When we go to a party, we want to leave on our own terms and not be thrown out for causing a scene. The same goes for work. Employees hope to move on when they're ready, whether that's for a better opportunity, raising a family, or retirement. But just like a night out can come to an end because of a single terrible decision, so can a career.
So after Reddit user RelevantNothing4653 asked people to share the wildest reasons they'd seen colleagues get fired, thousands responded with stories about everything from poor hygiene to ignoring safety protocols. Here are some of the most memorable ones!
#21
I was working the night shift as a contractor at a major household-name tech company in Silicon Valley. There were around 300 of us working on their mapping software from 6:00 PM to 2:30 AM. Because of those hours, a bit of a drinking culture developed in the office. A lot of that came from our department manager, who would literally walk around handing people beers, thanking them for their work, and telling them to enjoy one.
Because of that, it became pretty common for people to have a beer during lunch. Nobody was taking shots or getting drunk at work, but people would grab a drink at a nearby restaurant, have one in their cars, or sit outside at the office tables. The original HR manager knew it was happening and mostly looked the other way. That lasted until they left for another job and a new HR manager took over.
I don't know exactly how it started, but someone in the office reported people by name. Even though plenty of employees participated, they singled out a particular group.
I had no idea any of this was happening because I was on a two-week international vacation. On my last night, while I was in London, I noticed several missed calls from HR. I immediately called my roommates, who were also coworkers, to see what was going on.
They told me HR had just fired around 30 people.
Apparently, HR had gathered around 30 employees into a conference room. Once everyone was there, they began pulling people out one at a time into a separate conference room for individual interviews. Each person was confronted and asked point-blank whether they had been drinking during their lunch breaks. Most of the people they questioned were young recent college grads, and figured it wasn't a big deal since the department manager himself had encouraged the culture. They answered honestly and admitted they'd occasionally had a beer with lunch.
The crazy part was that HR didn't actually have proof. They were acting on reports from another employee. As soon as they admitted to drinking alcohol on the clock, HR had grounds to terminate them, and they were fired on the spot.
One person handled it differently. When asked if he'd been drinking on the job, he flatly denied it and said he would never do that. Since HR had no evidence beyond hearsay, they couldn't do anything, and he kept his job.
After hearing all of this from my roommates, I knew exactly why HR had been calling me. When they finally reached me, I acted completely surprised by the accusation and told them I'd never been drinking during lunch. Without any evidence or a confession, there wasn't much they could do.
When I returned from London, the atmosphere in the office had completely changed. It had gone from a social, collaborative workplace to one where everyone kept their heads down and barely spoke. Seeing so many coworkers and friends suddenly gone was depressing.
Eventually, HR confronted the department manager who had helped create the whole culture. They asked whether he'd been handing out beers and encouraging employees to drink. He denied everything.
HR then reminded him that this was a high-security facility with security cameras recording continuously, and they could review the footage if necessary.
At that point, he realized he was cornered. Instead of continuing the conversation, he resigned on the spot. Because he was experienced and well-connected, he landed another management job at a competing company not long afterward. Meanwhile, about 30 entry-level employees had lost theirs.
The fallout affected me as well. I was working on a contract that had about six months remaining, and I was already training the person who would replace me when it ended. My replacement was among the employees who had been fired, so I suddenly had to recruit and train an entirely new replacement in a fraction of the time.
Looking back, I want to be clear that drinking on the job waisn't acceptable, and HR wasn't wrong to enforce the policy. Nobody should have been drinking at work. What bothers me is how the culture started. A manager normalized the behavior, encouraged it, and made a lot of young employees think it was acceptable. When the consequences arrived, he denied any involvement and walked away with his career intact while the people who trusted his example paid the price.
It's still one of the most surreal workplace situations I've ever experienced.
Because of that, it became pretty common for people to have a beer during lunch. Nobody was taking shots or getting drunk at work, but people would grab a drink at a nearby restaurant, have one in their cars, or sit outside at the office tables. The original HR manager knew it was happening and mostly looked the other way. That lasted until they left for another job and a new HR manager took over.
I don't know exactly how it started, but someone in the office reported people by name. Even though plenty of employees participated, they singled out a particular group.
