When something extremely aggravating happens at work, the sudden urge to quit is strong; and, likely, familiar to many. But while some people manage to calm themselves down—bearing strength and patience from sources yet unknown—others decide it’s not worth it and quit on the spot. Even if it’s the middle of the shift.
Whether it's toxic company culture, poor management—reportedly two of the main reasons employees say “I’ve had enough”—or other troublesome circumstances, quite a few people have seemingly quit mid-shift. Some of them shared their stories in a thread started by u/dativy, who asked members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community what made them do it. Scroll down to find their answers on the list below and see if you would have done the same in their situation.
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Dishwasher, had worked there 2 weeks. The A/C for kitchen and office both broke the day before I started. Office A/C was fixed the following day, kitchen A/C 'wasn't priority '. It was a heatwave in August, hitting 115° outside. The whole kitchen staff walked out.
My husband. He was summoned for an emergency behavior meeting. Started with “even though your numbers are top in the company you get up from your desk for water too many times a day.”
He said “I’m going to stop your right there, we can make this quick, I’m out”….and immediately left.
Worked in logistics.
Such control freaks suck the soul and all the light and joy out of anyone who comes into contact with them.
Day 2. Owner tells me that he pays taxes for us so he pays cash and it is after taxes. So 7.5 and not the 10/hr we agreed to.
I walked out and called the IRS hotline to report fraud.
I was a barback at a 5 diamond wedding/conference venue. I had to work a 13 hour shift, and my brother just passed away from cancer in another state the day before. The only thing I got to do was hear him say “I love you” very weak over the phone. So obviously going into my shift, I was super upset.
I really couldn’t keep it together and my coworkers told me to go home and they’ll cover my wedding I was doing (only 80 people) and we were overstaffed. I told my manager my situation and that they’d cover me and i made sure the bar was stocked and she told me “That is a poor excuse to leave work, especially half way through the night”.
I dropped my walker talkie and badge on the floor without saying anything and left.
Poor excuse? What kind of excuse would be acceptable to this person? A nuclear war?
Sure. Aside from being a firefighter/medic (small volunteer department. NOT paid) we all had a regular day to day job. Mine was always working in bars, pizza places ETC. stuff like that. I was/am a cook. Had one particular manager at the time that would talk down to you like you were a piece of dog s**t. I let it slide way longer than I should have. I eventually said something one day and it got twice as bad. He eventually got in my face and was legitimately yelling. I basically told him to suck a d**k and that he needs to learn how to talk to people. I walked out that night and left him by himself to run that whole kitchen with at least 10+ tickets that I know had not even been started yet. This was back in 2016 ISH. I heard he called two other employees in on their day off and I later found out he did the very same thing to them as well and the end result was the same. They too walked out on him. Fast forward a bunch of years to current time and a couple other restaurant/bar jobs later, I’m back at that same exact place and he is no longer there, I now am that manager and run the show. I don’t care if you’re the president of the United States or a Homeless guy on the side of the road, I will treat and talk to you the same exact way you talk to me. Everybody is out here struggling. It costs absolutely nothing to be nice to someone. You have literally no idea what someone may be going thru. Be a decent human.
Yep. I started a job on a Monday. Friday came and I get a paycheck at lunchtime. Didn't expect that as most places hold back a week. They paid on Friday assuming you are finishing out your day and giving you "credit" for those hours.
Anyways I get my check and I notice I'm being paid $2.00 less an hour than we agreed on. I bring it up and the foreman tells me, "Yeah sorry about that I couldn't get the big guy (the owner) to agree to those rates." I'm like, oh and you didn't think that might be something I would like to know? His answer, "Well, there isn't much we can do about that now, I'll try and work on him in a month or two", and he turned and walked away. I got up, wheeled my tool box to the garage door and brought my truck around and loaded it up. He comes out just as I'm finished and his jaw drops to the floor and tries to get me to stay. No way dude, you screwed me, I'm out. C-Ya.
Called me five times in the next two weeks each time offering more money but I just kept saying no. He eventually gave up and I found a job paying me higher than his last offer anyways, so it worked out.
Slightly off-topic, but the idea that salaried employees bring their own tools to tradespeople-style jobs seems so weird.
