When you first start a job, you're proud and happy to even be there, but slowly something starts to change. These workers share when they realized they were only showing up to work to get that paycheck.
(Content has been edited for clarity).
Guess This Is What You Get For Going To A Funeral
“When I came back after being out for several days for my dad’s funeral, I had a huge stack of work waiting for me because of course, nobody could try to help me out, even though I always helped everyone else. When I mentioned how much there was, I was told ‘Well, that’s what happens when you take a bunch of time off.’ Mind you, when I got the call that my dad had died, I completed my day at work so they wouldn’t have to scramble. I also came back after putting him in hospice to get caught up.
After that, I just didn’t give a crap at all.”
Even Giving 100% Isn’t Enough
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“Manager: So, your raise from your review should be on your paycheck.
Me: (calculates) But… I didn’t get the maximum percentage. In what areas did I not do well?
Manager: Well, the district manager said if we all give everyone 10/10s it’s not a real evaluation. He said I was the only one who was doing it correctly.
Me: But… for what did I get marked down? Am I not doing my job well?
Manager: No, you’re great – you’re probably the best employee, but I can’t give 10/10s.
Me: But, I got the same pay raise percentage as people who are doing inadequately? And you can’t even tell me something to improve?
Manager: Shrugs”
This Job Was Literally Killing Him
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“I used to genuinely love what I do. I was interested in computing from a young age and pursued all kinds of knowledge on it. I had a great teacher who taught programming and computer science in high school who I respected.
You know how people say they had a misspent youth? I didn’t. I studied my behind off.
After I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to go into IT. However, being realistic, I knew I couldn’t afford college. So, I enlisted in the Air Force as a 3C0X1, the Network/Systems Administrators of the Air Force.
I loved it. Tech school was pretty enlightening. I had a great mentor/supervisor at my first base, and I got good at my job. I didn’t even mind working 12-hour days for six days a week, and that was the minimum. I was doing what I loved. Then, I got stationed at my second base.
Two years in, I was the only one at my base that worked. The others in my shop didn’t know or care at all. I spent three months helping a guy on every one of his tasks. I would show him how to do it and had him take notes and everything. Then my supervisor pointed out that he was just using me to do his work too. That wasn’t quite what made me say ‘forget it’ but it almost was.
Months later, it was officially two years of dealing at this base, being called in at all times of day and night to deal with the most mundane stuff. I had a PT test in the morning.
I went in to work at 05:30 like I usually do to get the big fires out before the real start time. I worked until my usual time of 21:00, and finished my last job for the day and went back to the barracks to get dinner and crash.
I got a phone call at 02:00, and it was the most entitled office in my unit (ATC are real jerks to work with) saying their printer wasn’t working.
No problem, this wasn’t my job, but I connected you guys to the printer down the hall a month ago, so you can print there. I hung up and tried to sleep. Five minutes later, my supervisor asked me to do it anyway. Fine, whatever.
I went to work, fixed the printer (I turned it off and back on, what the heck people IT WORKS), but I had to stick around and make sure that it worked. I headed back home, crashed, and woke up an hour later for my PT test.
While in the middle of the run portion, I realized this place was killing me, and I was about one more of those terrible days away from suck-starting a weapon.
That was the last time I gave a crap about that job.”
What Kind Of Rating System Was This?
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“My first job out of university was at a large multinational, and I was one of 15 new starters on their graduate program.
I started my job determined to impress – I came in an hour early every day and read up on my clients so I could better serve them, took on extra responsibility – you name it, I did it.
So six months in when it came to performance evaluations I was pretty confident. The company would rate us on a scale of one to five, and I was hoping for at least a two on this scale. I got great feedback and was doing far more than most of my peers.
The company rated all 15 of us as a three. Some of these people had had no work. Some had even refused work on projects that didn’t interest them. Some came in late and went home early. Didn’t matter – everyone was a three.
The next day I came in 15 minutes late, and I don’t think I ever came in an hour early ever again.”
With Rewards Like These Who Even Wants To Try Hard?
