‘People Who Quit Their Jobs On The First Day, What Was Your “I’m Outta Here” Moment?’: 30 People Respond
The first day at work basically means little sleep, dressing in your nicest shirt, and pulling off your very best self that often overpromises and underdelivers when looking at it in retrospective. When all eyes are on you and your eyes are trying to figure out what you just got yourself into, the first day comes and goes like it never happened and fast forward to today, you got yourself stuck in one place for almost a decade (yep, my fellow millennials, we’re getting old.)
Unless you just got yourself into big trouble. And we all know very well that some jobs are exactly that. So when someone asked “What was your 'I’m outta here' moment?” on r/AskReddit, people who quit their job on the very first day at work had a lot to say. Take notes, kids, ‘cause you may be thankful for these red flags later in life.
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‘Salesman’ for Kirby vacuums. First sale call was to a single elderly woman who was supporting her son in hospital (they got us in the door by offering a free carpet clean as a demonstration). The supervisor training me pushed and pushed to make the sale until this old woman was in tears. Just as she was about to sign the paperwork I asked if she actually wanted to vacuum and she said it was lovely but she couldn’t afford it. I took the paperwork away from her and said not to worry. Outside I told the supervisor I quit to which he replied I would’ve been fired anyway. No love lost. I hung around for half an hour playing on my phone to make sure the supervisor left because he was a real piece of work.
On the first day of working at Amazon warehouse the managers broke down to Everyone how a 15 minute break works there. Walking to the break room is 2 1/2 minutes. 10 minutes of actual break and then 2 1/2 minutes to go back to your stations. It took me 2 1/2 minutes to walk to my car and I took a forever break.
Since the Covid started Amazon have become more popular than they were and since then I have heard a lot of bad things in the media about them. I help people into employment but I wouldn't recommend them!
See, I don't get this though. Every job I've ever worked, your break time starts when leave your desk/work area and stops when you get back 15 minutes later. So how is this any different? Why do they want extra time added on?
I've always wondered this too. And the day starts when you are at your desk, not walking in from the parking lot.
Load More Replies...Amazon's rules are nuts... the guy is making billions off the backs of people who can't even take a bathroom break without it putting behind in their quota. He needs to spend a month doing the job in the warehouse to learn some compassion. And if he hasn't got any by then...another month might do it. 🤣
This is NOT the first time I’ve heard about how Bezos allows employees to be treated. And when I explain to people why I avoid it and get a lot of flack over it. But I feel the same way about the precious stone business,. I would rather not wear a gem where fear and poverty are the mainstays. And no I am no better than anyone else in any way. This is just my personal belief structure,
I HATE Amazon and haven't ordered a thing from those orcs for many years! Bezos is the very personification of capitalist evil.
Load More Replies...that's how factories work too. You end up not leaving your station for break, and just sitting there during your break with your quickie sandwich you carried in your pocket
Every office in big cities w/big corps~~where staffer's goal is to land in mgmnt~~eat at their desks [Perhaps work overtime w/o pay]. Some employees are pigs & don't wash their hands b4 or after lunch & leave greasy keyboards/mice & invite roaches. Bosses should inspect their work areas & tell them to become civilized or get out. No one wants to work in a sty...w/colleagues who probably don't bathe or wash their hands after holding their dix in the washrooms, aaack!
Load More Replies...uhhh YEAH thats how EVERY business works! Not just amazon, Ive yet to work at a place where the break didnt start until i was sitting down. Oh yeah I get 30 mins in ten hours while you get 15 30 15 in 8 hours
That’s true but if it takes that long to leave the factory then maybe the break should be longer.
Load More Replies...When women get = pay, they can stop abusive employers. [More women are graduating college & grad school.] Until then, guys control the power. W/a name like "miss miss," you should lobby for = pay; women've been fighting for 55+ yrs & pried 19¢/hr. out of male bosses' tight fists [59¢/hr. in 1964]. It'll take another 55 yrs to get the last 21¢ [A PayScale report found that "women still make only 79¢ for each dollar men make in 2019."]. How much do guys still hate women when they have daughters, moms, wives, mistresses, sisters, gr'mas, aunts~~& accept paying them less?! Pigs.
Load More Replies...Don’t work for Amazon unless you honestly have absolutely ZERO other options. It will drain you mentally and physically to the point that you just don’t want to exist.
Worked there for 10 days. They yelled at you if you didn't go fast enough. Yelled if you were grouped together (waiting to be able to pick/pull bags). Some people did like it; better than their last job. 4 days in I started getting txt msg daily...Another one or two more people got Covid.
Load More Replies...Not just Amazon - Honda Canada Manufacturing also, and I'm sure many other large warehouse or industrial buildings as well.
Bezos stole the name from an independent bookstore in Minneapolis and sued them for using the name once he had deep enough pockets to make them settle.
You're dead right Sue. It's a shame that all the Amazon workers can't get together and stage a mass walk-out. Oh yeah, that's called being in a Union which Darth Bezos won't allow.
Load More Replies...I've read numerous times about this and other nightmares that happen working for Amazon. Shame, shame, SHAME on you Jeff Bezos!
All warehouses are like this. Same with the Linksys fulfillment center. No phones, metal detectors, 'riding bosses' walking around glaring. Horrible conditions.
If you can't get unionized [See Norma Rae film or read her book: Crystal Lee Sutton who unionized her plant in 1970s]~~demand an anonymous "Suggestion Box"...& start writing the 'glaring' bosses.
Load More Replies...Have you started a company? Tearing down is easy~~what have you got to replace/rebuild it with? Profanity is also easy...your brain doesn't have to move. Is that your contribution to the marketplace?
