How To Make Money After Quitting Your Job

Employees Who Quit Their Job On The Spot Share What Finally Made Them Snap

Times Higher Education

Everyone has had at least one job that was an absolute nightmare.

You know the kind. It's the job that you sluggishly get ready for in the morning. The one that burns your nerves all day. The one where you dread even a polite conversation with your supervisor. The one where you hold your breath until 5 p.m. when your entire body starts to relax…

…only to start tensing back up again after dinner when you realize you have to do it all over again tomorrow.

Weekend? Doesn't make a difference. Saturday is pretty good, but Sunday, all you can think about is Monday. It's the job that lives rent-free in your brain 7 days a week. Maybe you're reading this article sitting at your desk at that job right now.

But everyone has their breaking point, and despite the potential for financial uncertainty, quitting a nightmare job can feel like escaping prison. Most of us have fantasized about skipping the 2-weeks' notice and quitting dramatically on the spot; these people actually pulled it off. Their stories may help you develop the courage to finally quit your nightmare job, or help you realize you don't have it as bad as you think. Either way, there's something here for everyone!

There Is Good Left In The World

When I was 17, I worked in a sports shoe store in a mall. I had this manager that would constantly require that we up-sell more items to customers and would yell at us if we did not attempt to do so. I had worked there for a few months and had been relatively happy, but this manager was always on our case to up-sell more and more items as it made the store look good to other stores in our franchise.

Johnny Doe via Flickr

One afternoon, a boy in his late teens, wearing tattered, old, dingy clothes with mismatched shoes that were falling apart, walked in very aware that people were looking at him and judging due to his appearance. I greeted him and asked what I could do for him. Timidly, he told me he had a job interview coming up and needed a new pair of tennis shoes. I showed him a couple of options, but he shot them down quickly. I could see we were way out of his price range but somehow he was brave enough to ask if we had anything in the $20 range (this was a place that normally sold Jordans and other $100+ shoes). I knew we had a couple of pairs in the back that had been put away after a clearance sale and were supposed to be shipped back to corporate. I grabbed a few pairs in his size and found a pair that worked for him quickly after.

As we head to the register to ring him up, he still has this look on his face that I won't forget. He pulls out a sandwich baggie of worn dollar bills and a bunch of coin change. Now I know it is probably embarrassing for his guy to come into a shopping mall with this on his to-do list, so I help count everything behind the counter only to find he is about $0.40 short. I grab some change I had in my pocket and told him not to worry about it, he smiles, thanks me for the help and walks out.

My manager came over instantly after and starts to berate me in the front of customers and coworkers about not following store policy and trying to up-sell to each and every customer. She watched the whole sale unfold and just couldn't grasp why I would even attempt to sell more things to this guy. I grabbed my things from the back and walked out only to go back a week later to pick up my last check. I didn't make a scene or anything cool, just walked out. Screw that manager and that place.

Family Over Everything

My father had a heart attack and I asked for some time off, or even just a few specific days off a week (I worked part-time anyway) so I could make regular trips to my parents' house (about an hour and a half away) and help out until he was back on his feet. My manager said, "you have to decide what's more important: your job or your family."

What's On TV

Easiest decision of my life.

My dad's doing great by the way.

Health Violation City

I got hired by the owner of a spa as a manager to help train and clean up the unhygienic practices the aestheticians who were currently working there had. They were reusing disposable items like sticks for waxing, nail files and buffers, foam toe separators, sponges for facials, and so many other things.

MIX 108

After discovering these horrifying practices, I spent an entire work shift filling up 5 industrial-sized garbage bags of used disposables and anything that couldn't be used according to hygiene standards. I got rid of almost everything and assembled one-time-use disposable kits to use on each new client. I had a meeting with the staff and explained why we needed these changes. I stored those garbage bags in the back room until I could bring them out the following morning for garbage collection.

There was one aesthetician, an older lady, who resented me, and trampled all over the owner because she was efficient in her work despite being extremely unhygienic. When I returned the next morning, all my trash bags were ripped open, crap was EVERYWHERE, spilling over into the hallway of the back rooms. It looked like a raccoon tore through them. And then I saw the older lady using all these disgusting used products on a client. I demanded she stops and comes back so I could give her a fresh client kit. She refused and kept working on the client.

