Starting a job is often (a little) nerve-wracking. With so much information to absorb, faces to meet, and the pressure to make a good impression, new hires can easily start feeling overwhelmed. Colleagues and managers can and should help, butsometimes they’re part of the problem.
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Started at a daycare and they were hitting children. Like full-on slapping them in the mouth. Shoving their heads down on the table when they wouldn’t eat lunch. TWO YEAR OLDS. I started hysterically crying and told the owner, she said “Maybe this job isn’t for you” and I walked out. I only worked there for 4 hours. Called corporate and everyone else I could think of. Heinous place.
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When they said I would be expected to do unpaid overtime.“oh really? Bye then”.
Interviewed for a barista position. Showed up the first day, and they asked if I was ok with a few days of “unpaid training”, which I know that they knew was illegal. I said no.
Landed a gig fresh out of high school at a local print shop, was told I’d be designing cool graphics for local businesses. First day, they hand me a broom and tell me my job is actually to sweep floors and clean the machines, with graphics being a “sometimes thing.” The place was filthy, like it hadn’t seen a broom in decades. As I swept, I found a dead rat behind one of the printers. I was then told to dispose of it and continue cleaning without gloves or proper gear. Took my lunch break early and decided no amount of “potential graphic design opportunities” could make me come back to rat-sweeping duty. Left and never returned.
Not quite the first day, but I’d been promised a quite generous pension scheme as part of the overall package.Induction day comes along and the pension scheme is described. And it’s not generous at all - in fact, it’s the legal minimum.I made every effort to address this, but they were quite clear: that’s the rules, sorry you were misinformed, take it or leave it.They were astonished when I chose “leave it”.
Went to the first day of training and realized it was a MLM. Stayed for the lunch they provided and then dipped.
I was hired to work at a sandwich shop. I did an hour up front figuring out where things were and then I was told to go to the walk-in fridge to get something. The smell… my f*****g god. There was unwrapped food on the floor, open pails of stuff with no lids, rotten vegetables. It smelled like a corpse and looked like a dumpster. I gagged, took my apron off and just left.
Kept me waiting at reception for 45 minutes. If you don’t have a plan for a new start, your workplace is probably a s**t show.
A Subway sandwich shop back in 2013.-The recruiter/hiring manager/HR rep had me go in on my first day on a Monday from like 12–4PM. I walk in and the manager was like “That stupid bh knew I wanted you in here on Wednesday. God damn that fg cow can suck my ck. What a stupid b*h.” Those were some really nice examples of the st he said.-I wear a large sized t-shirt. The manager game me a 3XL. It smelled like BO had had a bunch of food stains on it.-Manager had very visible track marks on his arms.-Manager didn’t wash his hands after he smoked a cigarette. Dude was taking a smoke break like every 30 minutes.In those four hours I decided it wasn’t a good fit.
I worked for a bread factory that put me on the first shift, within the first 10 minutes of being there an employee asked me if HR had told me they have been forced to work 17-hour days. Most of the employees were single moms, one employee told me about her struggles with child care. She wanted to leave so badly but it was the first time she had health insurance. She lifted up her shirt and showed me a big hernia she needed to get taken care of. It felt like prison, I left and never came back at lunch.
First day as waitress at a sports bar in Fayetteville, NC. Large, actually huge guy from the kitchen corners me and tells me that any “xtra jobs” I get he will be taking half. I guess he was trying to be my pimp. I left.
Taco Bell told me I’d have to take out all of my piercings and let them close up. For minimum wage? Lol no.
My manager came into the women’s dressing rooms.
I once took a job that was more of a, “Well, we need some good people but we aren’t really sure what we will have you doing. We will figure something out” kind of thing.After a few hours of being walked around meeting everyone, signing paperwork, etc. a long-shot dream-job employer I had applied to called me and offered me almost twice as much money to come work for them.I was at lunch with my boss when I got the phone call. I excused myself to take the call, accepted the offer, and went back in to resign.That guy (boss for half a day) and I are still friends many years later, but damn was it awkward. I’ve never seen anything like it before or since.The job I took really was awesome though and totally changed my career trajectory. Absolutely no regrets.