I was 17 and just finished mopping the floor at closing time and was walking out the door. The owners son walked across the floor in boots covered in motor oil and told me to "mop this s**t up" I dropped the mop on the foor and told him to do it himself. I wad being paid minimum wage and wasn't going to deal with that s**t.
After I retired early (at 50) I thought that a job at the local Tim Hortons would be perfect. Part time, no stress, and I enjoy seniors and our sleepy town of 2000 had a high percentage of seniors.
Most of "training" was me fixing the computers to get them to work so that I could actually watch the training videos. That was week one.
Week two I realized how slow the location was, despite being on the highway. We had a lunch rush and it was pretty slow other than that.
Two days into week two and I was already recognizing the regulars. Seniors in their 70/80's who would come and get one coffee in a China cup and ask that I fill it as much as I can because we didn't give refills. No problems, it drove me nuts to dump coffee after 20 minutes and not offer it to them.
Problem was, very few of them could carry these full cups to the tables. No worries from me, I'd bring their coffee to them. As I said, the location was slow and days were long and boring. It was no big deal to carry coffee cups for a few seniors and make them smile.
Twice that second day working the floor I got in s**t for doing that. I pointed out that there was no one else in the store and it just took me moments. "we are not a full service restaurant, let them carry their own coffees"
I stood like a useless fool behind the counter when the next group of seniors came in, feeling like an idiot.
Break time came. I grabbed my coat and went out back for a smoke. Halfway through my break, with one of the managers, I said "f**k this. I can't treat people like this. Sorry" and walked home never to return as an employee.
On the rare occasion that I go there as a customer, I'll jump up from my table to assist any seniors that I see and now they can't do a damned thing about it. Ha!
You are one of the good human beings left. Them people you work for. And a lot of people wouldn't even blink an eye at this. They might say something about it. But actions are louder then words. This world is growing colder everyday and that makes me sad.
I worked at a car wash during the winter in the wet tunnel. Manager got in my face for wearing a coat that didn’t have the company logo on it, but they didn’t make uniform coats. Told him to eat my entire a*s and choke on it, and then left.
It gets below zero here regularly, I’m not risking my life or even my comfort for $12 an hour.
No job is worth dieing or getting deathly sick over. They might want you to think that. But no job is worth any of that.
I was a bar back in my 20s, and I had an incredibly emotionally and physically abusive boss. It was a weekend night, and the bar had two floors, and I was the only bar back that night, and there was only one bartender on each floor. At about midnight, food orders would start coming in left and right, and that night was no exception. Between having to empty out ashtrays, pick up dirty glasses, clean tables, wash dishes, and make all of the food orders, I couldn’t keep up. My boss got very angry with me because I was behind on food orders and people were starting to get upset about having tables with empty glasses and very delayed food orders. She summoned me over to the bar, grabbed me by the shirt collar, shook me, and screamed in my face, “Just get me through the rest of the f*****g night and then you can quit!” I was in disbelief, and went back upstairs. I looked at all of the tickets I had left to make, and just decided that job wasn’t worth it. I turned off the grill and the fryers, turned the light off in the kitchen, threw my towel in the dirty towel hamper, and walked out. That was the night I stopped taking other peoples’ s**t.
Was working for an over the phone tech support company. You call in, pay for a support plan, and anytime you call in again, we'll fix your pc problems by remoting in. Anyway, my manager actually told us that sales were down and that we needed to make more money. So he basically bluntly told us to commit credit card fraud. Said that we needed to add software packages to every customers account and charge them as much as we could get away with. I stood up and walked out. Asked where I was going, and I told him I don't commit felonies for anyone no matter how much they pay. As soon as I got home, I called the FBI on their a**es. They were shut down in a week.
r/ThatHappened Yes, the FBI had so little going on that they took care of it in a week (rme).
