When something extremely aggravating happens at work, the sudden urge to quit is strong; and, likely, familiar to many. But while some people manage to calm themselves down—bearing strength and patience from sources yet unknown—others decide it’s not worth it and quit on the spot. Even if it’s the middle of the shift.
Whether it's toxic company culture, poor management—reportedly two of the main reasons employees say “I’ve had enough”—or other troublesome circumstances, quite a few people have seemingly quit mid-shift. Some of them shared their stories in a thread started by u/dativy, who asked members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community what made them do it. Scroll down to find their answers on the list below and see if you would have done the same in their situation.
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#21
I was a cook and new manager kept making me cover dish pit cuz dishwasher was not showing up, because they refused to hire another one and were making him work 7 days/week. I told him if he kept making me close dish pit I was gonna put my 2 weeks in. He said “good” and went back to cooking. So I went and grabbed my shoes and backpack, got his attention, he turned around and I gave him a peace sign and left.
Keep in mind i had been there for three years, worked as a busser, dishwasher, server, host, cook…I did everything they asked. He had only been out manager for 2 months.
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56points
#22
I was a convenience 🏪 store cashier. We got a new manager and just after I counted my drawer she introduced herself and told me "you've heard the term, all s**t runs downhill? Well, that's what it's like to work for me" I said ok, well I don't work for you, bye.
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55points
#23
$10 an hour. My boss would solve problems exclusively by shouting. One day I was super busy, and I skipped putting out a table. I was wrong, but it was one of sixty I put out. The chef asked nicely if I could. I said yeah. I'll grab it. Before I could. I hear just screaming. It's nothing helpful. Just screeching the same words I was told thirty seconds earlier. At that point I was sick of it. I told her "This is why we can't keep staff.". I walked out. I got woken up the next morning to the morning manager asking for me to help. I said I would come in, but today is my only day, and if I see the other manager at all I'm walking out. I finished the morning prep, and left. I was told later that she was fired after two more people quit on her the next day.
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55points
#24
Yes, I've done this three times.
The first time, it was a contract position. The boss asked me to "put in more effort," which translated to "I want you to work more hours for free." No, thanks.
In the second one, The owner and her husband (my boss) called me into a meeting to yell and curse at me (put the fear of God in me, I guess), then told me how I was going to report some false information to the customer. Nope, I said, "People don't talk to me like that," and left.
In the third one, I agreed to work part-time (no more than 4 hours a day) while my wife was hospitalized. The first day, they asked me to work 6 hours, then told me to be ready to work 8 hours the next day. I just left.
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53points
#25
Yep. I was working as a cook in a small restaurant. Since it was "slow" the owner left to go play tennis while he made me do everything - serving, washing dishes, and cooking. So I was literally the only employee there. And what do you know, that day it got busy and we got a bunch of customers and I ran the entire operation solo - serving, cooking, washing dishes. After the rush died down I quit and walked out.
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52points
#26
Had a part time job for about 40 minutes in college. Started as a data entry job, paid 7.25. The owner found out I was going to school for an IT related field and starting throwing tasks like updating his website and basic tech support. I left almost immediately.
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51points
#27
Oh yeah. I worked at a call center/answering service on the 7am-3pm shift and was in school part time taking evening classes. They changed my schedule to be the evening shift 3-11pm with only two days notice and told me if I wanted to keep working there I’d have to find a way to make it work with my school schedule. So I went to my desk, packed up my things, put my phone on hold and went home.
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46points
#28
Temp agency sent me for assignment to a small factory making furniture. 7am start time. At 7:03 or :04 , while still waiting for some sort of foreman/ supervisor to come over & say hello, here's what we do here ........ coupla dudes start shouting at each other & it breaks out into full blown fisticuffs.
Yeah, I'd seen enough. Funny how i have a completely crystal clear memory of looking at the clock in my car as i drove away. 7:12am
44points
#29
Was server. Working for tips only. Had one table in one week. Made 2 bucks. Probably nobody ever realized I was gone.
43points
#30
I worked in retail when I was young. At one job, another employee started violently berating me and calling me names after I asked a simple question. When I started crying over it and walked to the back room to calm down, he followed me and made fun of me. I think he was mentally challenged, but I wasn't going to put up with that kind of harassment at work. I walked out of that store and never went back.
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42points