Sometimes a job is SO bad that you just gotta pull that no-call, no-show! These fed-up employees share what pushed them to their limit at a job.
“I Really Need To Work On My Perceptiveness”
“When I was 20, I worked for a tapas bar. It was a fun place. A restaurant that turned into a salsa club at night with good tapas, sangria, and drinks. I made a good amount of money there as a waitress and I liked it.
The owners were a nice, middle-aged, Spanish couple. They sat in their bar every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night and drank with their regular customers.
One night, it was really slow and I was let off my shift early. The owners asked me to sit with them after work and have a drink with them. I said yes.
As we drank, they told me that it was so hard to find attractive waitresses like me. They told me that customers would come back specifically for me. They told me that if I ever wanted better tables, a better schedule, or more hours they would give me anything I wanted just to keep me. They kept telling me how beautiful I was.
Then, they began telling me about their travels everywhere. They invited me to Vegas with them in a couple months. I told them I’d think about it. They said they could take me all sorts of places with them. France, Spain, Argentina. I’m sure you can see where this is going, but I did not. I don’t pick up on things easily at all. I said that sounded like fun.
Then, the wife put her hand on mine. The husband and wife were seated on either side of me. She continued to tell me everywhere she wanted to take me. As she talked to me, her husband started sliding his hand up my thigh.
Suddenly, I pieced together everything that was happening. I told them I had to go home, they asked me to stay for another drink. I said I needed to drive home so I couldn’t and they let me go. I never came back to work again except to pick up my paycheck when I knew they wouldn’t be there.
When one of my coworkers asked what happened, I told him what our bosses had done to me. He said ‘You didn’t know they were swingers? Everyone knows that. Literally every regular who comes to our restaurant is a swinger. Our bar is basically a swinger bar for Spaniards.’
I really need to work on my perceptiveness.”
Don’t Feed The Pigs
“So I got this job working for an accountant when I was 18. One of those one-person businesses. He told me during my interview he was hiring me to get all his accounts on computer. (This was around 25 years ago). Let me be very clear, my job was to computerise his accounts, that’s what my contract said, and once it was done, my job was over.
Anyway, a couple of weeks in, he asks if I mind going to get him some things from the store when I go to get my own lunch, and since it was no big deal, I agreed. I mean, I’m going anyway, right?
He gives me a detailed list of exactly what to get him. So I go. They don’t have the brand of orange juice he requested, so I got a different brand. I got everything else on the list, exactly as specified. I get my own lunch, then head back. I give him his things, hand him his change and his receipt. He sees the orange juice isn’t the brand he wants and flips out, like MAJOR league tantrum, screaming, and hurling abuse. I’m like what?!
I put it down to him having a bad day because up to then he’s been a decent boss.
One week later, a bunch of guys comes to the office, and they all sit there with him chatting away in a language I don’t recognize. They start looking at me and giving me the stink eye. I pretend to ignore them and get on with my work.
Finally, my boss pipes up and asks ‘What sort of woman are you that you don’t provide food and drink to guests?’
I literally stare at him open-mouthed, and he comments that I must be the dumbest c**t alive if I can’t even feed the menfolk.
I stood up, yelled at him that I quit, and he’s the most arrogant, and chauvinistic man alive, and walk out.
THEN I realise, he hadn’t actually paid me since I started, and I want my money. So I walked back in, told him I want my money. He replied I didn’t deserve to get paid. So evil side of me comes out and I tell him if he doesn’t pay me what he owes I’m going to tell his friends exactly how little he has to offer a woman, referring of course to his jewels.
Of course, I’d never seen him pantsless, stop I had no clue what size he was, but he knew his friends didn’t know that, and they would probably believe me because that was the kind of men they all were. So he paid me there and then, in cash. As I was leaving, he asked if I could come back and show him how to finish his accounts on the computer. I just ignored his stupid self and left.”
