By now you probably know that Reddit's r/Antiwork community is the place to go for stories of entitled bosses and toxic workplaces. But truly, in this world, nothing beats a good quitting story. The following (former) employees all quit in different ways, but each story has one thing in common — they reached a breaking point, and they said good bye on the spot. Not always that politely.
1.) 'In a meeting I told my boss my workload was too large, he responded by adding more workload. I resigned as he said that.' -- from Willbily
I was a construction manager for a very high end construction company in Asheville, NC. For a year I had been telling my boss, the VP in charge of my division, that my workload was too large. That’s not good because it means delays and mistakes.
A workload too large for a construction manager is catastrophic to the construction company but also to the clients, subcontractors, designers, real estate agents, banks, etc. I had told him in person and in writing, multiple times. After several months of not getting results I reached out to the company president over the phone and said the same. That yielded no result.
The day I resigned I was in my weekly meeting with my boss where the theme over the past year has become “my workload is too large and how it will backfire on us soon.” My boss smiled and said “well, get ready because we are going to add two more projects to your plate and we will not be able to give you additional help.” I said, “OK, then I am resigning” Cue shocked Pikachu face.
I have never seen a faster display of how unqualified a person was for their role. Boy, I thought my boss was unqualified before but he proved it over the next two weeks. Two months later they are struggling to get me COBRA and my 401k match. I just wanted to succeed but my boss didn’t know how to make it happen.
2.) A short, sweet story: 'I walked out of my job' — from solarflare_hot
So, we're working 10 hours everyday with no day off, and the manager has the audacity to tell me last minute that they need me to work 12 hours instead. I said, 'I'm extremely exhausted,' and he said, 'then why don't you look for another job, this doesn’t suit you.' I replied, 'okay, I'm going home now, And today is my last day, too.'
3.) 'Quit my job suddenly via email, boss wants me to come in for a face to face conversation' -- from mycountry
I've been working with a small company for about 3 years, and over time it has become an extremely abusive, toxic environment. My direct supervisor is the owner of the company, and I'm not exactly sure what caused the major shift with him, but he's a wildly different person than when I first started.
He drinks every single day at work, to the point where he is inebriated, he is seriously verbally abusive, screams daily, explodes over the smallest mishaps, calls us horrible names and slurs, promises pay raises that do not come (and promises new employees rates higher than what they actually end up getting paid).
He asks us to do dangerous tasks outside of our required skill set and threatens and retaliates with majorly cut hours if we don't follow through, and he goes through my vehicle when it's unlocked, along with many other things.
I have been on a job hunt for some time now, and finally landed a much more stable gig with a startup company. The launch is this upcoming Monday, and I found this out last week. I was initially going to let my boss know in person that I will be leaving immediately, but he repeatedly kept leaving early in the morning and not returning, without notice.
So I sent him an email with my resignation, effective immediately. He did not respond right away, and when he did he said 'You need to come in on Monday morning so I can debrief you for your exit, and cut you your final check. I would have much rather received this notice in person than over email.'
I thought about going in and talking to him, but I need to start my new job tomorrow morning and won't be available, and to be honest my anxiety is seriously heightened by the idea of going in just so he can scream in my face and there will be no proof of it. How can I respond to this, and do I need to go in and have a face to face conversation?
UPDATE: Thanks for the responses. And thank you u/matty_nice for the reply suggestion. I sent an email saying 'Unfortunately I will not be able to have a face to face conversation as I have other obligations going forward. My check can be mailed to (address). I wish you the best of luck. Thank you.'
His response was immediate and said '👌' and nothing else whatsoever, so I guess that's that. It's over, I can breathe!!
4.) 'Well, I just quit' -- from lordcthulhu33TTV
When I showed up to work today everything was going great, no issues, no nothing. About halfway through my shift my supervisor called me into the office where he and my assistant general manager were sitting.
I was written up for leaving ten minutes early the night before. My time to leave is 9pm — I left at 8:50. I was also in two hours early yesterday, as well. I’m not one to leave early on a normal day but when my schedule is changed or I’m asked to come in early my chef is cool with me (sous chef) leaving early after everything is cleaned up and the line cooks have their breaks.
Which I do every day I’m here. So having a job offer waiting for my answer, which I gave today, I told them “I’ll finish tomorrow and I’m gone.” I’m never going back to a corporate run kitchen again. Screw the hospitality business I’m going private from now on.
5.) 'Quit a job after boss questioned me for taking my wife to the hospital to deliver our daughter' -- dabiggman
The shortest job I've ever had lasted two days. I was interviewing for a role with a company when my wife was 9 months pregnant. I had made sure to mention multiple times to the hiring manager (future boss) that I will be taking one - two weeks off to care for her and our newborn.
After the interview, I received a call he wanted to meet to discuss salary for the role. At the time, I was working as an on-call maintenance technician and he told me I had to come right away. I was pretty greasy, but whatever, I had a job that was okay with me leaving for a brief period so I went to his office.
When I arrived, he kind of scoffed and told me this was my 'surprise second interview' and he did them like this to catch people off guard and then motioned to my appearance. I mentioned he never said anything of the sort in the phone call and it was unprofessional to do such a thing.
However, as I was desperate for the money, I obliged. He told me he didn't believe I had the skills for the job I was interviewing for and questioned my integrity. I disagreed with him and three days later, got the job.
I started on a Monday as a Desktop Administrator. The day started with the Boss showing me the facility and telling everyone that I was 'the new Jeremy.' He pointed to a suite of closed, solid wood offices and said 'that's the CEO and CFO.' Then he brought me back to his office where he again questioned my abilities before sending me off to my cube across from the Systems Administrator.
Immediately the SysAdmin and Help Desk Admin told me of how awful the boss was, how the entire IT team had been recycled twice in six months and both were going to be quitting soon.
The SysAdmin asked what tasks the Boss had assigned me - I showed him a push cart full of broken laptops (and I mean smashed to f*cking pieces) that the Boss wanted me to fix up and put back into circulation, including ones that would cause electric shock.
The SysAdmin, technically being my superior, told me instead to begin familiarizing myself with my duties and reading schematics on company infrastructure. The boss must have seen us talking and summoned me to his office.
On Day One, he berated and screamed at me that 'THE SYSADMIN ISNT YOUR BOSS, I'M YOUR BOSS, UNDERSTAND!' I nodded in quiet agreement. He then told me he wanted me to install some Spy Software on the SysAdmin's PC and the Help Desk Admin's PC because he believed they were 'slacking off.'
I threw that USB in the trash. Day 2 was more of the same, but on the night of Day 2, my wife went into labor at 10pm. I called my boss' phone and left a voicemail and also left an email at 1 or 2am stating I would not be in for two weeks because my wife was in labor.
At 8:01am I received a phone call from my boss. As my daughter had been born at 3:15am, I was groggy but answered out of habit. 'Where are you?' The voice on the other end asked. 'I'm in the Hospital.' 'I need you to come in, NOW' said the voice. I told my wife I would be right back as the Office and Hospital were only a three minute drive from one another.
I walk into my bosses office and he is PISSED. He berates me at the top of his voice, insults me for the wearing casual clothing (t-shirt and shorts), and tells me I am late. I - being quite tired - respond with 'We discussed this multiple times - my wife was pregnant and I would be taking time off when she gives birth.'
He responds with, and I will never forget: You weren't the one in labor, why do you need to miss work? I stood up, gave him the double deuce (two middle fingers), told him to go f*ck himself, and walked out. That is my anti-work story. This was nearly ten years ago, and this guy is STILL the IT Director for that company. Everyone else quit within two months.