Not every job is a dream job, and not every job is a great job, but some jobs are just so bad that people can barely make it through their first day before they are ready to hang it up and just walk away. No one ever wants it to get to that point, but sometimes that's the way life happens.
People from all job sectors and walks of life have put up with terrible coworkers, bosses, and working conditions over the years, and a few of those people recently shared their worst stories in a Reddit thread asking people to reveal the time they picked the wrong job. All posts have been edited for clarity.
His First Day Led To A Two Hour Walk Home
“I was a gas jockey. A guy rolled in with a large pickup truck on empty and asked me to put $100 in. He watched me pump over a hundred liters and once the truck was full he jumped out and said, ‘Kid, I only wanted $10 of fuel,’ and proceeded inside demanding to only pay $10 for a full tank of gas. My boss apologized to the guy and told me the extra $90 I pumped would come off my first paycheck.
I quit right there, but since my dad dropped me off on his way to work, I had a two-hour walk home.”
Who Wouldn’t Put Their Life On The Line To Save A Few Bucks?
“My boss wanted me to reach inside a giant CNC lathe to polish a part while it was running. Usually, this is impossible because the door locks as soon as the machine starts running, but of course, they disabled the safety lock.
When I pointed out that I could just wait for the lathe to finish running before reaching my hand in there, he said yeah, but that it was a waste of time. Then I pointed out that there are tools that could do the polishing job faster than I could by hand and he said that’s a waste of money.
There was no way I was going to risk getting eaten alive by a lathe just to save the boss a few minutes or a few bucks.”
This Decision Saved Him A Lot Of Grief… And Legal Issues
“I quit a six-figure job as CFO on my second day.
It was an early stage company that was trying to raise several million in debt capital from investors. On the first day, the CEO told me that their technology didn’t work, but that they still needed to raise the capital to keep it afloat, and all this was being hidden from the investors. He wanted me to put together a quick and dirty revenue forecast that would be presented to the investors later in the week that was based on complete fiction. He told me that it was okay because the investors were accredited, and they should understand the risk involved with this type of investment.
I went home to sleep on it and came in the next day to collect my few belongings.
That company no longer exists and there was a slew of investor lawsuits within a couple of months of my departure. And by leaving, I was able to avoid depositions and other legal troubles.”
I Wonder Why He Left So Soon
“I went to Germany for a very well paid summer service job.
When I got there, the guy showed me the accommodation where I was supposed to live; it was a tiny building adjacent to his house and there was some mentally ill Italian guy living in there who the employer said would be my roommate the entire summer.
He was filthy and didn’t clean up after himself. I was supposed to sleep on a dirty stained mattress on the ground.
I politely refused to sign the contract and went back to Berlin. The employer gave me a ride to the train station in the town and kept asking me why I turned the job down. Then as I was on the train, the guy’s wife called me, asking why I’d just leave like that and what did I dislike so much.”
At Least Someone Had Standards
“I started working at a custom cabinet shop several years ago when my wife and I moved cities. I was already seven years into the industry, so I was not naive or anything.
The look of defeat on all the guys’ faces was telling and the state of the shop and wages I had been offered during my interview were the second clue that I wasn’t supposed to be there.
On the day I was supposed to start, I brought some simple hand tools like a drill, bits, and a tape measure. The boss saw me holding my tape, took it out of my hands and threw it into the garbage can, and spewed out the most ridiculous declaration I’ve ever heard in my whole career.