Driving for a profession, whether it's as a long-haul trucker or a pizza delivery man, can be a stressful occupation. Not only do these people have to deal with bad drivers on the road, but also bad bosses, poor working conditions, and much more. It's no wonder some of them decided they couldn't handle the pressure for one more second and quit on the spot!
We scoured through Reddit and gathered the most extreme, bizarre, and heartbreaking stories of why these professional drivers decided it was a good idea to take their talents elsewhere. Content has been edited for clarity.
He Probably Saved Lives By Quitting
“I’m a heavy duty mechanic. I had a boss tell me to hide defects on a commercial trailer that would have almost certainly lead to the axles falling out and, if you need to know what that means, just look up cars getting run over by truck tires. When I refused to do it, he threatened to fire me. He never got the chance. I was out of there faster than you can say, ‘Forget this garbage.'”
Chris Soon Regretted What He Said About The Top Salesman
“I worked at a car dealership and the mid-level manager started laying into me because I let some guy walk out of our lot after a short conversation. The thing is, I asked the guy what he was looking for and he said: ‘I want a new Camry,’ and we were a Dodge dealership. He was just walking over to Toyota.
The manager and I went back and forth for a while and he finally said, ‘You know what? You’re just becoming a liability.’
So I walked over to our PA system and said, ‘Chris says I’m a liability so I quit.’ The GM walked out of his office with a ‘what is going on here’ look on his face because I was a top salesman. I looked over at Chris and said over the PA, ‘Isn’t that what you said, Chris?’ and he nodded sheepishly.
I got in my car, did a donut, and drove off.”
Quitting Lead To A Murder Investigation
“I worked at a car factory once and ended up being investigated for murder.
Worked there for 6 hours, and was being berated by the foreman the whole time. He was constantly asking if I was stupid or just didn’t like earning my pay. This being my first day, and first time ever working production, I didn’t understand what his problem was.
6 hours into my shift I decided I’d had enough, and told him I quit. He shoved me and threatened to kick my butt if I didn’t get back on the line. I kept walking, which really put him over the edge I guess, so he grabbed my collar and spun me around. Having a bit of a temper I shoved him off me and said I would kill him if he touched me again, and walked off.
He was found murdered two nights later, and some of the other workers said they’d heard me threaten to kill him. Luckily his wife confessed to his murder after my initial questioning.”
No One Could Figure Out His System
“I worked for a company for about a year as a shipping receiving clerk. While there, I created a pretty extensive system that dictated where the outgoing product was to be kept and a log system based off of parts of the order, what was in the order, and the average weight. Using this system, I would organize everything by what trucking company typically came at what time of day, and how the various items weighed (heaviest to lightest). This made short work of loading the trucks with my forklift and while I always worked overtime and holidays, and rarely if ever missed any time, the company never had a problem with the customers getting their packages either on time, or early if possible.
Like I said, I’d been there little over a year, and was in the process of writing down the entire system I worked out so it could be implemented in other departments of the company for their own shipping when the plant manager came by and pulled me aside. He informed me that he’d gotten word that the new company VP had hired his son to work at the company and the upcoming Monday, he was going to take my position. The manager asked me if I had all the documentation on my system printed out, to which I said I did. He took it, walked with me into the office and put everything, including the disk with the computer program I’d written out, into a paper shredder. He then told me not to come in on Monday, and to file for Unemployment, as he wouldn’t fight the case. So, I did.
A couple months later, I happened to run into that manager again and asked him how things were going. He just started laughing. He said that when I didn’t show that Monday, it was generally understood that I had quit out of protest. They had tried to use the system I’d created, but since the pallets weren’t labeled that they could see, outside of my obscure tracking system, the company had to spend the next three weeks opening every single outgoing order and trying to figure out what went with what packing slip.
Months later, they were STILL getting things wrong, and the VP had been called on the carpet by the President, who was wanting to know what the heck he’d done. The VP was canned, as was the son. I was offered my job back with a raise, on the condition that I teach every clerk how to use my system.
I told them a curt, ‘No,’ and hung up the phone.”
Setting Him Up
“I used to work for an auto parts store when I was out of high school. It was my first job, so I was happy and grateful for the opportunity.
It was ok, yet the managers were always on a power trip and were constantly berating me for random things.
One hot day, I helped a man unload his three carts of supplies and I run the carts back. I notice that he left a small pouch in one of the carts. It had a really old medical card, ID and a wad of cash, $400 in twenties. Well, dude is long gone, so I go to the front office and turn it in.
Guy returns right before closing. I see him getting in his car so I wave and ask if he got his stuff back.
‘Well yeah, not all of it.’
‘What? What was missing?’
‘Some punk took the money.’
