To ask, what was your sign to leave a new job?

[ThatDenimPombear]

Sometimes you just know early on that a job isn’t right for you. Maybe it’s a toxic culture, a nightmare manager, or the role isn’t what was promised. If you’ve ever left a job quickly, what was the moment that made you realise it was time to go?

When I earned a bonus, they hid the earnings from me so the director could claim it, and acted like I was inconveniencing the 'team' when I wanted an audit to determine why my bonus wasn't paid.

As a housekeeper when the bitch i worked for sent me an angry message about not having any work trousers ready so she had to go to work in joggers and a hoody.... I understand the frustration but id not managed to complete all the laundry the day before when I normally would have. Even so, if she had been forced to wear different trousers why feel.the need to add the hoody? Just to make herself as put out as possible due to my mistake? She ran a business so apparently I made her look bad etc (she could have just looked in her utility room and would have found some trousers if it was such an issue) I ended up leaving after 8 weeks because she also made out I wasn't doing a good enough job and was the cause of her wife having to attend a&e with her ashma twice in the last few days (never mind they both vaped and had a dog). She was like a fucking child who needed her arse wiped

My latest one where I just knew, I knew on the first day. I just felt it in my gut and it had a weird vibe. I left after 3 months (it's a process) because it turned out that the job I was told it was didn't exist and I was doing something entirely different.

The same people being voted for the exclusive and cringeworthy employee of the month award. I knew it was a cliquey place.

I had one where I decided to leave on day 2/3. It was just a very quick realisation that it was chaotic, there was serious drama, and lack of leadership. Very clear why they’d offered me great money! Took another 6 weeks or so to get a new job lined up and I handed in my notice then. They were shocked, but honestly, probably not too shocked 😅

I had one where I decided to leave on day 2/3. It was just a very quick realisation that it was chaotic, there was serious drama, and lack of leadership. Very clear why they’d offered me great money! Took another 6 weeks or so to get a new job lined up and I handed in my notice then. They were shocked, but honestly, probably not too shocked 😅

Not me personally, but we had a new starter leave after a week. She walked in and basically said she just couldn’t do it, the culture was wrong and she wouldn’t be continuing. She told me and another manager that the line manager’s manager was completely toxic. She witnessed it on her first day, had taken a week to think about it but came to the conclusion the woman would never change, and her manager would only start to parrot her behaviours.

Smart woman. Four years on and they’re both now finally starting to be held to account for the toxic workplace they have created, bullying and the drop in our department profitability due to changes they implemented without any input from others and ignoring our concerns about them. I just wish I could have had a self worth to do what she did, just ‘this is fucked and toxic’ and walking out the door.

I started a new job as a car dealership receptionist.

Within 20 minutes the guy who was meant to be training me started making creepy, sexual comments and, when I asked if I could borrow his pencil he told me that I would have to bring my own in from home.

It was my birthday that day and by 10.30am I had told him where to stick his pencil and was back in my local cafe with a coffee and a piece of cake the size of my head.

On the 1st day I realised it wasn't right. Chaos, no plan for my training, they wanted me to write the JD for my role, bitching and an expectation that we worked at least 2hrs overtime for free each day! I found out that when my predecessor resigned, they employed a private investigate to follow her outside work hours! 😮

I stayed 8mths, mainly as it looked better on a CV than a few weeks.

I had one where I decided to leave on day 2/3. It was just a very quick realisation that it was chaotic, there was serious drama, and lack of leadership. Very clear why they’d offered me great money! Took another 6 weeks or so to get a new job lined up and I handed in my notice then. They were shocked, but honestly, probably not too shocked 😅

No need to stay in a toxic job just for your ' CV'

Either leave it off your CV or tell the truth. It wasn't a good fit and you didn't want to waste anyone's time.

I have a couple.
1st - employed as a lab scientist but when I got there for my first day I was put in manufacturing and told maybe I could move to the lab in 6 months when I'd proved myself, did 4 days before I walked and ghosted them.
2nd - 1st day induction told I'd need to do a urine drugs test, fair enough given the job but apparently the only toilet I could use was in the busy main reception and I'd need to leave the door open so they could see I wasn't switching the samples - noped and left.
3rd - I should've walked as it was a very toxic workplace but had incredible pay, 1st week I wasn't allowed to use the loo as they were security locked and I didn't have a pass yet and was forbidden from borrowing anyones so I spent my lunch breaks legging it to a nearby McDs. A couple of us also started on the same day and it was loudly announced that there was actually only 1 job and whoever proved themselves during probation would actually get it.

When I was on a training placement from uni, the boss tried to kiss me on the lips when he went on holiday 2 weeks after I started. I wasn't there when he got back thanks to one of my lecturers arranging a new placement with a (male) manager who was so understanding and had a massive impact on my career.
Also knew on day 1 of a different new job once qualified that I'd made a terrible mistake. Took 3 months to escape back to previous job & still there now 30 years later!

A uni holiday job a good few years ago…. On my second day, when the accounts pool manager called me into the glass-walled office and groped my boobs. I decided on the spot, kneed him in the groin, and walked out to cheers from the other girls in the pool.

