64 Workers Share The Moments That Made Them Think “Nope, I’m Done”

I was in high school and I got a job at Golden Corral as a dishwasher. I told them I could work late on weekends, but not during the week (classes started about 6 am). I was told that would be fine and they'd work around it. First shift was supposed to be until 8 on a Tuesday. I wasn't allowed to leave until 11:30, and they had me scheduled multiple days after that. I quit once I clocked out that first night.

As a teenager I worked at subway for like a week.. my first day off training was customer appreciation day (bogo sandwichs) so the line was down the street, it was just me and this know it all wanna be manager snot nose little muskrat. She yelled at me and insulted me in the sandwich line in front of all the customers for not having enough tomatos, so I went to the back to "get tomatos". I walked right out the back door, waved at the line of customers as I walked by them and they literally cheered for me 😂 her name was Korryn and I wish many mild inconveniences upon her to this day.

Worked a night at this little dive bar. The grease trap had never been cleaned. I couldn't stand the smell 🤢.

Did 3 months at Samsung before I decided it was insanity to keep working there.

I have never, and I mean never, seen such a messed up workplace culture as I did there. It was so incredibly *Korean*....as in, face is more important than truth, age=rank and to hell with you if you're young, they want 10, tell you they need 20, and call you a failure when you produce 15. You show up at 6am and leave at 8pm or you are a lazy piece of trash. If you're a woman...well, you're nothing. If you're white, they'll kick you out of the high level meetings and keep it to Koreans only, even if you are a senior director. I was yelled at for things that happened months before I worked there, and then called insubordinate when telling them I wasn't responsible for things that took place before I was an employee. That's what I mean by Korean. They were grateful to be miserable and competed with each other to seem more miserable than anyone else, because that meant "hard worker".

Plus my commute was 2 hours each way.

I didn't even keep it on my resume, despite it's global brand power.

30 minutes into a new office job, I realized I absolutely reeked of cat pee. Took a bathroom break and just kept on walking.

We had just driven across the country for a new life and didn't realize the scared little guy used my fresh laundry as a toilet.

Somewhere out there, a few folks love to tell the story of the guy who showed up smelling like a litter box and then ghosted after half an hour. Well, that guy was me.

Worked in a veterinary office and it was my first time ever doing so. I was just supposed to walk the dogs and give them their meds. I was there for several hours and at one point I had a question about one of the meds and after searching all around the building I realized everyone had left. It was my first day, and I never went back.

I quit a job at a grocery store after about 4 hours because the manager was walking around with his hands in his pockets watching everyone work, and didn't even talk to us. He was just acting like a prison guard. Everybody said that was all he ever did. I'm not going to work for lazy management that's going to watch me every second of the day.

Line cook at an East Side Mario’s when I was like 17 or so. Made it a day. I just hated it. I hated needing to reply with “yo” instead of “yes” or “ok” or “got it”, I hated how hot the kitchen was, I just hated it.

I gave my immediate notice when I was done and they called me the next day asking where I was.

About two hours into training at a local sandwich shop.


The manager was walking me through food prep, pointed to a container of deli meat that had visible discoloration and slime along the edges, and told me to just rinse it in the sink, pat it dry with paper towels, and put it in the front line because they "didn't waste product here."


I took off the apron, laid it on the stainless steel counter, and walked right out the door. Called the county health inspector from my car before I even pulled out of the parking lot.

[laugh out loud] off. cutco. I had no idea, thought it was a sale job like sitting in a Costco or something.. it was not. It's a pyramid scheme. I went through three day orientation and given a quota for the week, after which we were going to promotion event with the CEO. I get there, it's just a bunch of rude rich guys smelling their own farts while making money off of us.. a girl and I sitting next to each other exchanged a look of, is this serious , are they for real? They were pompous owners who wanted a crowd to feed their ego. So we both said let's go get a coffee. Lol we left, they fired us, lol but I got a new bestie out of it and we still friends 10+ years later.

I think it was a total week before I walked out with her.

Fu cutco, you vultures.