Load More Replies...Wherever you work, it takes time to get to the break room and back. You are expected to only be away from work for the 15 mins (or whatever the length of the break) This tends to confuse younger workers but they would have had no problem understanding this idea taking breaks in school
I work in a warehouse, not Amazon, and this is just how they operate. As all employees work off of computers we have to be logged back in exactly 15 min after we leave our stations. You get used to it. They also have us working 10 hour days 6 days a week. It's a brutal industry.
If you're willing to work 60-hr wks [This is SOP for executives, owners of (small) businesses, editors/writers who must read manuscripts after hours (spending all day w/authors, agents, indexers, designers, proofers, in production mtgs, &c], ensure you get time-&-1/2 after 40 hrs. That's the FED'l law. You go, grrrl!
Load More Replies...Like the place where I worked. They told us we could use our sick days, but each one we used would cost us a percentage off our next raise.
So they wanted you to come in when you were sick and make everyone around you sick as well?
Load More Replies...I worked somewhere for a while where the rule was that your break started as soon as you left your station, so if a customer intercepted you on your way to the break room, well tough, you're helping them on your lunch break. It was so stupid.
When a robot replaces you, it does no work when it's turned off. "Helping a customer en route to your lunch break" should make your heart happy...calculating every minute you're helping the company makes an unhappy employee. [Sure the boss must add up production time but s/he's gotta pay rent/utilities & meet payroll. All you hafta do is not have an attitude & produce results.]
Load More Replies...I worked at amazon before and the money is amazing like if you are in a pinch do it. However know when to get out don't get sucked into it
Meanwhile Jeff Bezos made billions of dollars and spent several hundred thousand of those keeping his workers from unionizing.
Get real. How d'ya think unions, 40-hr work wk, child labor laws were implemented? Spend more time on what you CAN do, not what you CAN'T do.
Load More Replies...Mgmnt usu have biz degrees. Their main concern is the bottom line~~not their employees' joy. Their boards would fire them if they didn't make a profit...so hearts & souls come AFTER blk income statements. [Red P&Ls mean red-hot fire, i.e., loss.]
Load More Replies...When I worked at Meijer (like a large Target) the time clock was by the break room so walking wasn't deducted. Shortly before I quit, they did start trying to prevent us from using the restroom before punching out. After I quit they started making the people on the opposite end of the store punch out at a closer time clock.
Shameful Meijer. But when employees start going to restrm at 4:45p or 4:50p, bosses do get mad. I worked at a place where the ladies' rm right before Crush Hr [at day's end] was full &, sometimes, had a line...& we had 8 stalls & 5 sinks!
Load More Replies...Unfortunately for many of us amazon is a necessity - like the sewer system. Now if my local stores would have taken the virus seriously (instead of placating the lunatics) I would be spending my money there... but it is their choice.
"Amazon is a necessity," said the lazy shopper. What did people do b4 Amazon? B4 online shopping? Did they socialize b4 cell phones? Did they call their kids at school twice a day from pay phones? C'mon, we're all taking the easy route & have become 48% morbidly obese. We can barely speak or write a complete sentence. Try living Less Is More...you'll be happier. Blame the virus on ONLY Oaf Trump who called Covid-19 a "hoax," said it'd be gone by Easter 2020 & promoted RXs, bleach & UV light shined inside bodies as cures. There's the corrupt, iliterit [sic] hideous a-hole who's got 1/2 million deaths on his hands [not counting long-haulers w/fuzzy brains]. Scold the dumbasses who voted for this know-nothing, vengeful hater.
Load More Replies...Amazon should care more about their image before they turn into Walmart. If I had to work there I’d just tell them that my breaks will be longer and that they’ll be fine and just need to stay calm. What else can you say?
we had the same sh1t , but it was more like 5 mins there and 5 mins back so 5 mins to eat and drink ,. i got sacked for taking 15 plus the 10 to walk there and back , why put the break room so far away ?
Break rms are usu loud~~so they're designed far from working areas. [I lived above one in luxury apt bldg & demanded to move to another apt within 6 mos.] Also odor of coffee [some don't drink it & detest smell] & microwaved food stinks up other people's work space/offices. Popcorn smell is the worst if one must smell it several times every day. If workers would talk low, that's one solution [Break rm could be moved closer~~switch VP's office & make her/him walk far]. The other option is DEMAND more than one break rm...that would ensure quieter yakking that bosses could tolerate. Old people don't go to rock concerts~~can't stand the noise [altho they went when they were young] & most bosses are middle aged or older.
Load More Replies...Leave religion out, too many Gen Z & Millennial atheists find that prays don't work [same odds as gambling] & neither does dreaming that your boss will understand when you're late or lazy. You should be happy to produce. That's how you get raises/promotions.
Load More Replies... My very first job was at a little drive in restaurant close to my high school. I showed up to work the first day, the lady said I had to pay her $50 for training. She showed me around the place and said that my pay would be $4.50/hour as a carhop(this was in 2010), and all the tips I made went into a bucket with all the other girls’ tips. At the end of the night, she counted up tips, kept 20% for herself and split the rest up evenly among EVERY employee. Also, part of our job was one day a week we had to spend 4 hours cleaning her house. It seemed super shady.
I literally left after listening to her go over all these rules. My dad was pissed until I explained, and another girl confirmed and my dad agreed I did the right thing.
Pay her for training, and all the rest? Sounds like she learned from ABC Baking Company.
When the microwave in the lunch room was coin activated.
This is gonna get buried, but walking into an Alzheimer's assisted living facility, and seeing my college philosophy professor (who was an inspiring individual for me and changed how l viewed things), sitting in a chair in the Day Room, drooling on himself. I checked with the Head on Duty, and yeah... It was him.
I avoided him as much as I could for the whole day, but when leaving, I told him that he inspired me and I probably wouldn't ever see him again. He was far gone and asked about his slippers.
I left, sat in my car, had a smoke and cried. I didn't go back and found another job.