Setting The Record Straight
“My employer was a prick, but I enjoyed the work so I stayed longer than I probably should have. Anyway, I was in a position where I could afford to quit and not lose everything.
When the day came that I actually quit, it was a rash decision no doubt, but in hindsight, it was the right decision, as well as the coolest thing I had ever done.
I had dreadlocks at the time. My boss hated them.
My boss: ‘Jerami, look, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come to the conference. The owner will be there. He’s very conservative and I don’t want us all looking bad. He’ll judge you on your hair.’ (As if he wasn’t judging me himself). ‘You need to stay here and help Alonzo clean out the shop.’
I was the Branch Manager. This was MY branch. This was my supervisor, the Regional Director, and he was telling me not to attend the conference. This wasn’t just some business meeting. It was a celebratory weekend conference in Honolulu, HI. We were only going to the dang thing because of the fantastic job I did all year reaching goal after goal he set for me.
I was the reason my branch was performing well. I made changes, we made money. The company was treating us for the year we just had…but I was told to stay behind and clean out the shop.
ME. THE BRANCH MANAGER.
Not the other members of management beneath me.
Just me.
Because of my hair.
I took this as an insult, especially considering my efforts all year long. I’m pretty sure it’s straight-up discrimination, but I didn’t know my rights or how to handle them at the time.
I just knew I was offended and this was seeming like the best time in the world to say ‘F@ck it’ and quit without notice.
But I didn’t just quit. I kept my mouth shut and agreed with my supervisor. Then I made arrangements for all the crews to come into work over the next weekend, during the conference, and work OT cleaning up the shop.
‘Everybody that wants overtime hours, come in Saturday and Sunday to help.’
33 employees showed up to sweep out the shop for two 10-hour days of OT. I was going to quit, I had decided, so why not go out with a bang and force my employer to pay an outrageous amount of money on my guys, since they weren’t paying for me to go to the conference.
Guess who made it to the conference anyway? That’s right. ME. Dreadlocks and all.
My supervisor’s jaw dropped to the floor. Clearly, he never expected it, and why would he? I used a credit card for the plane ticket and I never even bothered renting a room. I stayed with my team. They totally supported the idea.
When I walked up to the owner and introduced myself, he looked at Nate (my supervisor) and said something like, ‘Who’s cleaning up the shop then? I’m joking, son, I’m glad you made it. Nate has told me so little about you, but you’ve made us a lot of money this year.’
I just stared at Nate.
Then I told them both that because I was not invited to the conference, which I felt I had earned, I paid my own way. The owner looked confused, obviously, I had been invited, but he didn’t know the whole truth about Nate. Turns out Nate told him I declined the conference and volunteered to clean up the shop with Alonzo.
I straightened that out right away, explaining the real reason Nate directed me to stay behind. I politely excused myself from the table just then to leave the two of them to talk about what just happened.
I enjoyed my stay and flew back home two days later. I did not attend the conference anymore. I emailed the owner directly to inform him of my decision to quit AND why.
I also emailed Nate that the entire rest of the team had been working OT to clean up the shop BOTH days that weekend.
And as for traveling to Hawaii and back, I had decided where I was going to move. Once back home, I began selling off everything I owned in preparation for the move…but that’s another story in itself.
The owner was a nice enough guy, the company reimbursed my plane ticket and expenses for the weekend. He even offered me a severance package in light of the discrimination.
I declined the money, instead of asking to be considered for the Hawaii branch next time a spot opened up.
I was given a job as Operations Manager about seven weeks later and continued to work for the company another two years.
Nate was let go about 6 months after the incident for something unrelated. The OT my crews had worked that weekend did cost an awful lot, and I’m sure it ticked off some people above me, but no one ever said a word about it.”
A Tale of Two Walk-Outs Pt. 1
“Twice in my life, I quit without notice.
I was a dishwasher for this barbecue joint for about two months working at night. It was busy so I never paid attention to the customers. I just cleared the tables, refilled water, and cleaned all the dishes.
