Between early mornings, long commutes, and insufferable bosses, our jobs can take a toll on us and we spend a significant amount of the time. Then, the majority of our waking hours are consumed by work, and there comes a point when the job simply ceases to be worth the toll it takes. And, that is when most of them decide to walk out and take their loss.
In a shocking Reddit thread, users share their breaking points that drove them to resign from their jobs. From bosses refusing to approve raises or employers who cross personal boundaries, the reasons behind these dramatic exits are both shocking and eye-opening. Prepare to be amazed by some of the unbelievable reasons these individuals chose to leave their jobs!
1. Instant Decision
User account U/MisfortuneGortune said: 'My manager used to snap fingers in my face while standing 3 inches away from my eyes with a slow drall 'Youuuuu're doingggggg ittttt wrooonnnggg, hellooo that is not how I told you to do itttt'
While folding the shirts, I slowed down less than optimal (even though achieving the same fold-also it was my third week and one of 20 folds I had to learn on that job). I walked right then and there.'
2. Standing Up For Others And Myself
Somebody with the username U/s8n29 mentioned that: 'The company told me I was to implement new policies. All the employees must report to work 15 minutes prior for their shift, however they would not be paid for that time and they can only take their unpaid lunch breaks in designated areas under certain circumstances.
I said that we need to have a meeting to discuss the legality of their new policies before I could enforce them on my team. They replied 'Either you enforce the policies or you resign your position.' I said Toddles!! They begged me to re-think and not take a 'bad decision' just because I was upset. Unfortunately I was already out the door.'
3. Educational Priorities
Someone on a reddit account with username U/blake41185 said: 'When I was in grad school, I was waiting tables and I requested for a weekend off a week prior (It was after I received my syllabus) because there was a seminar pertinent to a class. My professor expected us to go and write a paper. It was a decent chunk of our grade.
When the weekend arrives, lo and behold, I’m scheduled to double Friday through Sunday. I looked for the manager and told him I cannot do that and gave him a month's notice. She pulled the 'requests are just requests not guarantees' and I told her that I would fail in that class if I didn't go. She shrugged and said, 'That is not my problem.'
I told her 'is now' and left. Like hell, I would fail a class of my masters degree for waiting tables…'
4. Violation Of A Boundary
Somebody with the username U/doublestitch spoke about: 'When I was in a meeting with my boss who was a problematic guy to work with and he got up and punched the wall and he did not do so as a joke. He bare knuckled the wall of his office like he was in the gym hitting on a punching bag.
I was sitting in shock for two seconds, then got up and left. He cleared the desk, left from the back door without uttering a single word with anybody. There is no place for such behavior in the professional world even if the guy does own the company.'
5. The Final Take
User account U/whatamidoing-here1 said: 'He would not train nicely and yell at me in front of everyone in the office. He would always threaten me about my job or he would hire someone else and once I finally said, "I hope you find someone better because I quit and will leave once the other lady comes back from lunch."
He also tried to pedal backwards asking if I was serious and I never looked behind. ETA: He hired me without any experience because he knew he could lowball me. I received pennies for what someone with experience would get paid.'
6. The Stranded Ship
Somebody with the username U/HalfSugarMilkTea mentioned that: 'At my office job, I quit after my first day as the lady who was training me would ignore me when my manager was not around and I caught her searching my purse when I went to the washroom.
At another job at a clinic, I quit after a month as they made me do a solo receptionist shift without training me on what I needed to do to open the clinic, and I was scolded for not being aware of what I had to do, right in front of patients. It was that bad because some patients came to check on me asking if I was ok.'
7. Sudden Resignation
Someone on a reddit account with username U/oldatheart515 said: 'I never quit however my favorite example is when a colleague in student transportation finally received a position she wanted after suffering for years through stress and was called by the management over the summer and said she was being re-assigned to a demanding and stressful role because nobody else wanted to do it.
She fought for a long time and it was hard to get what she wanted and her immediate response was, "Then tell me what I need to do to resign." And she did quit and she has been at peace with her decision ever since.'
