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Original poster

What's the shortest time you've stayed in a job you hated?

112 replies

Ripthevivienne2025 · 13/01/2025 14:51

Been in mine since the last week of November and really don't like it. Not sure how much longer to stick it out..it's a 'professional' job and it does have good benefits, but the actual work i hate.

I really enjoyed being a Care Assistant sadly that's a looked down upon career which is a shame, it was rewarding though and I was good at it. Part of me wants to go back if I can find one with contracted hours.

OP posts:
dixon86 · 13/01/2025 16:59

I left a job in under half an hour once. Realised it wasn't for me and just walked straight out

DaftyLass · 13/01/2025 17:05

A little over three hours
It was listed as a job cleaning apartments , but it was hauling construction waste in 5 gallon pails , and tarp bag, down 12 flights of stairs (no elevator yet) in an apartment building under construction.
Add to that a mix of workers who refused to speak English (after I heard them easily chatting with each other) when I asked for help with something, and then grabbed my butt as they passed me in the stairwell.
I was an idiot to stay that long

Davros · 13/01/2025 17:07

1 month working at the Daily Mirror in the late 80s, I was PA to the HR director. Everyone there was horrible, from the cleaners to the executives and everything inbetween. It was the days of Robert Maxwell.

LlynTegid · 13/01/2025 17:11

I was in a job 18 weeks. After about three I realised it would not be long term, last in first out.

TwoBigNoisyBoys · 13/01/2025 17:15

One afternoon. Working for a double glazing salesman, arrived and was given a set of keys then left by myself in a grim, freezing shop, which was absolutely absolutely filthy, piles of window broken frames everywhere, no loo, no kettle and people phoning and screaming at me, including one woman who said “you’ve got a lot to learn about the people you’re working for”, no reply from ‘the boss’ when I phoned him for help. Lasted from 1pm til 5pm, left a note on the desk and posted the keys when I locked up!

mowthegrass · 13/01/2025 17:19

A year. Should have walked as soon as I realised it was definitely not for me (within three weeks) but stuck it out for too long.

Four months as a GP receptionist. I could handle the rude patients but the practice manager had it in for me for some reason. One day she came thundering into the office with a significant error that had been made. Assumed it was me. It wasn’t, I was nothing if not meticulous. After that I decided to quit.
I’d worked in retail in the past but GP reception work is like retail on steroids.

Sneezeless · 13/01/2025 17:21

@CoastalCalm

I did exactly the same once, never went back after dinner.

Fairislesweater · 13/01/2025 17:28

One shift. I was left alone with zero training on an evening shift dealing with offenders. Only 19 years old. Luckily it was temp work anyway so I dobbed them into the agency and said I wasn’t going back

TheWorminLabyrinth · 13/01/2025 17:38

A day. It was a secretary job at a solicitors. It was an old 3 storey house that had been converted into an office. The 'office' the secretaries had to sit in was the basement. There were rat traps and cockroach traps everywhere. The toilet was outdoors.

user1471538283 · 13/01/2025 17:39

3 months and I knew in both instances something was off from the very first minute. I was lied to. Move as soon as you can. I'm a year it won't matter.

Lavender14 · 13/01/2025 17:42

I stayed in one job for 4 months but only because another job I was waiting listed for came up.

I generally use a 6 month rule of thumb before looking elsewhere. I figure that by 6 months you've given it a fair shot, you've learned most things about the job to understand it and you've a good sense of team dynamics and the organisation/business you're working for and how you fit within that. Plus 6 months is a reasonable time frame on a cv.

The worst job I've ever done I did 6 months in. But as awful as it was the experience I got in it meant I was able to move into a more senior position in a different type of role.

minimadgirl · 13/01/2025 17:43

3 hours.
Care work, I quit because they asked me to shower an immobile patient but wouldn't show me how to use the equipment. Then asked me to feed someone on my own who I was told would likely choke but I would just have to deal with it as there was no one to help if there was a problem.
Walked away before I got myself into hot water.

VeterinaryCareAssistant · 13/01/2025 17:45

8 months.

It was in a nursery set in someone's house and she was the business owner/nursery manager.

