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We refer to one of my brothers as the “One Day King.”
And that’s not a compliment!
This was a while ago and he’s been steadily employed for many years now, but there was a time when we were in high school and college where he quit several jobs after one day for various reasons…and all of us made fun of him endlessly about it.
Good times…
AskReddit users shared their stories about quitting jobs on the first day.
Let’s check them out!
1. Ugh!
“Restaurant.
Swept under my station when we were closing. Giant brown pile came out with broom from under low-boy fridge. Pile began to scatter.
It was hundreds of roaches.
Never returned.”
2. Off to a bad start.
“My first ever job.
I was thirteen and I would be delivering phone books from the back of a van through peoples letterboxes.
So I’d be in the back of the van with the phone books and there was an older guy driving slowly while I went back and forth to the van/houses with the books.
At one point the van was getting quite empty so there was more space to move around and we had finished the delivery in the street we were paid to deliver to and he drove to another.
While driving there he drove lets say aggressively and I fell inside the back where the books were. I wasn’t sitting in a seat as the van had no seats in the back. As I put my hand out to steady myself I accidentally laid it across a portable radio that had its antenna extended but the antenna was also broken half-way and razer sharp.
It sliced the palm of my hand clean open 3-4 inches. I can only describe what I saw as gruesome. I said to him to pull the van over and I needed help. He saw my hand and just threw me a plastic bag, the kind you’d get at a supermarket and told me to wrap my hand in it.
Then .. he continued with the deliveries, at-least he delivered the remaining books himself.
I should have been taken to a hospital or at-least home to my parents. I quit after that and never showed up again. As you can imagine my parents were quite angry at him.”
3. Trust your gut.
“Gas station. The manager gave me a weird vibe.
I made it through the first day but didn’t go back.. Found out later he cornered another girl in the back of the store and she had to fight her way out.
Trust your gut.”
4. Nope.
“Summer job working for a landscape architect.
Got to the job site and he asked me to dig a hole in some rocky dirt. I asked for a shovel. He didn’t have one. I asked for a hand spade. He didn’t have one.
He told me to just dig the hole wit my bare hands and then he drove off to another site leaving me completely alone. I dug for a little bit and then said ‘f**k this’ and left.
Had the job specified that I needed to supply my own tools I could’ve but it didn’t and I wasn’t going to work for somebody that expected folks to dig through hard, rocky soil with their hands.”
5. “Marketing.”
“Young and naïve right out of college took a “marketing” job. My interview was great, nothing shady seemed to be going on and no immediate red flags.
After 4 hours of training, my first day consisted of going door to door in a suburban town trying to sell cable to older people. We were told to dress for business, so I’m hiking around for miles in my best skirt, suit jacket and heels. Hours were from “9-5” but we didn’t get back to the business until well after 10pm.
Not to mention, the person I was shadowing was able to make a sale to an older gentleman who seemed to have memory issues. I noped the f**k right out of there.”
6. Nutcases.
“Worked in a hotel for a day.
No one told me where anything was. Got chewed out for it.
Guests enjoying their meals told me to pay no mind/I was doing a good job and that my boss is a c**t.
I told the manager that I was quitting and wouldn’t be doing the next shift.
I arrived the next day, returning a work uniform and my supervisor approached me and yelled at me for being late. I told her I already quit but if I was working, technically I was 5 hours early for my shift.
Absolute nutcases.”
7. Sleazy.
“Electronics store.
My first day we had to attend a class where they teach people how to upsell folks. Basically walked you through ignoring what they ask you for and using their ignorance of the equipment against them. I thought that was really scuzzy.
Then they went on to tell us about a commission style bonus program that basically forced employees to upsell everyone.
When we took the break for lunch that first day I peaced out and went home. Never got paid for those four hours, but I never regretted bouncing on that.”
8. That sucks.
“They hired me to work full time. I had interviewed to work full time.
I was trying to quit a horrible job, and this job was on the other end of town. I needed enough money for the bus pass, and to make up the difference and more of quitting my old job. They hired me and showed me my schedule.
I showed up for my first day, things are going good, then my manager called me in, sat me down, and explained that they’d have to cut me down to 15 hours a week because they’d hired too many fu**ing people. I explained, painfully, that I had to take a bus an hour each way and wouldn’t be able to pay rent or food after that.
He said I could always hold out and hope people quit. I told him he could start with me, took off my apron and stormed out in tears.”
9. No thanks!
“I was hired at a chain restaurant to be a hostess.
