There can be millions of reasons to leave a job, as most people who’ve ever had to quit one can attest. Even though some endings are sad or bittersweet, quite a few might seem like a sweet escape, especially when there are unpleasant people or events involved.
Redditor u/Sighablesire recently got curious about why people leave their workplaces. They turned to the members of the ‘Antiwork’ community, asking what was their “I quit” moment, and received plenty of answers, each more colorful than the last one. Scroll down to find them on the list below and see how many different reasons there are for employees to walk out the door.
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My direct boss (good relationship with her) told me I didn't get a promotion I was busting my a*s for, because our manager blocked it, as I made them look good and my team was the only one keeping the metrics and numbers out of the whole department, quit 30 min later via email after a visit to HR, took all my vacation, plus sick days did only about a week's worth of work out of a two months notice, no handover, no training, no knowledge transfer. 4 months later poached my old boss to a higher position at my new company and 3 of my teammates... I have never been so proud of myself.
I worked at a paper mill running a hydropulper, basically a giant blender that chopped up bales of cardboard from grocery store to be recycled into new cardboard. By the time I was trained there were only 2of us working it. It was hard work and little to no downtime ever, no lunch no breaks. I was working 7 days a week and 12 hours a day, sometimes 16 hours a day. I made good money but I barely had time to spend it. I almost got evicted because I literally didn’t have time to drop off a check to my landlord ( pre internet)
The job was really dangerous too. I had to climb up on a platform to cut the wires holding the bales together. I wore a harness in case I slipped and fell i the blender that was connected to a rickety old rusty fence. I had slipped several times before but the harness saved me.
One day I slipped and one of the welds on the fence broke, dropping me farther into the blender to the point that my feet were touching the top of the cardboard milkshake below me. I freaked and yelled for help but no one heard me. With all my strength I just barely pulled myself out and laid there, trying to calm down. Still no one came.
I decided to see how long it would take for someone to notice. 10-15 minutes go by and a foreman comes over and yells at me for not making enough pulp. I tell him what happened and show him the broken weld. He thought it was funny.
I walked out right there with no one to operate the machine.
Several people have died there, and many others have had skin burned of, lost limbs, etc. never work at a paper mill.
My manager slapped me across the face for dropping a sandwich.
I was a teenager and it was caught on camera.
I look back and am pissed I didn't sue.
Years ago I was a temp doing deliveries for an auto body supplies company. Did my three months, boss told me he would get me on company within a few weeks. Come in on a Monday and there's a new guy there. Boss asks me to show him my route, that he would be taking mine and I would start working in the shop mixing and warehousing because the old timer was set to retire. I thought ok, cool. So we get loaded, I'm driving to our first stop almost an hour away from the shop. We had the wrong product and I called previously mentioned old timer to see if we had the correct part to put on back order and deliver the next day. During this conversation I mentioned how I was excited to train with him and take over when he retires. Guy says, "I'm not retiring, what are you talking about?" I call my boss and ask him, he fesses up and says I'm training my replacement and wouldn't have a position with the company after. I hung up, handed the new kid the keys and said good luck. Called for a ride. Boss kept trying to call me, finally I answered, he's just screaming about how I f****d him and if he ever saw me he would beat my a*s. I said, ok...tell you what I'll come to you. When I got back to town I had to get my car from the lot. I went in the store, and said I'm here for my a*s beating. This b***h ran into his office, locked the door and called the police. I just laughed and walked out. F**k that place, glad it went under
I applied for a new job in my company that I was perfect for. I was turned down for it right away and while confused just decided let it go. Then about a month later an internal recruiter contacted me for that position because as I said I was perfect for it. I told them I had been turned down for it and they were confused but we went through with it anyway. Had several interviews, everything went amazing and we were getting read to sign papers when the recruiter called me to tell me I couldn’t get the job. Why couldn’t I get the job? I didn’t make enough money in my current role that I was severely underpaid for. Apparently the pay jump from my current position to the new one would have been more than the system’s algorithm would allow. So I was literally too poor to get a new better paying job. Quit a week later.
Also, that company was GE. F**K GE
When my manager suspected I was lying when I tried to tell him I needed a break because I was having an asthma attack.
My boss told me to “get back in your f*****g hole, no one wants to hear from you” (I was an exec chef, frustrated by being lied to about ingredient sourcing and being forced to lie to my staff about it)
I threw my keys at the wall, packed my knives, and left.
Was told I would miss my daughter's first birthday cause "we need products out the door, the rigs pay for your daughter to have a good birthday" hahaha not anymore they don't.
60 hour weeks as a teacher while I have an 80% disability through the VA and getting written up for sitting too much. As a math teacher. I quit. They're still hiring a math teacher. Looks like the gym teacher will have to fill in now.
