It’s truly a blessing when we work in a place we enjoy, doing what we love, with people who respect us, and an employer who values our efforts. Recognition in the workplace is crucial, considering that our professional life consumes the majority of our time. Even if our work isn’t our lifelong dream, it’s still preferable to be in a company where our input is appreciated and contributes to its success.
However, what if the workplace turns out to be our worst nightmare? Typically, this is a red flag indicating that we should consider leaving it to avoid burnout and frustration. Unfortunately, for various reasons, some people postpone the decision to quit until they reach a breaking point and can no longer tolerate their jobs. The Facebook page ‘I Quit My Job by Text‘ is dedicated to sharing authentic examples of message exchanges between members of its community and their employers. Often, the texts featured on this page depict instances of toxic work environments, prompting immediate responses and resignations.
#1
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#5
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#6
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#7
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#8
“I quit a job in May because they were severely underpaying me and missed two years worth of scheduled raises with an excuse popping up every time. Left for a job that paid me double but unfortunately just went out of business Thurs. Got this response to my Instagram story from old job manager today. “
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#9
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#10
Sun 10:15 PM
after a seasonal layoff I got a sudden callback, despite my telling them I needed notice to firm up childcare.
the decided to demote me after I requested the time off.
10 years of my life with this company.
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#11
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#12
“Walked out mid shift in August because my coworker was being a dick, texted my boss to let him know. It was a decent place to work and bossman was chill. Hadn’t had any issues with my coworker until that night. I asked him to apologize and he refused, so I left. Coworker popped off and said that “I can’t be the only one doing anything here, fucking do something.” When I was literally working side by side with him for the passed 5 hours, sweating my ass off. We were like 15 tickets deep. I was like “What?”, he responded “I’m doing this all by myself.” I asked him for an apology, he said “Fuck no.” We got like 10 tickets out of the way and the rush died down, so he went to smoke without saying anything and left me with the 5 tickets. I finished those 5 tickets, packed up my shit, walked out the back door and he was lighting a 2nd cigarette and talking on the phone. I interrupted him and said “Now your doing everything by yourself.” Got a new job now, part time, a $6/hour pay increase and cut my commute down from a 13 mile bike ride to 2 miles, the boss pays everyone a damn decent wage and everyone is appreciated”
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#13
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#14
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#15
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#16
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#17
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#18
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#19
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#20
“I worked in an extremely toxic retail store (as all of them are pretty much) and I was specifically targeted by a jerk named Glen. He would tattle on people, talk shit behind there backs, cause drama, and when I first started he absolutely hated the company. But then he got manager and that’s when he got a huge power trip. Would boss people around, acted like he owned the place. He wasn’t even the GM he was the department manager. He would talk down to people or talk to them like children. I assure you people in my class (not mangers) acted not like kids. We have yelled back and forth before, I got written up but another guy who works there who’s a manager has verbally abused coworkers and customers and never gets written up. So that’s “fair”. Anyway finally he said “get out on the sales floor or leave if your gonna do nothing all day.” (I was taking a break to catch up with a coworker who I know is struggling so I was checking in with him. He’s a good guy who’s down bad but we like to laugh together. So I said “ok I’ll do that then.” Then left. Came back the next day to sign papers for leaving and haven’t been back. The managers fight for the guy who’s verbally abused people and has multiple complaints but nobody gave a single shit I was leaving. It sounds fake and sounds like I was maybe a bad coworker but it’s the managers club. If I could show you the opinions of my coworkers you’d see they feel the exact same way. I hope the whole company burns. If you look on Indeed you can see all the stores have manager abuse issues. When I went home that day I sent only 1 text to my boss and he never even responded. Nobody cares about that place or each other besides the few grunts who work the floor.”
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#21
I (41 F) had been a pharmacy technician for a retail pharmacy for almost a year. I felt a lot of pride, like I finally had a great job and like I was contributing something great to society. After some months though, things started going downhill gradually.
My anxiety tends to be really bad and it got even worse with the pharmacy drive thru. Face to face interactions especially tend to make my anxiety worse. I did try to communicate that I wanted to grow and learn how to vaccinate other people eventually and do things other than just run a register and manage drive thru, but after awhile, I felt like they were not being as sympathetic about my anxiety anymore. The morale was slipping.
One great coworker left and the ones that stayed sometimes were showing their very toxic sides. I do have the energy to explain details, but it was affecting my mental health heavily as time went on. Almost 2 months ago, around my 9 month mark with this company, the Store Manager pulled me aside and told me they were going to change my position into a DH (Designated Hitter).
They were going to put me into the retail part of the store to help with the regular register and stocking merchandise on shelves. Even though the payment wasn’t changing, and I would be expected to help them with the pharmacy only when paged to do so when they are slammed… I felt like this is a demotion.
Around this time, I was already changing my availability and I applied for a seasonal job (it ends in Nov). I also had gotten covid for the first time. When I texted the SM to let them know about covid, all they responded with at first was, “Ok.” I had to text again to ask them to please confirm if there was anything else I needed to do and if I was going to be able to get sick pay/PTO and in their next reply, along with telling me I would get PTO, I was told to ‘calm down’.