I went into orientation for a new job as truck driver. Obviously you know you will be away from home but this was shi*ty.
Out on the road 30 days at a time, then only 36 hours, or 1.5 days at home.
You only work 6 out of 7 days. So 4 of those days you just sit at the truck stop unable to move. And not getting paid.
Can't bring a pet of any type.
So I would only be home 18 days a year. On the road for 347 days a year, and unpaid for 52 of them. The no pets rule was the final straw for me. I will not be out 30 days alone with no little friend to keep me sane.
I noped out of there.
Worked in a hotel for a day.
No one told me where anything was. Got chewed out for it.
Guests enjoying their meals told me to pay no mind/I was doing a good job and that my boss is a c**t.
I told the manager that I was quitting and wouldn't be doing the next shift.
I arrived the next day, returning a work uniform and my supervisor approached me and yelled at me for being late. I told her I already quit but if i was working, technically I was 5 hours early for my shift.
Absolute nutcases.
I was hired at a chain restaurant to be a hostess. I was so excited because my last job was washing dishes and because of my eczema, I had to quit. It was too painful to do that job. So, I arrived at my new job dressed up to be a hostess and those mfers took me back to the kitchen to do dishes because the dishwasher just quit. I noped out of there real fast!
I was a cashier at this cafeteria for a large company in my town. The people that worked at the company would put their tips in a bucket and the people made a lot of money so there was like 10s and 20s. The manager of the cafe wouldn’t let me have any of tips because she said that cashiers couldn’t be trusted so she would ship the tip money to a church in El Paso. I immediately knew that this was a load of bullsh*t and I just never went back. It’s also illegal (I think) to collect money for one thing but do something else with it without disclosing who/what it is for.
There was a scam going on here in the UK where tips were collected but the managers kept it. This went viral on the news.
Gas station. The manager gave me a weird vibe. I made it through the first day but didn't go back.. Found out later he cornered another girl in the back of the store and she had to fight her way out. Trust your gut.
Fkn w**nker. Pour petrol over him and set fire. But then no smoking in the gas station.
A long time ago, not long after getting my papers as a chef I had an interview at a hotel for a position in the kitchen. The Executive Chef and I chatted in his office for about 20 mins, at the time I remember him coming off as very arrogant which is quite common in this field, I didn't think much of it at the time as the pay was decent and the shift was what I wanted. As I was leaving his office I turned to leave through the dining room (the way I had come in) which was closed at the time it was another hour or so before service started and he says to me "No not that way, go through the kitchen, you're not good enough to go through the dining room." I was so surprised by what he said, I just did what he asked without a word. Later on after I had got home I phoned him up and said that after having a close look I decided that his menu wasn't good enough and that I wouldn't be accepting his offer.
Applied for a job at my longtime favorite restaurant(celebrated my birthday there every year).
Owner asks me to come in for basically a try out, as I communicated i was looking at other job possibilities. I come in and they just stick me on dishwashing for an hour, no biggie. Then there dishwasher doesnt show up, so the kitchen manager asks me to stay one for their lunch rush, saya I'll get paid for the hours. I do, kitchen staff was nice so I was happy to help out even though i figured i'd be taking a different job. I fill out a time card at the end of the shift and tell the manager I probably wouldnt be back, he understands and thanks me for the help.
Fast forward a couple weeks and he tells me to email the owner after I ask him if i should pick up my measly paycheck. I do, she basically tells me to f**k off over text. Tells me it was "staging" and that she told me i wouldnt be paid, I respond that I understand that but that I stayed an extra 3 hours which I WAS told i'd be paid for. She stops responding, I decide I want to be petty over the 40 bucks so I get the statw labor department involved, dude goes in there and makes her pay me for the hours including the first "staging" hour. Couple weeks later I got my 40 bucks, never went back to that restaurant.
Firstly, "petty" is not how I see it two years later. Im VERY glad I did this and sharing the story with others in my city I learned this practice was very common with local restaurants. Hopefully others learned to stand up for their labor too from my small experience.
Secondly, this restaurant closed down a couple weeks after I got that paycheck. The owner made a long winded complaint on the FB page about how the food culture had "changed" in the city and her restaurant didnt fit in anymore (total bullsh*t, they were ALWAYS popular. Most people theorized the terrible mismanagement and employee abuse had caught up to her).
1- its not about pettiness its about principle. 2- if she/he didn't pay up then i would of ordered 40 bucks of goods then just walk out without paying.
I technically quit before my first day. I got hired at a well known gift store. I was hired with the understanding that I would work Saturdays, Sundays , and a grand total of 8 hours a week (so two 4 hour shifts). Also at minimum wage. Not a problem with me, done that before, I would just pick up a part time job for rest of the week. Nope, apparently that wasn't allowed. The manager thought that was a horrible thing and "disrespectful" to her. I should only work for them and only them and I should have better control over my money if I can't survive on $64 a week before taxes..... Yeah, didn't show up cause f**k that noise. She called pissed off that I wouldn't show up to such a opportunity.
They hired me to work full time. I had interviewed to work full time. I was trying to quit a horrible job, and this job was on the other end of town. I needed enough money for the bus pass, and to make up the difference and more of quitting my old job. They hired me and showed me my schedule. I showed up for my first day, things are going good, then my manager called me in, sat me down, and explained that they'd have to cut me down to 15 hours a week because they'd hired too many f**king people. I explained, painfully, that I had to take a bus an hour each way and wouldn't be able to pay rent or food after that. He said I could always hold out and hope people quit. I told him he could start with me, took off my apron and stormed out in tears.
Sounds like a bait and switch. He never intended for any new hires to be full time, so he could get out of paying benefits.
It was a waitress gig for a local restaurant. I finished my first day, then was told that training would continue for six weeks. While I was in training, all of the tips I got had to be given to my trainer. I was being paid less than $2 an hour.