So I called up the owner and explained what happened. He didn't care and said she was being cost-effective. I told him I'm leaving and that I could not work for a place that could be so negligent as to endanger the public like this.

Obviously, they got shut down a few months later.

I'll Cheers To That

I quit a part-time job when my idiot of a manager changed the schedule on Wednesday so I was scheduled to work on Thursday, which was a night I had made clear I couldn't work due to my full-time job. Of course, he doesn't tell me he changed the schedule. I get home Thursday, dead tired, and pour myself a glass of wine and settle in for my first quiet evening in ages. And the phone rings. It's the idiot of a manager's boss asking why I wasn't at work. So I pull out my copy of the schedule and tell him exactly when I was scheduled to work. He asks "so, are you coming in?" I paused as if I was considering it, then answered: "no, I'm quitting." Zero regrets.

Goodnet

Make ME A Sandwich

I found out that the owner of a sandwich shop had been rounding my hours down on my paychecks and when I confronted her about it, she blew it off and said I was making way too big a deal over some $40.

Consumerist

Then she said, "The soda order isn't going to put itself away, you know."

I went out to the front of the store just as people started to line up for the lunch rush and I took my apron off and left. Halfway to the door, the store manager caught up to me and we left together and the store owner only caught on to it as she saw us leaving the parking lot.

Literally Insane

I had just started working at a secure psychiatric facility for emotionally disturbed children at the start of the summer (end of May). At the interview, I told the HR person that I had a pre-planned trip home for later in the summer and that since I was driving, I was going to be away for two weeks (I hadn't been home to see my family for 2 years). I made it clear to her that if this was going to be a problem to let me know right then and I would seek employment elsewhere. She reassured me it wouldn't be a problem and that she would leave a note in my file saying as much.

Patch

So the time for my trip nears, I give them the two weeks' notice as agreed upon in the interview, but my immediate supervisor refuses to approve the time off. Figuring it was a miscommunication, I tell the immediate super about the interview agreement with HR, and that the issue was already settled at the initial interview. So she gives me this run-around and asks me to give her a couple of days to come up with a solution. Next day, she calls me into her office and says, "Okay, I know how we can work this. You can work a double shift on Saturday (18 hours, mind you) then leave for home right after and make your drive ( 30 hours non-stop ) visit your family for 3 days then drive back ( 30 hours non-stop ) and arrive in time to work another double."

I couldn't stop myself. I laughed uncontrollably. I asked her if she was seriously suggesting I stay awake for 48 hours straight, 30 of those spent on highways crossing the country. She just gave me this stupid smile and said, "Yes, you can do it. You have a responsibility to the center." I laughed in her face and told her I wouldn't work for such a cesspool, a place that would dare suggest I put my personal safety in harm's way and wouldn't honor an agreement made.

I quit on the spot. I was still scheduled for the rest of that week, they had the nerve to call me at home that night asking if I was coming in. I told the person who called "no way" and I told him what happened. Then the super called me and basically said I had to come in, I was scheduled. I suggested she could cover my shift, I mean she already worked 9 hours, what was another 18, she could do it.

I left for my trip the next day.

Retail Is The Literal Worst

I worked for a local big box store in electronics. A store manager (who was not my direct manager) called meat my father's funeral to ask where I was and why I wasn't at the electronics boat (cash register).

Target Corporate

Days earlier, I had told my manager that I wouldn't be there because I had to attend my father's funeral, and was told it was okay. But this other manager just wasn't having it and explained to me that she was in the store the same day her child was born.

I have never worked for a more ignorant and inept manager.

All Out War

Engage and Prosper

I was 18, and it was my first time working alone on a Friday night. The assistant manager left early to be with her boyfriend, and assumed I could handle the rest of my shift alone. Unbeknownst to both of us, the maids screwed us over big time by marking every room as clean despite not actually having cleaned them all. I sold our "extra" rooms to walk-ins and suddenly discovered that we had oversold about 20-30 rooms. The people that were without clean rooms were the ones that had booked far in advance. This was a tiny hotel, so we had no maids after 4 pm, and I got to experience first-hand an angry mob full of people yelling at me in the lobby, demanding refunds, and all but threatening bodily harm. One lady even accused me of giving her cancer (neat!). Since I was young and didn't know how to handle it, I actually excused myself from the desk for a second to cry in the back room. Eventually, I pulled it together, called my manager, and started working it all out.

