People Share Their Best 'Employees Don't Leave Bad Jobs, They Leave Bad Bosses' Stories

But if you have a superior who is a tyrant and constantly undermines your skills and competence when you know you work hard for the job you love, it can be enough to sacrifice your next paycheck and peace out.

Redditor TolerableMediocrity invoked a cliché about what makes people quit and asked:

"[Serious] They say 'people don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses.' What made you leave?"

Working From Home

"My manager hasn't been great pre-[the virus], but as soon as our company was forced to shift to mostly WFH, she lost it. She demanded unpaid overtime and is of the mindset that WFH is always going to be less productive than working in office, because she says she gets 1/4 of her own work done when WFH. She also volunteered our department as the pilot project to go back into the office when cases were at an all time high, but she herself was not coming in. In addition, she has demanded higher standards and tighter deadlines amidst the pandemic, and does not support us even when our clients are in the wrong. We have had a lot of our team members leave for better jobs recently and everyone is looking to do the same."

– WarCarrotAF

Not A Team

"The 'not supporting us even when our clients are in the wrong' part is really frustrating, and definitely the worst part of bad management in my experience. Even if the nature of a job sucks, it is seriously a huge relief to have a boss that will attempt to protect your team from nonsense coming from other departments or clients/company stakeholders. If that isn't done, you're not actually a team, you're just a group of people being whipped and harassed by the same person."

– Trash_Golem

Not Lovin' It

"Probably the worst boss I ever had was at a McDonald's. We had a younger manager for the first 10 or so months I was there, then they decided to bring in a second manager from another store. For the first week or so he was fine, until one day one of the 16 year old girls that usually works drive thru was put on the grill for no reason. She got grease on her shirt and the manager said she looked like a pig and to clean it or go home. She left crying."

"The next day another underage kid asked to just get a drink of water after a 3 hour non stop rush...the kid looked like he was about to pass out. The manager told him no, so he said he'd drink from the sink in the back. He told him if he did that he would send him home. I lost my sh*t when I heard that. Basically told him to f'k off and left, never went back."

"I heard that a month later he was fired."

– oryx506

Abusive Mom Boss

"As a nanny it's weird when your boss is a mom with no actual experience in being a boss."

"The worst boss I worked for wasn't that bad when I first started working for her. Over the course of the year she kept adding more things for me to do. I wasn't just taking care of the baby. I became their maid too with no pay increase. Eventually it got even worse and I was basically her personal assistant."

"She got a taste of power and completely abused it. As a young 19 year old it was hard for me to see how bad the situation was. It wasn't an overnight thing."

"I was eventually 'fired.' The day after I was fired she called me asking where I was."

"By that time the job was so bad. I did everything in that house. From taking care of the baby to hand washing the mom's delicates. She got me a 'uniform' and would reprimand me if it wasn't kept well. Same with hair and make up requirements."

"She was a couple weeks pregnant with baby #2 and was suggest I become a wet nurse for them."

"After I was fired I never went back. This lady flipped out and showed up at my house."

– princessnanny

When It Stems From The Top

"My boss was fine, the company was terrible. When I realized I didnt have a pension and could get one at a competitor I booted."

– Higher_Math

Thanks For Nuthin'

"I had been running the restaurant for weekend nights for 3 years. These were not easy shifts ... 5pm - 3am. Still, I was a night owl and it was my pleasure."

"I took some days off and went to a hot spring with my now wife. Upon driving home I noticed my leg hurt and within 2r hours was in the hospital for an infection that would take 3 antibiotics at once to deal with."

"I called in sick 3 days in advance. My AGM told me it was cool, heal up, and that they would cover my shift. They did not."

"For my first infraction I was put on final warning and 1 step from being fired. After all the years of work. I put in 3 weeks notice the next day."

"F'k you Illegal Petes."

– TapeEaterVHS

No Compassion

"I worked at Pizza Hut when my grandad (who I was pretty close to) died and had a shift scheduled but I needed to get it covered so I could travel home (2 hours or so) and be with family. I went in and spoke to the shift manager on duty and she made a huge fuss but managed to get it (literally 1 shift, it was a seasonal town and it was off season so work was super sparse) covered and told me 'don't let this happen again'. Easily the angriest I've been at another person. So sorry my grandad dying has inconvenienced you, I'll try very hard to not let any more family members die."