One day the owner asked if I could come early on a Saturday since they were down a server. I needed the hours so I said sure. I was setting up all the tables for late lunch, early dinner when a couple came in. I sat them at a table of their choice, gave them water to drink, and told them that someone will be along shortly to take their order.
As I got back to the dishwasher to start on dishes, the owner asked me why I put the couple at that table. I told him that the restaurant was partially empty and it didn’t seem to matter where I sat them.
The owner then told me, we don’t serve people like that here and normally we sit them in the corner away from the door. I was a bit naive being only fifteen, so I asked him, ‘what do you mean by we don’t serve people like that?’ He said, ‘you know, black people.’ My heart started racing and all I could hear was my blood pumping in my ears. I just stood there staring at him and he told me to get back to washing the dishes.
As he walked away, I started getting mad and just couldn’t believe what he said. After taking a few seconds to calm myself down, I hung up my apron, punched out my time card, and started to walk out of the restaurant. The owner saw me walking out and asked ‘What the heck do you think you are doing?’
I looked back, flipped off the owner, and said, ‘I quit!’ I was just a kid and I never really saw prejudice like that before. I wish I could have done or said more.”
A Tale of Two Walkouts Pt. 2
“The second time I walked out, was when I was a courier for a small business. We have assigned routes and then unassigned drop-offs. Usually, at the end of our shifts, we turn our radios off before our last drops.
So one day it was almost to the end of my shift and I only had one more drop to go, before driving home. I turned my radio down and started walking into a hospital waiting area. The employees there know me since I’ve been there countless times. I always seem to think I’m a pretty happy guy and enjoy telling a joke or making people smile.
As I get to the counter, I smile and say hello and get ready to drop off the documents, I hear my name real faintly over the radio. I could not quite hear the person on the radio, so I turned it up a bit. My hand slipped and ended up turning the radio all the way up.
All of a sudden the owner of the courier business yells out over the radio, ‘Jason I am trying to call your f***ing radio, get your a** back to home base and pick up your G*dforsaken paperwork!!’ I quickly respond on the radio that I heard her and will contact her by phone in a few seconds.
I turn down the radio and looked around me. There must have been ten-to-fifteen people plus the employees, doctors, and nurses just staring at me. It was so quiet, that I thought they could hear my heart beating in my chest.
What broke the silence is one of the girls behind the counter reached out to my hand that was holding the documents for them, held it, and asked if I was ok. I said, ‘Sure, happens all the time, I’m okay.’
I gave her the papers, she signed the release, all the while looking into my eyes with concern and sincerity.
I said goodbye and walked out the door. Got into the van, drove towards the owner’s dad’s house. Dropped off the van, put the keys in the glove box, and walked home.
As I got home, there were 10 messages on my voicemail. I finally got the courage to call the owner back and she ripped into me asking me where I was and where was her company van. I told her I left all her stuff, locked up at her dad’s house, and told her if she calls me again or harasses me I will report her to State and file civil charges against her for the way she has treated me the last 5 months. She got real quiet, then said fine, and hung up on me.
Sometimes you just need to take a stand against unjust treatment for yourself or for others.”
This Happened In The 90s?!
“Yes, I did. My husband was transferred many times before he retired. I was an accountant, so I would usually go to a temp agency and work a couple of jobs until one came along I liked.
I went for a short interview for temp to perm in the Milwaukee area. The manager interviewed me in the conference room and asked me if I would object to straightening up the conference room on Friday afternoons. I thought it was a bit odd since they had lower-level positions, but it wasn’t far from my house so I said sure.
Friday comes along and people start leaving around 3:00 p.m. The girl who was training me comes by and says she is going to show me what I needed to clean on Fridays. I was a bit puzzled, thinking I didn’t need to be shown how to pick up a conference room. She then takes me to a janitor closet, pulls out a vacuum, mops, bathroom cleaners, etc. She tells me I’m to clean all the bathrooms, empty the trash, vacuum all the offices, including mine and the conference room. I told her I thought there was a mistake and she said, no all the new woman employees did this job until a new one came along. Then she left. I tried to call the man who hired me, but he didn’t answer. I actually started to vacuum a couple of offices, but I was getting madder and madder.