Then someone called down to have me unclog a toilet. In my distressed state, I got poop on me. I came down to my manager and said I was done. Screw that job, it wasn't even very good on the best days anyway.

That Wasn't In The Job Description

I was a nanny for three kids. They were horrible to deal with. One day, I told the 11-year-old it was time to sit down and do homework. Apparently, this angered him because his response was to try to STAB ME. After I took it away from him, I immediately called the parent and told her to come home now. I was done. As soon as she got home I left.

IFC

Her response was, "Well they've hit all their sitters…" She never told me before accepting the position that the children had such severe issues that were way out of my league. I occasionally go by their house on errands and every single time I see the kids with a new nanny. They all just quit shortly after being hired.

The Case Of The Nonexistent Raise

It was just when I was in high school working at a fast food store. Before they would give you a raise you had to do all this stuff like train people, watch videos, and take quizzes. It was all really easy, but annoying and tedious. I did all of this and didn't get a raise. I asked every store manager and they said that it would show up on my next check. Eventually, I called the regional manager who had put his phone up in the break room, but he answered "Don't call this number" and hung up on me. So I told my boss I quit and just walked out.

Glassdoor

A Shift That Went Up In Flames

I'm a cook, and one busy Saturday night, everything went sideways. I had order tickets puking out of the machine with no end in sight. About 3 hours in, I remember going into the walk-in freezer and closing my eyes while breathing deep and hard in a panic. I was just trying to calm myself. I think it was the first time in my life I actually had a panic attack, or close to it. I finished the night, cleaned the kitchen up, and went home. I wrote out my two-week notice and gave it to my boss the next day. No job is worth that level of stress. We should have had 2-3 cooks in that kitchen for how busy it was on the weekends, not 1.

Upserve

Literal Disaster Zone

I worked at a store in Oakland for a bit. I thought it would be good for me because I wouldn't have to take work home with me and could focus on my art. Pay was terrible, but I'm an artist so I'm used to it, right? I do my job well. The store is constantly clean, organized, and well-stocked. I can't afford to eat anything other than potatoes, and the free can of chili I get on the days I work, but I'm making my art. Also, because this place is old school and seniority rules, there is no chance of moving up the ladder. The guys that have been there forever don't do anything except for work the register and read magazines. Again, I don't really care, I'm a hard worker and have pride in my work.

TripSavvy

After a bit of this, surprise surprise, I get sick. Really sick. I still come into work but get sent home immediately. I end up missing a week of work that I can't afford and it wasn't even close to vacation. The day I come back in I step through the door only to find the store in shambles. I mean it looks terrible. You ever been in one of those stores where things are missing from the shelves, half-opened boxes tossed everywhere and you just walk out? It was exactly like that. I turned to the other guy on shift working behind the counter, and without looking away from his newspaper, he says, "You should probably start stocking now." It was at that moment I realized that I had been running the store the entire time for minimum wage, and it would never pay off and no one would ever care. I took one last look around the derelict shell of the store I had spent the last 6 months caring about, and without even looking away from the half-stocked drink coolers said, "Nah," and just turned and left.

Walk Of Shivering Shame

I was working in a ski shop at a local ski resort. They used a shuttle to ferry us up and down the canyon since most employees lived in a town nearby. They asked me if I was taking the shuttle and I said yes, but that I needed to put away the cash drawer real quick.

Boston

When I finished and went down to meet them, they were gone. I was stuck on the mountain, without a vehicle, in negative-17-degree weather. Luckily my family had a cabin about 10 miles away to which I had a key. But I emailed my resignation on my walk to the cabin.

Living Life On The Edge

I woke up at 2 in the morning, sat straight up in my bed and said: "I hate my boss." Then I proceeded to write a scathing resignation letter. I gave two weeks notice, but my resignation letter was such a thorough rebuke that I was walked out within an hour of submitting it to HR. They paid me for the two weeks but had security escort me out immediately. I did this the day after a co-worker snapped, made a big scene and stormed off in a huff.

