'An entire department quit on the spot': 20+ Workers who quit ASAP thanks to their terrible bosses

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jun 11, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

These workers had a few choice words for their bosses, like "good luck" and "good riddance." They're proof that you can only treat your employees badly for so long before they decide that the grass is greener at another employer. 

People from all types of industries shared their stories with the r/AskReddit community. u/Who_Did_You_Expect1 was curious about the things that bosses did that made employees quit as soon as humanly possible, and more than 900 people replied. 

Disliking your boss at some point in your career is a universal experience. If you have a great boss, count your blessings! Some people are passionate about the work they do, but their bosses are micromanagers or have zero sympathy for call-outs or sick days. No matter how passionate that employee is about their work, the toll of having a bad boss can turn a beloved job into a despised one. For some people, this happened during their first jobs at restaurants or fast-food places. Others shared that they were already into their professional careers by the time they got fed up with their awful bosses. Check out the stories below! 

Up next, these delivery employees revealed the absolute craziest things they ever saw on a delivery run, like one poor soul who had a customer quickly warn them, "There's a bear right behind you." 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10359613184
    via Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash
  • 02
    What did your boss do that made you quit your job on the spot?
    via u/Who_Did_You_Expect1
  • 03
    WaltuhWhyte Threatened to lock me inside the store if I didn't hit my targets.
    via u/WaltuhWhyte
  • 04
    oh-deerie Once I was working as a cashier in a store. I was on my 8th month and I was already exhausted bc my boss yelled all the time. One day they changed the system and I asked for help, and she said "it's not my problem deal with it." And I was like "you know what, You deal with it, I'm done here." I never felt more relieved for leaving a job.
    via u/oh-deerie
  • 05
    the_idea_pig Back in '07, I was working for a fast food pizza place that shall remain unnamed. This store had a policy that you couldn't call to check your schedule under any circumstances, and they also had a nasty habit of changing schedules that had been posted. I took a week off to visit some family and confirmed after the next week's schedule had been
    via u/the_idea_pig
  • 06
    posted that I didn't work the day after I was supposed to get back in town. Well, on my drive back I got stuck in a pretty horrific traffic jam and knew that I wouldn't get back to town before the store closed. I called the shop, explained my situation and told them I just wanted to confirm that I wasn't working the following day. The manager bitched me out, told me I knew the policy and that I should
    via u/the_idea_pig
  • 07
    really be more responsible. So I hung up, gritted my teeth through the traffic jam and shut my phone off as soon as I got home. The next day I woke up and turned my phone back on; the schedule had indeed been changed at the last minute and they had put me on to open the store - I had probably 15 missed calls, about two dozen texts and a few voice mails telling me to
    via u/the_idea_pig
  • 08
    get my into the store and open in time for the lunch rush. I rolled back over and passed out for another two or three hours, had a leisurely cup of coffee after I woke up again, took a long shower and turned in my uniform some time that afternoon.
    via u/the_idea_pig
  • 09
    They tried to get me to sign a write up for missing my shift. I told them I would've been there on time if they had just told me over the phone that I was working that day. Found a new job that afternoon, if I remember correctly.
    via u/the_idea_pig
  • 10
    Positive-Ad584 Made a rule that no one was allowed to call in sick during cold and flu season. An entire department quit on the spot
    via u/Positive-Ad584
  • 11
    [deleted] It was 1995 and I was working a temporary contract for year before going to university. I have an annual commitment to some voluntary work (still going to this day) but when it came to it they would not honour my leave request for one measly week. No big drama I just quit. Got a telephone call on my return started back like it never happened.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 12
    Fast forward to august the same year and my brother died suddenly and I took 2 weeks off. They refused to pay me but my colleagues. were so appalled they collected money for me to cover my wages. The very best and worst of humanity at the same time. I still get teary thinking of that envelope of cash getting pushed in my hand. Nobody will read this but the contract was at Austwicks
    via u/[deleted]
  • 13
    book shop in Leeds, England. It's long gone out of business, good riddance
    via u/[deleted]
  • 14
    awhq They fired another woman for taking too much time off to care for her dying grandmother who raised her. For context, she was a lower level admin. I was a database administrator. I had been taking time off just like her because my mother- in-law was dying. They fired her. Her skills were easy to replace.
    via u/awhq
  • 15
    I quit that day. My skills were not easily replaced.
    via u/awhq
  • 16
    mog-pharau I was written up by my manager (I was also a manager) for missing two days of work when my mother died. I expected it, and when I went into the office after I took my two days off, I already had my resignation letter written and printed out. My boss started going into why I was written
