I’m pretty sure we’ve all been there before, or at least know of someone that has. Those jobs where you instantly 'noped' out and walk away with no regrets. Many people hate their jobs with the white-hot fury of 1,000 suns. For those special individuals that find the job of their dreams and love what they do, well congratulations. You’re one of the lucky few out there.
Money is what makes the world go round, and the everyday average Joe works whatever job they can to pay the bills. But there are some occasions where the money just isn’t worth it. Don’t believe me? Well, you’re in for a treat (and a few laughs too). Check the amazing and outrageous stories from Redditors where the job was so crazy, they instantly said nope and walked away.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#25 Misplaced Earrings
I worked in a jewelry store for one day. At the end of the shift, the manager asked me to put a bucket load of tiny earring packages back on the walls. A few hours later I finish and apparently misplaced a few of them, so she threw all of them to the floor and said to do it again. NOPE.
#24 Don’t Worry, You Get Used to It
When I was 16 I had an interview at a local pizza place in a not so good part of town. I was hired, and as I was walking out 2 guys came in and robbed the place. The manager gave them the money in the register and they ran out. I looked at him and he said, "You get used to it." I never went back.
#23 Overtime...What Overtime?
I received two paycheques. The first was for the 40 hours I worked, and the second was for my 5 hours overtime without time-and-a-half from a company his wife owned. He told me any overtime I worked was for her and wasn't technically overtime. I called the state labor dept on him.
#22 More Important Things To Get Done
Mine had to be when I was 18 and working at a video store. I was helping the manager during the before opening shift, getting new items stocked on the shelves that came in that morning. My mom called me and told me that my dad was having a heart attack and she was panicking while waiting for the ambulance. Why did she call me at work to tell me this?
The video store I worked at was in a strip mall type area behind my cul-de-sac, my house and the video store was separated by a small alley and a 3 min walk. I told my manager what was happening and asked if I could leave to help my mom while they waited for the ambulance. She said no. I just stood there looking at her thinking she couldn’t be serious. I would be gone for all of 10 mins and back helping her if needed. She stressed how important it was to get the things done that needed to be done, and I could only leave if I called around to the other workers and found someone to come in and cover for me while I was gone. I took off my name tag slammed it on the counter and walked out. I never went back for any reason. For any who might wonder; my dad came out fine was in the hospital for a few days.
#21 The Human Pyramid
I was 22. Living in New York City. Young and dumb and got an interview for a so-called job in finance. I was invited for the interview to a big fancy hall in a midtown hotel. There had to be a couple hundred people there. The lights dim, the projector goes on, and the guy starts talking about money and money management. Then a single human icon appears on the screen... Then two under the single one... Then three under those two.
This had to be a pyramid scheme. I walked right out.
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#20 Have You Tried Turning It Off And On Again
At the interview. They were late, no-one knew where I was supposed to be. As the interview went on it became very clear that what was advertised as a programmer position was actually tech support.
#19 Worth $500, But I’d Be Willing To Sell It For $200
I once saw a Craigslist ad for a stereo salesman. I showed up to a warehouse where a bunch of dudes got into a minivan. The owner told me to go on a run and see how it is and then talk about the job.
Turns out all these guys did was lie and con. They would go up to strangers and say “Hey man my cousin got this stereo but he just got arrested and I don’t need it. It’s worth $500 but I’ll gladly sell it for $200,” then use pushy tactics to get people to go to the ATM and give them money. The system was a terrible off brand and I overheard the owner saying in bulk it only cost him $20 to buy.
Yeah... I noped out of this pretty quickly. I also called the police. This was in 2010.
#18 Had I Stayed, I Might Have Been Up To Carrots By Now
I had a job in a salad plant (those bags of salad mix a lot of restaurants use.) I was there for two weeks coring lettuce: in front of a conveyor belt, 8 hours a day, pick up a head, slam it, pull the core, put it down, next. You talk to your co-workers or you plot the downfall of Western civilization. One really sweet lady had been there for 10 years. 10 years on the lettuce line. she got called into the office and was gone for about half an hour. She said "I won't be here tomorrow. I got promoted!" I asked what she'd be doing. "Cabbage!"
I didn't quit. I wished her well, dropped what I was doing and walked out. I feel bad about not quitting, but I was young and, well, 10 years!
That was 28 years ago. Had I stayed I might be up to carrots by now. I sometimes wonder how my life might be different had I stayed, and in those moments I celebrate every decision I've ever made.
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#17 Good To The Last Bite
Worked in a bakery, it was my first day so I get there in the morning to meet everyone. Then they have me grease up baking trays for the others to fill... I lift up the first tray and like 10-15 cockroaches just scatter everywhere from under the tray. I tell the guy showing me the work that there were cockroaches and he just shrugged... This was all in the back of the store, customers were about 10 feet away.