She was cruel to the children and also cruel to her dog.

She also had a 16 month old on the books that she tried to pass off as a two year old.

I left after securing another job and whistle blew to Ofsted.

Tara336 · 13/01/2025 17:46

3 months absolutely dreadful place to work and I hated going into work. I left without a job to go too but was employed again within 2 weeks

Stressed199401 · 13/01/2025 17:51

1 month. Wetherspoons, felt like I was in a time warp where 10 minutes lasted an hour, I got 5 minutes training then left to it, so had no idea what I was doing, the bar was so long and then and there was easily 15 of us behind it and we kept bumping into each other, I was in sixth form at the time and had only just turned 18 myself and a load of boys from the year below so 16/17 somehow got in and expected me to serve them because we were mates so I'd spend every Friday/ Saturday night avoiding them like the plague.

Had to stay till 2 in the morning every shift to clean up which is part of the job, there was 3 areas, kitchen, bar, and dining area, the dining area was massive and it was always me and 1 other girl who would get given that job. But she'd drink on shift all night and then pass out in the toilets and leave me to do the whole seating area myself. I went on the Halloween night out with the team and never went back.

Ursulla · 13/01/2025 18:38

Half a day.

I went into the job agency next door in my lunch break and they got something for me starting the day after. Apparently I wasn't the first person doing the same. At least that crazy boss was keeping someone happy.

Adelstrop · 13/01/2025 18:54

I stayed 18 months in a job where I was bullied relentlessly. I didn't want to let them 'win'. In retrospect, I think I should have left much earlier, but it turned out well enough in the end, as I got a job where I was valued. If you can afford to go back to care work, and that's where your interest lies, you will surely be happier.

SoapySponge · 13/01/2025 19:00

DW's was 25 minutes.

She was doubtful to start with but when she got there she found there was a whole lot of stuff added to the job that nobody had mentioned at the interview.
Basically, they wanted a "clerical assistant" type (on a "clerical assistant's" salary) to take on certain management responsibilities.

She started work at 9am and was back home by 10am.

BrendaSmall · 13/01/2025 19:00

I’ve been in the job I’m doing now for just over 2 years, I did walk out on my second day though!!
i absolutely hate the manager and her mother in law who also works there!
They come as a double act! If you fall out with one the other turns against you!!
Anyone would think that the mil is running the place because the manager is always running to her when problems arise!!

im in the process of looking for another job unfortunately I only live in a small place and there’s nothing around here as I don’t drive

curious79 · 13/01/2025 19:01

Resigned after 3 months but knew on Day 1 it was a shit show and should have left then

NotMyDayJob · 13/01/2025 19:02

Three months, I knew straight away something was wrong. Public sector org, completely dysfunctional. Couldn’t afford to just leave and thankfully something came up about two months in and I managed to turn it around quite quickly and gave my one week notice

Stressed199401 · 13/01/2025 19:03

I'd love to leave my job but can't afford to, and need the flexibility I have with it and small children, ridiculous shifts you'll only get from
being somewhere for years 🤣 Everytime I pull into the car park the light behind my eyes dulls a little bit more though! It's a super market, enough said I think.

ShadowsOfTheDays · 13/01/2025 19:03

One day.

I sat in an office where nobody said a word the entire day. It was completely silent. I thought I had gone deaf.

Told the manager as I was leaving that it wasn't for me, and got a much more enjoyable job a week later.

orangesandlemonssaythebellsofstclements · 13/01/2025 19:06

About 2 months. The job wasn't at all what had been advertised or what we discussed at interview. I was hired because of relevant experience and they then gave me some intense training relevant to the job I thought I'd be doing but the job they actually had me do was just simple data entry a trained chimp could have done. I've never been so bored.

Years ago when I worked in a care home I was training a new carer and he walked out after about 2 hours. He just said "this really isn't for me, I'm off" and left the building.

Porkyporkchop · 13/01/2025 19:06

3 days. Left when they tried to make me go to Scotland stating “it’s only gonna take you a few hours” - no mate , the place they wanted me to go is at least 8 hours drive and then back again .