25 People Reveal What Caused Them To Quit On The Spot And Never Look Back

There are moments we all feel like quitting our jobs on the spot due to some extremely aggravating situation, toxic bosses or annoying colleagues. But usually, we get ahold of ourselves and put our frustrations aside to continue because we are adults or have responsibilities and financial commitments that cannot be quit as easily.  However, on occasion, you may have gone ahead with the emotion of the moment and walked out of a job then and there. It certainly seems to happen often enough to warrant a barrage of responses on a Reddit post asking folks to narrate their personal “I’ve had enough” moment to seemingly walk away mid-shift. Scroll below to read some of the most interesting experiences shared in the original post and let us know if you would have stuck with it or done the same in the circumstances. 

#1

Image source: DyslexicIdeas, Austin Distel Day 2. Owner tells me that he pays taxes for us so he pays cash and it is after taxes. So 7.5 and not the 10/hr we agreed to. I walked out and called the IRS hotline to report fraud.

#2

Image source: handandfoot8099, Globelet Reusable Dishwasher, had worked there 2 weeks. The A/C for kitchen and office both broke the day before I started. Office A/C was fixed the following day, kitchen A/C 'wasn't priority '. It was a heatwave in August, hitting 115° outside. The whole kitchen staff walked out.

#3

Image source: TheUnknownMedic, Sebastian Coman Photography Sure. Aside from being a firefighter/medic (small volunteer department. NOT paid) we all had a regular day to day job. Mine was always working in bars, pizza places ETC. stuff like that. I was/am a cook. Had one particular manager at the time that would talk down to you like you were a piece of dog s**t. I let it slide way longer than I should have. I eventually said something one day and it got twice as bad. He eventually got in my face and was legitimately yelling. I basically told him to suck a d**k and that he needs to learn how to talk to people. I walked out that night and left him by himself to run that whole kitchen with at least 10+ tickets that I know had not even been started yet. This was back in 2016 ISH. I heard he called two other employees in on their day off and I later found out he did the very same thing to them as well and the end result was the same. They too walked out on him. Fast forward a bunch of years to current time and a couple other restaurant/bar jobs later, I’m back at that same exact place and he is no longer there, I now am that manager and run the show. I don’t care if you’re the president of the United States or a Homeless guy on the side of the road, I will treat and talk to you the same exact way you talk to me. Everybody is out here struggling. It costs absolutely nothing to be nice to someone. You have literally no idea what someone may be going thru. Be a decent human.

#4

Image source: ConspicuousCat80, ELEVATE I was a bar back in my 20s, and I had an incredibly emotionally and physically abusive boss. It was a weekend night, and the bar had two floors, and I was the only bar back that night, and there was only one bartender on each floor. At about midnight, food orders would start coming in left and right, and that night was no exception. Between having to empty out ashtrays, pick up dirty glasses, clean tables, wash dishes, and make all of the food orders, I couldn’t keep up. My boss got very angry with me because I was behind on food orders and people were starting to get upset about having tables with empty glasses and very delayed food orders. She summoned me over to the bar, grabbed me by the shirt collar, shook me, and screamed in my face, “Just get me through the rest of the f*****g night and then you can quit!” I was in disbelief, and went back upstairs. I looked at all of the tickets I had left to make, and just decided that job wasn’t worth it. I turned off the grill and the fryers, turned the light off in the kitchen, threw my towel in the dirty towel hamper, and walked out. That was the night I stopped taking other peoples’ s**t.

#5

Image source: Dead_Hours, Tima Miroshnichenko I was 17 and just finished mopping the floor at closing time and was walking out the door. The owners son walked across the floor in boots covered in motor oil and told me to "mop this s**t up" I dropped the mop on the foor and told him to do it himself. I wad being paid minimum wage and wasn't going to deal with that s**t.

#6

Image source: lewd-dev, Olavi Anttila McDonalds. Our manager Mark was a d**k. He chucked the bag of Mcflurry toppings at me during another one of his tantrums and told me to fill it. I threw it back at his head, then threw my hat at him, then my McDs polo,, then walked out half naked. Would have thrown my pants and shoes too but I paid for them. F**k you Mark.

#7

Image source: OTFoh, nappy My husband. He was summoned for an emergency behavior meeting. Started with “even though your numbers are top in the company you get up from your desk for water too many times a day.” He said “I’m going to stop your right there, we can make this quick, I’m out”….and immediately left. Worked in logistics.

#8

Image source: Raspberries-Are-Evil, jhderojas Dell computer sales 1998. They fired 90% of all the commission making sales people and replaced them with hourly workers from a temp agency. They then asked me to train them. I was like, “maybe you should have trained them before firing everyone— why would I train them so you can fire me in 2 weeks?” I then grabbed my s**t and noped out of there!

