Employees share the final straws that made them quit their terrible jobs: 'The boss told us to take waste from our job and dump it into an open Walmart dumpster.'

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Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Aug 17, 2026 8:45 PM EDT

Enough is enough.

In today's economy, which doesn't revolve around company loyalty and pensions, employees can't be expected to stay at the same company for their entire careers. You have two options when it comes to the end of your job: you can wait to get fired/laid off, or you can quit. Many employees who see the writing on the wall decide to quit before their bosses can fire them, and that's the case for many of the professionals in this story.

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  • An employee handing in their resignation letter.
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    An employee handing in their resignation letter.

    Image for illustrative purposes.

  • What was the final straw that made you quit your job?

  • Sometimes you have to leave your job because you're simply not being paid enough to pay your bills.

    curmudgeon_andy The last time: my landlord raising the rent to more than I would be making. The time before that: getting attendance points for being away from work due to being in the emergency room.
    via u/curmudgeon_andy

  • Bosses should be willing to give feedback to their employees throughout the year, not just when annual reviews come around. Employees should go into their reviews knowing if they've done a good or a bad job this year so they can properly prepare for them.

    Manda-the-Panda my boss would tell me in our weekly 1:1s everything was great, then when reviews came around suddenly my performance was terrible. Huge work loads were dumped on me while I was promised I would get training eventually, but then I was told later that in 'professional' jobs you don't get training. I got sick of it and walked.
    via u/Manda-the-Panda

  • Why would he want them to toss their waste into another company's dumpster? Do you think they were hiding illegal stuff? Are they not allowed to throw things away at the homes they work at? Is the boss too lazy to arrange a place for them to dump trash?

    ScottsAlive When the owner/boss instructed us to take the waste from our house rehab job and dump it in any Walmart/Target dumpster that was open or unlocked. I didn't want to catch charges for something as stupid as that, so I packed up, turned my phone off, and went out of state on a vacation for two weeks.
    via u/ScottsAlive
  • HustlaOfCultcha I had a new boss. I noticed that on the days I left work before she did, she would be h I to deal with the next day. She would work 12-13 hour days (for no reason). So I would work 10 to 11 hour days for no reason than to not have to deal with her the next day. Then one day was the first day of the time change. Up until that point I was always early for work, by at least 10 minutes. That day I actually left a little later than I normally do, but I should still arrive to work ear
    via u/HustlaOfCultcha
  • So I show up to work thinking everything was fine. i get to my desk and turn my computer on and I'm ready to to work. My boss pulls me aside and says 'hey, you need to work on time.' I look at my watch...It's 8:02 in the morning. This was a salaried position, mind you. Work 'started' at 8am. Again, first day that I ever showed up 'late'. Always showed up at least 10 minutes early and I was working 50+ hours a week. After that I immediately started looking for jobs on my phone and a month later I
    via u/HustlaOfCultcha
  • Pottski Got told I wasn't ready to manage junior team members and then was told to manager workflows for junior team members. So I couldn't manage them but I can manage their workflow? What an asinine point of difference. Working in sport is 100% awful - it's all fake.
    via u/Pottski

  • A person can only take so much of this before they quit. It's not sustainable in the long-term for anybody, unless they're totally comfortable with sacrificing their happiness and cutting their lifespan in half.

    starryvelvetsky I was lied to about the scope of the job. I was told it was M-F 9-5:30, no weekends, no holidays. In actuality it was 12 hour days, and 6 more on Saturday, including all holidays. And the procedures were "in progress" and changed every day as more and more work was being piled on. And management said we were only working at 20% of the capacity they wanted to build us up to. And I didn't even get a raise when I was "promoted" out of entry level for this. No, thank you. I'm too old
    via u/starryvelvetsky

  • In the first instance, the boss was trying to get them to leave.

    grmarci1989 Least time: pay was cut by $2/hr when I was told I wouldn't be getting a raise the week prior. So I said screw it Time before that: burnt out and tired, so I quit right before peak season
    via u/grmarci1989

  • I didn't know there were Targets that were open for 24 hours a day? Who is going to Target at 3 AM?

    thebuttsmells I worked overnight at target for 3 years, 10 til 6am. It was fine for 3 years, then a certain manager came and acted like we were salary while reducing hours. Too many expectations too little pay. The job sucked but i wouldnt have left if not for the new manager
    via u/thebuttsmells

  • Unless the desk was full of trash, this was incredibly petty on the senior bosses part.

    ScavengerRavager After years of dealing with her snarkiness, my boss's boss came up to me and told me to clean up my desk because it was too cluttered. Mind you, I was underpaid and overworked, and the things decorating my desk were the only things making me happy. I packed up my whole desk that day. It turned out my direct boss, the HR/accountant, and a whole slew of people had the same idea at the same time. A third of the company quit within like... Three months of each other.
    via u/ScavengerRavager

  • If you can't beat them, leave them!

    ohmygorn Associates being given historically impossible sales goals with a three strikes (three months) and you're out policy. I wasn't going to turn over my entire staff so I just quit myself.
    via u/ohmygorn
  • Sweaty-Goal-7999 Lying about a promotion opportunity and giving it to someone I trained. No pay raises since I started.
    via u/Sweaty-Goal-7999

  • I'm praying for the next person who has to work under this guy. They're going to need all of the help they can get!

    jchop398 There was already a strained relationship between my boss and I for awhile as I was desperately trying to get everything done to his exact specifications (which he wouldn't share until the last minute). I was really just trying to get to the school break which was in two days. On the day of the big presentation night where the school had to demonstrate their learning of his mandatory project, he sent the office administrator to me as I'm lining my students up outside and she loudly asks
    via u/jchop398

  • While she might be liable to pay it back, that doesn't mean she needs to stay at the company. They've obviously proven they can't be trusted to properly keep their books.

    Maxinaeus They changed payroll software and it stopped deducting my federal taxes. When I filed, I got a $3500 tax bill instead of a refund. Checks fluctuate, so I never noticed. You can say that they paid me the money, so it shouldn't bother me, but this is why it does. Imagine if someone secretly deposited $10 into your bank account, every day, for a year. It is a small amount, so you don't notice and spend it. Then at the end of the year they say, "Oops, my bad. I need you to pay me that $350
    via u/Maxinaeus
  • Ok-Recognition1752 Very small business, fewer than 10 employees I told the owner I was worried about the manager's memory. She would tell me the same story but change details. A lot. He said it wasn't a work issue and I should bring it up to her spouse.I mentioned it to her spouse and he said it was a work issue. Then my manager called me and started screaming at me for meddling in her personal affairs. Accused me of having memory issues, and then the conversation devolved into a series of even
    via u/Ok-Recognition1752

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