    via u/mog-pharau
  • 17
    up, and I interrupted him by handing him my resignation letter and told him what a person he was, then left, and continued to deal with the aftermath of my mother's death. Never been happier to leave a job.
    via u/mog-pharau
  • 18
    classichelsea I was working at a plant nursery and the owner would yell at us every single day for not working fast enough even though we were literally running as we worked. After I had been there for just under a month things came to a climax when the owner collectively called all 5 of us "useless idiots" and "spoiled rotten children". We were all
    via u/classichelsea
  • 19
    university students in our twenties working our hardest. One girl stopped in her tracks when the owner said that, dropped what she was holding and walked directly to her car and drove off without saying a word. The rest of us worked awckwardly for the last hour of work. I didn't show up for any more shifts and stopped
    via u/classichelsea
  • 20
    by a week later to collect my checque. There were no employees left at the business and its busiest season was starting in a few weeks. I wish I had also just walked directly to my car and left as well but I was in too much shock. I got a new job within a week which lead me to where I am today.
    via u/classichelsea
  • 21
    GrinAndBeerlt I got hired as a prep cook at a local pub/brewery about 15 years ago. I was extremely excited to get into the culinary field as I had a passion for cooking and wanted to make a career out of it. I was great at the job, picked things up quickly, learned the way chef liked. things, and all was going great.
    via u/GrinAndBeerlt
  • 22
    Fast forward a week and the dishwasher goes on vacation. Chef says I need to fill in for him. Ok, I'll fill in for the dishwasher for a week, no problem. First couple shifts go smoothly. Then comes Friday night. We get absolutely hammered. I'm talking full house, people waiting, non stop for almost 2 hours. I'm scrambling to keep up as quickly as the small dishwasher will wash dishes, while also running
    via u/GrinAndBeerlt
  • 23
    around to the server stations and grabbing the bus tubs to bring back to the dish pit (there were 5 service stations.) I had just finished bringing all the bus tubs into the pit, so there wasn't a dirty dish left in the house that wasn't in the pit. Obviously, the sink was full. Chef walks by and starts berating me "what the are you doing? How hard is it to wash dishes? |
    via u/GrinAndBeerlt
  • 24
    could do a better job with two broken arms." To which I said "okay, do it then." Took my apron off and walked out. I learned that day that my passion for cooking doesn't mean I want to work in a kitchen.
    via u/GrinAndBeerlt
  • 25
    SeveralMagikarp Bit of a long one so bare with me here, Back about 8 years ago I had just started working in the commemorative coin and medal industry doing telesales, calling existing customers to talk about new products and obviously the end goal was to make sales. Now bear in mind the majority of people that buy these things are elderly
    via u/SeveralMagikarp
  • 26
    people looking to invest in precious metals for their grandkids. Totally scummy industry but I've always had pride in my ability to do the job well while also being ethical, never pushing a sale when I believed a customer to either be vulnerable or not mentally well enough to make decisions about buying such expensive items.
    via u/SeveralMagikarp
  • 27
    So one day I get called into the meeting room with the manager and director of the company, they seemed pretty annoyed so I asked what was up, they said they'd listened to one of my calls and were shocked at what I did, they had the call recording ready to go so they played it and as soon as they did I knew exactly which call we were listening to.
    via u/SeveralMagikarp
  • 28
    It was one of my regular customers, a lovely old lady that I'd built up a good relationship with. She burst into tears as soon as we got talking as she'd just found out that week that she had cancer and probably didn't have much time left, obviously my reaction was to comfort her and I told her not to worry about buying any new coins this month, I said just focus on your health and the more
    via u/SeveralMagikarp
  • 29
    important things for now and that I'd give her a call next month to see how she was. They immediately called me out for not attempting to make a sale or even bother atleast telling her about the new products. I asked if they were serious or if they were just winding me up as it was generally that kind of place where people were always pulling pranks and stuff,
    via u/SeveralMagikarp
  • 30
    they were dead serious. I absolutely saw red and lost my temper with them, told the director exactly what I thought of him, his shady business practices and his disgusting lack of empathy, told them both to off and walked out. Sad that I never got to speak to that lady again.
    via u/SeveralMagikarp
  • 31
    disgruntled-capy... I had a fast food job in high school and it was an OK gig. Until it wasn't. The summer before I left for college, the store owner of 40+ years retired and the business was bought by a couple in their early to mid-40s I would guess. They stood up and gave a speech about how they'd "been in the system" for 10+ years and anticipated a smooth
    via u/disgruntled-capybara
  • 32
    transition. Well, I don't know what system they were in but it wasn't one that prepared them for this role. It started out with them not knowing how and when to order supplies, so we ran out of basic, basic foods and packaging. As the person working the drive-thru, it is so fun to spend a 10-hour shift telling every customer that we're out of something that is in 90% of the menu
