant intrigues & plotting among coworkers, and you can imagine why I took the first chance to leave...