Soren Dreier

Like An Office Episode

I worked at an office supply store and got transferred to a crappy store where I moved.

Bustle

After being top of sales for 3 months, the new boss tells me I am the worst seller he ever saw. He told me I didn't sell a single extra warranty for the month and a half I was there.

I told him I was there for 3 months and was on top of regional charts for that entire time.

He told me no, that I had no proof.

I got up and left his office. He follows me into the store almost yelling for me to come back and that he wasn't done.

I took my shirt off, put in on a shelf and left.

I got a call the next morning. My supervisor calls me, telling me the manager screwed up and wanted me back. He mistook me for another guy with the same first name as me.

I told them that they would never see me again.

Not Quite Fast Enough Food

When I was a teenager, I worked briefly at a fast food place. I was working a shift wherein I was informed that we were short on staff so it would be my responsibility to work the dine-in counter as well as the fryers. It was the middle of the dinner rush and my manager came out of the back office several times to yell at me about how dirty the dining room was, how slow service is on the fryers, or how long the lines are at the front counter. I asked her if she could come out of the office and back me up, and she told me in a very rude way that typically people of my race are more than capable of handling multiple responsibilities in the restaurant. As soon as the door was closed to her office, I took my apron and hat off and walked out.

Glassdoor

A week later I showed up for my last paycheck and it was locked in her office and her assistant managers were all under orders not to allow me to have it. I filed a complaint with corporate and they had the check mailed to my residence. I crossed my fingers hoping she'd lose her job, but I'm not sure if anything came of it.

That's How The Cookie Crumbles

I worked my way from cook to assistant manager at a booming restaurant. My shifts started doing amazing numbers from our internal metrics by a large margin and getting the big boss's attention.

Washington Times

Store manager starts scheduling very little to no crew members for my shifts. Had no cooks on Friday/Saturday nights so I'd have to do all the cooking AND manage the front of the house. The store manager then promotes her freeloading nephew Steve, whom most of the staff hated.

One day it was just her nephew and me for like the first 2 hours of my shift. Her nephew just walked around aimlessly with a clipboard and wouldn't help at all when I asked. Took off my apron, threw it on on a counter, got in my car and just drove away.

I read reviews recently and it dropped from a 4+ star rating to below 2 stars with numerous complaints of how trashy, slow, racist, and run down the place has turned into.

No Social Skills Required

I literally just quit. So I worked at my company for 3 years and was asking for more responsibility and a raise. Was told there was no room in the budget. Alright, not a problem. The new kid that joined just a few months prior got a sign-on bonus, commission bonus, and raise within 2-3 months (this kid loved to talk about everything). I told my boss I wanted to put in my two weeks and he just stared at me. I asked if he wanted to know why and he said, "I'm not having this conversation while you're being emotional." I laughed at him, walked inside and said my goodbyes, and left on the spot.

Business Insider

Now I'm enjoying my summer.

Also to clarify, I'm not a female. My boss just sat behind a computer most of his life and never learned people skills or how to handle confrontations.

Know Your Worth

My first job. I was 15. The owner was a loser. It was a sub shop with a kitchen the size of an RV. I was doing dishes one day. The sink was really low and I was tall. After a while, my back hurt. I went down on my knees making the sink the perfect height. One look at me and he yelled at me to stand up. I said "you don't have to yell, it is a small kitchen. He then threw a frying pan at the wall and said, "get up!!!" I slowly stood up and took my apron off. Shook the hand of the guy I worked with and said bye to the cashier. He asked me what I was doing. I said "what I should have done" and walked out. I walked for miles and cried a little. I was embarrassed that I quit my first job after only 6 months. Called my parents in defeat and they actually understood and backed me up! I am 30 now and will never put up with that again.

Entrepreneur

No Time To Be Politically Correct

I was freshly 18 working for a call center that did political polling during election cycles, and brand questionnaires during the off seasons. I had requested time off weeks in advance and had my request denied last minute because I was "too good to not be there" during a busy weekend. I tried to talk to the manager on duty and he said: "quit bothering me about this." I proceeded to walk back to my cubicle, turned on the auto dialer, gave my manager the finger, and walked out.

