Employees dramatically quitting their jobs is something we cover often here at Bored Panda, as there are many different ways that situation can go down and the internet certainly has no shortage of fascinating tales. The police might be called, aggressive text messages might be sent, and the company might even miss out on millions of dollars. But sometimes, one particularly traumatic incident can lead to a herd of employees all jumping ship at once. 

Earlier this month, Reddit user RealSlicy reached out asking fellow workers of the world what happened at their former places of employment that caused everyone to quit at once, and boy, did people come through with some crazy stories. We’ve compiled some of the most shocking and disturbing incidents that caused people to decide that their mental health, safety, and morals were much more important than a job.

Below, you'll also find interviews we were lucky enough to receive from Penelope Trunk, career counselor and blogger, and the person who started this conversation in the first place, RealSlicy on Reddit. Be sure to upvote the stories that get you riled up, and then let us know in the comments if you have ever quit a job under similar circumstances. We would love to hear your personal stories, and then if you’re interested in reading another Bored Panda article featuring accounts from people who are glad they quit on the spot, check out this story next.

#1

My mum worked at a primary school where there was a tree planted on the field for a student who had died about a decade ago. The headmaster (who people had many problems with already) decided the tree was "in the way" of the massive field and had it demolished without the family's permission. A lot of staff were already considering quitting for other reasons, but that was the final straw for a lot of them. Seven teachers and nine other members of staff quit that year.

Image credits: molwalk

Deciding whether or not to quit a job can be a long and arduous process. We usually have to weigh the pros and cons before making the final jump, and we must ensure that we’ll be able to pay rent and buy groceries if we lose our income suddenly. We want to be sure that we can find another job in a short amount of time, and we might even try to find a new position that won’t make us want to rip our hair out before leaving our old job. But starting a new job is risky because it can be difficult to predict if the devil we know is worse than the devil we don’t know.

On the other hand, however, sometimes one incident is enough to push us right over the edge. No contemplation, no time to consult our therapist, and no two-week’s notice. I’m quitting today. As much as I hope you pandas have never been in a situation where you and your fellow employees all decided to walk away together, these experiences sure do make for great stories. So enjoy reading through this shocking list, and keep these stories in mind if anything traumatic ever happens to you at work. Remember that you can always walk away at any moment. 

#2

For the Xmas holidays about a decade ago after a very successful year coming out of the recession the boss showed up in a new 400k motorhome to show everyone his new toy. It had the hydraulic slide outs for the living room; all the bells and whistles.

Everyone got envelopes for bonuses. We were stoked. $5 Walmart gift cards. People just started walking out.

Image credits: CherryManhattan

We reached out to RealSlicy on Reddit to hear what inspired him to start this conversation in the first place. "I’ve heard several stories related to this topic, and I got curious and posted the question," he told Bored Panda. "Never expected it to blow up like this." We also asked if he thinks it's common for there to be incidents at work causing large numbers of people to quit. "I’d say whatever causes this to happen would be unlikely. The post proved me wrong though, so I guess so," he said.

We also asked what he thinks the best way is for a company to respond to a dramatic or traumatic situation that causes many employees to quit. "They would have to provide more for their employees and maybe replace the manager of wherever it took place if they were what caused it," he says. "If they lie about it, it would only screw them up even more."

#3

Covid hit the fedex supply chain. Broke the entire system and exposed bad management. The pressure fell on top of the drivers. We quit one after another.

Image credits: RandomBloke2021

To get some insight on why employees often hit a breaking point and decide to quit all at once, we also reached out to career counselor and blogger Penelope Trunk. "There are a few quitting trends that pop up in the media -- the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, and quitting in teams. The Great Resignation turns out to be not anything great at all, but rather just a continuation of the 30-year trend of college-educated women participating in the workforce at lower and lower rates," Penelope told Bored Panda. "Similarly, quiet quitting and quitting in teams are tactics people have used in the workplace for a long time, so I think what we are seeing, really, is a trend in personal transparency." 

"In 2008, I was talking about  how twenty-something millennials were quitting in teams because they did everything in teams - they went to prom in teams, they did class projects in teams," Penelope explained. "This was shocking to gen x'ers since we did everything alone when we were in our twenties - the natural result of living as latchkey kids. But I wasn't the first to notice how people quit in teams. Danny Sarch was a top finance recruiter known for being able to place a whole team at a new job. in the past he had to keep his specialty under peoples' radar, but now I think it's out in the open."

#4

Company did a survey of employee happiness. It had super limited answers. We filled it out and tried to explain that, internally, our team was doing well and we were happy but just about everyone had problems with two other employees outside the team who were bullies in important positions.

The company asked us instead what -we- could do better so the bullies don't bully...
Over half the team quit within a month which is unheard of at that company and our team was/is a corner stone of the entire buisness.

Image credits: Butterbubblebutt

"The reason quitting in teams is not new is that quitting is rarely about the money," Penelope says. "It's usually about a combination of lack of appreciation, lack of commitment to coworkers or shared vision. The extreme version of these feelings is moral outrage, which is collective. So it makes sense that extremely bad behavior in the workplace is met with groups of people that quit together."

