People Are Exposing Why They Quit A Job That They Actually Loved, And It's Maybe A Little Too Relatable
Granted, a lot of us aren't dreaming about working, but it can still be heartbreaking when a job you thought was your dream role turns out to be a real nightmare.
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Reddit user u/SiliconSunsetBeats recently asked, "Why did you end up quitting a job that you loved?" Here are a few horror stories:
1."My coworker had been singling me out, harassing me in front of customers, and just being mean and belligerent. She started yelling at me in front of a manager and I handed the manager my badge. My manager tried to convince me to stay on, and orchestrated a sit down with the three of us to 'mediate.' After giving us a speech about teamwork, my coworker started yelling at the manager about me and yelling at me. I had hoped for some sort of response from the manager — take a breath, chill out, something. After about five minutes of just listening to yelling, I handed her my name badge again and collected my stuff."
2."I worked at an adult toy store. After my training finished, all the other employees quit. I ran that store by myself for about a year. We finally hired someone new and I trained her. Then, I was informed that she would be MY MANAGER. Why? Because she had previous management experience. I quit on the spot. It was a bummer because it was a fun job, and the job I got after that was at Blockbuster."
3."I quit my job at a used bookstore because, for the first time in my life, I was offered a job that was art related. It was just a freelance gig that was only for three months, but that was the first step toward building a career for myself. That was 22 years ago. I am currently art directing at one of the best motion graphics studios in the industry."
4."I worked a dead-end job in a plant nursery making very little for a few years. After a rough childhood, then addiction in my 20s, and a couple of bad breakups, it felt like the first time in my life I was happy and at peace. I learned so much. But one day I got an offer I couldn't refuse, and I walked away for more money. I still haven't found that happiness again, even though I have a dream job. Life is weird."
5."I used to work as a party princess. It took me three months to get the manager to let me be a character. Before that, she would make me assist because she was convinced that I was just too tall (5’10) even though it’s what she hired me for. Dressing up and doing the makeup was super fun at first, especially having a bunch of different characters. I loved doing the parties and quickly got a hang of it, but the manager moved out of state and tried to run it remotely. I honestly loved that job, it was so amazing but the constant criticism of looks, weight, etc. was just so difficult, so I quit after a year."
6."The CEO, who was awesome, retired. The board of directors hired an inexperienced jerk to replace her, over the objections of the staff. I gave it six months to see if he'd get over being a jerk. He didn't, so I walked."
7."I was mid-management for the maintenance of a beautiful 500-acre estate and Tudor mansion. I cared for the buildings, forests, lakes, and gardens. Then after 10 years, they stopped paying me. The UK government hit the Russian owner with sanctions that prevented my pay. I was forced to leave or work for free. I am British and have paid every tax and have never broken a law, but there was no system in place to financially help me, and no way to get the wages owed to me."
"Honestly I grieved the loss of my career and fell into depression. The company I worked for no longer exists and my entire training record went with it. Worst of all, a decade of dedicated care and work has now been left to overgrow and fall into disrepair. A mansion built over 500 years ago, part of English heritage is in serious danger of crumbling away and my own government won’t even step in and seize the property to save it. There is no replacing the history being lost to neglect. It's so sad."
8."My boss had no respect for my personal time and hired his mother-in-law to do the job that should have been mine. Not only did she have zero knowledge or experience in that particular role, but she knew nothing about the practice in general so I had to train her on everything. Over and above that, she got paid more and got more time off, whereas I was stuck sitting there until like 20:00 on Wednesdays or after 18:00 on Fridays (I finished at 17:00)."
9."They got bought by a national firm and layoffs were rampant. I stayed until my final raise was .17 cents. I remember going through so many managers that I lost track."
10."I saw higher-ups sweep sexual harassment under the rug because they didn't want to lose their employee, and thought that firing someone made them 'look bad.' After that, the other employees made his work life miserable, so he just ended up quitting. I also ended up quitting after that and told my boss if they were willing to sweep that under the rug, what else would they not bat an eye at?"
11."I taught elementary for four years and loved it. I was amazing at it too, I'm not gonna lie. I left because I was getting paid shit, and it wasn’t worth it."
12."I started to work by passion but I feared the passion would fade if it was transformed into a paycheck job."
