Few can say they are passionate about their jobs. Happy employees work hard because they enjoy what a company stands for, offer competitive benefits, and creates a nurturing work environment that also challenges the people who work for them.
And then there are those who are just miserable in their jobs but choose to remain on the payroll. These people also leave it up to their bosses to terminate them from the job.
So what makes them get to this point?
Redditor 12345burrito wanted to know and asked strangers:
"What was your 'go ahead and fire me I don't even care' moment at your job?
Bosses with bad tempers and obsessed with power like these tend to experience high turnover.
Pee Monitor
"When after 20 years working my a** off. They started timing our bathroom breaks. I have never been completely and totally done with anything that much before."
Twist Ending
"I was working as a software developer and providing second line support, in the hospitality/conferencing industry. I had overheard a colleague trying to provide support for something that was clearly the client IT team's fault. Later got a call from the client's MD's secretary wanting to set up a call with our founder to complain that the problem wasn't being dealt with. I said 'I can't call him, I'm really sorry, please don't ask me why. I know our support people are working on it.' Why couldn't I call the founder? Because his wife had, that day, lost a full term baby - which I obviously couldn't disclose. Soon after I got a furious call from the client MD himself. His IT team was obviously lying to him about our not returning calls - I had heard the calls being returned. And he just wouldn't accept that I couldn't call the founder and couldn't tell him why. So eventually I just hung up on him."
"I told the most senior person around, expecting to be fired on the spot for hanging up on a client. Her reaction: 'Oh yeah, he's not a nice guy: he's physically attacked me in the past.' Not the outcome I was expecting!"
– thx1138a
The Colleague's Note
"We had a manager that was an @ss. It was a sales role and he had no empathy when our sales were flat. He's get very abusive and threatening."
"One day, he was shouting at us and my colleague got pissed off. He was explaining it was one bad week off the back of seven good weeks. You got to expect ups and downs with sales."
"The manager just yells louder claiming my colleague is a 'quitter' and doesn't have a winner's mindset."
"Colleague tells him 'I've had enough of this sh*t. I'm done'"
"Manager screams 'I want your resignation in writing.'"
"Colleague scribbles a note and gives it to him. Manager had a sh*t reputation and couldn't recruit. Our sales were even lower with one less person on the team. It ruined his career."
"But funnier than that was the short, but sweet resignation note from my colleague. It read…"
"Dear Bob. I'm off. F'k you".
Fast Food Boss
"I used to work in fast food when I was 18. We would be rostered alone, no lunch breaks or bathroom breaks because we couldn't leave the store. No training. School kids would have to work closes until 12am on school nights. He made us serve expired seafood and deli meat. The last straw for me was when I got a call on a Monday screaming at me because the store wasn't clean and it was obviously my fault even though my last shift was on the Thursday (and I left the store spotless). Multiple people and shifts had occurred since I had even worked but I somehow got the blame. After that call I emailed him saying I quit and blocked his phone number. His store closed down now a few years ago too."
Holiday Shift
"Was working 3 jobs one being a full time position but wanted to help the stores through the holidays. Specifically asked one store that I had been working for over a year through three store managers to only schedule me on Thanksgiving if was an emergency. She scheduled me anyways along with enough other people to handle the rush."
"This came after multiple occasions where I would show up 3 hours before opening to unpack the shipment and had no one to let me or the shipment into the store so I ended up having to waiting in the back hallway (mall store) guarding a few $1000 dollars of merchandise."
"Day before Thanksgiving I asked to take my 10 minute break so I could eat something. No customers in the store at the time. Same manager who repeatedly bailed on me refused to let me take it so I decided screw this and said I'm taking it. If I'm done I'm done. Sure enough they said I was done so I cleaned out my locker, carried my things two doors down to my higher paying job and got the go ahead to clock in early. So I worked the same amount of hours I would have for more money."
Missed Forms
"During this pandemic we have to fill out a form before entering the building attesting we feel good and are able to work. I forget to fill out the form once last summer and I forgot to fill it out again once this summer. As I forget twice within a year my boss came to me and said he is looking at writing me up as per HR policy."
"I told him that I filled out these forms over 180 times over the past year and if he is going to write me up over two missed forms I will frame the write up for everyone to see."
"He didn't write me up."
Engineer Vs. Boss
"I was a manufacturing engineer. New boss (transfer from overseas plant) wanted to break a running spec on our new machines in favor of what they do in the overseas plant. In good faith I told him that we can't do that, in my plant that spec was set by the (very picky) customer after a long, arduous process that I assumed he was unaware of. To change that spec would have been a major quality violation and could compromise the safety of the end product."
"He did it anyway. This was the last straw for me. My old employer was terrible in many ways, but the blatant disregard for safety by this new manager was sickening. He even had the gall to privately message me and say 'I am the manager, you are just the engineer. I am in charge.' I responded with 'Yes, I'm the engineer- and it's my job to make sure we follow quality standards so our [products] don't hurt people.'"
