Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Describe The Worst First Day At A New Job They've Ever Had

People Describe The Worst First Day At A New Job They've Ever Had
Photo by NoWah Bartscher on Unsplash

Pay attention to the red flags. That is a motto in life we'd all be wise to abide by.

It's not just referring to relationships between people.

Heed the red flags everywhere. Especially when it comes to work and career. If a situation feels off, it's off.

You know from the second you enter a new job or a new location whether or not it's a fit.

If your gut is telling you to run after the first shift, then that means you probably should've hightailed it out of there on your lunch break.

Bad first days are generally a sign of things to come. I've had them.

Redditor Mr__Roomba wanted to hear about all of the rough "I'm new here!" stories. They asked:

What's the worst "first day" you've had in a job?

I was hired at an upscale, famous sushi restaurant in NYC. On my first day of training I was pushed down the stairs. Then told... "Hey. you gotta keep up!"

"No you better run before I get up from this floor!"

Closed

Season 3 Episode 22 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy

"When I arrived on the first day, there was an eviction notice on the door and a cop looking for the business owners. Bullets dodged, that day!" ~ Upper-Job5130

The Pizza Shop

"True story. I got mugged on my first night as a pizza delivery guy. It was my second delivery of the night. I parked the car, and had to walk a little bit to get to the apartment building. During that walk, two guys came up, hit me in the head several times, shoved me down, and took the money bag and the pizza and ran."

"I went back to the pizza shop and quit on the spot. The pizza shop owners sent me to the emergency room to get checked out, they paid for the bill, they made sure I got home safe and sound. So they were great." ~ whomp1970

At the Buffet

"My first job was at a new buffet in a small town when I was 14. They mass hired everyone that showed up to the interview. I was supposed to be a dish washer but when I got there for training they handed me a ladder and told me to install the dry wall ceiling tiles in the kitchen."

"I, obviously, had no idea what I was doing and had a tile fall on my back, which caused me to slip off the ladder and fall on the ground. The owner was upset that a 14 year old kid couldn't do the non-dishwashing task correctly and chewed me out and sent me home and to never come back."

"I had to pester them for months to get my ~$6.50 for the hour I was there. Shockingly, they went under in just a few months." ~ DrGingeyy

Hangin' at the Queen...

"Dairy Queen queen I was 17. The layout was such that I had to repeatedly walk past the grill where the floor was so covered in grease that it was like trying to walk across oiled ice...super dangerous because if you slipped, you were likely to hit the grill. I got yelled at for mentioning that the floor needed to be cleaned (I even offered to do it but was told no)."

"I was scheduled for an 8 hour shift, so by law, I got a 20 minute unpaid lunch break, which I was made to take about 45 minutes into my shift. I got yelled at for asking if I could please take my break closer to the middle of my shift. I was left alone as the only cashier and ice cream preparer, even though I hadn't even been told what everything on the menu was yet, let alone how to make it."

"I kept getting yelled at for not knowing when I went to the back (past the slip-n-slide of death) to ask for help. About 3 hours in, I was absolutely certain this would be a horrible place to work, so I told the owner that it was dangerous there, I was being yelled at by the manager for not knowing how to make things I had never even heard of."

"And the job was a bad fit for me so I was quitting and leaving. He told me it was unacceptable that I wasn't giving two weeks notice and yelled at me about it until I cried. It's been over 20 years, and I've never set foot in a Dairy Queen again."

~ Leelluu

Whoops!

homer simpson button GIFGiphy

"I work at a gas station and I accidentally hit the button that emergency stops all the gas pumps my first day lmao." ~ rieixee

How are you still hiring people when you can't pay your bills? Good Lord. And don't push buttons.

Charlie Ann's

broadway baking GIF by Waitress The MusicalGiphy

"My MIL was buying a restaurant and asked me to go work there for a day and take a look see. She gives me the name, I look it up, then show up at 6 am."

"The ladies working seemed a bit confused but they let me in and put me to work. Two hours later, one of them comes to me and says "We think you're supposed to be at the OTHER Charlie Ann's" There were two unrelated restaurants five miles apart with the same name. Later she tried to hire me, lol." ~ damasu950

Lord of the Flies...

"I was a supervisor in a technical support department for "professional" support, but was one day unceremoniously moved to "personal" support. (The former was expensive and for IT and experienced clients. The latter for regular home users.) When I arrived in my new department, they were short 3 supervisors, so I was assigned all 3 teams, and the place was like Lord of the Flies."

