15+ Workers who quit on the spot and shared what happened next: 'The best part was the HR lady calling me every day for 2 weeks'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 13, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Never be afraid to walk away and find a better job! I know in this job market, that seems intimidating, but it's worth it to leave as soon as you possibly can if you're unhappy at your current company. 

Every time you move between jobs, you have the chance to double your income. Staying at the same place for years isn't always rewarding: you might get a holiday bonus or maybe you'll get a raise if you're doing splendidly. But even so, you probably won't increase your income by more than 10% or 15% per year. Meanwhile, if you switch gigs, you could double your income instantly! Your dreams of having a big 401 (k) and a long vacation somewhere warm just became even more of a possibility. 

Now, while we all dream of telling our bosses exactly how we feel about them and clearing out our desks, most of us don't just do that on a whim. There are bills to pay and mouths to feed! But there are times when you just can't sit by for another moment and continue your employment somewhere, and leaving during those moments is so, so sweet. 

Up next, read about what happened when this person's sister decided to bring her baby to an adults-only wedding, leaving her sibling to bring a puppy to her next big event: "I smiled. I forgave. And I plotted." 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10541602560
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • 02
    K... I was working as GM in a struggling restaurant - struggling despite excellent business because the owners would do stupid sh like take trips to Italy to source the 'perfect' panini press. They also wouldn't staff properly, I was the only FOH staff open to close, six days a week, on top of ordering/inventory/other managerial duties. I was
    via u/KnickersUpKettleOn
  • 03
    wildly overworked, but I sucked it up because the base pay was good, plus tips. However, to fund their lavish 'business' trips, costs had to be cut at the store. They decided to do this by bumping me down to minimum wage for tipped employees - effectively cutting my salary to 1/10 of its previous level. They were also too chicken to tell me
    via u/KnickersUpKettleOn
  • 04
    until I got my new teeny paycheck and questioned - the mistake 'oh yeah haha forgot to mention that blah blah cost cutting blah valued team member please work with us through this difficult time'. I had worked for 2 weeks at this new lower rate without my knowledge. Pretty sure that's illegal, but hey, a lot of illegal sh goes. on in the restaurant industry. That's not when I rage quit, though....
    via u/KnickersUpKettleOn
  • 05
    A couple of hours later, I'm fuming and have decided I can't work for the lower rate, just waiting for the chance to give my notice. They called in a delivery guy who was fired a few weeks before, and start talking about hiring him to do our Facebook posts and handing out flyers around town. Whatever. Then they offer him close to my old salary as 'Promotions Manager'! ? I was running the
    via u/KnickersUpKettleOn
  • 06
    place for $2.13/hr and you're offering this dude almost $20/hr to walk up and down the street saying 'Eat at (Name)'? And yet, it gets. worse. They bring up our negative Yelp reviews and flyer guy suggests asking friends to post positive ones. Then doucheboss starts laughing and says 'Hurdur better not ask KnickersUp to post one, it'll be boohoo don't eat
    via u/KnickersUpKettleOn
  • 07
    there, I can't pay my rent this month because they cut my pay without telling wahhhh.' I wasn't supposed to hear it I think, but I was five course I did. feet away, of I RAGED! Quit, told them to f their job and good luck keeping the place open without me. They quickly realized I was right, neither of them knew how to do more than pick up the
    via u/KnickersUpKettleOn
  • 08
    takings once a week, and begged me not to quit. So desperate were they, they allowed me to tell them exactly what idiots they were for the half hour my rage burned, and just listened nodding and apologizing. Once I had cursed myself back into calmness, I walked out 30 minutes before dinner rush leaving them with an unstaffed floor and no clue
    via u/KnickersUpKettleOn
  • 09
    how to even open the register. God, they were morons. I loved that they actually listened to me tell them exactly how stupid they were. No repercussions on my side, the restaurant industry isn't known for checking references. The store closed down about 18 months later, surprised it made it that long.
    via u/KnickersUpKettleOn
  • 10
    Scheisser_Soze About ten years ago, working in retail as an assistant manager, I was transferred to a nearby store to essentially act as manager while the current manager was on leave for stomach cancer. There was no extra pay involved, and I wasn't terribly happy about having to do it, but I wanted to prove myself, and played the part.
