If you know someone who quit their job, you probably know all the reasons that led to it as well. Years of micromanaging? No acknowledgement or career opportunities? Toxic work environment? As a species, we humans are resilient and can take a lot of damage before we're finally pushed to our limit. But some things set it clear that we need to remove ourselves from the situation here and now.
One Redditor wanted to hear exactly these stories: what led people to quit their job on the spot. Many users responded with their experiences, detailing the last drop that made them leave their long-term workplace, or what made them walk out 15 minutes into their first shift.
Bored Panda selected the most interesting stories that range from bad managers to dangerous work conditions, many of them indicating red flags to look out for. Scroll down, upvote your favorite stories, and if you quit your job on the spot, we invite you to share your experience in the comments below!
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I had the owner of a restaurant I was managing spill literally boiling fresh made chicken noodle soup on my middle torso all the way down. So hot and painful to the point I had to strip my soaking boiling shoes. My reaction was to run and swear.
He told me If I swore so vocally again he would let me go. I then needed medical attention, to which he llrefused. I went to the hospital anyway, came to work the next day with bandages, and was told I would work today's shift as repayment for missing my previous one. I explained that was illegal and gave him an ultimatum, either he fix it with him paying my medical bills or I walk. He laughed saying I had no control over it. So I walked. 3 months later after filing suit, I supplied all the information needed to indict him on tax fraud, failure to properly insure, failure to maintain a safe work place, and he and his other businesses had to be sold for him to afford the legal costs, my medical bills and the mandatory restitution payments.
Stupid b***h is still paying me out, and now that he's fulfilled his sentenced time, lives in a relatively medium sized town and we frequent the same locations, I consistently remind him of what his next payment is owed and due.
Boss said "we're cancelling all vacations already approved and increasing your hours, you'll be working 12 hours a day 6 days a week and some Sundays, if you don't like it you know where the f*****g door is."
I knew where the f*****g door was.
I would have known what number to call the union on, and them watched the employer pay fine for breaking the rules. But I live in a country where workers have some rights.
I got fired from a pizza delivery job once and told I had to finish my shift on a Friday night.
They said I was a no call no show the previous day. I wasn't scheduled. They wrote me in but didn't call me. The ink wasn't even the same color as the rest of the schedule. So when I showed up for work the next day they told me I was fired for no call no show, but I had to stay and work.
I said f**k that, and walked two doors over to the Chinese place and asked if they needed a delivery guy. Hired on the spot. Plus free egg rolls.
I had just started working at a secure psychiatric facility for emotionally disturbed children at the start of the summer (end of May). At the interview I told the HR person that I had a pre-planned trip home for later in the summer and that since I was driving I was going to be away for two weeks (I hadn't been home to see my family for 2 years). I made it clear to her that if this was going to be a problem to let me know right then and I would seek employment elsewhere. She reassured me it wouldn't be a problem and that she would leave a note in my file saying as much.
So the time for my trip nears, I give them the two weeks notice as agreed upon at the interview but my immediate supervisor refuses to approve the time off. Figuring it was a miscommunication I tell the immediate super about the interview agreement with HR, that the issue was already settled at the initial interview. So she gives me this run-around and asks me to give her a couple of days to come up with a solution. Next day she calls me into her office and has the balls to say "OK, I know how we can work this. You can work a double shift on Sat (18 hours mind you) then leave for home right after and make your drive (30 hours non-stop) visit your family for 3 days then drive back (30 hours non-stop) and arrive in time to work another double."
I couldn't stop myself. I laughed uncontrollably. I asked her if she was seriously suggesting I stay awake for 48 hours straight, 30 of those spent on highways crossing the country. She just gave me this stupid smile and said "yes, you can do it. You have a responsability to the center." I laughed in her face and told her I wouldn't work for such a cess-pool, a place that would dare suggest I put my personal safety in harm's way and wouldn't honor an agreement made.
I quit in the spot. I was still scheduled for the rest of that week, they had the nerve to call me at home that night asking if I was coming-in. I told the person who called "no way in hell" and I told him what happened. Then the super called me and basically said I had to come in, I was scheduled. I suggested she could cover my shift, I mean she already worked 9 hours, what was another 18, she could do it.
I left for my trip the next day.
