We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us if they've ever quit a job on the spot, and why they were compelled to make that decision. We received even more wild stories and stumbled upon this Reddit thread filled with other stories of people quitting their toxic jobs. Here are some of the most jaw-dropping stories:
1. "I worked for a privately-owned bakery for exactly one week. The owner's son came in, walked passed the counter, and went into the bathroom. He came out a few minutes later without acknowledging me or my coworker, got into his car, and drove away. We both looked at each other, then opened the door to find that this guy literally crapped all over the toilet seat and the toilet paper holder. I called the owner and told her what happened, and she said to 'deal with it.' So, I asked my coworker if she wanted to clean it up because I wasn’t going to. She declined, and I told her I was walking out. She did as well. We locked up the store and told the owner we quit, but would reconsider staying if her son came back to clean up his own mess. She yelled at us and berated us for 20 seconds before I said goodbye and hung up."
2. "I am a physician assistant and took a job at an urgent care facility. After working there for about a month, I noticed some irregularities, such as expired medications and sometimes a lack of supplies. I wrote that off as the office manager not being as astute as she should be, and I brought it up to the doctor who owned the place. He said he would talk to her and straighten it out. Then, one of the medical assistants came to me and said, 'You know this has been going on forever, right?' She then said that things would never change and to get used to it because the expired medications had been on the shelf for months and they were told to never throw them out. She then also told me that the autoclave (the machine that sterilizes instruments) was broken and all they did was wash the instruments in soap and water and put them in the autoclave anyway to get them as clean as possible."
"That was the end of that. I made out a formal complaint to the state medical board and never showed up again. The state actually came in the very next day and raided the place. They shut him down immediately. They found so many things wrong that not only did they keep the place out of business, they suspended his license. He was also prosecuted on federal charges because he was running a scam for truck driver physical exams."
3. "I began working at a restaurant in the kitchen. I overcooked a steak slightly, and the owner came back and threw a plate at us, then a hot meat skewer, before storming off to his office. I dropped my apron, grabbed my bag, and told him I was leaving. His response was, 'Okay, at the end of the night, you can go.' My response was, 'Clearly you don't understand. I'm leaving right now. Here's my parking pass. I'll expect my check in the mail.'"
4. "I used to work at a chicken joint, and one day, I accidentally threw away some tongs. By the time I realized it, I had already bagged and thrown away the trash. My supervisor had a meltdown and said that the tongs cost the restaurant like $80, so he demanded I go into the dumpster, open up every bag, and find them, or otherwise he’d write me up. It was midsummer and a day before trash pick-up. I was up to my knees in trash bags. I lost my balance and accidentally punctured a bag, which caused gravy and sauce to explode on the side of my pants. I climbed out, handed him the tongs and my hat, and walked off. I never went there again."
5. "A few years back, my wife’s health started to deteriorate. She was in constant pain and really struggling. It was a big change for both of us, and I had to leave work often to take her to the doctor. One day, my boss said she needed to give me less hours because I was missing shifts. I accepted that and was willing to work with her on it. Then, she said, 'I mean, you don’t have to leave every time your wife hurts her little finger.' I quit on the spot."
6. "There was a leaky ice machine at the well-known fast food place where I worked. I couldn't see the icy puddle because I was carrying my tray to lunch, and I slipped and landed square on my back/head on the concrete floor. Luckily I was wearing a hat and hairnet. My hair definitely cushioned my fall. Work had a cursory look at my head, said it looked alright, then said I should go home — on my own, by bus. I later found out they didn't pay me for the rest of that day. I got home and felt a bit funny, and my neck and shoulders kept hurting more and more. When I woke up the next day, I could hardly move my head because the pain was so bad. I went to the doctor, who said I had severe whiplash. I was in pain for weeks and weeks. That was my last straw at a workplace where I had been sworn at and called an idiot by one manager, and had my shoes stolen in the break room. I never went back."
