Usually the novelty of a new workplace lasts for a few weeks at least. But sometimes you can spot red flags on day one.
Plenty of people have fantasised about throwing in the towel immediately, but it’s fair to say most of us don’t actually go through with it. To hear from that brave few, lilMeganw put the following question to r/AskReddit:
‘People who quit their jobs on the first day, what made you say ‘nope, not doing this’?’
Here are some of the fastest resignations in history…
1.
‘Home health aide. When I applied, I was told it was just like helping elderly people with daily tasks, doing laundry and cooking and whatnot.
So I show up at my first job. A manager was there with me and as she knocked on the door, she said, “remember, if anyone asks, you’ve been doing this for a hundred thousand years.” Direct quote. Didn’t like that, but we were already here and I was just hoping it would get better.
Spent a few hours there answering questions and running through the things that I was expected to do. I really started feeling uncomfortable and entirely unqualified. Then towards the end, the daughter was talking about all the things she was requiring from the caretaker, like certifications and whatnot. The manager assured her that I met all her criteria. The manager kinda cued me to say what she told me to say and I just mumbled something, I don’t even remember.
On the way home, I just kept thinking of all the ways things could go wrong, so immediately after I got home, I messaged them to say I wouldn’t be coming back. No, thank you.’
-coldglasseliminate
2.
‘Got hired to work reception in a podiatrist office. I sat and watched the head nurse make the other receptionist cry because she made a simple mistake. Then the dr who owned the practice came out and yelled at the receptionist in front of a lobby full of people and in front of me, the new girl. The toxic work environment was oozing from every corner so that was my first and last day.’
-No-Calligrapher3043
3.
‘I got pulled aside by the GM of the building on my second shift and was interrogated over everything I ever said, because my coworker wrote down everything I said she found “questionable”
‘I legit walked out, not about to play those games.’
-Economy_Exam7835
4.
‘Worked at Walgreens. I’ve been a pharmacy tech for 8 years, so they figured I didn’t need any training. It was a whole new system. It crashed my first day, and they were telling the patients it was my fault. Walked out right then and there.
‘It was a system, multistate wide crash that had nothing to do with me.’
-Livid-Soil-2804
5.
‘Got hired as a server (with 10 years server experience) at a movie theater that serves food/drinks. I showed up for my first shift and was then told all servers had to start as food runners for $7.25/hr for the first 6 months before “being promoted” to server. Also told me my uniform was going to be deducted from my paycheck.
‘The job listing was for servers. I interviewed for the server job and was hired as a server. No thanks to the bait and switch. Noped right out of there and got a job somewhere else almost immediately.’
-Agreeable-Offer-2964
6.
‘With the onboarding paperwork the owner wanted me to sign a non-compete agreement that was absurdly broad that basically said that I couldn’t work in the entire industry or related industries for a year.
‘I was only 19 at the time and didn’t understand how absolutely unenforceable this was, but I wasn’t going to sign anything that I couldn’t in good faith agree with.
‘Guy was like sign it or leave. I left.’
-geekworking
7.
‘Recruiter: This is a support position. No sales required.
‘Interview: You’ll be working on our support team.
‘Training: 3 weeks of technical training to address common issues.
‘Day one shadowing with supervisor: Good work but you didn’t upsell the support/protection plan remember sales is good support…where are you going?‘
-DrBoots
8.
‘The boss/owner spent the first two hours completely shitting on everyone who worked for her, past and present. I was exhausted just listening to her complain about literally everything, zero good things to say. So I told her this wasn’t going to work out and I left. Took her a month to pay me $30 but you betcha I hounded her for it lol’
-twirlinghaze
9.
‘Was advertised as a marketing job. What it actually was, however, was a direct sales job inside a Home Depot selling bath and kitchen upgrades.
‘I was driven there by a senior salesman, so I spent about 2 hours wandering through Home Depot until finally going back to the guy. He said “I was going to take you to lunch, but it seems like you just wanna go home”. I said yup and then he dropped me back off at my car.’
-CitizenHuman
