Our parents’ generation has a completely different definition of what a career means and what working at a job means. The running joke about boomers being on work calls at strange times, while Gen Z is busy logging out at exactly 5 pm, is massive. And while the world may call Gen Z and millennials ‘Snowflakes,’ we know that we just have something called boundaries .
So, this Reddit thread where people have shared times they quit their jobs on the first day, and the moment they decided to do so, is low-key therapeutic for Gen Y and Z folks. Take a look:
1. “I took a job as a ‘Kitchen Assistant’ in a fairly busy restaurant. From how they described it, I’d be assisting the chefs, maybe clean a bit, all things I’d done before when working in a restaurant. Well. First shift came, and they pointed me to the pile of dirty dishes, and a large metal sink. I cleaned dishes for hours, and when I tried to go to the bathroom, I got screamed at to go ‘ask permission’ first. I’m a 22 year old woman, like fuck, I am not asking someone’s permission to piss.”
– itsnotromy·
2. “Temp job right out of college. During the training phase I was told if I made an error I would get yelled at by him, his boss, his boss’s boss and the owner of the company. I assumed it was a joke and he didn’t laugh. I told him this was going to be a bad fit and walked.”
3. “During the initial onboarding, I realised that the job description I was promised was completely different from the actual tasks they wanted me to perform. It became clear that there was a lack of transparency, and I didn’t want to invest my time in a role that didn’t align with my expectations.”
4. “It was at a call center, answering phone calls from people getting pop up ads saying ‘You’ve won a free vacation!’ in the early days of the internet. I tried to follow the script for the first few calls but quickly realised it wasn’t a ‘Free’ vacation.“
5. “‘Orientation’ unexpectedly lasted 9hours… for a bartending position. Also watched poor quality employees take advantage of the manager. I don’t have time for that drama.”
6. “At the point I was required to sign an intellectual property agreement giving them control over any patent or copyright I may produce for the period of my employment and a year after termination, regardless if it had anything to do with their business or processes. For an assembly-line welding gig. For $10 an hour. No thanks!”
7. “I was working as a teacher at a private language school. Between my lessons I went to the toilet for a pee. The manager followed me in and asked ‘What are you doing? You need to wait until after work to go to the toilet’ So my response was ‘I’ve officially finished work now because I quit, now get out and let me finish my piss.'”
8. “A company hired me as a temp employee to replace someone on maternity leave, without telling me. One of my coworkers slipped up and mentioned that I was a temp. Grabbed my coat and keys and walked out.”
9. “I witnessed a manager publicly humiliate a young employee to tears. He absolutely tore into her, it was cruel and savage. I hadn’t even been in the office for 2 hours. I wasn’t enthused by the job anyway and I didn’t direly require the extra cash, so good riddance.“
– Anfie22
10. “It was an old dirty office with antiquated procedures. After 2 hours, I felt like I couldn’t take another minute. I told the owner I was sorry, gathered my things, and left.“
11 “I am Japanese, but since I’ve lived overseas most of my life, I am not that good at Japanese. I got an IT job in Japan with promises that I will be using English and will be able to work with foreigners.
First day at my job I get introduced to the ‘Global’ team. They were all Japanese. When I asked about the projects, they said that English is used about 1% of the time. I was like WTF? I quit immediately. Now I have a better job where I use English about 70% of the time.”
12. “The job DID NOT meet the job description. The ad described a secretary position (phone calls, booking appointments, taking messages, greeting patients, etc). In reality, I was a glorified cleaning lady with NO desk work.“
Phew, what kind of crazy confessions are these?
