Best walk off the job story

JoeWras said:
OP's story is the best! I have no stories about myself. I have witnessed things. The best being the following.

While on vacation, in a small city, we're waiting in line at a fast food place. In all the customers' sight, the manager blesses out a worker. Mgr and wrker were 30 somethings. It went down like this:
Mgr: You have to put the fries under the lamp. This is the third time you forgot! Get your act together.

Quitting Wrkr: Alright, that's it. You know what? This gig ain't gonna work out. I'm gonna end up in jail. <walks out>

Mgr to wrkr 2: Make sure he punches out. Remember what happened last time when Sally didn't punch out?

Wrkr 3 comes to the front and asks Mgr: What happened? I saw Jim walk out the door?

Mgr: He quit

Wrkr 3: Did he punch out? <in my mind, I always hear a rim shot>

​
There's such a rich back story here that we got from context. Clearly, this manager has issues.
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Absolutely hilarious :LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
Octogirl said:
Agree. I think bad management is behind the great resignation.
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bobandsherry said:
Yes, that was reason for me, management sucked...

...Management just chose to spin it and lost many good people.
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This seems to be a common thread in the corporate world.

Funny thing, I've been very fortunate that most of the people I reported directly to were competent and respectful people, whom I learned a lot from. Occasionally there would be a nut-case one or two rungs up from them, but the good ones always saw their job as helping their direct reports get the job done, while insulating them from the management BS which went on above.

I realize this is NOT the norm. Other managers around me were screamers, back-stabbers, yes-men and generally kept the proverbial BS rolling down hill.

FLSUnFIRE said:
...she called me an "F'ing traitor...
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I did have this happen once. I got along OK with my boss, but when a much better opportunity came up within the company, I applied and got the job. Our relationship never recovered. He resented me as a traitor for years.

But indirectly, he set me on the path to ER. He was a couple of rungs above me on the corporate ladder. He had a nicer car, an nicer house, a nicer boat and a nicer paycheck than I did. But his whole life revolved around work. He was rarely home, and rarely got to travel in his car or boat.

At some point, I realized I wouldn't want to trade places with him. I wouldn't want his job, his paycheck, car, house or boat. I wouldn't want to give up my family time or my leisure time for the company. What good is a nicer boat if you never get to use it?

Maybe I'm not at the same level of FI as most here, but I did RE and I'm enjoying it. My old boss? He never did get to retire. He died young.
 
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I never walked off a job, came very close a couple of times, but never did it. These are definitely some fun stories to read.
 
casole said:
"One day my boss pulled me into her office like I was a high school kid and told me "Stormy, we pay you (minimum wage) to feed these people, not be their friends!" I said "I quit" before she said "you're fired" (not the good kind of FIRED). I took my uniform top off and placed it on her desk and walked out the building with no shirt on out to my truck in 30 degree weather and drove 10 miles home. I thought to myself I could buy the place and go back and fire her, but I didn't."


Hahahaha that is awesome!! You pulled an Antonio Brown!!!
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NO AB, pulled a stormy...

very nice stormy, you could still go visit the people right? Just give the boss a hairy eyeball....

guess i was lucky, always had great groups i worked for and fun J.O.B.
 
I have never quit a job abruptly but there in one time I almost did. After working 12 years managing field service computer techs in small national companies, I obtained a Branch Manager position doing the same for a major computer company. It didn't take long to determine that I wasn't a political animal and would not survive long in that environment. After 13 months I spent a long evening with some Regional twit giving me loads of grief about a customer outage which finally prompted me to give notice to him that very evening.

I did manage to maintain my composure enough not to tell him where he could stick his job so gave the customary 4 weeks notice. I had been interviewing for almost two months with another industry leader for an Individual Contributor position instead of managing people but had not received even a verbal job offer at this time. Fortunately, I got the job offer a couple of weeks later and made a smooth transition.

Here's the hook.

The Monday morning which was to be my first day at my new position, I got up early and fired up CNBC on the tube as usual. That's when I saw the breaking news story that the company I had just left on Friday had merged over the weekend with the company I was starting with on Monday. To make matters worse, I ended up reporting to the same Vice-President. To this day I am grateful that I didn't burn any bridges on my way out as my new position was the best job I ever had in my working life. It ended three years later, two weeks after 9-11 when another merger occurred and all similar positions in the company were eliminated. But that's another grim tale.
 
