There’s been a revival of discussions around abusive employer behavior on social media, and that’s a great thing for workers’ rights. However, it takes two to tango, and sometimes, workplaces are totally justified in firing their employees. On Reddit, commenters recently shared the stories of how they got fired, and some of them accepted the fact that they had it coming.
Employer-labor relations have always been tense, but the aftermath of the COVID lockdowns have put their own spin on labor relations. Office attendance is mandatory for some and a dealbreaker for others, and both the lockdowns and recent economic turbulence have caused some to reevaluate their work-life balances.
#1
Laid off the week after I told my boss I was burned out and thinking about quitting. She told me not to quit, to wait it out a bit. I guess she knew lay offs were coming. It was great, I got a decent severance and unemployment benefits. I took a few months off and started doing stand up comedy. Found a new gig and I love it.
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167points
#2
Missed work for a whole week to be tested for cancer. Didn’t have cancer it was an autoimmune disease but the manager at the store said I was “unreliable” and “distracted”. Well yah I was being tested for CANCER
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123points
#3
Was working in McDonalds two years ago. I was the dude who was responsible of the fries. One evening this dude comes in asking for a regular order of a burger and fries. We serve him accordingly. Next morning he comes in screaming about how the fries he ordered yesterday were soggy and demanded to speak to me. By the state of him and his face he had clearly been drinking the night before. I went up to him and he started screaming at me, I started by apologising but then after him screaming at me for 10 mins I started defending the fries I had made. He said “Do you think I am lying just to get a refund, I just had the fries before coming here and they were soggy” One of the other staff members who was working the till recognised him from the night before. Turns out he had left the fries in his car the whole night while he was out drinking and still expected them to be fresh and crispy the next morning. I lost it and kicked him out. Two hours later the owner of that franchise comes in and fires me for kicking his NEPHEW out of the place. All the other staff members were on my side but he threatened fire them as well if they had a problem with his decision. The place closed down because they couldn’t find people to work there as the owner kept firing people for petty reasons
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115points
First of all, if you’ve been fired, don’t feel bad (unless it was for a really good reason!). According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published on zippia.com, 40% of Americans have been fired from jobs. It happens!
#4
Gave a spectacular demonstration of the top-heavy nature of a UPS truck. Rave reviews from locals, as the roadway was scattered with hundreds of packages. Management was unimpressed and suggested a different career.
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98points
#5
I already had a new job lined up but it wasn’t starting for another 2 months so I was just trying to lay low and then give a 2 week notice. My old a*****e boss made one snarky comment too many and I couldn’t help myself. I put him on blast over some of his nefarious activities in front of our CEO. He fired me at the end of that week, but he was forced to retire a month later after everything I said was confirmed.
I’m not exactly proud of it but…oh who am I kidding, f**k that guy.
Edit: Didn’t expect this much interest. I explained the nefarious activities in another comment below. Basically, my boss and a customer (his friend) were scamming the company to fund a side business.
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93points
#6
I hit a wanabee hard man bully over the head with a frozen chicken.
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90points
The firing stats vary across ages, however. Statistics indicate that 70% of people aged 26-30 have avoided ever being fired, compared to only 50% of workers aged 61-65.
#7
I phoned in sick and went to a Prince concert. Zero regrets.
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80points
#8
Working as a cashier I missed a case of water underneath someone's cart and turns out they were a secret shopper or something... I had a couple days off and I came back to look at the schedule and was told I was fired
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74points
#9
I was overloaded with work and/so I was also put in charge of a new guy. Well, I taught the new guy everything and he did great for a while.
Until he didn’t, and he kept missing things. And I got blamed for it.
The boss kept getting mad at me like it’s my job to manage... I had a job, it just so happens 1 person is not enough to pick/package and ship out 150+ separate orders a day.
But apparently that’s how they like it, because he wasn’t hearing it. I bitched him out about how it’s not responsibility to watch over every move the guy makes, otherwise I wouldn’t have time to work, and he’d get mad at me again.
So yeah, bitched him out then simultaneously quit and got fired
Edit: thank you all for the upvotes! Never expected to get this many, and f**k you Rick you piece of s**t I needed that money back then.
