People Describe Their Most Abusive Jobs And Toxic Work Environments

From Redditor /u/Douche_of_York:

I got a job offer paying 50% more than my current pay. My supervisor countered; it matched it, but I had to handle paperwork. The paperwork took two months. I learned the supervisor lacked the authority for that counteroffer. Instead, I received a 10% raise, take it or leave it. I had the offer in writing, but it wasn't official. Fighting it would have been a tough fight. I took the 10%, found another job, and left without training a replacement, with no thanks given. The new job paid even more, so it worked out.

From Redditor /u/Hemwick_Witcher:

I activated and went to war. When I returned, my employer said I lost my job. I called the head of the Soldiers and Sailors Act department. They told me activated reservists get fired often; they could do nothing. Large contractors building military assets, jets, ships, rockets, etc., were the worst offenders. My employer was a small electronics company with many government contracts. The Colonel at the SSA asked for my company name. I gave it to the Colonel. The response was, 'Hmm, they have many government contracts. I'll call the CEO and tell them they fired a reservist for answering the call, and we will review their contracts.'

The next day, I returned to work. The Human Relations manager and my supervisor were in serious trouble. The CEO was angry that those two jeopardized the company's main income over a mid-level employee.

It was all a bluff, but fun to watch. I quit for a better job a year later. That company folded a few years later. They failed not because of me, but because they kept too many people on the payroll.

From Redditor /u/musiccolorthoughts:

This happened to me Monday. Seriously. Today was supposed to be my last day. I worked three hours Monday because I threw up and had a fever. I told my boss I needed to leave (a major health code violation since it is a restaurant). He got angry and told me to grab my things and go.

I thought it was just a tantrum and showed up Tuesday for my shift. I will never forget the look of disgust this man I respected gave me when he saw me. He shook his head and said no while looking at me like I was the devil because I dared leave. I spent 1.5 years with the company, part of the original team, and one of the first people he told about his plans to propose to his girlfriend, almost like family. None of that mattered to him.

From Redditor /u/RedditWhileWorking23:

Wendy's. Fire Dept inspected the fryer; frayed cords made it a fire hazard. I used a grip tool and pulled the plug while wearing thick rubber gloves. I gave the paper to the shift lead, who ranked highest, stating it needed repair or replacement. I put an orange sticker on the plug to make the hazard clear.

We only had two fryers. The other fryer handled chicken only, so fries couldn't go in this one. The guy left, and I got to work, putting up signs saying no fries today, sorry.

Three hours later, the night manager arrived and flipped. He said I needed to plug the fryer in right away. He told me to rip the orange security tape off, grab the frayed plug, and ignore the safety department to plug it back in.

I refused. My name was on the sign-off sheet. It was my fault if they found out we didn't fix it. It was a fire hazard. This woman wanted me to bare-hand it while another guy used a special tool and rubber gloves.

I said no. She sent me home and tried to bully others into plugging it in. I told them not to; it was dangerous and breaking the law. Doing it could lead to lawsuits because cameras showed I wasn't taking the blame.

I fought the manager. She finally grabbed it and plugged it in. She told me not to return because I started a fight and upset people. I went outside, called the fire department, and contacted the marshal, telling him everything. I watched them arrive before I left. I got her back, but I still lost my job.

From Redditor /u/EKeebler:

One spring morning, a freak snowstorm hit before rush hour. Several inches of wet snow fell fast, clogging traffic downtown. At the insurance company I worked for, about one-third of staff decided to stay home. The rest of us arrived one to three hours late.

After the storm, people who stayed home worried about how the company would handle the unexcused absences. They hoped to get a break, use a vacation day instead of losing a day's pay and getting penalized on their next review.

At the next payday, we got a memo with our pay stubs. It explained that employees who stayed home got an excused absence and were paid in full. The rest of us got docked pay for being late.

Redditor /u/cait_Cat:

My employer shut down twice in the last three or four years because of snow and ice. The first time, I worked in overachiever mode. That was the first shift open after the Christmas closure. I also lived an hour away. Ice covered my car with an inch. I spent the whole day, working nights, chipping the ice off the driveway. I left two hours early, worried about losing my holiday pay. I still showed up an hour late. The company closed for the next day at 4 am and sent everyone home. People who called in got the day approved and full pay. Those who came in late lost their holiday pay and the time they were late. This cost me 25 hours of pay.

From Redditor /u/badcgi:

I worked for a guy like that. Instead of handing in timesheets or clocking in, he wrote our start and end times in a book on his desk. If you were a minute late, he docked you an hour's pay. We came in early to avoid this. But if we started fifteen or twenty minutes early, he wouldn't pay. If we waited in our cars, he got angry, badgering us to start and "not waste company time," which was ironic since he wouldn't pay us for that. I arrived early, waited in the parking lot down the street, and started on time. He was a cheap bastard. I am glad I left. I heard too many stories about how bad it was working for him.