#9

Image source: borborhick, Erik Mclean After I retired early (at 50) I thought that a job at the local Tim Hortons would be perfect. Part time, no stress, and I enjoy seniors and our sleepy town of 2000 had a high percentage of seniors. Most of "training" was me fixing the computers to get them to work so that I could actually watch the training videos. That was week one. Week two I realized how slow the location was, despite being on the highway. We had a lunch rush and it was pretty slow other than that. Two days into week two and I was already recognizing the regulars. Seniors in their 70/80's who would come and get one coffee in a China cup and ask that I fill it as much as I can because we didn't give refills. No problems, it drove me nuts to dump coffee after 20 minutes and not offer it to them. Problem was, very few of them could carry these full cups to the tables. No worries from me, I'd bring their coffee to them. As I said, the location was slow and days were long and boring. It was no big deal to carry coffee cups for a few seniors and make them smile. Twice that second day working the floor I got in s**t for doing that. I pointed out that there was no one else in the store and it just took me moments. "we are not a full service restaurant, let them carry their own coffees" I stood like a useless fool behind the counter when the next group of seniors came in, feeling like an idiot. Break time came. I grabbed my coat and went out back for a smoke. Halfway through my break, with one of the managers, I said "f**k this. I can't treat people like this. Sorry" and walked home never to return as an employee. On the rare occasion that I go there as a customer, I'll jump up from my table to assist any seniors that I see and now they can't do a damned thing about it. Ha!

#10

Image source: sicurri, Tima Miroshnichenko Was working for an over the phone tech support company. You call in, pay for a support plan, and anytime you call in again, we'll fix your pc problems by remoting in. Anyway, my manager actually told us that sales were down and that we needed to make more money. So he basically bluntly told us to commit credit card fraud. Said that we needed to add software packages to every customers account and charge them as much as we could get away with. I stood up and walked out. Asked where I was going, and I told him I don't commit felonies for anyone no matter how much they pay. As soon as I got home, I called the FBI on their a**es. They were shut down in a week.

#11

Image source: Flaky_Avocado_8406, Kate Townsend Yeah me and the entire waiting staff walked out. The new owner of the restaurant i worked for wanted to charge the staff for breakages.

#12

Got hired at a mall bakery in the late 80s as an assistant manager. The training was horrible and I specifically asked what I was supposed to do in case of emergency. Call 911 was the answer. One of the teenagers cut his hand badly while opening a large can (we made everything from scratch) and blood was spurting everywhere. It looked like a murder scene. The baked goods were bloody, we were bloody, and I had to deal with it so I closed down the shop to focus and to not sell bloody product. Another employee was a retired nurse so she triaged him and took him to the ER while the rest of us tried to clean up. I got written up for closing the store so I walked out. If you don’t tell me what to do in real emergencies, don’t blame me for trying to figure it out on my own. Image source: sneezyailurophile

#13

Image source: zbornakingthestone, Sora Shimazaki I quit a job at uni about 40 minutes into my induction when the manager tried to get me to get changed in front of him just to "make sure the uniform fitted".

#14

Image source: Mentalfloss1, Germannavyphotograph Yes. Old guy here. During the war in Vietnam I worked on a Navy facility where bombs were made, 250, 500, and 1000-pounders. My job was to secure the bombs inside boxcars and semi-trailers for shipment to the West Coast. I worked midnights, 12-hours a day, 7-days a week. I made LOTS of money. Lots. I had become entirely skeptical of the war. One night I was crawling across a pallet of warm bombs inside a boxcar when I had this sudden vision of an Asian guy doing something similar on the other side of the Pacific. "What the hell am I doing?!??!" I climbed down, left the boxcar, and told my boss that I quit. Right now. He tried to convince me to stay as I was a good worker. I refused. He was a nice man. he drove me back to the main shop. I punched out, went to my car, and left.

#15

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. Image source: Ok_Calligrapher1809

#16

Image source: FallFromTheAshes, Louis Hansel I was a barback at a 5 diamond wedding/conference venue. I had to work a 13 hour shift, and my brother just passed away from cancer in another state the day before. The only thing I got to do was hear him say “I love you” very weak over the phone. So obviously going into my shift, I was super upset. I really couldn’t keep it together and my coworkers told me to go home and they’ll cover my wedding I was doing (only 80 people) and we were overstaffed. I told my manager my situation and that they’d cover me and i made sure the bar was stocked and she told me “That is a poor excuse to leave work, especially half way through the night”. I dropped my walker talkie and badge on the floor without saying anything and left.