"I successfully sued them for a very decent sum of money for loss of earnings and the pain and injury. The company ignored my lawyer's letters for two years and when they did agree to go to court, the judge said too late, you ignored this for too long, so you have to pay the full amount. Oh, and they never called to check if I was okay after the fall."
7. "I worked in the kitchens of a pretty famous place. We were a 365-day-a-year place. I called off on Thanksgiving because I was in the ER. I had an impacted tooth, and being young and stupid at the time, I ignored it. I woke up Thanksgiving morning with it so swollen I couldn't swallow, and it hurt really bad. I went to the clinic, and it took a few hours. They gave me a shot of penicillin, wrote me a prescription, and sent me on my way. I thought I was in a good spot because I still had time to get to work. Then, walking out the door, it became harder and harder to breathe. I stopped, and the room started spinning and I couldn't see straight. I made it back inside and told the desk I needed help. Turns out I'm allergic to penicillin. Needless to say, I missed that day of work. And, returning later, I was promptly written up for missing it. I turned in my keys and badge that day."
8. "When I was 18, I had a summer job at a small landscaping company. The foreman chewed me out for laying sod incorrectly (I had no experience and no training). Then, he told me he’d break my arm if I kept 'taking unneeded breaks,' when in reality, I was just getting water. I got back to the shop and was told to go mow the owner's lawn (they lived just up the road). I drove home instead."
9. "I got mugged on a delivery for a popular pizza chain, and came back to the shop crying and panicked. I had my phone, wallet, and pizza taken. I told my manager what happened. 'Are you hurt?' 'No, but I lost my phone and wallet. I need to call the police.' 'No time for that. Here’s your next delivery.' It was like two blocks from where I was just mugged. I just went home. The police never really did much to get my phone and wallet back...not like they could."
10. "My boss accidentally replied to my email instead of forwarding it to his colleague. He went off about the hours I was billing and said they needed to monitor me and keep a closer eye. Questioning my hours was legit, but the language he used was downright out-of-line and super insulting. I replied to his email and said, 'I think you meant to forward this to X. I've worked for you for five years and have never given you any reason to question my character or integrity. I quit as of today.' He never replied, and instead sent the colleague to contact me and try and work it out. She was super condescending and really only made me more upset. I just replied to her that they owed me for my current hours. They refused to pay me. It was only like $200, so I didn't fight it. I was too upset."
"I got my own petty revenge before I lost access to the system though. I worked for free throughout Covid for that guy because I wanted to keep my job after the pandemic. Screw him for screwing me like that!"
11. "I worked as a CM at a shelter for survivors of DV for 10 years. A coworker began a relationship with a client. Despite reports from all program staff, our ED refused to act. Two colleagues and I reported our ED and program manager to the state when I found out my name was being signed for financial requests I knew nothing about. When the PM and our ED found out about us going to the state, they retaliated. My colleagues resigned right away, but I was dealing with serious health issues and couldn’t afford to lose my medial insurance. I was psychologically tormented every single day for months. I received an entire page of bogus write-ups. All of the 'complaints' came from one new employee. The stress was exacerbating my health issues. I was then contacted by my former boss who let me know that our ED had called her to ask for 'dirt' on me. She told me not to trust anyone in leadership. So, I reached out to a couple board members."
"I was then summoned into our conference room by our ED. The day before, I had passed out at work. Our ED gave me two more pages of bogus write-ups — all from the same employee. I believe they felt they needed a paper trail for me because I’d been there for a decade, had an exemplary track record, and had been promoted multiple times. My final straw was contracting Covid from a client’s son and being written up for missing work, despite a doctor’s note and a positive Covid test. I was too sick to care about my job by that point. I needed to be let go so I could get unemployment. I called in sick daily, even when I began feeling better. I never planned to go back.
I received an email on my private account telling me that I was fired. They had blocked my work email, so I couldn’t access my emails to provide proof to the board. I was done. I wrote a scathing letter to our ED and then shared it to 'all employees,' including the board. They were fired shortly after. The new coworker got my job, but was fired a short time later."