As a 17-year-old, summer between Junior and Senior year of high school I worked at a Target. Job was fine, easy enough, pay was s**t but all I needed was money for weed and gas so it was good enough and I had a fling with a coworker that was fun. One day, a very confused, very elderly lady in either a flimsy dress or what I think was more likely a nightgown stopped me and asked me where the toilet paper was. I escorted her to the TP aisle and she froze in the middle of it and explosively sh*t herself. She was embarrassed and crying and I felt awful for her and radioed for some help never having dealt with anything like that before. A manager came over and yelled at her, threatened to call the cops, and had security escort her out of the building instead of having a shred of decency or sympathy for this weeping senile woman. I kinda meekly told him she was ashamed enough as it was and he didn’t need to pile on. He brushed that off then told me to get a mop. I went to the back and grabbed a mop and bucket, tried to hand him the mop and he said “No, you’re cleaning it up, I was just making sure no one came down the aisle.” I told him I absolutely was not cleaning up human s**t sprayed all over the floor. He smugly said “Oh yes you are,” so I dropped the mop and my walkie (in the s**t), and walked out. Left and was able to smoke a bowl and catch an afternoon screening of The Incredibles at the theater down the street. Definitely the right call and f**k that guy.
This Richard Campbell has severe issues, nothing anyone says to him matters, as his brain is that messed up.
I quit a job at uni about 40 minutes into my induction when the manager tried to get me to get changed in front of him just to "make sure the uniform fitted".
Dell computer sales 1998. They fired 90% of all the commission making sales people and replaced them with hourly workers from a temp agency. They then asked me to train them. I was like, “maybe you should have trained them before firing everyone— why would I train them so you can fire me in 2 weeks?”
I then grabbed my s**t and noped out of there!
McDonalds. Our manager Mark was a d**k. He chucked the bag of Mcflurry toppings at me during another one of his tantrums and told me to fill it. I threw it back at his head, then threw my hat at him, then my McDs polo,, then walked out half naked. Would have thrown my pants and shoes too but I paid for them. F**k you Mark.
Yes, and this shows you how old I am LOL. I was a directory assistance operator. People used to call 411 to get someone's phone number (before the time of cell phones or the internet). They were VERY strict with clock-in, clock-out, lunches and bathroom breaks. I never had any troubles, until one day I was increasing my water intake for a diet.
I took two 3 minute breaks (the max) for the day and when I needed to go again, the supervisor would not approve me to leave to go pee. I explained I cannot hold it - they said too bad, your shift ends in 3 hours, you can wait until then or we will write you up for abandoning your station.
I said, you know what? never mind - I quit! No one is gonna tell me, a grown a*s man when or if I can use the bathroom. I threw down my headset and headed for the door. The supervisor chased after me saying " You can;t do this! You cannot leave in the middle of your shift!" I said "I don't have a shift anymore - I QUIT!" Security met me and tried to walk me out. I headed straight to the bathroom. Security followed me in telling me I had to leave. I whipped it out and started to pee - and they sat there and watched me pee the longest pee I think I have ever had LOL. They were like - "Jesus Dude! how much pee do you have in you?" When I got done - did not even wash my hands and walked out.
The most satisfying quit of my life - in more ways than one.
That's something I would never tolerate from any job. Don't regulate bathroom breaks. Some things can't be accomplished in 3 minutes.
Yes. FedEx Ground. Was a package handler making $12 an hour. The requirements were insane for the conditions they had us working in.
One day, I told my sort manager that I was running to the restroom and he was like “Cmon, man. Can you hold it for another 45 at least?” I told him no and went off to the bathroom. I was already fed up with the job, but that was the tipping point for me. I got out the bathroom, walked to the time clock, clocked out, and left.
A month later, at my new job, I got a call from FedEx Ground. They were wondering where I’d been since I hadn’t been seen at work in over a month. They told me to give them a call back if I was still interested in working. lol.
Got hired at a mall bakery in the late 80s as an assistant manager. The training was horrible and I specifically asked what I was supposed to do in case of emergency. Call 911 was the answer. One of the teenagers cut his hand badly while opening a large can (we made everything from scratch) and blood was spurting everywhere. It looked like a murder scene.
The baked goods were bloody, we were bloody, and I had to deal with it so I closed down the shop to focus and to not sell bloody product. Another employee was a retired nurse so she triaged him and took him to the ER while the rest of us tried to clean up.
I got written up for closing the store so I walked out. If you don’t tell me what to do in real emergencies, don’t blame me for trying to figure it out on my own.
I would of assumed what you did was called for. But some people don't care they'll let you sell anything if they know they can get away with it. Sad thing is people either sue or get sick.
