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“The Look Of Shock On His Face Was Priceless”: 75 Times People Chose Peace Over Paycheck And Quit
The job market is rough and chaotic, but your mental health, dignity, and boundaries are always worth fighting for. You might not always be able to inspire positive change at your toxic workplace, but you can decide that enough is enough and leave a truly horrible situation.
We are featuring some of the most dramatic and jaw-dropping stories of employees quitting from across the internet. These workers shared the last straw that finally forced them to say “bye” to the jobs and bosses they hated, and their brutal honesty is refreshing. Scroll down to read about their experiences. And if you needed a sign to finally prioritize your well-being and work-life balance, this is it.
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#1
It was actually a job I loved. But when I asked for a raise they said it was plenty already for a woman. I didn't stay much longer.
RELATED:
#2
I worked at a barn training horses.
Probably when the horses went from being calm to freaking out when I raised my hand in a matter of weeks.
I later walked in on my boss hitting a horse in the nose repeatedly because it didn't do what he want.
Cops were called, I left.
Bi.Felicia 16 minutes ago (edited)
Those poor horses 🐴, I absolutely can't stand people that abūse animals 🤬😡 and I hope OP's former boss gets everything they deserve and then some.
#3
I was working for an ad agency wearing many hats: art direction, copy, IT services, mentoring younger staff, etc. I was underpaid to start, for all the jobs I was doing and I hadn’t had a raise in over 7 years. The agency and its clients were very happy with the work I was doing for them, and I often received compliments from them (clients rarely give compliments). I asked my supervisor for a raise, and he said he’d have to ask the higher-ups. He got back to me a few days later saying that his boss had declined my request, adding that she said, “For that kind of money I could hire a *real* art director.”
My resignation was on his desk the next day.
Robyn Hill 47 minutes ago
Hope they started their own business and took the clients with them.
As Forbes stresses, toxic bosses who create corrosive workplace cultures have a massive impact on worker health, morale, and organizational performance.
“Poor leadership, bullying, retaliation and cultures of fear consistently emerge as the central drivers of toxic work environments. And the stress they generate is not just unpleasant—it is biologically harmful. Chronic stress has been linked to anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, immune dysfunction and even premature mortality,” Forbes warns.
Not all toxic managers wear their hearts on their sleeves. Some red flags are very subtle. Toxic bosses can seem charismatic, warm, and even supportive at first. Especially toward employees who comply. However, they can become hostile toward workers who “raise ethical concerns, question broken commitments or resist unfair treatment—such as selective resource removal or inconsistent standards.”
#4
6 weeks after my son was born I was written up for closing my door to pump breast milk on my lunch break.
Barbara Liles 41 minutes ago
How dare you flash your ladyberries behind closed doors at work!? They had to open the door three times to make sure they took the proper offense.
#5
Oh this is a good one. I worked at a Dairy Queen in 2019 and I was treated like garbage. The place was disgusting and I was the only person who tried to keep it clean, I mean ice cream behind the counters, food scraps everywhere and in the 4 months I worked there they never changed the fryer grease. There were flies EVERYWHERE.
But that’s not the reason I quit.
See, I’m transgender and my supervisor HATED it. She would misgender me, call me by my deadname and generally just humiliate me in front of customers and coworkers.
The last straw for me was when she very brazenly and very loudly asked me, while I was helping a customer “Hey [my deadname] can you go get some more cheesecake squares from the freezer.” I calmly but sternly reminded her that my name was Ben and I was a man.
She just scoffed and said even louder “Well then, if you’re a man then [prove it]!” (She was easily 40 years old and at the time I was 18.)
My blood literally boiled and I took off my hat and pulled off my work shirt, (I was wearing a normal T-shirt under it) and tossed them on the ground. I said “I quit.” And walked right out.
My supervisor called me a day later trying to get me to come in and sign a write up for “insubordination” and I just told her to shove it and hung up. Nothing ever came of it and I don’t regret anything.
#6
Caught the owner shorting my sales commissions, and the [jerk] even admitted it. Walked away after 7 years.
To be completely clear, everyone’s financial situation, mental health, family situation, and boundaries are different. There are no easy answers when it comes to making such important decisions as whether or not to quit your job. That being said, we are all responsible for setting, communicating, protecting, and enforcing our boundaries regarding our work-life balance. If you are watching your health go downhill due to chronic work-related stress and horrible management, it is time to make a change. And yet, this is easier said than done.