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“I worked as a regional sales rep and loved my job while working out of a home office and traveling for presentations. They placed outrageous goals on us, so I ended up working seven days a week, 10 hours/day for four years. We took on extra projects, added more states to my territory (with no raise), and grew my revenue by 200 percent (all while adding a baby to our family). I ended up being the top rep in the nation and they wanted to recognize me at the national meeting. They gave me a tiny lapel pin of our logo. A freaking pin!
The note from my VP with the ‘gift’ wasn’t even signed. It probably cost them $5 or less. I spent the next 11 months getting my ducks in a row and then noped out of there. I found out when I quit, they were planning on adding another state to my territory with no raise. Traveling would have gone from three weeks per month to four weeks per month. Good riddance.”
She Saw Her Coworkers As Minions, Not Friends
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“I worked at a pretty fancy burger place, as fancy as a burger place can be of course. We had fresh ingredients, good local meat, etc.
One day, in came the upper boss, and the cool nice and good floor manager was demoted, and we got some random ex-McDonald’s manager.
We were good friends with the pub next to us, and we had a deal, they get a burger to split and some fries, and we get two drinks a person for free after closing shop. We did this for three years, and the upper boss was okay with it.
On day one of the job, she stops this process and says the following: ‘I am your boss. I am not here to be friends. We are here to work, not be friends. I would like it if friendship and colleague relationships can be separated.’ According to her, everybody from management and up was not allowed to be friends with anybody below them, she learned this at McDonald’s and wanted to pursue this practice with us as well.
I hated the witch. Nobody cared about the restaurant anymore and now it is just an overpriced McDonald’s. I now work at the pub next door with two old colleagues from the burger joint.”
“If It Ain’t Broke Why Fix It”
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“Many years ago I was working a retail management job. I closed every Friday, Saturday, Sunday night. I asked my boss for a weekend off; he said no. I pointed out I have been working that shift for the past five months; he said if I didn’t like it I could find another to place to work.
That one was the worst. I ended up finding another place to work a month later, gave him my two weeks. An HR manager called me and did my exit interview. A few hours after that I got called into that manager’s office, he apologized and offered me more money to stay with rotating weekends off. His reason was ‘if it ain’t broke why fix it,’ which I pointed out I just asked for one weekend off. He didn’t want to move the manager’s schedule around, which now he had to do ‘because someone above me likes you.’
So I stayed and worked and collected paychecks until a promotion came and I was able to separate myself from that manager.”
This Text Was “Not Cool”
“I used to make employee schedules, work in every department, take financial data, make advertisements, book clients and drum up new ones, maintain client relations and obtain new vendors. I called in sick ONCE, and the text I received was ‘not cool.’ PEACE HOMIES. I stopped everything that wasn’t my job, and people started quitting because nothing was getting done. The managers had a cushy time while I took care of everything for 30 percent of what I should have been making. Not anymore. I still have a friend there (I quit), and he says management walks around ticked off. The place has, like, zero staff. I hope they shut down.”
He’d Rather Be A Customer Than The Manager
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“The time where the owners had to manage the restaurant that night (no one else that had a duty managers license was in town, and they messed up the roster).
We open at 5 p.m., and I’m there from 4 to 4:30 p.m. setting up. Usually, the manager would be there by like quarter to 5, but hey, it’s the boss, maybe he’s running late. Six p.m., we’re starting to fill up, and he isn’t here. It’s a Friday night and I’m doing my best to maitre’d and run a section, as well as calming the bar staff down that we won’t get stung by police.
He rolls up with some of his rugby mates at around 7:30. ‘Oh yeah, dude, can you clear out that booth in the back for us?’ Are you kidding? We’re busy (but not slammed), you’re the manager on duty, and you’re just going to sit down and have dinner? He bullies his way into the table, and I try and sort out the crap show that’s happening in the kitchen so that we can get through service. At least it’s now on his head if the cops show up.
Anyway, around 9 I hear ‘just put it on my tab, dude!’ and I look up to see him waving as he goes out the door with his mates. Christ munching on a goldfish, that is not how you run a restaurant.
I quit the week after.”