Sorta fits here...

My parents were divorced and made a deal, I would live at my Mom's house and work part-time for my Dad while I went to college. Wasn't the friendliest of familial relationships all around.

On days I was at my Dad's small business at lunch time he would always send me out to get us both something. When I would ask him what he wanted his stock answer was "surprise me". Then when I would return to the office with lunch he would gripe about being tired of that particular food or not liking anything within a 20 minute drive. Always, everyday complained about anything I returned with.

So one day he says his usual "surprise me" and I go get lunch. I come back and sit down at the desk I work from and start eating and he came around the corner and asked where his lunch was. I said "you said surprise you...so surprise you on a bleeping diet".

He lost it! Started screaming and I just quietly pick up what was left of my lunch and said "now I know why she divorced you" and walked out.

For about six months every two weeks a check would show up at my Mom's house for about what I was making. Found out later she forced him to keep paying in one form or another for me some school money. Buried the hatchet and went back about six months later.

Part of the agreement to go back was I was no longer the caterer. We laugh about now.
 
Walt34 said:
Stormys's story is a howl!
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Stormys' story is one of the best I've heard. It also gets at the undercurrent of a lot of problems in business. Some managers think the purpose of the company is to make widgets (dinner, in Stormy's case).

Nope. It is to delight customers. Stormy was going above and beyond because Stormy knew the job was about hospitality to the residents, not just food. The mangler lost sight of this.

Same thing in my fast food story. It wasn't about the fries, it is about serving the customers. Instead, we got served a big heap of loud, dirty laundry. It did make for an interesting vacation memory, though.
 
At my first job out of college, before I had started there, there was a legend. No one remembered his name, but his moniker was the "One-Day Wonder"... didn't even last one day.

We had high turnover and there was a really loud colored tie that was the "termination tie" that was worn by departing employees on their last day of work.
 
In junior high school I was informed that one could make easy summer money picking watermelons. I showed up and it was all football players and me, a tall, skinny first baseman. We walked in a line through the field behind people with knives and, as we came to a watermelon with a cut stem, we snatched it up and heaved it to the left. You had to act quickly as there was likely a watermelon flying at you from the right. The guy on my right enjoyed trying to knock me down, sometimes successfully. We finally loaded the truck and the owner felt sorry for me, and let me ride in the cab with him. I wasn’t nasty about it but I took whatever I was paid that day and ran.

Respect for all agricultural workers!
 
Ok here is my story at the last company I worked for I was the Maintenance Manager of very busy Union Transmission Company. My job consisted of keeping over 380 machines running during my shift which I never knew which shift I'd be working so I had to get to know all the Craftsmen on all the shifts and we always made our rate per shift, but I had this piece of crap for a boss (Area Production Manager) that thought he knew everything about Mechanics because he was college educated LOL and I only had my Vocational Certificate along with lots of previous experience in other industries as thats why I was hired. I had issues with him for the 2 years I worked there and finally I had it so I had my 2 weeks of vacation to take and there was 2 weeks left in March so I put in for Vacation and I never came back as I had a new job already lined up and even had my house sold. So, on April fool's day they called to ask me why I wasn't at work for the off shift as my vacation was all done and I told them to make sure you tell my ass of a boss since he knows so much, he can keep those 380 machines running now that I'm not there and see if he makes the rate and he got stuck doing my job for 4 weeks and the rate on those machines went from 96% to 22% while he was there running the floor he texted me 2 weeks in and said will you come back I said hell no I already have some other company that wants my knowledge and told him he was an ass and said to him this is one April's Fools day you will never forget. LOL Oh and to this day I still will never let anyone as I don't care what position or title they hold talk down to me as if they do, I'll give it right back to them and walk again
 
Wow, lots of good stories here. I am in awe.
Many years ago I took some qualifying written test, interviewed with a panel, and subsequently offered a job with the IRS, starting as a GS-3. After lots of hiring paperwork, I went to the distribution center that was wanting me. I was of course, flattered. Unfortunately the main duties involved handling a myriad of forms and documents, mailing them out to those requesting, and keeping track of inventory. Fun stuff. The manager (nice guy) shows me around, introduces me to maybe twenty new coworkers, buys me lunch in the cafeteria. Then shakes my hand and says, "why don't you head on home and I will see you here at 8:00 tomorrow." I nod my head, "Yes sir, I will see you tomorrow." Tomorrow comes, and I don't want this dreary job, and instantly decide that I was not going in, not going to call them to explain, and not even answer their calls and several messages. I was an ass.... and cannot explain my behavior. But.......about two years later I was audited by the IRS. I'm sure it was just a coincidence.
 