"For example, it's clear that the story on reddit about the company ignoring that a guy's arm got cut off is moral outrage," Penelope said in reference to one of the stories featured on this list. "Everyone quit that moment because one wants to be in the room with someone who is telling them to ignore blood pooled on the floor. We also set standards for an obligation to quit. We don't blame people when they are not whistleblowers because we assume they can't see what the whistleblower sees. But when a huge group of people can see moral turpitude, like in Nazi Germany, and they do nothing, we prosecute them for being an accessory, even if it was their job to follow orders."

#5

Worked at a chain pizza place. The manager didn't approve of how well we cleaned and prepped for the next day. So we all came in to a note saying something to the effect of "you are all replaceable" so we all said ok, took off the uniform and left. We didn't even lock up or close up shop. Just walked off. Phones were ringing for orders, there were people coming in to the dining area but nobody was there working. Once she realized nobody was there she was calling everyone going nuts telling us to come to work or we're fired. One person went back and tried to save it. I just reminded her that I was replaceable, and so was the person who signed my check, then hung up. They had to close for about a week or two to replace the staff. The location completely closed and filed bankruptcy less than a year later at least partly due to her leadership. The location is a Verizon store now.

Image credits: Titan_Uranus_69

"Death of a Salesman is famous because it reminds us what happens if we put aside our communal morality when we go to work," Penelope told Bored Panda. "Arthur Miller wrote it at a time when men were trained in the military and then went to the workforce, so it was natural to follow orders no matter what. My son couldn't believe how pathetic the salesmen were. He said, 'If I want to read a classic about people who are insane from war, I think Slaughterhouse 5 is better.' It's refreshing to me that my son can't imagine a world where the 1950s workplace exists because it was definitely still there when I graduated from college in 1990."

"As people depend less and less on their jobs for their identity, people are more willing to speak publicly and truthfully about quitting their jobs," Penelope explained. "For the general population this means we can make more realistic decisions about how we can make a living and what is possible. This trend in transparency will also mean the normalizing of the life that people who read Bored Panda probably already know: that our identity has to come from what engages and excites us and most of us will do what excites us for free. Most people in the Bored Panda community can quit their jobs and see little shift in their personal identity. Now they can feel like other people understand that."

If you'd like to hear more words of wisdom from Penelope, be sure to check out her blog right here.

#6

The management declined to raise waiges and canceled remote right when second covid wave hit. Our whole department started looking for a new job when that happened.

Image credits: h7hh77

While it seems like there is no shortage of toxic employers out there, one good thing that has come from fed-up employees sharing their stories online is the empowerment that comes along with it. The more workers open up about how they deserve better treatment and unions, the more people are willing to walk away from their unhealthy work environments. This shared experience of demanding better working conditions has led to the Great Resignation of 2022, that is currently still taking place. 

The term ‘The Great Resignation’ was coined in May 2021 due to the record numbers of employees leaving their jobs since the onset of the pandemic. According to one survey, one fifth of the world’s workers planned or are still planning to quit their jobs before the end of 2022. And while there are a variety of reasons motivating these employees to seek new positions, 71% of the people planning to quit cited finding higher wages as one of their top priorities. Companies cannot pretend to be surprised by this though, as inflation has increased rapidly over the past year, and housing costs are skyrocketing around the globe. It was only a matter of time until The Great Resignation began.

#7

I worked at a KFC in the 80s. We had a really cool manager. I was assistant manager along with another, and lots of other great young people worked there. Our manager was hired to turn around the store and he was given a budget to buy new equipment. He also saved money on paper products and got the store really clean with our help. At the end of the year, he was fired by the upper management for "spending too much". They then brought in a new manager who immediately set about giving us all a hard time. Everyone walked. The store had to shut down for several days and the new guy brought in his family to help run it.

They store shut down permanently a few years later. The district manager offered me a job in management but I just didn't trust them at that point.

Image credits: EurassesDragon

Money is far from the only concern employees have though. As I’m sure many of the people featured on this list will tell you, satisfaction is a very important factor at work as well. If you feel unsafe, disrespected or unappreciated at your place of work, there is no reason to stay, even if you are compensated well. After receiving fair wages, finding a job fulfilling falls close behind as the second most important factor to the majority of workers. And the third most important factor, also very closely behind, is that employees feel like they can truly be themselves at work.

We are human beings who deserve to be treated that way 100% of the time. We are not robots who are capable of shutting off our emotions or pausing our personalities just because we’re on the clock. While ignorant employers might assume that productivity and profits are the only things workers should be concerned about, that’s simply not the reality. Workers want to feel valued and cared for at work, and when they don’t, they will find somewhere else where they do.   

#8

One of my first jobs was as a dishwasher at a local steakhouse which was always really busy as it overlooked the waterfalls of the the local river. My 3rd or 4th day working the whole kitchen staff just didn't show up. Except for me. Boss grabbed me and taught me how to cook as we went. Not only had I never cooked before, this was a Friday night and I was missing a concert, so I was kind of angry about that. Probably not the culinary experience some of the customers expected that night, but I tried my best. Then, after we closed I had to stick around for another 4 hours to wash dishes. Turns out everybody went to the concert. This was almost 40 years ago. Still mad.

