40+ PEOPLE REVEAL THE MOST SATISFYING WAY SOMEONE QUIT THEIR JOB

Most of us have a story of unfair treatment in the workplace, and we've only dreamed of standing up to a horrible boss or two. These employees actually got a chance to defy the status quo, but for all the right reasons.

Images by Michael Discenza; Adrian Swancer, Unsplash

Anyone who's ever had a frustrating job or an overbearing manager will get a kick out of these stories where people stood up to authority and told their boss, "Fire me, I dare you".

From Unappreciated to Unstoppable

"Over the first year I worked there, I essentially took over most of the tasks in my department which were previously held by other departments and were done badly because of it…I then found out I was paid significantly less than what others were making and others in my position across the industry were making. So I go to my boss and tell them…I would like to discuss a raise. They said no.

So I worked there for another year, asking for a raise every now and again until I was offered a job that paid double…I asked for a raise again, thinking why not? My boss goes off on me, tells me I won't get a raise, and says some…very colorful things about it. It culminated with her telling me, 'If you don’t like your pay, maybe we should evaluate your future at this company,' to which I replied 'Already have, I took another job and this was your last chance to offer me what I deserve. I quit.'...Friends told me that my sudden departure caused a massive backup of work that ended with my manager being fired for it."

Head Hypocrite

"My boss announced a new company policy prohibiting visible tattoos. All eyes turned to Pete's eerie, intricate sleeve tattoos. Boss: Peter, we need to talk about your ink. Pete: Sure thing, boss. Would you like me to wear long sleeves during work hours? Boss: NO. I want you to have them removed or you're fired.

Pete: That's a shame. I dare you to fire me now. If you’re so insistent on your employees not having tattoos, you might want to tell everyone about the one that you have on the back of your arm that you seem to always have a mysterious band-aid over. I heard through the grapevine that you have more tattoos that you’re not telling anyone about, and that makes you a hypocrite."

Will Not Do the Crime

u/IlizarovPavlov: "Worked at a private medical college in Punjab, India. They wanted me to falsify patient admissions to get increased grants from govt. I refused. They said that I would be fired. I was the only resident specializing in orthopedics. I was let go.

Photo by National Cancer Institute/Unsplash

Then came a surprise check by govt medical body. I was offered 3 times my monthly pay to attend a 1-day inspection. I asked 5 times and they agreed. I ditched out at the last moment. They lost their recognition of the depth of orthopedics with insufficient residents. No admission in ortho till next checking."

Employee's Journey to Finding a Way Out

u/THENATHE: "So 3 days go by and I’m better and working 100% again. A week later he called me in and said 'I need you to do almost all of your co-worker’s work because you’re better at it than he is and he’s gonna do something else now.' I say, 'Sure, I’ll do my best but I can’t make any promises I’ll get it all done.' So I am now working two people’s jobs in the time of one. I finish 1 and 3/4 of the work and then get called into his office. He’s claiming I 's------ him over' and I 'slowed down for too long.' So I say 'Fire me then. I’m tired of doing all this extra work and I promise you need me.'

Well, I got fired. Two weeks later, he calls me up and asks me to come back. Says he can’t do all of the work. I tell him 'Good, maybe you won’t treat your employees like this next time.' The place went out of business like a month later."

The Sound of Silence

"I used to work at a small, family-owned grocery store for a few years. We got our load in on Mondays and Thursdays, and we got passed over one Monday and the distributor said we’d get the missing load in on Thursday. So, what essentially happened was a double load that day and my two receiving partners were out sick. I was the only person in the warehouse/receiving at the time, and got to take on 15+ pallets of groceries that needed to hit the shelves immediately. I was specifically told to not go up front and to do what I could while the front-end crew covered the aisles and cash registers.

Well, a lot of them were either lazy, untrained, or just putting in their hours so they could pay bills…I’m halfway through checking in the pallets when I get called up front…So I head up there and get yelled at by a new hire with a bad attitude to 'do your job and bag for me!' The customer was a regular and we got along very well, and she told me that she was fine and could bag her own groceries. Between the customer and the fact that I wasn’t having it, I walked away…Then I get the newest hotshot manager, who replaced the old hotshot manager, who replaced the beloved manager who trained basically the whole store, in my face about having an earbud in on the clock…and said I could be sent home and not come back if I wanted to listen to music, so I gestured to the pallets and said 'go for it, these all need to be checked in and broken down. Have fun.'"