I told him that was impossible. I turned it in with the cash inside, all $400.
I went with him to the office, and they stood there and claimed when I turned it in there was nothing inside. They actually tried to claim I must have had something to do with it.
Well the guy said someone was lying, so he will call the police and have them see what to do.
‘Oh wait sir, we put it in the wrong drawer. Here it is.’
I told them I was quitting at the end of the day. They said don’t worry about it, just go home.”
He Came In On His Day Off For That?!
“I was 20 years old and working in a car dealership as a lot attendant, which was basically just parking cars and cleaning up garbage. But it could be brutal work sometimes. In the winter we had to scrap the ice, move the cars, move the snow, move the cars back but they better be in a straight line. We always had to make sure cars are fueled up, rotate out the front line to make sure there are sparkling clean cars to make the place look good. Our inventory averaged 350 new and ~100 pre-owned, so that was a lot of cars to attend to.
I was in charge of five other lot guys. It wasn’t bad for a while but a new manager was hired, 27 years old, and on a total power trip. In my opinion, that is too young to be in charge of guys who have been working on cars for 25-30 years.
Anyway, unknown to me, one day he throws a fit, all red-faced fury, and fires four of my five guys. It made no sense as we were a good team and got the job done. So I was called in on my day off to work and being the nice guy I was, I went in. This was when I found out my guys were fired. I was called into his office and he lets me know it’s my fault they got fired and I needed to adjust my attitude.
I freaked out internally, but I managed to keep my head. I calmly tell to him to suck it, I won’t be abused like that after faithfully doing my job, I’m done. Then I told him that he can park cars while it is a whole 5 degrees (F) outside.
Before I can leave his office the owner walks in. Tells me to sit and take a deep breath, he sends the manager upstairs. Owner begs me to stay because he needs me to run the customer check-in and the lot. Gives me a small bonus and a 3 dollar/hour raise. This incident cascaded into an argument between the manager and the owner, and the manager gets fired at the end of the pay week.
Unfortunately, things didn’t get better. Three of my old refused to come back. The fourth reinterviewed with the new manager but they weren’t compatible.
Ended up training a new crew. It was downhill from this point forward. People coming in, getting trained by myself and another longtime employee, only to quit or be fired a month later. I went through 12 lots guy by the time I found a better job.”
They Worked Him To The Bone
“When I was working my first EMS job for an ambulance company in D.C., I would regularly stay late for extra shifts if someone called out, or generally do anything they asked. I was trying to be a good employee. Well, I asked for a week off to go to my college roommate’s wedding and they denied it. When I asked why, they said no one got vacation time for that week due to it being near a holiday and needing all the people they could get. That’s cool; I asked, you gave a reason, it’s whatever.
Later I learned that three people got that week off after I had been denied, so I decided I was going to quit after I finished out my schedule for that month. Halfway through the month, I did a 24-hour shift and stayed late to do a 12-hour shift for someone who called out, not a big deal. When I went back to the base after the 12-hour shift, they started asking me to stay for another four hours to work an event. As they were talking, I started taking off my uniform. When they asked what I was doing, I said, ‘I can’t take it anymore, I’m quitting.’ I got down to my boxers, put the uniform on the table, and walked to the bus stop like that. Best feeling I have ever had leaving a job and it shocked the snot out of them.”
They Suffered So Much Abuse
“Around two months ago I walked out of a five-year job at a dealership because of my boss. Loving life now but it was really hard at the time.
He was totally inappropriate and unprofessional for his position and had zero management experience. He would (and probably does to this day) leer at the women employees or customers and would make some pretty extreme remarks about them E.g. ‘Oh I wouldn’t rag her, she’s fat,’ or ‘Yeah I’d totally do her.’ etc. Didn’t help that he had no personal boundaries. Hey, yeah Boss, let’s talk about how many intimate partners you’ve had… freaking weirdo.
Our first Christmas party came round and we all went out to dinner. I gave everyone tarot readings (it’s a party trick I do well) and basically predicted something bad for my boss. I opted not to tell him but he made such a scene about getting his reading. Fine, so I told him. I saw his engagement ending. He laughed – ‘Who would believe in that junk?’
January. He started to have an affair in the office, which we all had to witness. Boy that was fun – felt so awkward watching that one pan out. After that, his life fell to bits and he became a born-again Christian. That’s when it really started getting out of hand. We would be interrogated about our beliefs. If you bit and actually told him what you believed in, you’d be into a three hour rhetoric about why you were wrong and how Christianity is right. He was exceptionally hard on me because he knew of my ‘interests’ and I think the fact my reading for him coming true – as they have a tendency to – bugged him. It didn’t take him long to realize that I had no time for that bull. He started losing it. Told us we were all going to the bad place – it really was quite funny at the time but afterwards, I became bitter with the realization that this guy meant it.
