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People Who Quit Their Job In The Middle Of A Shift Explain Why They Did It

Reddit user thann3 asked: 'Have you ever gotten up and quit your job in the middle of a work shift? If so, why?'

man in business suit standing near the stairs
Hunters Race on Unsplash

A job search is not fun, so most people will tolerate a lot to keep a job.

But everyone has their limit.

Sometimes that limit is reached right in the middle of a work day and people are forced to walk off the job with no prior notice.


Reddit user thann3 asked:

"Have you ever gotten up and quit your job in the middle of a work shift? If so, why?"

Hands Off

"I was a bar back in my 20s, and I had an incredibly abusive boss. It was a weekend night, and the bar had two floors, and I was the only bar back that night, and there was only one bartender on each floor."

"At about midnight, food orders would start coming in left and right, and that night was no exception."

"Between having to empty out ashtrays, pick up dirty glasses, clean tables, wash dishes, and make all of the food orders, I couldn’t keep up."

"My boss got very angry with me because I was behind on food orders and people were starting to get upset about having tables with empty glasses and very delayed food orders."

"She summoned me over to the bar, grabbed me by the shirt collar, shook me, and screamed in my face, 'Just get me through the rest of the f**king night and then you can quit!'."

"I was in disbelief, and went back upstairs."

"I looked at all of the tickets I had left to make, and just decided that job wasn’t worth it."

"I turned off the grill and the fryers, turned the light off in the kitchen, threw my towel in the dirty towel hamper, and walked out."

"That was the night I stopped taking other peoples’ sh*t."

~ ConspicuousCat80

Tech Crash

"Dell computer sales 1998."

"They fired 90% of all the commission making sales people and replaced them with hourly workers from a temp agency."

"They then asked me to train them. I was like, 'maybe you should have trained them before firing everyone— why would I train them so you can fire me in 2 weeks?'."

"I then grabbed my sh*t and noped out of there!"

~ Raspberries-Are-Evil

Fight Club 🥊

"Temp agency sent me for assignment to a small factory making furniture."

"7am start time. At 7:03 or :04 , while still waiting for some sort of foreman/ supervisor to come over & say hello, here's what we do here ........ coupla dudes start shouting at each other & it breaks out into full blown fisticuffs."

"Yeah, I'd seen enough."

"Funny how I have a completely crystal clear memory of looking at the clock in my car as I drove away. 7:12am."

~ thrwawaythrwaway_now

At the Car Wash

"I worked at a car wash during the winter in the wet tunnel."

"Manager got in my face for wearing a coat that didn’t have the company logo on it, but they didn’t make uniform coats. Told him to eat my entire a** and choke on it, and then left."

"It gets below zero here regularly, I’m not risking my life or even my comfort for $12 an hour."

~ BoobsCirca1942

All Day, All Night

"Dishtank. Only job I ever walked off of mid-shift."

"We had a new manager who was lazy and chased the women waitstaff. I cooked, did expo, prep, dishtank, and in a pinch I did waitstaff but new manager always tossed me in to dish tank."

"One day I opened the store at 430am as prep, then cooked until about 3pm; new manager comes in and tells me as I am leaving to 'get my a** back to the dishtank, that I am closing there tonight'."

"I told him I opened, preppeqd and cooked until now, and that I had sh*t to do tonight (I had a date)—to which he laughed."

"I told him to f*ck right off and walked out."

"Got a job delivering pizza for more money and better hours. F*ck you, Mark."

~ tigerbreak

Scrubbed

"I was a cook and new manager kept making me cover the dish pit cuz dishwasher was not showing up. They refused to hire another one and were making him work 7 days/week."

"I told him if he kept making me close dish pit I was gonna put my 2 weeks in."

"He said 'good' and went back to cooking. So I went and grabbed my shoes and backpack, got his attention, he turned around and I gave him a peace sign and left."

"Keep in mind I had been there for three years, worked as a busser, dishwasher, server, host, cook… I did everything they asked."

"He had only been our manager for 2 months."

~ Tensonrom

Nepo Baby

"I was 17 and just finshed mopping the floor at closing time and was walking out the door."

"The owner's son walked across the floor in boots covered in motor oil and told me to 'mop this sh*t up'."

"I dropped the mop on the foor and told him to do it himself."

"I was being paid minimum wage and wasn't going to deal with that sh*t."

~ Dead_Hours

Not Lovin' It

"I started at a McDonald's because I was desperate."