We All Have Our Limits

u/lasaucerouge: "Was 19 and working a minimum wage job in a shop. The owner sold the business to a new guy, who had never worked in the industry and knew nothing about any of it. On his first day in charge, he decided I looked unprofessional and should be wearing a uniform. Then he decided the uniform should include a fluorescent cap with my name embroidered on it.

I told him I wouldn’t have taken this job if it had included wearing a fluorescent cap with my name embroidered on it, but he told me it’s going to be mandatory from now on, so I will be sacked if I don’t wear it. Fine by me, I’ll be leaving for any other job that pays exactly the same but doesn’t make me wear a ridiculous hat…He didn’t fire me. I did leave about two weeks later though as he was insufferable with a real anger issue, and was impossible to work with. Was very tempted to pop in and visit wearing a cap with my name on, but I didn’t want him to die from rage."

Pick Your Battels

u/gateauxes: "I used to work at a [beverage] store with two extremely unreliable people who loved drama. Both of them got into a stupid fight with the manager and quit on the spot, leaving me and a skeleton crew to manage the rest of the crazy summer season. The rest of the crew spent a good portion of their shifts sitting on pallets, making out in the bathroom, and/or drinking on the job, so I was the go-to employee suddenly.

Comparatively to the two drama queens, I was a very well-behaved employee, but I would sometimes take my tips and pop over to the coffee shop next door while on the clock. One time I stepped back into the store right as the manager came into the other entrance. I just stood there and looked at her, she kind of shrugged helplessly, and let me do it for the rest of the summer because she knew if she fired me, that place would fall apart."

Breaking Point

u/Mjdillaha: "I worked at Burger King as a teenager. One day, the assistant manager, who illegally brought her teenage daughter to work to help her out, asked me to clean the restrooms. It wasn’t my normal job but I didn’t mind. I had a good attitude about it and prepared to go clean the bathrooms. I walked into the men’s room and discovered that the reason she asked me to do it was because someone pooped all over the bathroom. Smeared fecal matter on the walls, the sink, the floor, and the outside of the toilet. The toilet was clogged and had wet, used toilet paper inside of it and all over the room.

It was a complete disaster. I walked out of the bathroom, went back to the kitchen, and told the assistant manager 'I’m not cleaning that. You can fire me but I’m not cleaning it.' She sighed heavily and went and got a mop."

The Boss Who Couldn't Lead

u/MunkyChron: "A 'manager' threatened to fire me because I wouldn’t make some system changes that would have led the company very open to a cyber attack. I had recorded a phone call between the manager and me where I explained the risk and that we needed someone more senior to sign off on that risk before I would make the change. He swore at me and told me just to do it which was all captured on the recording…At the HR meeting where he was going to effectively fire me, I insisted on bringing representation…

So I chose his boss. The meeting starts, the 'manager' cites insubordination, etc., and I just sat there. When they eventually said we were giving you formal notice, I just asked 'Are you sure?' He replied yes. My representative (his boss) at this point had said nothing. It was at this point I played the recording. I was asked to leave the room. I was called back 15 minutes later, apologized to, given a pay rise, and informed that the 'manager' will no longer be working on this client site. Or any client site we supported."

Here's a Little Tip...

u/WrestleCuck: "For the past few years I’ve worked at one of the 'nicer' restaurants in my small beach town. I’m one of the only servers there who cares about doing good and I’m the only one who doesn’t take a smoke break every 15 minutes. This past summer a new, very illegal, rule was implemented that if we messed up an order in any way we would be liable to pay for that messed-up food. I usually didn’t have a problem with mess ups so I didn’t bring up the legality of this matter since I make good money and don’t want to start fires in places that don’t concern me.

That is until I rang in a ‘Cherry-Glazed Burger’ instead of a ‘Cherry-Glazed Steak’…I fixed this with the kitchen, but not before they had already started the burger. I told my manager and she…told me that the rules are the rules. I then dived into both federal and state workers' rights codes and told her she would never see me again if I found any money out of my tips at the end of the night. Never had a problem fixing an order again."

Sick and Tired

u/rkl666: "I once called in sick to my part-time job at Club Monaco. My manager told me that if I couldn't find anyone to cover my shift, I was going to be fired.

So I FaceTimed her from the ER and had the doctor explain to her that I needed an MRI cause they wanted to make sure I didn't have a brain tumor."