    via u/Scheisser_Soze
  • 11
    Fast forward nine months: the original manager returns and re-assumes the position of acting manager. Almost immediately, I didn't care much for the guy. He seemed shallow, petty, and had little regard for the well- being of his employees. Again, I played the part and was civil. Around three months later, my grandfather had passed, and my family was in the
    via u/Scheisser_Soze
  • 12
    process of deciding what to do with my grandmother, as she wouldn't be able to afford their house. Talking to my boss about this, he mentioned that he couldn't wait until his grandparents passed because he would inherit all kinds of awesome stuff. Especially because of what I was dealing with, but also in general, I was disgusted by him.
    via u/Scheisser_Soze
  • 13
    My family had finally worked out, on somewhat short notice, being able to move my grandmother and sort through her belongings (she was moving to a much smaller home and couldn't bring everything). It was expected to be an emotional affair for the entire family, as the family had a lot of history and memories in that house.
    via u/Scheisser_Soze
  • 14
    The date of the move was a scheduled working day for me. Things were typically flexible as far as having shifts covered, so I didn't think it would be a problem switching shifts. When I brought it up to my boss, he showed absolutely no regard for my situation, and told me that I couldn't switch shifts. There was no valid reason for this, it was just him being his manipulative self. I lost my sh. In a store full of
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  • 15
    customers and other employees, I blew up at him. I'm pretty sure I called him every name in the book as he sat there wide-eyed and mouth agape. When I was finished, I tore my uniform shirt off, threw it on the ground and walked out. When I returned from helping my family, my district manager requested we get together and talk. She listened to my story,
    via u/Scheisser_Soze
  • 16
    and after having heard various accounts of what happened, pleaded with me to stay with the company by finding me a position at another store. I didn't expect that in the least. Six months later, my former manager had been fired for theft and I soon was promoted. Later, it was found out that he never actually had cancer, but just wanted to take a paid
    via u/Scheisser_Soze
  • 17
    vacation at the expense of everyone else.
    via u/Scheisser_Soze
  • 18
    LadySkywalker Not me but while I was at work waitressing one day, this new waitress just lost it. I know it's high pressure and we all fantasize about just storming out mid shift but watching her do it was amazing. She was in the weeds and couldn't handle it and basically just like dropped her sh, threw her book and some drinks down on the back counter and
    via u/LadySkywalker
  • 19
    starts screaming about how this is bulls ; that the managers were soulless ah les who couldn't give a about how she felt and it was insane to ask her to do all these things. She just walked the f was amazing. out. It
    via u/LadySkywalker
  • 20
    Afterwards, the managers were like, 'how ride' and just split up her tables to the nearest three waitresses. You're always replaceable in a restaurant.
    via u/LadySkywalker
  • 21
    punkwalrus I was a manager of a book store in 1989. One Saturday evening relaxing from a hard day a week before Christmas, I am sitting in my bedroom when my boss walks in. My roommates said he stormed in, angrily demanded to see me, and they pointed to my room. I was in bed, reading. He then proceeds to curse me out about the status of the
    via u/punkwalrus
  • 22
    calendar display. He leaves, saying he would be there early before opening Sunday morning, with the district manager, and I should show up and fix it in front of them. Then he left. I was floored. That had never happened before. I felt my boss coming in to my own bedroom was seriously crossing the line. I also was p sed my roommates let him in, but they were
    via u/punkwalrus
  • 23
    squirrelly Bohemian wannabes who admitted, "well, he just came in, and he was so MAD... what were we supposed to do?" o_o I was in an LDR with my fiancee, and because I worked retail, I could not be with her for Christmas. So I called up Amtrak, and took the next ticket out of town to see her. I called her up, and told her to pick me up the next day from a train station
    via u/punkwalrus
  • 24
    at a town near her. She was ecstatic. The next morning, I went to the store, and saw my boss with the DM. I strode in, gave him the store key, thanked him for my time with the company, and said "no hard feelings," and walked out. I was out of town for 2 weeks. If ed that store for the holidays with no manager.
    via u/punkwalrus
  • 25
    Apparently, my boss tried to come see me, but my roommates were now scared of him, so they refused to answer the door. They hung up on him when he called our phone. I am not sure if he was asking me to reconsider or not. Final joke: my boss too so long to file the paperwork of my quitting, I was rolled into the new year and eligible for the store annual bonus.