If you have decent alternative companies you can realistically jump to, some savings to act as a buffer, and enough energy to power through (seemingly endless) job interviews, you can quit a truly toxic job. Not everyone is so lucky. Many workers lack the savings, job prospects, and energy to upskill and leave workplaces and bosses that are beyond toxic. The result is, unfortunately, deteriorating physical and mental health, burnout, a lack of purpose, low motivation, and worse job performance.
#7
I went to work feeling off, and by lunchtime, I was spending more time throwing up than actually working. I had the flu. I told my supervisor that I was too sick to work and she told me NO, I had to stay. I looked at her like she had two heads and walked out. I never saw her again. I picked up my last paycheck after I recovered and had a new job the following week. This was my first 9-5 out of high school.
YakFactory 11 minutes ago
So the supervisor wanted you to share your illness with other staff and customers? What happened to duty of care?
#8
When I found an office memo to my boss advising that the male paralegals who had less experience and education than I did made more money. Particularly [trashy] because we were the labor and employment section! When I turned in my notice, my boss said why didn't you just talk to me I would have made it right. I said he should have made it right when he saw the memo.
#9
I had gone to the doctor and my weight had dropped to 102 lbs. I was always so stressed I could barely eat. After I quit my ex-biss went through 3 assistants in one year. I was there 5 years.
Have you ever quit your job before? If so, what was the last straw that finally forced you to make such a big decision?
Who are the most toxic bosses and colleagues that you have ever worked with? How do you protect your boundaries and mental health at work?
What advice would you give to young people who are finishing up school or college and are just now entering the job market? What can they do to not just survive but also thrive?
#11
I was working at my job for about a year when I got the opportunity to take a vacation with my good friend paying for it. I went to my supervisor and told her about the trip nearly 3 months in advance. She seemed excited for me, went over some dates on the calendar about it and she told me to buy my plane tickets.
So, I bought the plane tickets, filled out my official time off request form. Next thing I know, I was called into the office by the manager of the company. Told my job would be terminated if I took the vacation. Supervisor was in the office the whole time. She said to my face that I never spoke to her about the trip, that she had no idea about any of it and that she never told me to buy the plane tickets and that she would never have approved anything like that. Obviously, she was covering [for herself] in front of her boss but come on. I can't stand supervisors who won't stand up for their employees.
Long story short, I had the trip of a life time and I'm still looking for a new job but hoping things will get better soon.
Before I left, my supervisor had to nerve to ask me to bring her back a souvenir, and even made specific requests about what kind of souvenirs she wanted!
#12
8 years I was at my old job and was there from the beginning when it was a small 4 man operation before we was bought out and the team grew to 30 members.
I was the sole member of my design team that kept that side of the business afloat during COVID while everyone else was on paid furlough. I gave up 3 weeks holiday just to make sure people kept there jobs and the workload stayed constant.
However the final straw was I was quite ill (sickness bug) and requested to work from home could not face the travel and sat in a warm office all day. I was told you either take the day off sick or come into the office sick so I chose to take the day off.
I chose to go in the next day still abit rough but I could manage it. A member of my design team was off so I asked where he was and I was told oh he’s sick he’s been working from home all week. Well I kicked up a fuss about it and handed my notice in.
I was also docked a days wage for being off that day even though no one else had been docked for being off sick during that month.
#13
They fired my entire support team and still expected the work to get done without any resources.
#14
I worked for a small nonprofit that relied in large part on federal grants. I had never done them before, and it took me a cycle or two of helping write them to figure out that the head of it (it was just him, me, and a secretary) was more or less making up the programs we were asking for grant money for, with little or no intention of actually carrying them out. On a modest scale, the place had been pretty successful. I got less and less comfortable with it, and on the day he asked me to sign one in his place, I walked.
The good part, though, is that five years later I got a job in the agency offering the grants—and within a year my old organization had had to clean house, change staff, and start actually doing the work if it wanted the money.
#15
It was aggravating enough teaching college students who were unable to write grammatically correct papers, and refused to read required readings. Now they are having AI write their papers for them, and expect good grades for work they didn't do.
