AITA for quitting a job on the spot when they gave me a bad evaluation after only working 15 hours?

At just 23, caught in the fragile crossroads of youth and ambition, they stepped into a new job with hope and willingness to grow. Yet, instead of guidance, they were met with harsh judgment and an unfair evaluation that threatened to define their potential prematurely. The sting of being rated so low, without proper training or a chance to prove themselves, cut deep—transforming excitement into disillusionment.

Faced with an unjust system that refused transparency and respect, they chose to reclaim their dignity by walking away, refusing to be trapped by a label that didn’t reflect their true capability. This story is a raw testament to the courage it takes to stand against unfairness and the resilience needed to believe in oneself beyond others’ narrow judgments.

AITA for quitting a job on the spot when they gave me a bad evaluation after only working 15 hours?

I was talking about this with my sister the other day and she thinks it was a bit of an asshole/drama move on my part. When I was 23, I started working at a clothing store in the mall for some extra money.

I was there for about a week, though I only worked some short training shifts. I worked a total of 15 hours.

The managers pulled me aside and said they gave me an evaluation. It would have been fine, I am open to criticism and improving. However, they gave me a really low score (5 out of 45) saying I was not “living up to expectations” and it was going to go in my file.

They promised it would be amended when I improved.

I pointed out that this was unfair, as I had not been trained on 3/4ths of the things on that list. So why was I getting a low permanent score before my training period was up? I asked for the paper and they said I could not have it, but they would give me a copy.

I told them never mind, this was not a job I saw myself thriving at, and they should find someone else to finish my shift. It was my first long shift. I was supposed to work 7am to 5pm but said I didn’t care if they had to stay late and left.

They tried to get me to not leave, by saying they would give me a copy of the paper. But I said I wasn’t gonna work here any longer and went home. I found a new job babysitting until I finished my degree.

I have never been into that store again.

Here’s how people reacted:

Ask_Angi

Devil’s advocate here but my current job has a very similar sheet that trainers fill out on trainees as they’re learning starting from day 1. We all suck at the beginning and are scored very low but it’s to show progress and growth as the training continues. That way they can say the person is not improving or the person is improving and figure out where to go from there. The managers probably could have brought it up less threateningly (that was super unprofessional if it happened the way you said) but a lot of jobs that require training have to have that type of paperwork filled out. I’ve had “evals” filled out like that at jobs including KFC all the way up to law enforcement which is where I’m at now. They probably wouldn’t give you the original one they filled out b/c they’d need it for you’re file but you said they did offer to give you a copy and you could have always read what they were evaluating you on so you could have known what their expectations were. It sounds like you were inexperienced and didn’t know what to expect so you bolted. Maybe you misread the situation just a little and it wasn’t as nefarious as you’re assuming. I’m gonna say YTA for not giving it a chance. Being an adult means being responsible and if you did misread the situation, of course the managers would be panicking. They would have wasted time and resources training you for you to just walk out and leave them short staffed with no notice

Euphoric_Statement10

NTA. I once worked as a receptionist & I was damn good at my job. One day the boss went away for a week & left another guy in charge in his place. This guy decided to give us an evaluation, said the boss asked him too. Mind you we had never had one in the 3 years I’d worked there.

He preceded to tell me how badly I did my job & asked me to come back with a list of ways I could improve. So I handed him my resignation letter the next day, the panic that filled his face was priceless. When my boss came back he was livid & ended up firing the guy just to get me back. All because I, a 16yr old girl at the the time didn’t want to date him, a 30 something yr old man 🙃

lionne6

NTA. I’ve worked retail and I bet I know exactly what was going on. They wanted to give you a score that would always keep you In a position of never being good enough, but you’d keep trying to be, so they could take advantage of you to an extreme. Oh, you’d get a higher score if you did an extra shift, you’d get a higher score if you did an extra difficult chore alone, oh you’d get a higher score if you did XYZ that were clearly beyond your job description. Maybe you’d get more points. Maybe you’d get more money. But no, never. It’s a scam and you were smart to trust your gut and walk.