"I was given a printout of schedules and names, with no way to find the people. I started tracking them down to find that nearly 1/3 of them had left the company, but previous supervisors didn't notify HR/payroll, there were no files on what people were trained on, nothing."

"End of the day my new boss asked how things were, and I told him people needed to be fired. He laughed, and said, "We're understaffed already." I replied, "No, I mean the other supervisors who aren't doing any job I can identify, and you for letting it get like this." Things with him were a bit touchy after that." ~ SurlyJason

Oh Kyle...

"I called a construction company about a job listing. The owner told me to show up Monday morning to his shop. When I showed up at the address, there was a sticky note that said something like "Kyle, I'm contacting the police, you have to pay your back rent NOW." I opted to leave but called the guy's number again out of curiosity. It was disconnected. Definitely felt like a bullet dodged lol." ~ apocalypticradish

Keep the broom...

"Not my first day but my second. I had just hired on at a steel fabrication plant. My boss gave me a broom and told me to keep the sidewalks clean, keep my head up, watch what everyone is doing and stay out of their freaking way. Its dangerous working with this heavy steel and we don't want you to get hurt your first week out here. It was about 7am."

"Around 8am a stack of steel fell over trapping another employee and I had to hear him scream bloody murder for about 3hrs while they worked to get the steel beams off of him. He lived. It crushed his pelvis, I worked there for 2 years, he never was able to come back to work." ~ housebird350

Switch Back

Breaking Despicable Me GIF by RegalGiphy

"I recently switched careers and now work at a bank. Pressed the silent alarm accidentally almost immediately, didn't even realize it was there & no one thought to tell me. Whoops!" ~ keanusmommy

There are always other jobs out there. Make sure your mental health comes first. Remember... red flags. A first day will tell you everything.

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Mike Johnson; Donald Trump
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Mike Johnson Gets Blunt Factcheck After Fawningly Praising Trump's Negotiating Skills With Iran

House Speaker Mike Johnson was swiftly fact-checked after he claimed in a tweet that President Donald Trump is the "ONLY one" who could bring Iran to the negotiating table amid the ongoing war.

Johnson published his post after Trump announced earlier in the day that a “peace” agreement with Iran had been “largely negotiated” following conversations with several world leaders. Trump said the proposed deal, which he described as still awaiting final details, would be announced soon and would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jennifer Combs discusses her arrest during an interview with FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth.
FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth/YouTube

Texas Woman Speaks Out After She Was Arrested And Charged With Felony For Posting About Toxic Water Supply

When Jennifer Combs posted photos and concerns about the water coming from her Texas home, she says she was trying to warn her neighbors. Weeks later, she found herself facing a felony charge. Now, Combs is speaking out and suing the city, arguing her arrest was retaliation for drawing attention to problems with Trinidad's drinking water.

Combs was arrested on May 8 and charged with felony false alarm or report. The charge stems from a Facebook post on her "Southern Belle Watch" account, where she claimed the city's water issues had led to hospitalizations caused by bacteria.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kevin O'Leary sitting at a table with a focused expression on his face.
The Diary Of A CEO

'Shark Tank' Star Kevin O'Leary Sparks Debate After Calling Gen Z 'Stupid' For Spending Their Money On Pricey Lunches

Living within one's means is more challenging than many people would care to admit.

Indeed, with housing costs continuing to skyrocket, grocery stores upping their prices, and the job market the way it is, far too many people cry happy tears to see their bank account balance increase, or even remain stagnant.

Keep ReadingShow less
Walmart store with tweet overlay
Scott Olson/Getty Images; @ruledbymercuryy/X

A Woman Just Found Her Mom's Cheap Walmart Grocery Receipt From 2006—And We're Furiously Sobbing

Feel like bursting into tears and then hurling your phone at the wall? Well then you've clicked on the right story!

A woman on X (formerly Twitter) has the entire internet sobbing after sharing an old Walmart receipt of her mom's grocery run from 2006.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Jude Cloud
@judercloud/Instagram

Former MAGA Fan Goes Viral With Video Explaining What Finally Made Him Dismantle His Conservative Beliefs

Influencer Jude Cloud revealed in a video message how he ended up discarding the MAGA conservative beliefs he grew up around, describing his evolution from holding “fiscally conservative, socially liberal” ideals to being a "terribly woke" queer leftist.

Cloud, who boasts nearly 58,000 followers on Instagram, said he actually used to go "door-to-door" stumping for "one of [President Donald] Trump's closest friends in Congress, adding that he "used to say, 'I think, therefore I am conservative.'"

Keep ReadingShow less