Starting a new job can be really scary. Suddenly, you have to get used to new coworkers, a new workspace, and figure out which workflow works best for you and your peers. It can be quite daunting, but also exciting.
But some people take these new opportunities and quickly become HR's worst nightmare. And we have some stories to prove it. Someone on r/AskReddit asked about the quickest they've ever seen someone get fired, and well, some of the answers are truly shocking. So, hey, if you're looking to hold on to your job, here's what not to do.
#1
Teacher here.
A new sub came in for 1 period then left and never came back. Still my favorite phone call:
Secretary: Hi, this is Tracy
Me: Hey, Ashley’s sub is not in the room and the kids are yelling that he quit.
Secretary: he ran out for a coffee, I’ll call him. Please watch her class.
2 min later…
Secretary: yea he quit. We will send someone else to cover.
Me: he quit after one 45-min class?
Secretary: he said he’d rather go back to work at the prison he just retired from.
A new sub came in for 1 period then left and never came back. Still my favorite phone call:
Secretary: Hi, this is Tracy
Me: Hey, Ashley’s sub is not in the room and the kids are yelling that he quit.
Secretary: he ran out for a coffee, I’ll call him. Please watch her class.
2 min later…
Secretary: yea he quit. We will send someone else to cover.
Me: he quit after one 45-min class?
Secretary: he said he’d rather go back to work at the prison he just retired from.
12points
#2
They started on 4th of January and didn't show up. Not even picking up the phone. They did show up on the 5th of January and just explained they "didn't feel like starting their new work on a Monday". And that was it.
10points
#3
His fourth day. I work in a fairly professional workplace, office and lab work, defined core hours - 10am is the latest start time, and it's 7.5 hours a day. Start times are agreed with your manager, and then have to be stuck to. Standard stuff.
First day, the guy was due in for 8:30am. Didn't arrive until about 10:30, very apologetic, blamed it on the trains. A bad start, but recoverable.
Second day, he didn't arrive until 11:00. Same excuse. No call to say he'd be late before he arrived. Left at 4pm, several hours short of a full day.
Third day, he didn't show up at all. No phone call, didn't answer his phone.
Fourth day, he again showed up well after 10am, with no phone call. He was sacked on the spot. I honestly can't fathom what was behind it all.
First day, the guy was due in for 8:30am. Didn't arrive until about 10:30, very apologetic, blamed it on the trains. A bad start, but recoverable.
Second day, he didn't arrive until 11:00. Same excuse. No call to say he'd be late before he arrived. Left at 4pm, several hours short of a full day.
Third day, he didn't show up at all. No phone call, didn't answer his phone.
Fourth day, he again showed up well after 10am, with no phone call. He was sacked on the spot. I honestly can't fathom what was behind it all.
8points
Finding the perfect person for a job can be challenging. From understanding who the candidate is to assessing their qualifications and determining whether they'll fit into the company culture — there's a lot to consider.
So much so that a global survey by CareerBuilder found that nearly 74% of employers admit to hiring the wrong person for a role, with the average cost of a bad hire exceeding $14,900. This figure accounts for the time and money lost to training and recruitment, as well as reduced productivity.
#4
Same day he started. Told him he needed to wear his safety glasses to protect his eyes and the dust mask whilst we cut chipboard as its toxic for your health proceeds to say no way and calls me a weak coward for wearing mine.
Unfortunately for him our operations manager was standing right around the corner and heard the entire exchange he was gone within the hour.
Unfortunately for him our operations manager was standing right around the corner and heard the entire exchange he was gone within the hour.
7points
#5
Two hours into day one. Dude stole a clearly labeled sandwich from the break room fridge that happened to belong to the HR director who had just finished giving him the office tour.
Security escorted him out before his company laptop even finished its first mandatory Windows update.
Security escorted him out before his company laptop even finished its first mandatory Windows update.
7points
#6
New Hire walks in. Stellar interview, super composed, knows what he’s doing. He meets his immediate supervisor, and she says she’s looking forward to working with him. The New Hire says:
“I don’t work with [c word].”
