'The manager... started yelling at me for using soap': 20+ People who got so fed up with their job that they quit on the spot

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 17, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

If you've ever daydreamed about quitting your terrible job, consider this your sign to find a happier career path. 

There are a few different ways one can quit a job. The proper, respectable way is to write out a professional letter stating that this is your two-week notice. But the folks replying to this r/AskReddit thread couldn't stand to work at their awful jobs for another moment. They took the less professional but way more satisfying route of rage-quitting right on the spot. 

As you can read in some of the wild stories below, there were all kinds of reasons that people were pushed to the breaking point. For some people, being bossed around by their impolite managers was taking such a toll on their mental health that they couldn't fathom staying another second. There were some people who worked in food service found that their managers were super inflexible. For example, one sous chef discovered that his higher-up wouldn't let them order any new food until they were completely out of that item. So when they ran out of eggs on a crowded morning, what's a chef to do? Either put up with it or quit! 

After that, these poor travelers just could not catch a break, like one person who spent 5+ hours "locked out of my hotel in 110°+ Florence heat." Non va bene!

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10390456576
    via Romain V on Unsplash
  • 02
    What's your ' this, I quit!' story?
    via r/AskReddit
  • 03
    [deleted] After taking a few days off work while my father was having a brain tumour removed (and still checking emails and attending conference calls from the hospital) my boss gave me a new project. On a Thursday afternoon she gave me a Monday morning deadline for a project that would take 6-8 days
    via u/[deleted]
  • 04
    to complete. I worked 16 hours a day to get it done. When we met on Monday she asked how my weekend was: "I worked all weekend." Then she asked if i got to visit my dad in the hospital "No, i didn't get a chance because i worked all weekend." A couple weeks later she pulled me into a meting
    via u/[deleted]
  • 05
    and said "i feel like you were resentful because you had to work and i feel like i was really good when your dad was sick, maybe you're just tired. are you tired?" she'd also make comments when i would leave the office on time - not early, on time. "it's great that you just get
    via u/[deleted]
  • 06
    up and go when your day is over, like i have to go because i have a daughter, but you don't have any kids and you just leave at the end of the day" um yeah, , i don't live here. i don't go home and sit in a dark room counting the hours until i get to come back
    via u/[deleted]
  • 07
    here. i'm also not curing cancer, nothing we do here matters to anyone outside of here. i give you 100% when i'm here, but when my day is done, it's done. i no longer work there
    via u/[deleted]
  • 08
    Laiphe Started my first job at 15 as a dishwasher for a friends families new Korean restaurant. They were my neighbors. My typical workday was 4pm-9pm on the clock. Afterwards I was expected to stay and help close shop and instead of getting paid for those extra 3 hours I
    via u/Laiphe
  • 09
    was given a meal for compensation. To be fair, there are laws prohibiting minors from working too long or too late and honestly I didn't mind it as the food was incredible. After about a year I'm now 16 and due to the minimal wait staff I was expected to work as a waiter/busboy in
    via u/Laiphe
  • 10
    between dishes. Fair enough, I was getting sick of the same old same old anyways. So I came in during the week to start "training" and since they knew I was already familiar w/ the menu and whatnot I wasn't a shadow I was just on my own and winging it. I made a mistake i.e not remembering soup or
    via u/Laiphe
  • 11
    salad so I went back upstairs to ask and when I returned with my answer I was insulted by my manager for not taking this seriously enough. Alright. A couple months go by and I'm waiting tables and dishwashing all while being micromanaged by my manager. Well one
    via u/Laiphe
  • 12
    weekend a Mardi Gras parade was being held downtown where the restaurant is located so it'd easily be one of our busiest days that year. I was scheduled for 4pm- 10pm but they asked if I'd come in that morning around 8 or so. About an hour or two into my new shift there was a mountain of dishes I was being expected to
    via u/Laiphe
  • 13
    maintain while also waiting tables. My manager walks into the back where I am and the dialogue goes like this: "Laiphe, what are you doing?" "Washing dishes..?" "Go ask table 6 if they need refills" "Yes ma'am"
    via u/Laiphe
  • 14
    I walk out the back and to the front of the store while she's tailgating me and pick up the pitcher of water. As I pick it up she asks, "do you even know what you're doing?" At this point I'm pretty fed up and kindly respond with, "yeah, I know how to pour water." She didn't like that and told me that I need to LOOK at her with
    via u/Laiphe
  • 15
    respect and that if I didn't like it here I should just leave. So I left them with mountains of dishes and thirsty customers. Know your worth.