Their policy (well I assume it’s policy) of 2 weeks notice for leave is stupid. OP was probably within the terms of employment to only give 2 weeks but common courtesy would have been to let supervisor know as soon as OP started working. Supervisor was also an idiot though, even if OP didn’t die in a horrible crash, why would they want a severely sleep deprived zombified worker?
I tested positive for covid at a rehab center and my director of nursing told me to put my mask on and get back to work. I put my badge down and walked out
I was told by HR not to waste their time, Men can’t sexually Harass other men.
I walked away from a job in management once because they passed me up for a promotion for a role I was doing anyways due to it being vacant but needing to be done. When they passed me up I started looking. When they asked ME to train the guy who got it who was now my boss... I left.
Similar, but they passed on me three times. The owner just didn't like me.
Company got bought out and genius new owner decided to cut everyone's pay by 50 percent. Nope. Literally all but 1 person quit on the spot.
I worked for a well-known Australian plumbing company, in the call centre booking jobs. I had a call come in from a desperate single mother, her pilot light had gone out on her hot water system & she hadn't had hot water for over a week.
She couldn't afford the repairs and had just been doing her best to cope.
One of our technicians was already at her neighbours property, so she approached him for help, he followed procedure and gave her the number for the call centre, assuming, since he was already next door, that we could waive the $150 call out fee and he could, at the very least assess the problem & give her a quote for repairs.
Well my operations manager refused, saying she would cost the company etc etc. By this time the woman on the phone was in tears, extremely upset, and my ops manager said "well, I guess she can decide what a hot shower is worth" with a big smirk on her face. I packed up my desk and walked out.
I worked graveyard shift at a convenience store in the early 90s and was robbed at gunpoint one night. I quit right after the cops left. I was the assistant manager and my boss was a real hard a*s ex military guy who called me a pussy for quitting.
F**k that.
Just not worth the $4.25 an hour I was getting at the time.
**I got mugged on my first night of being a pizza delivery guy.**
It was my second or third delivery of the night. On the walk from the car to the apartment, in the apartment complex courtyard, I was attacked by two men.
They hit me in the head several times, knocked me to the ground, took the pizza and the money bag, and ran. Good thing they didn't take the car.
This was in 1989, so it was long before smartphone apps.
I went back to the pizza shop and quit on the spot. The owners were very kind, they took me to the ER to be checked out, they paid for the hospital visit, and they totally understood why I'd want to quit.
I had worked at new place for a little over three months, thinking everything was going great when suddenly my boss asks me into her office, and asks me to sign 13 write-ups for "behavior unbecoming of a [s****y place to work] employee." I ask her what these are for, and she explains that they are for each time I came into a shift, and she asked how I'm doing, and I said "tired, but hanging in there." I clarified that she wasn't kidding, then handed her my keys and badge and clocked out.
Why would you write up an employee 13 TIMES for the same so-called "offense" without ever once communicating your expectations verbally? That's just a whole new level of s****y management.
Mine was fast food. It's your regular fast food story, unfortunately. We had two cooks and myself during the day shift. I was running front line, drive thru, and fry station by myself for 4 hours straight. I couldn't keep up. For four hours, I was struggling and getting cussed out by customers because of their wait. My manager decided at that point to come out and help the two cooks.... I watched her do that so she didn't have to deal with the irate customers for another hour before I cracked.
The last customer I spoke to was screaming at me in the window for having to wait 10 minutes to get his food. I just walked up to my manager and gave her the headset and walked out. I sat in my truck in the parking lot and had a full-on panic attack for an hour before I went home. I was going through a very rough time at that point in my life and just couldn't handle it anymore. That was probably the only time in my life I ever had an actual panic attack. It was not fun at all.
I got passed over for a promotion that I was vastly more qualified for. I rage quit the same day. Started my own business with a friend and I’ve been self employed for 10 years since then.
Was working at a nursing home in medical records. Micromanaging supervisor whom I hated had retired but not recommended me for her position even though I knew as much as she did. They hired someone with zero experience off the street. I asked for time off to go to a conference for my side hustle and was told no. State might come in and do their yearly inspection, and New Manager had never been through one before so I needed to stay. They cut my hours due to declining patient population, New Manager reported I'd been missing shifts (not that she'd cut my hours), so I walked in during the morning meeting, threw the keys on the table, told them I didn't work for liars, and left. Side hustle went full time. Never looked back.