Image credits: MadonnaBinLaden

#9

Exposure to crystalline silica, the company I worked for was supplied materials labelled as non hazardous, when we found out they actually contained silica dust (well over the safe levels) we all had to get tested for silicosis and lung scarring, a few of us got nice payouts at the expense of about 40 years of life span. Everyone at my company was told lies and had information withheld from us, for about 3 months we continued to use that material when the directors knew the dangers but hadn’t told us, when everyone found out there were only 2 people left at that company; the directors.

Image credits: refinedflour

Although many of the stories on this list took place long before the pandemic began, the shift in the world’s focus since the first few months of 2020 has been drastic. Many of us have been forced to reevaluate our priorities and decide what is truly important to us. While we were required to isolate ourselves in our homes and adjust to a new quality of life, many workers realized that working remotely is actually the best possible option for them. And while it’s been proven that it can be done without sacrificing productivity or profits, many employees have decided that they no longer want to put up with long commutes, uncomfortable offices and the drama that can come along with seeing colleagues every day. 

Unfortunately, about half of the workforce cannot be employed remotely. And according to the World Economic Forum, these individuals are “far less likely than others to say they find their job fulfilling, believe that their team cares about their well-being, think that they’re fairly rewarded financially, or feel they can be creative in their work”. So if a worker has to be on the job in-person, they certainly deserve to find a place they enjoy going to and agree with ethically.

#10

The guy everyone hated became the manager because the lousy CEO played favorites.

Image credits: V4Vendota

#11

They issued phone lockers. All the lube techs quit except for one but he got high at lunch the next day and got fired. Mind you this was one day after the boss just got back from his dads funeral.

#12

We worked at a startup with amazing co-founders. Our CEO and COO were the coolest people I've met. Our company was doing well, we were some 6-8 months away from break-even and cash burn was so low, we hadn't needed funding in almost 5 years.

The startup was funded by foreign VCs who had no understanding of local market. They wanted insane growth when the industry we were in just didn't have that kind of growth potential. So the VCs got the co-founders fired.

5 of 8 departmental heads and at least 15% of total employees of the company quit within the next 3 months.

Image credits: magestooge

There has also been a major shift in perspective for many workers in recent years that might be inspiring them to say goodbye to jobs they previously thought they needed. Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, told Harvard Business Review, “People aren’t just quitting their jobs, they’re rejecting the idea that burnout is the price they have to pay for success.” Keith Ferrazzi and Mike Clementi, writers for Harvard Business Review, explain that rather than viewing the recent change in the workforce as a “Great Resignation”, perhaps we should be considering it a “Great Exploration” instead. People are not just walking away from their jobs; they are calling for changes in the whole system. They want to address the root causes of why employees are unhappy.

#13

Back around 2000 SQL server was a hot skill to have, and "big data" was a license to write your own salary. Despite this a new CEO came in to the company I was at and decided to show that he was boss by immediately firing the server team manager. The manager had a new job with our main competitor the same day and immediately got the entire server team positions and a significant pay rise. The entire team handed in their resignation the very next day.

Image credits: Fenrir101

#14

Not everyone, but a big chunk of the good people including managers.

This was McDonald's, after COVID hit. We were already slammed on the daily with ridiculous demands from our franchise owner and his cronies, but when COVID hit they used that as an opportunity to add on more and more stuff to make even more money. They wanted more jobs done when we were already understaffed, wearing masks AND face shields that THEY got (we weren't allowed to use our own even if they were more effective and clean).

The list of additional demands from our owner and his cronies were:

Upsell EVERYTHING from pies to cookies to bagels to donuts on every order and if you didn't you'd get written up.

Talk in a specific way without any changes in the script (I'm not joking, they wrote out scripts for us) and if even one word was wrong, written up.

If you interrupt the automatic greeter (which customers thought was a real person cause the ones in that area were a really special kind of stupid) even by accident, written up.

If you didn't get payment done at the window fast enough, even if it's the customer being slow, it's your fault.

If you don't constantly sound happy and/or cheery, clearly that's your fault and not the fact that you're going through 8 hours almost every day of mental abuse while also physically pushing yourself to do the jobs of 3 people cause they don't want to schedule the right amount of people for shifts.

All while we're living in a pandemic barely making ends meet on 40 hours a week.

Not to mention all the abuse from the incompetent managers who wouldn't give us our breaks, and later on breaking health services regulations because surprise surprise, some workers got COVID and came into work cause calling in sick was still frowned upon...

This caused a whole bunch of people to leave, not even giving notice most of the times because the work environment was and still is extremely toxic. And because it was most of the good managers and workers who left, that made things even worse. And yet the owner and his cronies still had the gall to ask "wHy'D eVeRyOnE lEaVe?"