I called the next day and said it wasn't gonna work out.
I was a waitress, the only waitress, at a just opened diner. The boss didn't have me sign any paperwork. Everything was under the table. But that wasn't what made me quit at the end of the night. In order to get me where he wanted me to go, he would pinch my skirt at my upper thigh, not quite the butt but very close, and pull me around like it was a leash. Needed me in the kitchen? Rather than call me. He would come out, pinch my skirt and pull to the kitchen. Needed me at the cash machine? Again, come over to where ever I was, didn't matter if I was serving a customer, and would grab my skirt to pull me. That act in itself, made some customers uncomfortable. Mind you, one couple left an almost 50% tip in the end. But I think it was more out of pity and embarrassment on my behalf. I was supposed to come in the next day but I called that night and said the job wasn't for me. I came in a couple days later to turn in my apron and he just took a wad of cash out of his pocket and paid me then and there. God, he was creepy. I think it was a smart move to quit.
Anyone pinch me like that would soon be with broken fingers. That’s awful
Went into an Italian restaurant for my first day of work and I got 3 red flags on the very first day.
1- The manager said he had lots of hours for me and getting shifts would be no problem. Every single other employee told me that they were struggling for hours and that they had no idea why they hired me.
2- Everyone said the manager was an assh*le. Even the customers.
3- It was my first day there, and I actually had to teach the woman training me how to do one or two things.
Had an orientation for an alarm company. Next day manager calls and says don't worry about going into the office and to meet at "Planet Hollywood" they like to get to know the employees better over lunch.
Next day I go into the office and another employee whom I had not met says "You must be "Scandal929." I was like "ha"?
They responded "Light skinned, pretty boy” is how the manager described me.
In same conversation I found out no one else had ever been invited for a "get to know you" lunch.
I'm out!
Not my first day, but my second. Fellow coworker touched me and I said "please don't touch me, it makes me uncomfortable" and he proceeded to step closer and said to our manager "hey, Joey, touch her she doesn't like it" Managers eyes got so big and he told the idiot that he could be fired and sued for sexual harassment. I didn't go back. It was my first job, I was 15.
Elbow to the face. BAM!!! To say that to the manager too he must of been a right muppet!
I met a landscaping crew at a 50 acre cemetery at 8:00am. The pay was just $5/hr cash (in 2001), but my hours at Pizza Hut had been cut and I wanted to make a little money before going off to college.
After 3 hours straight of weedeating I couldn’t feel my hands. I was filthy and hot af. It was miserable. I was 18 and headed to a prestigious school in 2 months, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze, as they say.
At lunch I told the guy “Hey man, I’m just gonna go home and I’m not coming back.” And he had a totally awesome response “No problem, I wouldn’t want to do this sh*t at your age either, I’ll pay you for the time you worked and drop it off at your house.” $20 showed up about a week later.
I hope life is going good Mr. Sterly.
$5/hr was still not very much in 2001. It’s probably like $7.50/hr now.
At least he had the decency to address you properly but in your shoes i would be dying to get out of there too. Sounded like a dead end job.
I interviewed for a “professional marketing assistant” and got the job straight away. I was under the impression that I would be an assistant to the man I was interviewed by. When I showed up for my first day, the same waiting room I was in the previous day was FULL of people. I quickly learned that we were all hired, and that I would be a door to door salesperson selling some pretty useless s**t.
I spent my entire day inside a Starbucks applying for other jobs and went home, got paid, but never went back.
Fast food chain: I was 17.
I found out during training that the place had been robbed 3 times in the past month and 1 employee was seriously injured.
Not worth the $5/hr.
Unless it was Fatburger, please do not use Fatburger in the photo. It is a sacred institution. Fat Fries Forever! Extra extra crisp!
I answered an ad for a baby sitting job. I was already working on a casual basis but it was sporadic so I thought some after hours baby sitting would be welcome extra cash. The couple were both in the military and proceeded to tell me that I would be staying in the spare room and looking after their 6 mth old child around the clock as well as doing the housework. I would have one day off every two weeks. They said it is cash in hand so I could sign onto the dole (unemployment benifit) to make up the rest of the money. I left on the spot. They wanted a live in housemaid and nanny not a baby sitter and they were not able to pay for one. Why they thought it was up to me to illegally collect the dole to subsidise them I don't know.
Started a new job unloading shipping containers and was told they had to be empty by midday, this was imperative because a new one was going to arrive in the early afternoon
It was a two man job if we both worked our asses off to get it done
Boss says 'uh also your offsider is off work today, you will need to get this cleared'
I just walked out.
I got a job at a Build A Bear knockoff at the end of a mall that wasn't very busy. My interview with the owners was interesting. They were an older couple who said that they had wanted to open a Chick Fil A, but you need about a million dollars to do that. My first day, one other girl was working, and she didn't really talk to me. I had basically no training and she disappeared into the back. I was standing at the register area, which was underneath a giant storybook mushroom. A mother and her young son walk in and start to look at the bear skin options. I greeted them and left them to look around. They ended up leaving after a couple minutes and my coworker reappeared from the back with the cordless phone and handed it to me. It was my boss. He told me that when a customer walks in, he wants me to come out from under the mushroom to them ("come OUT! from the mushroom!"). After he finished speaking to me, I hung up and went to my coworker and asked about the phone call. She said the place has cameras set up and the owners watch them from their house and call in a lot. I did not come back to work after that day.
If they have the time to be watching you on camera, they have time to train you properly…
It was a petrol station and the manager wanted me to work for free until I had learned their computer systems to what he deemed a satisfactory extent. I agreed to do it, because I needed a job, and he brought me in at 7am on my first day, however he was not present to go through the training with me, so I was just standing around kind of helping out on the forecourt but not really knowing what I should be doing. Not learning anything. After about an hour and a half without the manager showing up or anyone training me on anything, I decided that I wasn't going to continue to be taken advantage of and told the cashier to pass on the message to the manager that I had quit.