I used to work at a grocery store for 2 1/2 yrs during highschool. We had to work every other weekend and my graduation party fell on my weekend. I asked for just Saturday off a month ahead of time and the manager said remind me when it gets closer. I reminded him a week before, but he put me on the schedule anyway. I worked the Thursday before said Saturday and told him again, then he tells me I need to find coverage. I said I would try, so I called everyone not working that weekend and no one would work. I told him this and he says he doesn’t care, that I would have to work. I told him I absolutely am not working, we rented a park and I sent invites. He again said he doesn’t care and that I’m working, so I went home and grabbed my uniforms went back and into his office and threw my stuff on his desk and said I quit! He starts stuttering saying oh u don’t want to do that! It doesn’t look good on a resume! I then revealed that I already had a full-time job working at least 40 hrs a week. He just had this stupid look on his face all defeated. Lol. I was one of his best workers, everyone liked me and I took extra shifts when needed. Oh well.
My boss told me and the only other out LGBTQ+ employee in a meeting that it was our job to make our very right-wing and anti-queer governor “look good” at an event.
We did not work in politics.
I quit.
Why the f**k is all this happening? It's actually upsetting and very disappointing. Homophobia has existed for a long, long time, but recently I'm just seeing more and more of these anti-queer rallies, hate speech, new bills being passed that limit our rights. Someone I thought I knew somewhat well recently called me a groomer because I'm queer.
Boss called me a peasant in the work chat so I blew that s**t up to the CEO. Loathsome people, dogs have better manners.
I was 6 months pregnant and a server at Dennys and we had just gotten all new management up to the district manager. These were managers pulled in from other stores. No one liked them all that much as they were short with people, unaccommodating, and routinely expected servers to “hop on the line” during rushes to help cook meals for their tables. One Sunday morning (busiest day of the week for us) only me and one other server are scheduled and manager 1 decides to send home our hostess to “save on labor” because her and manager 2 are both there to help. We get absolutely slammed (as expected) and neither manager is anywhere to she found. I sat myself and other server over and over, and had a nearly full restaurant in a matter of 15 minutes. I start to take drink orders for a large party, people are still coming in, and managers are still MIA. So I stop what I’m doing to see where tf our “help” is and find both managers and one of the cooks out back, smoking and laughing. I asked, “You guys having fun?” And they just stared at me. I turn to manager 1 (who is in charge of scheduling and sent our hostess home) and tell her “I quit, learn how to staff a f*****g restaurant.” She tried to call out “I did!” As I’m walking back into the back of house to get my stuff and I just shouted F**K YOU. I wish I’d had something wittier to say but that F U felt pretty good haha. I’m not very confrontational and I was shaking the whole drive home lol
Should have told the other server to quit to. See how the restaurant faired after that and word got around.
When I was a photo specialist at Walgreens They made me dress up as the easter bunny for photos with kids. Every kid was terrified of the costume and cried for the photos and my Boss kept trying to make me dance. Once I realized that I was getting paid $8 an hour to make kids cry and dance like a monkey I put in my 2 weeks.
I got passed up for a promotion, then was asked to train the guy who got that promotion on the things he doesn't know. It wasn't like a management position or anything, but it pissed me off.
I worked for an insurance/wealth advisor who told me one day she goes to funerals to find new clients. Quit on the spot.
I asked for raise and was told to wait half a year. So I quit and got three times the raise I asked for in the first place.
Why, WHY do companies do this? It's ALWAYS more costly to let someone go instead of giving them a raise, then go through the process of advertising the vacant position, finding and interviewing applicants, having an inavoidable period of reduced productivity until the new hire is up to par AND MOST LIKELY PAYING THE NEW HIRE THE SAME OR MORE THAN THE EX-EMPLOYEE ASKED FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE. How have companies still not grasped this very logical, very simple concept?
Was working at a college town bar and pizza place (Milanos at University of Dayton).
It was Alumni weekend, which means non stop craziness.
Went in for my shift (waiting tables). Was supposed to have a five table section.
We were short staffed, so I had a five table section and also had to pick up tables on the patio.
I'm a capable server, so no problem.
Then, I find out WE DON'T HAVE A HOSTESS.
FOR ALUMNI WEEKEND.
ON A FRIDAY NIGHT.
Our manager thought it was a great idea to give her the night off because it was alumni weekend and she wanted to party. He consciously chose to go without a hostess on the busiest Friday night of the year. What a f*****g idiot.
My incompetent coworkers start wigging out and asking me to take tables for them.
Now I'm up to a 9 table section plus patio tables.
We have no hostess. Guests are making their own waiting list. Some are ignoring the list, walking into the restaurant and seating themselves at dirty tables. We also don't have anyone cleaning tables, that is on the server. There are signs everywhere saying wait to be seated, so anyone who sits at a dirty table, I just completely ignore them.