Hahahaha that is awesome!! You pulled an Antonio Brown!!![/QUOTE]


HAHA.....maybe Antonio will come on this board and tell his story....:mad:
 
cbo111 said:
Wow, lots of good stories here. I am in awe.
Many years ago I took some qualifying written test, interviewed with a panel, and subsequently offered a job with the IRS, starting as a GS-3. After lots of hiring paperwork, I went to the distribution center that was wanting me. I was of course, flattered. Unfortunately the main duties involved handling a myriad of forms and documents, mailing them out to those requesting, and keeping track of inventory. Fun stuff. The manager (nice guy) shows me around, introduces me to maybe twenty new coworkers, buys me lunch in the cafeteria. Then shakes my hand and says, "why don't you head on home and I will see you here at 8:00 tomorrow." I nod my head, "Yes sir, I will see you tomorrow." Tomorrow comes, and I don't want this dreary job, and instantly decide that I was not going in, not going to call them to explain, and not even answer their calls and several messages. I was an ass.... and cannot explain my behavior. But.......about two years later I was audited by the IRS. I'm sure it was just a coincidence.
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So YOU were the one who started the ghosting trend? Thanks a lot buddy! :LOL:
 
In the 70's I was in law school and waitressing in the summer. I was working in a great Italian restaurant and the cook was the owner who yelled and treated us poorly. One very busy time, the italian was yelling and I put my tickets on the counter where we picked up the food and I said "I quit." It felt so good!!
 
The only time I walked off a job was in senior year of HS. A buddy and I answered an ad for part time work described in some vague attractive manner. We showed up and it was a call center (something neither of us had heard of). We were "hired" on the spot and started making phone calls one by one from a list, checking off the ones we got though to. We had to read a stupid, brain dead script verbatim, no changes, no pauses. Most of the people we called hung up or berated us. We got a 10 minute break after a couple of hours and went outside. I told my buddy I was out of there and hopped on a bus home. He was a bit more responsible than me and went back in, lasting till lunch. Neither of us got paid. I suspect our behavior was part of their business plan. Get dumb kids to make a couple of hours of calls until they self fire but don't do the paperwork unless they last a few days.
 
My buddy to this day went to work with me in my DB's sawmill during our senior year of high school. We only had a couple classes in the morning and left to work in the afternoon. The mill was on a guys property right in the middle of 600 acres of monster timber. The landowner had his crew cut all winter long and there was a million board feet on a pile next to where we put the mill.

When we arrived there we have to walk in the last mile as log trucks have made the road impassable for our passenger cars. This day we were sawing when the belts attaching the power unit to the arbor, the shaft the saw is on, became loose. My buddy and brother are working on it with the mill running when I see my buddy stumble and a big blue puff goes off around him. Stumbling backwards to the rest of the crew when he turned around wearing nothing but his tidy whities. His jeans had snagged on something attached to the arbor and were ripped off of him and beat to dust. That would have been my buddy if his jeans hadn't ripped away!

The mill was shut down and there's six of us realizing what happened and grateful nothing worse happened. Finally one of the guys has to make a joke about it "looks like you lost your pants in front of the wrong guys". Shortly after my buddy said he's going home because he's hurt. My DB ran to give him a $20, he never came back to work. It was a long walk back to his car.
 
I guess I was inoculated against bad managers. My summer job through high school & college was working as a machine setup & mechanic at a tractor dealership. The shop foreman would occasionally lose his temper so badly that he'd start cursing and throwing hammers around the shop.

So, in my megacorp career I was never intimidated by any level of management ... they never came close to throwing hammers.
 
Not my story, but a friend's. He got a job as a security guard somewhere. On his first day, his boss told him there was someone causing trouble in the parking lot and he needed to go out and kick the guy off the property. My friend walks out, sees the size of the guy and how unlikely it was he'd cooperate, walks back in, and says "Nope! I quit."
 
Not that exciting. Last day of work (ever) was the Ides of March so I wore a toga. Now the interesting thing is some youngster (must have been in his 20's) came up and thought it was cool but asked why a toga? So I said, "Ides of March, you know, Julius Caesar." He replied, "Who's that? Never heard of him."
 