    via u/disgruntled-capybara
  • 33
    items. They were so understanding, since clearly the 18-year-old working the register is responsible for ordering • Then they started hiring their friend's lazy 15-year-old daughters, who were not only useless. but an active hindrance during a rush. As the summer went on, the good employees started dropping like flies. My day finally came about three
    via u/disgruntled-capybara
  • 34
    weeks before I was due to leave for college anyway. I asked one of the 15-year- old shitheads to do something for me while they leaned against the counter and talked, and I was told, "Can't you see we're busy, here?" I turned around, told the supervisor I was done, took off my shirt and hat, and walked out of the building in the middle of a rush.
    via u/disgruntled-capybara
  • 35
    It was a good thing in the end, because had I stayed on, I think I would've just gone back there the following summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college. Instead, I ended up finding a really cool job in a touristy area of my state that was an absolute blast and changed the course of my life.
    via u/disgruntled-capybara
  • 36
    Gavcradd Not quite quit on the spot, but I did tell him on the spot that I'd had enough and I'd be looking for other jobs, started looking that night and had handed my resignation in within weeks... I'm a teacher (UK) and ran a successful department with great results. The head had a habit of ignoring successes as just what was
    via u/Gavcradd
  • 37
    expected and picking on anything that was wrong. I remember once going in with the best departmental results in the school only for him to pick on why they weren't higher. Amyway, we had a department review that the deputy head carried out. Went really well, got the feedback from the deputy and she said that in 8 sections on the report, we'd got 8 outstanding
    via u/Gavcradd
  • 38
    grades; the highest possible. Went in to see the head to discuss it further and he ignored all of that and focussed on one lesson (out of about 15 or 20 seen) from a brand-new teacher that he thought wasn't good enough. Half an hour of being chewed out about one minor thing in an otherwise entirely successful review without even mention of what else had been seen. I
    via u/Gavcradd
  • 39
    had to stop him at one point and check with the deputy that it was the same report that she'd fed back on an hour or so earlier. Told him on the spot that I was done and I was out. tried to scuttle my new job by giving me a reference despite him doing everything he could to
    via u/Gavcradd
  • 40
    persuade me to stay. People don't leave jobs, they leave bosses. Massively true in this case.
    via u/Gavcradd
  • 41
    [deleted] I worked for a cabinet company, delivering cabinets. I came back from a delivery and my boss came out of his office and said I had to sweep the shop, he walked away and another boss came and said hey do this for me so I did what the other boss said.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 42
    the boss that was in his office came out into the warehouse and got verbal with me, because I wasn't sweeping the shop, so I told him to cut me my check and I'd walk out that door right away. then I literally told him that I quit, and walked. next Tuesday shows up, I get a text from another boss to come and pick up my
    via u/[deleted]
  • 43
    paycheck. I hate company's with multiple bosses, every restaurant I've ever worked in, has three managers and they'll all contradict eachother at the same time, they don't communicate and expect everyone to do what they say at the same time, so I walk, same thing in the restaurants when they slap I don't care.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 44
    Devilfish664 In 2014 was a Production Supervisor for a national chicken company. I worked 2nd shift and the worst part was shift turnover. On my shift I had crew members that had Dr's orders for certain accommodations; such as being able to sit while performing their job on the line. This is relevant.
    via u/Devilfish664
  • 45
    Came in one day and Day Shift removed all the chairs from the floor. Needless to say I had crew members refusing to start work. I spent close to an hour locating and getting the chairs back on the floor. I finally get my line going 100%. However this also caused a backup of chicken being processed. My GPM comes on the floor and starts chewing my • Now chewing were not new
    via u/Devilfish664
  • 46
    to me, 23 years in the Navy. This time though it just hit me wrong. I just turned and walked away. He yelled get your back here. I turned and waved, yelled back "I'm good!" Went to HR's office and laid my ID on her desk and said, "I'm done!" Walked out and never looked back! First time I've ever left a job without notice.
    via u/Devilfish664
  • 47
    Oh4faqsake I had a personal situation brewing at home and said to him nicely, Boss, I might not be able to make it to work tomorrow and before I could finish he said, then you're done. I was so that he wouldn't even let me tell him why, I said okay, then, I'm done right now. I grabbed up my the door. and hit
    via u/Oh4faqsake
  • 48
    Best thing I ever did, he was an ungrateful who didn't appreciate his help.
    via u/Oh4faqsake
  • 49
    lord-bailish I was written up for letting a high school age girl go home to finish her homework and sleep for school the next day. My manager wrote me up because we were all supposed to leave at the same time. Me and one other person were there for another ~20 minutes finishing dishes. Sorry for being sympathetic to a high schooler's schedule.
    via u/lord-bailish

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