We have no food runner.
Food is taking 1 1/2 to 2 hours to be made.
I walk into the bar to find one of the managers sitting at the bar drinking.
I ask on shift manager what that's about. He says her shift ended at five.
I told him " we are getting the s**t kicked out of us and we have no hostess, do you think she could help out? "
He looked at me like I'm crazy.
I repeated " your business is crashing, guests are making their own waiting list, and people are walking out. We need help".
Again, he just stood there looking like " what do you want me to do?"
I threw my apron on the table and said "have fun". Left my cash and checks so they couldn't accuse me of stealing.
Walked out, never looked back.
Regional boss of my funeral home where I was working at the time was buttering me up to go get my licenses so they could have another full time director. I almost signed up to go to school for it but wanted to get some things in writing. Turned out he was a goddamn liar. Sure, they wanted me to be a licensed funeral director but instead of full time salary they were going to keep me in my position and also use my services at $75 per wake/funeral. So I’d do double the work and take on all kinds of responsibility but get paid literal PENNIES compared to the others.
I demanded an explanation. Received the “you’re young and should be grateful we are even offering”. I walked out that afternoon. I don’t want to work for an industry that takes advantage of people’s grief and thinks it’s okay to use and disrespect someone because of their age.
Cheap greedy pieces of s**t. Just get cremated and do a private memorial folks. The thousands of dollars to do everything traditionally isn’t worth it at all.
For me, it was when I thought I was having a heart attack at work from all the stress of a bully coworker, with a manager who refused to do anything about it and HR who turned a blind eye despite multiple complaints about this person from a variety of staff and customers. Nothing was going to change, so I had to get out of there before it destroyed my health. Now I embrace the "it's just a job" mentality and enforce strict boundaries.
I was in physical pain. My back and shoulders hurt so bad I ended up in the hospital. They couldn’t find anything wrong with me. I laid there in the bed knowing it was work. Had to be, so I was discharged went home and called the top boss not my direct boss and quit on the spot. With in days all pain was gone, attitude was better and stress gone. It was then I realized stress can cause so much more than anger. I vowed to never let a company do that to me again. This was over 12 years ago and I have never let a company get close to messing with my health and well-being since. I did hear a year later that old d******d boss was canned but still wouldn’t consider working for that company again under any circumstance.
Holy s**t! How can a boss be that abusive that you have to go to the HOSPITAL! What job was this?!?!
I was working for a hotel that had an on-sight restaurant. I worked in front of the house as a waiter/barman and later I also worked in the kitchen on the kids' meals. The place wasn't well-run, shift leaders dating the staff, people constantly disappeared to go smoke for up to 30 minutes, I'd get spoken down to for "not covering enough" while they did this. This is just for context. So anyway I had a holiday booked and cleared but unfortunately, the kitchen manager apparently did not get this note. So there I am enjoying my holiday and I get text "where are you, you were supposed to be here at 9am!" (It was no more than 9.05 BTW). I tell them I'm on holiday and it was cleared and where they should check. I thought that was the end of it until later that day I get another message "you're in tomorrow so we'll see you at 9am." Now I'm still on holiday tomorrow but I tried to compromise and state I can't get back that fast, but I could get back in time for the evening service rush. "Not good enough. See you at 9". Well, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. "If that's not good enough, how about you shove this job up your ass. I quit." Que frantic phone calls and texts, that wasn't me one of the other kitchen staff had my phone. The manager called me a few days later. "I'm really disappointed I expected you in on Monday," told him I was really disappointed he didn't know what quitting meant and hung up. It felt great to be done with that place. I was out of work for 6 months, but things worked out in the end.
it started with my boss putting me on a PIP for petty reasons. i improved my performance and thought all was going well until she berated me for something that wasn't a big deal. then we had a 60 day review and she told me "your work is consistent and you're performing your duties but i still feel you aren't committed and giving 150%". i hit indeed really hard and got a new position about a week or two after that. handed in my letter and said "you obviously don't have confidence in my abilities, so im going somewhere where they do". happy ending because now im at my new job and my boss says im doing amazing.
Worked at a dog kennel named Whole Dogz. The owner of the kennel left me an envelope of dog s**t with my name on it for me to find inside of the break room fridge. She did this in order to let me know she thought I was doing a s**t job. That was my last day.
Working minimum wage in the fish produce department of a grocery store. I was already working alone in oeak hours plus had to take my lunch breaks before peak hours which is typically 2 hours into my shift. My I quit moment was when I was accused of stealing when I was just putting an on sale item on the side so I can buy it when my shift ends. F**k that man. I just left when that happened because I was too tired, demoralized and dehumanized. Eventually went to a job that pays mire than 2x the amount and am in a better place.