    via u/Laiphe
  • 16
    clownbird Working at a tech support call center. I put in for a day off for my birthday a month in advance. Boss forgot to process my request and said I couldn't get it off
    via u/clownbird
  • 17
    when I asked about it closer to the date, saying something about time off requests being locked due to "upcoming trainings" Those trainings were two weeks after my birthday.
    via u/clownbird
  • 18
    SenorDongles I used to work at a bowling alley in the cafe kitchen when i was like 19. One particular night, i was the only one in the kitchen during a slammed rush. I get everything out (somehow) in a timely manner, clean the kitchen, then go it for a smoke. The GM walks
    via u/SenorDongles
  • 19
    out a minute later and proceeds to ream me, telling me im a lazy no good , etc. Etc. I finish my smoke, go back in, pull off my uniform shirt and name tag, set it on the cafe counter and walk out the front door without a word. you, Paul.
    via u/SenorDongles
  • 20
    dirtybirds233 I interviewed for a corporate accounting role because public accounting was much less pay, and a lot more hours. Was told in the interview that it was show up between 8-9, leave between 4-5. There'd be no more working late nights, or having to work on weekends, which was
    via u/dirtybirds233
  • 21
    great. I took the job, and within 2 month realized they were lying through their teeth. First off, there was absolutely no training on their processes. I was given enough work for three people, with no direction on how to do it. My manager was so scatter brained, he could never give me any help
    via u/dirtybirds233
  • 22
    when I asked. No one talked for 8 hours a day, and it was just an unbelievably bad work culture. I'd get to work usually at 8:30, and leave at 4:30 while eating lunch at my desk. I came in one day and was told "since you're leaving so early, I can only hope you're working from home."
    via u/dirtybirds233
  • 23
    Then the next week, we're told we have to come in for a full day Saturday because we had New Years Day off that Monday. My final straw was when I left at 2:30 one day for a doctors appointment. When I came in the next day, my manager pulled me into a room and said that I didn't have enough accrued PTO to do that,
    via u/dirtybirds233
  • 24
    and he was going to dock my pay (in a salaried position). Went in the next day, told him it wasn't working out and put my two weeks in. On my last day, he told me I could leave at 11:30 so I did. When I got my final paycheck, he docked my pay for the remainder of that day.
    via u/dirtybirds233
  • 25
    Luckily, the recruiter who got me the job followed up to ask what happened, and I was completely open and honest with her. Apparently, that manager has a very high turnover rate for the position I was in, and the recruiter told me that the CFO is looking into replacing him.
    via u/dirtybirds233
  • 26
    austintx-16 I was in the same position for two years and was actively looking at other positions within the same company. Bosses knew about it, it was just time for a change and to advance my career. Great opportunity came up and I was offered the position. However my current leadership
    via u/austintx-16
  • 27
    blocked me because I received a "promotion" six months prior. That promotion was literally an automatic email that said congrats you're now level 2 instead of level 1 because I had met my sales attainment and completed all my yearly trainings. Literally an automated email stopped me from getting promoted and bosses
    via u/austintx-16
  • 28
    said I had to wait another 18 months. Left that company and went to a competitor doing the same thing for better pay and significantly more support.
