Everyone has had a pretty terrible day at work. Whether the perfect storm of things going wrong or just a job that is grueling in general, certain days tend to be worse than others. But some workplaces are so insanely bad that the only option is to simply run.
A netizen asked “People who quit a job on the first day, what happened?” and ex-employees shared their worst workplace horror stories. From outright lies during the hiring process to literal health risks, these tales underscore how bad some jobs can get. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the most shocking, and share your experiences below. We also got in touch with employment expert Jonathan Javier from Wonsulting to learn more about red flags.
#1
Not exactly first day, but about two or three weeks into a job at an AT&T store (do NOT recommend), it was getting towards closing time and my manager asked me to take the trash out. Mind you there was a hellacious thunderstorm going on and the dumpster was behind the store in an unlit area that ran alongside a ditch.
In spite of my protests regarding safety etc, he said "do it now", so I did. Well, I wound up slipping and falling into the ditch and badly breaking my ankle. I had my phone on me so attempted several times to call him, but he was with a customer and couldn't be bothered to answer. I was able to drag myself into the store, soaking wet, muddy, and with bone sticking out of my foot, and was promptly attended to by the customers. My manager started admonishing me for ruining his sale, and corporate called because they saw me on the sales floor and told me to get up because I wasn't representing the store appropriately.
Thankfully the customers happened to be HR directors for some large company and told me that my injury would be covered by Worker's Comp. I was too young and inexperienced to know this at the time. They left the store in disgust after they called me an ambulance.
I stupidly returned to the store a few weeks later, in a huge cast, and intended to return to work. I was greeted with a write up for "not following safety instructions" by the same manager who ordered me to take out the garbage in the first place. I told him to go f**k himself, left, called an attorney and wound up with a nice settlement. F**k AT&T franchises!
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151points
#2
I was working at Zara. They didn't do advertising at the time and instead are very particular about how they set up the store.
My last hour was being screamed at by the woman in charge of the store's appearance for not folding clothes fast enough (she was screaming at all of us. Imagine an hour of a woman standing on the top floor alternating between "Let's go, people!" And shouted insults). We finished 15 minutes early. Which means we got paid less for doing what the screaming lady wanted.
Then we were asked to clock out for a "team meeting". We did and the woman screamed at us so much she drove herself to tears.
The woman who hired me apologized on my way out and I told her I wouldn't be back. I didn't even pick up my check. Nor have I ever, ever, ever bought anything from Zara ever again. Even secondhand, I won't do it. I have like a PTSD reaction to that store.
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125points
#3
2nd day: sweating my a*s off in the kitchen on a hot summer day. Asked for a glass of water and the owner made me pay for it. Finished my shift and never went back.
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104points
Bored Panda got in touch with Jonathan Javier, CEO and founder of Wonsulting, an organization that focuses on helping people find the right job for them. We wanted to hear his insights into red flags to look for when starting a new job or just evaluating a job in general. He shared a few good examples.
“When they're unable to "unblock" you: The goal of a manager or team leader is to help their subordinates but also, if one of their team members is stuck, to get them "unstuck". This can range from guiding or helping them problem-solve. When they say "no feedback from me" mentality. Managers who want their team members to grow will give feedback proactively to their subordinates when they see something that needs to be improved; many bad managers will say constantly "no feedback from me" or "you're doing awesome!" but when performance reviews come into play, you're then given the "you haven't done well in XYZ."
#4
Was 19 in the late 90s. Got a job at Miami Subs and showed up to work the first and heard the Manager Screaming at a couple of 16 year old cashier's. Said nope not for me. Told the girls they should quit too.
Actually ended up giving them a lift home. They lived close to my friend's house. Fast forward and one of the girls and my friend are married with a couple kids and live in the same town. Small world. 😆
102points
#5
I worked at Home Bargains and did my first shift on a Saturday, I was off on the Sunday originally, and they waited until 11pm on the Saturday to call me and not ask me but tell me to cover a Sunday but the conversation went as followed.