From Redditor /u/bassististist:

Part 1: He hired me for a full-time permanent position the first week of August. Then, the second week of August, he announced the office would close at the end of the year.

Part 2: He promised a great severance package for those who stayed until the end of the year. I stayed, and in the last week the office was open, they tried to take it from me, claiming I did not work there long enough to qualify.

From Redditor /u/IIVXVII:

I managed a fast food restaurant. It was my day off, and I planned to stay on my bed and playvideo games allMy phone rang on the day the closing manager asked me to cover his shift for food with our friend. I thought, 'Forget that noise,' but I owed him one from a past favor. So, I mentally braced for an unexpected closing shift and went to work. Then things went wrong. I arrived and saw not just our friend, but all the other managers and the general manager and the GM's girlfriend. They had decided to get dinner together, and calling me in to watch the store was not rude or insensitive. No one asked me beforehand; it was my day off. These were the people I regularly saw. I sat in the back for seven hours, playing games on my phone, letting anger build. Fuck you guys.

A formerRedditor:

I am colorblind. My boss assigned a task color-coded in a way I could not see. I raised my vision issues—asking for an accommodation, not refusing the work—and they wrote me up for what they saw as insubordination.

When I complained to HR to remove the write-up, the HR rep offered a solution. She suggested I use the company's Tuition Reimbursement program for a remedial art class at my local community college. She said, 'So you can finally learn your colors.'

From a formerRedditor:

I worked second shifts, four to midnight, in our network control center. During the holiday season, I worked the last part of my shift alone; only the security guard was in the building and out of my view.

At midnight, my coworker started the overnight shift alone. This coworker is seriously diabetic and wears an insulin pump. The instant she walked in, her pump began beeping that she was out of insulin.

To avoid diabetic shock without help, she drove home fast, got an insulin refill, and returned to work. That meant I stayed overtime for about 45 minutes to keep the place staffed.

When I showed up at four the next afternoon for my shift, I found a write-up for the unauthorized overtime.

From Redditor /u/BearyPotter:

I interned in state government while studying for the bar exam. I took the exam and kept interning while waiting for results.

Meanwhile, my wife got a job in the city where we grew up and wanted to move back. So, we planned a move.

I gave my two-week notice and offered to train a replacement. The intern coordinator fired me instead and called me unprofessional.

Months passed. I passed the bar. I interviewed for a state government job I thought was perfect. It went well. A week later, they called. They passed my name up the chain—the Governors office needed approval. But they rejected me because I was on a government employment blacklist.

I am permanently barred from state government jobs. I gave two weeks' notice. I offered to train a replacement for a low-skill internship that could have replaced me that day.

From Redditor /u/HorrifiK:

I work at Sears as a Backroom Associate. The PMT position opened. When the old PMT worker gave his two-week notice, my boss asked me about the job. Knowing the pay was better, I agreed right away. They trained me for about a week. They announced a meeting at the end of the month. I went, only to meet the new PMT worker! They gave me the job and took it away instantly. No one mentions that incident since. Sears is one of the top ten worst places to work. F*ck Sears!

From Redditor /u/RamsesThePigeon:

I worked in a technical role at a large company. I excelled at my tasks, but I loved the creative side. Hearing about the need for an in-house writer made me apply. Meetings happened, interviews occurred, and they said the job was mine. The catch was the opening needed public posting for a minimum of one week before they could offer it.

I waited eagerly for my new role. I even prepared for the job change in my free time. When the waiting period ended, I approached the person I thought would be my supervisor. I was surprised to learn someone else was hired. That new employee started working days before I did.

That was bad enough. Then, weeks later, I found out a superior made me sound like an undesirable candidate. They did this just to keep me in their department.

From Redditor /u/davegungan:

My boss's brother died. We worked over 70 hours a week for six weeks to cover. After his return, my mother died. I was fired for taking a week off.

From Redditor /u/massive:

I worked eighteen months without vacation or asking for time off for personal needs. My supervised coworker died; he was my stepfather. I covered all my hours plus his for weeks, hitting over 100 hours per pay period multiple times. The department could not handle losing both of us, and we were already short-staffed with temps. I finally asked for a night off to see family and help them. My boss told me no and called me a liar.

I am currently on a three-week paid vacation after the higher-ups heard about that.

From Redditor /u/speckleeyed:

I got multiple sclerosis in 2007. I took time off because I was paralyzed and in the hospital. I only used allowed sick leave. I returned to work less than a week later with a cane. I relearned walking; my brain did not grasp the idea, but I mostly dragged myself around. Look at my productivity: even on a slow day for me, I worked three times the average employee.

About a month or two before my paralysis, my boss promoted me and I stopped being her secretary. With MS, she told me I could not do my job and needed to return to being her secretary, including a pay cut.

I refused. She said she was only helping me.

I filed a complaint and threatened a lawsuit. She would not let me work unless I became her secretary and I had witnesses saying she disliked her new secretary and sought a way to get me back. I offered to take the secretary job back with a raise, but she refused.