'I owed them nothing': 15+ 'Final straw' moments that made employees quit on the spot

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  • 01
    'I asked for a $1 raise...[boss's] wife says they can't afford it. PORSCHE TULSA omn CVC-91 COOPER Not even two days later they have a brand new Porsche. Goodbye.'
  • 02
    What's your best "I quit" story?
  • 03
    AtTheEolian I had a full-time job but took a part-time job on the weekends at kiosk in the mall. I got there hours before we opened to stock and clean, and got done in time to read the new "store memos" that came out that week. The store (and the mall) still hadn't opened, so I sat down on the floor to read. I put away the binder and was ready long before the mall opened.
  • 04
    Someone at another kiosk told on me to my 19 year old boss, because they heard that employees were not allowed to sit. She took me outside and gave me a 15 minute lecture about "responsibility" and told me she was having a hard time deciding between putting me on probation/writing me up and firing me. So I saved her the trouble and quit.
  • 05
    sagmag Maybe not the response you're looking for but... One day I wore khaki pants and a red sweatshirt in to a local Target store. Mind you, the sweatshirt had the name of a local high school printed in GIANT letters across the front, but none-the- less, I was stopped by more than a dozen shoppers asking for assistance.
  • 06
    I politely explained that I was not an employee to all of them, and was met with anything from slight embarrassment to mild disbelief, except for the last woman who just refused to believe that I didn't work there. She pressed the issue through 3 or 4 denials, so finally I just shouted "Ok, you know what!?! I've had enough of this job! I quit!" and stormed off. No idea what the aftermath of that was, but it was fun.
  • 07
    bpoag When I was 19, I hired on with a headhunting firm, and ended up in a job for a decent- sized company. I was told would be in IT Support; Hands-on, working with people to fix things wrong with their workstations. Was super proud, parents were too. It was my first step into an industry I had wanted to be part of since I was in elementary school.
  • 08
    I got there, found out that I was going to be confined to a cubicle about the size of a phone booth, with a large red flashing siren light on it...and told "That light will begin flashing if you take more than 2 minutes to answer a call. Your job will be to answer the phones, and dispatch technicians to address the problems."
  • 09
    I realized that not only had I been lied to, I was expected to behave like a robot designed to treat people like for a living. I told them this isn't what I signed up for, and was told, "well, then you'll have to forfeit the remainder of your contract. You'll owe us $2000." that. My dignity/integrity is worth more than $2000, so I walked.
  • 10
    Thank God, I had forgotten to bring my signed employment contract with me that morning.. So I owed them nothing. Promptly went home, ripped it up, and had a good cry. It was a welcome to an industry I love. Silver lining: Got a much better job soon after, 20+ years later, now a sr. systems engineer, and doing quite well. :)
  • 11
    baronesse Job title was KM. Owner left town for a month, had me added to the bank account to pay bills, payroll, accounts, etc. Didn't realize we were in the red, due to his using restaurant money as personal money. Over that month I was able to bring us back out of the red and built up a slight buffer of saved money by picking up a lot of hours (I was salaried, so probably getting close to 80/week), getting into watching the bartenders and fixing their overpouring and monitoring the comps from
  • 12
    FOH (friends getting the hook up), and a bunch of other random stuff that our GM (read, owner) should have been keeping an eye on. He gets back, and is furious that there isn't enough money to buy a boat. Sorry that I made it so we could stay open as a restaurant and not be in the .... all the time. The next day I'm doing payroll and this guy that I hired came in to tell me that he's in charge now and to give him the keys.
  • 13
    I quit. I hadn't and still have never walked out except for this place. I have been working in restaurants for half my life.
  • 14
    [deleted] I used to work for a certain huge wholesale warehouse. When I was out of high school. It was my first job. So i was happy and grateful for the opportunity. It was ok, the managers were always on a power trip and were constantly berating me for random things. Once i was scolded for not combing my hair. i just spent a few hours outside in the sun getting carts.
  • 15
    Anyways. One of those hot days, I helped a man unload his three carts of supplies and I run the carts back. I notice that he left a small pouch in one of the carts. It had a really old medical card, ID and a of cash. 400 in twenties. Well dude is long gone, so i go to the front office and turn it in. Guy returns right before closing. I see him getting in his car so I wave and ask if he got his stuff back. "Well yeah, not all of it." "What? What was missing?"