I think that was the plan. You go in do a bit of work for free then leave. How many other people has he done this to?
Not me but I was training a new lifeguard. After our shift was mandatory staff training for our entire crew, where we practice rescues. Once she found out we actually had to practice and go in the water, she just...walked out. Not really sure what kind of job she thought she had signed up for.
Evidently she just thought she’d sit on the lifeguard stand and get paid for sunbathing, not rescuing people who were drowning.
Young and naïve right out of college took a “marketing” job. My interview was great, nothing shady seemed to be going on and no immediate red flags. After 4 hours of training, my first day consisted of going door to door in a suburban town trying to sell cable to older people. We were told to dress for business, so I’m hiking around for miles in my best skirt, suit jacket and heels. Hours were from “9-5” but we didn’t get back to the business until well after 10pm. Not to mention, the person I was shadowing was able to make a sale to an older gentleman who seemed to have memory issues. I noped the f**k right out of there.
Damn right. Good for you! Its amazing if people break company rules they are punished. If the company breaks the rules you don't even get an apology.
It was my first day at five guys, it was around 10:30 PM and they told me it was time to clock out, despite not having finished closing. I then worked until almost midnight. I did not return.
It’s called time theft, and many employers have ended up having to reimburse their employees for every unpaid second—-all the way back to the first time it happened, no matter how long ago it was.
Took a summer job at a textile plant and the trainer said, "Forget about taking a break if you want to stay caught up."
" I will be sending you a TEXT I'LL be leaving so forget about paying me if i'm not here. BYE"
Note: this post originally had 83 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
To the young folk here in the USA: know that you have rights as an employee, no matter your age or the job. The Department of Labor (DOL) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are there to protect you, and in most cases they will if there's a legitimate concern. DO NOT let the employer decide what's legitimate, contact OSHA or the DOL and ask them when you experience a problem. If your employer is pooling and splitting tips, unfortunately this is legal in many places, but double check. If your employer is taking a cut of the tips for themselves, or outright taking the tips, this is ILLEGAL in all areas (to the best of my knowledge). If you're paid Alternate Minimum Wage, and your tips do not make up the difference to get you to full minimum wage, then your employer is legally REQUIRED to make up the difference. If your employer expects you to do work off the clock, this is ILLEGAL. DEFEND YOURSELVES, BECAUSE IT HELPS EVERYONE
A few years ago, I got a side job restocking the shelves at a large grocery store nearby. About two weeks in, my boss informed me that a different store was low on employees and asked if I'd mind helping out over there. Sure, no problem. So we made a schedule for me: I'd work at the other store from 10 to 2, then return to my regular one and stay there till 11. I agreed and turned at on the other store at 10 o'clock. I worked until about 1:30, then informed the guy in charge that I'd have to leave soon. Since there was still a lot of work to do, he decided to call my boss and asked if I could stay a little longer. Sure enough, he comes back and informs me that I can stay in the other store and work there until 11. I did, and after my work was over, I fetched my stuff, looked at my phone... and found a bunch of angry messages from my boss. There hadn't been a phone call. The guy literally pretended to call my boss and lied to me so I'd finish his work for him.
I didn't quit but took my complaint to my union. I was 22 and working for the Dept. of Labor in DC and was a data entry clerk. Our office had those low cubicles, just a computer on your desk, not even a phone, one phone was in the middle of the room for us all to share. Bosses decided that Nate was abusing the phone to call his girlfriend so put a lock on it where you had to ask for a key to use it. This felt juvenile and disrespectful. Took it to the union and that and many other abusive behaviors (timing our bathroom usage) were stopped. Bosses didn't like me after that, what did I care? I was 22 and didn't give a f.
I enjoyed this one. Well done to all those that walked out and well done for sharing your experiences. I'm sure this has inspired others that are in their s***ty little jobs. Some managers bang on as though it is the only company in the world and that you should be grateful for it. Remember this - Your sanity is more important than money!
Took a job in a soap factory. Was told to wait in the "lunch room" which was an old storage cupboard with one table and one chair. Went out onto the factory floor and the first thing I saw was a fork-lift truck wheel spinning in the two inches of soap that covered the floor. Worked for a couple of hours and then needed the bathroom. The bathroom door was buried behind a giant pile of boxes that I had to move to get in. There was no soap in the bathroom of a soap factory. When my first break came I called another temp agency and took the first job they offered me. Then I walked up to my supervisor and told him I quit. He shouted abuse at me as I walked out. When I got home my agency rep for that job was on the phone screaming blue murder at me because the supervisor had fired all the other temps after I walked out. Said he was going to blacklist me and I'd never get another agency job. The next day he called me back to apologise after doing a surprise inspection at the factory.
It was the first day on the job after training. It was door to door subscription sales (not the type of sales/retail I had ever done before ) but I was in that weird age bracket of too young for this position too old for that, so took anything I could get. Day one knocked on a door and a young lady with Down Syndrome came to the screen door (it was summer the main door was open) she said hi to me, and I said hi back but in seconds her parents (elderly, so I have no real knowledge of the ladies exact age) came to the door yanked her away and slammed the door. I would not have speeled her, I was just returning her own greeting at that point. However on walking away I hear her being yelled at by her parents, and my heart broke, the idea that I had caused such a thing to happen because of a dumb job was a huge no, I called the supervisor that drove us out to locations and said I quit, he tried so hard to get me to stay as I had so much sales experience but I would never forget that feeling
I accepted a job as Manager at fast fashion store. The first day, the district manager and the company's ceo were introducing me to the store and staff, some of whom were lgbtq+, and during the course of the day started using slurs against gay men. I left and didn't return, wrote and let them know why. I was disgusted.
