You aren’t going to like every moment of every job you ever have in life, but sometimes you have to put up with things just for a paycheck.

What would you do if your manager kept abusing you and treating you poorly, even though you were always working hard for her?

That is what happened to the fast food employee in this story, so when she finally hit the breaking point, she quit in a spectacular way.

Nobody puts Georgia in a corner – or Take this Job and Shove it

Years ago, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, I worked for National Taco Chain. Our store was at the intersection of two major freeways between a major metropolitan area and outdoor recreational areas.

Staff turnover is high in most fast food places.

This sordid little tale takes place on Memorial Day. It was the second time I had worked for National Taco Chain, in that same store. Management, in the meantime, had changed.

My former manager had gotten a more rewarding offer from National Burger Joint and the new manager and I didn’t get along very well. I wasn’t exactly insubordinate but I did get annoyed that she didn’t acknowledge my previous experience with the store.

Ahh, she seems like a control freak.

She wouldn’t let me jump on the line when things got busy because “You haven’t been trained.” By which she meant “I haven’t trained you.” She was a large surly thing, tall and manly, so we’re going to call her SBM, for Surly Bad Manager.

I worked the drive thru most of the time but occasionally they would put me on a register in the dining room.

Sometimes you have to do the dirty work.

Incidentally that also makes me responsible for maintaining the dining room and the bathrooms. Not a whole lot of extra work, except for the occasional cretinous mess in one of the restrooms.

The Friday night before Memorial Day, I worked the closing shift with a handful of younger employees, most of whom were still in high school. As they were cleaning they got on the subject of a rave in nearby Los Angeles.

Hey, road trips can be fun.

And by nearby, I mean seven hours away. One of the guys who worked the line mentioned that he’d been there before and while he’s telling them about his experience you can see this light come into their eyes.

I knew then, that I wouldn’t see any of them for the rest of the weekend. And by the end of the night, so did they.

No surprise here.

Cut to Saturday morning, I get a call from SBM, two of her opening crew pulled a no call/no show and she desperately needs me to come into work. I’m not real happy about it, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise.

So, I got up and got ready and dragged my tired self into work. When I got there, SBM had heard from one of my female closers.

People call in sick sometimes, it happens.

She was ‘home sick,’ and I leveled with SBM about what had happened the night before and where they really were. She just scowled, muttered something about irresponsible kids and trundled off.

Naturally I had to come back in on Sunday too.

Sometimes being small can make things difficult.

Now, out of the crew that was staffing the store that Sunday morning, I was the smallest. There were two tall broad shouldered fellows and a skinnier guy on the line, and a heavy set lady manning the drive thru, with me on the dining room.

Well back then, we didn’t have self replenishing ice machines. The top came off of the station and you poured ice from a cooler in the back into the top of it.

There is no reason that she should have to do this.

In order to do this, I would have to go and find a stool, set the stool out by the machines and hope people didn’t mess with it while I went back and filled up a five gallon bucket of ice. Traditionally, we took turns filling it. But not today.

No, today SBM wanted me to do it, because she ‘needed the other crew members on the line.’ She wouldn’t trust the previous management enough to even give me a chance to show her I could work the line.

I bet she is exhausted.

By this time, I’ve worked close on Friday, open on Saturday, close on Saturday and mid-day on Sunday. I was pretty tired, my back hurt, the dining room was packed with a line out the door. I had already filled the ice machine twice when SBM, comes out and tells me to fill the ice machine.

She takes over the register next to mine and proceeds to start taking orders. Leaving the line workers to expedite in addition to working the line.

You can only do one thing at a time.

Meanwhile, I had been too busy to take out the trash, or clean the bathrooms (which I was told needed cleaning) and so I ask her:

Me: I’ve filled the machine twice today already and the bathrooms need my attention. Could you possibly get one of the guys from the line to fill the ice machine while I tend to the dining room?

SBM: No, you can do what I told you to.

Plenty of good options here.

