25 Times Someone Couldn’t Handle A New Job And Immediately Quit

Starting a new job can be a lot of pressure. When someone joins a new workforce, they need to be on good terms with the boss, make connections with the team and learn the ropes of the new job all while trying to understand and fit in with the existing office culture. So it’s no wonder that with so many factors to consider as a match, not every hire is always a good fit.  Recently, Redditors shared stories of employees who joined and walked out almost immediately. Scroll below to read some of the most entertaining tales found on the original thread of what drove someone to pull a quick exit. 

#1 My mom lasted about 3 hours as a waitress. Some guy kept snapping his fingers and my mom assumed he was just snapping so she ignored it. The woman training her said, “He wants coffee.

Image source: Johannes_Chimp, Ketut Subiyanto / pexels (not the actual photo) That’s why he’s snapping.” My mom said, “Then he can ask for it like a grown up.” It was loud enough for the guy to hear and he called my mom a b***h. She took of her apron and walked out. She was around 17. When she walked in the door my grandmom said, “Wow, you lasted longer than I thought you would.”.

#2 I quit the day before i started. Accepted a job at x amount of pay.

Image source: ifyoubugher, Karolina Kaboompics / pexels (not the actual photo) The day before I was to start they called me and said "we didn't know you went to nursing school with some of our workers and we told them what you'd be making hourly and they threatened to quit unless we pay you $3hr less than what was agreed upon" I beg your pardon? F**k riiiight off.

#3 Didn’t quit but walked out and waited for the aftermath.

Image source: Napaandy, RDNE Stock project / pexels (not the actual photo) I was hired as a Production manager for a winery. Bottling, warehouse, maintenance. The first day of work was the first day of shelter in place due to Covid. Hr rep did my induction from her home. I was on site. Provided her with scanned copies of my documentation and she asked me to sign paperwork. It showed 15K less than my agreed to salary. I forwarded my signed offer letter and she said it was incorrect. I told her I would not sign. The estate manager was offsite in Paris, was not a US citizen, and was stuck there due to Covid protocols. I informed the HR rep that I was leaving and would not be returning. Within a couple of hours I received a call from the Estate Manager apologizing for the mistake and asking me to return the next day. I explained that I was reluctant to return to a company that tried to change terms after agreement. He ended up offering me an additional 10k and I returned. The HR Rep the next day was not the same person as before.

#4 I guess me.

Image source: Orange_Kid, Pavel Danilyuk / pexels (not the actual photo) A college retail job, I showed up the first day and they said there was a mixup about how much they were able to pay me vs. what they had told me on the phone. It ended up being slightly less per hour than I was making at my current job, instead of slightly more. Luckily I hadn't quit the current job yet. I said I was only staying on if they could give me the rate agreed upon...they called or pretended to call somebody, came back and said there's nothing they could do. Welp, sorry it didn't work out. I think I got a paycheck for the exactly 1 hour of standing around talking about it that we did. .

#5 45 minutes into her first Dunkin donuts shift. I was showing her what buttons to press on the cream and sugar dispenser when she suddenly said, "I can't do this." And she walked out and started walking 5 miles home. The local bus passed by ten minutes later. Yeah, I don't know. She had something going on with her personal life for sure.

Image source: Chazkuangshi, Andres Ayrton / pexels (not the actual photo)

#6 In our warehouse we had a trans guy who ran it better than anyone I have ever seen. New guy starts, sees him and says " I can't work with that. It goes against what god created" Left, never to be seen again. Good riddance.

Image source: carsmartbutdumb, Tiger Lily / pexels (not the actual photo)

#7 I had an interview and was told the salary was X. I was offered the job but I was informed a mistake had been made and the salary was a fair chunk less than I'd been told at the interview. I replied "No problem, when do I start? Tomorrow at 8am? Great, see you then". I put their number on silent, didn't show up and those time wasting muppets kept calling me for far longer than I ever would have imagined well into the following week..

Image source: Amphibian_Upbeat, Sora Shimazaki / pexels (not the actual photo)

#8 I had a guy from Nigeria start nightshift. We warned him there might be some racism from locals. He said he's used to it from working in kebab shops. Even I wasn't prepared for the amount of abuse he got. He called the next day to say he can't handle it.

Image source: The_Pixel_Knight, Samson Okeniyi / pexels (not the actual photo)

#9 Seen some quit on the first day before.