    via u/punkwalrus
  • 26
    triggernel There's a story about a Disneyland Cast Member (Employee) that snuck backstage at the Aladdin stage show wearing an Indiana Jones style fedora.
    via u/triggernel
  • 27
    During the show he ran on stage, grabbed the Genie's lamp and ran off stage reenacting the rolling boulder scene. Epic way to go out on your last day if you ask me!
    via u/triggernel
  • 28
    alewis14151 Had lawyer draw up an intent-to-sue-for- harrassment after new boss required me to work on the Fourth of July. Usually 100- 150 people in office, but that particular day I was the only one in the office. That was the final straw after 6 months of harrassment. Result: $40,000 settlement. I still smile when I think of it.
    via u/alewis14151
  • 29
    mikesername Someone I worked with quit his programming/IT position. by running "sudo rm -rf -- no-preserve-root /" on his computer one saturday while no one was in the office, completely unannounced. they came in monday and just found his computer wiped.
    via u/mikesername
  • 30
    for those of you that don't know, the command "rm -rf /" deletes everything on a unix computer. no boot loader, no operating system, nothing
    via u/mikesername
  • 31
    zack_bauer123 Worked at a fast food place south of the border during highschool and the summer afterward. Planning on going to college in town, and asked to work nights so I could attend classes.
    via u/zack_bauer123
  • 32
    Manager told me that I was too stupid to go to college. and that I should resign myself to working fast food for the rest of my life. And that she would fire me if I went to college. Threw my shirt and jalapeno-shaped name badge at her because I was mad, and mostly because I was immature. Consequences: no more free tacos.
    via u/zack_bauer123
  • 33
    dudeicantfeelmyf... Haven't rage quit, but I see myself doing so in the near future. I'm a bar back at a bar in my town and I do everything. I clean up after countless of people every night, do hundreds of dishes, throw out at least 20 heavy bags of garbage, serve drinks, clean spilled drinks/food, clean the bathrooms, clean throw up, and when it's finally time to
    via u/dudeicantfeelmyface
  • 34
    close.. I have to clean EVERYTHING. the bartenders complain at how long it takes me and rush me, then b at me for forgetting something the next day. Each night is a hellish 12-13 hour day. I'm also going to school at this time and one night I had to stay there til 330 in the morning, get home by 4, sleep, wake up at 6 to go to school til 5, only to go right back to work for another 13
    via u/dudeicantfeelmyface
  • 35
    hours. I told them I couldn't do that anymore because I was struggling to stay awake for class.. I was called "lazy" and "irresponsible" by my bartenders who cant do anying without me.. My boss, loves to brag about how he's never had a job and how's he's never had to work for anything in his life.
    via u/dudeicantfeelmyface
  • 36
    And calls me stupid and lazy whenever he gets the chance.. The worst part is that I have to stick it out until I can get my job going. at this hospital.. But when that time comes.. And he decides to call me lazy.. I'm going to stand on top of the bar and make an announcement. "DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE THE IRONY IN A 500lb MAN WHO'S NEVER HAD TO WORK FOR ANYTHING IN
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  • 37
    HIS LIFE CALL SOMEONE ELSE LAZY?" man it's gonna feel so good.. I'm miserable everyday knowing I have to go there.. F man..
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  • 38
    Returning Addict I rage quit a rubbish call centre job I had at Uni. I decided I was never going to waste my life in another de d end job again. Got in a fairly minor argument with my manager told her I'd had enough and walked out during my shift, no regrets.
    via u/Returning_Addict
  • 39
    If OP is asking this because you're stuck in a job you hate, just get out. You don't get another chance at life, may as well enjoy it.
    via u/Returning_Addict
  • 40
    sporkyzero i worked at wal-mart as a "stockman" (cart b /errands boy)/unloader for about a year. after the summer season was over, a supervisor asked me to move the 80-100+ lb planks that went around bags of soil from the lawn and garden area in the parking lot back to their storage sheds which were probably a good 500 yards away. She
    via u/sporkyzero
  • 41
    told me to do this all myself and to have it done in an hour. I went to the planks, and couldn't even pick one up by myself because of how long they were. (I'm 6'2" and 230) I got on the walkie talkie and told her that I couldn't lift one by myself and would need help. She basically called me a whiny complaining little b 1. Anyway, eventually she sent help and after she sent another guy to help me
    via u/sporkyzero
  • 42
    we were an hour deep in moving these things and only about 1/3 the way done with the job. The supervisor herself and 1 more person decided to help us at that point. Anyway, it took 6 people 2 hours to move what she originally had told me to do within an hour by myself. At lunch time when it was time to clock out she decided to wait for me by the time clock so she could discuss my attitude. I told
    via u/sporkyzero
  • 43
    her there was nothing to discuss, and said "6 people, 2 hours. F you, I quit!" and clocked out and left. A couple days later they called me to fill out some quittin' papers and for my reason for leaving I wrote "managerial incompetence and poor worker morale". About a month later I ran into a different supervisor who said the supervisor who did this got demoted because of it. Different
    via u/sporkyzero
  • 44
    supervisor begged me to come back but I found a better job working at a grocery store (where no one was like the slave drivers at wal-mart) after that.