Battling the Micromanager

u/sonofabunch: "Worked for Radioshack and always butted heads with the District Manager. He wanted me to use these ridiculous sales techniques that might work in a big city but were really pushy for a small town. The year he became our DM I won a contest for best salesman in the whole company, out of about 14,000 employees, and I did it without being pushy and forcing stuff on people.

He still tried to get me to use these ridiculous techniques each month when he would visit, but after I won the contest I stopped sugar-coating it and would flat-out tell him, 'That’s stupid, I’m not going to do it that way.' He threatened to get me fired every time, but nothing ever came of it, wonder why."

A Bold Stand

u/KlvrDissident: "I was 17 and working part-time at a fast food restaurant. Someone wrecked the men’s restroom. You can imagine. The manager came out and told me to clean it.

I refused. She threatened to fire me, to which I laughed in her face and told her, 'You can clean it yourself or you can lose an employee and still clean it yourself. I don’t need this job.' Needless to say, I wasn’t fired and I didn’t clean that up. I still laugh thinking about it."

No Rest for the Sick

u/Kanaraketti: "Was working in a restaurant, already knew I was sick but our managers were a------- and I knew if I called in they'd be extremely pissy. Showed up to work around 8 am, and by 9 am I knew I wasn't gonna last the rest of the day, managers still made me stay. Around 9:30 I was pre-bussing my tables and just the site of half-eaten food pushed me over the edge, managed to hold my vomit until I got to the dishwashing area but puked in a trashcan immediately after putting my plates down.

A coworker saw me and vouched for me when I went to tell my manager I was leaving for the doctor, he said, 'Even with a doctor's note, if you leave work today you'll be fired.' I said, 'You have human waste in a kitchen trashcan and haven't even done anything about it, it's on camera, I'm leaving.' Showed up for work a few days later and didn't hear anything about it. Ended up quitting a few weeks later for a job at a couple of considerably higher scale restaurants."

The Art of Manipulation

u/Sardorim: "I worked a job where I was the only one who knew how to take apart, clean, fix, and put all the equipment back together and do the weekly and monthly maintenance. Had a boss tell me one day that I was doing a poor job and not doing enough and that anyone could do it. If I didn’t step up I would be fired or else as they had manuals for each piece of equipment. So that night I took apart all the equipment…, cleaned them, and then just left it apart for them to figure out that morning. Then I turned off my phone after getting home for the entire day as I had the day off.

When I turned it back on the next day I saw that I had initially received angry texts ordering me to return and put everything back together…Came in the next day and over half the stuff was still not put together…Was immediately asked to be seen by my boss and their boss to explain myself…Once in the office, I told them that if they weren’t there to apologize then just fire me then and there or drop it and let me put all the stuff back together. They looked at each other and then told me that I could get back to work. Boss never called me lazy again."

Mans Best Friend

u/Blackmaybe: "My dog became very ill quite suddenly and he needed to be put down, I was at work and I asked to leave half an hour early so I could be there for him. I asked my manager and she got annoyed and said there was 'no way' and that I should have told her earlier.

I said 'I’m sorry, I didn’t realize my dog was going to die' in the most sarcastic way possible then walked away knowing she’d follow me, I then stood at my desk and started to type my resignation in front of her. She gave me the time off. No one was going to stop me from being there for my boy."

#Winning

"My boss called an unscheduled meeting and accused me of sabotaging a project. I denied it, but she was livid. 'Your employment here is over, effective immediately!' she yelled.

Me: 'Is that so? Well, before you get ahead of yourself, check your email.' Her face turned red as she read the email from the CEO, 'I told you to apologize to Mr. Johnson for wrongly accusing him!'.

After closing her laptop and standing up, she immediately apologized and looked super embarrassed. So embarrassed, in fact, that I got a massive Christmas bonus that year and 7 extra paid vacation days. #winning."

Pedal to the Metal

U/kingwild: "In my previous company we were required to drive leasing cars. The budget was based on your position and I got myself a nice, fully equipped diesel car since I drove 200+ kilometers a day. All was good for a couple of years and the end of the lease was coming up. I was planning to get the same car again and found out that due to inflation the rates went up but our budget didn't. This forced me to drive a model with a smaller engine and fewer options. So I talked to management because the difference was only 50 euros a month. The answer was no. After reviewing my contract, I found out that I was also allowed to drive a gasoline car. Although the company encourages the employees that drive more than 100 kilometers a day to drive a more fuel-economical diesel car…To my surprise, the leasing form I submitted was approved and one month later I picked it up and liked it from day one. Coming from a diesel car with a consumption of 1 liter per 20 kilometers, I went back to 1 liter per 11 kilometers. Add to this that gasoline was about 30 cents per liter more expensive than diesel.

