15 Times Frustrated Workers Up And Left Their Horrible, No-Good Job In The Middle Of The Shift

While having a job is supposed to pay the bills, some jobs can also cause a lot of stress. So when Reddit user u/dativy asked: "Have you ever gotten up and quit your job in the middle of a work shift? If so, why?" a lot of people provided their own experiences. Here's what they had to say below:

1."I washed dishes and worked there for two weeks. The A/C for the kitchen and office both broke the day before I started. The office A/C was fixed the following day; however, the kitchen A/C 'wasn't a priority.' It was a heatwave in August, hitting 115° outside. The whole kitchen staff walked out."

2."I quit on day two. The 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/hour we agreed to. I walked out and called the IRS hotline to report fraud."

—u/[deleted]

"I had a lady who owned a Subway do this to me, for, like, two weeks. She said she was getting my payroll straightened out, and when I got my check, she took out 'taxes,' and she actually never paid them either, so when I did my taxes, there was no record of me working for her. She literally stole my money."

—u/Novel_Newt5251

3."The entire waiting staff and I walked out. The new owner of the restaurant wanted to charge the staff for breakages."

4."A temp agency sent me for assignment to a small factory making furniture. It was a 7 a.m. start time. At 7:03 or :04, while still waiting for some sort of foreman/supervisor to come over and say hello, a couple of dudes start shouting at each other, and it breaks out into a full-blown fight. 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. 7:12 a.m."

—u/thrwawaythrwaway_now

5."I did Dell computer sales in 1998. They fired 90% of all the commission-making salespeople 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 two weeks?' I then grabbed my shit and noped out of there!"

6."I was a cook, and the new manager kept making me cover the dish pit because the dishwasher person was not showing up because they refused to hire another one and were making him work seven days a week. I told him if he kept making me close the dish pit, I was going to put my two weeks in. He said 'good' and went back to cooking. So I went and grabbed my shoes and backpack and got his attention. He turned around, and I gave him a peace sign and left. Keep in mind that I had been there for three years, working as a busser, dishwasher, server, host, and cook. I did everything they asked. He had only been our manager for two months."

—u/Tensonrom

7."I was 17 and just finished mopping the floor at closing time and was walking out the door. The owner's son walked across the floor in boots covered in motor oil and told me to 'mop this shit up.' I dropped the mop on the floor and told him to do it himself. I was being paid minimum wage and wasn't going to deal with that shit."

8."I was working at McDonald's. The first day, it was already two hours past the time I was supposed to go home, but they kept telling me I had to stay and wait (for what exactly?). Finally, they said to sweep the kitchen and go home. I swept it into a big pile and was about to put everything into the dustpan when the shift lead came by and said, 'Looks good!' and kicked the pile out. They said, 'Now do it again.' I made myself an ice cream cone and left."

—u/dark_wolf1994

9."I got a job at a new grooming salon in Petco. It was a commission-based job, and they still had a sign out front saying: 'Grooming salon coming soon.' So after a week of making no money, I came to work, and the manager said, 'You can't wear jeans here.' 'Ok,' I replied, then I turned around and walked out never to be seen again. He called a week later asking me to come back. I laughed and hung up."

10."Aside from being a firefighter/medic (it was a small volunteer department; NOT paid), we all had a regular day-to-day job. Mine was always working in bars, pizza places, etc. I was/am a cook. I had one particular manager at the time who would talk down to you like you were a piece of dog shit. 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 told him to suck a dick and that he needed 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."

—u/TheUnknownMedic

11."I worked at FedEx Ground. I 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, 'C'mon, 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 of 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."

12."I had a part-time job for about 40 minutes in college. I started as a data-entry job and was paid $7.25. The owner found out I was going to school for an IT-related field and started throwing tasks like updating his website and basic tech support. I left almost immediately."

—u/jerrbear1011

13."The closest I personally came was giving one day's notice when I was a third-grade teacher. The entire job was me fighting administration for more than literally zero time to actually do the job I was there to do. When I asked for time to plan lessons, help students who were falling behind, or work on helping special needs students in my class, I was denied every time. No exaggeration, I was in the beginning phases of a mental breakdown. I went into the front office one morning to ask about what the best way to quit was in a way that didn't negatively impact my students, but before I could ask, they gave me the 'bad news': that the last seven hired teachers (i.e. me and six others) were being moved to other schools the following Monday due to enrollment changes, and I immediately said, 'Great, I quit,' and left the next day. It was really sad leaving my class, but from the bottom of my heart: Fuck that job."

14."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 four hours a day) while my wife was hospitalized. The first day, they asked me to work six hours, then told me to be ready to work eight hours the next day. I just left."

—u/Azzizzi

15."I started a job on a Monday, and Friday came, and I got a paycheck at lunchtime. I 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. 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.' He then turned and walked away."

Have you ever walked out on a job in the middle of a shift? If so, tell us what happened in the comments below.