  • 16
    "Some money." -.. took the I told him that was impossible. I turned it in with the cash inside, all 400. I went with him to the office, and they stood there and claimed when I turned it in there was nothing inside. They actually tried to claim I must of had something to do with it. Well the guy said someone was lying, so he will call the police and have them see what to do.
  • 17
    "Oh wait sir, we put it in the wrong drawer. Here it is." I told them I was quitting at the end of the day. They said don't worry about it, just go home.
  • 18
    spookymark23 Got to work (Direct Sales, Inbound Call Centre, Phone Provider) an hour late because of a flight delay. I cut it close by flying home the morning I had a shift. My team leader was actually on my flight. Was fun. Split a cab. Got to work. Boss started reaming me, TL had called about plane delay and said she would be late but not me, took big bosses side.
  • 19
    (I had said "well I guess I don't need to call you to tell you I'll be late!" on the plane and she laughed it off) I said "I actually came in today to quit. " TL said "where's your notice in writing?" To which I replied with "where's your pen and paper?" I proceeded to write " I quit" and signed it. The "letter" is on my file for one of the biggest Telco providers HR now lol. this,
  • 20
    Djukic95 Got a position off Gumtree to work as a "paralegal" for this older man. Anyway fast forward and i am walking through the city trying to find this strange address. Turns out, its a hotel and i call him and he picks me up from the foyer. When i entered that hotel room, i could not believe what i was seeing. This guy had papers stuck all over the wall, you could not see one spot of paint. There was a bed in the centre and just a mess of papers everywhereHe told me how he was fighting his e
  • 21
    that he could not pay me because he had no money (even though the position was advertised as paid). Instead he offered for me to work for free and he will be a "reputable" reference. Needless to say i nearly jumped out of that window, and i later found out by googling his name that he was a former lawyer disowned from tax fraud. I quit.
  • 22
    mahade My new boss just bought my old boss' company. I was the only employee that knew everything about the servers, the clients, all our software, etc. After the transition period and me doing more than my job, and doing it well at that, I asked for a raise. "No." Alright then. I applied to a job opening the next day. Got an interview the day after. And I had a signed contract (not by myself, yet) the day after that.
  • 23
    I went back to my boss. I told him about my new contract, and that they are giving me a 700 Euro pay increase a month. He smirked and told me: "Go for it." Which I did. I signed the contract that evening, delivered it to my new employer the morning after. Then I went to my boss again: "Good morning! I quit, I've sent you an email and mailed a resignation letter which you should receive by tomorrow." I had a contractual 1 month notice in place. My boss begged me to stay, he promised a raise if I'
  • 24
    scrambled to hire new people right away so I could still train them. One after the other: complete and utter failures. They were hired by people who aren't professionals (I'm a web dev). So they hired people that were nowhere close the required profile. One guy was the son of a friend of the boss. Church buddies. Completely useless. Anyway. I left. And a week after I left I found out that in all my projects of over 5 years (about 150+ websites) my developer credits in the source code were replac
  • 25
    That hurt the most. But anyway. I quit that dead- end job. That was the best one so far.
  • 26
    Kabukikitsune I worked for a company for about a year as a shipping receiving clerk. While there I created a pretty extensive system that dictated where the outgoing product was to be kept, and a log system based off of parts of the order, what was in the order, and the average weight. Using this system, I would organize everything by what trucking company typically came at what time of day, and how the various items weighed. (Heaviest to lightest) This made short work of loading the trucks with
  • 27
    while I always worked overtime and holidays, and rarely if ever missed any time, the company never had a problem with the customers getting their packages either on time, or if possible early. Like I said, I'd been there little over a year, and was in the process of writing down the entire system I worked out so it could be implemented in other departments of the company for their own shipping, when the plant manager came by and pulled me aside. He informed me that he'd gotten word that the new
  • 28
    son to work at the company, and the upcoming Monday, he was going to take my position. The manager asked me if I had all the documentation on my system printed out, to which I said I did. He took it, walked with me into the office and put everything, including the disk which the computer program I'd written out, into a paper shredder. He then told me not to come in on Monday, and to file for Unemployment, as he wouldn't fight the case. So, I did.
