Employee quits job after being lured with mechanical engineer title, assigned janitor duties

It is common knowledge that certain companies need not provide prospective employees with all the details about a job position. It means workers often realize what their job involves once they start working. Such an experience can prove to be very disappointing for most, continually pushing them to resign. u/TypicalRedditAss shared his traumatic employment experience at a metal fabrication company. The post titled, "Was hired as a mechanical engineer but worked glorified janitor. Tell me your quickest 'I quit' story," details his ordeal with a company that hired him for his skills with electrical and plumbing works, only to later find out that the job did not involve any such thing.

The post begins with the author expressing that he was "excited" to work for a company in his town looking for someone to maintain their metal fabrication machines. The job needs a certain level of mechanical know-how. He felt the job legitimate, saying, "During the interview process, I had to take a bunch of assessments for electrical, plumbing, and general handyman." He gets hired and proceeds to show up at the job only to be handed a roll of toilet paper and told to "clean the tracks for the garage doors." The author is shocked to hear this but relents and convinces himself that this is part of his job and does it anyway. After a few hours and cleaning three garage bay doors, his boss comes to inspect his work and immediately remarks that it is not clean enough. His first day at the job ends and he becomes determined to clean the area properly and brings his own tools.

Upon his arrival the next day, his boss instructs him to "Clean all air intake events." Determined to prove himself, the author improvises and makes a cleaning cart using a maintenance cart he found in storage. However, his boss is unhappy to see this and comments that the author is making him look "bad" by bringing his own supplies from home. At this point, the author begins to feel a sense of frustration and notices other maintenance problems that require his attention. On the same day, the author spots a frozen spot in the parking lot and goes to his boss to request salt to unfreeze the area. His boss replies, "No, I'll call the contractor for that." By now, the author is clearly second-guessing his decision to work at the company if they have to hire a contractor to remove a small frozen puddle.

Unfortunately, he is unable to do anything concrete as he falls sick that day and later finds out that he is diagnosed with COVID. He calls his boss to inform him, who expresses disappointment over the author becoming sick within his first week of work and flaking on the job. But being diagnosed with COVID, the author has no choice but to rest for five days regardless of how he's feeling physically. A week passes and the author returns to the company. He finds out that a section of the wall at his workplace got scratched by a pallet lifter. The author decides to fix it once deliveries are done and begins to set up. His boss sees this and asks him, "What are you doing? I have light fixtures for you to clean." The author promptly replies that he's going to fix the wall. He replies, "We have a guy who comes in for that off books." He moves on to clean the light fixtures but breaks three because they are old. The author highlights the need for new light fixtures to his boss, only to be dismissed and scolded for breaking them.

It was the author's last straw, and he decided to quit the next day with a letter to HR that read, "I hereby am giving you notice of my resignation effective immediately." The HR department proved to be more considerate of his skills but couldn't find a suitable job because his boss's name was the same as the owner's, which is clearly unfair. They say, "He might be a horrible boss, but they're always going to pick him over anyone else." After the meeting, his boss requests to see him. The author openly states the reasons for his abrupt resignation and walks out. He attributes this to be one of the best decisions he ever made. Motivated by the incident, he started his business with two others and treated them respectfully.

Many individuals on the platform shared their own traumatic stories of employment. u/Time_Phone_1466 commented, "Way back in the day, I got an interview with that MLM selling those shitty knives door to door. I was an idiot when I was younger, but luckily I ran the other way before the "interview" even ended." Another user, u/tleevz1, shared, "Just happened a few weeks ago. They changed my schedule, didn't tell me and acted like I did something wrong when I showed up to work on time. Nope, see ya."