#16
Made me work 12 - 4am straight. Nothing I couldn't handle but they also threatened to fire me if I didn't work the breakfast shift at 7am. Bearing in mind it takes me 45 minutes to walk home an it was middle of winter. I was so angry I told them to stuff it and stole a bottle of malt whiskey from behind the bar. I don't even like malt whiskey.
#17
I'm 5'1, 105lbs, female. Night shifts as supervisor of a pharmacy. I had 2-3 staff for a VERY large store. We got robbed by two black men. My cashier was the same size as me, she could have easily been harmed. My manager did not answer my calls (this was around midnight). After police and everything was done, I left a note "We got robbed last night, it was scary :(" The cashier quit because the manager would not give her other shifts besides night shifts (keep in mind please that shift switches are very easily done at this job). I went to talk to my manager to ask if he'd like to question me about that night and what had happened, and how I approached the situation, and he threatened to fire me or write me up..
He did not ask if I was okay, or seemed concerned at all.
#18
I had a miscarriage that week, which the boss knew about as I provided a doctor's note as to why I would need the next day off unscheduled. Two days later, I'm on break at work, and my fiance came by to have lunch with me; we shared a hug and a kiss, and before I knew it, the boss was out in the lobby and chewing [me] out for "not presenting yourself in a professional manner" while wearing my Burger King uniform.
I walked out. We left Burger King right there, and went and indulged ourselves with a nice steak dinner.
#19
Not me, but my dad, back in 1999, he was a mechanic at a dealership, now, my mom had just given birth to my little sister, and she, myself and younger brother got very sick, my mom had it so bad she couldn't get off the couch, (I want to say the flu, but I'm not sure.) My dad asked for a couple days off to take care of all of us and his boss, the service manager told him he had his priorities wrong. He quit very shortly after that.
#20
I worked at a call center. We didn't have names there, other then just when you introduced yourself to the client. To the management we were numbers. The quality reports, the break control sheats, in everything we were identified by our number, not by our name. One day my boss summoned me. A client that I had helped a few weeks before took the time to write to the company (it was a big big company) praising my job. I was given a copy of the compliment. Where the client put my name those [jerks] scratched it and wrote my number. I turned my resignation the next day.
#21
I was a senior director at a large insurance company. They pushed me out for a younger guy. They changed my role to a more operational management role. My bosses exact words were, "Some of your staff works M-F, some T-S, Some W-S, Some T-M, etc, some start at 5:00am, some start at 6:00am, some start at all the way up to 1:00pm. And you'll be expected to be here when your staff is here."
He literally gave me a seven day a week, 18 hour a day, job, all with a small raise.
My lawyer called it constructive termination. Basically, they gave me an undoable job to get me to quit. I sue, and I won.
#22
Not work related final straw, but my mom [passed away]. About a week later I realized I did NOT want to spend any more of my life working for these nasty people. The life’s too short straw.
#23
I was breaking up yet another fight in the school library when the principal walked past, and didn't even look in my direction. I realized one of these days some kid is going to beat the [hell] out of me and she won't stop them.
Broke my contract and turned in my two weeks that day.
#24
Valentine's Day at a florist shop. There's only so fast you can cut thorns off of long-stemmed roses, and yelling won't make it happen faster.
#25
Hired someone to do a job they could not do. But because they were friends with the boss I had to do mine and the other person’s.
Got [reprimanded] because my productivity started to lag.
Took me better than two days to find another job and walked.
They mailed me my last check, which I sat on for about 6 months before cashing it, knowing it would mess up there payroll ledger.
#26
Principal had hit and pushed two young students, both with disabilities, and was routinely breaking special education laws. I filed a formal complaint, sticking my neck out to get him fired, but he didn't formally announce his resignation until the last week of school, and I had stayed on assuming he would be forced to resign much earlier than that.
When I finally found out he quit, I talked to the two teachers I trusted most, and found out they were both transferring to other schools.
I quit because without them there would be no one there I respected, no one with any guts to help rebuild the school.
No regrets. Found something much better.
#27
I absorbed the duties of three other workers after they left. I approached the owner letting him know how much I was saving him in salaries, so requested a very reasonable raise. In exchange, I would continue to do the same work. He blew his top. He was even angrier when I quit without notice and he had to hire 4 people.
#28
When my manager scheduled me for 11 hour shifts and then said that's what they considered normal. They knew it wasn't normal. That's why they waited til week 3 to spring that on me.
