20 People Who Quit Their Toxic Jobs Explain What Pushed Them Over The Edge

It takes a strong person to leave a job. So many people are used to pushing every day, despite low wages, disrespectful work relationships, or even harassment. We spend the majority of our lives at work it becomes our second home. Therefore, when your workplace is no longer serving your mental or physical health any good, it might be a good time to start looking for the next opportunity.

#1

Image source: Rainydays206

I was fractured my orbital socket in an industrial accident. Another employee lost focus at the wrong time was supposed to wait for a hand signal and didn’t. We had been working over 90 days straight of 13-14 hour shifts and living in c**ppy motel a 45 min drive from out worksite. We were supposed to be on a rotation were we didn’t work more than 3 weeks at a time. It was a close call and could have been alot worse. I’m glad I “saw it coming” and had time to at least try and get out of the way.

I got sent away after a night in the ER while the rest of that crew continued to work. After spending 2 or 3 days at home the boss called to say that he “needed me in Alaska” in 2 days and that my flight was already booked. Told him I quit right on the spot.

#2

Image source: ccart597

When I spoke to HR about a harrassment issue and she straight up told me, it wasnt possible that he was harassing me bc 3 other people had come to her to say how awesome he is.

I literally said “f**k this, I quit.”

After 5 months of harrassment and no change or repercussions.

#3

Image source: letsgocactus

My mom’s: I was studying overseas and my parents booked a trip to come out at the end of the school term, bringing along my 2 siblings – 1 who lived away from home, the other about to start college. It was a month long trip, with lots of pre-paid flights, trains, hotels plus it would likely be the last big trip we all took together. Obviously, both my parents requested and secured approved PTO months in advance. It was the month of June – typical summer vacation.

A couple days before the trip was to happen, my mom’s boss hands her an assignment. Mom hands it back, saying she can’t take it on as she has a month long vacation about to start. (My folks don’t believe in hyperbole, but trip of a lifetime would be a fair description). Boss says, oh yea, sorry, you can’t take vacation anymore. Mom says if you cancel my PTO, I quit. Boss, blank stare.

Mom handed in her notice and left. We had an amazing trip. She got a new job on return.

#4

Image source: payvavraishkuf

My manager accused me of stealing money from the store… during the month I wasn’t in the store because my father had just passed away. This is after scheduling me for 65 hours (yeah, 25 hours of overtime in one week) the week dad passed away.

I quit via text.

#5

Image source: advocatus_ebrius_est

A little Greek Restaurant I worked at early in high school.

Got hired, and spent the first two days cleaning everything the owner and son were to lazy to clean. Years worth of old grease in the deep fryer’s interior, mold in the fridges, stains in the bathrooms etc. Just f**king gross.

Ask about payday on the end of the second day and it went something like this:

“So, how does payday work here? Is it weekly, bi-weekly, what?”

“you are on training, if we like the job you do we will hire you with pay”.

Confused, I ask “so you’re saying that you’re not going to pay me for cleaning years worth of mold, grease, and bathroom stains?”

“No, you will be paid for work once your training is done”

“Oh! Ok. F**k this, I quit”

#6

Image source: xlv45

I worked at a pizza parlor for about a year in high school. My boss was a constant source of stress for me as he was controlling, rude, and just downright degrading. One time, when I went slightly off script on a phone order, he mocked me while I continued to handle the call. The straw that broke the camels back happened on a busy Friday night. Someone came in and placed an order. I got their name and told them it would be about twenty minutes. During this time, the same customer left the store to wait in the car. Twenty minutes later, they sent someone else in to pick it up. Problem was, this person didn’t know the order, and claimed that it was under their name. When i struggled to identify their order, my boss grabbed one of the giant wooden pizza spatulas, swung it full force, and shattered it over one of the ovens. After about five minutes of attempting to serve the customers in the store, I walked into his office and told him I was out. I walked to a nearby Wendy’s in the snow and waited for my dad to pick me up. I’ll never forget how freeing that feeling was

#7

Image source: reddit

After taking a few days off work while my father was having a brain tumor removed (and still checking emails and attending conference calls from the hospital) my boss gave me a new project. On a Thursday afternoon, she gave me a Monday morning deadline for a project that would take 6-8 days to complete. I worked 16 hours a day to get it done. When we met on Monday she asked how my weekend was: “I worked all weekend.” Then she asked if i got to visit my dad in the hospital “No, I didn’t get a chance because i worked all weekend.”

A couple of weeks later she pulled me into a meeting and said: “I feel like you were resentful because you had to work and I feel like I was really good when your dad was sick, maybe you’re just tired. are you tired?”

she’d also make comments when i would leave the office on time – not early, on time. “it’s great that you just get up and go when your day is over like i have to go because i have a daughter, but you don’t have any kids and you just leave at the end of the day”

um yeah, I don’t live here. I don’t go home and sit in a dark room counting the hours until I get to come back here. I’m also not curing cancer, nothing we do here matters to anyone outside of here. I give you 100% when I’m here, but when my day is done, it’s f**king done. i no longer work there

#8

Image source: askingxalice

First job at mcdonalds. 3 different managers all telling me to do different things, and getting mad when I listen to the others. I overheard the worst manager say to the people at the register (and many customers behind the counter) that “Someone need to teach Alice how to do her job.”

