Yahoo Lifestyle 23 People Who Walked Out Of Their Horrible Jobs On The First Day Are Revealing What Broke Them, And Good God
Reddit user limecrissy recently asked the r/AskReddit community: "People who quit their jobs on the first day, what made you say, 'I'm done with this'?" The thread quickly filled with unhinged stories of wildly toxic workplaces and employers. Here's what people shared:
1."I walked into an office job and discovered my 'desk' was literally a cardboard box turned sideways in a dimly lit closet. The manager said it was temporary but couldn't tell me when I'd get a real workspace. I grabbed my purse and walked right out."
2."I worked at a hotel, and my manager who was training me used the same sponge to scrub a bathtub, then the toilet, then the sink — one right after the other. Basically, I watched her smear shit all over everything and realized that's how everyone was doing it. And just so everyone knows: This is NOT uncommon. I've seen people do this at all four hotels I worked at. When I was a housekeeping manager, I was constantly riding people's asses to use three different sponges and GLOVES, for Christ's sake."
3."It was a cleaning job on a college campus at night. I was hired and given a building to clean. I was given a universal key to every door except one and was told to radio the manager when I was done with everything else. I finished up, and the manager came and said, 'Wait outside the door.' She went in and turned off the alarm system. She turned on the lights, and we were in a cold lobby area. She said to go into the next room to wipe down the sinks, sweep the floor, and only empty the trash cans with clear bags in them. It was a cadaver room for the school's physical therapy department. There were eight dead bodies in there, covered in white clothes. I got in, did the work, and said never again."
4."Tim Hortons, 25 years ago. I left after the first hour of my first shift. They charged me for a company outfit that had the pockets sewn shut, apparently, so staff wouldn't steal cash. Then, they brought the old donuts into a back room to be thrown in the trash, and I ate one before they went into the trash. The manager snapped at me and said, 'If they are good enough to eat, they are good enough to pay for.' And she seriously wanted me to pay for it. I explained that they were about to go in the trash, and she told me it didn't matter. I quit on the spot and told her I couldn't work for a company that would rather throw good food in the trash than feed their staff."
5."As a (very) young man, I accepted a job at a massive supermarket. My job was in the butcher department on the graveyard shift. I started, and all was normal. I was trimming, slicing, and packaging pork chops. It was fairly simple and straightforward. After I had spent basically eight hours doing this, I had three large garbage bins full of fat. The other guys dragged the bins to the corners of the room and proceeded to have a 'fat fight.' They were just chucking the fat at each other and laughing their heads off. Then, they swept up what they could see for cleanup and did nothing else. Not only did I not return for a second shift, but I've never bought meat at any of those supermarkets again."
6."I did a trial shift at a nightclub that didn't clean down draught taps or beer mats. They literally just rinsed them under a hot tap."
7."Public library. At the staff meeting, management urgently shushed a staff member who wanted to address why a patron who had been escorted out the week before for wielding a knife and attacking staff was allowed in the building again. It quickly dawned on me that I wasn't willing to face off with a knife-wielding patron for a place that didn't even offer free parking."
8."I used to clean apartments, and a lady hired me to clean three hours a week. On the phone, she asked if I had a problem with cats; I said I didn't, and she said she had 'a few cats.' I got there, and she had 27 cats in a two-room, fourth-floor walk-up apartment. There were stacked kitty litter trays and cat beds in every room, on every surface — even in the kitchen, on top of the fridge and the counters. Many of the cats were sick. There was cat vomit and cat shit everywhere. This was about 20 years ago, and I can still smell it."
9."I was hired as an office secretary. I got there for training, and it was a sales job selling vacuums. You couldn't be a secretary until you were a salesperson first, AND you had to sell a certain amount of vacuums. Nope."
10."When they said, 'You're allotted seven minutes of personal time for using the washroom. After that, it gets docked from your pay.' The only issue was the only washroom was five minutes across the building. I ended up walking out. I refused to work for a company that monitored how long it takes you to take a dump."
11."I worked at Forever 21 for a grand total of 16 hours. The first eight were paperwork and training, and the second eight were an overnight shift where they were resetting the store. The staff was getting angry with me because, as a new employee, I did not know where anything was meant to go. Each part of the store was a 'type of girl,' described as goth, boho, etc. There were many, but I didn't know them; it wasn't included in the training, and the shop was based on 'vibes.' The time came for the end of my shift, and my dad was there to pick me up; it was like 4:00 a.m. The manager wouldn't unlock the door to let me out because they were not done yet, but my dad was literally outside, and we lived 30 minutes away. I did not have my own car just yet."