#30
The last straw was a new rule that all employees had to wear a shirt with a collar every day. I programmed computers, and was tucked away in a corner so a collar was not necessary. Whenever, and it was rare, there was customer interface I would wear whatever they wanted including collars or suits, But ... after I told them I didn't like their rule, at least 3 times, I found another job.
#31
I was in a huge IT department and we had a town hall meeting where we were berated for an hour and told not to talk to each other... they put in place a task management system and were angry that people were communicating in person and stuff wasn't making it into the system.
So the next day I scheduled some work for two weeks in the future, and completely forgot about it.
The work was to create a URL and move some files to production etc because the Minister was holding a Press Conference to announce a new online system.
Needless to say the work didn't get done, and the Minister was embarrassed, and I was dragged into the CEOs office with all of the senior management and screamed at for what felt like hours. I explained that I followed the procedure, and showed that I logged the work two weeks in advance etc... and that just seemed to make everyone angrier... including my boss who had yelled at us all to do it like that.
I gave notice that day... them three months later my ex-boss called to yell at me because I screwed his budget... he had to hire 3.5 people to replace me and didn't have the money for that.
#32
I significantly increased the amount of installation business at the independent electronics shop I worked at. (And did so with damm little support from the boss.) The boss wanted me to raise the rates I charged (by something like 300%), but wasn't going to pass any of that on to me.
#33
When my ex boss said i should have never come back from maternity leave and that my child was going to grow up to be a piece of [trash] like me. All because i wouldn't [sleep with] him. Gross.
#34
In August of 2010 I worked in a Dunkin' Donuts. While finishing my shift one night I had fallen due to incompetent co-workers using more water than necessary to mop the floor. My arm snapped to the point where I needed it repaired with surgery. Upon returning to work in January I was only given 5 hours for the entire first week back, and 3 hours the second week and that's where it stayed. I confronted my manager and asked something along the lines of, "What gives, I had 40 hours when I had fallen." to which she responded "I just don't have the hours to give you for payroll." I'm thinking, alright maybe it will pick up soon. She proceeded to hire a total of five people between the last week of January and the second week of February. I found a new job the next town over and no call/no showed (even though it probably made no difference). In the end I won with a nice lawsuit.
#35
Was having a farewell speech for a woman who was leaving my team. Our boss had started about 5 months earlier and had changed the whole vibe for the worst. Anyway so she concludes her speech and picks up her flowers and stuff and is about to leave, when my other colleague says "You know what? I'm leaving too" and goes and gets her bag and walks out to the lift with this other woman. We were still doing the clapping for the farewell party woman and it turned into confused clapping for now both of them walking out. That caused about 5 others to go before the senior leaders did anything about it. Such a waste of talent.
#36
I'd been looking for a new job for a while. Finally got a decent offer - 10% payrise and their pension scheme was really good - they'd match my contributions 1:1. So (for instance) - I put in 6%, they put in 6%.
I'd been there a week and we finally had the HR induction. They discuss the pension scheme - and I'd been told complete tosh. They'd contribute the legal minimum. Gee thanks.
Obviously I questioned this - pointing out that I'd taken the job on the understanding it was quite different. Raised it with every manager I could find, raised it with the recruitment agent, but the answer to all was the same: "that's the policy, take it or leave it".
They were astonished when I left it about a month later.
Sure, it's only a couple of %, but that's not the point - it's the principle of the thing. They'd ballsed up, and they weren't prepared to make even a token effort to make it right. What happens the next time they balls up?
#37
A packet of crisps.
Worked [hard] delivering a massive exhibition which was a success in all measures.
Even gave up a Friday/Saturday to be there and help with set up/the first day running smoothly.
Way above my pay grade but did a great job and thought it was appreciated.
Drove home at stupid o clock. On a Saturday night (I worked Mon - Fri, office job) and got caught in tons of traffic and wasn't home in time for tea.
Stopped for petrol, considered getting a sandwich and thought I'll grab some crisps and keep driving.
Put the expenses through and my £1.20 bag of crisps was denied by my manager because only evening meals were covered and that was a snack.
Never loaded up Indeed quicker.