    via u/sporkyzero
  • 45
    Business man wearing tan coat and glasses carrying cardboard box outside of building
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+
  • 46
    [... Hello, I didn't exactly rage quit - I was mad as hell, but I managed to retain my composure. At the time, I had worked as an interactive designer for about five years for a company that makes your children's class rings and yearbooks. I won't badmouth the company, except to relate that they are
    via u/[deleted]
  • 47
    poster children for operating on The Peter Principle, and during those five years I saw them push out truly talented individuals and replace them with the children and friends of upper management. I was the last cat of the old crew hanging around, and it was employee review day. I was already looking for a job, so I decided, 'f it" it would not argue or rock the boat. Whatever BS my . . .
    via u/
  • 48
    crazy manager threw at me, I would just nod and agree to "work on improvement" . . . Little did I know, she had been hatching plans of her own. I should have expected this, given the ruthless way she had ousted the other talented, passionate workers. So I roll into the meeting room at the appointed time, and the HR drone is there.
    via u/
  • 49
    Right away, I know I'm quitting. But I sit, and smile. The boss tells me she has me on double secret probation, and shows me a litany of offenses. We go through each of them, one by one, and I'm able to factually point to a very definitive, black and white "no, this was done as you requested" ... for example, one project was done and launched on time,
    via u/
  • 50
    and she hadn't even checked or looked at it. For some reason, she assumed it wasn't done. I was able to use her computer to show her the project was completed and launched on time (and had, in fact, been earning money for the company). We went through the whole list, and she tacitly admitted that I had completed those items, but they still wanted
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  • 51
    me to sign the reprimand and "enroll in a program that would teach me how to be a good employee" Instead, I told her she was a nightmare boss, and that all the creative talent in the city knew it was a crop place to work, and that she could take that job and restaff it. The look on their faces was quite priceless. I then collected my cr_p, said goodbye to a few nice
    via u/
  • 52
    people and drove home. On the way home, I was very pumped. I was all like, "F THE MAN!! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!" But it was a cr p economy, and then when I got home. I was like, "OMG what did I do?" . . . I got a job less than a day later, based on my decade+ work history and portfolio. I
    via u/
  • 53
    re-entered the ad agency scene (left it after the dot.com bubble), and eventually transitioned my career out of interactive design, and into user experience. This one move reinvigorated my career, my thirst for knowledge, and my passion for visual problem solving. I'm now quite happily employed at a well- respected agency in Chicago in what I consider to be a dream job.
    via u/
  • 54
    Everything worked out better than expected. The best part was the HR lady calling me every day for two weeks, begging me to come back and finish all the sh that those chuckleheads had no idea how to do. "oh ho ho no. no, lol, no." "well we just wanted to give you an opportunity ...
    via u/
  • 55
    "oh lol, lordy no. you made your bed. go sleep in it." "well, if you want to be employable in the future..."
    via u/
  • 56
    "i'm already employed. if you want to attract better talent in the future, you should think about what I might say about you, and what Persons One through Five would also say. don't call me again." mwaaaaaaa. still feels good!