“Hey we’ve changed the rota and you’re working tomorrow 8am-5pm.”
I was busy on the Sunday as I had family commitments since I assumed I was free being my day off.
“Oh I can’t work tomorrow I have plans.”
“Well that will go down as an unauthorised absence if you don’t turn up.”
“Alright then I quit.”
“WHAT?!”
I then hung up and never went back.
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90points
#6
I worked at a daycare for one day. They put me in the 3 year old room with two other staff members. The staff members were so mean to the kids.
They yelled at one child for “being late”, as if she had any control over that. They made another child cry by telling her she was going to be sent to the directors office for asking to use the bathroom during outside time. They also bragged to me multiple times about how the daycare didn’t have cameras and “never will”. Then they both fell asleep at nap time. I never went back and told my sister in law to pull her baby from that place.
Edit: for everyone concerned- this daycare closed a few years ago.
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87points
“When the manager delegates a project to you without any guidance. Managers who continuously delegate without giving guidance on the project they delegate are the ones who set up their subordinates for failure - if you see this from your manager, this is a huge red flag,” he shared with Bored Panda.
#7
Worked in a menswear shop for a single shift.
In my interview they told me I would work a probation period which is totally normal. The day of my first shift arrives and I find my supervisor very lazily going through procedures and training which is a red flag. He was skipping over stuff, kind of rushing it and very clearly didn’t want to be there.
I go to sign my contract and I notice it says “temporary” on the top. I told them the job was advertised as “permanent” which is illegal. He said “no we offer you a permanent contract after you complete this probationary period. We use a temporary contract as a form of probation”. Second major red flag but I stuck with it because I needed a job.
Finally, I get out on to the floor and am talking to staff. I find out that this company hires young students, sets them really high targets for their “probation” and tells them if they hit them they get to stay. Inevitably 99% don’t hit these targets and are let go after 2-3 months. I was being trained by someone whose job I was taking and it was her last day.
It basically means they get the max amount of work out of you and fire you before you slow down/start asking questions. The lady training me said that they also do it to make workers compete with one another. There’s no talking on the floor and loads of employees have petty rivalries because they’re all desperate the keep their jobs.
I rang up the next day and told them I’m not coming in and they can fck off.
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87points
#8
Joannes fabrics - first day an old lady slapped me for cutting her fabric too slow. I was like "peace. This isn't the job for me".
Edit: to everyone asking - no - I did not stab or cut her in retaliation. I put the scissors down, walked to the managers office, and told her I quit (and why). The manager understood and said something that equated to "sometimes it be like that." I didn't think to file charges, I honestly just wanted to get out of that situation as fast as possible.
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73points
#9
Got a job with a major hotel brand. Was supposed to handle their small lounge area, serve the occasional wine/beer. I was 18/19? During my training, the manager dude (mid 30's) was walking me through showing me how stuff works. He was super friendly and joking a lot. But also a bit touchy feely: hand on shoulder, back pats, etc. Then, when we were alone in the kitchen, he reached out his hand and rubbed across my abdomen. I was wearing a light summer dress, super thin material. He basically touched right above where my panties were straight up to my belly button and a bit above. I can't remember why - it was part of his joking around. But it made me so uncomfortable. I didn't say anything. Just awkward laughed. He smiled and stared at me. And then kept up his jokey schtick. I did not return. I heard later he was in rehab.
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67points
This of course begs the question, how do toxic, incompetent, and downright horrible people actually end up in positions of power? “When I was working in corporate, it was not only a mix of politics and exceeding your OKRs; it was also about having a great relationship with both your manager and skip manager. If you have these relationships and are able to play the "Politics" game, you have a better chance of being promoted. If this happens to you, be sure to upskill and continuously learn in the field you're in as well as your leadership skills.”
#10
I was on my last day of training as a caretaker for individuals with special needs. I am a 110lb woman, after training when I was due to start the next day they informed me my patient would be a 200lb man who sometimes “acts out and gets physical”…. Blocked their number and never came back lol.