I looked in the bathrooms and said to myself ‘oh heck no.’ Apparently, they were only cleaned on Fridays. Mind you I have on a suit, nylons, and high heels. I tried calling the manager again and when there was no answer, I picked up my things and walked out. I went straight to the temporary agency. She was on the phone with him, because one of the employees called her and said I left all the cleaning material out and walked out the door. This was an agency for professional people. I told her my story. Had we had cell phones then I would have taken lots of pictures. She called him back with me sitting there and asked him if they had indeed asked me to spend the last two hours of the day cleaning bathrooms, etc. He said all the other WOMAN had done it, it was like an initiation thing. She asked him if men had to do this. He said no. She said so you expect my highly qualified client to do janitorial work in a suit? He said, well I don’t want that woman to come back, she just walked off leaving the office uncleaned and the supplies out, send me someone new. The agency lady told him, I didn’t plan on coming back and to please lose her number, she was not sending qualified accountants out there to clean his office.
This was in the early ’90s. In retrospect, I should have gone after them for discrimination, but just let it go. That was the one time I walked off a job!”
Good Riddance!
“I quit a job on the spot once. I was a hostess at a large chain restaurant when I was in nursing school. I had to seat the customers, get their drinks and make change when they paid their bill. My boss was in and out of my cash drawer frequently every shift. That he did this drove me crazy, because when the money at the end of my shift came up short, I had to pay the difference. And the money always came up short.
I had previously worked as a cashier in a tiny market near a ski resort. The cash register in that market was so old that I had to manually make change. Despite that, my cash drawer was never off the entire time I worked there. I know how to make change without losing money. I was now losing money every shift, all because of a drawer that my boss entered over and over again.
I quickly had all I could take, so I informed my boss that I would no longer be responsible for the cash drawer if he kept entering it. I would only be responsible if I was the only one in the drawer.
The very next shift, he got in my drawer again. I was beyond irritated, but then things got even worse. Partway through my day told me that I had to work an extra shift that night. When I reminded him that I had an evening clinical rotation at the hospital and that I could not miss school, he snidely retorted that I needed to get my priorities straight. I thanked him for reminding me because instantly my priorities became crystal clear. I spun around and walked off the job then and there. I had three more hours left on my shift.
He yelled something at me as I exited, but I was grinning from ear to ear. I have never once eaten in that chain again by the way. Good riddance!”
A Lapse In Character
“I had already given two weeks’ notice before I planned to move across the country. I intended to work right up until the move date. I worked at a smaller retail jewelry store in the mall that ‘catered’ to the military.
The manager was younger than me (in our twenties!) and had become pregnant with her second child. She was constantly asking me to leave to go get whatever she was craving. Sometimes she would come with. She told me a lot about her relationship history. I truly didn’t mind helping her. I even watched her son while she was in the hospital giving birth.
Well, even a little before the baby was born, she was coming in less. As the manager of the store, she got paid significantly more obviously. And everyone else besides me earned commission. I was the least paid person — my duties were ringing up sales and creating the credit contracts.
I was also a keyholder and had to be there when the store opened and was often there when it closed as only she, myself, and a guy who got fired knew how to process contracts. 12 hour days, constantly.
I was looking at the schedule for the next week and noticed my manager and everyone else had two days off but I only had one. I said something about this and she asked me to change the schedule to make it right. So I did.
On one of my days off, the VP and CEO of the company came to visit. Obviously, I came in and knew days off were no excuse not to be there when they showed up. Took three hours out of my day off.
The following morning, I am just feeling exhausted and requested to either have a half-day or full-day off (was getting at the store at 8:30 AM and leaving at 10–10:30 pm every night). She was almost never there for a full day.