He started treating the new guy like dirt. He was constantly hating on him behind his back, saying ‘Oh, he’s got to be gay.’ ‘Do you think he’s gay?’ and sometimes to his face would just blurt out ‘Oh but you’re gay. etc.
One day he crossed the line. I took him out of the office and I laid it out in front of him. In a professional way, I told him something along the lines of ‘You can’t speak to people like this – especially the new guy.’ He sort of twitched, I thought he might hit me and then he exploded into another rhetoric. He threatened me. Threatened me with my job saying I could be struck off, saying I’d been doing all this bad stuff. I did get justice though – for the first time in my life I fought tooth and nail through argument and raised voices and got him to apologize to the new guy in front of me. I felt great – I’d done something good.
From the next day onward I was attacked by him constantly. Sly remarks, little comments about my personal life and beliefs. He would yell at me – properly yell – who shouts in an office? We’re grown men for christ sakes. I knew what it was all about so I complained. I went to senior management and I told them everything. I was reassured, told that I was the ‘best they have’ and practically begged me not to leave.
He had a meeting the day after and came back twitching, fuming. He took each of us from the sales floor one at a time and interrogated us alone. When he got to me I thought I’d spare the rest of the team and came out with it. He sort of sat there staring into space. It was so awkward. We argued and I walked out. I then took a week’s leave.
I came back and he was extremely abusive. He was making comments about my personal life and stuff. I began ignoring it. It was around this time I secured an interview at another place. He hated that fact I had an interview. We had explosive arguments – full on shouting matches. He would continue to underhand us with extremely unprofessional and offensive comments. Right in front of me he basically took this poor new guy and pulled him and his life to pieces. Saying he was worthless, he had nothing to live for and that he’d be a failure etc. I’ve never had to compose myself like that, the temptation to punch the guy was incredible. The whole time I was trying to appeal to my boss’s boss, but nothing happened.
He left for a weeks leave (taking a page out of my book) once he’d heard I got the job. Apparently, he had an interview but he must have failed it – no surprises there. I spent the week he was gone training the new guy, pouring everything I knew into his mind. On the last day, I looked him in the eye and I said: ‘Take what I’ve given you and get out of here as soon as you can.’ I then left.
I felt great because essentially he wouldn’t know I was gone until the day he’d come back. He’d be ready to unleash another Christian rhetoric of abuse and I wouldn’t be there to take it. Sadly the new guy would be there – but I spoke with senior leadership to ensure his safety in those intervening weeks. That was my middle finger to him – the big ‘EFF YOU.’ – A nice professional and well-executed exit. No abuse from myself, no fisticuffs.
The abuse didn’t end. I was still in touch with the new guy. On that morning my now ex-boss threatened to kill my children and my wife. Then he joked about killing me. I called his boss, said I’d call the police if nothing was done. He freaked out. He said he’d ‘tackle’ him. Nothing happened.
A week later, I was taking a walk and saw him again driving home from work. He locked his gaze and swung his car out into the road turning right. This threw the traffic into chaos. He began accelerating on the road towards me – I was like ‘OH NO, HE’S FINALLY LOST IT!’ Around the same time, the crossing lights I have to use went red. He stopped really abruptly at the red light and I crossed. I looked back and he was thrashing around in his car attacking his steering wheel.
I thought the harassment would continue, but he got baptized or something. Apparently he ‘saw God.’ Probably mistook it for something else, heads so far up his own butt.
The wonderful new guy is now employed elsewhere and I’m really happy for him. My new job is fantastic. I hear the others at my old place they are going to get out very soon.”
The Best Way To Get Your Message Across
“A buddy quit his job at a dealership after about six years of employment. He walks into the boss’s office and says, ‘I quit.’
The boss says, ‘I actually need that in writing to make it official.’
He goes to the bathroom, grabs a square of toilet paper, writes, ‘I quit (and his name underneath),’ and hands that to the boss. Boss accepts.
To this day, in his file, a single square of toilet paper remains.”
The Road Never Looked The Same To Him After That
“My dad was a trucker/logger. I remember when I was about 12, he came home early covered in blood and did not talk to anyone. He looked horrible. Later that day, my stepmom told me this:
It was early that morning and foggy when he heard someone screaming on the CB radio about an accident up ahead going the opposite direction. When he came upon the scene, he saw a woman and her kids in a station wagon that had broken down. The first trucker saw it and stopped to help. He was standing between his semi and the station wagon when the second trucker came along and could not see, as he had drifted off the road. He slammed into truck #1, pinning truck driver #1 between his own semi and the station wagon. My dad came along within seconds. He ran across the highway and saw the carnage in front of him. The woman and the kids screaming and the truck driver #1 alive but pretty much cut in half, and truck driver #2 almost having a heart attack and in severe shock. Dad held truck driver #1 hand until he passed.