12. "I didn’t go back to a call center seasonal job because I saw how the trainer absolutely berated a fellow new hire for being five minutes late. I quit out of solidarity for that coworker, and because I too was running late the next morning! It was a strange place too. Our training class was interrupted at least five times that first week by having to watch wacky promotional videos about the company starring their eccentric CEO. They also promised to retain 75% of their seasonal hires after Christmas, but I found out later they didn’t keep a single person from our group."
"At another seasonal gig, they gave me a five-minute cash register training, then abandoned me with nonstop lines all day. I kept calling for help because I couldn’t complete some transactions on the machine, and they would only come over after about 15 minutes. It was the most uncomfortable, embarrassing work experience of my life.
In both cases, they called and asked me back. I had the privilege of saying no thank you at the time, and was also able to tell them exactly where it went wrong. Hope they took my feedback into consideration for future hires!"
13. "I worked as a cashier in a local shop. One night, two guys came at me with knives and tried to get in the till. I just walked away and told them to have at it. My minimum wage salary wasn't worth getting into it with a couple of guys waving knives at me. After they ran out the store, I picked up my mobile and called the police, then called the store manager. The next day, the district manager met me as I turned up for my shift. Her first words were, 'It was very unprofessional of you to be on your phone while in work.' I laughed at her and told her she could take this as my notice and walked out. I never had a problem with being held-up, but the sheer gall of that comment got me."
14. "I had a very stressful job and was expected to answer Slack messages from my boss at any time or I would be fired. He was in a different time zone, so often I would be woken up at 3:00 a.m. and get yelled at to do something. One day, in the office, he was talking crap about me on Slack and accidentally posted it to a channel I was in. I was killing myself for this guy and he didn’t even appreciate it. I packed up and left. Best thing I’ve ever done."
15. "I worked one overnight shift at a nursing home. People were treated like livestock. The smell of pee was everywhere. After a full shift I couldn't return. I later learned it was a sanitarium. This was way before many of the elder abuse laws were put into place."
16. "I had been working for a financial company in SoCal for about a month. It was a little stuffy, but otherwise OK...until my manager came over and asked why I took so long in the bathroom. It was literally five minutes for me to take a dump. He mentioned something about having to count it as a break and me being more careful in the future or something. I laughed, handed him my badge, and left."
17. "I was in high school working at a pizza place. I had been there for almost two years and it had gotten worse as time went on. The bullying between staff was bad because we were all teenagers. One night, we had a lull in a busy rush and a coworker turned to me and asked, 'So, is it a boy or a girl?' We had a manager who was very pregnant and running the store that night, so I said, 'I don’t know, you’ll have to ask her.' He looked at me with a smirk and told me, 'No, I’m asking about you.' I immediately turned around and walked out. I proceeded to chain smoke on the back deck and debate if I was really going to leave or not while delivery drivers were begging me to come back inside. I called my parents and my dad was furious. He totally supported me in my decision to quit right then and there."
"So, I got the manager, told her what happened, and said I couldn't work there anymore. She was super understanding and wished me the best of luck. The owner was mad, but I met with her and told her the work atmosphere she enabled was the real problem."
18. "My supervisor found out what medications I was on and used that information against me in a meeting. BYE!"
19. "My older boss didn't understand how an Excel spreadsheet worked. Fresh out of graduate school, I did some calculations for him as he requested and printed them out, and he proceeded to freak out on me because I didn't do them by hand. Yelling, he berated me in front of everyone in the office, took my water glass, and threw it against a wall, breaking it to pieces. Then, a coworker looked over my work and said everything was done correctly. I applied for a new job after work that day, and I've worked there for over seven years now. I can deal with lots of garbage, but I'm not dealing with a boss who has the emotional capacity of a two-year-old."