…And they you reported them to the union/labor board/local authorities right? Please?
I was working in a warehouse job when I was 17yo. We'd just moved into a much bigger warehouse & needed another store person. I had a friend, let's call him Greg, looking for work so I got him a job there. Greg was not very good at this particular job but Greg had a drivers licence to do deliveries to customers & I did not.
A month later the warehouse manager gives me a heads up, apparently head office doesn't want to pay two storemen & head office wants to keep Greg because he has a licence.
This is a new warehouse with literally hundreds of pallets of items to unpack & put on shelves so I decide to just bugger off, good luck to them.
But Greg only liked the job because he got to work with his mate & with me gone, he felt no need to hang around.
Greg emails his resignation that afternoon & leaves them in the s**t with 150,000 different items to unpack without a store person.
I found out I was being charged 180 pound a month for training without being told. Then to add the rotten cherry on the smashed cake, the training only cost the company 300 a year.
F**k you Daniel.
When I was first hired, I let my boss know that I need a certain week off because 1) it was already booked 2)my entire family was coming. He assured me I would get my week off. Well surprise surprise, 2 weeks before my week, he told me I can no longer take that week off. I knew this was coming so I had been looking for a new job. Not only that but the job sucked. So as soon as he said I’m working I handed in my laptop and said thanks for the opportunity and walked out
Thank any deity of your choice that in the country I live in taking back approved vacation time is illegal. Once it's approved it's approved. They can ask nicely once for volunteering but even that's risky. If they have an emergency and it's the only possibility, they have to reimburse you for all costs this might cause and also pay extra for the inconvenience. This ensures that rather the CEO works an extra shift than they trying to go back on approved time off
It was a CNA job for a nursing home. I worked for my facility for 3 years faithfully. We got bought out in the 3rd year. They cut staffing, supplies, and kicked out patients that weren’t “money makers.” I went through covid with these guys, and kept expecting things to get better. My last straw was the day I came in to 29 patients to just me and one nurse. During the day. They expected 8 baths to be done and almost half of my patients were lifts. 3/4 were incontinent. I called my boss in practically tears because there was no way I could take care of all these people. I told him it was illegal to do this. I told him it was elder abuse. I begged him to send someone in to help me. He laughed in my face and told me that the law in our state doesn’t specify the number of patients and CNA can take care of so therefore what he was doing was legal. And no help would be coming so figure it out.
I quit right on the spot. Told the nurse I’d finish my shift because I cared for these people for 3 years and they deserved more. Finished my shift out and quit right after.
Worked at McDonalds when I was like 18 or 19, it was a stressful shift and one of the managers in the restaurant threatened to beat me up. I just walked out. Never came back for a single shift.
After a fairly long day a customer had (very rightly) asked to see the manager, but as it happened the owner was in at the same time talking to some of them. I went to the main manager and said a customer wants to see him
The owner taps my shoulder hard, glares out at the customer and bellows "the manager is busy, tell them to f**k off!"
Rather sick of how they treated customers and staff as it was I just looked at him and said "tell him your f*****g self" and walked out the building
Quit a job on the first day. I was hired as an IT tech, however this company did not know what IT techs were. They thought "IT does everything." including making sure their lights were replaced.
I had one lady complain about me not changing her lightbulb fast enough because the burned out one shatterd on me and cut my hand open. I dropped the box of flourescents, shattering literally all of them, and walked out. Told my supervisor he needs to hire actual maintenance cause IT fixes computers.
I worked a couple days at a warehouse near Port Everglades in the 90s. Second day on the job, supervisor tells me to scan a bunch of packages. I immediately go over to scan the pallette. Another supervisor immediately starts screaming and cursing at me. "Why the f* are these boxes still here? What f*ing country did you crawl in from? Move, move, move!" And other abuse...
Dropped the scanner right there and walked out.
I was working as an engineer for a big corporation. I was supposed to get a promotion to senior engineer at the start of covid lockdowns, so they told me I wouldn’t get one because of covid. Fair enough, but a couple weeks later they told me our salaries would be reduced because the company wasn’t doing well. Not nice but nothing I could do.