Yeah me and the entire waiting staff walked out. The new owner of the restaurant i worked for wanted to charge the staff for breakages.
I had a friend a long time ago who had a boss like this. I had another friend who knew a lawyer who specialized in labour law. He was incredibly nice and gave me an example of just how illegal it is to take money off people's pay. His example was, my friend could go into that restaurant at night, steal everything that isn't bolted down, then burn down the restaurant. She could then go and burn down the owner's house. She would of course go to jail, and the owner could sue her in civil court, but he would still owe her every cent of wages owed. This is in Canada, not sure about other countries.
Yes.
Old guy here.
During the war in Vietnam I worked on a Navy facility where bombs were made, 250, 500, and 1000-pounders. My job was to secure the bombs inside boxcars and semi-trailers for shipment to the West Coast. I worked midnights, 12-hours a day, 7-days a week. I made LOTS of money. Lots.
I had become entirely skeptical of the war. One night I was crawling across a pallet of warm bombs inside a boxcar when I had this sudden vision of an Asian guy doing something similar on the other side of the Pacific. "What the hell am I doing?!??!"
I climbed down, left the boxcar, and told my boss that I quit. Right now. He tried to convince me to stay as I was a good worker. I refused. He was a nice man. he drove me back to the main shop. I punched out, went to my car, and left.
The Asian quit that night too. BTW, would make a great plot for a ghost movie told through each others eyes.
I was a cook and new manager kept making me cover dish pit cuz dishwasher was not showing up, because they refused to hire another one and were making him work 7 days/week. I told him if he kept making me close dish pit I was gonna put my 2 weeks in. He said “good” and went back to cooking. So I went and grabbed my shoes and backpack, got his attention, he turned around and I gave him a peace sign and left.
Keep in mind i had been there for three years, worked as a busser, dishwasher, server, host, cook…I did everything they asked. He had only been out manager for 2 months.
I understand the disgust in these, but how can people quit without having another job? How do you feed yourself and pay your bills? I've had horrible jobs, but got another one first, before I quit.
I was a convenience 🏪 store cashier. We got a new manager and just after I counted my drawer she introduced herself and told me "you've heard the term, all s**t runs downhill? Well, that's what it's like to work for me" I said ok, well I don't work for you, bye.
$10 an hour. My boss would solve problems exclusively by shouting. One day I was super busy, and I skipped putting out a table. I was wrong, but it was one of sixty I put out. The chef asked nicely if I could. I said yeah. I'll grab it. Before I could. I hear just screaming. It's nothing helpful. Just screeching the same words I was told thirty seconds earlier. At that point I was sick of it. I told her "This is why we can't keep staff.". I walked out. I got woken up the next morning to the morning manager asking for me to help. I said I would come in, but today is my only day, and if I see the other manager at all I'm walking out. I finished the morning prep, and left. I was told later that she was fired after two more people quit on her the next day.
Karma is a wonderful thing. I think we should all be able to see it in action like this.
Yes, I've done this three times.
The first time, it was a contract position. The boss asked me to "put in more effort," which translated to "I want you to work more hours for free." No, thanks.
In the second one, The owner and her husband (my boss) called me into a meeting to yell and curse at me (put the fear of God in me, I guess), then told me how I was going to report some false information to the customer. Nope, I said, "People don't talk to me like that," and left.
In the third one, I agreed to work part-time (no more than 4 hours a day) while my wife was hospitalized. The first day, they asked me to work 6 hours, then told me to be ready to work 8 hours the next day. I just left.
Yep. I was working as a cook in a small restaurant. Since it was "slow" the owner left to go play tennis while he made me do everything - serving, washing dishes, and cooking. So I was literally the only employee there. And what do you know, that day it got busy and we got a bunch of customers and I ran the entire operation solo - serving, cooking, washing dishes. After the rush died down I quit and walked out.
Aargh! Why? Why wait until after the rush? They should've left as soon as it began to get busy. That would've hopefully taught the owner a little lesson.
Had a part time job for about 40 minutes in college. Started as a data entry job, paid 7.25. The owner found out I was going to school for an IT related field and starting throwing tasks like updating his website and basic tech support. I left almost immediately.