He immediately goes to the Manager, asks who his supervisor is. The Supervisor reports what he said, and the Manager confirms it with another employee. The New Hire tells the Manager that he won’t work under a woman, and when the Manager says that he will fire the New Hire if he doesn’t apologize and work under her, the New Hire asks the Manager if the Supervisor is sleeping with him.
New Hire gets escorted out by security.
“I don’t work with [c word].”
He immediately goes to the Manager, asks who his supervisor is. The Supervisor reports what he said, and the Manager confirms it with another employee. The New Hire tells the Manager that he won’t work under a woman, and when the Manager says that he will fire the New Hire if he doesn’t apologize and work under her, the New Hire asks the Manager if the Supervisor is sleeping with him.
New Hire gets escorted out by security.
7points
#7
Working on ships, the various watch shift rotations mean that the mealtimes are pretty precise because it's not like everyone onboard can just stop what they're doing to go eat.
Day one of having a new cook onboard and some shipboard operations meant we needed to bring lunchtime forward an hour to accomodate for the impacts to the shifts.
Captain tell the cook. The cook says no. The Captain makes a face.
"Cap, what I do is art. The meal will be ready when it's ready."
Yeah. He was gone that afternoon.
Day one of having a new cook onboard and some shipboard operations meant we needed to bring lunchtime forward an hour to accomodate for the impacts to the shifts.
Captain tell the cook. The cook says no. The Captain makes a face.
"Cap, what I do is art. The meal will be ready when it's ready."
Yeah. He was gone that afternoon.
6points
But even with that number in mind, while getting let go on your very first day is quite extreme, the numbers show that being pushed out of a job early on is actually pretty common.
Research by BambooHR, an onboarding and HR analytics firm, found that 31% of employees quit a job within their first six months. Even more surprising, a significant number of employees walk out or are asked to leave within their first week. And after reading these stories, we're not surprised.
#8
Police Department hired a new officer. Hours later, they learned he'd been fired from a nearby department and was pending losing his law enforcement certification. Fired on the same day of hiring.
6points
#9
Myself, one of my first jobs.
Temporary job office offered me a callcenter job.
I was told I'd help people who struggle subscribing to some kind of insurance. "A bit like tech support?", I remember asking.
Once I arrived, I got told to cold-call people to get them to subscribe. I got told to follow a script that had nothing to do with my job and was straight up lies, and explained how I should insist more with the elderly to boost up my stats.
I modified my script to make it truthful, then told them during the lunch break that I wasn't willing to scam grandmas to feed myself.
Karma must have liked it, I ended up getting an actual tech support job a few weeks later and didn't starve.
Temporary job office offered me a callcenter job.
I was told I'd help people who struggle subscribing to some kind of insurance. "A bit like tech support?", I remember asking.
Once I arrived, I got told to cold-call people to get them to subscribe. I got told to follow a script that had nothing to do with my job and was straight up lies, and explained how I should insist more with the elderly to boost up my stats.
I modified my script to make it truthful, then told them during the lunch break that I wasn't willing to scam grandmas to feed myself.
Karma must have liked it, I ended up getting an actual tech support job a few weeks later and didn't starve.
6points
#10
20 minutes.
Manager liked this consultant (lady in her mid 60’s) that was helping on / off for about a year and was converting her into a full time employee.
Manager sent the division wide email out to like 250 people saying “Please Welcome Judy, the newest member in accounting” and then 20 minutes later HR sent an “effective immediately Judy has left to pursue other opportunities, please wish her luck”
Found out that she failed the substance test twice. First was a diluted positive and the second was a positive.
Apparently the manager really liked her and was trying to ram through the conversation even though she failed the test for. They thought if it was announced, HR would be embarrassed and just allow it.
Funny enough, “Judy” given a 60 day notice of the test.
Honorable mention was a guy in IT who told his boss (a pretty cool boss at that) to go do himself, twice on the first week.
Manager liked this consultant (lady in her mid 60’s) that was helping on / off for about a year and was converting her into a full time employee.
Manager sent the division wide email out to like 250 people saying “Please Welcome Judy, the newest member in accounting” and then 20 minutes later HR sent an “effective immediately Judy has left to pursue other opportunities, please wish her luck”
Found out that she failed the substance test twice. First was a diluted positive and the second was a positive.