Fast forward one month, fuel statements coming in and suddenly I'm the one who uses the most fuel in the company. Got called in the office to explain…. So I did and pointed out that the regulations stated that people were encouraged but not required to drive fuel-economic diesel cars. And since they did not want to do anything on my budget, I got myself a nice gasoline car. So saving 50 euros a month ended up paying 300 euros a month extra."

Challenge Accepted

"I was working as a receptionist at a law firm when my boss decided to put me to the ultimate test. He said, 'I'll give you one week to prove that you're worth keeping around.' I smirked and replied, 'Challenge accepted.'

For the next seven days, I arrived at work late, wore outrageous outfits, and answered phone calls with ridiculous accents.

My boss was fuming but he couldn’t fire me because I technically didn’t do anything wrong or in violation of my contract. The worst part—all of my other colleagues thought it was hilarious and brought some much-needed laughter to the firm."

Breaking Free

u/Anibunny: "Important note: My usual job was 3 am-noon and I was sleeping from 5 pm-1 am. A split shift meant working 4:30 am-8 am and coming back to 7 pm-11:30 pm…I had been working a series of split shifts and the wacky sleep schedule was really getting to me. I was told I would only need to do it three days in a row, but then it became four days…and then finally I went to sleep after the 4th shift, got woken up by my boss calling me and telling me I would have to work one more split shift.

I told him 'No' and that I would come in for my usual schedule. He started to argue with me and asked me why it was a big deal especially since I had worked it almost every day this week, so why not work one more? When I explained I was having issues with sleep and that I wouldn’t come in he was like, 'But it’s your job! I am scheduling you for another split shift.' And I just yelled at him, 'Then I don’t need this job!' He started apologizing and that he would let me get some sleep. I hung up. I went to work the next morning for my usual split and everyone there was surprised to see me. My boss had told everyone he thought I might not show up at all and wasn’t sure if I had quit. I worked my usual shift, my boss came in at 8 am, and began apologizing right away…Then he said, 'If working a split was so hard on you, you could have told me no!'"

Management Fails

u/Vulturo: "The company was doing badly in the 2008 depression. They hired an expensive new Vice President to lead our division who asked me barely one month in to sack any 2 people from my team of software engineers whoever I felt like because she said so as layoffs were necessary to ensure long-term stability or some such.

I steadfastly refused and dared her to fire me instead, and the issue really blew up at the time. Before they could fire any of us though a new contract came along that needed more people to execute than we ever had on our rolls. They didn’t hire anyone new but we had to slog our a---- to deliver the project. The VP got fired a few months later as she was way too expensive and wasn’t adding enough value."

I Quit on My Own Terms

u/Swarles_Stinson: "I told my boss 2 weeks in advance that I was taking time off on Monday and Tuesday. She approved it with no problem. I took the days off and went out of town…I come back into the office on Wednesday and I’m locked out of my account. I talked to the operations manager…who was the person who interviewed and hired me to see what was going on. He told me that my boss said I disappeared and didn’t contact anybody for 2 days…

I talk to my boss later in the afternoon and she is furious. Starts saying how I didn’t tell anybody that I was taking time off and thought I just suddenly quit…At this point, I was the only person left on my team of 4 people who were there when I was hired. I was already planning on quitting in next month as I had to move to school. Then she had the audacity to threaten to fire me. I said, 'If you feel like you need to let me go for your mistake, go ahead.' Ended up working there for another 7 weeks before leaving on my terms."

Refusing to Work for Free

u/reserge11: "When I was 17 I worked a summer holiday job at Pizza Hut. I transferred to my hometown restaurant from my University town restaurant. I was there for 5 weeks and hadn’t been paid yet. The boss claimed it was because I gave him the wrong employee number. I hadn’t. Anyway, after 5 weeks of no pay, I rang him on New Year’s Eve (ie busiest night of the summer) and said I wasn’t coming to work because I wasn’t a volunteer and I wasn’t going to work for free.

He told me if I didn’t go to work I may as well not come back as I would be fired. I didn’t go to work and had a fun New Year's instead. Then a few days later I called the Employment Tribunal (I’m in New Zealand) and told them what had happened. They called my boss. He then called me, offered me my job back, and was nice as pie for the rest of the summer."