Me: Or if you’d rather, I could take over on the line while one of the guys does it.

SBM: You’re not trained for that.

I bet this was very frustrating.

I sigh and wander toward the back to gather the stool and bucket. I come back out and set up the stool, go back to fill the bucket and come back to find someone’s kid sitting on the stool in front of the soda machine.

He wouldn’t move of course so I had to make eyes at his mom to get her to help me. When the stool was finally vacated, I pushed the stool closer and climbed up with the five gallon bucket full of ice.

Ouch! This would be awful.

As I was pouring it in, my hand slipped and the mostly full bucket smashed my hand against the side of the reservoir. Pain shot up my cold hand and into my shoulder and I couldn’t help myself. I said a bad word. So SBM stops what she’s doing (leaving the register unattended), comes over to me and in front of a packed dining room, reprimands me.

What!? Getting in trouble for an accident?

SBM: You need to go into the back and take a time out. Don’t come back until you can get your temper under control!

Georgiaokief: Okaaaaay.

I think I would just go home at this point.

So in a state of bewilderment, I wandered into the back of the store and sat down on top of a five gallon bucket. I was staring at my hand, as I tried to sort it all out.

I hadn’t lost my temper, I had hurt myself doing what she insisted I do. I had worked my butt off to help pick up the slack left by FOUR employees who had run off to LA for a rave. People she had hired.

It is time to stand up for herself.

I decided I was done taking abuse from the boss whose shifts I was so generously covering. A woman who insisted on treating me like I’m incompetent and difficult when I really wasn’t.

I felt like crying, which made me angry. I was doing the best I could with a situation that was less than ideal and all she could do was criticize me.

She has nothing to lose at this point.

I made a decision right then and there and galvanized I marched back out to the dining room to have it out with SBM. It was a crap job and I had really reached my breaking point.

When I rounded the corner there was a party of between four and six cowboys in the middle of the order line, and they immediately zeroed in on me.

They knew something was going to happen.

One guy nudged the another and they all turned to watch. I’m pretty scary when I’m angry, I’m Irish. It’s in my blood. I marched right up to SBM and began talking in a low, intense tone.

Georgiaokief: Surly Bad Manager, I have had time to reflect on my behavior. I want to clear a few things up for you. First off, I wasn’t angry. I hurt myself loading the ice machine that you insisted I fill. If you had a brain in your head you would realize that I’ve worked four shifts in the last forty-eight hours and maybe you should have gotten someone else to do it.

I think the manager knows she is in for it now.

SBM: -sputtering-

Georgiaokief: We have perfectly capable guys back there that can fill it without a stool and without crushing their hands. But for whatever reason you’ve decided that the smallest person working here should do it. It’s no wonder I hurt my hand. I wasn’t angry, until you put me in time out like some five year old.

SBM: Now look here….

Good for her! She is really standing up for herself.

Georgiaokief: No, YOU look here. I’ve had it. I have covered multiple shifts for a bunch of high schoolers who ran off to a rave. I’ve busted my butt to cover yours and this is how you treat me? Yelling at me in front of all of our customers and watching me struggle to something another employee could do with ease. Well guess what!?! I QUIT! Now you can fill the ice machine yourself.

Perfect timing from the cowboys.

Immediately the cowboys launch into a refrain of “Take this Job and shove it…” and the entire dining room erupted in a great big cheer.

I don’t know if it was because SBM was such a bad person that no one liked her, or if was because of the spectacle I provided for them. But I have never felt quite as vindicated as I did in that moment.

I would love to know how the day went after that!

I slammed my name tag down on the counter with a massive grin and stormed out before she could say another word.

And honestly? I’ve never really regretted it.

This is so satisfying to read. Putting a bad manager in their place is a great feeling, and it should really be done more often.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about this amazing situation.

Yes! It was a great story with a great ending.

Here is someone without the guts to do what was done in this story.

Most people never get to do this type of thing.

Yes, this is exactly right.

Rage quitting can be satisfying.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.