Image source: atx620, Ivan Samkov / pexels (not the actual photo) Funniest story is someone getting fired on the first day. Worked in retail. Before we open we have our daily meeting to go over the plan for the day. The store manager asked another manager to address the team while he stood there and watched. We had a new guy. It was his first day. While the manager (let's call him Brian) was addressing the crew the new guy kept making fun of him. Like you might make fun of a buddy where you tell inside jokes to each other. The thing is, it was his first day and nobody knew him. He also went way over the line saying things like "Brian is gay" and "that's what she said." Just really cringey stuff. The store manager noticed. When Brian finished, he called all the managers into the office. He didn't tell any of us what was going on. We just assumed we were making final preparations before opening. He called the new guy into the office (let's call him Glen). "Glen, please come to the sales office." We are all getting ready for the day. Organizing paper work etc and Glen walks in. Store Manager: Let's talk about your short time working here NOW THAT IT HAS COME TO AN END..... All the managers froze and just watched Glen kept trying to justify his inappropriate behavior during the meeting in the office and he kept getting more and more pissed as none of us had his back (why would we?). He was ready to barge out of the store (the door was locked because it is retail and we weren't open yet). Instead he ran into the door. Now we all f*****g laughed. One of the managers unlocked the door and let him out. He peeled out of the parking lot pissed. Never to be heard from again....

#10 When I worked at Nabisco, at about 10 AM on his first day, another contractor turned to me and asked “Is Nabisco owned by a tobacco company?” I said, yes, but that we really had nothing to do with them. He got up and walked out.

Image source: JustSomeGuy_56, Lisa Fotios / pexels (not the actual photo)

#11 Me. I was hired as a dishwasher at a restaurant downtown. Buses stopped at midnight, but I was guaranteed I'd be off in time for the last bus

Image source: -retaliation-, Tima Miroshnichenko / pexels (not the actual photo) I was scheduled to start on a Friday night, starting at 6, I was told the first shift was a training shift and shorter than usual. I get there and they tell me "hey there's supposed to be 3 dishwashers, but one guy was at 2 months but didn't show up, and the other guy got pulled to prep chef tonight." Im busting a*s, the head chef comes by during lunch, I ask what's the plan for when I'm gone at 12 "what do you mean? The shift is 6pm-2am?". He strings me along most of the night saying he'll get me a ride home with someone that lives on my side of town. "one way or another we'll get you home" At 1130 I go to him "hey so who's driving me home", "oh I couldn't find anyone that lives on your side of town. You'll have to cab or something", "cool". And I walked out and never came back. Lol.

#12 A woman I was training for a supervisor role at my previous job quit before lunch the first day.

Image source: showe1lj, Yan Krukau / pexels (not the actual photo) I began the supervisor training and she said “I wasn’t hired as a supervisor, I was hired as an account manager”. I contacted my boss asking if there was a mixup with the training schedule, but there was not. Apparently they hired her as an account manager then downgraded her without letting her know. When she met with HR they said “strategic moves” had to be made for optimization. She quit on the spot. I quit shortly after that because the company was up to other shady stuff.

#13 Met a dude at a call center like 5 years ago in New Braunfels, Tx

Image source: Arceedos, Ralph Rabago / pexels (not the actual photo) On the surface he looked like a punk kid. Long blonde bangs, arm and hand tattoos, young looking, wore a hoodie most of the time, could be very bouncy at times if excited about s**t. We went through training together and this occurred less than a week after training finished. Looking at him closer though I noticed he was closer to my age (I was 27 at the time and he was 25) and he was actually pretty astute, dude was a fast learner and knew his s**t. Turns out dude was a bit of a wild child(one of his tattoo sleeves ended in a skull showing on his hand) before he had a kid some years prior, and that kid settled his a*s right the f**k down. He was employed before, but this was his second "serious job" as he put it. Out desks were next to each other after training and I heard him do very well on the phones. Now there's a reason I'm focusing on his appearance so much; dude was real respectable but some office staff were put off purely by his look. One of them being HR's manager. When showing off a Doctors note showing he missed day 2 of on-floor work cuz of his baby being pretty sick, he came back to his desk looking mega anxious. I didn't wanna pry and also I was focusing on work, so thankfully he opened up the convo (pretty gregarious dude) asking me if he should do something after he was just treated Turns out HR manager didn't accept the note and, on top of that, began to: 1. Berate him for not showing up for work 2. Imply that he's making trouble with his simple request 3. Began speaking in a manner I can only describe as 'overlord dressing-down'. Just kept speaking in absolutes, "You're gonna go back to your desk and work." "You don't need to be here anymore. Even so far as to openly tell him to shut up at one point. So naturally I say yes to the question he's been trying to pose; you really do need to file a complaint, man. Corporate took that s**t seriously. Cuz homie made the complaint and literally the next day we get warned by higher ups that corporate is coming by. And those suits went straight to the HR office. Judging by that suits face (we were sat close enough to see the front entrance) and HR lady leaving and never coming back, pretty sure other HR staff present corroborated homies story and either they fired her a*s or she quit on the spot. Homie unfortunately had a bad taste in his mouth afterward and quit that week. Red hood, bro, idk if you're out there but hope you and your kid are well. Sincerely, -Long-haired native bro.