#38
My boss just left me to stock a whole truck alone. I was the assistant manager at a grocery store. I had been planning to leave for some time, but this was the final nail in the coffin. Our entire crew had called in that day, and we had a massive truck that my boss had ordered, knowing we were short-handed. He said something along the lines of "i can't handle this today, I'm going to have to head home" and just left me there with pallet after pallet of stock. I got the [it] done and straightened the department. I was supposed to leave at 7, ended up working until 11, almost 14 hours.
I walked up to the front, bought a 6 pack of beer, went home, drank all the beer, slept in, and never went back. He called me about 20 times. I ignored him until number 20 and answered to tell him I wasn't coming back. He said, "You don't do this to people." I proceeded to go off and say all manner of obscenities. That's the only job I ever quit without notice.
#39
Didn't hate the job but the newly promoted VP was a flamer and a nitpicker. Called me into his office chewed on [me] for a while and then told me I could be replaced. I just smiled I and said OK go right ahead, I'll be gone in two weeks. He had no way of knowing that I had a years salary saved in the bank and could easily take some time off. The look of shock on his face was priceless.
#40
Co-worker screamed at me because I didn’t want to do their job and mine. No thanks, I am out.
#41
When I was 17, I worked at 7/11 stocking the cases and mopping floors for shifts all week. When I came to pick up my first paycheck one Saturday morning, they told me that the register was light on Friday night, when I had worked. That's unfortunate, but I never went near the register, I explained. Didn't matter. They had a policy that whoever worked that crew split the shortage, and so they were docking me an amount that was nearly my whole paycheck. When I protested, they suggested that since I needed money so bad, maybe I had indeed robbed the register.
At this point I was furious. I said "that's a pretty serious accusation. Can you produce any proof of your accusation? Any cameras pointed at the register? There isn't proof, because it didn't happen, I never came within five feet of the register all week."
This went back and forth. They refused to budge. I refused to budge. I said "You're just keeping the money I earned, then?", they nodded, and I walked out, never to return.
It was like 80 bucks or something like that. Never in my life was I so [punished] for nothing by a job. I still remember the unfairness of it.
#42
I repaired photocopiers. We had a client call in that they had a bunch of bigwigs flying in from all over for an emergency board meeting and there was a “problem” with their only copier and they needed it repaired right NOW! Previously scheduled clients were rescheduled and I was told to go take care of the “problem” and not to leave until it was resolved.
It was on fire. The fire department was finishing up as I arrived. There had probably been a paper jam, but rather than take the time to un-jam it, they had just kept going until the paper wrapped around the fuser ignited. The burning copier set the walls, ceiling, and carpet on fire, and set off the sprinkler system. The fire department chopped up the melted, charred remains of the copier and the burned walls to put out the smoldering fire the sprinklers couldn’t reach.
I informed the receptionist that they were going to need a new copier. She went into an office and came out with a man in a suit that cost more than my car who proceeded to scream at me that they had a repair contract and I had better get to work because they needed that copier and I wasn’t going anywhere until it was working. I told him if they needed it that badly then they shouldn’t have set it on fire and walked out.
I told dispatch what happened, turned in my tools and parts kits and never looked back.
#43
I worked as a daily beat reporter at a newspaper, and my editor came to me to tell me to “pump up” a lead paragraph on a story I had written, which I thought would go beyond the facts at hand, and make something relatively benign seem highly dangerous.
I told him I couldn’t do that, as it was unethical, and found another job right away.
#44
My mom [passed away] in 2018 and I was struggling with being okay with it and getting back into my work routine.
I went back to work for a few weeks and was having anxiety attacks non stop. Getting ready. Getting to work. Being at work.
I worked a Saturday and it was awful. Anxiety was part of it but moreso my supervisor just being terrible.
I walked into work Sunday. Full blown anxiety attack in the bathroom. I decided that THAT feeling wasn’t worth being there and walked right out the back door. I got in my car and went home and got back in bed.
#45
At my former workplace someone quit calling the people & culture director racist. They had documented everything, sent a company-wide email attaching receipts and called out them and HR for creating an unsafe environment particularly against Aboriginal people. I don't know what actions were taken against the director but she eventually left after a few months but I see old mate thriving in his new role.
#46
My manager’s breath was so bad I physically gagged whenever I reentered the office throughout the day.
She is an awful person, the boss is an awful person, the job was awful, and the general public are awful to anyone who works in customer service but the thing that broke me was not being able to eat my lunch because the room reeked of bad breath. It wasn’t always like that, I don’t know if she had a health condition, but it was too much to take so I jumped ship.