66points
#11
I got hired for the local Taco Bell.
On my first day it was a busy Thursday night and everyone was stressed and yelling at each other. I was asked to come in at 3 but never told when I was supposed to leave so I asked, because if I was going to be there for a long time I also wanted a break. The person in charge wasn’t even a manager and they told me they didn’t know what to tell me because they don’t have a manager right now to make schedules. She mentioned they were open until 3 am and asked me how long I would stay. I got really sketched out so my next question was about how they were counting for my labor since I was new and wasn’t in the computer yet, and there was no manager on site to input my labor manually. She had no idea what I was talking about. I never walked out of somewhere so fast in my life
On my first day it was a busy Thursday night and everyone was stressed and yelling at each other. I was asked to come in at 3 but never told when I was supposed to leave so I asked, because if I was going to be there for a long time I also wanted a break. The person in charge wasn’t even a manager and they told me they didn’t know what to tell me because they don’t have a manager right now to make schedules. She mentioned they were open until 3 am and asked me how long I would stay. I got really sketched out so my next question was about how they were counting for my labor since I was new and wasn’t in the computer yet, and there was no manager on site to input my labor manually. She had no idea what I was talking about. I never walked out of somewhere so fast in my life
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65points
#12
Back in the early 90s, I needed a summer job. Applied and got hired at Target. My first shift was something like 5-10 which got me the usual 15 minute break. No problem. Then I find out that we can't leave until everyone has cleaned their area of the store. When you finished your area, you had to help others. There were two people who were slow as s**t (likely to get the extra few hours of pay) and we all ended up "helping" them. I didn't get out until almost 2am. Of course, had I been scheduled 5-2, I would have gotten another break and a lunch. I didn't go back the next day.
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57points
Lastly, Jonathan shared some parting thoughts about what to look out for and keep in mind. “Some of the most important parts of your day-to-day job? It's not only what the role consists of, but the relationship with your manager. Your manager can either make or break you; I see many employees leaving companies solely because of the disconnection between themselves and their managers.”
#13
The attorney I was supposed to be working for didn’t want to give me the employment paperwork and kept delaying. Finally he asked me how I felt about being a 1099 employee instead (I was supposed to have a w4, salary, full benefits) and he tried to “sell” me on why it would be better for me.
He was a solo atty and I was going to be his para/everything. This guy had no idea how the computer or printer worked, was using an old system, didn’t know what to tell me as far as passwords went and said I was smart and could figure it out.
He had an intern who was in college working for him and she was there the day I started, and she was trying to be polite but during the day she opened up a bit and told me she’d been working for him for 3 weeks and he still hadn’t paid her anything, and wouldn’t have the convo when she tried. I asked her candidly if I should run and she said yes, leave and don’t come back.
I had another offer on the table that I had declined to take this job. So I did something super uncharacteristic of me and called the other job from the bathroom, asked if they’d filled it, and begged for the job and told them I made a mistake. They re-extended the offer and I finished the day and never went back. She texted me the next day and said she also didn’t go back and wasn’t planning to.
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57points
#14
Not a job, but a first time interview. They disguised the job as just a normal sales position but when I got to the interview it was a group interview no one told me about and there was basically about 15 of us young kids in there that basically had to fight for this job. Mind you it turned out to be one of those door to door salesman jobs selling who knows what, but I left in the middle of the interview because I immediately knew it wasn’t for me and the receptionist at the front got out of her chair to stop me from leaving and said “you’re going to be throwing away your life if you leave kid” to which I didn’t reply and I continued walking out. That company no longer exists to this day.
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55points
#15
It was the second day on the job not the first but close enough. I had left another job to go to this new company with the promise that I wouldn’t have to stay late. I was told I would be working basically a 9-5 which I was perfectly happy with. That day I didn’t get off until 10 PM. I texted my boss as I got off and said they wouldn’t be seeing me again.