13."I was working 12–15 hours a day, seven days a week for six months. The owner said that she couldn't find anyone to give me a day off, but she hired a former employer back to be my manager. All other employees worked at other locations, so I was always by myself at work. I was caring for sick animals so I couldn't just not go to work. I made an hourly wage and this new boss called me to inform me I was being switched to a salary at half of my hourly pay and that all medications and medical supplies had to come out of my pay, because, and I quote, 'We all have to do what we have to. We are a non-profit, you know.' She was making $100,000 a year."
"When I informed the owner I would no longer be able to work with her organization because of these issues, she had the nerve to inform me that my last paycheck would have to be held for a couple of months because they would need to use the money to pay someone else to do my job. I told her that was not my problem and if she held onto my pay, I would get an employment lawyer."
14."I was going to play in a symphony, my dream job since I was, like, six years old. I had just been accepted and gotten the schedule for practices when my girlfriend at the time (wife now) told me she was pregnant. I didn't want to be traveling around a lot and not be there for my kid, so I backed out. I've never told her because she'd feel terrible about it."
15."It was killing me. I was a sourdough bread baker for decades and it was just what I loved: hard manual labor mixed with delicate matters of math, timing, intuition, and challenges of judgment. I started coughing every morning and hacking like I would cough something up. My doctor said that I had to stop breathing flour or it would do irreversible damage to my oxygen exchange rate and I would die early. I ignored them. Five years go by, and it got worse. The doctors said that it was the early stages of white lung. I hang-doggedly became a gardener. That was a cool job too, but the pay was low."
16."I quit just yesterday. My owner cut my and everyone else's hours in half and cut my pay due to 'rising cost,' yet his hours and pay are staying exactly the same. I live paycheck to paycheck, and unless I wanted a third job, I decided to quit after getting another one that is giving me at least +20 hours a week. I loved working at a flower shop, but it wasn’t worth it anymore. I was working 20 hours a week there and 25 at my other job, he cut my hours to 10 a week and placed me at minimum wage pay."
17."My former employer got infiltrated by corrupt individuals who squeezed blood from a rock for too long. People I had respected for years went silent because of the promise of a huge bonus. It was a shame because the company was amazing when I started and it was truly my dream job. When I pushed back, they made my life hell for it until I quit of my own volition."
18."I was with this company for over 35 years, and my coworkers were like family. Then a new director was hired above me and, in the first month, he told us that our work was shit. It went downhill from there. He was the reason so many people, me included, left. It’s amazing how one bad hire that goes against the grain of the company can ruin so many people's lives."
19."I worked as a preschool/daycare teacher. They hired me on as an assistant in an infant classroom but shortly after my lead left for maternity leave, I pretty much became the leader of the classroom. Another teacher was relocated to our site and became the unofficial assistant to my class. In the words of management, she was not good with infants and it was like having another baby in the room. But because of teacher-to-infant ratios, we needed her there to have a full class of eight students. The stress of constantly having to monitor her with the kids became too much. She fell asleep watching them every day, was trying to pick them up by their arms, yelling at them (they’re babies!). No matter how many times I went to management to complain and voice my concerns about students getting hurt with me gone, nothing happened."
I later found out that other teachers who had also transferred from her previous location had refused to teach with her because she was 'lazy' and 'careless.' I would’ve preferred to just watch them all day and skip my breaks if that meant I knew they would be properly taken care of. But after a car accident where I ended up getting a concussion, I couldn’t handle any of it.
Over time I became more and more frustrated with management, the co-teacher, and unfortunately, my babies. I use to headbang to their crying, while tending to them mind you, but not getting frustrated and upset myself. I had a mental breakdown in which my manager found me in the middle of my classroom holding a baby crying, and staring at the wall.
She held the baby for a few minutes, but because we were so low-staffed, she had to give the baby back to me and leave to give other teachers their breaks. That whole day was a blur. I became so ashamed that I couldn’t give my students the education they needed and deserved.
I just felt defeated and after 10 months gave my two-week notice, although I came back for a week the month after to help while my former lead went away for vacation. After her return from maternity leave, she decided to leave as well after dealing with the same co-teacher and running into the same problems with management and her. Sometimes I cry thinking of the time with my students. I miss them so much and thought I had a real knack for childcare and infant care in particular. Now, I’m in retail hell."