When I was taking on more and more work while my coworker did puzzles. Not only was she pushing all her work on me so she could do nothing, she would then double check everything I did and critique it. This included the work she was giving me and my actual job that she knew nothing about. This happened day after day after day. She questioned everything I did.
It finally came to a head one day when someone asked if our boss was in his office, he was, she argued for a good 10 minutes he was not in there, I pointed out she had just come back into the office and did not see him return, she finally got up and checked. Oh I guess he is, no apology or acknowledgement of her mistake.
I immediately started rage applying and had a new job within a week or 2. I gave them 4 days notice and she asked who was going to do all the work? IDK you? It felt so good to leave that last day.
I was a welder running electrical boxes that had to be perfect or they would get rejected. The company originally wanted 60 I could get somewhere between 20 45 a day depending on how they ran. They added 13 welds and another fixture and wanted me to get 90 a day. I could still only get 20 to 45 a day. Most days where mid 30s. They came up with a solution of 66 a day would be acceptable. I couldn’t run that many, my a*s was getting chewed left and right. They where threatening to fire me so I just quit showing up. I had a job within 30 mins of me leaving.
Prep/line cook in a kitchen. Was working with other guys who were on work release from prison (no -violent offenders who get time outside a cell to learn and work a regular job). Anyway, one of these dudes decided my calamari isn’t coming out of the fryer fast enough (not serving raw calamari here.) Anyway, he picks up a knife and threatens to stab me. Took off the apron and walked right out of there. The head chef tries to get me back by offering an additional 25 cents an hour. I told him my life was worth more than that. Don’t miss that industry.
Lol i can almost just imagine how that went down "sir I was almost stabbed today I quit" "NO WAIT" *rummages through pockets* "here a quarter you can keep it if you stay"
I quit my first full time job after being there 7 years. 5 years in I start getting snagged for my appearance. Mostly just ratty work clothes, no holes, just stained (was one of their machinists and mechanical designers). They wanted me to dress better but I could barely afford to get the basics for living. Then one Friday after a chaotic move, I get told to dress better Monday or get 3 days off without pay. So I went home Friday, grabbed my toolbox key, went back, locked my big box, took all my small boxes, and said goodbye to a couple of the 2nd shifters. Come Monday, I slept in late, call the plant manager and said I wouldn't be in today. When he asked why I told him that I quit. Then he asked if I could come in and talk about it but I said I have tried to multiple times but all I got was the when I was your age. The plant manager retired 2 years later. F*ckem
***They wanted me to dress better*** That’s when you say “If you don’t like my wardrobe than you’re more than welcome to buy me a new one”,
My boss tried to fight me for requesting the money he owed me for mowing his lawn. Was gone with a new job lined up by the end of the week.
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You know what really annoys the s**t out of me? When people are telling a story and start using acronyms and phrases NO BODY IN THEIR RIGHT F*****G MIND OUTSIDE OF THAT JOB WOULD KNOW. It's super stupid. If you want people to understand what you are trying to say how about actually using words people will understand.
Only happened once. Entry level job at a car dealership in the parts dept. Got offered a better position at a competing dealership. Parts manager and General manager talked me into staying with a raise and a promotion to assistant manager. Do-nothing in the parts dept started complaining about it. She had previously been offered the same position but declined it because she didn't want to take on the extra responsibilities. Managers tried back pedaling on me, so I just walked out. Fortunately, the other job was still available. Do-nothing stuck around another couple of years and finally got fired.
I recently quit my job of 5 years because in the last 1.5 years the new upper hypocritical management keeps screwing with us, feels like we're just guinea pigs for them to try new policies which are worse, screwing our incentives money. They dont seem to understand what they want to do yet demanding us to make money. Once we make money, they rewarded us with worse policy. I've had enough.
You know what really annoys the s**t out of me? When people are telling a story and start using acronyms and phrases NO BODY IN THEIR RIGHT F*****G MIND OUTSIDE OF THAT JOB WOULD KNOW. It's super stupid. If you want people to understand what you are trying to say how about actually using words people will understand.
Only happened once. Entry level job at a car dealership in the parts dept. Got offered a better position at a competing dealership. Parts manager and General manager talked me into staying with a raise and a promotion to assistant manager. Do-nothing in the parts dept started complaining about it. She had previously been offered the same position but declined it because she didn't want to take on the extra responsibilities. Managers tried back pedaling on me, so I just walked out. Fortunately, the other job was still available. Do-nothing stuck around another couple of years and finally got fired.
I recently quit my job of 5 years because in the last 1.5 years the new upper hypocritical management keeps screwing with us, feels like we're just guinea pigs for them to try new policies which are worse, screwing our incentives money. They dont seem to understand what they want to do yet demanding us to make money. Once we make money, they rewarded us with worse policy. I've had enough.