I was so excited because my last job was washing dishes and because of my eczema, I had to quit. It was too painful to do that job.
So, I arrived at my new job dressed up to be a hostess and those mfers took me back to the kitchen to do dishes because the dishwasher just quit. I noped out of there real fast!”
10. Locked down.
“I took a job at a lock down residential treatment center as I was desperate for a job. The interviewer said most of the kids were court ordered, and were a step away from juvie.
The interview didn’t go well so I was honestly surprised when they called me offer me the job. The morning of training was going over all of the state and federal laws that governed the place, like resident rights and staff to resident ratios and the like.
The afternoon was a tour of the facility where it became readily apparent that exact none of the laws we’d just covered were being followed.
I left at the end of the day and never came back. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen at that place. A few months later they got shut down after a riot that results in several serious injuries to both residents and staff.
Glad I wasn’t around for that.”
11. Internship.
“My first internship was at a brazilian teen detention center (it’s akin to a prison, but Brazilian law has some distinctions between crimes committed while as an adult or as a teenager – teens go through socio-educational measures).
I was walking through a courtyard with my supervisor when some doctors came running flailing their arms and screaming while officers came running from the opposite direction. I get pulled by my supervisor who just tells me to run back to our office.
These teens as young as 12 had escaped their block. A few minutes later an officer comes knocking on the doors of the offices and yelling for everyone to run outside because a fire had broken out. Some of the teens had set mattresses on fire in their cells.
I didn’t really nope out. My teacher did (she hadn’t even been there that day). So I was forced by the university to choose another place to intern at. Oh well.”
12. Ouch.
“I was 17 and working pre-cast concrete.
Refused to use a rusted to sh**ty ladder. Supervisor called me a p**sy, got up about 7 rungs before his foot went through one, heard his foot snap as he fell.
I called an ambulance and walked to my car in the parking lot.”
13. Let’s break it down.
“On the first day of working at Amazon warehouse the managers broke down to everyone how a 15 minute break works there.
Walking to the break room is 2 1/2 minutes. 10 minutes of actual break and then 2 1/2 minutes to go back to your stations.
It took me 2 1/2 minutes to walk to my car and I took a forever break.”
14. I’m outta here.
“Answered an ad in the paper (this was the mid 1990s) what seemed to be an office job making sales calls when I was in college. Did a phone interview and was called back for an in person interview.
When I go to the interview I’m led into a room with about 50 other people and a small stage at the front of the room. We’re all somewhat confused as to what is going on.
Finally a guy gets on the stage and informs us that we’ve been selected for the opportunity to sell Cutco. Me and 2/3rds of the rest stood up and walked out.”
15. Get used to it!
“When I burned my hands all night on the too hot plates as a food runner.
They wouldn’t let me use towels to carry them and said I just had to get used to it.
Nope.”
16. Creeper.
“Had an orientation for an alarm company.
Next day manager calls and says don’t worry about going into the office and to meet at “Planet Hollywood” they like to get to know the employees better over lunch.
Next day I go into the office and another employee whom I had not met says “You must be “xxxxx.” I was like “huh?”?
They responded “Light skinned, pretty boy” is how the manager described me.
In same conversation I found out no one else had ever been invited for a “get to know you” lunch.
I’m out!”
17. Scammed.
“I was hired to be a waitress, which has a lower hourly wage due to tips.
The entire shift they had me wash dishes in the sink, but paid me waitress wages.
A few months later the restaurant was investigated for a number of fraud activity.”
18. Bad luck.
“Two times.
Once I applied for and got a telemarketing job. I didn’t know what it entailed. After an hour I knew it was a terrible fit…auto dialing people during their dinners, trying to sell them stuff they didn’t want, reading a horrible script while sitting in a soulless grey cubicle.
I got up, went to the manager, apologized and said it wasn’t a good fit for me. He seemed understanding.
Another time I attended a “make easy money at this job” seminar and it turns out it was selling knives door to door. Idk if I technically “quit” or just noped out at the end of it.”
19. We’re done here.
“Restaurant line chef. Worked a 12 hour shift, was given 2 breaks of about 10-15 min each.
Burned my hand numerous times because they gave me plates that came right from the oven and never said a word. End of the shift I told the head chef I was done.
He called me soft and Said I was the third person to quit on him after a day. I said “maybe it’s the way you treat people”.”
20. Bad business.
“It was a small independent insurance agency in 2006.
My first day there the owner (a true fossil) said email and fax were strictly forbidden as he only ‘believed in’ communication in person, by phone, or through mail. Left for lunch and never went back. I couldn’t imagine the inefficiency I’d have dealt with had I stayed.
