‘Finish the day or you're suspended’: Greenhouse employee leaves work early without telling anyone after being forced to work in 130°F weather, manager demands they return immediately

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Aug 4, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

We have reached the point of summer where even the 10-minute walk back from work is too much to bear in this heat. It's too hot, too humid, and simply too much to be outside. Which means every single person has resigned to never leaving their air-conditioned office or house, and to never stay more than 50 feet away from a shaded area.

However, some unlucky people out there don't have the privilege of staying indoors, especially when it comes to their livelihood. Some jobs have to happen outside, under the ruthless sun, and those who work these jobs have to do them rain or shine.

Which brings us to the question–do they have the right to put their foot down when the weather becomes unbearable? Are they allowed to have a tipping point after which they must say 'enough'?

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    Cheezburger Image 10536395008
    via Изображения пользователя Анна Колдунова

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • If you ask the employee in the story below, they would absolutely say ‘yes’, which is why they decided to leave their work mid-shift. However, many people did not agree with the way they decided to put a stop to their unlawful employment in the scorching heat.

    Keep scrolling to read the full tale.

  • 02

    AITA for leaving work early without telling anyone because it was over 130°F where I work.

    So i (18M) am currently interning at a very prestigious nursery in the Midwest. Its a really big deal for me because the company has government connections, and having this on
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    my resume basically guarantees me future job opportunities. But here is the issue. My boss (lets call him MB) has been out
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    of town on vacation for the past week. Normally, he's the one who works alongside me and checks in. But because he is gone his boss (WB), who works out of a completely
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    different office across the state from where I'm stationed, has been "supervising" me remotely using the security cameras in the greenhouses.
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    The greenhouse I work in is about a mile away from mine and my bosses office building, and since MB is gone, I haven't had access to the air- conditioned office at all. I've
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    been stuck at the greenhouses the entire time in the heat. Now, the weather has been brutal lately, with highs around 100-105°F. Inside the greenhouse, it's even worse.
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    There's no fan, no AC, and barely any ventilation. The only way I can cool it down is by opening the roll-up walls about 3 feet, but that doesn't do much. Even with shade cloth,
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    the temperature inside reached over 130°F today. I was working in those conditions for 6 hours straight before I started feeling lightheaded and got a headache.
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    Since I couldn't cool off and had nowhere to rest (again, I had no access to the office), I made the decision to leave about 2 hours early. I didn't notify WB because I knew she'd
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    be upset, and I don't have any sick leave to use anyway. About 30 minutes after I got home, WB checked the security cameras, saw I was gone, and called me. She asked where I
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    was, and I told her I had gone home because I wasn't going to keep working in a greenhouse that was 130°F. She told me that if I didn't return immediately and finish.
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    out the day, I'd be suspended with no pay for a week. Problem is, I live about 30 minutes away and can't work past 5 p.m (it was already 4:30), so there wouldn't have been
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    enough time to drive back and get anything done. So here is where I might be the a I told her that even if I could make it back in I wouldn't go back in because it
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    was just too hot there and that if she wants to make sure the plants in there are fine she should come out of her nice. ac'ed office and try working in there when it is as hot as it is.
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    Cheezburger Image 10536392960
    via ruizluquepaz

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    She then told me her intern isn't having any problem with the heat (she only has one greenhouse to take care of and it actually has ventilation unlike the 6 I have to take care of). So
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    I just gave up on the conversation said I was sorry and hung up. So now I might be suspended, and I'm worried it'll ruin my
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    reputation at this company. I get that I probably should've told someone, but I also think I shouldn't be expected to work in dangerous conditions with no break and no access to AC.
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    So AITA for going home early without telling my boss? Edit to add more context in my contract it does state that I cannot work in conditions about 115 degrees.
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    Edit 21 am cleared of all trouble by HR and my boss (who was not happy to be called into an emergency zoom meeting). I sent an email and
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    image of the thermo and was swiftly contacted by HR for a meeting as my contract had not been upheld by WB (mainly the temp part). I am now under the watch of a different
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    manager who is closer to where I am working and I will have 1 other employee with me until the end of next week when my boss returns. Thanks for all the comments you guys
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    left. A lot of them helped open my eyes to the fact I truly walked out on my job. I hadn't thought about that before but the comments really brought it to the forefront of my mind.
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  • 25
    dukids YTA, you left without telling anyone. You didn't tell them because you knew they'd be mad. I have no problem with you leaving, it was crazy hot and you
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    leaving, it was crazy hot and you had no place to cool down, it's a safety issue. But Leaving without telling someone seems like a reasonable reason to suspend someone
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  • 27
    EfficiencyForsaken96 ESH. You don't get to leave your job early without informing supervisors. That is how you get fired and suspended. Instead, you tell them because of the unsafe
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    working conditions you are leaving early for your own health and safety. Then there is a record of why you left. To be clear, this can still get you fired though.
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    They s k because they don't have a way to accommodate workers in an extreme heat environment, like cooling stations or other ways to manage worker safety.
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    RammsteinFunstein ΥΤΑ "I didn't notify WB because I knew she'd be upset" End of thread. You already admit you're the AH right there.
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    You're not wrong for not wanting to stay. But you talk to your boss and worst case leave anyways. But just going is not the right approach
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boss workplace-stories employee fired Heat manager job summer tales-from-the-workplace reddit story ceo ac overworked-employees workplace Reddit company
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