Got hired at Diamond Mazda of Baton Rouge a while back in their used cars team. I explained in the interview process that I wasn’t a “car guy” but had incredible sales numbers in every sales job I had. The manager assured me day one I would get a brief on car info to get me started.Day one, I show up and he tells me no, I am not getting a brief on car data and I can forget about that. The rest of the sales team spends the days creating fake calls and pages for me that 4 times send me walking across the lots and properties to people and buildings that don’t exist, each time to come back and find the contents of my desk and my chair in the ditch out behind the offices.They wouldn’t tell me how to read the numeric code on the windshield that had the price on it. Finally when a customer asked me to tell them about a car I explained “it’s purple” we both laughed hard, I quit about 7 hours into day 1 right then and there.
When I had fought hard for a promotion which I got, but then the owners son got out of rehab for the 3rd or 4th time and was “serious” about staying clean. They gave the position that I was given a week before to him and demoted me back to my previous position. He also took away the 15% raise that I was given as part of the promotion which was almost the final straw. About 2 weeks later the bosses son was drunk at work and blabbed about the fact that he was making nearly double my income, and that even gave him a signing bonus when he started working there. I went to the owner just to let him know that his son was intoxicated, and he started to read me the riot act about minding my own business. I just looked at him rather shocked and told him I done and walked out. I ended up turning down 3 invitations to return to that job for 6 months after the fact.
I got hired on at a Bob Evans. They were complaining how nobody works and nobody stays for longer than a few weeks. The plan was to do a good job, maybe advance in the career path some here and see where things went from there.First day-The main kitchen head walks around critiquing everything that anyone does, sprinkling in personal insults.Kitchen head refuses to clean saying she is paid too much to cleanHalf of the equipment needs major repair or is so dirty it has an odor, nearly all are unsafeHead Refuses to wash hands after smoking or using the bathroom, “just wastes water” she saysDuring one successful effort to get her to talk to me some she admits that her religion makes her hate former friends and her daughter (theyre gay)Shift manager sits in office staring at video screens of staff and customers “because you cant trust anyone these days”Two wait staff get into verbal altercation and none of the manager staff do anything to stop it. It goes on for 20 minutes before a customer gets them to stop-I finished my shift and left, didnt go back. Not worth it.
I went to orientation for a call center job and it became quite apparent to me that their process was to scam older people. Got up started to walk out and the instructor asked me what I was doing. ‘leaving’ I said. ‘oh why? We’re about to get to the good stuff’. ‘I’m leaving because I have ethics particularly in business’ and walked out.
I took a job doing warranty support for computers bought at Best Buy. My first day of training I was gone 12 hours and at least half of that time was driving. I was expected to drive my own car and no benefits. I didn’t go back the next day .
After college, I got a job at a small tech startup. They prided themselves on a “dynamic work environment” but that was code for no formal breaks and an expectation of 24/7 availability. The kicker? They paid in “stock options” they assured would be worth thousands when the company took off. Two weeks of sleeping with my phone under my pillow and watching my social life disappear, I realized my mental health was worth more than speculative stocks. Handed in my two-week notice the next day.
First day as a carpet/tile installer’s helper. We hadn’t been working ten minutes and dude is losing his temper because I measured a cut wrong. Started to chew me out and grabbed my arm. Yanked myself free then sashayed out to his work truck, jumped in and drove it back to the shop. Got in my car without a word and hauled as. The jackss had to walk about a mile to call the owner (it was the’70s).
When I walked into the office and immediately felt an overwhelming sense of negativity in the environment.The manager seemed disorganized and dismissive, the team members barely acknowledged my presence, and I overheard complaints about long hours and lack of support.The final straw was when I was handed a massive stack of work with no clear instructions or training and told to figure it out on my own. Realizing that this was not the kind of work culture I wanted to be a part of, I decided to walk away before getting too invested.