    via u/austintx-16
  • 29
    vervenna101 I was working in a particular role for a small charity - it was already a busy role, but then due to changes within the company my role got ridiculous. I was the senior manager looking after the budgets and accounts and acting as an accountant so suddenly so had to teach myself all about charity
    via u/vervenna101
  • 30
    tax law (which is not easy), I was managing marketing, media, communications, strategic implementation, a reception and all customer service, a physical and online shop, 10 members of staff, legal compliance including insurance and data protection, health and safety, HR, reporting
    via u/vervenna101
  • 31
    and end of year audits, preparing papers for and attending trustee meetings, procurement as well as general meetings. To the point where my job had gone way beyond my orignial job description anymore. Anyway, despite all the extra responsibilities my boss still expected me to
    via u/vervenna101
  • 32
    have time to do everything to an extremely high standard and couldn't possibly understand they there would be any reason that I was overwhelmed apart from me being Strange how everyone in that place also complained about being overworked, and that at one point the staff were going to go to
    via u/vervenna101
  • 33
    the Trustee board to see if they could get him replaced - it was always everyone elses fault. He sat me down at my 12 month probation meeting and said that I wasn't doing well enough to be given the job permanently so he wanted to extend my probation by another
    via u/vervenna101
  • 34
    three months in which time he must see improvements and what did I think I needed to improve. I said that I had been telling him for months what I needed to improve (which was for him to take the fact that everyone was overworked seriously and his expectations of what a human being could achieve were
    via u/vervenna101
  • 35
    ridiculous at best) which was apparently never going to happen so I quit. He said he didn't want that, I said I did, and just quit. It had been on my mind for a while but that pushed me over the edge. A part of me wanted to stay, to go to the probation hearing and let everyone in HR know exactly what he was like, but I was just so
    via u/vervenna101
  • 36
    done with the whole thing. Best decision ever - I now have an amazing job I love for a different charity that actually values what I do and it feels great.
    via u/vervenna101
  • 37
    DeezSkeez25 My boss had my crew and I cut corners on a job, I was fairly new to the position and took what he said as the way it was supposed to get done. Inspectors then came and checked the job because of an unrelated screwup by another company and in turn found out what we had done.
    via u/DeezSkeez25
  • 38
    Boss then blamed the whole thing on me and denied he ever told me to do it the it was done. Spent the the next two days replacing all previous work to the way it should have been. Boss then told me that he was not going to pay me for the days of work (14 hours each day) because I was fixing "my ups".
    via u/DeezSkeez25
  • 39
    All the while during the two days getting called a idiot" and a "liar”. you, I quit. Short story: Boss tried to cut corners, got caught, blamed it on me, then refused to pay me to fix it to try and recoup some of the losses he took. I quit.
    via u/DeezSkeez25
  • 40
    DarthRusty I was a new sous chef at a country club. Chef wouldn't let anyone but himself do the ordering. His ordering method was to go over a sheet of paper hanging on the line where people wrote down what we were out of. Not what we were nearly out of, but what we were completely out of. Any time I'd try to add items that we
    via u/DarthRusty
  • 41
    were close to out of on, he'd lose his . We were constantly out of things. One day, we had a huge Easter breakfast event. chef didn't order near enough eggs and we were out of all sorts of other random items. I was out front making omelets for members. Ran out of eggs and stood around for
    via u/DarthRusty
  • 42
    15 minutes waiting for more while the members became increasingly frustrated then angry. Went to the back to see Chef yucking it up with the FOH manager. Handed him my apron and told him to pound sand. Was at that job for less than 2 weeks.
    via u/DarthRusty
  • 43
    JimSFV I proved to the CIO, using math, that the Help Desk could not lower its abandon rate to an acceptable point without hiring more people. She responded by telling me that my team just "didn't have enough discipline" and then I got written up. I quit the next
    via u/JimSFV
  • 44
    day, and told my team "They will replace me with a manager whom the CIO will let hire more people." I was right.