#14 I was training a lady on the register for her first today, she went for her lunch and never came back. She came through drive thru about a month later and I ask her wtf because my manager had thought I'd explained lunches incorrectly or had done something to make her leave. She said that she saw the customers I dealt with and decided she would rather be unemployed.

Image source: 2baverage, ALINA MATVEYCHEVA / pexels (not the actual photo)

#15 I worked at a golf course and we hired a guy and sent him out to rake leaves all day. We just found his rake up against a tree. Never saw him again.

Image source: kphill325, khaled damlakhi / pexels (not the actual photo)

#16 A coworker was sitting with our three bosses and 4 employees in a conference room meeting, she said: “This is the most disorganized and toxic work environment that I have been in, thanks for nothing because you should be thanking me for tolerating this job, and to you three”, (the employees including me) she said, “I feel sorry if you stay but you should leave too, they are not paying us that well anyway “, she got up and left, I left a week and half later and she is one of my best friends to this day. Respect ACC! ?.

Image source: CrowFriendlyHuman, fauxels / pexels (not the actual photo)

#17 Had the new older guy introduced right before the morning shop meeting. The supervisor started in on his normal "Do what I say or you'll be sorry" b******t he does every morning. My hero (new guy) stood up and walked out. I never saw him again.

Image source: External_Durian9472, Airam Dato-on / pexels (not the actual photo)

#18 Working at an ER vet, it became so common for people to go to lunch and never return that I began only learning new people’s names if they made it past their 90 days. S**t is not playing with puppies and kitties all day and a lot of people cannot hack it.

Image source: meowpal33, Tima Miroshnichenko / pexels (not the actual photo)

#19 Our previous timekeeper was going to resign so they hired a new guy. Guy comes in for his first day, realized how big the company is and without proper training or handover he was just expected to do it immediately. Dude never came back the next day. Everyone panicked coz there was no timekeeper and pay day is 2 days away.

Image source: prettyisabellaxoxo, Christina Morillo / pexels (not the actual photo)

#20 I was a trainer ("Learning Ambassador") at an Amazon fulfillment center when COVID hit. Nearly half of my coworkers quit before my next week began. Until I transferred to a different facility 3 months later, every week involved training dozens of new hires, and most of them would quit sometime between day 1 lunch and the end of their first week. It was nuts.

Image source: voopa, Thom Gonzalez / pexels (not the actual photo)

#21 At the door before he even got clocked in. He parked in front of the building in customer parking and in a handicapped spot. When he was asked to park around back in employee parking, which was actually closer to where his job was, he lost his s**t, went on a rant about his freedoms and that he wasn't working anywhere that made employees use the servants entrance. Pretty sure he heard the laughter erupt when he stormed out.

Image source: bluecheetos, Nothing Ahead / pexels (not the actual photo)

#22 I quit literally five minutes into a job. The interviewer made it pretty clear it was a delivery job, *not* a sales job. I go into work the first day and the manager tells us we need to load up the trucks and start selling. No.

Image source: john_snape_, Artem Podrez / pexels (not the actual photo)

#23 Me. Arrived 10 minutes early as I always do only to walk on site with an tirade of abuse being thrown at two workers by the director of the company who hired me. He looked me in the eye and try to impose his will and started barking orders. I laughed, did a 180 and started to walk of site. He ran up and ask where your going I said I don't work for d**kheads.

Image source: Particular-Tap1211, Jonathon Burton / pexels (not the actual photo)

#24 I once saw my new coworker quit during their lunch break on their first day. They went out for lunch and just never came back. Turns out, they ran into an old friend who offered them a job on the spot, doing something they actually loved. We all laughed about it later, saying they must've had the shortest commute from new hire to ex-employee ever!

Image source: XLustyGirlX, MART PRODUCTION / pexels (not the actual photo)

#25 I started as food prep for a steakhouse while on a semester off from college. Got there a few minutes before my scheduled start at 7. Manager showed up at 7:40 to open the doors.

Image source: Jef_Wheaton, Creative Vix / pexels (not the actual photo) Worked 10 hours, no break, because when ai was supposed to go on break they needed help washing dishes, and my break was "delayed". Saw one coworker dump a bunch of cut lettuce into an unwashed sink that had just had raw meat in it. Dropped a carrot on the floor while shredding them for salads and the MANAGER picked it up and tossed it straight into the shredder. Finished my day, went across the street to the Wendy's where I used to work, was hired immediately, and started there the next day. The steakhouse closed a year later.