Loving your job and being proud of what you do is something many of us strive for. Just try to imagine how wonderful it must feel to show up to your workplace every day and know your skills and efforts make valuable contributions to your company's success. But unfortunately, even star employees aren’t immune to problems at work. Sometimes, all it takes is one unfortunate moment that takes a complete 180-degree turn and makes people walk away singing, "Screw this! I’m out."

If you can relate, you might find comfort in knowing you’re definitely not the only one. Three users, PM_me_gorillas, BenIrwinG, Deer_is_me, attempted to find out what pushes people to the brink of quitting. They reached out to fellow members of Ask Reddit and wondered about the exact moment they thought, "I don’t get paid enough for this."

Thousands of replies came flying in, and each is more surprising than the previous one. So pull your seat closer, grab a box of popcorn, and take a moment to read about the frustrating things people had to endure at their jobs. And if you’re interested in even more stories where customers and employers shamelessly take the last straw, check out Bored Panda's previous pieces about them right here and here.

#1

Holding a pair of dying twin boys so they wouldn't die alone.
Their mother hadn't wanted the pregnancy, hadn't even told anyone she was pregnant, so it was a bit of a blessing when she went into preterm labor and delivered them 4 months early.
She was relieved to not have to raise twins on her own and didn't want anything to do with her sons. 22 weeks is too early to live very long, but they were alive long enough to have some consciousness, some awareness and I couldn't bear the thought of them spending their whole short little lives cold and alone. I took them to another room and kept changing their blankets to keep them warm and comfortable until their chests finally stopped moving a couple of hours later. I sang to them "you are my sunshine" and then tucked their little bodies away in the morgue, and clocked out. As an obstetric nurse, I deal with the very best and worst in people. I love my job, but my heart broke that day. All the wonderful happy days at work just barely make up for the days like that one. tl;dr - don't get paid enough to show someone else's kids the only love they'll ever know in their very short lives.

Image credits: AliceDeeTwentyFive

#2

I'm a "helper" for people with mental disabilities.

Have you ever pulled a turd out of a man's a** when he is stuck halfway through his pooping?

Have you ever woken him up to find he has smeared sh*t all over his face like war paint?

Have you ever been jabbed in the eye because you made him eat his vegetables?

Have you ever had to convince someone with paranoid schizophrenia that you were, in fact, real and not a hallucination while they held a knife?

11.50 per hour

Image credits: deanboyj

#3

Worked retail, worked night fill as assistant manager, assistant day manager thought he was god's gift to women.

During stocktake (when both night and day staff are in store) walked in on said manager trying to force himself on a night fill staff member. Pulled him off her, got punched in the face and chest multiple times. filed a police report.

Was then written up for not 'escalating' the incident to upper management instead of reporting the rapist prick to the police. Flipped them the bird and told them to f*ck off. Was really tempted to deck the dude on the way out, but instead went and filed a second police report for assault (on myself) and got his ass fired by regional management who some how knew nothing about this whole thing until the police called them.

Gave up on retail at that point and went back to university.

Image credits: Devikat

#4

When the lady at the table I was serving complained because the ice in her glass of ice water had melted and the water was "too watered down for her liking".

Image credits: Sometimes_Sketches

#5

Had a guy come in with a raging hard on that wouldn't go away. Priapism for those that enjoy science. I had to hold this guys throbbing boner while a resident stabbed it with needles trying to drain it and inject medications to make it go down. After 8 stabs, no luck. Dude went to surgery and was told he will never have an erection again. I was the last person to hold his functional wiener. PSA- if you've had a four hour long stiffy, get to the ER in a jiffy.

Image credits: _Stamos

#6

Right now.. I'm on hour 12 of what is shaping up to be a 16-18 hour day, and I'm fixing the mistakes of someone who gets paid at minimum 40k more than me.

Image credits: Final7C

#7

Used to work as a paramedic/ER Tech. Had a homeless man come in with a narcotics overdose. He was given Narcan to reverse the effects of the drugs. Safe to say he was not happy. He assaulted one of the nurses which led to him being restrained to the bed. He began screaming at everyone that entered the room that he was "gonna kill 'em." After about 10 minutes of this, he scoots to one side of the bed, and sticks his ass in between the railings. He then projectile sh*ts all over the computer, the walls, chair, and floor. There was just so much poo. I, along with others, had to go in there and clean him/some of the room up. Thankfully housekeeping took care of the floor. I literally said, "I don't get paid enough for this sh*t."

Image credits: _PyramidHead_

#8

I worked at a gas station in my teens. Lived on my own, needed the money, and there weren't many options in my area for someone my age. Every week I'd clock in a minimum of 50 hours and only ever get paid for 30-38 hrs. They kept saying they'd fix it, it never got fixed. I worked double shifts regularly and got called in every single day off I had scheduled. Every one. I couldn't afford caller ID at the time (this was before it was standard) so on my day off, I had to stop answering the phone because simply telling them I couldn't make it in would result in them calling all. f*cking. day. Then, since I lived so close by, they started sending other employees to my apartment. Most of them felt bad about it, and eventually refused but then the manager and district manager started showing up, pounding at my door, pleading with me, slipping notes under my door, and trying to guilt trip and threaten my job safety. I can't even begin to explain the toll that took on me, physically and mentally. I stopped menstruating (TMI, sorry) and actually started losing my hair. But, I needed the money.

My breaking point was shortly after I'd already quit once. The first time was because I'd requested my birthday off, they approved it, and then the day before told me I'd need to come in. I said no and stood my ground. The manager eventually agreed to figure something else out. Birthday comes around and my phone gets blown up by every on duty employee and one off duty. I finally tell the boss they can leave me alone for the rest of the day or I quit. He replies "Well... we're going to need you to come in still." So I quit. I got rehired the next day after I plugged my phone back in (because quitting didn't stop the calls) by the district manager who begged me to stay and promised to have the store back off when I had a free day.