    via u/JimSFV
  • 45
    Elec_EngiNero Was volunteering in a local charity shop at the weekend. As it turns out, most of the non paid "volunteers" were conscripted from job seekers or community service or whatever. They had to turn up to get their welfare payments etc. Anyway I'd been there about 6 months, was hard graft at times moving sofas
    via u/Elec_EngiNero
  • 46
    round the shop, up and down three floors. It was a nice sunny day and I was taking my lunch break out the back sitting on a sofa at the loading bay doors in view of a public car park, eating a sandwich with my feet up on the railing. All of a sudden some woman who I've never seen before starts waggling her finger at me
    via u/Elec_EngiNero
  • 47
    like I'm a naughty kid, then shouting at me in a disgusting tone "get up young man, how dare you". She kept ranting on. I'm like who the is this. She get can 1. Slowly I get up and move inside. Turns out she was the area manager. She I me off so bad. I didn't really have an issue with what she was asking, it possibly didn't
    via u/Elec_EngiNero
  • 48
    give a good impression, it was the way she was speaking to me I had a problem with. I think she thought I was the typical conscript who could be abused without recourse as they had to stay there and take the abuse in order to get their payments. Some customers in the shop heard how she spoke to me and they backed me up so I knew I wasn't nuts.
    via u/Elec_EngiNero
  • 49
    Told her she could stick my volunteering and I got the out of there. Never went back. Made me think why should I give up my free time to help this on a fat salary hit her targets. I doubt she had a charitable bone in her body. I wrote a two page letter of complaint to the head office but never did send it. Kind of regret that.
    via u/Elec_EngiNero
  • 50
    Sqiget Many many years ago I worked at a place called Atomic Burrito. I only worked there for 4 days. I was washing dishes and the manager walked by and started yelling at me for using soap! He said soap cost money and we were just putting the same food back in the pans anyways.. I quit right there. Noped the frick right out the door.
    via u/Sqiget
  • 51
    EmperorBulbax My wife has one. Her boss suddenly became obsessed with bringing in as many new people as possible. Oddly, he seemed to forget about retaining his current workers. Many, like my wife, were very experienced at this point. You would think that they'd be considered the most valuable employees of the group.
    via u/EmperorBulbax
  • 52
    My wife had settled into a nice M-F schedule, with good hours (10-5). Suddenly, her boss pulls her in for a meeting and says "Most of the new employees can't work nights or weekends due to personal conflicts. I'll need you to switch to a 1-9 schedule and work Saturdays."
    via u/EmperorBulbax
  • 53
    My wife was caught off guard and responded "When you hired me, I told you that I had conflicts in the evenings and weekends, and that I would be able to work within that schedule!" The boss got all serious and said "Listen, I think I've been more than generous and accommodating of your schedule needs. I
    via u/EmperorBulbax
  • 54
    think it's time for you to show us some of that same flexibility." My wife started crying immediately and stormed back to her desk. She called me and said that she thought she needed to quit, but wanted to make sure she wasn't crazy. After
    via u/EmperorBulbax
  • 55
    listening to what happened, I said that boss could go to and she should never look back. She took her free water bottle and never returned.
    via u/EmperorBulbax
  • 56
    GenerationSam I was at my dream job building high performance Corvettes. There were a lot of downsides; not W2, no benefits, long hours, you break it you buy it. Then they introduced a efficiency measurement, where if you were not fast enough you had to work Saturday to make up for it. Measuring efficiency in custom work
    via u/GenerationSam
  • 57
    leads to corner cutting, and in general is impossible, as it's custom. Then I had to push the shop owners car in to fit some things. It took me 2 hours to wrap up the car I was working on, push it out, move 2 other cars, get the forklift started, and get
    via u/GenerationSam
  • 58
    the car in (it didn't have a motor yet). All not chargeable, all not my fault, all supposed to be made up on Saturday. I quit the next day.
