15+ Employees who quit on day 1: 'They told me I would be making much lower pay... I quit on the spot'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 23, 2025 11:00 AM EST

Don't waste your time at a job that can't appreciate good workers — just quit as soon as you can, like these workers did! 

Sometimes, you just know from the moment you step into a building that the vibes are bad. It permeates the whole company. When management doesn't care, and treats people badly, you can always tell. It lowers company morale. Workers look miserable, there's no team cohesion, and the turnover rate is astronomical. It's like there's something in the air — or maybe it's the yellow flickering lights from the overhead ceiling lights in the cubicles — that's an immediate giveaway that this place is not the workspace to build your career in. 

These people didn't waste any time when quitting their jobs. Some left in under an hour! One person left in 3 hours to protest their boss's mandate of mandatory overtime. Another quit a restaurant job after realizing that the managers suspiciously didn't ask for any identifying information (you know, to pay the employees). Check out those stories and a bunch of other interesting tales from proud quitters down below. 

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  • 01
    Woman in white shirt and tan boots talks on phone while leaning on desk in office setting
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • 02
    Slowmac123 4 hours. I was looking for my first part time job. I walked into a restaurant asking for a job as a waiter. They said to come back tomorrow for a training shift. There was no paper work. Never even asked for my id. I didn't know how it was supposed to work. I worked for 3 hours taking orders
    via u/Slowmac123
  • 03
    and bringing out food after they went over some training. I then went to ask how I'm going to be paid. They said there was no pay the first 3. months since it's a training period. I went home and never came back.
    via u/Slowmac123
  • 04
    PatienceDifferent... Walked off with a whole crew over safety one time on day one. Company wanted to dig out a utility trench in an old neighborhood in between. houses and streets. In places it had to be better than 20 feet deep and there was nowhere that had more than maybe 30 or 40 feet of access, meaning I couldn't slope or bench it
    via u/PatienceDifferent607
  • 05
    adequately. Mind, this is in California riverbed dirt, which is sand full of rock and caves in as fast as you can dig it out.. Asked about shoring and trench boxes and the boss said "It's fine, it won't be open that long." We spent about five minutes calmly explaining how far up his ass his head was lodged, then walked off.
    via u/PatienceDifferent607
  • 06
    SnooKiwis8421 Not me, but I worked at this bar and a guy I knew started. He always wore a beanie hat. Like always. We're all behind the bar showing him around on his first night and the owner walks in. He says, take off your hat. My buddy said
    via u/SnooKiwis8421
  • 07
    "Oh, I can't wear my hat here?" Boss was like "no." My buddy shook his hand and said, "aw man sorry it. didn't work out" and walked out the door. Wasn't even slightly mad. Baller move.
    via u/SnooKiwis8421
  • 08
    Woman with long brown hair in tan suit looks forward, behind her are 3 men in office setting
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • 09
    PI... In the mid 2000s, my wife applied for an office admin role. She was told to meet in a public location in the city. centre for the "interview "A bit strange but she went. She met the woman, she was led to the entrance of a WH Smith, where there was a pop up stall selling makeup and told "this is
    via u/Placesforpeople
  • 10
    your stand. It's 100% commission based and you ought to nip to that McDonald's there for a wee as I'll be back to close the stand in 8 hours" She walked straight past the McDonald's and came home...
    via u/Placesforpeople
  • 11
    Makabajones I negotiated for a pay rate. when I started working they told me I would be earning a much lower pay rate but could get the originally negotiated rate if I exceeded all expectations by my first review, in six months, I quit on the spot, don't fuck with my money.
    via u/Makabajones
  • 12
    Skeleton_Key Within the first 3 hours. People were clearly miserable there. The pay was shit and they announced mandatory overtime within the first hour of me being there. I looked at the hiring manager, laughed in his face when he
    via u/Skeleton_Key
  • 13
    told me it was "mandatory" and I'd be penalized if I didnt stay. See ya. My time is my own, even when I'm working for you.
    via u/Skeleton_Key
  • 14
    Matilda_Mac Less than 10 minutes. While in grad school I was hired to work as a waitress on the dinner shift at a comedy club. Time worked perfectly with my class schedule. First shift I showed up in my new uniform and the new shoes I bought to match. The manager told me he changed my shift to lunch because no one started on
    via u/Matilda_Mac
  • 15
    the dinner shift. Had to work my way up.They called a few times asking for the uniform but I didn't waste my time and gas going back.
    via u/Matilda_Mac
  • 16
    Cerakote9 Im not gonna lie, gave it benefit of the doubt. Did Elliott Management Group which is B2B sales for credit card processors. Had to cold call over 100X people/businesses a day and then go door to door trying to schedule appointments for a demo with my "boss" since I was "in training"
    via u/Cerakote9
  • 17
    The training was actually with a guy that was incredibly awesome. I probably did 8 days of this and then just left to do scheduled B2B that day went home and never once looked back. I got about $110 of "training pay" I was so damn broke then and that $110 was worth it at the time Imao. F that place tho. It was awful
    via u/Cerakote9
  • 18
    VanguardAvenger Under 5 minutes. Applied for a supervisory position at a new company in the same field Id been working in for 5 years. Got through the whole interview process, came in for the job offer. Signed it. The person who was going to be my boss and her boss were both middle of telling
    via u/VanguardAvenger
  • 19
    me how excited they were to have me. Guy comes walking in, regional manager or something like that (Basically both the people I was talking to reported to him but like several levels higher) announces that hes decided that all supervisors should be internal promotions, so he doesn't want me to start as a
    via u/VanguardAvenger
  • 20
    supervisor but I can start in what was basically the same job I had, but at an offer of just over half of what I was making (he didn't know what I was currently making afaik), and then in 3 to 6 months hed consider promoting me to supervisor once I showed I could do the job.
    via u/VanguardAvenger
  • 21
    So I told the guy basically "no thanks, changed my mind" picked up the job offer tore it in half and walked out to the other two employees yelling at this guy. (I did get the impression those two really didn't know what that guy was going to do)
    via u/VanguardAvenger
  • 22
    Accomplished_Tri... 4 hours. Lied in their ad for hiring, asked them about it and said the ad said X amount, I pulled it up and they said oh must be a misprint. Was a significant amount to be misprinted too.
    via u/Accomplished_Trick50
  • 23
    Lic... I applied for a party store I showed up for the interview and they told me to unload a truck for free. Called it a "working interview". I walked out. Also Kirby vacuums. I was like 18 and walked out of the shitty little demo when I realized what was going on.
    via u/Lich_Apologist
  • 24
    Nikaelena Three hours. The home health company I was working for closed due to the death of the owner. Another home health agency reached out and offered to take on our employees (and their patients...) They guaranteed they would have the same pay, benefits and would keep their tenure.
    via u/Nikaelena
  • 25
    First day I started I found out within three hours that had all been a lie. I left at lunch and never went back.
    via u/Nikaelena
  • 26
    Dragon_Bidness 20 minutes. Was through a temp agency. I was 19, drove another girl from the same agency to the job site. Job was to quality check circuit boards. They sat two of us down in front of a box and said "check those". No training, no nothing. How do you check them? Check
    via u/Dragon_Bidness
  • 27
    them for what? Fuck if we knew. We looked at the box, looked at each other and fucked right off outta there.
    via u/Dragon_Bidness

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