They ultimately closed their doors so it was definitely the right decision.”
21. You did the right thing.
“I interviewed for a “professional marketing assistant” and got the job straight away. I was under the impression that I would be an assistant to the man I was interviewed by.
When I showed up for my first day, the same waiting room I was in the previous day was FULL of people. I quickly learned that we were all hired, and that I would be a door to door salesperson selling some pretty useless s**t.
I spent my entire day inside a Starbucks applying for other jobs and went home, got paid, but never went back.”
22. A real piece of work.
“‘Salesman’ for Kirby vacuums.
First sale call was to a single elderly woman who was supporting her son in hospital (they got us in the door by offering a free carpet clean as a demonstration).
The supervisor training me pushed and pushed to make the sale until this old woman was in tears. Just as she was about to sign the paperwork I asked if she actually wanted to vacuum and she said it was lovely but she couldn’t afford it. I took the paperwork away from her and said not to worry.
Outside I told the supervisor I quit to which he replied I would’ve been fired anyway. No love lost. I hung around for half an hour playing on my phone to make sure the supervisor left because he was a real piece of work.”
23. Take this job and shove it.
“It was a petrol station and the manager wanted me to work for free until I had learned their computer systems to what he deemed a satisfactory extent.
I agreed to do it, because I needed a job, and he brought me in at 7 am on my first day, however he was not present to go through the training with me, so I was just standing around kind of helping out on the forecourt but not really knowing what I should be doing. Not learning anything.
After about an hour and a half without the manager showing up or anyone training me on anything, I decided that I wasn’t going to continue to be taken advantage of and told the cashier to pass on the message to the manager that I had quit.”
24. Mickey D’s.
“Worked at McDonald’s years ago in their Assistant Manager training program. Had gotten hired right out of the Army.
First day I met with the Store Manager where I’d be working and training and noted that she spent majority of the time doing entry level work and then working OT to do store manager work.
She told me this was pretty common because of the type of people they’d hire. Her “office” was a counter and she told me she had bought a chair but corporate made her remove it. She was really nice, worked her a** off and was intelligent and told me she’d been at McDonald’s for 10 years.
I imagined working my a** off only to be told I couldn’t have a chair and decided that night I wasn’t going to work for a company like that.”
25. Whoa!
“My first day working at EB games. I was super excited to be there!
The first half of my shift was basically “tidy up the shelves” It was a high traffic location so the shelves ALWAYS need tidying.
After 5 hours of following kids around and putting things away I go on break.
When I come back my Manager is standing in his strangely empty store absolutely aghast. Staring at a HUGE steaming pile of s**t on the carpeted floor. Apparently a homeless person had walked in. Without saying a single word he Dropped trou and emptied his bowls.
My boss at me and says. “Oh good, you’re back. Just in time. Clean that up, I’m going for lunch.” I laughed at him and told him you can’t be serious. I’m not going near that.
He responds with. “it’s your job, I’m taking a break. I want it gone before I get back.” I told he’s going to have to deal with it on his own because I Don’t need this job that bad. So I quit. I grabbed my coat and went home.
One week later the district manager calls me up to apologize and offer me my job back.”
26. Sketchy.
“I got hired at a very small knock off dollar store in an old, failing mall. The owner was foreign with a very thick accent.
He told me I’d get $6 an hour but neglected to mention it was under the table. I spent about an hour stocking the very overly cluttered shelves before I was told to get more chips out of the back storage area.
I walk back there and theres about a dozen men sitting on boxes all cramed into a small back room. I asked where the chips were and these guys all glared at me. They started speaking in another language and rapidly motion towards me.
Then one guy got up and asked what I needed. I told him I was supposed to get a box of chips and he got a box out of the pile and handed it to me. The entire time these guys are all staring at me. Everything back there looked shady as all hell and it was very uncomfortable.
A while later I had to use the restroom which was also in the back. These guys all just wordlessly glared at me while I went into the woman’s restroom. While I was in the restroom, someone tried to open the door.
I was the only woman there. The owner told me he wanted me to come back that night late in the evening well after the mall closed. I didn’t show up. I came in the next morning and lied about why I couldn’t work there.
He still gave me the few bucks from what little time I did work. I don’t know what in the hell that guy had going on there and I didn’t want to find out.”
Now we want to hear your stories!
If you’ve ever quit a job on the first day, tell us about it in the comments.
Thanks in advance!