  • 29
    A couple months later, I happened to run into that manager again, and asked him how things were going. To which he just started laughing. He said that when I didn't show that Monday, it was generally understood that I had quit out of protest. They had tried to use the system I'd created, but since the pallets weren't labeled that they could see, outside of my obscure tracking system, the company had to spend the next three weeks opening every single outgoing order and trying to figure out what w
  • 30
    Months later they were STILL getting things wrong, and the VP had been called on the carpet by the President wanting to know what the he'd done. The VP was canned, as was the son. I was offered my job back with a raise, on the condition that I teach every clerk how to use my system. I told them a curt "No" and hung up the phone.
  • 31
    LemonFake I was working at a local deli. Locally-owned, all-local products, good pay and good hours, and just a really awesome place. I loved my job and my bosses were great. Everything was super! ...And then the owners (my bosses) sold the deli to a bigger company. At first, everything was fine. The new owners were decent people, they didn't really want to change anything we were doing, and it seemed like my job would be more or less the same. Then they promoted
  • 32
    one of my coworkers to manager--after I'd turned the job down, by the way, because it offered a lot more work but no pay raise and I thought I'd be better off in my then- current position. I was wrong. I was not better off. I have never seen such a small amount of power go to someone's head so quickly as it did with this co-worker. She started off by wanting to abolish our policy of selling greatly-reduced food (and I mean like, under a dollar for a whole meal) to poorer people, that would have
  • 33
    anyway if we hadn't sold it for something, which was a policy that had been at the deli for years and that was the only meal that a lot of people in our city got all day. I have no idea why she wanted to do this because by selling this food, albeit cheaply, we were making some money from it vs. the zero dollars we would have got by giving it to the trash but she did. I, thinking this was complete and utter went over her head. I One day the owners were in there and I broached the topic to them ab
  • 34
    were all for it and told us to keep doing it because just throwing out all that food was stupid and they thought it was great that we were giving back to the community. This conversation took place in front of my co-worker. I could physically see the moment she put me on her list. After that, she started making my life a living . Starting off by having a problem with everything I did (she would make me wash the equipment multiple times, for example, even though it was very
  • 35
    thoroughly done the first time, just to make me lift the heavy over and over again and then she'd give me for doing it because I "should've been doing" some other thing) and then she started cutting my hours and giving them to another co-worker (who happened to be her sister).
  • 36
    My final straw was when she handed me my new time table in the middle of my shift. It had me working only three hours that next week, like one hour one day then half an hour another and the rest a few days after. I told her it was unacceptable, that it wasn't even worth coming in for. She said I had no choice but to do it because she dictated what the hours would be. She had the most smug expression on her face, I wanted to her.
  • 37
    Instead, I took off my apron, threw it at her, and said I quit. She screamed after me that I couldn't just leave in the middle of my shift and I said watch me. I left and never came back.
  • 38
    I_am_a_Wookie_AMA I worked at a gas station/convenience mart for several years during college. As with most places that pay minimum wage, they couldn't keep the place staffed, so the people who were reliable got the shaft on scheduling. Early on, I was cool with the few managers that came and went. They gave me the hours I wanted, and I was a reliable worker who would pick up a bit of time here and there to help out.
  • 39
    Things changed and managers started flowing in and out like water, each worse than the last as things started going downhill. New people didn't last long, the long time employees hated the job, people would just not show up, and everything just sucked. After working several doubles because the next shift didn't show up and management(from bottom to top) wouldn't answer the phone, I was getting tired of it. Then came a day when I was woken up by a call from a manager being borrowed from another t
  • 40
    didn't show up, and they needed someone to pick up the extra shift until they could find someone else willing to work. This manager is having a particularly hard time, so I clear it with her that she'll have someone work my shift, then head over. I work that shift, but nobody comes in to relieve me(she didn't even try to find someone), and big surprise I'm expected to work both shifts. She can't understand why that would someone off, but I'm about ready to throw down a big can of rage induced ev
  • 41
    So, I tell her I quit. There wasn't enough matter between her ears to process the information she was being provided, so I had to explain several times in creative ways as I got my jacket and left. I now work for nearly double the money at a place with a ridiculous number of chemical and mechanical hazards, but I also have a retirement account, decent insurance, semi-competent bosses, etc.