Koseven

I think you might actually be the AH here. Evaluations for new employees are pretty normal, we do it at my job too, and they’re typically used like a scale in regards to where you’re at with training.
When going over the evaluation, unless your boss was an AH, they’re suppose to give you feedback on areas to improve. It seems like they wanted you there too, after all they tried to get you to stay.

So… I think you took it way too personally.

EDIT:
If this was an ACTUAL evaluation, OP is NTA.

If this was simply a training sheet, OP is an AH.

HarlesBronson

Nta. Retail is one job I will never do again bc of the high tendency to get treated like shit by everyone, especially management.
Evaluating you on things you were not trained on is just setting you up to fail, so you blame yourself and work harder to earn a non liveable wage. Unfortunately for them, your self respect was higher than their ability to manipulate you.
I lasted 3 weeks where I was screamed at constantly and had my bag searched every shift “in case i stole something”… then I walked off. It’s dehumanizing.

SuicideSkirmish

NTA. It was some weird team building tactic to display their dominance and test your loyalty. Companies do that nonsense.

I’m sure they sat around in a meeting somewhere and figured that this idiotic plan was a good way to vet new employees.

I have an idea for a team building tactic. Give straightforward constructive criticism, and stop being manipulative dicks.

If the job sucked, you were bound to be fired or quit anyway. Peace out.

–BMO–

NTA

Sounds like you’re classic manager ‘I’m a shitty boss on a power trip’ move, to get you to do whatever they want out of fear.

It won’t have been long before they asked you to work extra or come in on your days off, with the tag line “this would be great for improving your score”.

It backfired with you though, great stuff.

TakeItEZBroski

NTA

You didn’t want to work there. You left. Case closed. I have very little patience for companies when it comes to keeping employees happy. You weren’t happy, so you made a swift exit. Good for you.

coltj573

NTA youre not a slave. its not like youve been working there for months and quit on the spot. if it fucked them over its their own fault since youre in training. youre not obligated to work anywhere.

ddra196

NTA. 15 hours into a job is definitely not enough time to give an employee evaluation. It’s not even enough time for an employee to get used to the work. Leaving was absolutely the right move.

shonuph

That “evaluation” was fake and only to manipulate and gaslight you. You called their bluff and they scrambled to try to get you to stay. Sounds pretty pathetic on their part.
NTA

Knittingfairy09113

NTA

That store would have been a nightmare. I’ve worked a lot of retail and never heard of that kind of nonsense. Something was going on and you were right to step away.

underwatermario2

Lol NTA, they throwing so many red flags here it looks like there’s a rip tide at the beach today.

Edit: well thats my first award! And highest upvotes. Thanks all!

ParsimoniousSalad

Sounds like they were trying to break you down with negative motivation. Walking out was the right thing to do with that kind of game (if you can afford to). NTA

PhoenixEcho1

NTA. I’m a manager and I would never give someone an evaluation based on such a short amount of time. I honestly don’t know what those people were thinking.

PuppyPavilion

NTA I think in the lowlife dating world that’s called negging. Lol you flipped the script on that asshole! 🤌

wytherlanejazz

I’m sure this is a trick they often pull on new staff as leverage. Fuck ‘em. And fuck their eval. NTA

Conclusion

The original poster (OP) faced immediate and disproportionate criticism from management based on an incomplete performance review after very minimal hours worked. The central conflict arose when the OP rejected this unfair evaluation and the resulting perceived lack of support, choosing to terminate employment immediately rather than stay to complete a shift.

Given the premature and harsh nature of the performance review versus the OP’s right to adequate training, was the decision to immediately quit and leave the shift an appropriate act of self-advocacy, or was it an overly dramatic reaction that failed to meet basic professional obligations?