A Caterer's Tale

u/extaynia: "I was delivering catering to an office one day and the receptionist started freaking out because she had messed up the order she placed. She was yelling at me in front of her boss, saying that I was late (I was early) and that the order was wrong when it wasn’t. She was making such a big issue of it and then said she was going to report me to my manager and get me fired.

So I said see if I care and gave her the number. She called and I picked up on my cell phone because I own the catering business. Everyone in that room was laughing at her.

When Bosses Lose Perspective

"I worked at a cancer nonprofit. Hired a lady who knew about us because her kid had cancer. The boss wanted me to fire her because she had to come in late or leave early to take her kid to chemo. I refused. The boss said she’d fire me if I didn’t. I told her she could go right ahead. Our CEO said no way.

This was like 10 years ago. Unfortunately, my boss still works there – the same woman who told me not to hire some people because she thought their “ethnic” names would mean they didn’t fit in with our 'office culture.' Yeah, she’s actually been investigated both by HR and I think the state."

Surviving Toxic Management

u/haelesor: "I put in my two weeks' notice at my wildly understaffed job. 6 days later got sick. I called around and see if anyone could take my shift. No one is available. Tried to call out that morning. My manager tries to persuade me to come in even though I am barfing everywhere. I non-commitally agree to call in later in the day to see if I am feeling up to coming in anyway.

Call back, and say I am still sick and will not be coming in. The Manager blows up at me in front of customers, being rude and demeaning. Eventually asks what I expect to do about the shift that needs to be covered. I say I have done everything I am required to and it sounds like a management problem to me, and she could fire me if she wanted to, as I was gone in five days anyway. Then I hung up and turned my phone off."

Moving On

"I was working in a bar during my undergrad and I had to take a 4-week field course to graduate. Understandably, it's a pita for them since it's a long time but I told them well in advance and they didn't care then and they had plenty of bar staff to cover.

Of course, when the time comes around for me to leave they start giving me s--- and saying how I must not care about the bar, why can't I stay, etc etc. Obviously, I had to take this class so I left, but they never scheduled me when I got back. That place was a fratty nightmare though, I wasn't upset about it."

Workplace Revolution

u/consortofladyvader: "I'm a speech therapist. I work in a skilled nursing facility. For the most part…..they all suck. This is no exception. But in the place I used to work, the boss was a s---bag. To the extent that the entire rehab staff signed a letter asking to get him fired. He was basically forced out, and I eventually left and came to my current job.

I swung by the rehab gym and…..saw his a-- sitting in my current boss's office. I kind of froze in shock…I thought he was interviewing for a job there. So I went to the boss at the time and told her flat out that if he got hired…I was walking out immediately. She got a stunned look on her face and quickly assured me that he wasn't working there. That was my first time drawing a line in the sand like that."

Workplace Abuse and Redemption

"Recently, I was working at a concert. The management at this site was trash and never actually gave us any orders. They just expected people who rarely worked there to inherently know when to stop letting people in, when to kick people out, who was allowed in and who wasn’t, etc etc. Well, another guard and I let one girl in who said she was with her boyfriend who worked with the people who set up the concert. The supervisor was there with a couple of other supervisors and they laughed and called us lemons. The other guard working with me didn’t know what it meant. Before the supervisor could say anything, I said 'A lemon is a car that doesn’t work. He’s saying that we’re bad at our jobs. He’s saying that because blaming us for him being a bad leader is easier than admitting he didn’t do his job correctly and helping us be better.' Oh, things got really quiet after that…

He said he’d tell the home office that I was fired. I said 'Yeah, ok, see you tomorrow'. See, what he didn’t know is that the home office loves me. I’m the single most reliable guy they have. I show up hours early to a job, am always willing to stay late if needed, and usually pick up last-minute shifts…Don’t know if he ever did call the office, because no one ever said a thing to me about it. He scowled when he saw me the next day and didn’t say a word to me. So I’m gonna assume that the office didn’t believe him when he called in."

Know Your Worth

u/xmasape: "In the first kitchen I worked in, they told me the more jobs I learned, the more I’d get paid…6 months later I had learned every job there except 1 spot. They told me if I learned that spot, I’d get a raise. I told them I could find a new kitchen as I was easily one of the best employees there, and that I was told the more I learned the more I'd get paid, and I still hadn’t been given a raise. The Head Chef cracked and gave me a raise. I told him 50 cents wasn’t enough. He was forced to give me another.