#47
After being told for months that I wasn’t good enough at my job simply because I wouldn’t work after hours, the manager outright called me an idiot in front of the entire office. I walked without a backup plan. My mental health, and those after hours spent with my family, were more important.
#48
I was hired as a temp and was told I was gonna receive training to operate heavy machinery, and would be hired full time after 90 days. They worked me like a dog for 90 day and never trained me to do anything. On day 91 after asking when I would be a full time employee I was told they weren’t legally required to hire me. I clocked out at lunch and never went back.
#49
After twelve years Target demoted me from a department manager, cut my hours to under 30, in turn I lost my insurance and 401k options. What was there to stay for? I retired. It was not just me, but several of us old guys were done that way. They want young blood with low pay and few health issues to fill those slots.
#50
My [jerk] boss screamed at me, “Be afraid of me!” Then he screamed at a coworker so loud and slammed on the desk so hard that I nearly called 911. I thought he was beating the guy up. The place went out of business a year after I left.
#51
A large corporation bought us and when open enrollment was scheduled to start they announced they were no longer offering insurance to employees except for senior executives.
#52
My agency refused to let me fire two staff who flat out refused to work or even show up. I was just told to “document it” [it] for a year with no follow through. I was tired of doing 3 people’s jobs for 18 months.
#53
Covid.
Refusal for anyone to work from home, refusal to move people so they were spaced out, refusal for sneeze guards.
The boss was a real conservative type who knew all about anything and said everyone was overreacting. Then she went and exercised in a big crowded place when you were specifically told not to.
I think the final straw was she complained she wouldn't be able to have her hair done.
#54
Happened years ago. I was working at this place for 9 plus months and the owner/ manager didn't know my name. He kept calling me a different name. So in the middle of a project. I dropped what I was doing and walked out. If you are running a small business and will not take the time to learn your employees names then go kick rocks.
#55
I was generally a bench tech, I repaired electrical equipment and cable boxes. One slow day I was bored and I saw data entry had a stack of work orders they were working on completing so I offered to help them knock some out. From that point on, whenever it was slow, I would pop over and see if they needed any assistance. Months go by. My performance review comes around, and I'm told I wasn't assisting data entry enough. I was like...that's not part of my job that's just something I voluntarily offered to do (strictly between them and myself) when it was slow, ..but yeah, you know how no good deed goes unpunished? They still counted it. It just got me so so mad, I put in two weeks notice the next day out of spite.
#56
I was asked to help a woman open a business. She was never there but would leave voicemail’s for the other woman and I everyday of things she wanted done and once or twice a week show up to tell us how everything we did was wrong. The final straw was when I got yelled at for not doing something (I think it was for not signing a contract for pagers because I didn’t know I had the authority to do that) and the following day I got yelled at for doing it. I quit that day.
#57
My boss told me the internet doesn't matter and wasn't really important to our business. eCommerce sales were over $8 million / year at a 51% margin.
I was the Director of eCommerce at the time and had over 100% growth in revenue since I had started.
#58
Just last month, myself and the rest of the bar staff quit on the same evening, in the middle of a busy shift.
I worked at a bar/restaurant that became a night-club late on Fridays and Saturdays. We'd go from a decently busy dinner shift to absolutely packed by 10pm to 2am. About a week after I started working there, I had some trouble getting my tips from over the weekend. Then the tips were tiny (I received $40 when the printout indicated it would be over $200 for a Friday). I pointed it out to the other bartenders, and the [the horror] began. It turns out that they were keeping a cut of 2% of our tips for themselves, paying the busboys (illegal immigrants) entire wages directly via our weekend tips (off the books), and forcing us to pay the credit card companies for the transactions.
We had to fight for our tips, day after day, night after night. During this, a health hazard issue came up, during which one of the female bartenders broke out and felt extremely ill. I sent her home, but not before one of the managers could berate and scream at her for being "lazy" and "not doing her job". We threatened to report them to OSHA for the health hazard that they were forcing us to clean up, and they threatened to fire us.