Apparently the manager really liked her and was trying to ram through the conversation even though she failed the test for. They thought if it was announced, HR would be embarrassed and just allow it.
Funny enough, “Judy” given a 60 day notice of the test.
Honorable mention was a guy in IT who told his boss (a pretty cool boss at that) to go do himself, twice on the first week.
6points
#11
About 5 hours. It was this girl’s first day driving the ambulance, and I was her FTO. I had been correcting her all day for following too closely to people and braking too late. We came up on some traffic, and she was not paying attention and slammed into the car in front of us, who drove out of the way, then she continued to slam into the car in front of him and pushed that car into another vehicle.
Even though she had crashed the ambulance, that still wasn’t a fireable offense. What she did get fired for however, was disappearing for 3 hours before showing up for her mandatory test. We figured she was trying to find some clean urine, because she had also asked me what would happen if she didn’t pass her test.
I still have chronic neck pain from that accident.
Even though she had crashed the ambulance, that still wasn’t a fireable offense. What she did get fired for however, was disappearing for 3 hours before showing up for her mandatory test. We figured she was trying to find some clean urine, because she had also asked me what would happen if she didn’t pass her test.
I still have chronic neck pain from that accident.
6points
#12
I don't know if this counts but my daughter's school hired a new first grade teacher. The first day of school she took dozens of pictures of the students and put them on social media, and for some unknown reason listed their names in each of the pictures. Of course this is big time against school policy, so by day 2 of school she was fired.
Social media is destroying us. It's the first day of school how about you put your phone down and focus on the kids for a bit? Not everything has to be posted online.
Social media is destroying us. It's the first day of school how about you put your phone down and focus on the kids for a bit? Not everything has to be posted online.
6points
But not everyone who walks out is necessarily an incompetent worker. Sometimes, it's the promise of a different experience that makes employees want to leave or walk out altogether.
A study conducted by The Muse found that 72% of job seekers experience something called "shift shock." This happens when they suddenly realize the job or company culture is completely different from what they expected during the interview. Unfortunately, that's where many first-day clashes begin.
#13
One week.
I had lunch in the cafeteria with someone I had just hired the week before - just to find out how things were going so far. She spent the time complaining that the job was not what she expected. It was an IT Desktop Support job.
During her interview, I had given her a tour of the facility, introduced her to her fellow IT support team in the Help Desk room and pointed out her workbench and desk in the shared Help Desk room. I also walked her through a typical day of taking help desk calls and visiting coworkers' desks to help troubleshoot their computer issues. The IT Help Desk staff was present and participated in the discussion. She had a copy of the job description when she applied for the job.
She told me at lunch that I had promised her her own office and ensured her that she would not have to get up to go visit coworkers for desktop support issues. I felt like I was in the twilight zone.
After lunch, I went directly to HR and explained to them that I wanted to let her go as soon as possible. In less than 30 minutes, I had her meet me in HR and said, "Today is your last day with the company..."
I had lunch in the cafeteria with someone I had just hired the week before - just to find out how things were going so far. She spent the time complaining that the job was not what she expected. It was an IT Desktop Support job.
During her interview, I had given her a tour of the facility, introduced her to her fellow IT support team in the Help Desk room and pointed out her workbench and desk in the shared Help Desk room. I also walked her through a typical day of taking help desk calls and visiting coworkers' desks to help troubleshoot their computer issues. The IT Help Desk staff was present and participated in the discussion. She had a copy of the job description when she applied for the job.
She told me at lunch that I had promised her her own office and ensured her that she would not have to get up to go visit coworkers for desktop support issues. I felt like I was in the twilight zone.
After lunch, I went directly to HR and explained to them that I wanted to let her go as soon as possible. In less than 30 minutes, I had her meet me in HR and said, "Today is your last day with the company..."
6points
#14
Guy got hired at a local convenience store chain in the northeastern USA named WAWA(happy??)
He was hired by the AGM and his interviews only involved the AGM and Food Service Manager. His first shift he came in asked a few questions to the shift manager, Shift manager asked the GM what he should be doing and then he was given Computer based training modules.
The GM had just ordered himself Lunch. Got pizza delivered and put it in his office (Right next to the computer training area) while he finished up a busy rush.
