People Are Sharing The Exact Moment They Reached Their Breaking Point At Work And Quit On The Spot, And They Did Not Hold Back
A little while ago, Reddit user u/Sketch99 posed the question, "What made you quit a job on the spot?"
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And there were so many responses from people who were overworked and mistreated by their employers. Here are some of the top-voted answers:
1."Worked as a cashier in a local shop. One night, two guys came at me with knives, trying to get in the till. I just walked away and said, 'Have at it.' It wasn't worth the minimum wage to get into it with a couple of guys waving knifes at me. After they ran out of the store, I picked up my mobile and called the police, then called the store manager."
"The next day, the district manager met me as I turned up for my shift. Her first words were, 'It was very unprofessional of you to be on your phone while at work.' I laughed at her and told her she could take this as my notice and walked out."
2."After working my ass off during the pandemic and being promised an additional bonus, I received a 'low performance' review conveniently timed a day before my bonus was to be paid. The low performance feedback canceled my bonus."
"Given all the other bullshit I was putting up with, I broke and quit. I had a nice month off, and my new job pays significantly more. Never work for people that don’t appreciate you; there are always others that will."
3."My grandfather, who I considered like a father, passed away after a long stay in hospital. We were closer than he was with his own kids, and our bond was quite special. I spoke to my manager about getting the day of his funeral off — since I was organizing part of the arrangements and having a day or two of bereavement leave — and he agreed."
"The day of the funeral finally came, and the staff started calling me, leaving me messages asking why I wasn't at my shift. They were telling me, while I was in a suit and hosting family members at the funeral home, that I had to find someone to replace me or would face repercussions. Needless to say, I told them to figure it out and never looked back."
4."I worked for an SAT tutoring company, and the manager treated all of the tutors terribly. Everyone hated her, and we were always short staffed because of high turnover (wonder why). After yet another insulting email about our 'work ethic,' I went in and let the assistant manager know that I was giving my notice. The franchise owner happened to be there and asked why I was leaving. I decided to speak up for the tutors who needed the job and couldn’t leave, so I told her everything the manager was doing."
"She seemed really concerned and immediately told the manager, who called me into her office. She told me I was incredibly unprofessional for talking to the owner behind her back, and this would be my last shift. I was already doubled up with students that night. We both knew she needed me to work that last shift. So, I said, 'Okay,' then grabbed my stuff and walked right past her out the door. Her face was priceless. She called me three times during my drive home. Never bothered to listen to the voicemails."
5."Worked a retail job as a cashier. One part of that job was to sign customers up for our (rather predatory) credit card. We were supposed to ask every customer. Well, I was helping a woman and told her she could save money if she signed up for the credit card. She seemed interested, but I could clearly tell that English was not her first language."
"I grabbed a pamphlet and made it abundantly clear that it was a CREDIT CARD, not a rewards account. When she understood, she said, 'Oh no, not today.' Understandable. Well, I didn’t know a supervisor was standing behind me. After she left, he asked why I did all of that, and if I tried to talk every interested customer out of signing up. When I explained myself, he said, 'Next time, sign them up. They don’t know any better.' Handed him my red vest. That was it."
6."I worked as hard as I could to unload pallets of merchandise. I always thought I was so damn fast. I studied the process, and I believed I perfected it. EVERY SINGLE DAY, my manager came up to me and told me I needed to be faster. So I did, and the fast pace made me lose a little focus, causing me to break a finger."
"I let management know that I might be a little slower due to my injury, and they straight-up told me, 'We won’t tolerate any laziness.' They wrote me up when I didn’t meet their ridiculous standards. So I went home after my shift and never returned. Never called, never formally quit. I just never came back."
7."I worked for a short while as a hotel room cleaner, which was miserable. The pay was shit, the guests looked at you like dirt, and none of the staff liked each other. My mum had passed away that year, and I asked if I could have Father's Day off to spend with my Dad, just because it was going to be difficult."
"My boss said, 'Well, the others like drinking on the weekend, so I don't know if they'd be okay covering you.' Eventually, I got them to agree, only to get a call on that morning asking me to go in because someone had called in, hungover. Then, my neighbor, who was a gentleman in his 70s, offered me a job as his cleaner, which I took happily. I went into the hotel, told my boss exactly what I thought of their behavior, and told her to shove her job up her ass — all at the reception desk in front of staff and several guests. Her FACE. Bliss."
8."I was working at one of those stands that sells frozen ice cream droplets. You know the ones. It was at an amusement park. I scooped some ice cream balls into the plastic tray, slid my scoop over the top to knock off the excess ice cream, then handed it to the customer. A wild manager appeared! He told me I didn't level off the ice cream correctly."
"He took the scoop and small bowl from my hands and leveled it off just like I had. He then dumped it out and made me do it again. Mind you, I still had a long line of customers. So I did it again. This time, he also was not pleased and berated me. So now, I was confused as to what I was doing wrong and had a line of customers staring at me, leaving me thoroughly embarrassed. I proceeded to overfill every container and hand them out to each customer, while not taking any money from them. Then, I simply walked out to my car and drove home. There is no time when it's appropriate to reprimand an employee in front of customers."