Jim, The Jerk Manager
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“My previous job sucked but I was early in my career, and my manager was fantastic. He made the job bearable for five years. I also had a peer, who I will call Jim, that I was cool with but he was vocal about his aspirations to get into management. He was also a complete sociopath. I always said to my other co-workers that if he ever became my manager, I was out of there.
Eventually, Jim got promoted to be the manager of another group. The people that worked under him told me horror stories constantly. One guy was a personal friend of Jim’s and told me that their relationship had disintegrated because Jim would abuse the access he had to the guy’s personal life and use it against him at work. Dodged a terrible situation, or so I thought.
Eventually, my manager received a good offer and moved to a different department. Management decided to consolidate our group with the one Jim managed, and he became my direct supervisor. I tried for a couple of weeks to be positive and give him a chance, but it quickly went downhill, so I started making preparations for my escape. I quietly did my job and documented every infraction and instance of abuse from Jim against one of my peers or me. When it reached a breaking point, I delivered a 10-page report to HR and filed a formal complaint.
Jim proceeded to get his junk nailed to the wall, completely backed off, and was even kissing my behind for a couple of months while I did just enough not to get fired and went on job interviews. I finally landed a great job and left that place, never to look back.”
This Boss Couldn’t See He Was Just Trying To Do His Job
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“I was working at an ISP doing tech support. The boss was a jerk, and a wasted bum – he would often show up with a 12-pack in the morning – but I tried to not let it bother me. He wanted the company to branch out into web design, so I told him I’d look for opportunities.
A guy showed up to pay his bill and asked if I could recommend a place where he could get a website for his new restaurant. I set up a meeting for later in the week, and when he came in, my boss had left two repaired computers on the conference room table which I didn’t see until he was there. No big deal, the table was big enough for six, so we just sat at one end, went over some details, and I said I’d send him an estimate.
I was pretty happy – I went out and got some business for the company in an area where my boss wanted to grow.
An hour or so later, my boss came storming up to my desk, an angry expression on his face and proceeded to berate me for holding a meeting without emptying out the conference room. The room whose sole purpose is to meet with customers, where he left two computers a few minutes before the scheduled meeting he was aware of. He told me how unprofessional it had been, and how he was giving serious thoughts to firing me – someone who solved more support cases than anyone else on the staff, and who was the only person helping him branch out the business.
So that was it. I never went an inch out of my way again for him. I did my tech support, stopped soliciting website business, and eventually was fired for supposedly leaving early, even though I had objective proof that I didn’t.
A few years later the IRS seized the business for not paying employee taxes, the guy fled the state, and was eventually arrested twice for illegal substance possession. So forget him.”
He Was Taking Time Off Whether His Boss Liked It Or Not
“My grandfather is in his late 70s with a bunch of health problems. I had been working at this big corporate call-center with major clients like airlines, banks, universities and such. I was up all night standing over my grandfather’s unconscious body waiting for the ambulance to arrive after he suffered from heart failure before he was taken to the ICU at the hospital. At 7 a.m. (I was supposed to come in at 10) I called in to tell my supervisor I wasn’t going to be able to come into work since the doctor told us he might not make it. My supervisor disregarded anything I told him about the situation and started ranting about I couldn’t do that. I told him he could sort it out, but I didn’t care, and I wasn’t coming in. My grandfather stabilized, and I went back to work the next day. My supervisor kept bugging the crap out of me. I found out he got a bonus for performance when he had less than five sick-days within his team of employees for the month. (Which is the reason for his complete disregard for my situation; the jerk was about his money.)
I was so annoyed I walked up to him, looked him straight in the eye and said ‘I’m sick. I’m going home,’ he was like NO YOU’RE NOT. ‘Well, watch me…’
I went to a doctor I knew who was willing to write prescriptions for whatever. I told him I strained my back and needed ‘some rest from the stress at work.’ He nodded and wrote ‘SPINAL STRAIN – L2-L3 DISK DISLOCATION. – 5 WEEKS REST.’
I went on to have the best vacation in my life until I destroyed my right knee on a festival in the last week of my time off. I had to get surgery, so I was out for another six weeks.