Image credits: Howler452

#15

Business largely workedbecause the owner trusted his employees to do a good job. So the employees did a good job. The business was doing really well and the owner assumed it was all because of him so he started micromanaging everyone's job. People started dropping off like flies because the working conditions became intolerable. The company didn't last very long after that

Ferrazzi recommends that while workers take some time to reevaluate their situations or search for new employment, they should also start asking themselves some questions. “Why do I do what I do? What am I good at? How can I thrive?” He explains that employees who feel they have discovered their purpose are 49% more likely to experience intrinsic motivation, 33% more likely to report higher job satisfaction, and 25% more likely to go above and beyond at work. “The irony is that if you ask most CHROs what the number-one reason people are leaving is, the answer won’t be purpose — because we don’t ask,” says Marlon Sullivan, Johnson Controls’ CHRO, who explains that exit surveys usually cover the topics of management, culture, wages, and other factors. “But…is purpose a key factor? Absolutely.”

#16

Three of us, the engineers, quit the same week and without any discussion between ourselves. Man in charge was an insufferable, insulting twat. This led to the head office losing faith and the whole subsidiary being sold off.

#17

Manager kept pitching Amway to us on breaks and then cut hours of those that didn't sign up under him. We worked in retail at the mall.

#18

Not my story but my cousin's. They found out that their boss is a child predator who tries to catfish children from roblox during work often. He was reported to the authorities on the same day they quit.

#19

Worked at a board game cafe, poor management amongst other things was pushing all the staff to quit but we didn't because we liked working together.

Next to the coffee machine we had a couple of sticky notes with doodles we had all drawn, they were very cute and gave a personal touch that made us feel part of the business.

The final straw was when out of the blue our bosses tore these down and chucked them in the bin.

In the next following days every single staff member quit including ones like myself who had been with the business since inception.

#20

I was working as a chef in a mall in Espoo, Finland back in 2009, when there was a shootout with six casualties and the owner of the restaurant told everyone to continue working in spite of this. Eventually we were forced outside by security. I was literally doing mise en place when security stormed in and told us to get the f**k out. Yeah, I quit that job.

#21

There was only two of us working at a local bar. It was the second New Year’s Eve in a row that the landlady tried to get us to work through our 5 minute midnight break and yelled at me for giving my bf a kiss (not behind the bar, we were on the floor celebrating with friends for that 5 minutes). Two NYE’s of her making me cry, plus plenty of occasions of being disrespected and not paid on time. We left at 12:15 AM and they never got any more perm staff and sadly closed.

#22

My employer went bankrupt. Boss came by and informed us and said we could continue working but as of that moment we where not going to be paid. We all shook the mans hand and left. The boss was a good man who got shafted by a couple of clients and the economic climate was not the best at that time.

#23

My department is potentially facing this.

We're underperforming due to staff retention issues (loads of factors leading to this.)

Had a department wide meeting where senior management announce that they're pulling back remote working days effective immediately. Everybody has to be in the office an extra day and they'll cut things further if our performance as a department doesn't improve.

No mention of payrises. No answer for how to address the staffing shortfall.

Given that the cost of living is insanely high and people joined with the expectation of flexible working, many aren't happy.

#24

We had a tiny team, just three people, and really didn't need a manager. Still, a manager was hired. She was a micromanager, nothing was too small for her to notice. Forgot to put a double space at the start of a sentence? She would literally sit next to you for half an hour, prompting you to double space. The boss was impressed because she always seemed very busy - and she was, but only because she spent so much time supervising us and not enough time on her own work. She never listened to explanations of why things were done a certain way (to conform to government requirements on medical records...) and would just start talking over the top of whoever was speaking to remind us that we just didn't know how to do things and we needed to follow her instructions.

Things started going especially badly when she took a major dislike to one of the team because she believed this person wasn't working efficiently (ie, the way the manager wanted). She started piling work on top of this person, taking it away from the other two of us, until all I was doing was sitting at my desk waiting for the day to end. When our overwhelmed coworker asked for help from us, we happily agreed. We all got a dressing-down and official warnings because our coworker was supposed to do everything by herself.

Then the manager went on maternity leave. The person acting in her position had been there forever, knew we were perfectly capable of doing our jobs without oversight, and left us to it. For a year we all had meaningful work to do, we cooperated and relaxed, we could laugh and talk to each other, and we started getting compliments on how fast and well we had completed tasks.

Then our manager called to say she would be coming back. We went to her boss, pleading for help, as we had done countless times before. Boss said sorry not sorry, she's a great manager, we should be looking forward to her return.

Within the next 24 hours two of us had quit; the third one stuck it out until the manager actually returned and then quit. At that point, the manager's role was changed so she didn't have any underlings to manage. So at least she can't drive anyone else out, I guess.

#25

Had a solid team of 20 or so people, got amazing scores on all our reports and a high level of customer appreciation. Then they started cutting down, taking people away, to see how few people they can operate with. Layoffs left and right until it was eventually just the top 3 employees myself and two others. The work wasn't reduced though, so we came in everyday with 100+ tasks on our computers and it was impossible to keep up. Our metrics dropped, people complained and it was all around a s**t show. We told management what the issue was and they didn't do anything, just blamed us. We ended up moving to different jobs or positions at the same time and that entire department got outsourced.

Apparently everybody hates the new outsource, and I went by there once and met the guys and they all looked like they hated their lives. Their Office had no working A/C too in summer heat.