A few weeks later was Easter. I'd surprisingly been given it off, and was excited to finally get to spend a holiday with my family. That morning I woke up to the phone ringing. And ringing. And ringing. It was 6:30 AM. I am not a morning person. I answered, told them no, and ignored the barrage of calls that continued until I went out the door. About an hour after I got to my Mom's, the calls started there. I'd never given them her number. I refused, asked them not to call there again and hung up. My mom answered and asked them not to call back. My step dad answered and threatened to call the cops for harassment. They wouldn't stop. We had to unplug all the phones for dinner and I was terrified they were going to show up there too. As soon as the phone reconnected, the calls started again. That's when I finally snapped. I answered and told the boss every possible way to go f*ck himself. He eventually hung up on me so I called his a** right back and continued. I didn't just quit, I unhinged. I kept calling until they took their phone off the hook. Then I (kind of) enjoyed the rest of my Easter evening. I've had my share of sh*tty jobs before and since, but nothing that compares to that place.

Image credits: secretagentbride

#9

Me and 3 others got the sh*t kicked out of us in a small horse stall by 5 emus we were trying to deworm. Not worth $8 an hour.

Image credits: RangerSequoia1

#10

Mental health nurse here. I witnessed this but it didn't happen to me. One day on shift I responded to a duress alarm on another ward (1 nurse from each ward responds to duress from any ward). A female patient on a psychiatric intensive care unit had become violent and and could not be deescalated. It was decided that physical restraint and intramuscular medication would be needed to settle her down.

Anyway, as the team of 5 nurses approached her she was standing there with her legs apart and shouting at us. Just as we stepped into her space to initiate the restraint she stuck her fingers into her vagina (she was menstruating at the time) and managed to stick them into the mouth of one of the female nurses doing the restraint. The patient was extremely amused. Nurse vomited after the restraint and had to leave for the day.

That's just one of the really bizarre moments I have experience since working as a mental health nurse.

Image credits: [deleted]

#11

When I had to clean poop of a very confused lady who thought I was forcing her to have an abortion. She was kicking and screaming every time anyone came near her with a wash cloth. When we got her her in the shower room to clean her she was was grabbing hand fulls of her own poop screaming "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BABY".

EDIT: The worst part is when the family comes in the next they and ask how the night went I put on a smile and say "Great, your mother said she couldn't wait to see you today".

Image credits: DeadlyDuckie ·

#12

When a thick stream of sweat drained out of this girls cell phone case. I had to explain to her that her phone had water damage and that she shouldn't work out with her phone in her bra, all the while trying to be professional and not gag while cleaning the mess. (I sold phones at Sprint).

Image credits: dryerfuzz

#13

I was working at a gas station on Halloween. Pretty normal night, a bit more beer than usual. And then I see some kid walk by with his collar pulled up, he's walking a little odd. Then he walks back the way he cames which is a little weird. Then I notice his friends walking up. I 'm looking at them and I see one is wearing a mask. Then I see a fire extinguisher in his hands. I start moving to the switch that controls the electric locks but sadly I reached it half a second too late. Two kids hold the doors open and this little sh*t unloads an entire fire extinguisher into the store. Can't see sh*t, the entire store is filled with powdery haze. It took 8 hours to clean up. Eight hours closed for a 24 hour gas station. And it turns out, the whole point was to steal an 18 rack of f*cking keystone. F*cking kids.

Edit: we had them on camera, but the managers decided it wasn't worth pursuing I guess. Nothing came of it. None of them could have been over 17. They had two guys holding the doors open the whole time, so their friend who came in earlier ( and I hadn't been paying attention to) could run out with the beer. The mag locks didn't matter since they had the door open first and kept it that way. And no it isn't that they don't pay me enough to clean, they don't pay me enough to deal with some little dipsh*ts who can plan something as elaborate as that and then take the sh*ttiest beer in the store.

Image credits: [deleted]

#14

I worked as a cook at a restaurant that doubled as a night club after dark. A guy got shot and killed on the front landing one night and the next day they expected me to clean up the f*cking murder scene.

Image credits: [deleted]

#15

I was 19. I enrolled to gain a certification as an EMT. I followed that by busting my ass, sometimes literally, to somehow be qualified to save a person or their entire life's earnings from a fire. I then followed that by sacrificing a year of my life, or ~90/hrs a week between work/school to become a paramedic at age 23. I've been sh*t on, puked on, bled on. I've smelled the previously mentioned, I've smelled brains, which has it's own distinct smell. I've held body parts that have been detached moments before. I've shoved tubes down peoples throats so they may breathe, despite the number of gunshot wounds they received. I've performed CPR on infants. I did this for ~$13/hr.

Firefighters, EMTs/Paramedics, and Police are not compensated nearly enough for what they experience.

#16

I was a teacher.

A 6th grader hurled a book at my head from behind.

I got to have a meeting with the principal and the mother where she screamed at me for 20 minutes because I wrote her daughter up for it.

Principal did nothing.

10 years later I design fiber cable routes and make twice the money.

#17

I was a rookie wild land fire fighter making ten/eleven bucks an hour, and I seriously questioned why I only got paid that much, particularly that one time that I had to hold two hundred yards of road with nothing but a tool, and two other rookies who were pissing their pants, when a wall of flame hit our line and started throwing spots into the tall grass we were standing in. Luckily a brush truck arrived before we lost most of our facial hair, and we made it out alright.

Image credits: walnut_of_doom

#18

Library. Found a used nappy (diaper) crammed in behind the books in the picture books area. Not the first time I'd found one, but the first one I'd found folded sh*t side out.