54points
“Be sure to vet the manager during your interview process to see if you'd enjoy working with them, and ask questions to see what their leadership styles are, for example, are they hands-on/hands-off? What leader do they look up to / have similar principles to?” You can read more about finding a career that works for you on the official Wonsulting website, and if you want to read more job horror stories, check out Bored Panda's previous article on the topic.
#16
I was washing dishes at a nice Chinese/ Asian place in college.
They used little dabs of bright red sweet and sour sause on the walls of the kitchen to tack up notices. There were little filthy dark red smudges *everywhere*. But that was just kind of gross.
Even though the owner was ethnically Korean, he had grown up in Kansas City. Most of the kitchen staff were ethnically and culturally Chinese and most spoke little English. They just called me "Boy". So did the owner.
The last straw of my one-shift tenure was when we were closing, one of the staff handed me a plastic bucket which I had used earlier as a mop bucket, and he told me, "Boy! Wash this." I gave it a quick rinse to get most of the gray sludge out of the bottom and handed it back to him. The owner literally cuffed me in the back of the head and yelled "You want us to sore vegetables in that? It's still filthy!". I responded, "No, I never expected it would used for anything other than mopping." His slow, deliberate response was, "That's. Why. He. Told. You. To. *WASH*. It. When someone tells you to wash a bucket, you *WASH* it, *BOY*!"
I took my apron off and dropped it where I was standing and told him he should be surprised if I *didn't* report him to the department of health (which I did), and walked out. They were put on probation by the health board due to my complaint and they closed a few months later for good. It had been open a decade or more. I don't know if I had anything to do with getting it shuttered, but I was sure glad when it closed.
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54points
#17
No one told the staff I would be there. The shift manager seemed annoyed that she would have to train me. It was a dog boarding/daycare facility, and they were SLAMMED. The manager left me alone in the play yard with about 15 dogs that I didnt know for morning potty break (she admitted they werent supposed to take that many out at once, and not all of them were daycare dogs). I had one dog trying to scale the fence the whole time, a group of three dogs kept growling at each other, and one kept howling and sturring everyone up at 5:30 am. When she wasnt back in 10-15 minutes, I coralled everyone back into the building and another staff member helped me get everyone back in their kennels.
I went to find the manager and overheard her in the kitchen complaining to someone about "getting stuck" with me today. I ignored it, asked what to do next.
After morning walks she showed me where the daycare only room was. Before and after daycare hours, dogs waiting for their owners would be put in kennels. The room had like 40 nice size kennels, but the floor was also lined with wire crates and dogs were just shoved in them. There were some kennels and crates with multiple dogs in them and when I asked she admitted that bot all of them were fur siblings, they just didnt have enough kennels for everyone to get their own.
I left on my lunch break, didnt tell anyone or call to let the superviser know. Id previously managed a daycare/boarding facility for about 2 years, and it infuriated me to see the way this place handled peoples pets.
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49points
#18
I was hired as a cook at a Huddle House. On my first day I learned that they lied about which shifts I'd have in the interview, I'd be expected to basically run the restaurant alone on graveyard shift after only a week of training, and this place was violating health codes left and right.
48points
#19
Data entry- I was temping and I had specifically said "NO data entry". The second assignment I got was all & only data entry. (I'm dyslexic, me doing data entry is bad for everyone)
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46points
#20
It was a start-up advertising agency. My first day I came in and they asked me where my laptop was. They had never told me to bring it and I thought it was very odd they wanted me to work on a personal device. Luckily I did have it on me due to my classes I was taking nearby. They didn't have me sign any employment paperwork and my direct supervisor was nowhere to be found. Another employee seemed confused about what to do with me so she had me go on the company website to review it and learn about some of the work they'd done. So I did that, expecting someone to come eventually and give me some actual training or direction. An hour or so goes by and no one did. I asked other employees who again just looked confused and said they didn't know. I waited for another 2 hours and when lunch time came I just took my stuff and left. I never got paid for that day but I didn't care. It was just so weird.
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44points