First day back at work, I handed over my letter of resignation with a smile. I could see the hate in his eyes. It was beautiful.”
This Micromanaging Boss Said He “Still Had A Lot To Learn” After 18 Years Of Working
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“I worked for 18 years at a firm and accomplished a lot. To the point, they had mentioned making me a partner. The president started to micromanage to the extreme – not allowing me to run my meetings, listening in on phone calls, writing me a to-do list every Monday morning that included items we usually left to interns.
One day I expressed my displeasure and his response was ‘I think you have a lot to learn.’ I was so loyal to the company that it took another couple of years before I realized it just wasn’t ever going to changes. I did my ‘I don’t give a crap’ moment was when I realized I had made good enough impressions on my clients that they’d follow me to my own company if I chose to start it.
And they did – every darn one of them. Micromanaging is wasteful and disrespectful when not warranted. I collected a paycheck for another year and cultivated more working relationships before announcing my departure. I didn’t ask anyone of my clients to come with me, but within six months I had all but two under contract. The last two just contacting me in the past month to start new projects.”
Their Salary Became A Direct Insult
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“I worked at Arby’s for a few stints at different locations between 2000 and 2005. Didn’t like the job, but did the work and dealt with it while I tried to figure life out. For fast food, it wasn’t bad at first. Full-time employees received paid vacation time for a while. We had four older ladies who had all worked at one specific store for 25 years and were all pushing retirement age, or were already there and putting the finishing touches on being a part of the workforce. They all made around $11 per hour, so not exactly a killing. Arby’s was bought out by a new parent company who put in to effect a policy that each job title had a pay cap and that anyone above those pay caps would not be eligible for raises unless they were promoted. Not exactly bad, right? Well a couple of months later, they put in another policy: If you were above a position’s pay cap, you were being forced to take a pay cut down to the cap.
Those ladies all had to take about a $3 per hour pay cut after 25 years of service and were trying to prepare for living on a fixed income. That was also about the same time that I had just received a promotion and a $0.75 per hour raise, which apparently disqualified me from receiving a yearly merit raise. Those two things were the biggest in making me realize the company doesn’t give a crap about its employees at all.”
“Never Quit Validating Your Workers”
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“I worked at an airport for seven years for a warehouse of one of the major shops that had a massive flow through of goods. I was hard labor, but man the camaraderie was great. The upper management was friendly and much rewarded us for our hard work, then there was a shift of management, HR and the like. The one thing they implemented was a punch-in clock to combat people showing up late for work or oversleeping. That was fine; it didn’t matter to me. Then one year later I had been a couple of minutes late and gotten a ‘verbal warning.’ No problem, wouldn’t happen again. It was just me forgetting to put my phone on the charger, hence no alarm at 4:30 in the morning.
Then one day on my way to work, my car broke down. The battery was drained of power, so I called my supervisor, then had to call a friend of mine and tell him to bring some jumper cables. I got the car started, but it had left me about 40 minutes late. I showed up, punched in about 20 minutes late, and didn’t think any more about it. An hour or so passed, and my supervisor came to me with a weird look on his face. He asked me into his office and had me sign a written warning. Anyway, I stood there mortified. I asked my superior, ‘You’re joking, right?’ I can see he was nervous and shocked himself that he had to do it. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s the new company policy.’
I became so furious that I couldn’t even speak, so I just signed the thing and left. At that point, all the work I’d put down for my company and colleagues seemed utterly worthless. I’ve never felt so small in my life. To make matters worse, a few weeks later my friend was told he was fired after showing up to work because the same thing had happened to him. However, it was only three times that year. Of course, they couldn’t enact the firing because the union showed up and decimated the company. But after that, I started giving absolutely zero craps about my job. I showed up, did my crap and went home. I quit going out of my way to make sure things were done above standard. If you want an awesome crew and a good workplace environment, never quit validating your workers. I can tell you it affected all of us a lot. A whole bunch of people started quitting one by one in the months to come as they got more and more fed up with the complete crap management that kept trying to reinvent the wheel every three weeks. I quit about a year after, and my new job then nothing like when I’d started.”