#26

Last year there was a public hospital in Portugal, in the city of Setúbal, where 87 doctors, all the chiefs of staff of their respective departments, quit at once because of poor working conditions related to lack of medical staff.

#27

worked at a fast food place. poorly managed on a good day, black mold growing on the walls, manager was a pedophile that made me take my break in his office every shift, was only working there because my family was poor & i needed the job. one shift one of my coworkers came in showing us videos of a rap concert she had attended the night before, and my manager called the rapper a series of racial slurs. his whole closing staff walked out right after that, leaving him to close by himself.

#28

Worked with a small team that had two managers. One of the managers was great, loved by all, amazing at her job. The other manager stole, showed up late, and verbally abused an employee that identified as trans.

Our good manager contacted the store owner about all the issues. She told the manager along with us staff that we had to do this “by the book” if we wanted her to be able to fire him. We all wrote reports, documented EVERYTHING, found video proof of the thefts. We turn it all over to the owner and what does she do? Fire the food manager for not focusing on her work.

The entire staff walked out and the store was closed for over a month. Place is a joke now and I’m expecting to see them shut down by the end of the year.

#29

I worked at a petrol station when I was 16. One time we were robbed and a colleague was forced to empty the cash register at gunpoint.
They took bout 3000€ cash and about 5000€ worth in cigarettes and tobacco.
Our boss expected the heavily traumatized colleague to pay back the whole value that was stolen, because "he could have just refused to give them anything". He obviously couldn't do that and refused to work for free for 4 months, so he was fired. He was a single dad with 6 months old twins.
All of us 7 colleagues quit our jobs there immediately.

#30

The boss tried to force us to cheat/be dishonest/go against both our personal and professional integrity.

#31

I worked at a restaurant for a few years. The manager was cruel, hot tempered, and did nothing but stand in the small isles between rows of tables with his hands on his waist and elbows out so that effectively couldn’t walk past home carrying food (and had to weave around). It was normal and expected that we work double shifts on the weekend, starting at 6am we’d set up the patio, do dishes, set tables, and deal with whatever the chef “locally foraged” like picking berries off the stems. We’d work 6-3pm, get an hour off, come back from 4pm-11pm.

One day, I was completely slammed and was trying to bus and set up a table that had left. I missed a bit of ketchup that the customer had left on the outside of the bottle when they poured it. He grabbed my arm and said, “what is this f*****g mess? You are a despicable human being.”

Fast forward several months, and they hire a new server who ends up sexually assaulting me. I then hear from his ex that he tried to kill her and he has a felony on his record for this. I approach management and ask that they check his background (because they wouldn’t have hired someone with a felony) and at least for the time being don’t schedule us together. They promptly ignore my request and schedule us to work a wedding together. I left that day.

#32

The boss got a raise and a bonus while everyone else got a pizza party and mandatory overtime.

#33

I worked at the largest apartment complex in my area (~800 units) with maintenance. The office crew had about 10 people and maintenance had 9. Had a great group with an amazing property manager and maintenance supervisor. The property manager took an offer managing a beautiful resort property. In comes the new property manager who had next to no experience, and she starts to try to change things even though it ran fine like it was. She also became a mouthpiece for corporate. Everything they suggested she put straight back out to us. Within a month 7 of 9 maintenance employees put in their 2 weeks notice including the maintenance supervisor. The next month 5 office workers had their 2 weeks in. A few months later I heard that the new property manager shut down the entire office and maintenance department to take them all to some golf tournament and got herself fired for it.

#34

Smallish company with a very necessary programming team of 5 people.

CEO spent several hundred thousand dollars repainting and refurbishing the building, deciding he didn't like the colour, and got it redone in the same month.

Then lockdown hit and the company was suddenly struggling for money, CEO decided to retrench two of our team members, at first we thought that he picked those two because they were less familiar with the systems.

But then the other 3 of us were told by the CEO that those two were in the most rough positions financially, and one was expecting another kid in a few weeks. And that this meant that they could hire them back as contractors for cheap because they'd be desperate.

In the next week the three of us chatted among ourselves, all resigned, and they had to keep the other two devs on with their standard paycheck for longer, all while looking for new places to work

#35

Long, long time ago at a coffee shop. Me and a co-worker were effectively teamed up as openers and had a regular schedule. One day a very annoying manager was there, who had a history of being a real d**k to female employees.

He made a sexist *and* racist remark to my co-worker in front of the massive line of customers we saw every morning and knew by name. I could see her begin welling up. The people in the front heard, for sure, and I saw them react in surprise. My partner took off her apron and left.

The manager turned to me, looking for some f****d up white bro solidarity, and made another racist remark about finding good help. I went from stunned to walking immediately.

My last act there was to hold the door for the huge crowd of customers who walked out when we did.

#36

I worked at a bread manufacturing plant. This happened in the bagging area. A worker tripped and somehow the way he landed his hand slipped underneath the machine guard and into a chain. Cut off his arm just below the elbow. The supervisor insisted we just wipe off the machine with a towel and continue running the rest of the already baked product. Twelve out of sixteen including myself quit. I found out later the manager fired that supervisor that day.