8. I Was SOOO Done
The tale of this narrator goes as follows: 'Earlier I worked as a supervisor of housekeeping at a hotel. During holidays, the management would take their day off leaving me at the highest role in charge to look after. When I asked for a raise after working a full year of holidays because the only management was denied the next year on the biggest party day in the city.
I told my employees to catch up on their work and sent the managers my picture at the bar partying and telling them the hotel might be on fire, I don't quite know and remember, I quit.'
9. A Bitter Exit
Somebody with the username U/SuspiciousHornet77 spoke about: 'I was committed that if I got my accounting degree they would move me to IA so I could get hours towards my CPA. I decided to work my ass off and graduated and the boss went like 'Yeahhhhhh, we would like to move you to the customer service, does it sound good?'
I stayed up late that night as a drafted a company wide "F*ck you" mail. Maybe in hindsight, I shouldn't have done that but some bridges just beg to be burnt.'
10. A Challenging EXIT
User account U/Kind-Dust7441 said: 'The owner of the organization asked me to fire a woman for coming to work on time. There was something different with them, some absurd rule that he applied went backward to suit whichever mood he was in on any given day.
So during that particular morning, he took that as a personal insult and displayed a blatant disrespect that his employees did not come early and could not just fire them. I could not fire a woman who I did not like to please his new notion. So instead of firing her, I went into his office and quit myself.
Surprisingly, the woman I couldn't fire went on to work for years and might be still working there, if I may say so, twenty-some years later.'
11. Deceive-To Role
Somebody with the username U/nelsonalgrencametome mentioned that: 'I was straight up lied about the role. It was a management position at a residential health facility and I took that (leaving a great paying but stressful position) because it wouldn't require travel and was supposed to be much more laid back.
Among other issues, I ended up having to work 8 weeks straight without a single day off (even weekends and one holiday) so after a very fiery meeting with upper management where one person straight up lied to cover their own mess. Then, I decided to send a resignation email from the parking lot.'
12. Crazy As* Busy
Someone on a reddit account with username U/TapestryMobile said: 'I wanted a long service holiday but it was rejected because they said "We are too busy right now.' So I decided to go later and applied for leave again after several months and again, it was denied saying, "We are too busy right now."
After a few months AGAIN I wanted to take a long service holiday and AGAIN it was denied because "We are too busy right now." This time around I replied to the email with my resignation and handed in my pass to security, and walked out the door."
13. Smothering Commands
Another user narrated his part of the story, where: " I trained a guy and he told me his starting wage was $27 per hour even though he had few years of experience and was out of the industry for a while. After training, the dude would repeatedly come to me so I could fix his problems and he would have some dumb questions each day.
When I asked my boss for a raise as this dude was at $27 and I was at $22, he said that he could find somebody who could do my job for $16 so I said 'ok then let’s do that' handed him my badge and walked out after 15 years.'
14. Failed Ambitions
User account U/QueenPlum_ said: "1) My boss quit and the management wanted me to run the department as a manager but they had me at the position of an assistant pay,
2) They hired a new manager behind my back (for the role they have promised me for months) and wanted me to train her, still at assistant pay level.
3) New managers went for a vacation and I was supposed to run the department alone again. I waited till the new manager was out of town and quit."
15. A Terrible Boss
Somebody with the username U/Cold_Hour mentioned that: "I had some bosses who when entered the room, the energy would drop. You could hear him shout at people every day from his office.
Once, I was yelled at for not checking with him before writing a press release. When I checked with him the next day, I was scolded for not 'thinking for myself' and realized he was just tripping on a power and I straight up gave my resignation to HR within an hour."
16. Unaccountable Boss
This person without a username goes on to talk about his tale: "I got crushed when I was fired right after I boosted sales to $8,000 in just three months. But a young new recruit girl who was inexperienced took it over.
The owner's wife, who was the sales manager, told me to clear out my desk which was a huge mistake and after two days, the call I was waiting for came in and the Sales Manager went like: Where are the sales invoices for August? and the conversation on where,
17. I said: I left hard copies with my replacement.
Sales Manager: We can’t find them, so you need to come in tomorrow to sort this out.