  • 42
    DatNatroGuy Two bad experiences. Both from working for real estate agents. Worked for the first boss for 5 years. He was a good guy but his wife was a 1. I always took on more responsibilities and just really wanted to learn the business. At one point I realized my worth and asked to discuss a raise. He brought his wife into the meeting. I asked for a one dollar raise. One dollar. His wife pipes up and says they can't afford it. Not even two days later they have a brand new Porsche.
  • 43
    Next boss seemed like level headed person. Paid me more than the last and gave me gas and phone allowances on top of it. Turns out she was insane and shouldn't be in business. My first task was to respond to a complaint from the division of labor for unpaid wages. out of there Noped the when she another employee in the face during a meeting and they started fighting. I can't believe some people.
  • 44
    [deleted] Not the most exciting story, but I was working at McDonalds at the time. Multiple parts to making me quit so here is the background information. I had been working there for a year and a shift manager position opened up. The first thing that made me quit was I was asked if I could help cover a 3rd shift position while they looked for someone else to fill the spot. 4 months later when I left I was still working 3rd shift. The 2nd shift manager had just left, and I asked if I could be
  • 45
    moved back to 2nd shift and take the open shift manager position. Nope they gave the position the to new girl (who had been working there for 2 weeks and I'm fairly sure was the manager. All of our shift managers were young females with the oldest being 23). But still I worked there because I was in school and needed the money. The final straw was when I called off one night because I was sick. I worked 6 nights a week, so they said I would need to fill a position tomorrow during the day to cove
  • 46
    my best and would give them a call in the morning. I ended up going in the next day to cover the shift they asked for. 30 mins before my 9 hour shift ends my boss says "We are going to send you home a little early so you can get some sleep before you have to come in tonight." I said I 100% could not work a double shift, you guys didnt tell me it was going to be a double shift and that I was still recovering from being sick. "I will not be back in tonight, do not plan on me being here." 2 am roll
  • 47
    and my boss is knocking on my door, loud enough to wake me up, my 3 room mates, and my neighbor... And that is finally what made me quit.
  • 48
    bbbbbfreestyle About ten years ago I was working as an Xmas temp in a popular music/game store. It was Boxing Day (the national holiday after Christmas Day in the UK and Common Wealth countries and a very popular day for shopping for sale items), and because of my 'temp' status I was being paid less than everyone else on the shop floor. Anyway, a family came into the store looking to buy a console bundle that sadly wasn't available. The lady of the family was very
  • 49
    unaccepting information, of this and vehemently insisted that the bundle should be able to be made up on the spot from items on the shelf (with different games, etc). I politely explained this was not possible, as the items are bundled together under one bar code (hence the term 'bundle'...!) Anyway, she got really nasty at this point, and in front of her whole family started to slate me, inferring I was stupid, and asking to speak to the manager. I proceed to fetch the manager, who'd previously
  • 50
    was relaying - bundles cannot be made up of items off the shelf. This monster of woman was being really horrible at this point, and my manager took the 'just let her have it' approach. This put me in a horrible position, and she proceeded to call me stupid and tell me I didn't know what I was talking about. I just lost it at the point, and grew evermore aware that I was being paid all in comparison to my co-workers to take and be verbally abused by this horrific vile witch. I looked her right in
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    eyes, reminded her that it was Boxing Day and the season of goodwill, and told her to off. I walked out and never went back. horrible people who think they can treat retail workers like managers who don't support their staff. And unequal pay!!
  • 52
    DerpWilson I spent four days one summer in high school working for this college girl. She was majoring in business and apparently one of her assignments was to actually start a business, which she did - exterior painting. I had plenty of experience painting houses and was good with ladders and the pay was actually fair so I said Spent the first two days handing out thousands of fliers, then actually started painting. I was like 16 at the time and was the oldest
  • 53
    person working for her by two years! So I was up on a 40 ft ladder and one kid decides it a good idea to move his extended 40 ft ladder from one side of me to other without lowering it. It all happened in slowmotion as he lost control of it sent it careening into me. I dropped my bucket of paint and grabbed onto a tiny little electrical conduit running up the side of the house and somehow managed to pick up his ladder and send it over me crashing into the ground. Happened very quickly.
