Reddit user u/Prudent617 posed the question, "What was the reason you ended your last job?" The question clearly resonated with a lot of people, as the thread promptly filled with numerous stories and accounts. Here's what people shared:
1. "The boss reduced employee salaries 30% for all except his wife and kid, who also worked for the company. That was after taking his extended family on a 12-day vacation."
2. "Both my officemates were crying at their desks due to stress when I received a message from my boss that I was working too slow and was no longer allowed to wear headphones at my desk. That was the last straw. I took a break, ran it by my partner, and submitted my two week's notice. They told me I could just finish out the day. Now, I run my very own doggy daycare and couldn't be happier, or less stressed. Don't put up with it, people."
3. "The company didn’t offer bereavement days. I called off to go to my father's funeral, and my manager told me it was inconvenient for them to have to cover my shift because they were short-staffed, so I needed to come to work. I told them I wasn’t missing my father's funeral for their measly $11 an hour. They fired me the next day."
4. "I nearly lost my nose to frostbite after working in -80°C (with windchill). When the day was done, I got to go back to camp. They refused to evacuate the work camp in a -60°C cold snap when we lost power, and with it, heat. We had to sleep in -30°C with a thin blanket and whatever clothes we had in the closet. I fell asleep prior to the power outage, so I never had the opportunity to put on anything. It was -63°C outside the camp. The warmest it got was -49°C. No lights, just cold and darkness. It looked like something out of The Walking Dead. I told the camp manager if it ever happened again, I was going to take apart furniture and burn it for warmth."
5. "I started a job as security for a gate at a nuclear power plant. I enjoyed it, and was working 40 hours a week. I showed up every day and didn't complain. Then, they fired three people for no reason and made me start working 80 hours a week, mandatory. I was making tons of money, but was struggling to find time to buy groceries since I worked until late at night. The boss started micromanaging every little thing I did while I was working 16-hour days. Then, they wanted me to start training people, and said I'd get a $2 an hour raise for doing so. That never happened. Then, I had some car issues and couldn't come in one day. I had to go to AutoZone and buy a replacement part. I got the problem solved and was good to go the next day. I had not missed a day in six months."
"My boss called every car shop in town (allegedly), and said that I was lying. I brought the part that I got replaced in to show her. She said that wasn't enough proof and that no one in town said they sold me that part. She wrote me up and then said I may or may not be fired, and she'd let me know at the end of the week. I said okay. She asked me if I was coming in the following morning, and I said sure. The next day, I slept in and never showed up. Apparently, there were trucks backed all the way up the road for four hours since I didn't show up to open the gate. My boss texted me saying I'd be criminally charged for not showing up. I just ignored it, so she called me every day for about a week. I never answered. I found out later that she went on a power trip and fired the people I trained because I 'taught them wrong,' and then replaced them with her relatives. This is the person guarding your energy infrastructure, America!"
6. "The other esthetician I worked with constantly left the room, products, brushes, etc. absolutely disgusting. All brushes and products should be sanitized and wiped down after every single client. She would also come in blasted off of whatever pills she decided to take that day. Police followed her once. Boss wouldn’t fire her because she didn’t want to get audited again by the IRS since she committed tax fraud during COVID. I'm not losing my license over a trashcan of a spa and incompetence."
7. "There was a change in management. First day on the job, the new manager said, 'What is it that you do all day? Because nothing ever seems to get done.' Should've taken the six weeks of holidays that I was owed that day, but I didn't. Within a year of me finally leaving, I was replaced by four people."
8. "Teaching has turned into behavior management daycare. It sucks the joy out of you all day, and then the parents call to suck out some more joy. A select handful of kids are incredible and fantastic. So many kids won’t turn anything in, as in earning a literal 0 for the semester. While all of this is going on, you’ll have admin and the network telling you the kids are failing because you didn’t set them up for success, you didn’t reinvent the wheel, you didn’t take enough data, you didn’t love them into behaving better, etc."
9. "I asked for a raise when I realized my job was about five positions in one. When my boss tried to get my raise approved, she was denied. She told the big bosses that I would walk if this wasn't approved, and they literally said, 'Oh well.' I got my dream job the following week."
10. "HVAC installer here. I quit my last job because our scheduler decided she didn't like me, so when I'd message her to get the address of my next job, she wouldn't respond. I had to call another office staffer to ask if she was in (she was), and asked to be transferred. She picked up, and hung up immediately. I called the staffer again, asked to be transferred, and again, she hung up. This was on a Friday. I went home, cleaned the work van of my tools, dropped the van off at the office with the keys inside, went home, and emailed the boss a letter explaining WHY I was quitting, where the van was, and that he could mail me my final check."