2 weeks after that, they fired the banquet chef’s assistant (we had a lot of 300+ people at events) and told him to pick his new assistant, he immediately requested me. I told them I needed another raise, but I was told no again, again I said I’ll find a new job, came in the next day, and put my 2 weeks in…Wound up making more money in that kitchen than anyone besides the banquet chef and the head chef. That’s how I wound up getting 3 raises in a month."

Own Your Mistake

u/Beraht: "I’ve been at the company a long time, therefore I know both day and nightshift duties in and out, I’m well-liked by our clients and in charge of training the new recruits. Most work for us for up to 6-12 months before growing tired of the workload or finding that they can’t handle the job or just want cash enough to study up for something else. Anyway, they are heavily dependent on me.

My closest boss threatened to fire me for being home one day and drinking beer when I was supposed to be at work. 2 weeks prior I had agreed to do overtime but I wanted a new schedule so I would not miss it. I got a new schedule, but she had forgotten to fill in that day on it. She blamed me for it anyway and said it was grounds for terminating my contract. I dared her to do it and see how long we could stay in business. She did not accept the challenge."

Taking a Stand for Fair Pay

u/vesimg: "The owner of the company was avoiding the meeting where I was to get my raise. I waited over two weeks. Finally told my Supervisor, that I was walking out the door if they didn’t fix this. They told me to go talk to him. I told them they were the Supervisors and it was their job to do that, not mine.

They did, and I got my raise by the end of the day. Why? Because I’m in an understaffed position at a job that is very difficult to fill. If I left then the rest would have gone too. They knew that."

Learn From the Worst

u/mjergen: "As I was studying in Paris, I also worked night shifts in a hotel near the Hôtel de Ville district. I worked from 8 pm to 8 am several nights in a row. The hotel was very busy as it was a very touristic area so getting 4 hours of sleep over the total 4-5 nights was usual. It happened several times a week that the hotel manager simply forgot to relieve me in the morning, so I'd be falling asleep on the counter as they came 2 or 3 hours late. When I politely remarked that I was tired and that they were late again, he'd simply laugh it off and say 'I guess we forgot about you'

Finally, I decided to pass a job interview for some other work, that essentially happened during the day, so I'd finally sleep my nights. When I found out that they accepted me in that new job, I waited until my shift should've started that Friday evening and phoned the manager waiting for me to relieve him at the desk. [Me] Oh hello, I just called to say that I got a new job from next Monday, so I'm not coming tonight, nor ever. [Manager] What do you…but you can't…why didn't you say something sooner? [Me] I guess I forgot about you"

The Puppet Master

u/Jethro_sanchez: "I had a big staff meeting to plan for the upcoming year about holidays and such so we could have the appropriately trained people on site to cover the guys that would be away. In the meeting I said to the owner, 'So do you want us to email you or the scheduler about this directly?' He says both, so I say ok I’ll email it in but I will be gone for 2 weeks, and I tell him the date. He says that it’s approved but to email it in. So I email it to him, the scheduler, and my foreman at the time. My holidays come and on the last day, I send my foreman a message…He fires back with, you didn’t tell me you were taking days off, I’m gonna suspend you without pay for 2 weeks.

Well as you imagine that didn’t go well, I politely told him that I had the emails and he was in the room when we discussed the exact dates I would be gone, and that his lack of planning wasn’t my fault at all. So I phoned the owner, who I had happened to work for for 7 years at this point, being the second-longest employed person there, and told him that the 3 of us would be having a meeting in the morning to sort it out. So I wrote up my resignation and took it with me, along with my company phone, credit card, and keys to the meeting where the owner proceeded to fire the foreman after about 5 minutes, and gave me the job as foreman for the crew."

Don't Push Me

u/Hollywood7: "My husband was having his gallbladder taken out and was having complications before surgery. I needed to leave early from work for about two hours and my boss threw a fit stating I couldn’t leave. I told her I had 300 hours of sick time I could use for myself and my husband and if she wanted to push me, I’d take all of it at once.

That would have left no one but her to do my job. She said she’d fire me if I tried. I just looked at her and said I have to go I’ll send you my Dr.’s note. I wasn’t fired. I was actually awarded that year for job performance."

My Incompetent Boss

u/Kalgor91: "I worked for a newspaper, editing and actually putting the paper together…I was a one-man team and used an overly complicated system that I figured out how to use really effectively. They treated me like c---, set impossible deadlines, and berated me for not meeting them.