Me: Sorry, that’s not possible. I won’t be coming back. She kept insisting and threatened to withhold my last paycheck.
This annoyed me the most and I would not allow her to push me around. Fortunately, I didn't hear back from her after she got a call from my lawyer."
18. The Resigning Revenge Re-invented and Returned
The tale of this narrator goes as follows: "I was healing my bruised ego after I was pushed ahead for promotion again and I resigned with a smile.
But my boss, who was arrogant, snatched it from my hand and crumpled it up. 'You can't leave, you're worthless to anyone else,' he sneered. That sly remark created an internal fire in me.
I immediately walked out of his office where I kept my head high. Eventually, days became weeks and my absence became a major problem for the company. Even though I was still scouring the internet for jobs, I kept tabs on their progress and watched with bitter pride as I saw their profits decreasing and decreasing."
19. Greater Offer
Another user narrated his part of the story, where: "After giving in my 5 years for the role, my boss nonchalantly strolled in and announced a promotion - not for me, but for a new recruit straight out of college. The breaking point was when I got in my belongings, walked over to the HR department, and submitted my resignation letter.
As I turned around to exit, I paused for a bit, leaned in and silently said, 'Oh, and by the way I received a better offer from another company a few weeks ago. It is twice what I was paid HERE! I walked out of there with the biggest smile on my face."
20. Uncontrolled Toxicity
Somebody with the username U/curryp4n mentioned that: "I was around while they dumped toxic sh*t down the drain untreated
as they dumped toxic s--- down the drain untreated. I even stuck around after they 'asked' me (but really threaten) to make a highly toxic and flammable solution. I finally left when one of the production guys complained I was on the computer a lot.
Earlier, I was transferring data from my lab work. On asking why the dude spent a lot of time spying on me rather than working, I was told I had to work harder. I quit 2 weeks later."
21. Remote Imbalance
User account U/believe0101 said: "All the student assistants who are graduates were forced to come to campus to work in person, sharing cramped cubicle spaces, while attending Zoom meetings where 100% of the full time staff were working from home.
To add an insult to injury… We had just spent an entire summer all working remotely and us grad assistants had proved our ability to complete our work to a high quality remotely. Nobody was even there on campus to supervise us or offer assistance without jumping on a call anyways. It was such b------ and I quit halfway through the year."
22. Broken Promises
Someone on a reddit account with username U/Cheezel62 said: "After having spent almost 2 years which was supposed to be a temporary secondment, and being told every 3 months that I 'needed a little longer,' I finally demanded to have me do my original job.
After I started my secondment, I was told that they would have someone else permanently. I handed my keys and security badge to my boss and walked out on the spot."
23. Not Such A Safe Bet!
Somebody with the username U/MrGreyJetZ spoke about: "I worked at a gas station when I was 16 years old and the owner had gone for a hunting trip and his wife opened the safe, took money and left. Later, I was accused of stealing it so I said that I did not have the combination for it and the day I worked that weekend didn't add up to what was gone.
Later on, he called the cops and admitted to them that only he and his wife had the combination. He was f------ [stupid]."
24. Profit >>> People
User account U/GamesGunsGreens said: "During the Covid pandemic, the small company I was employed with began displaying their monthly record profits on the bulletin board. The company experienced a dramatic increase, growing from a $4 million per month business to one generating $15 million per month. Despite this significant financial growth, they audaciously informed us that there was insufficient money in the bank to provide any raises for nearly two years.
I took a week off from work to attend the orientation for a new position. At the end of that week, I left the orientation, drove straight to my previous job, and informed the HR department that I was resigning. The most ironic part was that the HR department was extremely inefficient, which resulted in me receiving my vacation payout twice."
