Or anything along the lines of that (unpleasant surprise amounts to about the same thing). As in,
He/She found an unwelcome surprise waiting for them.
Unwelcome/unpleasant surprise would work in this context, but I feel I have used it too often, and need a change.
Thank you!
Best Answer
Consider shock (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary):
As you have a number of “unwelcome surprises” in your text I would reserve shock for the really bad ones. Here are some examples of actual use (my boldface):