72points
It’s hard to point to a single cause for this discrepancy. Older people have worked more years in their lives and may have simply had more “opportunities” to be fired over the course of their longer careers. Or it could mean that young workers have been toeing the line to maintain job security in response to economic turbulence. Or something else entirely.
#10
I “wasn’t a good fit” (after working at the company for 3 years). Was told a few days after getting fired that the head managers daughter was given my position. Because of getting fired for absolutely no reason, I had to go on welfare for 6 months and was almost homeless because I couldn’t afford rent anymore. Also starved regularly, as welfare was only 700$ per month, and rent alone was 650$ (for a bedroom, had to leave my apartment because rent there was almost 1200)
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71points
#12
Pretty sure they were just wanting to get rid of me. I was working at a meat market/deli store and I was called on my phone after work hours by the owner to tell me he was letting me go because I upset a customer that day.
It was Saturday which were just half days but incredibly busy. An older man and his wife had ordered something chicken so I wrapped it up, priced it, and gave it to them to take to the register. Well he tells me he wanted the *breaded* chicken whatever. I say, oh sorry she didn't specify breaded but I'll get you the correct chicken. I unwrapped what I gave them and put it back in the case, throw away the wrapping paper and do it all quickly because there were people waiting in line.
So I get the breaded chicken wrapped and priced and hand it back to them. The wife asks is this the chicken whatever and I say it's the *breaded* chicken whatever. I swear I didn't say it with nasty tone just affirming that it was breaded. Well the husband gave me a dirty look and they leave.
Well the owner calls me later that evening to fire me because he was pals with that old guy. I file unemployment, the owner fights and I guess he tells the agent what he thinks happened because when the agent called me I was telling him my side and the agent and he tells me Well the owner said you did this thing and that and I tell the agent the owner wasn't even there that day and him and that customer were friends. I think that sealed it in my favor because I got approved.
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70points
Firings, however, don’t necessarily always come easy. Statistics indicate that it can cost a business between 16.1% and 20.4% percent of an employee’s annual salary to replace them, which probably includes training costs. These costs only increase as the position’s requirements and seniority increase, up to as much as 213% for a senior executive.
#13
I had full-on lesbian sex with my boss’s daughter. Totally worth it as I quickly found a better job afterwards.
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65points
#14
I refused to lie to our biggest customer about a project that was costing them 80 millions, but just didn't work. I got the briefing for this while on my flight to that meeting. I said "I can not mention certain things, but I won't lie if they ask for specifics. The s**t you want me to say to them doesn't even exist and probably will never exist because it's just not possible." When I landed, I got a call from my boss telling me that I don't need to go to that meeting because he takes over. I should just go out and have a nice day in Calgary instead. I did, and the next day he fired me. (But asked right away if I could still fly out to Bangkok the week after and train the people over there. I didn't go to Bangkok.)
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63points
#15
Little Ceasers.
Mixing vodka and orange juice in the dough machine after close.
1991.
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58points
Firings, however, don’t necessarily always come easy. Statistics indicate that it can cost a business between 16.1% and 20.4% percent of an employee’s annual salary to replace them, which probably includes training costs. These costs only increase as the position’s requirements and seniority increase, up to as much as 213% for a senior executive.
#16
I kept eating food when I just cooked it at McDonald’s and giving everyone 2x the amount of nuggets/chicken fillets etc. f**k that place it’s a depressing nightmare
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52points
#17
I refused to make up reasons to fire my employees. (I was told to "clean house"). I put this process off for a few weeks while looking for a new job. I got my new job the week after they let me go.
51points
What’s interesting about this question on Reddit is that the reasons for firing were self-described. Do employers and workers look at firings the same way? Airtasker.com attempted to answer that question.
#19
I came back from holiday and was jet lagged due to the time difference, and therefore got tired towards the end of the working day. My tiredness was taken as an inability or unwillingness to do the job and I was marched off the premises
50points
#20
Got a summer job that required me to live onsite in a remote area. Told my part time job that I would be gone for the summer, and marked up the calendar accordingly, they told me it wasn’t a problem.
About halfway thru the summer they fired me for not coming into work for the past month.
When the summer was over I showed them the calendar and reminded them how we had discussed this and I was reinstated. Just stupid tho
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49points