Politico

Nothing Like A Poorly-Run Restaurant

Worked in a chain restaurant as a server. Management policy was to cut anyone about to hit overtime to secure their quarterly bonus. We were the anomaly of this particular chain, near a lot of tourist attractions and ALWAYS busy, especially on the final day of the pay week, but management didn't care. Cut kitchen, cut expediters, cut hosts, cut servers. We'd have a one-hour wait with half the restaurant empty. This would force management to try to cook, expedite, serve, etc., and of course, not very well.

Colorado Bites

A few weeks went by where I would pretty much kindly tell people in the waiting area to try other places in the area when they asked for a manager to complain. I would literally tell them the manager was the only cook and they couldn't speak to them. Actually had a few tables wait and sit in my section cause they said they appreciated the honesty of someone telling them why the waits were long.

Eventually, I'm scheduled a double on the last day of pay week and we are slammed. I was making good money, so I decided to pretty much forego my break between shifts and do/fix side work that someone from the day shift did poorly. So I was skipping my meal and cleaning someone else's mess when a manager cuts people in the kitchen then comes to me and says, " this station looked like crap all day, I knew it was you assigned to it." I wasn't. I looked him in the eye, dropped what I was working on, and walked into the office. Told the manager I liked I was done and he saw the look on my face even though he knew I was scheduled for a double. He just said the other manager's name to me and I said yes, and the look he gave told me he hated the other manager more than anyone.

No regrets. Got a much better job and started a new career a month later.

The Petite Manager With Superhuman Strength

I was unloading trucks at a big box store and this horrible manager comes in saying, "Man, you're going slow I'll do it faster than you." Mind you, she's 5'2″ and 100 pounds wet. I tell her, "Okay, you do it," then "I don't get paid enough for this," and walked out.

Jolie Myers

It was found out months after that she was stealing money from the registers and buying drugs from another employee.

'Tis The Season!

When I was in college, I waited tables at a restaurant that was open on Thanksgiving after I had already worked the lunch shift (covering for someone who took off for the holiday). I was ready to finish my shift and head out so I could have Thanksgiving dinner with my family when my manager informed me that they were going to need me to cover dinner shift too because one of the older waitresses called out (probably to spend Thanksgiving with her family). When I told him I had plans already, he said I needed to cover the shift since I had the least seniority and "they wouldn't need someone who isn't a team player" (implying I'd be fired) if I didn't cover it. I told him "I don't need this job that much to miss Thanksgiving dinner with my family" and handed in my apron and left and never returned.

ThoughtCo

Cliche Unappreciative Higher-Up

I worked at a deli that also did sandwich platters for catering. The boss sucked at ever being prepared for these orders so we always had to work super hard from the first thing in the morning to get them filled on time while also preparing for walk-in customers' lunches.

Yoyo Events

The one day the owner came out, I excitedly told him about how quickly we had finished the catering and how it was ready to be delivered. In response to this, I got quite the yelling at for having not remembered to turn on all the lights in the cabinet. He was a terrible boss in general, but this was the final straw. I tried to stick up for myself and explain that it was okay and I would turn it on, but this was not appropriate behavior. He got right up in my face and told me I had no respect for authority and that I didnt deserve any job and that if I continued to talk to him that way he would call all of his "contacts" and see to it that I would never work again.

Unfortunately, I have no guts so I waited until he left to go back to his office, covered a coworkers' break, and then walked out. But still. I think it counts.

Clearly What Any Petty Person Would Do

I had the night off from my restaurant job and decided to go out for drinks. My co-worker and I had a similar taste in music and a song we were both obsessed with came on, so I tagged her in my Facebook status. Unbeknownst to me, said co-worker called in sick (with doctor's note) for her shift that same night and the staff were pissed because they thought she was out with me. General manager clears ME from the schedule and says I have to meet with him over all this. I ask him why I'm being punished for something when I had the day off and did nothing wrong, to which he says that he's going to see what HR recommended (to fire me). I said, "I'll save you the call."

Science ABC

I quit and walked out then and there. Showed up the next day for lunch with my grandma (she knew what happened) out of sheer pettiness and that jerk gave me my employee discount and hurried into the back of the house to hide from me. Don't try to mess with me and think I'm not gonna be petty about it.

Mind you, same manager would be gone for hours getting "lightbulbs." Dude got fired within 6 months.