I had no idea any of this was happening because I was on a two-week international vacation. On my last night, while I was in London, I noticed several missed calls from HR. I immediately called my roommates, who were also coworkers, to see what was going on.
They told me HR had just fired around 30 people.
Apparently, HR had gathered around 30 employees into a conference room. Once everyone was there, they began pulling people out one at a time into a separate conference room for individual interviews. Each person was confronted and asked point-blank whether they had been drinking during their lunch breaks. Most of the people they questioned were young recent college grads, and figured it wasn't a big deal since the department manager himself had encouraged the culture. They answered honestly and admitted they'd occasionally had a beer with lunch.
The crazy part was that HR didn't actually have proof. They were acting on reports from another employee. As soon as they admitted to drinking alcohol on the clock, HR had grounds to terminate them, and they were fired on the spot.
One person handled it differently. When asked if he'd been drinking on the job, he flatly denied it and said he would never do that. Since HR had no evidence beyond hearsay, they couldn't do anything, and he kept his job.
After hearing all of this from my roommates, I knew exactly why HR had been calling me. When they finally reached me, I acted completely surprised by the accusation and told them I'd never been drinking during lunch. Without any evidence or a confession, there wasn't much they could do.
When I returned from London, the atmosphere in the office had completely changed. It had gone from a social, collaborative workplace to one where everyone kept their heads down and barely spoke. Seeing so many coworkers and friends suddenly gone was depressing.
Eventually, HR confronted the department manager who had helped create the whole culture. They asked whether he'd been handing out beers and encouraging employees to drink. He denied everything.
HR then reminded him that this was a high-security facility with security cameras recording continuously, and they could review the footage if necessary.
At that point, he realized he was cornered. Instead of continuing the conversation, he resigned on the spot. Because he was experienced and well-connected, he landed another management job at a competing company not long afterward. Meanwhile, about 30 entry-level employees had lost theirs.
The fallout affected me as well. I was working on a contract that had about six months remaining, and I was already training the person who would replace me when it ended. My replacement was among the employees who had been fired, so I suddenly had to recruit and train an entirely new replacement in a fraction of the time.
Looking back, I want to be clear that drinking on the job waisn't acceptable, and HR wasn't wrong to enforce the policy. Nobody should have been drinking at work. What bothers me is how the culture started. A manager normalized the behavior, encouraged it, and made a lot of young employees think it was acceptable. When the consequences arrived, he denied any involvement and walked away with his career intact while the people who trusted his example paid the price.
It's still one of the most surreal workplace situations I've ever experienced.
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19points
#22
I had to fire an employee because when IT tried to push an update to his computer, the hard drive was full.
They walked in to my office and handed me a thick folder saying, “this is what was filling up the hard drive.”
Of course I opened it and it was full of the most disgusting granny p**n You could ever imagine.
The IT guys all busted out laughing.
They walked in to my office and handed me a thick folder saying, “this is what was filling up the hard drive.”
Of course I opened it and it was full of the most disgusting granny p**n You could ever imagine.
The IT guys all busted out laughing.
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19points
#23
I had a young guy, pretty new, on my team doing PC/IT technical support. He'd had some issues and his manager had him in a team room having a 1x1. I don't know what happened to kick things into motion but the yelling started, an office chair was thrown, security came to the room and dude ran! He ran through the office being chased by security, manager on the phone with the police while run after them. Guy got away, too, evading both security and police across the office complex and just never came back. It was really shocking and almost funny at the time. Lots of his coworkers were rooting for him.
18points
#24
I get called into HR after a couple other people who exited looking upset, grabbed their stuff and left for the day. Im assuming im getting laid off. Nope.
They are buying me a new desk and chair. Why? Because the alarm went off last night, and they discovered that after hours one of the managers and his employee were having s*x at the office for the last year. Which...ok I dont care?
Turns out they were having s*x on everyones desk and chairs-starting with the CEO, and working their way down.
Im not in the C team. Im not even a manager. Im a engineer. They replaced almost every single piece of office furniture in the building.
I thought that was kind of spectacular. Womans mom worked at the company, as did the guys wife. They kept their jobs. But...yeah.