Image credits: dartingfrogs

#19

I'm a mental health counselor at an eating disorder facility. We had a new patient arrive who previously came from a sober house and was homeless so he brought all his belongings with him, which was around two large suitcases of clothing. He stayed in program for roughly 36 hours than quickly discharged himself without much of an explanation or plan on what to do (he was from across the country). My coworker and I go into strip and remake his bed, after he had already left, and we find BOXES full of purge (like nature valley boxes but costco size) and one suitcase full of purge and a bunch of clothes still soaking wet, full of purge. Also found some of his purge-covered clothes outside the window, which we went to go dispose of. Those had mats all around them and i learned that maggots show up pretty fast when you leave vomit in 90 degree heat. We both look at each other and were like "....this is waaaay above our pay grade."

I wish that was the grossest story. Just the first one that comes to mind.

Image credits: Andsarahwaslike

#20

Worked at a tanning salon in college. Once a week we would deep clean the beds like overhaul clean the bed, the room, pull out the beds and get behind and everything. Well I go to slide the tanning bed out and behind it is a fully soaked, blood red stained maxipad. It was f*cking disgusting. Sad thing is another girl I worked with found used tampons wedge behind another bed. Some Women are f*cking disgusting when it comes to disposing of their lady products.

#21

Was flying a jet full of tech people to SXSW. 8 Seats on the plane and they were all full. First thing in the morning, the passengers started having drinks. 2 hours into the flight someone taps me on the shoulder and says "Captain, the toilet isn't working."

It was working just fine, but the tank was "at capacity." We could either land the plane and delay for a while, or they could hold it. Meanwhile, I had to pull on some rubber gloves, grab the knife from the bagel tray, and try to go Super Mario on the airplane's lavatory.

So there I was at 41,000' plunging a toilet with a plastic knife thinking, "I'm too old for this sh*t."

Image credits: User avatar level 1 Meisterspork

#22

I work in a public library. A grown man got mad over a $30 fine (for failing to return DVDs) and proceeded to push books off of shelves and try to knock our display case over. Also, we have a "tampon bandit" that left a lovely used tampon by the sink for us to find.

#23

Accidentally Poking myself with a needle that was just used on an hiv positive person

Edit: I did get put on post exposure prophylaxis immediately after.

Image credits: Stacieinhorrorland

#24

Cable guy here:

You know that really run down trailer park with hundreds of cats running around unchecked outside? The one that's full of rust bucket trucks with confederate flags painted on the tail gate? When the wind blows you are overwhelmed by the scent of cat urine..... I go into those trailers and dig through piles of garbage/diapers/animal and human s**t all because "my Fox News pixelated once during the debate" only to find the customer had spliced in their own line because they wanted tv in the rest of the trailer. I then have to crawl under the trailer and run a new line to replace the one they f**ked up, all the while being told how I'm a piece of sh*t because Im following company policy that you pay for every room you have tv in. Also here's 2 dead cats and a black widow colony that I carefully avoid, until I am backing out (because you don't have room to turn around under a trailer) and my boot goes into the web. I do all of this just so they can have cable for the 3 months until they get disconnected for not paying the bill and switch to dish.

It was a long day.

Image credits: Herpnderp89

#25

When I got texts like these from my boss' boss' boss.

For anyone (men can get harassed too) facing this kind of harassment, don't quit until you have another job secured, especially if you're reporting it to HR. HR departments from different companies talk to each other, and you will not believe how hard it is to find a job when you have develop a reputation as a "trouble-maker", "attention wh*re", "c*cktease", "sl*t", etc. HR is there to protect the company, not you. So no matter how close you think you are to HR, expect some sort of backlash.

The more senior the person is, the more likely they are to have gotten away with this for a looonng time. There's safety in numbers so if you can find other men/women that have faced the same harassment from the same guy (you will), report in a group and make sure everything is documented. S/he could still get away with it, but it'll be harder when there's more evidence. One person can be branded a "sl*t" but multiple people? HR must have awesome hiring policies.

Image credits: bankergoesrawrr

#26

cleaning diarrhoea off the walls of a bathroom stall 3 times in one night.

(bartender)

Image credits: Upset_Wasp

#27

I recently had to climb into a 7ft deep pit that was covered by a grate to remove lead paint from a window. The pit was obviously breeding ground for spiders. There were thousands of them... Thousands..

Image credits: apparentchild

#28

While working at an adult video store, I discovered a bucket of dehydrated piss in the broom closet. For a moment, I tried to summon a normal reaction of disgust or anger, but I felt nothing but indifference. The piss bucket wasn't what broke my spirit.. it was what made me realize I had no more spirit to break.

Image credits: Annester

#29

Due to being short staffed at work I was doing the job of 2 people. I agreed to it knowing it would be temporary and it would give me an opportunity to stand out and be noticed by going above and beyond.

Temporary turned into 6 months and instead of getting noticed for going the extra mile I was starting to get in trouble for not meeting goals and deadlines.

Review times came around and I received a pretty negative review stating that my failure to meet goals and deadlines meant I was going to get a lower than average raise that year. I told them that effective immediately I would resume doing just my job unless I was actually getting paid to do the job of 2 people.

I received a halfhearted apology and they soon got someone to fill the void making it a 2 person job again. Still didn't get the raise I think I deserved and to top it all off my attempt to get noticed now got me viewed as a troublemaker and not a team player.

#30

I was on a phonecall for 22 hours.

Twenty. Two. Hours.

Long story. I was in a security team that did a lot of hand-holding tech-support kinda stuff because we didn't trust anyone. At some point it was a HUGE mess with me being the only guy and me being abused horribly. Eventually my boss and I managed to get some ground-rules in - no upgrades without telling us 3 days in advance. No calling SterlingPhoenix with no good reason. SterlingPhoenix is allowed to hang up on you if you do not give him anything to do, etc.

Then my boss quit, and we got a new boss who didn't enforce anything and did not have my back.