So I tell the guy that I'm not feeling too well after about an hour of doing that, and I head to the bathroom.
When I came out I told him I couldn't do that job and he told me to get a real job then, so I left and got myself a proper job.
#16 Let's Go To The Movies
Wanted something part-time when I was at college. Applied at the local cinema chain, and got an interview. It was one of those high turnover places that meant if you got an interview there was a 95% chance you got a job.
Guy in the box office radioed to his manager and was told to take me to room 7. We got to room 7 and waited, waited, then waited some more. About 25 minutes passed before the manager starts screaming abuse over the radio because we were not in room 2.
So off to room 2 we go, on the other side of the building (15 screen cinema). The manager starts trying to turn on the charm and I basically say if that's how you treat your employees in front a job candidate, there is no way I am ever working for you. Then I proceeded to ask the other guy to show me out.
I'm sure it made no difference to his behavior, but it saved me a lot a potential abuse.
#15 The Check Is In The Mail
This was a graphic design work from home type of job. I nailed the interview and had absolute confidence I could provide this guy with what he was asking for.
After I got the job the first thing he said was to take a rather large check that would be mailed to me and buy my equipment. The equipment was supposed to be from a special vendor that would engrave the laptop and provide software.
It was a scam. I looked up his business on Google, rather than through the link he sent me. I found the exact same terrible website with dozens of different CEOs.
I told him to not send me a check and that I was no longer interested. The check was going to be fake, and the money I would be sending to the vendor would end up being my own once the bank found out.
#14 Have You Been Injured In The Last 3 Years?
Cold calling people about injury claims. "Have you been injured in the past 3 years?" That kind of thing.
The thing that really irked me was that all of the people I called in those 20 minutes were polite, said they're not interested, and they were just sitting down for dinner.
I realized it was a horrible job and I was in no way cut out for it. I left after 20 minutes and just walked out the door without a word.
#13 Don’t Get Your Oil Checked...
Was 19 and started work at a LubePros oil change shop.
The manager was a 24-year-old guy who, within the first hour of me working there bragged about hanging around the trails near a local high school and beating up 14 and 15-year olds for their money.
He also said that if I'm cleaning out a car and I find money, to take it and give it to him.
I left at the end of my shift, called the corporate number and quit, telling them everything this guy was doing.
Drove by there the next morning and a cop was questioning him. The place closed a few months later.
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#12 He Nailed It…
My first day on a carpentry job a 20-year-old kid (I was 22 at the time) shot me with a nail gun from about 20 feet away. He thought it was hilarious and so did everyone else including the company owner. Noped myself right out of there.
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#11 Went To The Bathroom And Never Returned
It was listed as a marketing position. The guy doing the "interview" started showing me and the other candidate how sharp "Cutco Knives" are. Turns out it was a pyramid scheme. Guy kept asking if I wanted to sign on to buy some knives to sell. The other candidate went to the bathroom and never returned, I felt really awkward (also needed to wait to be picked up), so I stayed for the whole thing.
#10 Man The Pay Must Be Great!
I remember going for a "Marketing Job" interview.
The interview was I had to get on a bus with a group of other people who "worked" there and go to this really bad neighborhood and knock on peoples doors and ask them if they wanted to donate to charities and things. It was really really odd.
I was following this guy around for around half an hour, while he got doors slammed on him over and over. I mentioned, "Man the pay must be great if this is what you have to do all day." He then told me he wasn't paid a penny, it was purely commission based. For every person he signed up, he got like $50.00.
I just laughed and walked off.
#9 What Is 100% Of Nothing?
I was interviewing for a contract position at a very small game development company, and they told me they were looking for someone to help finish up an existing project.
Literally, the game looked like it was made in Microsoft Paint. It looked as if they had just hired some random guy off the street and asked them to make some art for them. Granted it's a mobile game and sold for the standard $0.99, so maybe that's not the worst, but the game itself didn't look engaging at all either. So I figure, worst comes to worst I could make some money on the side with some low-effort work.
They then told me that my pay would be a percentage of the sales. Noped right out of that one.
Hello Pixel Art
#8 Nope Nope Nope All The Way Home
I went for a 'trial shift' with a door to door sales company. The guy I was partnered up with told me that if he didn't make above the target sales, he was coming out with the equivalent of $3.00 per hour, which is well below minimum wage. This was commission only, 'self-employed' role. Noped all the way home that day.