They are buying me a new desk and chair. Why? Because the alarm went off last night, and they discovered that after hours one of the managers and his employee were having s*x at the office for the last year. Which...ok I dont care?
Turns out they were having s*x on everyones desk and chairs-starting with the CEO, and working their way down.
Im not in the C team. Im not even a manager. Im a engineer. They replaced almost every single piece of office furniture in the building.
I thought that was kind of spectacular. Womans mom worked at the company, as did the guys wife. They kept their jobs. But...yeah.
Report
18points
#25
Back when i was in order risk assessment I had to tell a sales report no after he asked me to clear a $10k order that was obvious fraud. He screenshot our convo, saved it as "Idiot" and proceeded to send it directly back to me. It clearly was for his team and he was just a f*****g moron. I sent it to his manager and he only lasted another few weeks after that.
It was just funny to see someone being a d**k make such a bonehead mistake.
It was just funny to see someone being a d**k make such a bonehead mistake.
17points
#26
An old manager of mine got fired for extorting pain pills from some of her employees. Specifically one guy. He had terrible, legitimate back issues, and would sometimes not be able to get out of bed because moving hurt too much. So she made him give her x number of pills in exchange for not marking him as being gone. He eventually got sick of it when she suggested he steal some from his elderly mom when he didn't have enough to give her and to take himself. He's been keeping records, saving texts over a few years and turned her in.
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17points
#27
My brother and all of his friends (crew) shut down the Kentucky Fried Chicken in the middle of the day, locked the doors, and went to the river.
17points
#28
I don't know if this counts as spectacular but I thought it took some balls to pull off as long as he did but I was working in construction on a mega project for Wal-Mart in building a new distribution center for them in Indianapolis. Think it was something like 2 million square feet.
My company is on site for a variety of work but we had a guy who was there on site with me doing concrete work.
When you're working industrial concrete, there's a series of tests for 'viscosity' where you test the 'slump' and you should be collecting a sample from every 5 trucks to make cylinders that will be cured and crush tested.
This fella was faking his numbers and barely following protocol for his cylinders, which took a bit of work to determine but we were able to compare against another company on site also doing concrete testing, but that's not why he got fired that just created a massive headache for us.
What the guy got caught and fired for was he was supposed to be working Tuesday to Friday nights and it so happened one of those Friday nights I was also assigned to the site and I couldn't find him.
It's a massive site so sometimes people are taking a break somewhere, located on another part of the site, left to go get some food while they waited for a truck to come in, I'm trying to find him, he's not answering his phone so I just take over and handle the testing we needed done since I was already there for the weekend.
I call our boss and let him know so-and-so isn't on site, did he request off or let you know where he's going and they said no so they pull up his company trucks GPS.
Dude was in South Carolina.
Turns out he'd been leaving the job site in the early evenings of Friday to spend his weekends in South Carolina and then drive back to be onsite for Tuesday, all while recording his driving time to South Carolina as work time and collecting his per diem for supposedly staying at a hotel in Indi.
Dude f****d up a good thing for a lot of us because the company started cracking down hard on time cards, GPS and general employee tracking when they had been pretty lax and trusting.
My company is on site for a variety of work but we had a guy who was there on site with me doing concrete work.
When you're working industrial concrete, there's a series of tests for 'viscosity' where you test the 'slump' and you should be collecting a sample from every 5 trucks to make cylinders that will be cured and crush tested.
This fella was faking his numbers and barely following protocol for his cylinders, which took a bit of work to determine but we were able to compare against another company on site also doing concrete testing, but that's not why he got fired that just created a massive headache for us.
What the guy got caught and fired for was he was supposed to be working Tuesday to Friday nights and it so happened one of those Friday nights I was also assigned to the site and I couldn't find him.
It's a massive site so sometimes people are taking a break somewhere, located on another part of the site, left to go get some food while they waited for a truck to come in, I'm trying to find him, he's not answering his phone so I just take over and handle the testing we needed done since I was already there for the weekend.
I call our boss and let him know so-and-so isn't on site, did he request off or let you know where he's going and they said no so they pull up his company trucks GPS.
Dude was in South Carolina.
Turns out he'd been leaving the job site in the early evenings of Friday to spend his weekends in South Carolina and then drive back to be onsite for Tuesday, all while recording his driving time to South Carolina as work time and collecting his per diem for supposedly staying at a hotel in Indi.
