Walmart employee leaves job after toxic store manager asks him to start working on his only day off

Many of us are familiar with a toxic work culture. At some point, we encounter a workspace that is not great either for our mental health or our pocket. But owing to our needs and necessities, we continue working there. It was the same case with u/PleaseSteal, who explained in a Reddit post what a bad workplace can do to a person as well as just how liberating it can be to leave such a job. 

The individual begins their story with the title, "Just quit my job at Walmart. Flying high." Their happiness also reflects when they say, "I'm honestly shaking, but it feels so fucking good." After this brief introduction to their feelings, they explain the root cause of such happy emotions over leaving a job. The individual explains that they had been an employee at Walmart for four years with a mere 2% hike each passing year. They also had a terrible store manager who, in the individual's words, was "quite literally a demon" and treated them with complete disregard and disrespect. The user also added that everyone in the store hated her.

Describing more of their job, they say, "I work in electronics and most days have to stock and deal to customers with little to no help in my department." It has been almost a year since they have been the only employee handling this department. When they decided to speak to their manager, Kathy, about it, she just wouldn't hire anybody for absolutely no real reason. While the individual does have some help on busy days because then they get someone from the front desk to help, that in no way is a viable solution to depend on.

One random day, she told the individual that she needed them to work on their only day off to help with the Black Friday sale. The individual politely denied saying that was the only day off they had to spend at home with their wife and kid. However, Kathy continued being unreasonable. "She then tells me that I have plenty of time to see them when I'm off, that I have to start taking my job seriously and about how the electronics sales are the most high-value items in the store and they rely on me being there to grab them," they explained.

Both of them continued to argue for a minute "about how I have a family I have to spend time with and at some point I just snapped." They called her "heartless." To add insult to injury, they also ended up telling her that she smelled terrible and then they walked out. On their way out, they heard Kathy say that she would be putting them on Walmart's hiring blacklist. The individual concluded by saying, "I have plenty saved up and hopefully an interview with a construction company my brother works at soon." So, he was more than ready to put all this Walmart fiasco behind him.

People in the comment section sided with the individual and appreciated for standing up for themselves. u/ContemptAndHumble promptly said, "Being put on a blacklist for Walmart or any other retailer is not a threat. It is a blessing." u/TheErroredNoName, went on to explain the concept further, saying, "They do have a do not hire blacklist, although most people are usually automatically put on it if they didn't do a 2 weeks notice." People were happy that the employee left the toxic job to enjoy their life like they should. 

Editor's note: This article was originally published on November 3, 2023. It has since been updated.