It all came to a peak on a Friday night, at about midnight. Five of us behind the bar, with the place packed wall to wall. A busboy came up to us and dumped a bucket of nasty glassware behind the bar. I just kind of stared at it mid-pour, then back at him. Note: They were supposed to clean these during the 'night-club' hours, then bring us the clean glasses. He has the gall to hold out a hand and ask me for money. I look at the bar manager, who is absolutely livid. He grabs the busboy by the scruff of his neck, pulls him into the kitchen, then yells across it at the owner, who comes over.
The bar manager sets into him over all of the issues over the last month, and is slowly joined by the rest of us, until there's no one at the bar, and the guests are pissed. It degenerates into a screaming session and all five of us quit and walk out on the spot. We call the only other bartender that wasn't there that night, and she calls in and quits not ten minutes later.
Last I heard, they had to shut down the place for a week to restaff, because most of the servers had heard what happened and quit too. We reported them to TWC, OSHA, and BBB, but the legal [process] takes more time than any of us have. I think there's an ongoing investigation, but I don't have the resources to pursue it.
#59
I too recently left my job at a non-profit. I was hired for three things; 1) Data Analysis, 2) Report Generation (extrapolating data from a DB and refining it) and 3) Web Development.
I worked on their website throughout my employment there, but I began to wear more and more hats as time went on (networking, cabling, tech support were just a start). There was a time when data analysis became a priority to focus on for all employees, so a consulting company (that the Executive Director knew) was hired to do some fairly straightforward web work. Their consulting work was terrible. They didn't bother to correct any styling issues, their form submission was god awful, I mean really simple things that you'd test/correct even as a beginner.
Low and behold my yearly review comes up, and web-development is not noted. I ask why, and their response, "Because it is not part of your primary job description." Come to find out, the consulting company is being paid far better than I was ever paid there, and the kicker? I was asked to fix their mistakes. I left promptly after I got a couple contracts for websites which earn me far more than I ever earned there. As much as I support the vision of non-profits, I can NEVER recommend anyone to work at one.
#60
I worked at a nursing home as a nurse. The director was a complete idiot, and would spend most of her day online shopping for her kids. I would find things constantly wrong which could hurt the patients. The last straw was when I found other nurses were not doing admission notes or documenting correctly. I discussed with her to maybe address it at a staff meeting. She told me I was very unprofessional to do this. I left that place. I feel bad for the patients there. I later found out she was fired for falsifying state documents.
#61
I'm a funeral director and he tried to re-write my contract to tell me i had to do lawn maintenance. no. i did not get a college degree in lawn maintenance.
#62
I was a waitress. I had the flu. Fever, coughing, sneezing, everything. I called every single other server that worked at the restaurant to see if somebody could cover for me. BEGGING the entire phonebook. I distinctly remember this one guy saying "no, I have to babysit my sister." "Derp, your sister is 14. Why the hell to you have to babysit your 14-year-old sister." "It's stupid I know but I can't work." UGH. So I went to work. Managers wouldn't let me go home. They wouldn't say "oh, everybody else can take ONE more table each." No, they said "we'll cut you first." It was a Friday night or something. Nobody gets cut early on Friday night. Some part of me thought that I really needed that job, so I didn't just walk out there. I was really hoping to get a transfer to the one up by my college. The next morning, I talked to the GM and said that the other managers forced me to work there while I was feverish and clearly very ill. He said "I'm here right now and I have a fever of 101" with the oh-so-chipper tone of "why do you think you'd get to stay home just because you're sick, you lazy [jerk]." I walked out and that was the end of that.
TL;DR: never, ever eat at Chilis.
#63
When I was told (well, screamed at) for "not reading (his) mind". In front of my engineers.
Really, it should have been when I was asked to commit accounting fraud, though, so I got what was coming to me.
#64
When my boss told me that the reason he had been out of the office for 3 weeks earlier in the summer was because he was in jail, and that he wanted me to loan him $800 in order to avoid being evicted the next day.
#65
I actually just quit my job as a server. We got a new GM who didn't know what she was doing despite her "years of experience". She had me stay 3 hours later than I was supposed to because she had sent the wrong people home first, she told me to get things done that had obviously been done or didn't need to at all. The last straw was when she sent me home for not shaving when the previous week she had told me I looked fine the way I had it. Not the worst of stories but the little things can really set you off.
#66
My coworker called out all the rampant sexism in a cc all email and said her coworker only got the job because he had a [male reproductive organ] then walked out. It was kinda true.