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#7 I Decide If You Get This Job Or Not
I went into an office for an interview. They said they had several positions available and I wanted to do some admin stuff. Welp, after the interview they told me to get in a van to do the next part of the process. Turns out we drove an hour away so I could shadow one of their door to door salespeople. They would ask residents to go into their basement to check their hot water heaters to see if they were eligible to replace them with their company's own. I felt pretty uncomfortable about this and pretty upset my whole day was gone doing this.
The worst part was the girl I was shadowing spent half the day sitting around in the truck reading magazines and waiting for people to come home from work. I was sort of asking questions about the job and she got defensive and said, "Well I decide if you get this job or not." To which I replied, "Yeah I don't know if I want to do this?" But she kept insisting that it was her who decided if I worked. Don't think she understood I meant that I didn't want to do this job. Complete waste of a day.
#6 30 Minute Fast Food
Back in the 90s, I worked at a fast food restaurant to supplement my military income. I'll just say it was associated with a king. Lasted all of 30 minutes. During that time I witnessed an employee get sick into the sink used for washing utensils without cleaning it out before it was used again. Then another employee dropped a cooked chicken patty on the floor, picked it up and put it on a bun to be served. At that point, I just walked out the door never to return. Never ate at another fast food place again as a result. I guess in a way, something good came of it.
#5 I Like Having All Ten Fingers Thanks
It was a shop that refurbished train suspension hydraulics. Forty percent of the guys there were missing at least part of a finger. The maintenance guy was missing 4 fingers on one hand and 1.5 fingers on the other. The guy training me stormed out halfway through the second day. I was like yeah, I'm just going to leave now…
#4 Noped Down On Aisle 4
Worked at a major greeting card store in order to make a few extra bucks.
On the first day, I sat through several videos. Each of them encouraged me to follow customers throughout the store and suggest they purchase laser-cut cards (which were apparently all the rage at the time). When I came back to the floor for my training, the manager encouraged me to adopt a hand signal to show the cashier so I could discreetly show them that I was responsible for the sale of that particular card.
Then, before I left, the manager asked to frisk me as a part of company policy to reduce employee-based shrinkage. When I said I didn't think that was appropriate, they said a pat down or a search of purses/bookbags was a condition of employment.
So, I walked out the door.
#3 Watch Your Back
Worked at a retail store for 2 days. On my first day, a coworker warned me another coworker may shove me if I got too close to him or walked behind him. Our job was restocking product on narrow shelves in cramped aisles. Left to work at a casino, which was considerably safer.
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#2 I Ended Up Hanging Up On Her
Was looking for a sporadic part-time job. Applied at this little catering company that had been around for a while.
Showed up for the interview and realized that a rich guy had bought it 2 weeks earlier for his wife to have a hobby. They fired everyone and hired their friends' kids to help out. I was literally the only one with cooking or hospitality experience. They get me to help out for a few hours to see if they like me. We get along and there are a couple red flags but the pay is about 50% higher than the going rate. We agree to meet on Sunday to finish up prep for the week and get everything sorted for my role.
Show up 15 minutes early and nobody is there. I waited 30 minutes and said forget it (since I literally just started, I didn't have her number, but she had mine). She calls the next day at 8 am demanding I don't go to my regular job and get in there to help her out since she waited an hour for me. I told her I was there at 2 and waited. She then explodes saying that she owns the business and was with her husband at brunch so it would have been rude to step out to call me. Then she goes full crazy on me. Goes off on how she fired everyone because these cooks think they knew better than her but she goes out and eats all the time, how she knows more about restaurants than anyone in the city and how, as a grateful employee, I should have sat and waited for her to finish her very important brunch.
I ended up hanging upon her. They were closed within 3 more weeks. Seems she knew so much about restaurants she forgot that to own a food service business, you need a food handling certificate, and at least one person with certification.
#1 Watch Your Back
Three days after my two-week training.
I was supposed to be a seasonal temp worker for a national propane company. The job distribution and training consisted of taking calls off-hours for people who wanted refills and acting as a messenger service, referring their contact info their local "store" when they opened the next day. Easy enough.
When I got out onto the floor, I found I was actually expected to be a dispatcher for drivers and also first point of contact for all emergency situations. Things I had never been so much as briefed on in training.
My first shift I had to field a call from a local police officer who was on site to a horrific propane truck crash. I got to wake the guy's district manager in the dead of night, tell him his worker was injured, and the overturned truck was blocking a few lines of the freeway and the police were trying to get a hold of him.
That was just the start: A customer got the smell of garlic and eggs in the house? I got the call. (What do I do next, Miss Dispatcher? "How should I know? Get out of the house ASAP?") CO detector is going off? I got the call. (Instead of 911 for some reason?!)
I had ZERO interest in being an underpaid, not-trained emergency dispatcher. It's the only job I took off on without giving a 2-week notice. I was nice enough to finish out my shift on the third day, but that was it.