I worked at a Dunkin Donuts in my mid 20s and quit within a month. The place felt shady. I was told I lost $100 when counting the cashier and that if it happened again they would charge me for it.

Something was definitely off and I could tell. Several weeks later after I left, that shift lead was arrested for stealing thousands from the Store.

Four days. It was a restaurant. I had a lot of experience and was hired on the spot, & started the following Monday.

Everything was so highly micromanaged, I just couldn’t effectively do my job. A manager was required for splitting checks, for example, so I spent more time chasing down managers to split checks than I spent doing anything else. It was ridiculous.

“We don’t cold call here.”

They gave me a list and asked me to call people who had no association with the company.

After two calls, I got up and left.

The supervisor stopped me and told me they would withhold my paycheck if I didn’t work a full day.

I told him to feel free to keep that five bucks, I’m out.

1 day. Worked for Verizon in a mall. The boss wanted me to scam people out of money. Anything for a sale. Noone gets to hurt my soul.

2 or 3 weeks, can’t remember which

it was a part time job at Starbucks while I was already working another full time job. I specifically requested that I don’t be scheduled super early mornings and long shifts when I already have an 8 hour shift at my full time job.

The only thing I was getting was long super early morning shifts with maybe an hour between getting off and having to go into my full time job. It wasn’t working so I just quit.

Very much a different one but 3 weeks. As a yacht captain we don't speak about politics to yacht owners/guests. But some how he found out I didn't support Donald Trump and he became openly hostile towards me. Didn't fire me just forced me to quit.

May not be as quick as others: but when I was 16 I spent maybe 8 weeks as a bag boy at a local supermarket chain in the winter to make some extra cash. It was the holiday months so it helped me buy gifts and buy myself some stuff.

I worked December till February. The reason I quit?

On the literal coldest day of the year, I came in ready to bag for my shift. The manager said "You're going outside to go collect carts."

"?! but I didn't come dressed for that, I came to bag like you guys scheduled me"

"Yeah? Well that cart guy has been out there for 2 hours and he needs to warm up!"

I was out there for maybe an hour tops - I was grabbing one cart and then running back inside to spend 5-10 minutes letting the heaters warm up my frozen numb legs. I was super, super [angry] that they didn't call me prior to prep for something like this, but I wasn't going to let them do it to me again.

I requested 2 weeks off before the next schedule because "my family is going on vacation for February break." The day before I went on "vacation," I came in to give my 2 week notice because "my parents want me to focus on my studies." The manager noted right after documenting it "wait...you're starting a 2 week vacation tomorrow?" "Oh, yeah. I learned here how important it is to give a heads up. So I wanted to make sure I gave you one. Good luck!"

Walked out with not a care. I didn't need the referral for another job or college - they just used terrible judgement on an employee they needed more than needed them.

During Covid I took a job driving to post offices. They lied to me about my pay that I would be working at. They were making me download all these apps in my phone that were draining my battery and data instead of having a company phone. Many things weren't in the job description so I told the manager that after the shift that I am not a good fit. He guilt tripped me about how they "pulled strings" for me to get this job and didn't mention the loads of danger that came with the job. No regrets!

One hour into working at Sears. After two days of ‘training’ and them admitting they would lay most of us off after Christmas (didn’t tell us this in the interview) which would be when my employment insurance would run out. Was supposed to have someone shadowing me or me shadowing them but they avoided me like the plague and I ended up with a lineup. Called the manager (the one who told us we’d be laid off eventually) and said thanks but no thanks and walked out. Ended up in another job two months later that outlasted Sears itself.

Technically I was never an employee there, but I went in for 1 hour for a HOA Accountant job.

Everything was sketchy, the details just didn't add up, and I got a super weird vibe.

Shook hands and I was supposed to come back 2 weeks later at the beginning of the next month.

I just didn't feel right, so I ghosted the guy who kept calling for months. I felt super bad, but eh, going with my gut has always been my way of life.

Years later I somehow run into a woman who worked there. Turns out the guy embezzled a hundreds of thousands of euros around the time he kept trying to hire me as an accountant, and was now facing a few years of jail time. If I had worked there, I would have been the fall guy.