Dude f****d up a good thing for a lot of us because the company started cracking down hard on time cards, GPS and general employee tracking when they had been pretty lax and trusting.
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17points
#29
One guy decided to start dating my brothers wife (family owned business). So needless to say he was let go for no specific reason.
Another one was a guy that left his windows cracked in his truck. A cat was able to get in on multiple occasions who then found and ate his lunch. Third time he caught the cat he decided to pull out his firearm and sh**t at it.
Another one was a guy that left his windows cracked in his truck. A cat was able to get in on multiple occasions who then found and ate his lunch. Third time he caught the cat he decided to pull out his firearm and sh**t at it.
16points
#30
Had a boss who some weeks would act strangely and forget staff / customer protocols. Turns out him and his identical twin were role sharing.
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16points
#31
A guy at the Sears I worked at was fired for stealing an iPad and other electronics and when the cops searched his bag he had a bunch of Crack on him too.
It was his first and only day.
It was his first and only day.
15points
#32
I used to work at a popular resort hotel in Florida. The President of the United States was scheduled to stay overnight at our hotel, so the Secret Service showed up weeks in advance to do various things in preparation. One of those things was to run a background check on every single employee. Turns out 2 of the housekeeping staff had outstanding warrants, were arrested and subsequently terminated.
The day the President was supposed to arrive, his plans were changed. He never showed up.
The day the President was supposed to arrive, his plans were changed. He never showed up.
15points
#33
Large sales company made the decision to provide laptops to field personnel. This change met that they needed to return their iPads and swap them out with a laptop. One of the office drones saw a big stack of iPads and thought “why not?” He stole the whole bunch all at once (50+) but didn’t know that the Find-Me function was still active. It took less than a day for the police and company security to show up at his door.
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15points
#34
A hot shot at our company banged their secretary.
They didn't just get fired. They got blackballed from the entire industry. The company then also fired the secretary and gave her the same treatment.
If you're like, why?
If you bang one of your bosses at a big company, whilst the company knew it.
You can argue that your boss took advantage of you and that the company failed to protect you. You can then force the company into an extremely expensive settlement.
(This settlement can be so exstermly high, that CEO's have been fired for banging their secretaries).
They didn't just get fired. They got blackballed from the entire industry. The company then also fired the secretary and gave her the same treatment.
If you're like, why?
If you bang one of your bosses at a big company, whilst the company knew it.
You can argue that your boss took advantage of you and that the company failed to protect you. You can then force the company into an extremely expensive settlement.
(This settlement can be so exstermly high, that CEO's have been fired for banging their secretaries).
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15points
#35
I'm in Construction (skilled trade).
Apprentice works for 6 years, gets promoted to Foreman. Gets a company truck, with company name, phone number on it.
Goes to a jobsite (College), parks on the street.
Leaves his b*ng sitting on the center console, in plain view of passers by. Company name and phone number on the door. As you can imagine, it wasn't long before a young adult walked by the truck, and made a call.
After working for this opportunity for years, he was fired that morning.
Apprentice works for 6 years, gets promoted to Foreman. Gets a company truck, with company name, phone number on it.
Goes to a jobsite (College), parks on the street.
Leaves his b*ng sitting on the center console, in plain view of passers by. Company name and phone number on the door. As you can imagine, it wasn't long before a young adult walked by the truck, and made a call.
After working for this opportunity for years, he was fired that morning.
14points
#36
First day at the company, company retreat at a resort that you've heard of.
Gets drunk. REALLY drunk. Can't function or speak drunk. Resort staff puts him in a wheelchair because he can't walk. His boss is called and told "He's your problem now." Boss has to watch him all night in case he stops breathing.
Earlier, employee had been in his own room. Drunk. Really drunk on red wine.
The next morning after employee has been fired, housekeeping enters employees room. Sees red liquid sprayed across the walls. Housekeeping thinks it's blood and that there has been a m****r. Police are called.
Gets drunk. REALLY drunk. Can't function or speak drunk. Resort staff puts him in a wheelchair because he can't walk. His boss is called and told "He's your problem now." Boss has to watch him all night in case he stops breathing.