These people set an implementation for like 10pm, and told ME about it at 4pm. Which is way less than 72 hours. I told them hey, tough luck. And my boss goes "Oh you're helping them or else."

So I worked with them all night, then they paged me back in the next day, and my boss pretty much threatened to have me continue to work with them (and a lot of this was just me being on the phone and them saying I can't hang up "just in case"). Finally got to leave at 2am.

...and yet it took me years after that to actually quit.

Image credits: sterlingphoenix

#31

Happened about two weeks into my job working at a college bar. Was on my hands and knees beneath a urinal, cleaning up the puke that had overflown and fallen to the ground. Surprisingly wasn't until another drunken idiot stood over me and began to piss into the urinal I was cleaning under that I had my "I don't get paid enough for this sh*t" moment.

...he didnt have the greatest aim.

#32

Was a manager at a McDonald's and I got screamed at by our district supervisor, mid shift, for putting too many ketchup packets in a bag through the drive thru.

F*ck. That.

Image credits: Charizarlslie

#33

I used to work at a shoe store, we always got extremely ghetto people in there to buy Jordan's. We were having a 40% off sale one time, one particularly ghetto lady told her husband "this pair is 40 off, you're buying one, that means 80% off". I explained to her multiple times it meant it was 40% of the total, but she didn't get it and kept saying "40 + 40 is 80". Eventually I said screw it and just told her she might as well buy 3 pairs, because that's 120% off and we'd be paying HER for the shoes, then walked off as the gears turned in her head trying to comprehend what I said. That, plus multiple fights over Jordans

#34

I was a nurse in an ICU, and a guy came in in alcohol withdrawal. Now, I'm not a delicate little flower, and had taken care of patients like this many times before, but this was the worst ever. He peed in a urinal and threw it at me. Then he tried to punch me, which bought him a visit from security and leather restraints. Then he kicked me in the abdomen while I was trying to draw some blood. Then I unrestrained him, with 2 other co-workers to help him get on the bed pan to have a bowel movement, and when he went to wipe himself, he grabbed some sh*t and threw it at us. And he spit at us. Not to mention the names that we were called, but I don't care if someone calls me a b*tch. After he came out of DTs, he was actually a really funny guy and was so so so completely embarrassed about what happened. But I realized during that shift, that getting paid ~$23/hr as an RN was not enough pay for having human excretions thrown at me or physical assault.

#35

Was 16 years old working at a movie theater. As an usher (person who cleans up after movies) I had to do perimeter checks around the building to make sure no homeless people were sleeping in the alcoves where the movies let out to.

On one such occasion I discovered about 10 hypodermic needles laying on the ground. Since I was 16, I wasn't permitted to pick up sh*t like that, so I radio'd back to my manager and told her that. Her response was essentially "ugh, I mean if you really don't think you should do it I guess I can come clean it up."

Seeing as I didn't want to slide further down her sh*t list, I begrudgingly picked up all the needles and stuck them in a trash bag. When I got back I asked her where I should put this garbage (seeing as it's pretty hazardous) and she pointed to the trash where the customers threw their garbage away.

That's one of about a thousand stories I have from that piece of sh*t dump. Horrible, rotten managers.

#36

When I was working at Wal-Mart the price of cabbage went up a few cents and some old lady in a rascal scooter was yelling at me about it and telling me how much less cabbage cost during the war and trying to hit me with her cane.

#37

Helping the coroner move a decomp on a hot August day. (Police officer).

Image credits: DaPoleece

#38

When my assh*le patient pointed his finger at me angrily and said, "Your job is to serve me." No one has ever talked to me that way in my life. How dare someone speak to me that way who is depending upon me to make sure they don't bleed out after their heart catheterization and advocate on their behalf to the physicians.

Image credits: ruvb00m

#39

While I was still in training as an EMT I got a call for a cardiac arrest. When we arrived there was a very green looking police officer sitting on the porch who had been called for a welfare check. He started to tell us that we didn't want to go in there, but it was too late, one of the paramedics had already opened the door. As soon as the door was opened the smell hit us. Inside was the body of the man that lived there and he had clearly been dead for quite some time. He had melted partially into the couch he was laying on and what remained of his skin was dark gray. You could also clearly see the bones in his hands. He looked like a horror movie prop and i have never smelled anything else like it. His neighbors said that they hadn't seen him since January and it was April.

Luckily my service doesn't transport bodies, once we have verified that someone is without a doubt 100% dead we alert the appropriate authorities and wait for them to arrive and take over.

One thing we always have to do on these calls is attach limb leads and run a quick ECG for any sign of life. We have to do it even when it seems ridiculous. I am still not 100% sure if that is an actual rule or if they were f*cking with me, because as soon as i finished my certification i got a job somewhere where contact with corpses is unlikely. So as the trainee of course I had to do it. I am not sure if you have ever tried to put stickers on a rotten corpse, but they do not want to stay in place at all.

That is the only call that has ever made me vomit.

#40

Standing in a freezer, scooping ice cream into hundreds of martini glasses (the banquets were usually around 500-900) with nothing but a couple pairs of flimsy disposable gloves on. Only to have the pastry chef say the balls weren't round enough and to do it all f*cking again. I was pisssd.

#41

I used to be a case manager for adults with severe mental illness. One day I was meeting with a client in her home, she was experiencing auditory hallucinations that directed her to cut herself.

She tells me, "the voices are saying to hurt myself." I say, can you ask them to wait until we're done?

She then says, "Now they're telling me to hurt you."

She then pulls the slowest ever turn of her head to look down at the table beside her (where I then notice three cheap-o box cutters are sitting, which is clearly what she's been using on her arm) and then just as slowly looks back at me, all without saying another word.

I asked her for the box cutters, which she handed to me, and quickly ended the session. Nope nope nope nope nope.