A couple months later, the company promoted two vice presidents to senior vice presidents, and gave them a huge bonus. I then asked for my promotion and they told me that no promotions would take place under Covid. I waited a few more months until they finally gave me my promotion. And the salary increase was £100 A YEAR. Which is much smaller than what my salary was reduced because of Covid. I took home the letter indicating I had a promotion, gave my notice and began looking for a senior engineer role somewhere else. F*ck greedy corporations.
Edit: of course, I forgot to mention that they removed all our bonuses during this time period, but management got it all.
Amtrak totally messed the railroad up during Covid, and yes, upper management got 6 figure bonuses.
They changed my schedule and didn't inform me, and then b**ched at me when I showed up following the old schedule. Someone had quit just before my 3 days off and I texted my boss to ask if he was gonna need me those 3 days and he said no, so Friday rolls around and I come in following the old schedule. Boss is there, doesn't say anything about me being late and I just work my shift like normal. Same thing on Saturday. Sunday I am 10mins late because of traffic, my fault but I am rarely late so i figured I would apologize and that would be the end of it. But my boss lays into me for being late 3 days in a row, confused I ask what he's talking about. He had changed the schedule on Friday/Saturday and apperantly I was 4 hours late for both those shifts. When I pointed out I wasn't informed the schedule changed and I even asked him on Tuesday if he needed me. He replied "it's your job to know when you should be here" I just layed my keys on his desk and left.
I found out that the matchmaking service I was working for was profiled on W5 for milking money out of lonely individuals, and they specifically targeted old, rich widowers by honeypotting them with fake profiles of potential matches.
I quit on the spot.
Large corporation kept “downsizing” the workforce but not the workload. Those of us who were left (team of 15 reduced to 2) felt so lucky to have a job that we didn’t complain about taking on the jobs of three people and working 60+ hours per week. Company hires a new department head and a couple months later I have my annual review where he says “we just need you to do more” to which I replied “no”. No forethought. No plan. I just knew I couldn’t take on more. I definitely caught him off guard. And I couldn’t believe “no” came out of my mouth. We were both stunned. But that was effectively my two week notice.
Had a manager walk past me once and tell me I needed to pick up the pace. I was on 2 phones and had a customer in front of me that I was assisting. Manager on the other hand wasn't doing anything. The customer started to call him out but he turned a corner and was gone before customer could say anything. Not sure if customer called corporate but manager was gone a few weeks later.
Tiny restaurant where I worked the til and counter, just the husband and wife owners in the back cooking. One day she pulls me into the bathroom, whispering how her husband has me on video taking tips out of the tip jar. I said no way, I was most likely pushing the bills to the bottom and also the tips are mine when I’m here? We didn’t divide tips there because I made like $5 an hr. She keeps whispering how I can never touch the tips during shifts and how very very angry her husband is at me. I asked can I see the video and explain it to him? She’s like oh no no no we can’t show you the video. I was 19 and pretty dumb in the ways of working, but smart enough to leave immediately.
Told them I couldn't work Saturdays because I played rugby.
That was fine for months until I found myself rostered on a Saturday a few weeks in advance.
Told the manger I couldn't do it and reminded her of my sport commitments. She said she would amend it.
The following week I noticed I was still rostered on that coming Saturday. She wasn't in at the time so I left a message saying that there might be a mistake because I was still rostered on.
I received a reply in capitals saying something along the lines of "you're rostered to work 9am - 2pm Sat, come in then or don't come in at all"
So, I left that afternoon and didn't return for another shift.
I received calls and messages for about a fortnight asking when I would be returning, but never answered or replied to any
Had a mall job in high school over the summer break. Told them I didn’t do Sundays. No problem. After about a month I start getting scheduled for Sundays. I reminded them every week. Then I started getting c**p about weekends are so busy, we need people. Nope. Then they scheduled a stock check from 6:00 am to noon on a Sunday. They said mandatory everyone has to be there. I assumed everyone but me, because Sunday. Nope, I had to be there too. That’s the shortest I’ve ever worked anywhere.