#37

There was a staff of 10. At the beginning of last year it was agreed if more than 50% were out sick with covid we close the place down for 1 week and then reasses. 9 of us were out with covid at the same time including the boss. He threatened to fire the last person if they didn't go in and cover for 9 people including the boss! We all quit within the next month like hell did any of us want to be in that position especially when the 'plan' we co-constructed wasn't honoured. F**k profits over people.

#38

My ex-bf and I worked at a mortgage company together. His team was responsible for building and running most of the daily reports other teams worked off of, and any interruption in their work caused big downstream headaches. The group was very tight-knit.

There were some managerial changes that brought in a new AVP over their team, and he decided to completely change the systems that all the reports were housed on to something he had used at his previous job. It was something that our company didn't use and might not be compatible with what what was already in place. The team's manager fought them tooth and nail on the changes. One day, she was called into the AVP's office and just fired because they were tired of her butting heads with them. She fortunately had some good connections at one of our competitors, and they hired her immediately to begin putting together a new team there. She hired every person on the original team, and they all put in their notice on the same day. One of the fun things about working at a place that deals with so much sensitive information is that they don't let you work your notice (you're sent home and paid for the time), so that department was completely empty for weeks.

It caused a huge mess at work. Almost 10 years later, that team is (mostly) still together at the new company, loving their jobs. Oh, and after all that, they were not allowed to switch to the new system because it was too costly and the programs already used were just fine.

#39

Worked at a Hardee's for 9 months. The first half we had a GM that was one of those old dudes that almost to retirement and didn't care we were smoking dope right on the line. The AGM was awesome. A really motherly type that could ask you to work a double shift and you would thank her for it. She took really good care of us and it was a great place to work as a 20 year old. When GM retired we were all expecting the AGM to slide right into the role. Nope they brought in this tight assed, fresh from college (if you've ever worked fast food there's a contempt for schoolies) girl that just had no idea how to deal with people. I think she wowed corporate with number stuff. Everybody hated her. For example I remember one of the few times she worked the counter I had to step in because she needlessly escalated a customer just wanting extra sauce. So AGM and new GM get into an inevitable argument and cool AGM quits. All but 2 people quit within an hour. I heard later she spun it to corporate that AGM had launched a coup because she was lesbian (we had no clue) and just fired the 2 that stayed once they trained a new crew. I remember when I came in to drop off my uniforms, she begged me to stay, and I just said, "I won't work for someone who spent $50,000 dollars just to work fast food so they can treat people like s**t."

#40

Poor pay, for laborious work. Passing highly qualified people up for promotions and giving that spot to someone with no experience or training in the field to someone from outside connected personally in someone in management.

I happened over about a month. Me leaving was the breaking point for most people, i was the one maintenance guy that would actually answer calls and get things done. I left after getting turned down for an R and D position (which I did at my previous job in more technical field) within a week two warehouse guys left, along with three production people which was half of that department, then shortly after that even the HR girl left along with the maintenance manager. Its not a big company, but a very popular one in the RVing and towing products trade. too bad the owners only care about profit and not employees being able to afford housing.

#41

My first job at a fast food chain when I was a teen was where I met one of the most important people in my life. I started as a cashier and somehow got promoted as an assistant store manager skipping a few steps. I was a child at that time, so I basically said yes without knowing what I’d have to do. The job itself was stressful, as anyone who worked foh any place would know—but majority of that stress doubles when the management is incompetent. The spot you get after assistant BM is the BM, but I got offered a job at head office as Supervisor. This meant that I would be doing a 9-6 salary clocking in at a different area, not seeing my coworkers and not being able to steal food every day but I took it thinking that if I step my foot in the door, I’ll be able to make some serious changes for my coworkers. As foolish as I was, it was way worse than I expected. I didn’t have ANY financial/marketing outlook so I had to learn from the ground up beginning with how to use a printer. Everyone pretty much hated me because I was in my late teens working alongside people who could be my parents. Slowly, I started to realize that the internal problems that only reflect heavily on the people who actually work on foot of the store are rooted within the President/CEOs and everything seemed so far and I honestly didn’t want to be here for the rest of my life. During this time, I still kept in touch with my old coworkers as I was still managing their store, s**t was still unresolved, so when my doctor gave me an ultimatum to quit for my health, I found a job for 23 of my staff/beloved old coworkers. 3 weeks after I submitted my resignation, my staff quit on the spot effective immediately. I believe we were on the news in the town for the next day. Good times

#42

I worked at 7-11 for 2 years. We are the busiest gas station in the area because we were the first one off of the highway and a block from the hockey arena.

When I started, the task list we had was manageable. If things were really busy, we'd miss a couple but the next shift was able to pick it up. By the time I quit, we were lucky to finish 1/3 of the list (the area manager kept making it longer because she thought we could do more). But that's not what made me quit.

I handed in my 2 week notice when we were told that we'd no longer have a cook. You know, the one who would bread & cook the chicken, wedges, and wings and fry the corn dogs. Instead they were bringing in pre-breaded garbage that the **CASHIERS** would have to throw the cook ontop of all the normal stuff (which we struggled to do already).