#42

During summers, I work at an accelerated summer school program designed to either help kids retain what they just learned, get a preview of their next math class, or complete their next math class to move ahead to the next one during the school year.

Because I was the one who was charged with sending the transcripts to the schools after the program was completed, I had to deal with all the parents insisting that their child who failed every single test just happened to have a bad day every time a test was given and that they had learned enough to go to the next class. I had to call in my boss sometimes because they would just start yelling at me when things didn't go their way.

#43

A few:

Security Officer: I got into a fist fight with a truck driver because I took too long to make a copy of his paperwork so that he could leave. Copier was inside the building across the plant. This wasn't the only time, but this was the one where I was legit helping the guy.

Butcher shop: I had a co-worker start acting like freaking G.I. Joe while we were trying to close the department. Rolling between aisles and making actions and audible noises like he was mowing people down with an LMG. He didn't do anything and we got out 50 mins late because I had to go back and do all of his stuff.

Roofing: at $10 an hour... pretty much everything.

Pest extermination: When your co-worker kicks the hive of yellow jackets and neither of you are licensed to use the kill powder, so your squirrel job just turned into calling the boss to get him to take care of the yj problem... every few days.

Inbound call center (they call us for help): Being told I'm worthless and useless and how much better his son is than I am because I wouldn't pay for a 300 mile taxi ride for his retarded kid that was drunk driving. Wasn't even my department and it was my supervisor that actually transferred the douche to me while I was telling him that he needed to talk to the correct department.

#44

911 dispatcher. So many moments. But one drunk f*cker yelling at me about the power being out. The sheriffs office is not your utilities provider, you cuntsalad.

#45

Used to work retail security, got threatened by a junkie with a dirty needle over a Friends box set...

That was my last day.

Image credits: unspecifiedcarnage

#46

When a developmentally disabled, autistic, profoundly mentally retarded kid around 20 years old starts brutalizing himself terribly. Ramming his head and body against a brick mantle repeatedly. Screaming, thrashing and banging against the wall for 10 minutes at a time. Management has no idea what to do. Neither does staff. The ER got tired of admitting him three crises ago. But you're left to deal with him for 4 -12 hrs at a time for roughly minimum wage.

#47

Little girl squatted down and pissed in the middle of the store. To make it better, her parents carried her out of the store while she was still peeing leaving a trail of piss through the store.

#48

I was working in a law firm and my responsibilities piled up and piled up. I sent repeated emails to my boss to let her know that even though I was working 2-3 hours of unpaid overtime every day I still wasn't getting through all my work. She did not respond to any of these emails, I continued to drown in my work.

After I was off sick for half a day I was called in for a disciplinary hearing and given a written warning because my work wasn't all up to date. I left about 2 months later when I found a new job, she hired 3 people to replace me.

#49

I worked at a well known chain ice cream place. Minimum wage. The drains that consume all of the dairy and fruit from the ice cream scoopers had been clogged for a WEEK before my manager decided to do something about it. There was grey smelly water all over the floor behind the counter. She calls the plumber who shows up like 4 hours late to fix this drain. Well let me tell you friends, he opened up that grate and scraped off the first layer of muck and it was like hell itself had opened up from this drain and had viciously lashed about searching for souls to claim. The plumber immediately sat up, trotted out to the front of our building and vomited profusely for a few minutes while my coworker and I ran to the back room. We called the manager and asked if we could go ahead and close the store for the night so that no unsuspecting customers had to be subjected to this foul decay as they walked in. She refused and also told us it couldn't be that bad and that we needed to stay and serve. We were also not allowed to leave the store to buy medical masks across the street. I sat there. Constantly nauseous. Waiting for time to pass. FOUR. F*CKING. HOURS. Pass and we can finally close down. We get another call, informing us that we are to stay another 2 hours until the manager could get to our store to ensure the plumber did not harm any store property. I left that night with the knowledge that I just subjected myself to a serious health hazard, without safety equipment, for $7.50/hr

#50

I have been showered in concentratred dental waste. When you go to the dentist, that bowl you spit in and the suction tube they clear your mouth with are part of a special piping system. Imagine pipes full of blood, spit, gum tissue, gingivitis, tooth plaque, rotting bits of god knows that that thing from your teeth was ect.... then imagine a dead end in that piping system full of that nasty goo where the already foul substance has been fermenting for years. I was working on the dental waste collection system at a dental school and was on a ladder in a very tight spot when a 4" line dropped and I got a 30 second money shot right to the face. When it was soaked, completely covered from head to toe in blood, spit, mucus and anything else somebody could cough up or spit out.

#51

As a teen I was working with the youth group from my church to help raise money for a trip. This guy had us over to his farm to do some work; fair enough. We get there and he has us clean out his chicken coops. Most of the rooms were at least six inches deep in poop, while the average was probably closer to 10 inches, and some of the corners got up to about a foot and a half. Buried in this poop were dead chickens, as well as several dead cats that had 'gone missing.' It was a terrible, much more death-filled morning than I was anticipating. There were probably 7 or 8 of us there for half a day, and while I don't know the number, the guy probably didn't pay us more than $100, so like $3 an hour per person.

#52

I was working security at a Quinceañera with another supervisor. We had kicked a handful of people out of the event throughout the evening for trying to start fights, drinking in the parking lot after being told not to, and distributing alcohol to kids. Eventually the event was shut down. My boss and another supervisor showed up to help. 20 minutes later we were all standing out in front waiting for the last of the patrons to exit the building when two cars pull in and a bunch of guys get out demanding to be let in. One of these guys had been kicked out earlier for starting a fight. My boss tells them to get off the property and they respond by pulling out pistols and saying they're going in. I remember standing there looking at these 5 gangbangers with guns and then looking at my boss and coworkers as they withdraw their guns and thinking, "Sh*t, all I've got is a flashlight."

TL;DR: Was in standoff, everyone had guns but me.