One day the boss told me to fully put a paper done by the end of the day, gave me no warning, I had no articles from the journalists and no photos from photographers…I told him no, if he wants it done, he has to give me more time. He tells me if I don’t have it done by the end of the day I’m fired, I tell him that this paper can’t function without me. He tells me I need to 'take the day off and cool my temper,' and that he’ll do my job for me. Get a call an hour after I get home that he needs me to come in and do it and I can have as much time as I need. Too little, too late; I quit and the paper did not come out for weeks."

We All Have Our Priorities

u/tucorazon: "I was working at a shoe store in a mall and I requested a week in August off for my wedding. My manager told me her boss wasn’t happy about that and all I said was, 'My wedding is more important than back-to-school sales.'

They didn’t 'fire' me, per se, they just stopped scheduling me and eventually, my access to the employee website went away."

I Guess I’m Fired

u/technos: "I was elbows deep in an AT&T Unix machine that should’ve been replaced a decade before, parts were strewn all over a desk when the client came in to see what was taking me so long. Me: You’ve got three dead fans, one of the power supplies has failed, there’s a bad CMOS battery and the video card is glitchy and refusing to allow the machine to POST sometimes. Client: So how long is that going to take? Fifteen minutes? Me, laughing: I can patch things up in a couple of hours, but I’m going to have to come back in a few days with new parts. Client: If you can’t fix it in the next half hour you’re fired. I’ll find someone that knows what they’re doing.

I stood up, grabbed my tools, and started walking. Client: Where are you going? Me: I told ya how long it would take, and that’s longer than a half hour, so I guess I’m fired. My firing lasted about three more steps towards the door."

Abuse of Power

u/blackjustin: "I was working at an important political building. Been there for about a year. Other employees have been there for decades. 99% of the staff is black, including myself. None of us have ever been written up. A new manager shows up. An older white lady with a complex, and starts berating people for not doing their jobs, when they are very clearly doing their jobs as the job is defined. She berates people until they backtalk, then fires them for insubordination. She fires ten out of 13 people, all black, and replaces them with white workers.

She approaches me and begins berating me. I am onto what she is doing. I do not react. My lack of reaction leads her to tell me I’m being insubordinate, and I’m fired…Six months later, she’s been fired, her supervisor is fired, and his supervisor has been demoted to the worst position a supervisor can have. A lawsuit has been filed that resulted in about $100,000 in damages to the victims."

Corporate Monsters

u/morelamplz: "The day before my mom had been feeling bad, calling me at work and giving me updates. I finally convince her she needs to go to the ER, and I tell her to stay put and that I will be there soon to take her…She insisted that I stay at work…I’m taking her to the ER…I tell my direct manager I’m leaving, and she’s like fine whatever. Make up the hours…fine.

Image by Hash Naidoo Jade photography/Unsplash

The next day my mom is still not great but it’s fine. I got her meds, but they still need to run other tests. So I decide to stay home with her and take care of her and run errands…I called out leaving a message with our customer service desk, but soon after I got a call from a manager of a different department asking why I called out. I tell her I need to take care of my mom…The manager continues to try and convince me my mom is fine, and that I need to come in. I give in and tell her all the gory medical details. The manager is unrelenting and finally finished with the cherry on top, 'I’m sure your mom would rather you have a job to come back to.' I answered her with, 'See but I can go out and get another job. I can’t go out and get another mom. I’m staying home today to take care of my mom.' She said something about seeing me the next day in an attempt to end the convo and say bye so I said yeah we’ll see how she’s doing said goodbye and hung up."

The Price of Power

"I worked at a terrible retail boutique in college. Worked my way up to management. Their pay policies were illegal, and the inept district director they hired staffed terribly. I worked open to close by myself multiple times. I finally locked up in the middle of the day to go take a break once. Got caught. Told if I did it again I’d be fired. I told them to stop understaffing and it wouldn’t happen again.

They did it again. I locked up again and a customer called corporate. I was fired. The last laugh was on them because I threatened to sue them for violating employment law. Sure did. Class action. Multi-million dollar settlement getting back lost wages for 1000+ employees across multiple states. Plus unemployment for me. Actually, what led to a complete life change for me and I wouldn’t be as successful now had I just let them continue to abuse me. Short-term financial pain and scary when you don’t know how you will afford food or how to pay bills. Made it through and definitely worth it. Not only for me but a lot of people benefitted."