I didn’t even say anything. Just walked out.

#9

Image source: belovedbegrudged

My fathers story: he was a 22 year old millwright and he had been working for the company for 4 years. He asked for a raise because one was given to a coworker who had the same job.

He was told that his coworker has kids and a family to provide for and that’s why he was given a raise, and since my dad had no children at that time he didn’t need one.

My dad applied for a job that paid almost twice as much with great benefits, he gave in his notice and the manager said “will you stay if we give you the raise you wanted”… he declined and worked for the second company for 35 years and retired last December

#10

Image source: OllyPolly

I’m a nurse, and I was working in a nursing home 2 years ago. I need a liver transplant from medication used to help treat my arthritis. I was still healthy-ish, and able to work at the time.

One of the downsides to my liver decompensating is the inability to control my blood sugar, which would drop down into the 50’s. Low blood sugar can be dangerous, makes it very difficult to focus, and makes it seem like you’re drunk and high at the same time, (at least for me). During one shift, my sugar dropped twice. The first time, I ate some protein and took a break to get it back up before I started passing meds/narcotics.

The second time, it was in the low 50’s. I asked for someone to come take over for me, so my husband could pick me up and take me to the hospital. After an hour, they came and told me that there was nobody available, and then I would have to stay to the end of my shift. Despite the fact that there were four RNs sitting on their asses is in their office.

I called my husband, crying because I felt so bad and so frustrated. He freaked out, and drove to my work while on the phone with the state board of nursing and the county health department. He came in, packed my things, helped me walk to to supervisors office, and went ballistic. I have never seen my husband angry. We’ve never fought, so seeing this was kind of scary for me.

After lots of swearing, while still on the phone with the county health department so they could hear the exact conversation, he told them I quit, and we left.

#11

Image source: SenorDongles

I used to work at a bowling alley in the cafe kitchen when i was like 19. One particular night, i was the only one in the kitchen during a slammed rush. I get everything out (somehow) in a timely manner, clean the kitchen, then go it for a smoke. The GM walks out a minute later and proceeds to ream me, telling me im a lazy no good piece of s**t, etc. Etc.

I finish my smoke, go back in, pull off my uniform shirt and name tag, set it on the cafe counter and walk out the front door without a word.

F**k you, Paul.

#12

Image source: punkrockpizza

I worked at a well-known pizzeria in my city for awhile when I was younger. Definitely put up with a fair amount of s**t for the year and a half I worked there. Terrible managers, lazy co-workers for pretty much minimum wage.

Well, a couple months before I was planning on leaving to go to school in a different city, they were having an issue with hiring and firing new people because they kept hiring anyone with a pulse regardless of how many brain cells were between their ears.

Back in January, I had requested the time for spring break off, as I was planning a surf trip out to California. Had the time approved in writing and that was that. Fast forward to March, they hired and fired three people in the same week, so it became apparent staffing was an issue.

The schedule came out for the week I had requested off and was surprised to see myself on the schedule almost every day that week. I approached the store manager with the schedule and my written approval of time off request and was like “What the f**k, dude?” He then proceeded to tear up my request in front of me, and said “we don’t have enough people right now, so you’re gonna have to make some sacrifices. You’re just going to have to deal with it” .

That week was about three weeks out, so I made a snap decision then and there and replied, “No, you’re gonna have to make the sacrifice, I’m giving you my two weeks. I’ve had this trip planned for months and you can’t even ask if it’s okay to cancel my trip.”

The last two weeks go the smoothest I’ve ever worked there, that manager trying everything to get me to stay and I keep saying no while he decides to retaliate in small, irritating ways. I’d had enough and decided I’m not going in on my last day to close the shop, I’m starting my spring break a day early.

About 10 minutes into the start of my shift, I get a call from said manager asking where I was. So I tell him, “oh I’m on I-10 heading west right now” “Well, when are you going to get here?” “Dude, if you haven’t gotten it yet, I’m not coming in.” He starts going off about how he’s going to have to close and work extra since he opened the store that morning, etc. I said to him, “Sounds like you’re gonna have to make some sacrifices and just deal with it. Remember that? I’ll be in when I get back to pick up my last check in two weeks.” and hung up. Definitely the most satisfying way I’ve ever quit.

#13

Image source: QuinoaKhmerRouge

Got a summer job while I was in high school at a place that made fibreglass tanks. I was told I’d be doing groundskeeping and yard work. Figured I’d scored an easy gig of bombing around on a ride-on mower and whatnot.

NOPE.

The first day I show up, in a t shirt and jeans, I was told the yard equipment ‘wasn’t ‘ready’. So they had me cut raw fibreglass for 8 hours with an exacto-knife and no ppe. Being a dumb s**t kid I didn’t immediately quit and did this for three more days. At least after the first day I’d brought my own gloves and long sleeve shirt.