"She refused to unlock the door and told me to get back to it, and said that my dad would have to wait...which, no, that wasn't what I was scheduled for or what I agreed to, so I quit!"
12."I was hired at a private doctor's office as front desk/reception. There were four to six of us all as 'reception' (basically all assistants), and there was ONE chair for everyone to use, ONE computer, and ONE phone. We would be penalized for taking bathroom breaks or taking our lunch breaks. I lasted one whole day and didn't bother going back the next. I didn't want to be yelled at simply for needing to pee or because I was hungry. No, thank you, lol."
13."I tried working at Taco Bell once. I knew it would be chaos, but I wasn't prepared. The manager was initially friendly, but they wanted me to go right into the line to assemble food. The screens and program they used looked like they were about 30 years old, so figuring out the orders was really complicated. Everything was abbreviated so they could fit a ton of orders on the screen, and I didn't know what the abbreviations meant. The manager watched me for a second, told me what was on the first few orders, and then left me there. I had no idea what to make. Desperately, I started making soft tacos for every order, which was incorrect."
"Then I found out he was in the back smoking weed with the dishwasher. As I tracked him down, the other guy in the assembly part yelled that he was 'left there alone' (newsflash, I was useless; he was alone the whole time). I ended up leaving 30 minutes after I started."
14."I got offered a job on a TV set, wrangling extras. This was not a well-known project, but every single person there acted like an A-list star who was disgusted by the presence of anyone who could not advance their position/stardom in some way. Even PARENTS of the extras. They would show up with their 'personal demands.' I cussed out four people before lunch and then just left during lunch and never came back."
15."First day, the restaurant owner threatened the staff with a gun. I walked out on the spot."
16."I asked where the restroom was, and when they showed me, the women's restroom was being used as a filing cabinet, and men were walking in there trying to get into the one stall in the bathroom to get to the filing cabinet. I was also told that I needed to 'be a good girl' so the customers would buy things from me. I left. This was a small business retail store, by the way."
17."I went to work at a hotel. The owners had an apartment off the office. On the first day, they wanted me to cook dinner for them and clean the apartment. I was hired as a front desk clerk."
18."I worked at a sneaker store and was helping a lady when she said, 'I heard they treat their workers badly here.' I told her it was my first day, and she just gave me a 😬 face and walked away. I quit the next day."
19."It was a temp job arranged by a shitty recruiter who was obviously just trying to meet their quota. I informed them that I'd just had a hysterectomy two months prior and couldn't lift anything. She said, 'No problem! This is just a temporary office job — admin secretarial stuff.' When I showed up on my first day, the whole job was moving boxes of documents from one office to another. I walked straight out and called the recruiter to tell her she was a POS."
20."I got hired on the spot at a home security company where you monitor alerts and contact customers or the police/emergency line. You couldn't leave the building whatsoever until your shift was over. The gate to enter the building was locked all day, and you were trapped there unless the manager unlocked it. You had to be staring at the screen the entire time. You could not leave your desk for any reason, and you had to request it if you needed to go to the bathroom. I quit on the first day."
21."In the early '90s, I was hired as a printing press operator and was supposed to be paid $15 per hour. On the first day, the boss came in to tell me that he decided he would start me at $10 per hour after the interview and work me up from there. I quit on the spot and didn't even clean the press."
22."I worked at a distribution warehouse. I had to scan the boxes on the conveyor belt and put them in the appropriate bin to go out for delivery. My scanner stopped working one hour in, and they had no extras. I asked my supervisor what I could do in the meantime, but they told me to sit tight while it was fixed. I finally returned to work after four hours and a lunch break. Not 10 minutes go by, and the same supervisor pulls me aside to let me know my productivity was lower than expected and that if it continued, I'd be fired. I reminded them my scanner had been broken most of the shift, but they waved their hand dismissively and reiterated the expectations. I went back to scanning, did maybe two boxes, said fuck this, and left my badge on the supervisor's desk on my way out."
23.And: "I wanted to earn some money aside from my main job, so I started at a gas station next to the highway where I should have worked some night shifts. My first task was to clean a toilet where someone shat next to the seat. I decided I wouldn’t want to do that just for extra cash."
Have you ever quit a job on the first day? Why? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
