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People Break Down The Fastest They Ever Quit A Job

Man walking away with briefcase
Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash

Reddit user thedamned234 asked: 'What’s the fastest you ever quit a job and why?'

Anyone who has held more than one job in their work histories can agree that some jobs are better suited for us than others.

But some jobs have turned out to be such a bad match, people have quit at an impressively fast rate.


Redditor thed**ned234 asked:

"What's the fastest you ever quit a job and why?"

Not Meant for Telemarketing

"It took me about two hours in telemarketing to realize what an a**hole I felt like, and then I left."

- Bumpa**

Not What They Signed Up For

"I was hired by a temp agency to file documents in a Paint Factory office, but when I showed up, I was put on the assembly line with zero training or instruction and the cans came down the conveyor belt at 10,000 miles per hour."

"I don't even know what I was supposed to do. I just let each can whiz by. I quit at the end of the first day."

- JamesKPolk130

Saw an Opportunity

"At one of those quick-lube oil change places when I was about 18, they had me down in the pit (under the vehicles) draining the oil, and I kept getting burned by hot oil and by hot exhaust pipes."

"On the second day, I said I had to use the bathroom, and when I walked around to the side of the building, I took off running and didn't come back."

- _Shape-Shifter

Not Wasting Their Time

"15 minutes."

"I applied for and accepted a job that was advertised as solely data entry, evening shifts. I got there, did the quick intro and meet-and-greet thing, and was handed a mobile phone."

"The supervisor goes, 'It's actually a cold-calling role. No one would apply if we said that, so we tell people it's data entry.'"

"I went, 'Sorry, what?'"

"He said, 'Yeah, we cold-call people for this idea my friend has, asking for investors! You'll get a commission if you do well!'"

"At that point in time, I was a salty, snarky young lady, so I told him to shove it, that this was probably illegal in so many, many, ways, I applied for data entry job and not cold calling and swindling people, etc etc."

"I called my dad to come pick me up and never looked back. I took a legit data entry offer the next day."

"So. Yeah. Uh... 15 minutes. Found out many years later that dude and the friend with the great idea both got done on some serious fraud charges shortly after my run-in with them."

- silvanmorte

Immediately No

"In college, I got a summer job at SeaRay boats through a temp agency. I showed up first-thing, and they had me sit in the break room, which was on the second floor, overlooking the entire plant."

"I waited an hour for someone to come to get me and heard a commotion. I looked out and three or four people were running out, because a dude cut off his middle and ring fingers with a Sawzall. The dude behind him had his fingers in a towel."

"At the time, I wasn’t what you might call tool handy. So I noped right the f**k out."

- tech405

A Negative Amount of Time at the Job

"I quit 15 minutes before I got there."

"I had a weird feeling about the job and how vague the hiring manager was being."

"Halfway through the drive on my first day, I put the clues together, and it dawned on me that it was some traveling door-to-door sales s**t. The kind where they pack you in a van and drive you to some neighborhood to sell coupon books or whatever."

- Suougibma

Strike Three

"I'm a vet tech. I quit a clinic after about three weeks when the doctor told me to start reusing needles. He wanted me to pull up a vaccine, administer it, and then pull the next vaccine up into the same syringe with the same needle and repeat."

"That was the final straw."

"The first straw was finding out that we (it was a small practice with two other techs and one receptionist) were required to bring our own toilet paper to work."

- xonacrackr

A Whole New Level of Cross-Contamination

"Sandwich shop. The health inspector showed up. They found mop cleaning solution in the tub they were keeping the utensils they used to make sandwiches with (get meatballs out for subs, spread tuna on sandwiches, etc)."

"That explained the very odd, burning chemical smell from that area. The mop cleaner was mixing with the meatballs and sauce and just cooking all day in that pot."

"The owner argued that it was safe to use it that way. The health inspector made him dump it out in front of them."

"The second they left, he filled it back up and put all the utensils back in it."

- cheyonreddit

The Scapegoat

"Six weeks. I got blamed for another delivery driver leaving the tank close to empty and not parked where it needed to be."

"I was like, 'Huh?'"

"Then a week after I left, they found out it was another driver and they were fired right after."

- BoosterRead78

No Time Off

"I worked at 24-Hour Fitness when I was 17. I wanted to go skiing for a week and was told no it was impossible to schedule."

"So I just walked out. The manager was fuming and yelling about marking me as a no rehire or some bulls**t."

"I found a job at an LA Fitness center down the street that paid more after my ski trip. Good times."

- 89fruits89

Not in the Job Description

"I worked at Party City and was closing. Someone s**t in the bathrooms but not in the toilets. It was on the floor, the walls, the stall doors, in the sinks, in the SOAP DISPENSERS… and for an added effect, they had smashed the dispense button a few times. Vile."

"I was NOT on bathroom duty that evening but for whatever reason, my Manager told me to clean it up."

"H**l to the no. I told her I wasn’t cleaning that biohazard and that my 7.25 an hour wasn’t worth it. PLUS there was no way in h**l I could clean all of that up in the 30 minutes before I had to clock out (or get written up for being over)."

"My manager, the living embodiment of Shrek, said she’d write me up for failing to complete my closing checklist (again, I wasn’t on bathrooms that evening)."

"So, in my best judgment, I went and clocked out and left. Never came back. I was scheduled to open the next morning but nope."

"My General Manager sent me an email confirming my termination and said, 'You’ll always be welcome back, should you choose to come in.'"

- Kili-Starlight

The Coworkers' Advice

"First day. I got out of the Marines and got a job doing hardwood floors for 10 dollars per hour."

"They didn't tell me I had the job and then called me and asked where I was. I used a whole tank of gas driving from job to job."

"The first thing the boss asked me was, 'Are you messed up from the war?' (Of course I am)."

"Every employee told me how much they hate the job and to run. I finished the day and quit."

- Irondaddy_29

A Pyramid Scheme

"I had an interview that was unlike any other interview I’ve ever had. It was a room full of other applicants and the 'interviewer.'"

"The interviewer was telling us about the job, asked if anyone had any questions, and then said we were all hired."

"I didn’t fill any paperwork out thank goodness. After he said we were all hired, half the people including myself walked out."

"The job was to go door to door selling knives, and we would have to pay $2k for our demo set of knives. Nope! No thanks!"

- bzsbal

Just Not a Match

"I was a dishwasher and I lasted one shift."

"I was 19. The owner/chef was a nice guy but I knew this wasn’t the job for me maybe one hour into my shift."

"I finished the shift, told him I wasn’t coming back, and asked for $40 cash to call it even. He obliged. He even gave me a bowl of risotto."

- PewdyDewdy

More Self-Respect Than That

"I was a waitress and I didn't even last out the shift."

"I had a job and it was my day off. An acquaintance begged me to help out waitressing for the night because his work was really short-staffed. I was traveling and staying in a backpacker's, so I didn't really have the right gear and had to pull something together really last minute."

"I got there and the manager gave me a hard time about my black pants and gave me a bit of a dressing down in front of the rest of the staff about my lack of professionalism because my pants were men's suit pants."

"I started work feeling pretty down and then the penny dropped. This guy isn't my boss, I'm only helping them out of a jam. I took my apron off and walked out without saying anything to anyone. Best feeling ever."

- sometimessnowing

We've likely all had at least one job that we didn't enjoy or that we didn't feel like was a good fit for us, but so many of us tried to stick it out, either waiting for something better to come along or sticking around for the paycheck.

These stories of people walking out with more self-respect than the job showed were almost cathartic in a way!

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