I’ve never walked out of a job before…

I’ve definitely thought about it many times, but I could never bring myself to do it…

But these folks went through with it!

Check out their stories below.

The repair shop.

“I was one of about 6 people working at a computer repair shop.

Boss told us that anybody who passes the A+ certification test would get a $1/hr raise. 6 people take the test, 5 pass it, and I got the highest score of us all.

Boss didn’t give me a raise because “you’re a kid, what do you need with money, you gonna buy toys with it?”.

I was about to be a Senior in high school, 17 at the time.

And yes, I quit on the spot and went to work for his competition for $2/hr more than he was paying me.”

Outta here.

“I was a shift lead in a kitchen where none of the management knew anything about BoH.

I ran grill, sauté, expo, and ovens solo during every peak shift. I ordered trucks, prepped all week for weekend brunch, wrote kitchen schedules, coordinated kitchen cleaning projects, contacted vendors for repairs, and generally ran the kitchen’s day to day. I was given the keys and started opening 6 days a week.

I was working 55+ hours and loving it. I expanded our brunch service to Fridays as well as Saturday/Sunday and I come up with an early week menu to use up leftover brunch items and minimize waste. I helped grow weekly sales from 40-45k to 75-80k in three years.

I started having issues with closing management on shifts where I wasn’t there. I’d get in at 6am to open and the restaurant was left a mess and prep/stocking wasn’t completed. I talked to the staff and tried to get them to help out but I had no support and follow through from the actual managers. This went on for weeks.

Then one week I was in at 5 for Friday Brunch prep. I was prepping sheets of bacon and went to the back to pull the biscuits I had prepped the day before. I had left them on a speed rack. I found them on a shelf stacked on top of each other.

The weight of the trays had smashed every biscuit into single sheets of dough on the lower trays. The speed rack had the dressings and cold items from the line close the night before.

I did about 90% of the brunch prep by the time the “opening” manager showed up at 8:30 (we opened at 9.) I told her what was left to set up the line. She asked why I was telling her. I laid the sheets of dough in front of her, dropped my keys on top, and walked out.

I got nearly 50 calls from them that day and dozens of texts. I didn’t respond to a single one. A few days later, the owner of the store called me and asked who he needed to fire to bring me back. I told him I’d pass and ended up finding another job in a day.

A little over a year later, this restaurant shut down and was demolished to turn the space into a parking garage.”

Understaffed.

“Over a decade ago, worked at Tim Hortons. had been there 6 years on overnight shift. (11PM-7AM)

We were always understaffed. Usually just two people; one in the back, one at front of house. Of course it is slower than during the day, that goes without saying, but there are a few “rushes” when certain places close.

Anyways, they hire back a guy who had previously been fired like 4 times for just not showing up. He was on the schedule on a Sunday morning with me. There was a 20 dozen donut order and that was the day the freezer truck arrived and I put that away. I remember saying “If he doesn’t show up, I’m probably just going home”.

Needless to say, he doesn’t show up. Managers aren’t picking up either. I think I stayed for a few hours futilely trying to get everything done- I closed down the front and the Drive/thru for what I intended to be a few hours to try to at least have the order ready for 6AM.

But then a switch kind of flipped; I realized I wasn’t going to be able to take any break the entire time. Somehow I’d have to figure out how to put away a freezer delivery, which arrives literally at 5AM which is busy as hell, and I’d be doing that as well.

The people that showed up in the morning would just do their usual complaining about stuff I wasn’t able to do, I’d probably get written up again for some stupid reason or because I didn’t do X or Y or whatever, and all this for like, $10.50/hr. I paused and asked myself- “how long do I want to work here?”.

And right then a bunch of intoxciated kids were knocking on the door, apparently confused why the lights were off and the door was locked, because that’s an enigma.

I decided “6 years is enough” and went home.”

Not a team player.

“Dillards.

They told me to clock out and work all night because regional was coming to inspect the store. So they wanted me to work for 8 hours moving around heavy stuff for free.

Quit on the spot. Told me I wasn’t a “team player”.

I asked the manager if he would pay me for not working. He said no. I asked him why would I work without getting paid, blank stare.”

We’re done here.

“Old sales job I had. Landed/closed a big deal with a nice commission check heading my way.

Found out a week or so later that the client wasn’t mine, therefore, the check would be going to the correct sales rep.

The “correct” sales rep just happened to be related to the boss and so they got a free commission check without ever lifting a finger.

Left that day.”

Not putting up with that.

“Verbal abuse from my boss.

I’m an extremely patient person but when every single word out of someone’s mouth is berating and condescending, there’s no price worth putting up with that and no reason to subject yourself to it for longer than necessary.”

Threats.

“I once worked as a landscaper, and during a slow month, some of us workers were asked to head to the bosses brothers property and help out there, which was fine.

My boss asked that I pick him up in the morning and take him out there. The straw that broke the camels back was while out there I had filled some buckets with water, and while I did turn the tap off, it was slowly dripping.

My boss noticed this and had a complete meltdown. He made threats to harm to the person who left it dripping (he didn’t know who it was at that point). I dropped my tools, told my boss to shove his threats, and left, leaving my boss in the middle of nowhere.”

What else do you want from me?

“Did everything they wanted. Jumped on a plane to another site on 1 day’s notice.

Ended up working 16 days straight before coming back. Took a WFH customer service job role I didn’t really want just to help out on a temporary basis.

We were told that half the team could have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off and the other half could have Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Except me, who could only have Christmas Day. I signed out of the VPN, call blocked my managers, put my laptop in a box and posted it to head office with my resignation letter inside it.”

Jeez…

“My boss was promoted, my manager became my new boss.

I was written up by my new boss, and had to talk to HR for showing up “an hour late” to an offsite meeting with a vendor. They said it was unprofessional.

The hour was just scheduled breakfast I didn’t want to eat, and I had stayed up late at night working on some numbers for the business to present, which they assigned to me at 8pm, after we had a big work dinner, and everyone else was going to the bar.

My old boss, now boss’s boss came in 3 hours late, with 2 other co-workers, interrupting the meeting to brag about how one of them passed out in the hotel lobby, the other just  handed the hotel staff his key card and said “Find my room please”, and the 3rd one never made it out of the backseat of the car.

They never ended up using the data I stayed up half the night collecting.”

Done.

“I put in that I needed off a particular weekend 5 months in advance. That week comes and I’m on the bar schedule.

I call and say “yeah I can’t work this I have someone in town from across the country staying with me. I put in to have off 5 months ago.” Manager replied “you put in a request off, and it’s just that. A request.” So even though I was seething angry, I said okay and then hung up.

Day of the shift comes and I waited until 15 minutes before it started to leave a message thanking them for the opportunity to cover everyone else’s shifts for 3 years, but I wouldn’t be in ever again. I still joke to this day with my friend that I quit my job for her.”

Gimme a break!

“I used to work at IHOP in high school part time.

They were literally scheduling me during school hours and calling me when I wasn’t showing up.

I dropped off their stuff during the rush and left.”

You’ll never work here again!

“I was working at Sears part time for Christmas. They never trained me.

When my supervisor came in for something and found out I was working alone he ran out before they could ask him to help.

My other supervisor had a nervous breakdown and while crying, said he wanted to punch the manager but was a felon and needed the job. I just got tired of the **** because I was literally just working for Christmas money.

They found me at my other job and asked me to come back because I had figured out how to do the job without being trained. I said no and they told me I’d never be able to work for Sears or Kmart again.

Shiver me timbers…”

I’m sure everybody has wanted to do this at some point in their careers.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.