I had worked at my waitress job for three years, and the owners were downright psycho.

[Owner #1] would come in, get slosh drunk on the restaurant’s inventory, and treat us like garbage. One of my most memorable moments was [Owner #1] leaning heavily on the wall while yelling in an incoherent drunken slur at one of my coworkers. A customer asked if we needed her to call the police to have the “drunken hobo” removed. Her face was a picture when I told her that that “hobo” was, unfortunately, one of the owners of the restaurant.

[Owner #2], on the other hand, believed that boundaries were imaginary and therefore did not have to be acknowledged. [Owner #2] spent all the company money on themselves instead of getting ingredients to make food or paying their employees. There were times when menu items had to be unavailable because [Owner #2] would “forget” (read: have no money) to order supplies.

While [Owner #1] would be measuring the tilt of the planet’s axis, [Owner #2] tended to follow us around and even talk to us from outside the bathroom door. And yes, we were expected to answer. 

As for me, I was tired of doing a three-waitress job. We were understaffed, and I would get calls at home when I was sick because the restaurant needed me. Was I sure I was sick? Was I positive? Well, I wasn’t vomiting, so it was obviously not that bad. I needed to be a team player and help out instead of taking a day off to play games. That cough sounded so fake. Oh, and while they had me on the phone, where was [some random thing]? I didn’t ASK someone on shift; I’m asking YOU.

I came back to work after that, fully ready to quit, and [Owner #2] was there, telling me that if I wanted to keep my job, I was going to make up for lost time by pulling double shifts.

I quit as soon as I could get a word in, packed my s***, and left. Wouldn’t you know it, the restaurant didn’t last more than a few months longer.

Some years ago, I was working in a minor management position in the Civil Service. I was about to go on maternity leave for six months. My assistant manager was covering part of my duties, and the company had brought in a temp to cover the rest. I was to spend a week training her before I took off.

My department had quite a relaxed atmosphere; I’m one of those bosses who are happy for people to chat and socialise a little as long as all the work is completed first. We were a small team and relatively close, and everyone went out of their way to make the temp feel welcome.

She had only been in the office for around four hours, training with me to use our computer system, when she complained that she had a headache and wanted to go out and buy some painkillers. I suggested that she take her lunch break, pick up the tablets she wanted, and get some fresh air away from the screen.

She went off… and never returned! The company contacted the temp agency later and was given the feedback that I seemed too happy and positive, and she didn’t want to work in a place like that. Personally, I wouldn’t want to work in a place that wasn’t like that…

Back when I worked at [Video Rental Chain Store], we would often cover other stores in our city — whether it was just because they were short one day, needed help with inventory, etc.

Another location was having their holiday party and obviously wanted all of their employees to be able to attend. They contacted our store to see if we could spare three people to cover their store from 6:00 pm to midnight. We sent one assistant manager and two regular employees. They got the keys and all the codes and were prepared to handle the evening.

Over the next few days, we started hearing chatter from the other store about something going wrong on that night. It was difficult to keep anything secret between the stores as a lot of people started at one location before transferring to another, and most of us remained friends outside of work.

It turned out that the assistant manager had made some changes to the receipts. We had the ability to add a message at the end of the receipt without approval from corporate — usually to advise of some promotion or something like that. For whatever reason, she typed in some rude message directed at customers. It was nothing blatantly offensive but definitely not something you’d want them to read. She meant it to be funny, but under those circumstances, it wasn’t.

The chatter was that this was a serious offense and that [Assistant Manager] knew there were going to be consequences, even though nothing was said by upper management.

Soon afterward, the store manager and district manager were there one day and wanted to know when [Assistant Manager] was scheduled. It was to be in another hour. They told us that they were leaving but to tell her to not clock in and to stay there until they came back. 

[Assistant Manager] showed up about fifteen minutes before her scheduled time, and we advised her of what the store manager and district manager had said. She saw the writing on the wall and just decided to quit instead, not wanting to get yelled at and fired at the same time, and just left.

The store manager and district manager showed up about a half hour after when [Assistant Manager] was supposed to clock in, wondering where she was. We said that she’d just quit and left. They both were stunned that she wouldn’t stay around at their direction.

I get why [Assistant Manager] had to be fired, but the amount of time between the incident and her quitting was about a week. Of course she was going to figure out something bad is coming. At the very least, they should have stayed around in the store if they needed to fire her.

One other employee got basically a slap on the wrist since he was aware of the changes to the receipt but wasn’t in charge. Nothing happened to the third employee since he was out on the floor the whole night instead of behind the counter.