Oh yeah. I worked at a call center/answering service on the 7am-3pm shift and was in school part time taking evening classes. They changed my schedule to be the evening shift 3-11pm with only two days notice and told me if I wanted to keep working there I’d have to find a way to make it work with my school schedule. So I went to my desk, packed up my things, put my phone on hold and went home.
Temp agency sent me for assignment to a small factory making furniture. 7am start time. At 7:03 or :04 , while still waiting for some sort of foreman/ supervisor to come over & say hello, here's what we do here ........ coupla dudes start shouting at each other & it breaks out into full blown fisticuffs.
Yeah, I'd seen enough. Funny how i have a completely crystal clear memory of looking at the clock in my car as i drove away. 7:12am
Was server. Working for tips only. Had one table in one week. Made 2 bucks. Probably nobody ever realized I was gone.
I worked in retail when I was young. At one job, another employee started violently berating me and calling me names after I asked a simple question. When I started crying over it and walked to the back room to calm down, he followed me and made fun of me. I think he was mentally challenged, but I wasn't going to put up with that kind of harassment at work. I walked out of that store and never went back.
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Worked half a shift at a bar in northern Wisconsin before I found out it was a local meeting spot for the KKK.
I didn't quit in the middle of a shift; but I did quit right before my shift started. I worked at a hotel/casino combo place. I was one of the evening janitors. So if you barf in the elevator who cleans it up? Me! Ok, fine, give me the key to lock the elevator and a mop, I'll be right back. ;) The problem is that all the housekeepers left for the day before I get there. People don't realize they need something til 10:30 at night. You see where this is going. They were too cheap to either have night housekeeping on duty or pay me the $2 difference, plus security was cr@p. I got into an argument OVER TEXT because neither my immediate boss nor the people who make the rules can be bothered to come in and talk to me directly because they refuse night and weekend shifts. "Well, we had a meeting and they said you had to do it" no I don't. I QUIT! I feel bad for the other guy working night janitor, but not for my boss.
Only job I ever quit on the spot was Hardee's. This was almost 10 years ago. I got hired on and they gave me ZERO TRAINING WHATSOEVER!!! They literally just placed me in front of a register. I stumbled through it over the next few weeks asking as many questions as I possibly could. Then they wanted me to be a manager. They assured me that I would only work from opening until 10am. That's doable for me. They gave me the managers shirt, but no pay increase. They said I had to get certified to become a manager. After several more months of zero pay increase, no certification, and consistently having to work past 10am and manage lunch and even dinner rushes, I had enough. It was my day off and another manager texted me that she locked her shirt in her car and if I could please go in and cover her shift for her as there was literally no one else who would. I turned my phone off and waited until just before they closed for the day to walk in and turn in my uniform.
Worked half a shift at a bar in northern Wisconsin before I found out it was a local meeting spot for the KKK.
I didn't quit in the middle of a shift; but I did quit right before my shift started. I worked at a hotel/casino combo place. I was one of the evening janitors. So if you barf in the elevator who cleans it up? Me! Ok, fine, give me the key to lock the elevator and a mop, I'll be right back. ;) The problem is that all the housekeepers left for the day before I get there. People don't realize they need something til 10:30 at night. You see where this is going. They were too cheap to either have night housekeeping on duty or pay me the $2 difference, plus security was cr@p. I got into an argument OVER TEXT because neither my immediate boss nor the people who make the rules can be bothered to come in and talk to me directly because they refuse night and weekend shifts. "Well, we had a meeting and they said you had to do it" no I don't. I QUIT! I feel bad for the other guy working night janitor, but not for my boss.
Only job I ever quit on the spot was Hardee's. This was almost 10 years ago. I got hired on and they gave me ZERO TRAINING WHATSOEVER!!! They literally just placed me in front of a register. I stumbled through it over the next few weeks asking as many questions as I possibly could. Then they wanted me to be a manager. They assured me that I would only work from opening until 10am. That's doable for me. They gave me the managers shirt, but no pay increase. They said I had to get certified to become a manager. After several more months of zero pay increase, no certification, and consistently having to work past 10am and manage lunch and even dinner rushes, I had enough. It was my day off and another manager texted me that she locked her shirt in her car and if I could please go in and cover her shift for her as there was literally no one else who would. I turned my phone off and waited until just before they closed for the day to walk in and turn in my uniform.
