US workers are quitting toxic workplaces and sharing texts with their arrogant bosses

Editor's note: This article was originally published on October 25, 2021. It has since been updated.

Workers are standing up for themselves and demanding better pay and healthy work environments. More than 100,000 US workers are going on strikes or planning to strike in widespread demand for workers' rights in what's being dubbed as "Striketober." Many such workers are taking to the Reddit forum, antiwork to post text message conversations with their bosses that led them to quit their jobs. While the obvious demands of strikes are for better pay, benefits, and leave, many are demanding healthy work environments as well. Several employers are accustomed to working their employees into the ground but now, many workers are standing up against their bosses.

Mail me my check. I quit

One employee quit his job in an emphatic fashion after their boss demanded they turn up at work despite being informed that their Dad had passed away a day ago, reported God.DailyDot. After informing the boss that he was going to take the day off, the employer accused him of "playing victim." It all started after the manager asked the employee to turn up at work. The employee informed him that his Dad had passed away and he needed time off to grieve his loss. “As you know, I found out yesterday my dad passed away. I’m gonna go ahead and at least take the one day. I get a week off to mourn his death,” the worker replied, before adding. “I am so sorry for any inconvenience this will cause you.”

The manager then curtly replied. “My uncle died a few days ago, I lost my grandma. Stop being a victim.” The manager accusing him of playing the victim after his father's death proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back. He responded by quitting his job. "Mail me my check. I quit," the worker responded before adding, "and go f*ck yourself."

I am fed up
In another instance, a bartender quit his job after his employer told him to come to work on his off day, and informed him only at 3 am in the morning. After the employee told their boss that they had been drinking and didn't want to turn up at work with a hangover, the boss went on to accuse them of not being a "team player" and asking him to check his attitude but the bartender wasn't having any of it. 

The bartender had planned to take the next day off and was unwinding with a few drinks. He got a text at 3 am asking him to report to work at 11 am with the shift running for another 11 hours until 10 at night. The bartender replied, “Why are you just now telling me at 3 am that you need me to work 11 hours tomorrow?” asked the worker. “I’ve had a few drinks and I don’t feel like coming into work hungover and working for that long on my day off.” As with most bosses, the boss felt entitled to have the employee at his beck and call.

“You need to stay ready for work, getting too drunk is not a good look if you can’t stay prepared,” he texted back, “Sometimes things happen and we need to cover each other.” It is one thing to ask him to cover but it is an entirely different thing to demand that he cover. The conversation was already revealing the kind of workplace it was and what kind of boss they were. The bartender said if he wanted to cover the shift so badly, then the employer should fill in. “Don’t you even know how to bartend too?” asked the worker. “Even if you don’t, we literally have flash-cards for each drink on the menu for each event, you can literally just tape them to the counter and use them as a guide to making the drinks yourself.”

The employer wasn't amused that his employee had established healthy work boundaries. “We are going to talk about this attitude when you come in Sunday,” he curtly replied. “No we’re not,” replied the bartender, before calling it quits. “Bartenders are needed all over the place now, I think I’ll just go work at one of the dozens of places hiring around here. I’m fed up with you.”

As with most bosses who get called out, he immediately panicked and attempted to salvage the situation. “Give me a call, don’t make such an impulsive decision,” pleaded the boss. “You’re making a mistake because you’re drunk and you think it’s a good idea, when you wake up tomorrow you’re gonna regret this.” The bartender might regret a lot of decisions in his life but he'll never regret the way he signed out of that conversation and that toxic workplace: "Eat. My. A$$."