Let me ask you something: have you ever worked at a place that had a toxic environment? I hear you loud and clear. Sadly, many of us have experienced something like this in the past.
However, I hope your crappy work situation wasn’t as bad as these folks here because these instances from Reddit users leave a lot to be desired, that’s for sure.
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This Classy Training
“When I burned my hands all night on the too hot plates as a food runner. They wouldn’t let me use towels to carry them and said I just had to get used to it. Nope,” one Reddit user said.
That’s just terrible.
This Safe Workplace
“I was 17 and working pre-cast concrete. Refused to use a rusted to [expletive] ladder. Supervisor… got up about seven rungs before his foot went through one, heard his foot snap as he fell. I called an ambulance and walked to my car in the parking lot,” another user said.
That’s terrifying.
This Work Briefing
“On the first day of working at Amazon warehouse, the managers broke down to everyone how a 15-minute break works there.
Walking to the break room is 2 1/2 minutes. 10 minutes of actual break and then 2 1/2 minutes to go back to your stations. It took me 2 1/2 minutes to walk to my car and I took a forever break.”
Ha, ha!
This Interesting Day
“Summer job working for a landscape architect. Got to the job site and he asked me to dig a hole in some rocky dirt. I asked for a shovel. He didn’t have one. I asked for a hand spade. He didn’t have one.
He told me to just dig the hole with my bare hands and then he drove off to another site leaving me completely alone. I dug for a little bit and then said ‘[expletive] this’ and left.”
I’m totally dying here.
This Total Surprise
“Restaurant. Swept under my station when we were closing. Giant brown pile came out with broom from under low-boy fridge. Pile began to scatter. It was hundreds of roaches. Never returned.”
OMG, no! That’s my worst nightmare scenario. Run!
This Awesome Treatment
“Restaurant line chef. Worked a 12-hour shift, was given two breaks of about 10-15 min each. Burned my hand numerous times because they gave me plates that came right from the oven and never said a word.
End of the shift I told the head chef I was done. He called me soft and said I was the third person to quit on him after a day. I said ‘Maybe it’s the way you treat people’,” another user revealed.
Aha!
This Let Down
“Got what was supposed to be a prestigious political internship that came with a security clearance and everything. Found out at orientation that the “part time” internship was really 40-60 hours, unpaid and that no intern had gone on to work with the organization and weren’t really given a leg up for other federal posts.
We were supposed to facilitate meetings with heads of state, coordinate conferences and assist the actual employees with composing published research papers for which we would not be credited.”
Can you believe that?
This Bait And Switch
“I was hired to be a waitress, which has a lower hourly wage due to tips. The entire shift they had me wash dishes in the sink, but paid me waitress wages. A few months later the restaurant was investigated for a number of fraud [activities],” one user said.
Unbelievable, right?
This Deceptive Job
“Salesman’ for Kirby vacuums. First sale call was to a single elderly woman who was supporting her son in hospital (they got us in the door by offering a free carpet clean as a demonstration).
The supervisor training me pushed and pushed to make the sale until this old woman was in tears. Just as she was about to sign the paperwork I asked if she actually wanted to vacuum and she said it was lovely but she couldn’t afford it.”
Aww, that’s so sad.
This Awkward Clock-Out
“It was my first day at Five Guys, it was around 10:30 PM and they told me it was time to clock out, despite not having finished closing. I then worked until almost midnight. I did not return.”
Serves them right!
This Unreasonable Offer
“It was a waitress gig for a local restaurant. I finished my first day, then was told that training would continue for six weeks. While I was in training, all of the tips I got had to be given to my trainer. I was being paid less than $2 an hour. I called the next day and said it wasn’t gonna work out.”
Bravo!
This Work Tip
“Took a summer job at a textile plant and the trainer said, ‘Forget about taking a break if you want to stay caught up.'”
Um, excuse me? What are you supposed to do? Work all day with absolutely no break? I think that’s pretty illegal.
This Understanding Workplace
“I have Type 1 Diabetes. [I] was working at a Wendy’s. The manager didn’t believe me when I told them my blood sugar was low and that I needed to get a sugary drink from the drink machine to get my blood sugar up because ‘I’m too skinny to be diabetic.’ They thought I was a slacker. Bye.”
That’s so awful, no?
This Trial By Fire
“Went into an Italian restaurant for my first day of work and I got three red flags on the very first day.
The manager said he had lots of hours for me and getting shifts would be no problem. Every single other employee told me that they were struggling for hours and that they had no idea why they hired me.
Everyone said the manager was an asshole. Even the customers.
It was my first day there, and I actually had to teach the woman training me how to do one or two things.”
Oh my goodness.
This Close Call
“Gas station. The manager gave me a weird vibe. I made it through the first day but didn’t go back. Found out later he cornered another girl in the back of the store and she had to fight her way out. Trust your gut.”
I can’t even — this is absolutely terrifying!
This Fun In The Kitchen
“I was hired to work in the kitchen as a cook along with another, senior cook. Let’s put aside the fact that I had zero cooking knowledge whatsoever, the senior cook was leaving the kitchen every five minutes to smoke.
So there I am, alone in the kitchen, orders are printing FAST, and I’m standing there not sure what to do first, and the waitress comes over yelling at me to cook [stuff] I don’t have any business cooking, definitely not on my own,” one user said.
Sounds like fun, right?
Working At Forever21
“Worked a seasonal floor position at Forever21 too! The store was always a mess, and it was rearranged every week. No one knows where anything goes.
I quit when I got the flu and they said if I didn’t get a doctor’s note it would be a “red mark” in my file. I said nah, you don’t give me health insurance and I’m not in kindergarten.”
OMG, right?
This Huge Flag
“When the microwave in the lunch room was coin activated,” one user said.
Does that really happen? I can’t say I’ve ever seen a coin-operated microwave before. Yikes!
I know we all had our share of terrible jobs, but these do take the cake, no?
I can’t even imagine working in toxic environments like these. I’m happy to see that these people got out of there and fast. There’s no way I would stand for treatment like that. Am I right?