After a few days when I realised the head had lied to me about the job, the accountability measures were off the scale unreasonable and there were no consequences for the kids' poor behaviour. I found another job within 2 weeks and was gone by the end of term after having had weeks on the sick as I picked up every bug going due to the stress of it all.

When I was told I needed to 'manage' someone out of their job who had been in post 20yrs. Things had changed over a few years and it was felt they weren't adapting but up until then nobody had dealt with the ongoing issues. Decided that if it hadn't been managed by the previous 2 managers then I wasn't going to put myself/them through the stress. Other factors too but that was the tipping point.

Back in the 90s I left a job before I even started. The week before I was due to start the woman in charge of the team called me to let me know that women had to wear skirts to work as the boss did not like ‘ladies in trousers, because he’s quite traditional’. When I said I wouldn’t be joining them, they were really pissed off.

Probably the 2nd day but actually lasted 2 weeks (I was the only wage earner and was worried it would affect my UC if I left the job- I then decided the stress wasn't worth it). The owner of the company sat in the office with us and one day he just grunted at me all day! Didn't say a word. He wasn't very happy that I requested a 'flow chart' showing the sequence to add orders on the computer. The 2 weeks I was there I lost count of the number of people who only lasted one or 2 days. It was like a revolving door! I still regularly see 'my' position advertised.

I don't know really, nothing I could put my finger on - just a niggling feeling, I suppose.

I was assigned a ‘buddy’ who barely spoke to me as she was overwhelmed with her own job. In my first meeting with my boss she said, contrary to saying it was a 1 day in office job they wanted 3. Zero training. Person I’d replaced had lied about some of the work to the boss so every meeting seemed to reveal something else that hasn’t happened. So bad it’s almost funny when I look back!

I used to work with a really lazy incompetent colleague. He was part time, had already had a load of leave e during December as he had a second job as a Santa Clause. We were really busy and had a lot of work to get through before closing for Xmas. He then gave the manager some sob story about his mum being really ill to get the last working day off. I suspected it wasn't true and protested to the manager as I had had leave denied. manager said he believed his sob story and couldn't say no ! I handed my notice in there and then with nothing to go to . He was later found out to have lied and I think got a formal warning.

A pub cleaning job I had while studying, landlady told me off for being rude to one of the builders and to just change my work to fit around him. When actually we'd just had a bit of jokey banter which both of us were fine with. I did a really good, full clean of the pub, twice a week in only 2 hours each day. I walked out at the end of my shift and text her that I wasn't coming back. She was upset because she was away on holiday the following week and left her in the shit. Should've thought about that before being rude to me!!!!

As a teacher, 3 months into a 1 year contract, the headteacher shouted at me in relation to a perfectly civil question I asked in a meeting. I took my cue from some staff sniggering behind their hands and others just looking bored, to indicate that this was a regular occurrence, which it was. I didn't hand my notice in instantly (thought I'd give it a bit of time to see if I changed my mind but I didn't) but let her know a few weeks later that I wouldn't be renewing my contract at the end of the year.

Another teaching job, the acting head had agreed several points with me via email before I accepted the position, and then tried to renege on them once I was in the role. I sent screenshots of the emails to HR and queried why the conditions weren't being met. They conceded to them although negotiated a couple of more minor ones down slightly with me. Consequently, when the contract was due to be renewed, I didn't apply for it. And the school (an aspirational place to work, or so they thought) were shocked I didn't want to remain in the role.

When I discovered on my third day that there was almost no work to do and I'd only been employed as a PA because "everyone else at my level has one so I must have one too"

Public service, natch ...

When HR had a chat about being present at my desk, because I went to the toilet more frequently that week than I did any other week.

I wasn't crying in the loos or anything. I just had nasty period cramps making my belly a bit...urgently runny.

I resigned five minutes before my probation period concluded and had to only give two weeks notice. And I had two weeks annual leave booked. 🖕

I left somewhere 5.5 days into it but I knew after 3 that I wouldn’t be staying. Day 3 the training manager admitted shamelessly to the group of us new starters that she would walk the floor of the admin office listening in on conversations to pick up things to report. No trust whatsoever. She also refused to let anyone take notes in training despite it being a quite complicated jobs at times. She had zero sense of humour about anything. Had a very high opinion of herself and domineered every conversation, completely intolerant of others.

I felt confident from that day that I wouldn’t fit in there because I don’t want to be somewhere where you can’t build trust or any kind of friendly rapport. And for any company to put such a domineering person in a position of power made them a company I wanted as little to do with as possible.

Then on day 5 it was suddenly announced that the company was merging immediately with another one who paid my role £8k less per annum and there was no guarantee existing contracts (especially those for new starters) would be honoured under the old terms - which imo virtually guarantees they wouldn’t have been.

I walked out before that morning was over claiming illness. It wasn’t strictly untrue tbh, I was feeling very low about my choice to work there so had a headache and would’ve cried if I stayed. Never went back (unless dropping off the laptop counts?).