A good chunk of us quit because of that. Found out about 2 months later that the idea only lasted a month because chicken sales were only 1/3 of what they normally were. A few months after this, another good chunk left because the woman who had been working there for around 20 years left.

Edit: Oh damn, was not expecting to get this many upvotes. Thanks to all of you

#43

I work in a veterinary clinic as a technician. We hired a new “experienced” girl in January who

1.) had a dog euthanized when she didn’t follow alerts on the poor thing and cornered it. It bit her and since it was a pittie it had the 1 strike you’re out policy.

2.) 2 months into her employment she gets a huge pay raise and is then asked to make the schedule. Found out she was best friends with the head doctor outside of work. She has no experience scheduling and everyone suffered for it. One would work 10 days in a row and the next person who wasn’t senior to them got 2 on 2 off. The schedule also came out not even a week in advance and it would only be 5-6 days at a time. She also scheduled herself to only work with the doc she was friends with, so she wasn’t in much.

3.) she would reorganize our pharmaceutical drugs BY COLOR. They were alphabetical. She’d move oral meds to the drawer that had eye meds cause “the boxes looked similar”.

4.) She will not take criticism. When we tell her our concerns, she’d throw around how she has more time in the field than us. And continue doing things the doctors don’t approve of. And fight the doctors on their way of doing things!

5.) we all went to the hiring manager as well as head honcho, and their response was we needed to handle it ourselves. An employee of 15 years said they’d leave if they continued to enable this, at the very least don’t let her make the schedule anymore. They did nothing. She left, and 6(about to be 7) followed suite.

Clinic is now understaffed and overworked. They won’t adjust hours, or how much they allow in one day (surgeries, drop offs, etc). Instead they pushed our shifts from 8hr(everyone worked extra couple hours) to 10hr shifts, where we’ve been working 12hr shifts with no break. There’s bout to be another wave of us leaving. The new lady was just the straw that broke the camels back and now everything is falling apart .-.

#44

Not exactly an "everyone quit" story, but close. So, my current workplace has a whole bunch of problems, starting first with a top-heavy setup (too many middle management, not enough people doing actual work), then the delayed pay raises (while the top heads bought themselves a nice Maybach each *during the 2020 pandemic*), lack of contractually promised bonuses and more. They cut off employee benefits this year, then cried about how sales were down, so "people should be glad to keep their jobs".

The last straw was when they tried to kick out an admin who's been with the company for 13-14 years. He was a popular, chill guy who got the work done and wasn't about the politics, so he got on well with everyone. He braved a 4-5 hour commute each day for this shithole and the management became salty that his company anniversary speech got a better response than theirs. They just demanded he quit without giving him a severance package or even sending him a formal mail.

The last straw for me was when my manager (also a dude who's worked 7-8 years and knows a bunch of minutiae which no one else does) put in his papers and there was no talk of his replacement. No talk with me about promoting me and giving me a raise... no, they just expected me to do his job. Which is ridiculous, because I have 3-4 years of experience in this particular field, while he has 15+. I explicitly informed his manager that I wouldn't do his job, but no dice.

So, well, I'm quitting, but so have 5 others before me. As I'm serving out my notice period, 2 more have quit, leaving our team of 16 down to about 6 people. Others have interviews lined up because there has been no talk of hiring replacements or even promoting the existing people.

I'm hoping that the rest get out too because the one good thing here I had was my team. The company can suck my non-existent d**k tbh.

#45

When the managers said they could train monkeys to do the job... so all the staff retired... And they had to halt operations until they hired two staff to be on call ALL the time. Guess how long that lasted?

#46

The company decided to enforce a non-compete and used their influence to block someone being hired at the company we are partnered with. Over the course of a month, the majority of our senior staff left for a different competing firm. Hasn't been the same since.

#47

Worked at a cheap clothing retail store while I was in college. 15-20 hrs/week for the first several months, as was most of the staff. Then we got a new manager who decided that the state-mandated paid breaks (15min after 4 hours) were a waste of money. So he changed everyone’s shifts to 3hr 45mins or less so no one would get a paid break. Then people complained, so he hired a bunch of new people and reduced the old staff to about one shift a week. Lost pretty much everyone who actually knew what they were doing in less than a month. I heard most of the new people also quit pretty quickly, once they figured out how dumbly the place was run.

#48

Boss changed with another person, this person treated everyone like dogs, to the point where he fired two managers bases on vibes, which made the most working manager that we had decide to leave and since he was friends with everyone and did all posts with near perfection while being the fastest, helping around and doing his own work as a manager, that was that was the turning point where 75% of the employees left, even though they were there for years and in the remaining a lot are still planning to leave

#49

I worked at a private university that was having major money problems. After a leadership change and all middle management being laid off, it was clear that they were looking for any way to save money they could. I worked in the IT and there was a point where a couple “friends” of the leadership came in to take a look at things. Our finance department already had other “friends” come in and take their jobs at this point. It was when these IT “friends” were asking for Active Directory accounts with Domain Admin rights that we know there was a good chance they were either going to lay us off or outsource the department after getting rid of us. For anyone that doesn’t understand AD permissions, a domain admin account has full power to do anything with any user account, including disabling ours. All but one of us found new jobs within a couple months of this happening.