    via u/GenerationSam
  • 59
    mgraunk I worked for a company for over a year that was contracted to make deliveries for Amazon. The vans they equipped us with were terribly maintained, and fully unequipped to handle winter weather. I worked with the company through their first winter, which meant sliding all over the
    via u/mgraunk
  • 60
    road when it was icy and getting stuck constantly every time we had snow. I never had a major accident, though I did have 2 or 3 close calls where only minor damage was incurred to the van. I decided to stick it out through the summer, when the weather was obviously much better. All summer long they promised us that
    via u/mgraunk
  • 61
    new and better vans were coming. September rolls around, no vans. October, no vans. November, no vans. That month we got our first real snow. I got back from my route and immediately put in my notice. My boss told me they would be getting new vans by the end of the year. I told her that was nice and walked.
    via u/mgraunk
  • 62
    TrippyJesus First job, working at a little BBQ place with a drive thru. My day off. Manager calls me at 8:30am (30 mins. before we open) saying she doesn't feel good and needs me to open. I rush in and end up working all day. 5pm rolls around, manager comes in with the owner of the business, who she's dating. They were at the fair all day and completely
    via u/TrippyJesus
  • 63
    forgot they lied to me about her being sick. I bite my tongue and ask if I can go home, they say no and keep me until close (9pm). At 9pm I took my shirt off, handed them my keys, and said "today was my last day" as I walked out the door shirtless. Best part, when I got home my dad was that I quit my job. I told him what
    via u/TrippyJesus
  • 64
    they did and said I wasn't making enough money. He looked at my pay stubs and saw they hadn't been paying me over time the entire time I worked there! He made me go back in and demand my overtime pay. When I came in with the pay stubs the manager started crying and gave me cash out of the register to cover my overtime and then some. They called me the
    via u/TrippyJesus
  • 65
    next day making sure I wasn't going to report them to the BBB. I didn't, but my dad did.
    via u/TrippyJesus
  • 66
    RandyMarshUSGS Had my annual review after finishing my first year at a retail store and I got a 13 cent per hour raise. A coworker of mine who drunkenly broken into the laundromat/grocery store. in town to steal beer a few weeks prior got a 14 cent per hour raise. And new
    via u/RandyMarshUSGS
  • 67
    employees were making 12 cents more to start, than I was one year in. quit and Armour this, I you Under
    via u/RandyMarshUSGS
  • 68
    Kilen13 Was at a job for 3 years, consistently in the top 3 of my department in terms of performance. Asked my supervisor repeatedly if I could be recommended for advancement/promotion and he always told me he was trying his best to get me new opportunities. Found out from a friend in a different department that I'd been considered a top
    via u/Kilen13
  • 69
    candidate for 4 different promotions and each time my supervisor had blocked it. When I confronted him with this information he told me it was true and he did it because "I could never find someone who does what you do without paying them a lot more". Internally said this, i quit and found a new job within 3 months. Took all my PTO
    via u/Kilen13
  • 70
    and on the day I came back I quit 2 hours into the day leaving him high and dry at that a peak time. dude.
    via u/Kilen13
  • 71
    nukagirl Started dating a guy that one of my coworkers liked. He was a regular customer. She started doing things. like spitting in his food, telling my boss I wasn't working, writing her name. on the checklist of our side work and acting like she did every thing and I did nothing.
    via u/nukagirl
  • 72
    Then she stole $100 from my drawer and the boss wanted me to pay for it, didn't believe me because she was friends with the girl. I walked out on the spot. Like a couple months later they caught her stealing again on camera and fired her. Also the guy is my husband now
    via u/nukagirl
  • 73
    FlammusNonTimmus Was working at a restaurant in M'boro TN. Found a better job that actually gave me hours and went in to put my two week notice(was more like a week a few days due to timing of the new gig) in out of courtesy. I got a lecture
    via u/FlammusNonTimmus
  • 74
    about how I could never come back to the company since it wasn't a full two weeks. I then suggested politely that "that's great, let's say today is my last day then.". Was such a relief.
    via u/FlammusNonTimmus

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