    via u/
  • 57
    Optimus4D I was a Closing manager at Taco Bell and we were short Managers because 2 were out for a death in the family, My GM was on vacation states away. which was fine the other 3 of us were going to do the open mid day and close no problem, however Opening Manager calls out sick asks me if i could open (no problem it was 5 am when i got out and we start
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  • 58
    at 7) open the store around 2 when the midday is supposed to show no luck 4 rolls around still no show and i'd been blowing his phone up. around 8 i get a call saying nah man i quit just got a job working construction with my brother. F, now i have to basicly open and close after closing the night before no problem. Next day im opening because Opening manager is in hospital, so i
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  • 59
    call my GM and tell him whats going on he just says oh you will be fine to which i reply im working like 21 hours a day now with 3 for sleep this goes on for 4 days and on that day during lunch rush I'm already sleep deprived and agitated i get called to the window because a lady in drive through has a complaint I check it out she says she ordered a diet mountain dew and got a regular so i
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  • 60
    apologize and am about to close the window get a new drink and she throws her drink at me and calls me a pathetic looser at which point i flip sh and go off on her not giving a f after i curse her out i take all the premade drinks we had setup and chuck them at her tell her to get f ed, the she looked so shocked and sped off and i stormed out...as my employees are
    via u/
  • 61
    cheering me on i got in my car sped off and pulled over at a 711 and smoked a whole pack of cigaretts called my GM and told hiim because he didnt get a manager from another store to help out with the load and how i snapped and i quit. phone kept blowing up the next 2 days never answered it finally checked my voicemail and it was My GM telling me the lady came up and apologized for how she
    via u/
  • 62
    acted and was not upset with me and he was sorry for putting the load on me asked me to come back to work... I just sent him a text saying thats nice no thanks i dont need that. Why do people treat Fast Food employees so our job already isnt ....like enough.
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  • 63
    TL;DR Got drink thrown at me threw a bunch back and stormed off and havent looked back at that sh job.
    via u/
  • 64
    munky9001 I was a network admin for small isp; first day the boss says, 'Worst time to start because things are going to be changing here.' This was a very bad sign. Later that day my coworker who I'd be working with closest talks with me about the political climate. Boy it was a bad sign... but things were kind of sh but not too bad. It was nearly a month before
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  • 65
    the bad rules started getting applied. First rule: "To take your break you must leave the building, that way you don't interrupt anyone around you' 2nd rule: "No going outside" "No eating lunch with anyone who isn't direct coworker"
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  • 66
    "Overtime will no longer be paid or given time off" "Staggered lunches so you can't each lunch with each other" "1 hour unpaid lunch, once you're done eating you must go back to work." "You are on-call 24/7"
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  • 67
    "You must reply to all voicemails within 10 minutes" "Web filter implemented; anyone caught attempting to goto facebook or anything will be fired' So basically assistant manager of the place was holding the place together against basically everyone refusing to work. He went to the boss and said these
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  • 68
    rules have to go or he's quitting on friday. Wednesday just prior the boss comes to me and askes if I will work 80hrs/week to do work that needs to be done. I declined. Thursday he fires the assistant manager. Now friday was multiple things. I was up for a raise which by job agreement was minimum $2000/year. Roughly $1/hr. However I was expecting $3-5/hr raise. Well I was
    via u/
  • 69
    offered 10cents/hr which is lower then the agreement. He then demanded I work 80hrs/week to cover the assistant manager's work. Meanwhile I also knew half the employees were pretty much quitting; I was only a few months in and I said f it and quit.
    via u/
  • 70
    the_pie_guy I worked for a lawn mowing business a few summers ago, it was a good job and it kept me fit. The first week I worked there I earned $250 on my check, I figured that was good and h l it was for a broke college student. Sadly, it only got worse. A couple weeks go by and I get another check, $250 for two weeks. At this point I figured it was a mistake so I
    via u/
  • 71
    went to my boss to ask about it he gives me the whole, "Oh it must have been an error in the machine blah, blah, blah." I let it go and continue working for about a month. Now's the time for some back story, I was working six days a week and at least twelve hours a day. That's 72 hrs of work in a week and what did I get? $250. So I decided to get savvy and
    via u/
  • 72
    worked along with how many lawns we finished in a week (we were paid on commission $7.50 for 3 lawns and we could do 5 in a hour, we were also paid $5 for each hour we worked. At the end of a week I tallied up all of the lawns we cut and hours worked and found that $700 was missing from my check each week. I obviously called him and demanded to know where it was going and that if I didn't
    via u/
  • 73
    get it within a week I was going to report him. I got a $6000 check in the mail a week later, turns out he did this to nearly everyone he employed. He's currently living out of a Days Inn because his wife couldn't stand his lazy, selfish, cheating a
    via u/

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workplace-stories employee toxic boss work i quit quit on the spot employees workplace quitting toxic-work-environment
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