GM came back to his office 45 minutes later. Found half his pizza missing, looks out and sees the new guy eating pizza while doing his training. At this point the GM had never met the new hire in person yet.
GM asked the new hire where he got the pizza from, without a seconds hesitation the New Hire said " I brought this in with me".
GM told him to stop doing his training and go home, New Hire got angry yelling "Who tf do you think you are? I was hired by (AGM's name)!".
GM replied " Im his boss and the person you just stole from on your first day".
Never saw him again, overall lasted maybe an hour.
He was hired by the AGM and his interviews only involved the AGM and Food Service Manager. His first shift he came in asked a few questions to the shift manager, Shift manager asked the GM what he should be doing and then he was given Computer based training modules.
The GM had just ordered himself Lunch. Got pizza delivered and put it in his office (Right next to the computer training area) while he finished up a busy rush.
GM came back to his office 45 minutes later. Found half his pizza missing, looks out and sees the new guy eating pizza while doing his training. At this point the GM had never met the new hire in person yet.
GM asked the new hire where he got the pizza from, without a seconds hesitation the New Hire said " I brought this in with me".
GM told him to stop doing his training and go home, New Hire got angry yelling "Who tf do you think you are? I was hired by (AGM's name)!".
GM replied " Im his boss and the person you just stole from on your first day".
Never saw him again, overall lasted maybe an hour.
6points
#15
I was head of security at a hotel when I was 19. I'd started as a bouncer in a suit more or less, but somehow within 3 months every other security person including the guy who hired me got fired, so I ended up in charge just because I was a moderately level headed kid who looked plausible in a suit.
It was a big hotel though, and we had all sorts of weekend events I couldn't cover alone, so until they hired other internal security they contracted out to one of those uniformed security places. I was a little annoyed because the bookkeeper told me they were paying the company 4 times my hourly rate and all these guards would do is just sit in the lobby.
So whatever. An elderly lady in a fake cop uniform showed up. I introduced myself and gave her a radio and walked up to the front desk with her.
It was a relatively quiet night. The largest group that evening was a very large extended black family who'd gotten a ton of rooms and rented a ballroom for a family reunion. They were great, zero issues. Seemed like the most I'd be dealing with was trying to stay awake.
But I mention them being black because as I was standing at the front desk, one of the family members walked up requesting a wake up call or something, and this old lady looked at me, dropped a racial slur and said 'I hope they all get sickle cell and d*e'.
Like not in a whisper. She was 3 feet from him.
I yelled at her, a lot. And I apologized, a lot.
I wasn't actually sure I was allowed to just fire her on the spot since it was like the first night of their contract, and I was just a 19 year old kid dealing with someone three times my age, so I pointed her at a chair on the other side of the lobby and said 'That's your new post until I get this sorted out, don't speak to any guests for the rest of your time here, which I assure you will be short'.
I think we comped that guys room immediately and explained that they weren't an employee and that we'd deal with her. He was honestly way more gracious about it than he had to be. Then I called the night manager and got the contract security supervisors number, and relayed what had happened.
Her security supervisor immediately told me to send her home and then he showed up to fill in for her for the evening. Her supervisor was a black dude as well, and from the way he was talking she appeared to be done for good.
Good.
I'm a white guy from a pretty rural background, and I never approved of that racist bull, but that was maybe the most casually overt crazy stuff I'd ever heard. It must have been less than a half hour before she got the boot. Working that place exposed me to some wild stuff.
It was a big hotel though, and we had all sorts of weekend events I couldn't cover alone, so until they hired other internal security they contracted out to one of those uniformed security places. I was a little annoyed because the bookkeeper told me they were paying the company 4 times my hourly rate and all these guards would do is just sit in the lobby.
So whatever. An elderly lady in a fake cop uniform showed up. I introduced myself and gave her a radio and walked up to the front desk with her.
It was a relatively quiet night. The largest group that evening was a very large extended black family who'd gotten a ton of rooms and rented a ballroom for a family reunion. They were great, zero issues. Seemed like the most I'd be dealing with was trying to stay awake.
But I mention them being black because as I was standing at the front desk, one of the family members walked up requesting a wake up call or something, and this old lady looked at me, dropped a racial slur and said 'I hope they all get sickle cell and d*e'.