#53

I worked in popular night club at the time this happened. It was during a PRIDE event and we were slammed--our capacity was 300 and ended up having over 1000 people come in and out of the club in the 5 hours we were open. Somehow, someone was stabbed by the little coat hanger thing that's on the back of the bathroom stall door. This individual managed to bleed profusely all over the bathroom stall, half of our dance floor, and all over at least 30 individuals within the club and no one noticed.

I'm not kidding when I say that it looked like a damn crime scene, some serious Law & Order kind of sh*t. And yet somehow no one complained about the blood on themselves, the floor, or the bathroom until we turned the lights on. Cleaning up a sh*tload of semi-dried blood throughout our club after one (if not the) busiest time of the year was wretched. I was exhausted, gagging from the smell of blood, booze, drugs and (most likely) other bodily fluids. After several hours of scrubbing and then getting up a few hours later to work another event, I realized that I hated bar life and needed to get out or double my hourly rate.

#54

Witnessed someone's literal 'I don't get paid enough for this sh*t' story.

I was at a ShoBiz (Similar to Chuck-e-Cheese, might even be the same place.) for a relatives birthday. All the kids are running about having fun, playing games, etc. Suddenly there is a commotion around the ball pit. Turns out some kid has had a serious diarrhea Hershey-squirt blowout and it is all over in the ball pit. The little plastic balls are all covered with a thin film of booty butter.

I'm across the room from the code brown near the counter where you trade in tickets for fake moustaches and laffy taffy and sh*t. The manager tells this teenager he needs to get to the ball pit right away, and is trying to hand him a mop. (Not sure what a mop will do in this situation but I digress.)

Anywho, the teen is not having it and loudly says, "Nah bro, that ain't me" and strolls out the door and into the sunset.

#55

I was a nurses assistant a few years ago. I took one of my many patients to the bathroom like any other day. She said she wasn't feeling well, but who feels good in a nursing home? So I'm watching her try to sh*t, and she turns ghost white and passed out. I yell for help and a nurse and a few other CNA's come to my aid. The lady f*cking died. Sudden cardiac arrest. So now we have to carry her dead body to the bed so we can preform cpr.

Now I'm sure that you have heard that people who die void there bowels. Well that is no myth. It's happened to everyone I've watched die and this was no exeption. As soon as we picked her up off the toilet This lady started to do what she died trying to do, sh*t like no tomorrow.

At this point we realize that this lady has some serious internal bleeding and C-dif (Clostridium difficile). All you need to know about C-dif is that it makes you sh*t ×100 times more than you normally would, and it smells x100 times worse.

So here we are, carrying a dead lady by her arms and legs while she spews a sea of smelly orange sh*t and blood out of her ass and all over the floor. It looked like a scat scene gone wrong. Every inch of the floor covered in blood and rancid feces.

Good news is that we were able to revive the lady and she kept on trucking for who nows how long.

I made $9.50/hour. Minimum wage in my state is $8:50. F*ck being a CNA.

#56

When I politely asked a patient to sit up to safely take their pills and was met with a "how about you shut the f*ck up and quit your b*tching." (I informed them to put their light on when they were ready to treat me like a human being and we could try again).

Being told "well maybe they're not really dead" after informing the family the patient has expired.

Being asked to "put lotion" on a 600+ pound hep c positive patients scrotum (he made this request hourly).

Having to explain to a 30 something year old brittle diabetic with an obvious history of substance abuse that eating 3 Mars Bars and injecting Lantus intravenously was not an effective way to manage his diabetes.

The list goes on.

#57

used to be a conductor on a wine train and there were always white divorcees going out with their girl friends whod get a little too drunk and get beligerent. One night they tried to assault a sikh man "for doing 9/11" and i had to intervene to keep these 5 drunk women from killing this man.

#58

So many times as a cashier at Toys R Us... Some of the customers would go apesh*t that I couldn't honor the 4-month-expired sales tag they found crumpled on the floor near some item and scream at me for being incompetent. I literally had no ability to apply the sale discount after the expiration date; it required a manager to override.

They also got mad if something was priced higher than it was at a different store, because apparently that was my fault too.

#59

Yesterday I had to explain to a coworker that makes almost $10k a year more than me that what she thought was a list of calendar dates was in fact a list of group identification numbers, as clearly noted on the screen she was on.

That's right, had to explain to a woman in her 40s that a calendar date needs a month, a date, and a year, and what they look like printed

#60

I worked at a deli near my house. Got paid 6.50 per hour because it was owned by a church, non profit. Not too busy of a place, in a not so busy town. Except for when said town throws its annual festival. It's the busiest weekend of the year for nearly every business on every street. Me and three other people are working frantically to keep this little sandwich machine pumping all while the place is slammed to the hilt with people... God, the people. Just so many assh*les wanting so many different things: food, bathroom, directions, etc. In the midst of the chaos somebody drops their basket of chips on the floor, what. the. f*ck... So naturally I go to grab the vacuum from the maintenance closet. I make my way thru the crowd toward the back of the deli, which is where the closet and bathroom are located. The line for the bathroom stretched all the way to the front door. Bummer I guess because I didn't give a f*ck. I open the closet turn on the light and take a good a hard look at the vacuum cleaner in front of me. Apparently..... some drunk assh*le couldn't wait in line, saw the maintenance closet thinking it was another bathroom, went in, noticed it wasn't a bathroom but decided it was too late, dropped trow, and just left the creamiest most explosive sh*t splattered diarrhea I've ever seen all over the vacuum cleaner I needed so desperately to clean the floor that belonged to the deli that only pays me 6 and a half american f*cking greenbacks per hour. I immediately went home and smoked some weed, cuz I literally did not get paid enough for that sh*t.