"First day, it's already 2 hours past the time I was supposed to go home, but they kept telling me I had to stay and wait (for what exactly?)."

"Finally they said to sweep the kitchen and go home. I swept everything into a big pile, was about to put it into the dustpan when the shift lead came by and said 'looks good!' then she kicked the pile out and said 'now do it again'."

"I made myself an ice cream cone and left."

~ dark_wolf1994

Customer Service

"After I retired early (at 50) I thought that a job at the local Tim Hortons would be perfect. Part time, no stress, and I enjoy seniors and our sleepy town of 2000 had a high percentage of seniors."

"Most of 'training' was me fixing the computers to get them to work so that I could actually watch the training videos. That was week one."

"Week two I realized how slow the location was, despite being on the highway. We had a lunch rush and it was pretty slow other than that."

"Two days into week two and I was already recognizing the regulars."

"Seniors in their 70/80's who would come and get one coffee in a China cup and ask that I fill it as much as I can because we didn't give refills."

"No problems, it drove me nuts to dump coffee after 20 minutes and not offer it to them."

"Problem was, very few of them could carry these full cups to the tables. No worries from me, I'd bring their coffee to them.

"As I said, the location was slow and days were long and boring. It was no big deal to carry coffee cups for a few seniors and make them smile.Twice that second day working the floor I got in sh*t for doing that.

"I pointed out that there was no one else in the store and it just took me moments. Their response was 'we are not a full service restaurant, let them carry their own coffees'."

"I stood like a useless fool behind the counter when the next group of seniors came in, feeling like an idiot."

"Break time came. I grabbed my coat and went out back for a smoke. Halfway through my break, with one of the managers, I said 'f**k this. I can't treat people like this. Sorry.' and walked home never to return as an employee."

"On the rare occasion that I go there as a customer, I'll jump up from my table to assist any seniors that I see and now they can't do a damned thing about it."

~ borborhick

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot! 🥵

"I was a dishwasher, had worked there 2 weeks."

"The air conditioning (A/C) for kitchen and office both broke the day before I started."

"Office A/C was fixed the following day, kitchen A/C 'wasn't priority '. It was a heatwave in August, hitting 115° outside."

"The whole kitchen staff walked out."

~ handandfoot8099

Ring, Ring

"I was looking for work and took anything I could find, unfortunately the job I found was telemarketing."

"Anyway the work sucked and I hated it, I always took no for an answer and that got me in lots of trouble."

"They kept putting me in a room with this old VHS tape on pressure tactics and never taking no for an answer. The tape went for an hour so I just had a nap instead."

"Thankfully I was also looking for work on the side and found/got a job at the local supermarket, so I knew I had a backup plan."

"The next time they put me in that room with that tape, I had a nap again."

"When I came out they said 'if you have to go in there again your position will be terminated'."

"I just said 'I'll save you the trouble, I quit'."

"That really pissed them off because they were already understaffed."

~ TheRealReapz

"Same thing happened to me."

"Everyone yelling at me or hanging up."

"Boss pressuring me to make more calls."

"Took my lunch break and never went back."

~ MiltonRobert

Don't Mess With the IRS

"Day 2. Owner tells me that he pays taxes for us so he pays cash and it is after taxes."

"So $7.50 and not the $10/hr we agreed to."

"I walked out and called the IRS hotline to report fraud."

~ Reddit

Have you ever quit a job in the middle of the work day?

Share your story in the comments.

People Break Down The Times They Had To Sober Up Real Fast

Reddit user Known_Challenge_7150 explained: 'What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?'

Shocked woman covering her mouth
vaitheeswaran Nataraj/Unsplash

When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.

But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.

Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.

It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.

Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:

"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"

These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.

Bleeding Out

"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."

"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."

– DongLaiCha

Tragic News

"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."

– accountnameredacted

Bottom Of The Barrel

"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."

– Crotch-Monster

A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.

Like Father, Like Son

"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."

– psycospaz

Busted

"Flashing blue lights."

– FiddleOfGold

"This sobered me up just thinking about it."

– redmaple_syrup

Losing Sight

"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."

– MissHibernia

Quitting The Bottle

"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."

– omgtater

These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.

Unplanned House Guests

"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."

– Oneinsevenbillion75

Serious Health Warning

"Elevated liver enzymes."

"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."

"So I opted for recovery, instead."

"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."

– Far_Meal8674

The Joyride

"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."

– foxfood9116

The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?

How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.

But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.

Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.

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