He couldn’t go back to work after that.”
It Was The Lack Of Trust That Hurt The Most
“I was once working at a pizza store as a deliverer. We got our schedule for the next week on Sunday afternoons. One Sunday evening, a friend informed me that he wanted to celebrate his birthday on the next Saturday, when I already had a shift. I had shifts on Tuesday and Thursday, so I asked on Tuesday if I could change the shift on Saturday, but they refused.
On Thursday, I was making a delivery at a dark corner house with small steps in front of the door and when I stepped on one without looking (it was dark), I sprained my foot and it hurt badly, but I continued with my shift.
On the next day, it still hurt so I went to the doctor who gave me a splint and I was given a sick note to not go into work for over a week. Straight from the doctor, I went to the pizza store to tell them and they just said, with a sarcastic tone, ‘Sure you are sick…you just want to go to the party.’
I was angry about this distrust, especially since I had a SPLINT ON MY LEG, so I quit on the spot and just walked out.”
They Were Totally Fine Letting Him Drive In That Condition
“Four days ago, I quit my job.
I had been working 37 hours straight on roughly four hours of sleep from the previous shift. I call my boss and tell him I need to sleep and I’m headed home.
He tells me that there’s another job he wants me to do in two hours and to just sleep in the truck. I said I wouldn’t be able to function and needed sleep, plus I had to feed my cat.
He said my cat would be fine, just get some sleep while I can.
Legally, I can only work 14 hours before a 10-hour reset. I can also only drive 70 hours in seven days before a 24-hour reset. I had worked 64 days straight, and 140-150 hour weeks.
I drove back, turned in my paperwork, and went home to sleep and feed/cuddle my cat.”
The Job Was Taking A Toll On His Health
“I used to do car sales. I had a bad health scare that could have killed me, I was in the hospital for a week. I came back and a couple weeks later during a stressful delivery with a customer (she was nice, but her witch of a sister was making it a lot harder and stressful than it had to be), I had a realization that if I stayed at this job, I’d end up back at the hospital and probably wouldn’t be so lucky again.
For some context, it was my day off and I had to come in five times due to problems with the paperwork and insurance. Each time making me angrier than the last. Working 12 hour days straight for six days can get to you.
In the middle of arguing with the manager, I stood up, told him I quit, and promptly left on my motorcycle. I don’t regret it one bit.
The main takeaway here is that no amount of money is worth your sanity and health. While I don’t make as good money as I did before, I have time to spend doing things I love and with my family.”
He Belittled Their Worth, They Showed Him Who’s Boss
“Back when I worked at a car dealership as a mechanic, the service manager was cheating mechanics out of paychecks. He kept cutting appointments and only paying us for 30 hours of work at minimum wage instead of paying our normal hourly rate. The next payday that came, the service manager came out and made an announcement that he was going to extend hours and weekends with no pay difference. So at 7:20 am, before the day even started, I walked right out to my truck, backed it into my bay, and loaded my tools up and left. He asked me to reconsider and reminded me that ‘you’re guaranteed minimum wage!’ Yeah, go jump off a bridge. I heard after that stunt, three other people quit without notice and he was asked to leave the dealership.”
“Being A Driver Is Hard!”
“I worked for Pat’s Pizza as a delivery driver for about three weeks. Being a driver is hard! I really enjoyed it, but this experience soiled it for me and I could never show my face around the other drivers again after what happened though.
So, on the Driver Instructions part of the order form, the customer asked for me to drive up to his door. Pretty common and I thought nothing of it. It took me a solid 45 minutes to get there, which is really far for a delivery driver…(I don’t think the managers liked me very much.)
When I arrived, the driveway looked a little odd, as it stopped short a good 20 or so feet from the house. I figured that’s why the instructions said to pull up to the front door, because it had rained pretty hard the day before, and the grass was most likely really muddy. So, I drove my car 20 or so feet into his lawn, and park parallel to his porch and door. I opened my door, careful not to clang my car on his steps, and proceed to ring the bell. No answer.
Realizing that I was at the wrong house, I panicked and jumped back into my ride. Thoughts raced through my mind like, ‘What if the people come home, and see me in their yard?’ and so on… I threw the shifter into reverse and hit the gas, only, I didn’t move. Instead of hi-tailing it out of there, I descended into the muddy grass, turning my car into their new lawn ornament.
I had to call AAA to be towed out. Luckily, the owners never showed up. Needless to say, I never made that delivery. Instead, I ate their food.”