She gets angry with me and tells me ‘you can’t just change to schedule to suit your needs. She let me have the day off though…
Me, who had been going above and beyond working all these extra hours and helping her family.
I called HR to complain and then when they wouldn’t pick up, I called the VP (a very small company, also I was being a bit dramatic but I was shocked and hurt). He asked what I wanted him to do about it in a snarky way — I understand but he had been at this store a lot as it was struggling.
So I thought about it more and told him nothing, I’m headed up to the store to quit. He sure called me fast and told me I couldn’t do that, they needed me and how could I do that?! And I said my time has not been valued, I have been disrespected and I would much rather spend the remaining time in town with my family than at a place that can’t treat me fairly.
When I showed up after my day off, the manager took me to Starbucks and was being so so sweet. I gave her my keys in Starbucks and told her I couldn’t do it anymore.
She apologized later and let me buy a $3000 ring set at 80% off (employee discount) even though I quit on her. We were friends and she made a bad judgment call. But we don’t talk anymore.”
Hm… I Wonder What Chain She’s Talking About?
“Oh yes! When I was about six months pregnant with my first child I worked for a restaurant that, er, rhymes with ‘Shanera Bread’. I desperately needed the income as I was expecting a child and I worked long, hard hours single-handedly doing catering there.
Well, for whatever reason, Management did not care for me. I consider myself an easy-going person and I have always done well at every job I’ve had, so I figured the problem wasn’t really with me and continued to go about my business there until about two months had gone by and I was closing in on my final few weeks of work before my child was born.
I came back from using the bathroom on my lunch break and went back to work; I had a lot of orders to take care of and I needed to get them done and delivered quickly. Easier said than done while you’re 8 months pregnant. As I had my head down prepping food, my manager comes flying into the kitchen and says to me ‘So did you not feel like picking up the trash on the bathroom floor or are you just that oblivious to everything??’ I apologized and told her I didn’t see any trash when I was in the bathroom (let alone could hardly bend down to pick it up) and I wouldn’t have knowingly left the bathroom messy. Okay, that pacifies her and I go back to work.
The next day comes and I have even more orders than I did the day before. Keep in mind, I have no helpers and no working phone, so I have to prep and deliver all the food myself. I’m out making my morning deliveries and when I get back to the store, there is a new order for 40 people and it is expected to have been completed and delivered 10 minutes ago. I immediately call the business and explain the situation and tell them I will have their food out ASAP but I need to make it first. They tell me it is okay and is pretty understanding. Apparently, that was a facade because they then called corporate and told them that I purposefully did not prepare their order and they are livid. My manager jumps down my throat again and begins to belittle me and tell me I’m no good and I’m slow and how dare I make the company look bad. I held back my tears (dang pregnancy hormones) and let her finish. She does and then walks away, leaving me to continue to prep alone.
After that nightmare is over, I have to put away the dry goods for that day’s shipment. I am in the back organizing and making room for things when the Assistant Manager comes back and tells me I can’t be storing anything on the lower shelves, everything for catering needs to be stored on the top shelves. Ten feet up. Accessible by ladder only. I point to my belly and tell him I’m so sorry, but there is no way I can climb up the ladder carrying and storing heavy boxes in my condition.
He tells me ‘I didn’t ask if you could do it, I told you it needs to be done.’
Let’s just say, it didn’t get done.
After I refused to climb up the ladder with boxes, I’m called into the office and delivered two write ups. One for missing the order earlier and one for insubordination for not putting away the orders.
I laughed and left the office without signing either. I never went back.
That afternoon I called corporate and told them everything. I told them how I was treated, I told them how abusive the manager was to all the employees (mind you, I had never seen a turnover rate as high as I did in that store. We trained a new employee literally every four days), I even told them how the manager sat out back smoking and talking on the phone for the majority of her shift.
Needless to say, when I stopped by there a few months later, there was a new manager’s name on the door.”