Back on the 90s I got a job at a TV VCR repair shop. A friend recommended me and I spoke with the owner, a woman over the phone. When I turned up the first day, the women, in her 40s, was dressed like a wh***. Short skirt, a tight blouse that hid nothing. She was quite podgy so all of her was everyway. Anyway after the initial shock I got stuck in with the TVs. An hour in she came a sat next to me and asked me to explain what I was doing leaning over, touching me on the leg as she spoke. She explained that she had just got devorced because her husband, who used to fix the TVs had left her for a younger woman. By this time I could clearly see she was not wearing underwear, she also made it very clear that she was part of the benefits of the job. In the end I felt sorry for her, she obviously had very low self esteem after her husband left her and had no idea how to run the business.
I am nearly 80 and have had a lot of jobs over the years. This article shows that some things never change.
I took a job at a day care where the owner's daughter also worked, and had an infant son. The kid was in the room I was hired for, but he was generally always out of the room with his mom. Mom covered me for my break, and when I came back to the room, she was sitting on the floor with her kid, while a pair of twins were sitting on the other side of the room playing in a dirty diaper. I noped TF out of there.
I worked at a Ricky's restaurant in murrayville. The owner was a real pos. Promised me that after I was a hostess for a while he would promote me to a waitress. Well fast forward 6 months a waitress position opened and the creep hired someone else from a resume pile them told me I was too good of a hostess to promote. Not to mention once he took my lunch and hid it on me so I'd have to buy from his restaurant among other things. A busy long weekend was about to happen so I waited for my Friday shift showed up 2 hours late and slammed my uniform on the counter and said loudly "I quit! You're absolutely terrible to work for! My manager stood there with bug eyes and stammered "you can't quit it's rush hour!!!". And I said "watch me" and walked out. As I did the customers clapped lol
I worked for a company that hired engineers for managers. They were told on their first day by the non-engineers that they would only have to work half-days on their job for regular 40 hours per week pay rate. It took most of them over a week on the job to figure out that the hiring team meant 12 hour days, six days a week when they said "half-days". After all, there are 24 hours in a day, aren't there? So a half-day is legitimately 12 hours. They were told that they were salaried engineers, so they company was not required to pay for their overtime. Fun job!
In the 90s, I had just earned my college degree and went for a job at a local office looking to hire an office manager. The place was bizarre. There were two rooms, the large front room with rows of open-front desks facing at an odd angle and an office where the man who owned the place worked. Women looking like something out of the 50s were typing away at the desks. I went into his office for the interview and immediately felt like I wanted to just run away. He was seriously creepy. After the interview, as I exited his office, I realized why the open-front desks were angled oddly - it was so they faced his office door. He only hired women and they were required to wear short skirts and heels. He said, "See you Monday" and I said, "No, thank you."
Long long time ago as a college student I was sent by a temp agency to work in a bank counting bonds. This was precomputer age . I was given a rubber thumb and was seated at a desk covered with stacks of bonds. I may have been young but I looked around and said I am outta here...i wasnt there more than 5 min
I started a job at a cafe. Didn't quit the first day but the first week. All was going fine, I was good, customers liked me. One day my supervisor comes and tells me that the manager wants me to wear makeup. I don't own makeup. She was very angry with him. We discussed it a bit. Next day I wore full makeup. My sister did it for me. Found the manager and told him that women didn't fight for years for their rights so he can ask me to wear makeup in his stupid little cafe. Also mentioned that I can report them and then left. For a month or so they were calling me to go back. I never did. They had 0 benefits and were paying something like €4.50. Found myself a job that pays €7 per hour with two offs, 13th and 14th salary and medical insurance(even though I am fully covered by social insurance). Later I learned that the supervisor left because of this. She just didn't agree with it, they never asked her to wear makeup.
Restaurant managers have always been crappy employers. They are generally shady, mean, petty people who either expect free work or "benefits" out of young naive wait staff.
my husband quit a job at a small engine repair shop. they told him that when people brought in their lawn mowers that were out of gas, NEVER tell them that! tell them it was wiring, compression, or something more costly, and that YOU FIXED IT. he walked out. people disgust me!
got a job at a factory where they made envelopes and applied the glue to the flaps. 15 minutes into my tour of the place and getting to my work station, i was so high from the fumes i couldn't see straight! i told them, you can keep my 15 minutes of wages, i am outta here! walked out and never looked back....smart even as a teen, before OSHA
Does it count if I left during the interview, without being hired? I went for a bar job (both tending bar and waiting on tables), and after getting around a small hurdle of needing to providing my own uniform, I was told I could come in for two hours for a trial run to see how I got on. "We won't throw you into the deep end right away", said the manager. "Great, that's a relief.", I responded. "So how does Saturday between 6 and 8pm sound?", he asked. "No deep end, huh?", I thought before thanking him for suggesting I work the busiest time of the night in a role I'd never done before, and leaving.
When I first graduated high school, I took a job at a steel plant. Steel plants were the main employers in my hometown, but this wasn’t one of the big, unionized companies. There wasn’t any real training. The first job I was assigned was taking industrial washers off an assembly line, making piles of 25, bending a piece of rebar to seal them, and putting the pile on a pallet. It went pretty fast. I really couldn’t keep up. Before long, it resembled that candy episode of I Love Lucy. It sucked, but that’s not why I quit. The guy across from me cut his arm pretty badly on the sheet metal cutter in the morning. The manager literally wrapped his arm in a towel and sent him back to work. Later on, he cut his arm again. This time he went to the hospital. (He had to punch out first. They wouldn’t pay him for the time.) I was asked to take over his station since I wasn’t keeping up at mine. I just walked out the bay doors and went back to school in September.