"I got fired on my next day at work. I nearly cried with happiness. I got fat unemployment checks and they lost the only person who knew how to manage those machines."
These bosses lacked compassion when an employee was suffering from moments of despair.
The 16-Year-Old Who Had Enough
"I was 16 and my Step-Dad was in hospital around 5hrs away dying from cancer. I got a phone call at work for about the third time in a couple of months that I needed to get down there ASAP to say my goodbyes, as this could be it. My bosses were all well aware of the situation, one of them was even friends with my Step-Dad. When I rushed out the back to tell them I had to go, this bloke looks at me, a crying, frightened,16yr old girl, and told me I had to stop doing this, and get my priorities right. In a rare showing of assertiveness, I looked that d*cksnap in the eye and told him he was right, and quit on the spot."
Crazy Historical Events That Sound Fake But Are 100% True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The Loss Of A Close Friend
"I had a similar situation when my closest friend died. My friend came from an abusive family so he lived alone and had no one close to him besides me. I had to take a day off and plan his funeral. When I got back to work the next day they acted like I had inconvenienced them. My boss told me not to lay out of work with such a short notice again. I told him I had enough of his inhuman attitude and quit on the spot. He called begging me to come back a couple of weeks later but I had already found another job."
– barvoues
The Unsympathetic Christian
"I was a teacher. I had confided in the school principal that I was struggling with depression but getting treatment. This a**hole (who also happened to be a deacon at my church) proceeds to tell me that depression is a spiritual problem that I needed to solve. I was too shocked and upset to say much of anything then, but I wrote him a letter telling him what I thought of his actions and his 'Christianity.' Ultimately cost me my job, but damn it was satisfying and I don't regret it in the least."
Wife Comes First
"my wife was attacked, was in surgery when I got called about it. I was less than 10 miles away. Got told: Finish the run (9 hours), then go see her, you can't help her anyway."
"Parked a Semi/trailer in the back lot of the hospital, told them to page me for the keys."
These Redditors did nothing wrong, but was more than happy to leave a job that had unreasonable demands.
The Accident
"My job was micromanaging the hell out of everyone. They had 3 different softwares that tracked where you were, speed, how much time you were on 1 job for, etc. On my way to get supplies for a job I came across an accident. No one had arrived yet so I pulled over and helped a trapped woman out of her car and tried to calm her and take care of stuff until Medics arrive. I
text my boss very quickly that I'm at the scene of a major accident rendering aid and that's why I'm stopped. I was told by boss A to not spend too much time there, as I am on the clock. I ignore him. After medics take over, I take a video of the scene as I leave to prove that there was a bad accident. I was fired for taking the video because it was taken from in the company truck. When they fired me, I smiled. There are 8 people that company in the position I was in. The 2 most experienced quit after that. The others are applying for new jobs."
The Shyster Company
"I was working at NTW (National Tire warehouse) before it was national tire and battery, and my first day I was scheduled for a 14 hour shift for some reason. About 6 hours into it, I asked my manager when out break time was. He said "what do you mean by break?" I said "a half hour break as mandated by law, and two 15 minute breaks required on top of that, also required by law." His response was 'most people don't take those here, we have costumers to take care of.'"
"After that, I clocked out and went to Wendy's to get lunch. I figured f'k these a**holes, go ahead and fire me."
"After lunch, I was doing a tire rotation and balance, the manager came out and told me not to balance the back tires if the costumer isn't watching me. That was the nail in the coffin for me. They paid for that."
"I got to talking with some of the longtime employees and they informed me that the sales counter guys (our managers) made commission from every sale and got bonuses every month while we got our minimum wage and raises were rare. I finished my shift and clocked out. Went looking for a new job the next day. Any company like that can go piss off."
"So when you go get your tires balanced, watch them."
Taking Care Of The Boss's Personal Belongings
"My boss once told me that I have to come in to the office the next day, which was a PUBLIC HOLIDAY, because we needed to clear out the office storage unit. He said that we can't afford to take time out of work days for that task."
"So I begrudgingly agreed and showed up the next day. When I opened the storage unit it was crammed full of stuff... full of the boss's PERSONAL STUFF. I'm talking boxes full of his old clothes, childhood toys, school projects and textbooks, gardening tools, furniture, sport and gym equipment, construction materials, paintings, etc. TVs."
"I was so mad that I quit on the spot."
Sometimes, people who weren't necessarily treated poorly can't handle the job and quit.
But instead of following protocols, they will make a scene because at that point, they have nothing left to lose.
I had a friend with whom I performed at a theme park. Yes, it was a grueling schedule but the company never violated any of our union's rules.
This guy, who was an exceptional dancer but simply did not enjoy performing in the show and took the job because he couldn't get work elsewhere, threw a major tantrum after finding out he had more rehearsals – with overtime – and just left the building. He never came back.
Some drama is better left up on a stage. Sheesh.