#50

CEO blamed a couple members of his gambling firm for exploiting marketing’s deposit bonuses (these bonuses are routine in the gambling industry, they drive up playtime and revenue). He was getting less money than he expected to earn from those bonuses. Dragged the entire QA department (60 people) into a room and threatened the whole room that he knew the person who’d exploited him but it was a warning to all of us if anyone else got involved. The first stage of the resulting investigation saw about 25 redundancies and sackings (QA, Dev and Finance) which hugely impacted productivity across the company. A further 40 people quit in the coming 3 months (including myself).
6 months later he dropped the investigation having found no one guilty and the “exploit” was never discovered. He had to amend the “fired” status of most people to “redundancy” after they took him to tribunal and last thing I heard almost his entire marketing department (about 40 people) have quit and since been replaced.

#51

Currently on going.

New dude gets hired, being aware of our rights we asked how much he makes. He says $16. The shitstorm begins as shift leads don’t make that and he is just wine merchant who just turned 21.

Went to my manager and spoke up. Got the “we don’t talk about wages but this is a fire I’m trying to put out.” Keep on pestering him. “Gotta wait till reviews.” Which is untrue as something similar happen last year and the manger then had it fixed real quick.

Reaches boiling point. One lady quits. Everyone is applying for jobs and trying to get out. Moral is at rock bottom.

#52

I worked at a Safeway deli, along with 3 of my best friends. Along with the deli manager, and a woman that had worked there for like 30yrs.

The deli manager quit, at the beginning of the shift. The woman who had worked there for 30yrs announced her retirement 20min later.

An hour into the shift, friend A was fired. That left just me and friend B for the day shift, and friend C for night shift.

After friend A was fired for theft (caught eating a sausage roll without paying for it in the fridge when the store manager came down to inform us of what was going on) , I quit 10min later and friend B immediately after that because we both hated our jobs anyway and weren't willing to carry the dept. On our own.

I then texted friend C on night shift that none of us worked there anymore and as soon as the store manager texted him to come in early for a double shift he texted back that he quit as well.

So about 1.5hrs into the shift they lost every employee that worked the deli.

From what I heard from coworkers, two bakery employees quit and a third threatened too because the store manager tried to forcibly move them to the deli and nobody wanted to carry the counter solo.

They ended up just leaving the deli closed for about a month until they were able to hire new employees, and it was a s**t show for about 2 months after that because literally nobody knew what to do anymore, and there was nobody there to train them.

#53

Manager being racist towards an African employee
(Btw im a teen, this happened at my uncle’s office)

#54

Worked at Dairy Queen; someone was stealing money regularly during the closing shift. Many of us had a suspicion of who it was and I’m pretty sure most of us told our manager for fear of being blamed ourselves (we were certain it was the assistant manager who was with us on those closing shifts). Instead, our manager started randomly firing younger staff members for any minor discretion and blaming the missing money on them. When they fired me, it was the last straw and several of my co-workers walked out in solidarity. News flash: it was the assistant manager all along. I ended up threatening to go to the labour board and they kind of.. paid me off?

Edit- this was about 15 years ago, I’m very much over it, it was my first real job in high school and i was there for almost 2 years. I’m Canadian, it was an DQ in Ontario and my boss knew she was in for a world of trouble if I disclosed some of their practices. I did not sign an NDA, I think my manager was afraid to let anything get to a higher level. They added like 1k to my final paycheque that had no real explanation why it was there (in all honesty it could have been that I was young and didn’t quite understand how loose ends get tied up after someone is fired. Maybe their version of “severance” I really don’t know. That’s just how my 17 year old brain made sense of it at the time)

Anyways I see that assistant manager out and about all the time and after all this time she still can’t look in my direction.

#55

I wonder if this’ll be buried in the comments, but as I’m reading this comments I realized oh wait I can be included in this. This story isn’t as crazy as the others though.

I worked at a bar arcade with a pretty incompetent general manager and owner. The owners would never spend money to improve the place and the general manager was never at the store and when he was he would barely do any work and just be on his phone. If he was “working”, it would be just him spewing his homophobic and antivax beliefs.

This place was small though so at the time there were only 3 kitchen staff, 3 front end staff including me, two assistant managers, and the general manager. So I hate using this term but we were quite literally a “family” since we all worked the same shifts Wednesday through Sunday. (Closed on Monday and Tuesday.)

I graduated college and started applying to jobs. When I finally got a job post grad, I started telling my coworkers. We all kinda only suffered through the job because we liked each other, so after I quit, 2 kitchen staff and one other front end staff put their two weeks in as well shortly afterwards. The two assistant managers then started applying for other jobs and soon afterwards left as well.

One assistant manager told me the owner was begging her to stay and even offered a pay increase. But it was too late, as she always kept asking for a pay increase before but was always put on hold. The owners were pieces of s**t too anyway. During pride month they kept calling the pride flag the “f** flag” and they hated anyone that wasn’t white that walked into the store.

But anyway glad I’m out of t