Started college and got a job. Fast food with a drive thru. Showed up, put on terrible uniform and was told to do the drive thru. Never trained me, showed me nothing. Saturday morning, it was swamped because I had no training. People pissed, everyone pissed. Went in to office to see manager, can I have help? He was sitting with his feet on his desk reading the funnies. I threw my hat at him and said I quit . He was baffled.
My mom saw me and cried. She didn't want me to work.
Load More Replies...Your Colgate ad blocking the article.... Will never buy another Colgate in my life!!!
16 my first ever job as a caissière at the local supermarket. 5 of the staff members were arguing about who would be the one of showing me the ropes. After 40 minutes of them arguing about it I told them not to bother. And went home.
I went to an Aflac group interview where basically if you went and interested you were hired. The job was 100% commission and you had to call up businesses and basically go door to door business to business. I was the only one who was like nope not for me.
To the young folk here in the USA: know that you have rights as an employee, no matter your age or the job. The Department of Labor (DOL) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are there to protect you, and in most cases they will if there's a legitimate concern. DO NOT let the employer decide what's legitimate, contact OSHA or the DOL and ask them when you experience a problem. If your employer is pooling and splitting tips, unfortunately this is legal in many places, but double check. If your employer is taking a cut of the tips for themselves, or outright taking the tips, this is ILLEGAL in all areas (to the best of my knowledge). If you're paid Alternate Minimum Wage, and your tips do not make up the difference to get you to full minimum wage, then your employer is legally REQUIRED to make up the difference. If your employer expects you to do work off the clock, this is ILLEGAL. DEFEND YOURSELVES, BECAUSE IT HELPS EVERYONE
A few years ago, I got a side job restocking the shelves at a large grocery store nearby. About two weeks in, my boss informed me that a different store was low on employees and asked if I'd mind helping out over there. Sure, no problem. So we made a schedule for me: I'd work at the other store from 10 to 2, then return to my regular one and stay there till 11. I agreed and turned at on the other store at 10 o'clock. I worked until about 1:30, then informed the guy in charge that I'd have to leave soon. Since there was still a lot of work to do, he decided to call my boss and asked if I could stay a little longer. Sure enough, he comes back and informs me that I can stay in the other store and work there until 11. I did, and after my work was over, I fetched my stuff, looked at my phone... and found a bunch of angry messages from my boss. There hadn't been a phone call. The guy literally pretended to call my boss and lied to me so I'd finish his work for him.
I didn't quit but took my complaint to my union. I was 22 and working for the Dept. of Labor in DC and was a data entry clerk. Our office had those low cubicles, just a computer on your desk, not even a phone, one phone was in the middle of the room for us all to share. Bosses decided that Nate was abusing the phone to call his girlfriend so put a lock on it where you had to ask for a key to use it. This felt juvenile and disrespectful. Took it to the union and that and many other abusive behaviors (timing our bathroom usage) were stopped. Bosses didn't like me after that, what did I care? I was 22 and didn't give a f.
I enjoyed this one. Well done to all those that walked out and well done for sharing your experiences. I'm sure this has inspired others that are in their s***ty little jobs. Some managers bang on as though it is the only company in the world and that you should be grateful for it. Remember this - Your sanity is more important than money!
Took a job in a soap factory. Was told to wait in the "lunch room" which was an old storage cupboard with one table and one chair. Went out onto the factory floor and the first thing I saw was a fork-lift truck wheel spinning in the two inches of soap that covered the floor. Worked for a couple of hours and then needed the bathroom. The bathroom door was buried behind a giant pile of boxes that I had to move to get in. There was no soap in the bathroom of a soap factory. When my first break came I called another temp agency and took the first job they offered me. Then I walked up to my supervisor and told him I quit. He shouted abuse at me as I walked out. When I got home my agency rep for that job was on the phone screaming blue murder at me because the supervisor had fired all the other temps after I walked out. Said he was going to blacklist me and I'd never get another agency job. The next day he called me back to apologise after doing a surprise inspection at the factory.
It was the first day on the job after training. It was door to door subscription sales (not the type of sales/retail I had ever done before ) but I was in that weird age bracket of too young for this position too old for that, so took anything I could get. Day one knocked on a door and a young lady with Down Syndrome came to the screen door (it was summer the main door was open) she said hi to me, and I said hi back but in seconds her parents (elderly, so I have no real knowledge of the ladies exact age) came to the door yanked her away and slammed the door. I would not have speeled her, I was just returning her own greeting at that point. However on walking away I hear her being yelled at by her parents, and my heart broke, the idea that I had caused such a thing to happen because of a dumb job was a huge no, I called the supervisor that drove us out to locations and said I quit, he tried so hard to get me to stay as I had so much sales experience but I would never forget that feeling
I accepted a job as Manager at fast fashion store. The first day, the district manager and the company's ceo were introducing me to the store and staff, some of whom were lgbtq+, and during the course of the day started using slurs against gay men. I left and didn't return, wrote and let them know why. I was disgusted.
Back on the 90s I got a job at a TV VCR repair shop. A friend recommended me and I spoke with the owner, a woman over the phone. When I turned up the first day, the women, in her 40s, was dressed like a wh***. Short skirt, a tight blouse that hid nothing. She was quite podgy so all of her was everyway. Anyway after the initial shock I got stuck in with the TVs. An hour in she came a sat next to me and asked me to explain what I was doing leaning over, touching me on the leg as she spoke. She explained that she had just got devorced because her husband, who used to fix the TVs had left her for a younger woman. By this time I could clearly see she was not wearing underwear, she also made it very clear that she was part of the benefits of the job. In the end I felt sorry for her, she obviously had very low self esteem after her husband left her and had no idea how to run the business.