20. "The owner's brother kept telling me I wasn’t washing the windows correctly. I found out he was just screwing with me to make me keep rewashing windows. It was like 94 degrees that day. I walked out. I didn’t have another job lined up or anything. I ended up with another job in like a week. People can be cruel."
21. "My dad was in hospice, and for three days, he was up and down. We had been told several times that he was close to dying. Well, on the third day, his breathing was extremely shallow and his systems were shutting down. I got the call at work that I needed to come down because they were preparing end-of-life care. I went to my HR person and told her the situation. She said, 'Did he come back to life and die again? Because I'm pretty sure you've used that excuse before.' I told her she could go F herself, then I quit."
22. "I walked out of a bar job that I'd had for two years whilst telling the boss to stick his job up his arse. This was because after cashing up for the night, he found that my till was two pence short. He said he was giving me a written warning for it. The arsehole had been trying to sack me for a while because I was pregnant and could no longer do the heavy lifting involved in cellar work. Here in the UK, you cannot sack a person for being pregnant; you risk being sued."
23. "My best friend and I worked a second job as ushers in a large arena so that we could see all of our team's NBA games. Over the season, we got tight with the owners of the suites on either side of where we stood during the games. Near the end of the season, I started dating a guy in security who had previously dated my boss. My boss and I had a little tiff at the bar after an event. She was very angry at me, and on the day of the last home game of the season, she scheduled my friend and I to work at spots that were in back corners at the arena where we wouldn't see ANYONE. We weren't going to get to see any of our season ticket holders for the last time, and we were so hurt. It was so petty, I couldn't stand it."
"So, instead of spending the final game stuck in a corner, we went to her office and turned in our blazers and bow ties, changed into our street clothes, and our other friends let us back in. We watched the game from a luxury suite instead! She saw us, but there was nothing she could do about it."
24. "When I was 15, my dad 'encouraged' (read: forced) me to get my work papers and get a job. I got a job as a hostess at Applebee's. They hired me with the understanding that I was a teenager in high school. At first. I only worked two or three nights a week from 4:30 to 7:00. I was always first cut. Gradually, I kept getting stuck until closing, which meant I wasn't finishing up and clocking out until 9:30 at the earliest, usually closer to 10:00 or 10:30. Then, I was also put on every weekend. I worked a DOUBLE SHIFT on Mother's Day, though I had school the next day. I tried multiple times to explain I was a teen and this wasn't something I could keep doing, but I kept getting brushed off by both my dad and my managers."
"When I dropped shifts because I was tired or needed to work on schoolwork, I got reprimanded. The final straw was when I was scheduled for an OPENING SHIFT and was told I couldn't drop it. It didn't matter that I was supposed to be in math class then! I quit then and there."
25. "My grandfather, who I considered like a father, passed away after a long stay in the hospital. We were closer than he was with his own kids; our bond was quite special. I spoke to my manager about getting the day off for his funeral since I was organizing part of the arrangements, and getting a day or two of bereavement leave, and he agreed. The day of the funeral finally came and the staff started calling me, leaving me messages asking why I wasn't at my shift, and telling me (while I'm in a suit hosting family members at the funeral home) that I had to find someone to replace me or face repercussions. Needless to say, I told them to figure it out, and never looked back."
26. Finally: "I was in a meeting with the whole department about an upcoming reorganization. My boss was talking about each person's new role. When she got to me, she contradicted what we had discussed privately before the meeting. I gently reminded her what we had agreed to, and she said, 'We never talked about that. Your role will be X.' I said, 'That's not what I agreed to.' She then called me a liar (in those words) in front of the whole group. I said, 'We both know who's lying here.' I stood up, tossed my ID badge on the table in front of her, and walked out of the meeting. I was packed up and gone before the meeting was over. Friends called me at home the next day. I wish I could've stayed to see just how angry and defensive she got in front of her superiors. I was a huge asset to the team (as their trainer with over 20 years of experience)."
Oh, I am FUMING! To all original posters: I'm so sorry you endured that, and good on you for leaving those terrible environments!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.