25. Exhaustion Blues
Somebody with the username U/thecooliestone mentioned that: "I was working at a fast food restaurant while also juggling student teaching and attending classes. I was in desperate need of just one day off to catch up on everything. My daily routine involved waking up at 5:30 a.m., teaching students until 3:00 p.m., and then working from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., often staying later because otherwise, they would illegally require the underage employees to close up. This demanding schedule left me with only 4 to 5 hours of sleep each night.
I attempted to call in sick, fabricating a story about my car breaking down so they would allow me to take the day off. However, instead of accepting my call-out, they sent someone to my house to pick me up. I had no prior notice or agreement about this; I just heard someone honking outside and discovered it was a fellow employee who had been dispatched to retrieve me. I worked that shift but after that experience, I blocked all communication from the company and never returned to work."
26. Considering The Injustice
Someone on a reddit account with username U/tranquilseafinally said: "When I worked as an insurance agent, there was a guy who was hired as an accountant but seldom performed the actual accounting tasks. Instead, he spent most of his time chatting on the phone. To my surprise, I discovered that his salary was nearly double that of the rest of us.
I approached the manager to inquire about this disparity, and she explained that his higher salary was due to his need to support a family. I argued that the rest of us, who were handling all the work, should be paid at least as much as he was. The manager refused to adjust our pay. Frustrated by the situation, I decided to resign on the spot.”
27. C’mon Check It Out
The tale of this narrator goes as follows: "Where I worked, the facility needed to be staffed around the clock, yet the company was unwilling to bring on additional personnel. To make matters worse, the corporation decided to terminate our General Manager without providing a replacement. This led to a situation where the original shift structure, which consisted of three 8-hour shifts per day, was abruptly changed to just two 12-hour shifts each day.
I reached my breaking point one night when, in the middle of my shift, I was informed that I would be required to stay an additional four hours beyond my scheduled time. The job itself was already miserable, compounded by the lack of effective management. A few years later, when I revisited some of my writings from that period, it became clear just how much I truly despise that job.”
28. Effects Of Family Business Fallout
Another user narrated his part of the story, where: "She terminated my spouse’s employment for a completely unjustifiable reason, yet she saw no problem with expecting me to continue working for her. She let me go through the entire day without even informing me that my husband had been let go.
I went home puzzled, wondering why my husband had vanished in the middle of the day. When he finally told me that he had been fired, it was a major shock. To make matters even worse, she was actually my mother. I’m incredibly relieved to be out of that situation."
29. Spoiling It Away
User account U/Alwaysonvacation2 said: "I received a disciplinary warning in writing for arriving late to a shift. However, there was a catch: the same manager who issued the write-up had called me on my day off, urgently asking if I could cover a shift starting in just two hours because no one else was available. I agreed to help out but mentioned that I might not make it on time. As it turned out, I arrived 2 hours and 15 minutes after the shift began. At the end of the shift, the manager wrote me up for being late.
I initially thought she was joking, but she insisted that I needed to be punctual even when covering for someone else. When she accused me of being unprofessional, I responded by wishing good luck to the new hire who had just started and decided to walk away from the job. Ah, the joys of restaurant work—it's truly exhausting."
30. Squashing Their Loyalty
Somebody with the username U/Velmabutgoth mentioned that: "When a coworker deliberately ran me over with her car, crushing my leg against my own vehicle, the company not only failed to fire her but actually promoted her just a month later. Given that I was one of only two full-time employees at the time, I confronted the management and demanded that they fire her. I made it clear that if they didn't take action, I would be resigning after learning about her promotion.
Edit: It was clear the incident was intentional. I heard her shouting through her open window, "That f------ took my parking spot," as she deliberately ran me over."
31. Overtime Revoked
Someone on a reddit account with username U/MaryGodfree said: "The management put in place a ridiculous and burdensome rule prohibiting any overtime, making it clear that there was no room for discussion or exceptions. The very next day, they unexpectedly required everyone to work late because new tasks had come in. I refused, citing the no-overtime policy they had established. The supervisor became quite irritated and gave me an ultimatum: either stay late or risk losing my job. I decided to call their bluff and walked out. It was incredibly satisfying.”