#61

Work in retail part time. I work on the sales floor and some lady pissed all over herself and a bunch of clothes and left them on the floor in the fitting room. I didn't notice anything until I walked in there and got a whiff of one of the most rancid stenches that grazed my nostrils. Anyway, we have dedicated cleaning staff that we contract out, but the lady I contacted came in, walked into the room, and started freaking the f*ck out and left. So I ended up contacting a manager on hand and with her help cleaned the sh*t up... all for sh*tty retail minimum wage.

#62

Was earning minimum wage for working in a claims call centre for a health insurance company. I was called regarding a query on a claim where the person owed a certain amount of money to a psychiatric hospital for overstaying in the facility when he capped out the amount his insurance allowed. He was not happy about this.

He proceeded to berate and belittle me for 45 minutes, then put his wife on the phone who told me in horrific detail how he tried to kill himself and why he needed to stay in the facility. It was gory, it was gruesome, and I still think about what she told me sometimes.

At the end of the phone call I went and locked myself in the bathroom and cried. It was then I decided that job was no longer worth it especially on the money I was on. I stuck it out for a bit longer and then moved abroad. Best decision I ever made.

#63

I work as a property manager at a university's research preserve of 1600 acres. I recently accidentally cut a hornets nest in half. I got lit up.

#64

After knowingly serving customers mouldy buns and overcooked meat for their $15 burgers (under my managers strict instruction) and then having to deal with their complaints. Then getting berated by my manager in front of said customers, "to make the company look professional." Walked out in peak hour, f*ck that. Haha if you live in Australia you've eaten here. Stop. For your own good.

#65

I had to stand there while some lady told me I was incompetent for not being able to make her steak sandwich medium rare.

I was working at Subway.

Image credits: Marzelsloth

#66

About 10 years ago I spent a summer moving from temp job to temp job while on summer break from Uni. One of the jobs was in a cereal factory where they made cornflakes for supermarket own brands. When I arrived after being sent by the job agency they struggled to find me anything to do, but as the factory was on a "cleaning day" I was given a screwdriver and a hammer and told to hack away at the cereal build up in a big ass pipe that I could only get to through a 10cm x 10cm access flap.

It was hot as hell in there because all the extractors were turned off due to the cleaning and to top it off there was a leaky water pipe above me that periodically dripped searing hot water onto my shoulder. I still have a scar from where it burnt me.

Anyway, after about an hour i'd had enough and decided that being paid minimum wage minus the agency's cut wasn't worth it. Literally walked straight out, got in the car and bailed without saying a word to anyone.

#67

This happened during one of my internships at a veterinary hospital, no pay. I was helping restrain a dog when she got away from us. She had diarrhea and she decided to run around the hospital while exploding out her back end. Guess who had to clean that up?

#68

Working at a private school, teaching a prek / k class with no benefits, no prep time, coming in on evenings and weekends to catch up on work, not being given the full set of training manuals (for their special technique I needed to follow and wasn't well versed in), dealing with entitled parents who actually used the phrases "I pay good money." "I pay your salary." and "I am the customer." and a clueless, powerless, incompetent administration who had no actual power over the running of the school and who didn't understand why I'd want to call social services when a child disclosed abuse. All this for less than half of what the public school teachers make in my city.

I definitely didn't get paid enough for that sh*t

#69

When I was 17, working at the local skating rink after their "skate and dance" where all the middle school prostitots and freshman/sophomore high school boys would grind on each other to bad late 90s/2000s hip hop.

One night in particular was really bad, I needed a garden hose for a few of these kids who were going above and beyond grinding. After dealing with that all night, I had to clean the bathrooms.

In the boys bathroom, a used rubber floating in the toilet. After an event that was 17 and under only. So that's great, not sure where that occurred, but first thing tomorrow (Saturday) there's going to be a gaggle of small children all over the building for pubic skate and birthday parties, so that's gross.

In the girls bathroom though... Some soul sucking evil teenaged b*tch, possibly b*tches, had smeared menstrual blood all over the stall doors and mirrors, and flung a tampon against the wall so it stuck.

I went to my manager who was a 300+lb nasty swamp beast who hated me, to tell her about how bad it was and that I want cleaning it, and she told me it was my damn job to clean it up.

I quit. So yeah, they literally didn't pay me enough for that sh*t, and I went and found a real job the next week

#70

I manage a supermarket. I was working one night and a customer comes running in saying that there was a brawl outside. I pulled out my phone and rang the police as I walked outside to assess the situation. I see half a dozen local ferals throwing punches.

I start to tell the police what's happening while keeping a safe distance. Then one of the brawlers pulled out a bow and arrow.

My thoughts; F*ck this sh*t, I'm out.

#71

Age 16, babysitting (for lack of a better word) a 12 year old girl from 5pm till around 3am. She spent 8 of those 10 hours trying to kiss/cuddle me. Yeah no.

#72

My last job seemed too good to be true. It was.

I was paid $50 a day (and allowed a room in a sh*tty, sh*tty run down house that I shared with 6 other people and also doubled as the guest reception area) to run the stables attached to a very popular resort. I started at 7am and didn't come in until after 10pm. I spent 4 hours in the morning feeding 18 horses, and then calves, pigs, chickens, 40 sled dogs, goats, llamas, emus, you name it. After completing this dirty and physically taxing work I then had to put on a smiley face and deal with idiotic, rude, unsafe tourists trying to ride horses and taking whiny kids on pony rides. I lasted 8 long months. It is the only time I have ever not given notice and just left. I stopped getting regular pay checks and just collected what I was owed and left without a word. No regrets.

#73

Literally getting yelled at for not staying late. I don't get paid to stay late. My bosses are a married couple and think it's OK to lose their sh*t at me. If I didn't really need money right now, I'd quit

#74

After telling an SVP for a year that if they implemented X vendor software and it grew beyond Y size there was nothing the vendor could do to help them and that the only way I could fix it was to rewrite the vendor code, which I was under strict orders from the same SVP not to ever do again.