However on said fated day three was when they were doing tank coatings. So about ten feet away from me are two dudes in full PPE. We’re talking coveralls, rubber gloves, glasses, face shields, and respirators. Ten feet away from me. In a poorly ventilated room. Spraying the exterior of a tank with presumably fibreglass coating.

I only made it a few hours before having to go to the bathroom to puke. Was told to quit being a p**sy and go back out on the floor so I fortunately had a moment of not being a stupid kid and said I quit and walked home. Both parents were mad when I told them I’d quit.

Joke’s on them though because a few years later that company took two dudes’ lifes. A guy asphyxiated while working inside one of the tanks and the person that tried to rescue him also ended up passing away. Whole place got shut down permanently.

#14

Image source: sadpanda___

Was getting screamed at in a meeting by some marketing jerk that was literally demanding my technical group perform magic on a completely unrealistic time schedule with almost no resources. Literally screaming at me in front of about 8 of my peers, calling me incompetent, “just do your job”….all of that. I stood up, said I refuse to be talked to like that, and left the meeting. Normally if you just get up and leave these types of meetings, you’re fired. Boss scheduled a meeting with me later in the afternoon after hearing about it. Figured I’d be walked out…..was told they fired the marketing guy.

That was my “eff it, I quit” moment. But the company kept me on and fired the other guy. Pretty happy, it’s been a solid place to work ever since.

#15

Image source: TrippyJesus

First job, working at a little BBQ place with a drive thru. My day off. Manager calls me at 8:30am (30 mins before we open) saying she doesn’t feel good and needs me to open. I rush in and end up working all day. 5pm rolls around, manager comes in with the owner of the business, who she’s dating. They were at the fair all day and completely forgot they lied to me about her being sick. I bite my tongue and ask if I can go home, they say no and keep me until close (9pm). At 9pm I took my shirt off, handed them my keys, and said “today was my last day” as I walked out the door shirtless.

Best part, when I got home my dad was pissed that I quit my job. I told him what they did and said I wasn’t making enough money. He looked at my pay stubs and saw they hadn’t been paying me over time the entire time I worked there! He made me go back in and demand my overtime pay. When I came in with the pay stubs the manager started crying and gave me cash out of the register to cover my overtime and then some. They called me the next day making sure I wasn’t going to report them to the BBB. I didn’t, but my dad did.

#16

Image source: zZentail

it was my wedding… that I had already paid $7,000 out of pocket, my parents paid $11,000, and wife’s parents paid $23,000. The day I got hired, I told them I had it coming in 5 months and needed the day off, preferably a whole week after too. Came two weeks before and they said “oops, our bad. However, we can’t do anything about it now. You can get married or you can keep your job.”

I’m still happily married.

#17

Image source: Stonewise

Was ringing up a customer and he had a pack of light bulbs on the bottom tray of his cart. I didn’t notice and assume the customer forgot they were there, either way he wasn’t charged for the bulbs. My boss at the time lit into me like I’d just bankrupted the company, and just as I’d reached my point of beyond pissed he suggested that the customer and I knew each other and I deliberately didn’t charge him helping him steal them (f**king light bulbs!) and even went as far as to say I was probably meeting him after my shift to ‘split the take’! (again, f**king LIGHT BULBS!) That was pretty much it and we had a fairly decent word of curse exchange then I was out. As I walked out the door one of my life’s greatest moments unfolded, the customer was on his way back into the store to correct the mistake and pay for the MOTHER F**KING LIGHT BULBS!!!!! Never the less I saluted my boss with the ol’ middle finger and we never spoke again.

#18

Image source: dic_6_doc

I spent one summer working at a large chain grocery store in the Midwest, stocking groceries 3rd shift. One night I left my price gun sitting at one end of the aisle on a cart for about 15 seconds while I walked something to the other end of the aisle. Came back and the price gun was gone. The store was empty except for employees, as it was about 1 or 2 am. Came in the next morning and one of the d**khead managers hands me MY price gun, pretending like it’s a replacement, and tells me its 70-some bucks for the replacement that I gotta cough up. At the time, making minimum wage, that was almost a week’s pay. I’m normally a level-headed guy but I made it maybe another few days before I told them to f**k right off. They asked if I put in two weeks notice with one of the managers and I just said nope and walked out. Still get pissed off thinking about it haha.

#19

Image source: emohippiechick

My first job (at a pizza delivery place), I was almost 18 and I overheard my manager (in his 40s!) and a few delivery drivers talking about throwing me a birthday party and spiking my drinks so they could “do things” to me. They had no idea I was around the corner listening. Maybe they were joking, maybe they weren’t, I didn’t care I quit right then and there.

#20

Image source: AgentGingerKittie

I was a few hours from a 2 week vacation for my wedding and honeymoon when I got written up. Manager pulls me into his office and says he’s got a wedding present for me and proceeds to go over the write up and has me sign the paper saying I was “coached”. The rest of my shift was horrible, I cried most of it. Got back from the time off and cleaned my desk out discreetly, sent an email to the program director saying I quit and just walked out. F**k that place.