So my buddy -- who is a superb recording engineer -- got his first big studio job as an assistant engineer at a big studio (Ocean Way) in Nashville. And it was literally his very first morning in the room for one of these major-label recording sessions.
The artist was a female trio making their debut record (no, it wasn't the Dixie Chicks). And I can't remember who the producer was, but it was a very high-power Tony Brown-type guy. Anyway, it's the first morning, and the ladies were struggling to sing some harmony. And they keep doing take after take trying to get a part down, and it wasn't going well.
At some point, the producer took a few steps over and picked up the landline, dialed a number, and said, "Yeah, Bob... I think I'm gonna have to punt on this one" (presumably talking to the label executive, obviously).
And then, without saying anything to the engineers or to anyone else, the bigshot producer just gathered his things and walked out of the control room.
Meanwhile, the band was standing out in the live room in front of their respective microphones --- headphones on, just waiting for feedback and for their next pass, totally oblivious to what happened. The studio had to tell them over the talkback mic, "Ladies, can you come back in here for a second?" and then tell them they no longer had a producer -- and maybe no longer had a record deal.
That was his Day One in a major studio.