Sure enough they exponentially surpass Y and the whole thing crashes and the SVP calls an emergency meeting, "Yes, yes, I know you told us this would happen, but that's in the past, we need you to fix it NOW...."

#75

Accountant here.

When my mate who works in IT as web developer works less hours and gets paid more than me doing something he enjoys. He told me he was playing counter strike with his manager to wind down on Friday afternoon.

I am working till 8 pm everyday and comes in on weekends.

I love my life choices.

#76

I'm an officer in the Army.

I once had a young private come to me and confess that he was arrested at the weekend for being drunk and stealing a bicycle.

Obviously he had to be disciplined but I decided to go easy since he seemed genuinely repentant, and had asked me to help him write an apology letter.

He returned to me with a draft copy of his letter.

It had only two words scrawled on it, neither spelled correctly.

"im sory"

#77

I was hosting at a restaurant on a busy day and the wait to get a table was about 25-30 minutes. This woman comes in and demands a table I then ask her name to put her on my list. When I tell her it's going to be 25-30 minutes she loses her sh*t and throws the buzzer at me.

#78

High school, worked in movie theater. Old, homeless man would always come poop on our lobby bench. Yours truly was the lucky winner, nearly every time.

Goddamn oldass pooper.

#79

I used to work at a place that hosted children's parties occasionally. So, any time I had to scrub regurgitated cake and pizza out of the carpet. Or the one time I had to scrub literal sh*t off of a chair.

#80

Cleaning mold from the drains under the bread in the bakery. It was exhausting I was paid minimum wage and my boss didn't care there was mold growing under the fkin bread. I put in my 2 weeks the next day. Grocery stores suck

#81

I was working at a farmer's market selling apple juice, and this tiny kid was just picking up the testers one by one and throwing them on the floor without drinking them whilst staring me down. I just let him...

#82

A lady walked into my shop during a sale and the first words out of her mouth were "I am going to spend thousands of dollars here or somewhere else, you will give me a discount." That was when I knew things would go bad.

TL;DR She claimed to be a bigshot CEO, bought 1k worth of stuff, tried to illegally get us to waive her sales tax then threw a fit and took a $50 item without paying.

Turned out she was some bigshot CEO.....

Or the 6' something guy who started getting a bit threatening after we refused to let him use one of our floor models for the day...he started getting upset claiming to have bought a house in [rich neighborhood] for cash in hand, then started to raise his voice, get in my face and ask if we knew we were losing a sale...luckily my manager intervened and sent him out.

So basically whenever people think they own others around them because they have money. There are plenty of rich people who aren't assh*les that think everyone they think is below them.

#83

When an 8 year old lied to his mother and had her call the school to complain, and then to my face the next day said "I'm going to get you fired" all because he got tagged in the game we were playing. Thank you, Matthew.

#84

I drive a tow truck for AAA. Changing tires on major highways is always a blast. But the real fun is having to lay down on those highways while it's pouring down rain to hook cars up. But i think the absolute worst is getting into some people's vehicles. I had a guy tonight who apparently was a horder. The car was PACKED with bags of stuff. The drivers seat was the only thing that was kind of clear. The seat also had stains on it which I'm pretty sure were urine. And the smell, oh god the smell. It's smelled like human waste mixed with garbage that had been left in the sun with a hint of dog food. I nearly vomited. The worst part was I took this car to a shop and the guy drove with me in my truck. I couldn't get the smell out for the rest of the night. I honestly feel bad for whoever has to work on that car tomorrow.

#85

I work at a gym. I am only a Front Desk receptionist. I am a part-timer (also currently in college) getting paid minimum wage. I have been working at my location the longest out of all the other front desk people, so I often (especially on Sundays) open the gym and am there for 6 hours alone without any other employees since that's our slowest day of the week.

I come in and open as usual one and a lady comes up to me about 30 min later. Someone had pooped in the shower in the ladies locker room and proceeded to try to waffle stomp it down. I was the one that had to clean it. Save my soul.

#86

When I got called in for the fifth day off in a row. The manager had no clue how to make a schedule and literally every day off I had, I got a call asking me to come in. I was really broke and didn't know how to say no to people so I worked like 3 weeks with no days off. Sometimes they called me at 1:30 asking me to come in at 3, when they knew for a fact I had an hour commute. After that I started turning off my phone on days off.

#87

I worked at a private school 3 years ago, but was in no way glamorous. It was in, essentially a steal warehouse with A/C.

I got paid minimum wage with zero overtime. despite working around 40-55 hours a week I got zero healthcare or benefits. Also the snacks provided by the school were limited to off-off brand goldfish and pretzels, which the children hated after the second week of school, so I often had to buy and bring in snacks with zero reimbursement.

The moment where I had enough was more a series of moment over two months.

A new boy came to school that was having just the hardest time with school mates, teachers and pre/post school caretakers alike. I've had training from previous jobs about looking for signs of autism and suggested the parents get him tested.

They were skeptical but the next week came in saying, he was indeed on the spectrum and is just below high functioning. I was there with the principal when he said that is was no big deal and that the school can handle it.

It was a big deal, the school could not handle it, not one staff member had the training on how to handle him. The boy deserved better than the be shucked off by frustrated teachers who thought he merely didn't understand the rules because he went to a public school.

A few staff members who knew better and I demanded the school give training to essential personnel for everyone's sake. He agreed. That next Saturday half the school staff came in only to be sat down have the school "nurse" half heartedly read a pamphlet about what autism is and then administer a test, during which she told us the answers.

The second she started saying "the answer to number one is A" I got up and quit.

I feel awful about abandoning this kid whenever I think about it. He probably is still in that school, his parents told me they were running out of choices. I hope he's doing ok, I hope whoever they got to replace me was previously trained, I hope I didn't make the wrong choice.