9."I was pulled aside by the office manager for calling out due to my morning sickness (I had called out to go to my OB because I was bleeding, but whatever, they didn't believe it). I was told to 'get my act together' and that it was also 'inappropriate to steal company time' by leaving my desk to vomit on the days I came into work that week."
"Not sure how they expected me to be superhuman, but their disregard for my health was the final straw. I gave them my resignation letter before clocking out for lunch and never went back."
10."Worked at a grocery store when I was a teenager. I was out on my own, working anything I could to make ends meet. I guess I didn't work hard enough being a one-man crew. My manager decided to tell me to go faster (impossible) and do even better for my $4.25/hour."
"I tried explaining I was going as fast as possible when he decided to say, 'You'll do what you're told, as fast as you're told, if you want to keep this job. You should be so lucky.' Decided right then and there. 'I'd rather starve than work for some stupid fuck.'"
11."Asked for a raise and was told okay. Next morning, I was told by the same person who agreed with the raise that I should put a few more years in, and then we’ll talk again. Locked my tool box at the end of the day and called a tow truck to pick it up."
"Shop manager was shocked that next Monday to find an empty spot where my tools were and couldn’t understand why I left."
12."I worked at a sushi restaurant, and we had a secret menu that no one went over with me. The owner was sitting with a guest (I guess they were friends) and he ordered one of the secret menu items. I said, 'I’m sorry, we don’t have that.' She immediately stood up, started to scream at me, and called me a 'fucking idiot.'"
"Then, she snapped her fingers, saying 'BITCHES' to call the other servers over. At this point, I was taking my apron off and grabbing my keys to walk the hell out of there."
13."I was asked to lie to parents and cover up a kid failing (in elementary school) by support staff. When I confronted the principal about it, he said that she was just doing her job, and I was not a team player for not doing so."
"So I explained the situation. Same response: I should have helped in covering it up. As soon as the kids went home, I started emptying my desk."
14."I worked for a very popular amusement park for 10–12 hours a day in 90 degree heat. One day, I passed out on the clock and ended up going to an emergency room to get checked out. I was told by the ER doctor to take at least five days, preferably a week, off. I informed my management of this, gave doctor’s notes, and even went to the company doctor’s office to show my bruises and get a once over."
"I was getting calls and messages after two days telling me to come in, or I would face repercussions. I turned in my resignation the day I was supposed to go back to work and never looked back. I’m now working with an amazing company who respects me as a human being and am very vocal about the horrible working conditions at my previous company."
15."Getting reprimanded for not pushing a patient into getting a dental procedure they didn't need or want."
16."Was hired to sell cars. Then, in the middle of training, I got pulled aside and told I was being moved to lot attendant. That position paid minimum wage, and I didn’t even have a chance to be on the sales floor. Left and never went back. I was in my mid-20s at the time and was trying to find a possible career. Didn’t have time for that bullshit bait and switch."
17."Once as a teenager at a new job, I got my hand smacked by the owner the first day because I was writing with my left hand. Walked out."
18."I got mugged during a pizza delivery and came back to the shop, crying and panicked. Had my phone, wallet, and pizza taken. Told my manager what happened. 'Are you hurt?' 'No, but I lost my phone and wallet. I need to call the police.' 'No time for that, here’s your next delivery.'"
19."I was a bouncer at a bar, and I had to clean a football-sized wad of toilet paper and shit out of a toilet."
20."A local pizzeria was notorious for its 'strict' management. My car broke down on St. Patrick's Day, when I was scheduled to work. I had to pay $50 to get it towed home, and I called in to tell the manager what happened. He yelled at me and accused me of making up excuses to go out and drink."
"I offered to show him the receipt and repair bill, and he just hung up the phone. A day later, he called me and said, 'We're cool, but you owe me a shift.' I told him that I couldn't take more shifts because I was a full-time student. He said he didn't care. I went in on my next scheduled shift, picked up my paycheck, and told the nearest manager that I quit."
21."Went to the toilet before a meeting to negotiate a raise. I heard both directors of the company (small firm, everything ran through them) talking outside the window, saying that they were going to flat-out refuse any offers and 'make the asshole work overtime to prove his loyalty,' and 'he has no prospects anyway, where will he go?'"
"Entered the meeting with my signed and printed resignation in hand, slapped it on the table after sitting down, and stood straight back up, saying 'Meeting over.' I now work for a successful company, part of a brilliant team, and obtainable progression with a great work-life balance. If you're being mistreated at a job, overworked, underpaid, whatever it may be: Get your affairs in order and walk."
22.And finally, "I was constantly told by my store manager that I would be happier if I lost weight or if I just 'got over it' after my grandfather died. One shift, before I even clocked in, the manager told me once again that I needed mental help and to lose weight. I told her that my last day would be that Friday."
"She responded with some snarky comment about how she’d find someone better to replace me. I took my store keys out of my apron, tossed them on the desk, and said, 'Actually, I quit now' and walked out. All of my employees who were on the floor stared at me in confusion as I had just walked into the store three minutes earlier. I immediately called HR to report the whole thing. She was asked to leave the next week."