Fresh out of college I went to work writing ad copy for an “adult contemporary” radio station. The work was great fun, but the boss …
The station manager/co-owner was a caricature of a boomer salesman – polyester wardrobe (remember those 1970s suits?), showy jewelry, big cigars. He was as honest with his employees as a December day is long. His own nephew quit in a huff over one of his many broken promises. I walked out myself about six months into my one-year stint but got coaxed back – I was just out of school with no immediate prospects, and I really liked the work.
Finally, the Christmas season was upon us once again (I had been hired the same time the prior year after the previous sap walked). Salesmen were selling like mad, and I had some negotiating leverage since my work (and air time) was what they were selling. I had also lined up another gig, so I was prepared to resign if I didn't get a reasonable raise.
I sat down with the boss and took in his usual line of crapola. That was the convincer – I told him I was leaving. He acted like I had committed treason. How dare I quit him for a better job (and a better boss).
“You’re putting me in a box,” he complained. No sh!t, Sherlock.
I gave him two weeks’ notice, but he couldn’t resist leaning on me in the interim. After a few days I told him I was done. I wish I could say I kissed him off with a cutting remark, but my throat tightens and words desert me when I’m PO’d.
 
In high school and college, I worked at a hardware store, 30+hours/week while attending classes, 40 hours/week when on break. Over 3 years, I never missed a day, never called in sick, even dated the owner's daughter. Her and I had just broken up and I asked for a small raise to distinguish me and my good work habits, and my coworkers bad habits and poor attendance. A nickel/hour would have sufficed. I asked 4 times over the period of 8 weeks, and he kept on making excuses. So I gave him my 2 week notice, and he laughed. He laughed even louder when he mentioned his daughter thinking I was a jerk, we had gone to school together for 10 years.

On my last day, about an hour before the store shut, the phone rang. I took the call, and it was another hardware store, and they offered me a job for 35 cents more an hour, starting the next day. After working there a month, I got back together with daughter and we dated for about another year. I worked at the 2nd hardware store for another 3 years, and received annual raises and bonuses over that time. I got the last laugh.
 
Winemaker said:
In high school and college, I worked at a hardware store, 30+hours/week while attending classes, 40 hours/week when on break. Over 3 years, I never missed a day, never called in sick, even dated the owner's daughter. Her and I had just broken up and I asked for a small raise to distinguish me and my good work habits, and my coworkers bad habits and poor attendance. A nickel/hour would have sufficed. I asked 4 times over the period of 8 weeks, and he kept on making excuses. So I gave him my 2 week notice, and he laughed. He laughed even louder when he mentioned his daughter thinking I was a jerk, we had gone to school together for 10 years.

On my last day, about an hour before the store shut, the phone rang. I took the call, and it was another hardware store, and they offered me a job for 35 cents more an hour, starting the next day. After working there a month, I got back together with daughter and we dated for about another year. I worked at the 2nd hardware store for another 3 years, and received annual raises and bonuses over that time. I got the last laugh.
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Good for you. I dated a bosses daughter once...not easy.
 
arch57 said:
In 1991 was working as a lead software engineer at a small audio company with a VP of engineering who was a major a$$hole. I had been interviewing locally but market was tight back then. I did get an offer at a company that wasn’t too exciting and I literally had the offer letter in my back pocket as I was fed up working with this VP.
We were at yet another contentious meeting and he was chewing us out for being late when I stood up, called him a di*k and stormed out of the conference room. I ran to my office grabbed my coat and ran out the door.
I was in my early 30’s with two small kids and a big mortgage but knew I could latch on with that other company. I was driving a red 1987 Ford Mustang with the 5.0 liter V-8 at the time but it was in the shop so I had my wife’s sky blue Plymouth minivan that day. I see the VP running out the door and everyone watching from the windows. He tries to block my path as I leave and instead of peeling out in style with my Stang I’m revving the minivan trying to get it to lay some rubber. He did back off finally and I bolted for 3 days.
Finally the President of the company called me an begged me to come back so I laid down some conditions and got a 10% raise. They fired the VP 6 months later. I never told my co-workers I had that other job offer when I left so I became a “legend” at the company.
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This story was great! I love it. I can picture you in your minivan standing down your VP. I would have enjoyed seeing that one. :clap:
 
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