I am nearly 80 and have had a lot of jobs over the years. This article shows that some things never change.
I took a job at a day care where the owner's daughter also worked, and had an infant son. The kid was in the room I was hired for, but he was generally always out of the room with his mom. Mom covered me for my break, and when I came back to the room, she was sitting on the floor with her kid, while a pair of twins were sitting on the other side of the room playing in a dirty diaper. I noped TF out of there.
I worked at a Ricky's restaurant in murrayville. The owner was a real pos. Promised me that after I was a hostess for a while he would promote me to a waitress. Well fast forward 6 months a waitress position opened and the creep hired someone else from a resume pile them told me I was too good of a hostess to promote. Not to mention once he took my lunch and hid it on me so I'd have to buy from his restaurant among other things. A busy long weekend was about to happen so I waited for my Friday shift showed up 2 hours late and slammed my uniform on the counter and said loudly "I quit! You're absolutely terrible to work for! My manager stood there with bug eyes and stammered "you can't quit it's rush hour!!!". And I said "watch me" and walked out. As I did the customers clapped lol
I worked for a company that hired engineers for managers. They were told on their first day by the non-engineers that they would only have to work half-days on their job for regular 40 hours per week pay rate. It took most of them over a week on the job to figure out that the hiring team meant 12 hour days, six days a week when they said "half-days". After all, there are 24 hours in a day, aren't there? So a half-day is legitimately 12 hours. They were told that they were salaried engineers, so they company was not required to pay for their overtime. Fun job!
In the 90s, I had just earned my college degree and went for a job at a local office looking to hire an office manager. The place was bizarre. There were two rooms, the large front room with rows of open-front desks facing at an odd angle and an office where the man who owned the place worked. Women looking like something out of the 50s were typing away at the desks. I went into his office for the interview and immediately felt like I wanted to just run away. He was seriously creepy. After the interview, as I exited his office, I realized why the open-front desks were angled oddly - it was so they faced his office door. He only hired women and they were required to wear short skirts and heels. He said, "See you Monday" and I said, "No, thank you."
Long long time ago as a college student I was sent by a temp agency to work in a bank counting bonds. This was precomputer age . I was given a rubber thumb and was seated at a desk covered with stacks of bonds. I may have been young but I looked around and said I am outta here...i wasnt there more than 5 min
I started a job at a cafe. Didn't quit the first day but the first week. All was going fine, I was good, customers liked me. One day my supervisor comes and tells me that the manager wants me to wear makeup. I don't own makeup. She was very angry with him. We discussed it a bit. Next day I wore full makeup. My sister did it for me. Found the manager and told him that women didn't fight for years for their rights so he can ask me to wear makeup in his stupid little cafe. Also mentioned that I can report them and then left. For a month or so they were calling me to go back. I never did. They had 0 benefits and were paying something like €4.50. Found myself a job that pays €7 per hour with two offs, 13th and 14th salary and medical insurance(even though I am fully covered by social insurance). Later I learned that the supervisor left because of this. She just didn't agree with it, they never asked her to wear makeup.
Restaurant managers have always been crappy employers. They are generally shady, mean, petty people who either expect free work or "benefits" out of young naive wait staff.
my husband quit a job at a small engine repair shop. they told him that when people brought in their lawn mowers that were out of gas, NEVER tell them that! tell them it was wiring, compression, or something more costly, and that YOU FIXED IT. he walked out. people disgust me!
got a job at a factory where they made envelopes and applied the glue to the flaps. 15 minutes into my tour of the place and getting to my work station, i was so high from the fumes i couldn't see straight! i told them, you can keep my 15 minutes of wages, i am outta here! walked out and never looked back....smart even as a teen, before OSHA
Does it count if I left during the interview, without being hired? I went for a bar job (both tending bar and waiting on tables), and after getting around a small hurdle of needing to providing my own uniform, I was told I could come in for two hours for a trial run to see how I got on. "We won't throw you into the deep end right away", said the manager. "Great, that's a relief.", I responded. "So how does Saturday between 6 and 8pm sound?", he asked. "No deep end, huh?", I thought before thanking him for suggesting I work the busiest time of the night in a role I'd never done before, and leaving.
When I first graduated high school, I took a job at a steel plant. Steel plants were the main employers in my hometown, but this wasn’t one of the big, unionized companies. There wasn’t any real training. The first job I was assigned was taking industrial washers off an assembly line, making piles of 25, bending a piece of rebar to seal them, and putting the pile on a pallet. It went pretty fast. I really couldn’t keep up. Before long, it resembled that candy episode of I Love Lucy. It sucked, but that’s not why I quit. The guy across from me cut his arm pretty badly on the sheet metal cutter in the morning. The manager literally wrapped his arm in a towel and sent him back to work. Later on, he cut his arm again. This time he went to the hospital. (He had to punch out first. They wouldn’t pay him for the time.) I was asked to take over his station since I wasn’t keeping up at mine. I just walked out the bay doors and went back to school in September.
Started college and got a job. Fast food with a drive thru. Showed up, put on terrible uniform and was told to do the drive thru. Never trained me, showed me nothing. Saturday morning, it was swamped because I had no training. People pissed, everyone pissed. Went in to office to see manager, can I have help? He was sitting with his feet on his desk reading the funnies. I threw my hat at him and said I quit . He was baffled.
My mom saw me and cried. She didn't want me to work.
Load More Replies...Your Colgate ad blocking the article.... Will never buy another Colgate in my life!!!
16 my first ever job as a caissière at the local supermarket. 5 of the staff members were arguing about who would be the one of showing me the ropes. After 40 minutes of them arguing about it I told them not to bother. And went home.
I went to an Aflac group interview where basically if you went and interested you were hired. The job was 100% commission and you had to call up businesses and basically go door to door business to business. I was the only one who was like nope not for me.