Like not in a whisper. She was 3 feet from him.
I yelled at her, a lot. And I apologized, a lot.
I wasn't actually sure I was allowed to just fire her on the spot since it was like the first night of their contract, and I was just a 19 year old kid dealing with someone three times my age, so I pointed her at a chair on the other side of the lobby and said 'That's your new post until I get this sorted out, don't speak to any guests for the rest of your time here, which I assure you will be short'.
I think we comped that guys room immediately and explained that they weren't an employee and that we'd deal with her. He was honestly way more gracious about it than he had to be. Then I called the night manager and got the contract security supervisors number, and relayed what had happened.
Her security supervisor immediately told me to send her home and then he showed up to fill in for her for the evening. Her supervisor was a black dude as well, and from the way he was talking she appeared to be done for good.
Good.
I'm a white guy from a pretty rural background, and I never approved of that racist bull, but that was maybe the most casually overt crazy stuff I'd ever heard. It must have been less than a half hour before she got the boot. Working that place exposed me to some wild stuff.
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6points
#16
Worked as a coffee roaster/wholesaler. Had someone come in the first day and was teaching them how to grind coffee and the person used their fingers to push beans into the grinder. Said once don't do that, your liable to get a finger caught and that will be bad for you. Saw them so it again 30 minutes later and that was the end of it. Call to management, immediately fired.
Also had a lady who was fired inside a week because she kept insisting the French First Lady was a transvestite after repeatedly being told to stop talking about it but that took a little longer.
Also had a lady who was fired inside a week because she kept insisting the French First Lady was a transvestite after repeatedly being told to stop talking about it but that took a little longer.
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6points
#17
Coworker: 2 days. She wasn’t a fan of the chair and felt the room was dusty, on day 3, no call no showed. On day 4 job did a wellness check with the cops and she answered as if nothing was wrong. Finally called the job back, and when they asked what was up, she said, I didn’t like the chair or dust and didn’t think I needed to return until it was addressed. Day 5 they had her drop her computer off and she walked away like nothing happened.
Me: 1.5 days. They had us clock out then restock for 2 hours unpaid everyday. Left during lunch.
Me: 1.5 days. They had us clock out then restock for 2 hours unpaid everyday. Left during lunch.
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6points
#18
4 hours, he cornered a lady in the factory and was yelling at her to "show him her chest". The lads in the factory moved faster than I ever seen and he left with some black eyes and a bloody nose.
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6points
#19
Me, working a supermarket. General stuff, stocking shelves, cleaning aisles and so on.
Zero training or introduction. Day 1, I was left entirely directionless and without any clear indication of what to load, where to get the stuff, where the cleaning supplies were. Place was hilariously understaffed, no one else had time for me, I was basically treated as a nuisance to babysit because I didn't know what to do. Which, I mean, fair, but you didn't give me anything to work with?
Day 2, I show up at work and they just do not open the door for me. Locked out of the building. That is how I found out I had been fired.
Zero training or introduction. Day 1, I was left entirely directionless and without any clear indication of what to load, where to get the stuff, where the cleaning supplies were. Place was hilariously understaffed, no one else had time for me, I was basically treated as a nuisance to babysit because I didn't know what to do. Which, I mean, fair, but you didn't give me anything to work with?
Day 2, I show up at work and they just do not open the door for me. Locked out of the building. That is how I found out I had been fired.
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6points
#20
Worked a delivery job in college. Had a new hire quit after 45 minutes of riding around with me on his first day. He didn’t even do anything yet, just riding in the passenger seat and said “ nah, this is not for me.”
Fastest I’ve seen someone actually get fired was when I was working at a big box store. New cashier made it through the couple of days of computer training. Within 30 minutes of being put on the floor for the first time, she got busted taking pictures of people’s credit cards and texting them to her sister who was buying stuff online with them. She was sitting in the back of a cop car within an hour of starting her actual job.
Fastest I’ve seen someone actually get fired was when I was working at a big box store. New cashier made it through the couple of days of computer training. Within 30 minutes of being put on the floor for the first time, she got busted taking pictures of people’s credit cards and texting them to her sister who was buying stuff online with them. She was sitting in the back of a cop car within an hour of starting her actual job.
5points