I worked at a chain pet retailer. I always tried to deter small children when their parents asked to hold the smaller animals, and this story is exactly why. For reference, robo hamsters are about an inch long and weigh less than an ounce. 

Mom: “My son wants to hold a robo hamster.”

Me: “How old is your son? Robo hamsters are very quick, so—”

Mom: “He’s four, but I’ll be there with him.”

Me: “Are you going to buy it?”

Mom: “Oh, my God, no. I hate rodents!”

Me: “Right, so, if he wants to just hold an animal, might I suggest a guinea pig? They’re much friendlier, and—”

Mom: “Look, customers like me get your paycheck filled. Get us the robo hamster, or get your manager.”

Me: “Okay, I’ll be back.”

I go to get my manager. She is of the mindset that a customer is never wrong, so I let her handle these things. 

Me: “Hey, [Manager], there’s a mother with her four-year-old who wants to hold a robo hamster, but they’re not buying anything.”

Manager: “Are you afraid of the robo hamsters or something?”

Me: “No, but they are very fast, and every time we allow a small child to hold one, it goes missing.”

Manager: “Fine! I’ll do it.”

[Manager] goes to introduce herself to the mother and child. I follow with a small box. 

Manager: “Okay honey, here is what we have to do: I’m going to bring the enclosure down, and you can put your hand in and let the hamster come to you. We don’t want him running away, though, so don’t lift your hands out of the container, okay?”

Four-Year-Old: *Nodding excitedly* “Yeah, yeah, yeah! Are you watching, Mom?”

Mom: *Scrolling on her phone* “I’m right here.”

[Manager] brings the enclosure down and removes the lid. The boy shoves both hands in, and the little hamsters immediately come over to him. He cups one in his hands and lifts it so it’s in the air about a foot above the enclosure. [Manager] moves to guide his hands back to safety, but it’s too late. The hamster jumps and skitters off under another shelf.

The boy screams — whether he’s excited or scared, I don’t know. Mom looks up from her phone.

Mom: “What happened?”

Me: “It escaped.”

Mom: “Well, why would it do that?”

Me: “Well—”

Manager: “[My Name], go see if you can catch it.”

I walk off, knowing I’ll never see that hamster again. A few minutes later, [Manager] finds me crawling on the floor, looking around. 

Manager: “I don’t know what has gotten into you, but this has to stop. You can’t tell people they can’t hold pets, and you can’t make them feel bad when things go wrong.”

Me: “I am here for the safety and well-being of our animals over the entitlement of a woman and her child.”

Manager: “You—”

Me: “I determined that an overstimulated four-year-old holding the smallest, fastest hamster we have was a bad choice, but his mom wanted you. You determined that a four-year-old was capable of holding his excitement in check. This is not my fault.”

Manager: “Well… next time, just be more aware!”

Me: “Of what? What did I miss?”

Manager: “You could have… You know what? Just find the hamster!”

I found it a few days later, but it was not in any condition to sell. It went to the vet for a checkup but ultimately was not returned to the store. [Manager] finally decided that only potential buyers could hold animals, and anyone under twelve was an absolute no.

I was written up for my attitude, but I didn’t care; I was already looking for another job. When the new job asked for a start date, I told [Manager] I was leaving at the end of my shift and not coming back.

I was working on a tri-fold brochure to showcase the benefits of partnering with the client. They asked for it to be exactly like a previous one I had made, but with different text and bullet points. Following that template, one of the folds included a large quote from an actual business partner of theirs. The quote was a glowing review, talking about how the company was a joy to work with and truly cared for its customers — a worry-free experience.

The CEO had this to say about it.

Client: “This quote sucks. This isn’t what people say. They wouldn’t really say this. They don’t care about this. You need a quote that shows that they’re going to be making a lot of money with us. That’s all they care about!”

Me: “Well… This is a real quote from [Partner]. And it does paint you in a very positive light.”

Client: “No, it sucks. Why would you even put this? Make one up that’s better. Write me something better.”

Me: “…I am extremely uncomfortable with fabricating quotes on official promotional material. That is false advertising, and I won’t do it.”

Client: “Yeah, whatever. I’ll make him give us a better quote.”

He said the last line while glaring daggers and sounding vaguely threatening. The rest of that meeting was an absolute mess, as well, wherein I realized he’d had a bad day and decided to take it out on whoever would get into a room with him, but that’s another story.

That was also the day I decided to find other work.