#17

Image source: BoobsCirca1942, Emile Guillemot I worked at a car wash during the winter in the wet tunnel. Manager got in my face for wearing a coat that didn’t have the company logo on it, but they didn’t make uniform coats. Told him to eat my entire a*s and choke on it, and then left. It gets below zero here regularly, I’m not risking my life or even my comfort for $12 an hour.

#18

Image source: StarsCanScream, Tiger Lily Yes. FedEx Ground. Was a package handler making $12 an hour. The requirements were insane for the conditions they had us working in. One day, I told my sort manager that I was running to the restroom and he was like “Cmon, man. Can you hold it for another 45 at least?” I told him no and went off to the bathroom. I was already fed up with the job, but that was the tipping point for me. I got out the bathroom, walked to the time clock, clocked out, and left. A month later, at my new job, I got a call from FedEx Ground. They were wondering where I’d been since I hadn’t been seen at work in over a month. They told me to give them a call back if I was still interested in working. lol.

#19

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. Image source: Tensonrom, Elle Hughes

#20

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. Image source: Azzizzi

#21

Image source: yakfsh1, Andrea Piacquadio Yep. I started a job on a Monday. Friday came and I get a paycheck at lunchtime. Didn't expect that as most places hold back a week. They paid on Friday assuming you are finishing out your day and giving you "credit" for those hours. Anyways I get my check and I notice I'm being paid $2.00 less an hour than we agreed on. I bring it up and the foreman tells me, "Yeah sorry about that I couldn't get the big guy (the owner) to agree to those rates." I'm like, oh and you didn't think that might be something I would like to know? His answer, "Well, there isn't much we can do about that now, I'll try and work on him in a month or two", and he turned and walked away. I got up, wheeled my tool box to the garage door and brought my truck around and loaded it up. He comes out just as I'm finished and his jaw drops to the floor and tries to get me to stay. No way dude, you screwed me, I'm out. C-Ya. Called me five times in the next two weeks each time offering more money but I just kept saying no. He eventually gave up and I found a job paying me higher than his last offer anyways, so it worked out.

#22

Image source: gnomechompskey, Eduardo Soares As a 17-year-old, summer between Junior and Senior year of high school I worked at a Target. Job was fine, easy enough, pay was s**t but all I needed was money for weed and gas so it was good enough and I had a fling with a coworker that was fun. One day, a very confused, very elderly lady in either a flimsy dress or what I think was more likely a nightgown stopped me and asked me where the toilet paper was. I escorted her to the TP aisle and she froze in the middle of it and explosively sh*t herself. She was embarrassed and crying and I felt awful for her and radioed for some help never having dealt with anything like that before. A manager came over and yelled at her, threatened to call the cops, and had security escort her out of the building instead of having a shred of decency or sympathy for this weeping senile woman. I kinda meekly told him she was ashamed enough as it was and he didn’t need to pile on. He brushed that off then told me to get a mop. I went to the back and grabbed a mop and bucket, tried to hand him the mop and he said “No, you’re cleaning it up, I was just making sure no one came down the aisle.” I told him I absolutely was not cleaning up human s**t sprayed all over the floor. He smugly said “Oh yes you are,” so I dropped the mop and my walkie (in the s**t), and walked out. Left and was able to smoke a bowl and catch an afternoon screening of The Incredibles at the theater down the street. Definitely the right call and f**k that guy.

#23

Image source: techtony_50, Berkeley Communications Yes, and this shows you how old I am LOL. I was a directory assistance operator. People used to call 411 to get someone's phone number (before the time of cell phones or the internet). They were VERY strict with clock-in, clock-out, lunches and bathroom breaks. I never had any troubles, until one day I was increasing my water intake for a diet. I took two 3 minute breaks (the max) for the day and when I needed to go again, the supervisor would not approve me to leave to go pee. I explained I cannot hold it - they said too bad, your shift ends in 3 hours, you can wait until then or we will write you up for abandoning your station. I said, you know what? never mind - I quit! No one is gonna tell me, a grown a*s man when or if I can use the bathroom. I threw down my headset and headed for the door. The supervisor chased after me saying " You can;t do this! You cannot leave in the middle of your shift!" I said "I don't have a shift anymore - I QUIT!" Security met me and tried to walk me out. I headed straight to the bathroom. Security followed me in telling me I had to leave. I whipped it out and started to pee - and they sat there and watched me pee the longest pee I think I have ever had LOL. They were like - "Jesus Dude! how much pee do you have in you?" When I got done - did not even wash my hands and walked out. The most satisfying quit of my life - in more ways than one.

#24

$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. Image source: Agreeable-Yellow6008

#25

Image source: xyz1928375, Elevate 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.