I was working in a factory that made aluminum fishing boats. Its been there since 1958 and the presses are that old. I was trying to change out the die for a new order on my press and couldnt get the bolt to move. I tried everything, even standing on the wrench with all my weight. I wanted to do it myself, because being a female, I had to prove myself as a fellow worker. My hands slipped a few times, I pulled every muscle I had, sliced open my fingers...I was almost in tears of frustration. So time to ask for help, knowing Ill never hear the end of it. Turned around to see all the fab supervisors and the plant manager watching me and laughing. They were there the whole time. Yeah I should of asked sooner, but they saw me struggling and bleeding. They could have helped. Still feel bad, but damn.
Some men r born idiots. Next time they fall into trouble don't help such guys
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30 years ago I worked at Blockbuster Video. I had been about a year when corporate brought in this guy from Texas to run the store. On his second day, he held a mandatory meeting where he proceeded to tell us he preferred to work with people he hired instead of leftovers from a previous manager (his exact words), and that we shouldn't expect raises, approved vacations or preferred hours as long as he was our manager. We'll have to work the way he wants or we can quit. The entire staff (15 of us) quit on the spot. They had to bring in employees from other stores, several of whom I knew. Several of them also ended up quitting. Guy got fired a few months later.
The TL;DR version: quit my janitor job at a hotel due to the owners 1) expecting me to do housekeeping's job (owners are cheap --housekeepers made $2more/hour than I did but couldn't be bothered to have one on duty after 5 pm) 2) couldn't be bothered to have adequate security--I had to deliver towels, etc to irate, drunk AH and no one watched hall cameras) got into argument with supervisor OVER TEXT because he couldn't come talk in person. Left and haven't been back since.
Years and years ago I got a job at K-mart. I had experience in retail previously as I had worked for Walmart - before the super centers destroyed that whole culture. Anyways, I was placed in Electronics. As I'm doing my thing a customer comes up and asks for help in the department next to me. As electronics had their own registers, we weren't allowed to leave our areas, so made an announcement that a customer needed assistance in housewares. A short while later, customer returns and tells me no one has shown up to assist them. I call over the intercom again. Another fibe-ten minutes passes and the customer returns yet again. No one has shown up still. So, even though I'm not technically allowed to leave my area, I told them I'd help them myself. There was no one in my department as it was a rather slow day. Went with them and helped them out. Took all of five minutes and I returned to electronics. All is well. Right? Later on that day, the manager on duty comes to my area and asks me if I had left my area. I said yes and explained the situation. That a-hole had the nerve to reprimand me for helping a customer. I. Was. Livid. WTF?? Finished my shift and never went back. No wonder they went under.
30 years ago I worked at Blockbuster Video. I had been about a year when corporate brought in this guy from Texas to run the store. On his second day, he held a mandatory meeting where he proceeded to tell us he preferred to work with people he hired instead of leftovers from a previous manager (his exact words), and that we shouldn't expect raises, approved vacations or preferred hours as long as he was our manager. We'll have to work the way he wants or we can quit. The entire staff (15 of us) quit on the spot. They had to bring in employees from other stores, several of whom I knew. Several of them also ended up quitting. Guy got fired a few months later.
The TL;DR version: quit my janitor job at a hotel due to the owners 1) expecting me to do housekeeping's job (owners are cheap --housekeepers made $2more/hour than I did but couldn't be bothered to have one on duty after 5 pm) 2) couldn't be bothered to have adequate security--I had to deliver towels, etc to irate, drunk AH and no one watched hall cameras) got into argument with supervisor OVER TEXT because he couldn't come talk in person. Left and haven't been back since.
Years and years ago I got a job at K-mart. I had experience in retail previously as I had worked for Walmart - before the super centers destroyed that whole culture. Anyways, I was placed in Electronics. As I'm doing my thing a customer comes up and asks for help in the department next to me. As electronics had their own registers, we weren't allowed to leave our areas, so made an announcement that a customer needed assistance in housewares. A short while later, customer returns and tells me no one has shown up to assist them. I call over the intercom again. Another fibe-ten minutes passes and the customer returns yet again. No one has shown up still. So, even though I'm not technically allowed to leave my area, I told them I'd help them myself. There was no one in my department as it was a rather slow day. Went with them and helped them out. Took all of five minutes and I returned to electronics. All is well. Right? Later on that day, the manager on duty comes to my area and asks me if I had left my area. I said yes and explained the situation. That a-hole had the nerve to reprimand me for helping a customer. I. Was. Livid. WTF?? Finished my shift and never went back. No wonder they went under.