After isolating myself during the contagious period, I did try to make the best of my new position. However, I felt my anger s d resentment grow. The extreme couponers coming in also didn’t help my state of mind, where they held up my register with multiple transactions at once, trying to come in every day at least once to use their coupons again…
I had also been doing good deliveries with Uber at this point too, along with going to my seasonal job on the weekends. After my 3rd day of being a DH, I found out during the last 30 mins of my shift that they transferred another pharmacy tech from another store. I knew that I was not going to be able to go back as a technician. I was replaced. I texted my SM after I finished my shift that day and told him I quit. That I wanted my tech license to be snail mailed to me and my PTO cashed out. He said I had to go in to pick up my license and that it would be in an envelope. I can’t get myself to go in without feeling triggered with anger and anxiety. I don’t think I want to be a pharmacy technician though anymore anyway.
For further context, I have also been on disability income for 20 something years. The story of that is complicated. I left my previous job before I went into this pharmacy job due to a surgery I had to have for Endometriosis. I wanted to find a job that isn’t as physically demanding.
I have been stuck in retail since 2019, trying to put myself back in the workforce even after my immediate family kept shaming me for only living off of disability income. It hasn’t been working out with my anxiety, mental health and my chronic pain condition. I have been applying to other jobs. I got turned down so far due to my not being able to work on the weekends rn due to the seasonal job.
The seasonal job is not your typical day job and I would only be able to work in it a few times a year. Food deliveries are going ok but some days are get than others. I am scared that I am going to be in a financial hole still and I will be overdrawn in my bank accounts soon. That I won’t be able to pay all my bills.
I feel guilty for walking out on the pharmacy job but my mental health was declining. I am hiding in the bath and I haven’t stopped crying today after getting turned down for a job I interviewed for recently and got the rejection email for as of this morning. My life is a mess. Things seem like they are falling apart. I feel guilty for not having a day job rn. The shame is coming back in full force.
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#22
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#23
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#24
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#25
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#26
“Quit my shitty Job of Ten Years. I finally quit my shitty job at a non for profit where I and just one other case manager were responsible for 400 clients and the only other employees were outsourced workers from the Philippines. 52k a year and no benefits. The only benefit I had was Fridays off. And they tried to take that away too (unpaid bc they claim that we are salaried exempt tho legally we don’t make enough to be considered exempt in NYC) I’m sad to have to end my ten year career there in this way and they have def been trying to provoke me to quit so they wouldn’t have to pay unemployment and I let them win. But oh well. In a few months, I’ll be in a better spot. “
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#27
I quit my job this week. I had to have a required surgery and biopsy following some health problems i’ve had. I had medical leave covered, I always provided notes and documentation that HR accepted no problem. My (male) boss CONSTANTLY had issues with it the second he found out it had to do with a uterine problem. Telling me that if “I wasn’t dying” I needed to come in. Well I started having complications from surgery and my doctor wanted me in and he argued with me up and down, saying I just wanted time off. After being in pain and exhausted that he was the only one who argued it, I quit.
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#28
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#29
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#30
“So I’m 5 days into my covid positive reading and my boss sends me this because she’s short staffed and I’m still feeling absolutely ill. I’m in Florida for winter break and she’s back in NC meaning I would have to fly while covid positive.”
Context: 2 years ago
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#31
Kitchen Manager finally quit this awful job. This is how our GM responded.
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#32
“there’s more to the story than just her refusing to use the scheduling app. on the Tuesday mentioned, she called a meeting where she told me to stop pulling expired food off our shelves “because it counts as shrink” and I decided that was disgusting enough I wasn’t going back. took me until last night to be absolutely sure I wasn’t going back.”
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#33
My job has been a shit show for the past several months but I didn’t want to quit because my store manager and I were friends and I wanted to stay and make sure she didn’t get screwed over by my quitting. And today one of the district managers was there and before our shift started they fired her after she submitted a complaint to the labor board so I handed my dm my store keys grabbed my stuff and left and sent this message to the gm after
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#34
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#35
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#36
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#37
So, I’ve been deeling with my grandma being in and out of the hospetal and rehab facilities for the past 2 months. I am her caretaker and have had to call into work to take care of her. I am a shift leader at Taco Bell. Well, was. I was demoted yesterday due to having to deal with family medical emergencies. I have screenshots of text messages with the other managers and how they have acted towards me over the situation. I live in Texas, unfortunately. So I doubt there’s much I can do. But I feel me being demoted is retaliation and unjust punishment.
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#38
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#39
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#40
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#41
“She feels badly for the younger workers there, they are just starting out and don’t realize that it doesn’t have to be this traumatic going to work every day…Thankfully she can go back to her old job, she just hoped this was a chance to make more $”
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#42
I worked for a headstart program for 2 years, I did everything and bent over backwards and helped the team whenever possible.
I was getting burned out I ended up getting another job and put my two weeks in.
my manager just messaged me over text and said that due to staffing changes that my last day was yesterday and that I was unable to complete my 2 weeks. I had written a really nice resignation and had explained it was nothing personal I just wanted to move on into the education career. My company had fired three people two weeks before and had someone quit after being there for 2 months. They don’t treat their employees with respect and my new job was excited to have me early.
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