#67
A bunch of little things, but the actual final straw was when I had a miscarriage. Individual colleagues I spoke to in confidence were wonderful - even including my boss who had a reputation for being an unforgiving [jerk].
But HR was *awful* about it, refusing my sick pay because the sick note wasn't detailed enough (it said I'd been admitted to the gynae ward ffs). I tidied up my CV while I lay on the sofa crying my eyes out and passing palm-sized clots. Returned to work in May, resigned in June, left in July.
#68
In a previous job I was an 'operator', basically a shop floor worker getting things done with the rest of the team, I was also the 'key op', so when our supervisor was on holiday I would step up a little and make sure everyone knew what they were doing as well as going to some of the daily meetings.
The company sacked my supervisor, for various reasons, and I was left to run the shift.
I done this for the best part of 6 months, and at no point did the company put out a job advert for the supervisor role, which I was waiting for so that I could apply.
An operator from another department came to see me one day, asking what it was like to work night shifts .... we were on a triple shift rotation, earlies, afternoons, nights .. he only done earlies and afternoons.
While chatting about night shifts, I asked him why, was he thinking of transferring to our department ... he replied that he was my new supervisor.
Needless to say I was pissed by this, went to a shift manager, ranted at them about not advertising the job and that I had been doing it for the last 6 months etc. etc. .... All they said was that this other guy had gone to them, asked if he could be the new supervisor and they said yes.
I handed my notice in there and then.
#69
I was a Sales manager and they changed a £20,000 bonus payment to be dependent on the performance of a different department which I had no control of...
#70
A junior left and we were pretty good colleagues so we spoke for like 3 hours under the pretence of training or handover or whatever, but in that call (she’d already alluded to loads of it) she spoke at some length at just how cheap the company was. For instance, she was asked to travel a good few hours by train to a meeting in an office that she wasn’t normally working at (multi office company), and the company wouldn’t foot any of the bill to get her there. She wasn’t making much as it was, and it was a drop in the ocean for the company, or so you’d think
That led to a very final straw of me eventually asking for a raise, getting told a pretty flat no mixed in with some bollocks about previous pay rises (although our fees had gone up massively since then), so I applied elsewhere and now have 25% more a month coming in - have to work in the office more and it’s a longer commute by a distance but I’m happy to have the wool unpulled.
#71
Company I was driving for began calling me around the clock and harassing me, constantly demanding that I drive the truck in a manner inconsistent with federal regulations. I told the responsible parties via Qualcomm to pound sand, and made sure to enumerate every illegal instruction that I'd received so that Corporate would see what was going on at the middle level. Got me called into the terminal manager's office, where I was threatened with termination for insubordination... so I put my key to the truck on the man's desk.
"Here's my 2 week notice, effective 2 weeks ago."
Look on the boss man's face was totally worth it... I don't think he'd ever come across a driver that was in a position to say "no" like that, even to the point of at-willing themselves. Needless to say, that company is still under investigation after a handful of anonymous reports to the alphabet soup agencies, and I had a new job before the end of the bus ride home.
#72
I came home. Mom (she'd been watching our kids) asked how my day went. I involuntarily started crying.
I knew I was uncomfortable, but this threw me off. I immediately called my boss to tell her I was done.
#73
My last boss asked us to email him 5 things we did that moved a project further to completion. However, for 6 weeks I worked on a job with the corporate office and their engineers. I dutifully sent in my 5 bullet-point email each week. My boss felt that my projects weren’t moving forward. Which was true, since they were all on hold while I worked with corporate.
Boss noted that my next performance review wasn’t going to be good, since I was neglecting my job. I turned in my retirement notice.
#74
Was finally able to hire someone competent and I had to give them to another department. Quite the following Monday.
#75
I was quite advanced in my career as a medical researcher. I took a new job to be closer to home. The person who hired me was fired 2 weeks later, so they didn't know what to do with me. They had me report to my new boss "U" who was notorious for being a truly horrible person. She didn't have work for me to do. One day she asked me to send some e-mails to our European colleagues (which our admin usually does.) I addressed one to "Doctor Professor X" instead of "Professor Doctor X" which I guess is a big deal in Europe. She came to my office SCREAMING and said from then on I was not allowed to send any e-mails to anyone. Gave my 2 weeks and found the best job ever immediately.
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