"He called me Saturday morning asking what it would take to get me back. I told him he'd have to fire the scheduler (his wife). He said he could never do that. I told him I already knew that and had a job lined up for Monday morning. In between getting home and returning the work van, I sent my résumé out to five different HVAC companies. In the three hours it took to clean out and return the van, I had five offers."
11. "My last employer, of 32 years, had shrunk from 3,000 employees to about 200. I'd earned above-average reviews for many years, then my boss gave me a below-average one. That was the writing on the wall for me. Things were getting worse and worse — bad attitudes all around. I just got fed up and gave my two week's notice. I told them for years that they'd miss me when I was gone. Well, I left, and they started calling and asking me to come back. Sorry! I'm retired."
12. "I was there for just over a year…waiting to be trained. I sat in a room for 48 hours a week unable to work because 'nobody wanted to train.'"
13. "I had been having a long, hard struggle with endometriosis for a while, and it came to a point where I either had to get a hysterectomy, or get another repeat procedure in hopes of controlling the endometriosis again. After much hesitation, I made the fearful decision to get a hysterectomy. I knew kids were not in my future. Plus, everybody had been saying, 'If you aren't actively trying to have children, what are you waiting for?' The doctor got in there and saw just how out of control the endometriosis had gotten again, and they had to do extra procedures to remove the scar tissue. As such, it caused me to have a hyper-inflammatory response to the point where it not only shut down my bladder, but my colon, too."
"I had no choice but to pursue a temporary disability. My boss didn't believe me that it was that severe. Before they could contact the doctor's office to investigate my need for the disability, they fired me. I was able to push back, and they reinstated a temporary position for me and allowed me to get the disability as an apology. I took it, knowing at this point I wanted nothing more to do with them. Everyone there was encouraging me to get the procedure done, but when things went south for recovery, nobody even bothered to ask how I was doing. I was expected to be able to pick myself up and move on like nothing had happened. Now, I'm stuck fighting constant infections and have no hope for my health."
14. "Elon Musk decided to lay off 7% of employees in 2019. I was one of them."
15. "The site supervisor asked me to fraudulently sign training documents for an upcoming audit from corporate because nobody knew how to do their job."
16. "I took early retirement to get away from the micromanagement/bullying that was endemic throughout the company from the top down. I now work part-time for a lot less money, but somewhere where I'm appreciated and looked after. My mental and physical health has improved beyond measure."
17. "I was burning myself out and losing my mind when they brought in a new system. What would've taken me five minutes to do on the old system now took me an hour. The department was understaffed, and when I asked to get more help, they refused. Needless to say, I left, and they hired seven people to replace me."
18. "I was a teacher. My vice principal yelled in my face in front of a student. A combination of other factors had built up over time and made me hate teaching, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back. After that, I walked down to the principal’s office and told him I intended to resign. Right now, I’m in the process of changing careers, but I’m far happier than I was as a teacher. I’m glad I left when I did."
19. "Had a Zoom meeting in which I was told that my department's work was eventually going to be outsourced to India. They said, 'It could be six months from now, it could be a year, it could be two years,' and offered me a buy-out if I didn't want to wait. So, I jumped."
20. "Complete chaos in the IT department. The company had a super tight budget, and everyone, from bottom to top, was stressed out because not enough personnel was hired to meet the goals of the C-Suite. Basically, you got paid below market to do the work of four employees. And, this wasn’t a startup. It was a company that has been in business for decades. I ended up finding a role that paid double for less work. Bottom line: If you are overworked and underpaid, look for a new job ASAP. It can potentially take a long time, but it’s always worth it."
21. "My manager had a grudge against me because she didn't like one of my family members, who she knew prior to me getting the job, and she didn’t reveal that information to me until after I signed on. She spent three months making my life a daily hell as a way to get back at that person through me. So, I walked in and quit."
22. "A toxic leader in a peer department. He used extortion, fear, and blackmail regularly. His team couldn't hold talent for longer than a few months because of him. Leadership refused to address the issue. There were rumors that he had dirt on the company, so he effectively got everything he wanted when it counted. I left when he went after my team, and leadership allowed him to. Turns out it was the best decision of my professional life because, at the same time this was happening, I was offered my dream job making more money and working fewer hours. Over a year in, I can report no workplace drama here!"
23. And: "My father was hired in the same company. While on working sites, he talked to me like his 'kid' and spoke to other people about me like I was still a child. It ruined every single relationship I had with other workers. I was looked at as a child when I was 20 years old. All respect from the boss was down the drain, and I just had no voice anymore. I had to go. Father of the year."
I hope all these people were able to find peace after leaving their toxic work environments.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.