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My main job was in banking. All kinds of responsibilities around keeping your cash drawer closed and locked at all times. Terminable offense if you’re out of balance over a certain amount or often.Took a part time job at a theater and was responsible for the cash drawer. Except, it didn’t lock and they wouldn’t give me a key. When I questioned it, I was told, indeed I am solely responsible for the integrity of the cash drawer, yet had to frequently leave it to get popcorn, snacks and soda for guests.Noped out within half an hour.
Got a head of ecomm job, and on my first day they said I’d run into trouble from internal candidates who wanted the job but didn’t get it. Apparently they don’t hire for senior positions internally. 🚩Then I was told the team were not allowed to work from home (including when it was mandated) because “they couldn’t be trusted”.🚩🚩They continually described the shambles the place was in as though me alone was their only saviour. 🚩🚩🚩Holidays, breaks, pension etc were all the legal minimum - very unusual for senior roles. 🚩🚩🚩🚩I was told that I had to sign an opt out for working time regulations “just incase” - there is no paid overtime.🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩Finally, the owners (family) dragged their kids along to my onboarding, who sat on their phones the whole time and occasionally asked ridiculous questions that were either already covered, or grossly inappropriate. 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩I left after 3 hours, f**k that noise.
The person who was training me got arrested for shoplifting during work, and I almost got arrested too on suspicion of being his accomplice.
The bad vibe of your coworkers that you could sense right from the first day.
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At 17 i took a job at a hotel, front desk, easy work. Got there fir my first day and I was a dishwasher in the restaurant. Walked out after about 10 minutes, cause thats not the job i was hired for.
I got hired as a chef for a small lunchroom and I saw the two waitresses popping zits on each others backs and then waiting tables without them washing their hands.
When the “mandatory team-building” turned into a 6-hour unpaid meeting, I realized my exit was long overdue xD.
The pay in the interview and the actual pay were significantly different. (Actual pay was much worse, interview pay covered weekends and bonuses that barely anyone on staff achieved).I left lunchtime day one. “Sorry, this isn’t for me”.
Got a job at a warehouse to make some extra cash one summer. Was trained on the cardboard/trash compactor. In one box, someone had left a few cups, and when I tossed it in, one of the cups was full of someone’s dip spit. Dry-heaved and walked to the bathroom to clean up. Then walked to my car and peaced.
So, it turns out this “company” wasn’t even legit—they weren’t registered and had no license. They even threatened to make us pay if we quit during the 60-day training period. Fast forward a few months, and they were shut down.
At 14, I tried working for Dickie Dee Icecream for one whole day—riding a bike with a cooler in the sweltering sun. They paid you on commission based on sales, but you had to buy your own dry ice. So after sweating all day, you ended up with nothing. This was in the mid-80s, and I really hope this kind of job doesn’t exist anymore!
I walked in and found the office was so unorganized that I couldn’t find my desk or receive proper training. It was evident from away that it was going to be a chaotic disaster, so I decided it wasn’t worth staying.
LOL, a rat infestation they did NOT mention in the interview. Restaurant shut down a few weeks later, they were desperate because a bunch of employees - pardon the pun - jumped ship.
Worked at a boat yard for a few hours, the owner wanted me to crawl around in the open hull of a boat that was suspended 10' in the air with no safety equipment. Just don’t fall through…
Got a job as a cook at Huddle House, but on my first day, I learned they’d been dishonest about the shifts. They wanted me to manage the whole restaurant alone on the graveyard shift after only a week of training, and the place was totally violating health codes.
IT job, day 1. No computer allocated, no desk set up, just hung around beside another person who was showing me things (it was helpdesk job, and not rocket science though). The manager/director did not even say Hi, welcome. If he had said, we are busy, will arrange your work space tomorrow, the story would have been different. Knew at lunch I was not going to come back tomorrow.
When my boss didn’t show up.
Realizing the coffee machine was broken and no one cared.
My supervisor wasn’t English and it was my first job. Everyone else on the day were asking me what she was saying. And then they put us out on the shop floor and said “we normally train you but not this time.” This was my very first job.
Realized the coffee was worse than the pay.
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Justinas Keturka
Gabija Saveiskyte
Indrė Lukošiūtė
Work & Money