Earlier, employee had been in his own room. Drunk. Really drunk on red wine.
The next morning after employee has been fired, housekeeping enters employees room. Sees red liquid sprayed across the walls. Housekeeping thinks it's blood and that there has been a m****r. Police are called.
Report
14points
#37
He worked in a very secure public position, like secret clearance.
Had 5 kids, farm, family plus this position. Got talked into trying M**h one night at the Casino.
For the next 3 months, he used the company credit card to gamble and buy more M**h.
To avoid being caught, he would pay the credit card before a statement generated to officials.
After 3 months, he could no longer pay card and cover his new M**h habit.
Failed d**g test, caught with over 7grand on company credit card. Promptly fired, prosecuted and sent to prison for 8 years.
Threw away a great wife, kids, farm, great job, just like that!
Had 5 kids, farm, family plus this position. Got talked into trying M**h one night at the Casino.
For the next 3 months, he used the company credit card to gamble and buy more M**h.
To avoid being caught, he would pay the credit card before a statement generated to officials.
After 3 months, he could no longer pay card and cover his new M**h habit.
Failed d**g test, caught with over 7grand on company credit card. Promptly fired, prosecuted and sent to prison for 8 years.
Threw away a great wife, kids, farm, great job, just like that!
Report
14points
#38
When i was a welder:
Co worker was a well liked (not so liked) prankster. And he would commonly weld other people's tools to random tables (tables are metal in weld shops). And one day while he was welding, someone welded his boots together (steel toe). Well after he got his boots off, he was hollering and b******g. No one owned up to the prank, as we all loved (hated) the guy.
Next morning when we got to the shop dude was being escorted out, because he s**t on the owners desk...as a prank, for not forcing someone to buy him a new pair of boots.
Also watched a foreman get fired when I was an iron worker.
We were working top of a 4 story building, laying sheet metal roof. We had two portash**ters on top. The buckets were FULL, and we begged for them to be taken down, no one would. So the foreman filled them with diesel, threw a zippo in them and let them burn....the blue water and turds floated down the building, all over the pipe fitters, electricians and whatever trades were down there. Foreman had to be escorted off by police so they didnt k**l him.
Co worker was a well liked (not so liked) prankster. And he would commonly weld other people's tools to random tables (tables are metal in weld shops). And one day while he was welding, someone welded his boots together (steel toe). Well after he got his boots off, he was hollering and b******g. No one owned up to the prank, as we all loved (hated) the guy.
Next morning when we got to the shop dude was being escorted out, because he s**t on the owners desk...as a prank, for not forcing someone to buy him a new pair of boots.
Also watched a foreman get fired when I was an iron worker.
We were working top of a 4 story building, laying sheet metal roof. We had two portash**ters on top. The buckets were FULL, and we begged for them to be taken down, no one would. So the foreman filled them with diesel, threw a zippo in them and let them burn....the blue water and turds floated down the building, all over the pipe fitters, electricians and whatever trades were down there. Foreman had to be escorted off by police so they didnt k**l him.
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14points
#39
He was a great boss.
Like leveraged corporate funds for us to have quarterly luncheons as a government contractor. That's just not a thing. Sometimes the program manager would spend profits for a holiday party. He also talked thru problems and mediated issues between the government and the contractor personnel.
Anyway, ole boy gets escorted out of the building one day. Turns out he figured out how to circumvent government censors and was look at egregious amounts of p**n. Like, 500 individual links per day for months. None of it was illegal; s**t like "big t*****s," "b*****b," "lesbian," but it absolutely amazed all of us employees.
Like leveraged corporate funds for us to have quarterly luncheons as a government contractor. That's just not a thing. Sometimes the program manager would spend profits for a holiday party. He also talked thru problems and mediated issues between the government and the contractor personnel.
Anyway, ole boy gets escorted out of the building one day. Turns out he figured out how to circumvent government censors and was look at egregious amounts of p**n. Like, 500 individual links per day for months. None of it was illegal; s**t like "big t*****s," "b*****b," "lesbian," but it absolutely amazed all of us employees.
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13points
#40
Peeing in a coffee cup and leaving it on his desk because he was too lazy to go to the bathroom 20 feet away.
13points