Twice. Both times were from a pizza place. The first one was small shop. The boss's father started the place and then handed it down when he retired. It was a decent job but I had an on-going problem with a shitty female employee. She was hard headed and lazy, where as I was hard headed and motivated....so we didn't get along and she ended up quitting at some point. I can't recall what started the argument between the boss and I but it escalated real quickly into a shouting match. In the heat of it, he said something that was both a put-down on me and put some praise on that POS that quit. I didn't take it well and said something about him being either thick-headed or as deaf as his old man. There was some more yelling and then I left. The second time was also a pizza place but this place was bigger. They had a few locations, all within the same metro. I was a regular at one of the locations so was excited to go work for them. It didn't take me long to see that this location was being poorly managed into the ground. There was a bunch of stuff wrong in the kitchen and things seemed bad with the front staff too. I'm convinced the head office was actively trying to figure out what was going on. On the morning I ended up walking out, I was introduced to a guy that had come over from one of the other locations to "help out in the kitchen". It was me, another guy hired around the same time as me and a girl who had worked there a long time but was leaving for the army soon. We definitely weren't so short-staffed to justify bringing in a stranger from a different location. This guy was clearly an "old salt" too. Knew his shit and had been with the company for several years. So we're working along side this corporate mole and he's subtly getting us to talk about some of the problems...and the three of us had no problem letting him know what was up. This was also payday and at some point in talking about some of the issues that could get them sued, I happened to open my check. This was...maybe the third paycheck I'd gotten but somehow I only then realized I wasn't being paid the wage that was offered to me. I was being shorted .50 cents per hour. I flat out asked the guy that got hired alongside me what he was making and he told me a similar story, that the assistant-manager had said one number over the phone when offering the job, but wasn't being paid that. So I call the manager over tell him that I need to have a private conversation with him. He actually says that we can just talk right there with me still on the cook line, in front of most of the staff. I insist that this is a conversation for his office and he pushes right back. So I let him know they've been cheating me and that his assistant manager told me one wage and I'm being paid another. He tells me that the wage promised over the phone was *after* I passed a competency test. Apparently, after a probationary period, we'd take a test and then I'd get the amount offered. This was never explained to me, or the other new hire next to me, and I start telling him as much while firing off a lot of questions quickly...some are real and some are me being a sarcastic asshole trying to make a point. He actually says that we should continue this conversation in his office but I said something like "Why?! I thought you wanted to talk about it out here? I'm fine talking about it out here! Is there a problem with talking about this out here!?" We continue the conversation in his office and he brings in the assistant-manager. He and I go back and forth about what he thinks he said and what I know he said over the phone and in the interview. I'm quick to remind them that the guy out on the line next to me has the same fucking story as me. I'm calling this guy a lair to his face and getting pissed that he's just not admitting his mistake. The manager is trying to calm me down, explaining that he has no doubt ill pass this test and that he doesn't want me to quit. I tell him I want my wage adjusted immediately and I want back pay. He says he isn't going to do either of those things and so I walked out. I went out and said goodby to the other line cooks, including the corporate mole, and went home to try and find a job that would actually cover my bills. I later learned that the other new hire was quick to follow me out the door. A couple weeks later, I saw that location was hiring again...and it was for management positions. A couple years later, I saw the assistant manager working in a medical equipment & supply store. My wife needed a breast pump for our baby. He looked miserable and was going out of his way to avoid eye contact. It felt nice walking in with my new family and seeing where he had landed...I felt like I had "won" for some reason. In retrospect, I could have handled the second one differently. I think if I had gone above my managers head, I could have gotten somewhere that had me not walking out. Also, I think If I had stuck it out, I would have been managing the place in no time. But it would have made me fat and getting out of food service ended up being a good move for me anyway. the big lesson for me was when offered a job, get the agreed rate of pay in writing before taking it. Edit: Some grammar