– notliam

Not Expecting Termination

"Two days off for the birth of my first child and a writeup the day I returned because my wife had been in labor too long."

"They fired her for being pregnant."

– Mobile_Baseball

Hard To Please

"I was 18 or 19 working my first job. He criticized my lipstick saying that it was an ugly color, recommending that I wore a bright red lip to go with my bright red uniform shirt. He didn't like my choice of all black shoes. He didn't like the way I mopped the floor, taking the mop from me to show me how to 'properly' do it. He even told one of my coworkers that she couldn't wear a sports bra under her uniform. I quit a few days later."

– RegularEvening

All The Difference In The World

"I'm a teacher. My principal was good but the superintendent was awful. I was there for 6 years and had seen 3 different superintendents. There was constant nepotism and salary discrepancies even among teachers. Policies changed constantly and we were always asked to do more or do something differently even if we had just changed that thing the previous year. It felt like being in a snow globe. When you thought everything head finally settled someone would come and shake things up again and you would feel like you were in the middle of a storm. Rinse and repeat. I am so glad that I finally left that school district and have found my forever job in a new district. It is a low income school with rough kids, but wonderful management and coworkers. It really makes all the difference!"

– HambergerPattie

Knowing Your Worth

"When a recruiter cold called me and said 'oh you work at x? I'm sure we can get you at least a 10% raise somewhere else.' I started looking around and got a 27% raise a month later. 5 years at the new place and I make about 66% more than I did when I left the previous job that I was at for almost 5 years."

"Keep an eye on places like Glassdoor. Know what you are worth. Don't work for a discount unless there is a really good reason."

– fluffy_bunny_87

The Thing About Karma

"A now former colleague and I both applied for a more senior position that had become vacant. I had vastly more experience; having had a similar role in the past. I was better qualified and frankly, a better fit for the job."

"Even prior to interview, the senior management had already decided they wanted to offer my colleague the position."

"Unfortunately nepotism prevailed and the level of smugness I had to deal with was bad enough, but then they decided to treat me like an idiot child for the next year, rather than the experienced professional that I am."

"I decided to get the hell out after about 6 months, secured a much better job with higher pay and working conditions. I gave my required 90 days notice. My former colleague/manager was so good at their job that they didn't even advertise my job until it suddenly occurred to them that I was due to leave in 2 weeks time."

"No-one was appointed to my position and the manager tried to offload my duties onto one of my team, who promptly burned-out and resgned due to the workload. The rest of the team resigned for better opportunities elsewhere and my former boss left 6 months later under a very dark cloud."

"Karma is a b*tch."

– UncleHeavy

Passive Aggressive Boss

"I've worked at my current job for over a year and a half. The reason I'm leaving is because I've worked my a** off for them and the one moment I was trained for (I mean like 5+ months of training) they gave to their daughter asap. I also found out that I almost wasn't given my raise because the boss deemed my behavior as 'inappropriate' all from little things she could have corrected right on the spot. (Like moving a box with my hands instead of using my knees.) On top of the being called out in front of all staff, being told consistently that all the workers are replaceable, passive aggressive comments even during a simple request, letting your family members get away with things i would get in trouble for and saying they won't go anywhere while dwindling your work because they think you'll quit asap, making our last floor manager quit because they put so much stress on her, coming in when your wife has [the virus], telling employees that if you don't have symptoms that they need to come into work even though most customer are older people, and basically being yelled at least weekly will really make your employees hate you."

– shorty_kelley8615

The New Boss

"Worked for a business for 3 years. Had a great relationship and reputation. The manager I worked with gets promoted and a new guy is brought in. Instead of trying to learn the dynamic on the department he was a hard a**. Immediately we did not get along. I had a trip planned for a few months. I booked the time off well in advance and made the managers aware of the trip. Checked my schedule for the week and new guy scheduled me. I approached him and reminded him about my trip. He basically told me that I had to work now that the schedule was posted. I was not pleased."

"I went on my trip. He called and asked why I wasn't at my shift. I told him that I was on my trip and wasn't available. He threatened me with a write up. I just strait up told him that I didnt give a sh*t and 'That's the way the cookie crumbles.'"

I never went back."

– phantaxtic