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    Got down, the kid didn't even apologize. Drove home and called the lady demanding my money and that I quit.
  • 55
    [deleted] This will probably be buried, but here goes. Worked at a fast food place on and off from 16-20 years old, barely got paid above minimum wage the entire time, constantly passed over for promotions. Finished an early shift on a Friday, went home and managed to break 3 toes, and lose $500 at the local clinic/hospital. Tried to call in for my 5 a.m shift the next day, was told I would lose the job if I didn't show. I really needed it (so I thought) so went in. I was there for about 4 hours
  • 56
    horrendous pain, and was then asked to cover the next shift, which meant I wouldn't be getting home until 4 p.m. Thought' I, I am not getting paid enough for this .' Informed my boss that was my last day, and walked out. Place went downhill shortly after, and no one will eat there anymore. Plus I got a better paying job not even a week later, that promoted me twice in the 10 months I worked there. Win.
  • 57
    My_Name_Is_Redacted It was May of 2005 and I was working for a major cell phone provider. My husband and I had just been married the previous September, he received a call the end of October telling him he was going to be deployed, gone January 2nd. Awesome first year of marriage... Anyway, it worked out that my husband and his brother (who was also deployed) were going to get their R&R at the same time. Their parents and I worked it out where we would all meet up and spend the time in
  • 58
    Europe. I gave my boss a solid 2 month notice that this was the plan. Boss told me that it wasn't a problem. Fast forward to 2 weeks from departure day and all of a sudden there's a problem; I don't have enough vacation time built up. I knew I didn't. I wasn't expecting to be paid for most of the days. I just wanted to see my husband. Boss tells me I can't go if I don't have vacation time. The ? I call up HR to see if that's true. They say it's not true but just to be safe I should take a short-
  • 59
    store needs me to work and he won't approve a LOA. It's May. We're fully staffed. Overstaffed, in fact. I would know; I was the one that made the schedules. Starting to really stress out about it, I called HR back to talk about it. HR informed me that it was completely the store managers decision to allow a LOA or not. I'm . Completely 1. Tickets had been paid for. Hotels reserved. All of it. There was NO reason other than he wanted to be an ..... and assert power that he wouldn't approve it.
  • 60
    Now, I had been with this company for just over 5 years. My boss? Less than 6 months. All of my coworkers had been with the company for at least 3 years. 2 of my coworkers were in my wedding. We were like a family. If someone was ill or having a hard time, we would pick up the slack, no problem. It was a beautiful 'you today, me tomorrow' dynamic in the store. They all went in to the managers office and gave up vacation days for me. He refused them. He just wanted to show everyone he had the big
  • 61
    didn't like it he would have to fire me; he 'allowed' the leave of absence. Of course he wouldn't fire me. I was a key holding senior associate. There were 3 key holders (including me) in the store. I go to Europe to see my husband. Have a magical time. See so many wonderful things. Come home to him having all over my reputation to upper management. Telling them how I was expecting him to give me more vacation time to be able to go. How he didn't approve the LOA. How my coworkers were I that I
  • 62
    left them high and dry. All untrue. I talked with my coworkers and told them that I'm sorry but, I needed to go. I couldn't work for him and left. One by one in the coming weeks, every one of them left too.
  • 63
    DeanisBatman My first official job was working at an assisted living facility. One day I got called into the administrators office and she said that a previous employee who had moved out of state was returning and wanted her job back. I was the last person to be hired so they were going to give her my position. I was given the option of being fired or resigning. I quit. The administrator would even look up the whole time. She just stared at her desk and I was really mad, but signed the paperwork
  • 64
    Francophonetic Worked as a telemarketer selling magazine subscriptions. During the third week, I got this old lady on the phone and she wanted to keep talking because I sounded like her son. She was really sad because apparently nobody lives around her. They got angry that i didn't try to upsell her because she was clearly vulnerable. I just walk out. Didn't say anything. Just left.

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