Offer You Can't Refuse

"I asked my boss for a raise and he laughed, 'Why should I give you a raise? You're nothing special.' I smirked and replied, 'Well, I do happen to have a job offer from your biggest competitor…if you're not interested in keeping a valuable employee.' Boss: Ha! You expect me to believe that? Me: pulls out phone, dials number Boss: …

Me: Yeah, hi. I’m just wondering if I could speak to the manager about that job offer we discussed yesterday. I watched my boss stare at me with his mouth hanging open. I put the phone on speaker and the manager of the competitor company confirmed my offer, stating how impressed they were by my application. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he heard."

Tales of an Unreasonable System

u/SomethingaboutAvs: "I was in the military and was trying to take my vacation time before I lost the days. They denied my requests 4 different times and I hadn’t had a day off in 3 months and I was working 12-16 hours shifts most days…I was teaching some new guys part of the tasks for one job….This Quality Assurance guy that everyone knew was a pain came in…

He then asked to talk to me and pulled me aside. He then asked me if I hadn’t told the new guy about some super obscure caution about water under a grate in the hanger floor…I was over the job and him so I told him, 'Listen Sergent QA, I've been denied my leave 4 separate times and I’ve been working for 3 months straight, so if you have a problem with the way I taught them write me up and stuff it up your b--- too. Tell my boss I said that.' When I went back in I knew I was in deep because the guy walked out of my shop head’s office and I got called right in. When I went in there, the shop head said, 'I heard what happened out there, submit the days you want to take leave right now and I’ll approve it for you.' Then told me I could leave. That’s all I heard about it I was shocked."

The Cleanliness Crisis

u/Carpe_DMX: "I was working at a bookstore in the King of Prussia Mall. My college girlfriend of 4 years had broken up with me earlier that night. It was around 7-8 pm on a busy weekend night when I noticed a pretty awful smell. I glanced over at my manager working the other register and could tell he smelled it too, but we continued to power through a line of antsy customers.

Once we cleared the line a woman came up to me red-faced and laughing in shock and embarrassment. She said she had walked into one of the aisles to find a girl about 8 years old taking a c--- on the floor. I looked over at the manager who clearly had heard as well and said, 'Dave, you can go ahead and fire me, but I’m not cleaning that up.'"

Respectfully No

U/notjustanytadpole: "It was a beautiful spring day. I was working two jobs and was keen to ditch the server gig. I was covering the first section. It was a dead day so I asked my manager if I could leave. She said, 'If no one is seated in your section by noon, you can leave.'

At 11:58 a couple was seated. I asked another server to cover and went to clock out. My manager demanded I take that one table. I respectfully asked her to reconsider. She dug in. I told her I quit, walked out and as I got close to the door, I flung my apron in the air and watched it cartwheel to the floor. It was so satisfying."

Work Your Wage

U/tan_yashere: "Have a friend who worked for a large multinational company, when he was passed over for a promotion to the job that he was a perfect match for he started to not give a f---. He still did his job correctly, and was a solid employee but refused to do any extra work…His new boss started to berate him, why he wasn't getting things done, how he wasn't staying late etc etc.

His new manager makes up some b------- stories and tells him he is fired. Let's just say, the company was not impressed with the amount of severance they are forking over for wrongful dismissal."

Sweet Revenge

U/ILIKEPOTATOES82: "The actual quitting wasn't anything spectacular. I gave my notice and worked it out. But, during my exit interview, I told them exactly the things my supervisor had done to make me want to leave.

I found out later that they investigated my reports, confirmed them, demoted her, and she quit. They asked me to come back, but I'd already found a better job."

Setting Boundaries

U/sabermagnus: "Left a Big 4 consulting company on the spot. The expectation was for me to go out and drink/socialize with clients. I don’t drink. Clients were literally calling me at 7 am on Sunday, right before Sunday school, and 2 in the morning on Saturday.

Nope, must go out and socialize. Told them to kiss my a-- and I won’t budge. Gave her my badge and went home. 2 years later, they hired me as a contractor for the 3x the money."

Gross Goodbye

U/juniper_flesco: "My older brother worked for a car wash that’s main water supply was shared through the entire facility. Apparently, it’s main inlet was the bathroom.

So on his last day, he left an upper decker in the toilet. Nobody being any the wiser, they suspected it being a septic leak into the main line, I suppose, so they shut the entire place down until they resolved it."

Famous Last Words

U/sixpackshaker: "I had a friend work as a waiter at an upscale Mexican restaurant. They fired him before his shift, and they expected him to work the whole shift after being told he was fired.

When his first customer asked for some butter, he loudly replied, 'If you want butter. Why don't you scrape it off your teeth!' They decided to let him go home."

Edited by Vishal Subramanian