Nowadays, a very common sentiment amongst disgruntled employees is that everyone should “act their wage.” The idea is that if you’re unappreciated and underpaid, you should not be going above and beyond while on the clock. Do just enough of what’s required of you to keep the job, but don’t exert any more energy than is necessary.
Some people, however, take this mindset a little too far. Managers on Reddit have recently been sharing stories of employees that they had to fire for the most ridiculous reasons. From feeding the building’s rats to drinking on the job, these workers seemed like they were determined to get fired. Enjoy reading through these wild stories, and be sure to upvote the ones that leave your jaw on the floor!
#1
Wasn't the manager, but I witnessed it. Worked on a local cruise ship, day cruises around the lake, that kinda thing. New guy on the crew, his third day working. Called in to tell the captain that he had hit some traffic and was goin to be 15 minutes late. Captain came to let us know. We told him we saw him asleep in his car in the company parking lot up the hill. 68 year old captain with two replaced knees marched right up the hill to fire him while he was in his car.
40points
#2
There was a guy at my company who was a field supervisor. He let go of 2 of his guys go but didn't tell HR. Instead he changed their banking info for their direct deposit to a his own credentials. And he kept them active on payroll as field personnel while he collected their paychecks until he got caught.
35points
#3
We had a lady forcing herself to be invited to a supplier event in Italy. After being accepted and receiving an invitation, she forced the supplier to invite also an intern of the company.
So she goes to the event and they enjoy a day of conferences in a nice hotel, great lunch and even better dinner. The next day, they don’t show up for the continuation of the event and, once spotted by the supplier, she says they preferred to enjoy the day sightseeing.
Supplier calls me furious. I knew she was at the event as we paid for the airline tickets and booked her hotel. However, we don’t have interns.
Supplier says that he has proof that we have an intern.
Ok, show me the photo.
It’s her husband.
So she goes to the event and they enjoy a day of conferences in a nice hotel, great lunch and even better dinner. The next day, they don’t show up for the continuation of the event and, once spotted by the supplier, she says they preferred to enjoy the day sightseeing.
Supplier calls me furious. I knew she was at the event as we paid for the airline tickets and booked her hotel. However, we don’t have interns.
Supplier says that he has proof that we have an intern.
Ok, show me the photo.
It’s her husband.
34points
#4
I was the senior director of IT for a publicly traded bank.
I left to start my own company.
Got a call three months in asking me to come back to physically help identify servers that were in a secure area. Weird, but…ok. These are big machines, about the size of dishwashers.
Turns out the new guy in charge took two servers home to use as gaming computers.
At that time, in the late 1990s, each one of those computers cost $500,000.
They were backups filled with account data and every type of secure transaction log for bank, daily fed wires to checking account data, personal loans, you name it.
He didn’t even purge them, he just literally took them home in a truck, set them up in his living room and was using them online for his gaming.
When I got to the bank, I could not find the servers, and pulled the guy aside along with law enforcement where he confessed.
The treasury department, Secret Service and FBI went to his house and took the servers back.
I have never seen or heard from him again.
I left to start my own company.
Got a call three months in asking me to come back to physically help identify servers that were in a secure area. Weird, but…ok. These are big machines, about the size of dishwashers.
Turns out the new guy in charge took two servers home to use as gaming computers.
At that time, in the late 1990s, each one of those computers cost $500,000.
They were backups filled with account data and every type of secure transaction log for bank, daily fed wires to checking account data, personal loans, you name it.
He didn’t even purge them, he just literally took them home in a truck, set them up in his living room and was using them online for his gaming.
When I got to the bank, I could not find the servers, and pulled the guy aside along with law enforcement where he confessed.
The treasury department, Secret Service and FBI went to his house and took the servers back.
I have never seen or heard from him again.
32points
#5
Got fired (by me) for s*xually harassing his manager DURING a s*xual harassment prevention training session.
31points
#6
Happened to a friend: Employee brought brownies to work on his birthday. There was w*ed in it. Everyone was sent home at like 10 am (high af, obvs).
Employee was fired on the spot.
Employee was fired on the spot.
30points
#7
I was the director of a county museum with a staff of 12. I had a security system installed that included cameras and recorded each time the exterior doors opened and closed.
The museum was open on weekends and a young woman was the regular receptionist those days. About two weeks after the system was installed, I decided to check and see if it was accurately working so I printed out some of its standards reports and checked the weekend videos. I was astounded to see the weekend receptionist get up and leave the building without locking it and setting the alarms. She returned in a few minutes with her boyfriend.
They unlocked and took some money from the donations box then left for lunch. Again, she did not lock up or set the alarms. The museum was open to the public and unattended. A few people did come in and wander around the exhibits and left. One kind person even left the admission fee on the receptionist desk. About two hours later the couple returned, nuzzling each other and went into the ladies bathroom together.
They emerged twenty or so minutes later arranging their clothes. Obviously, they had been in the ladies having s*x. The boyfriend left and the employee sat down at the receptionist desk and put her head down to nap for the next hour. Again, two people came in and she didn’t even wake.
When she came in the following Friday to get her check I told her she was fired. All of us really liked this employee, and thought she was a honest person. But she had no qualms about leaving the museum wide open for hours. You see, we had the coded alarm system before, but never the ability to know when the museum doors were open or locked.
She argued with me, until I showed her the video. She wasn’t aware the new system had been installed and there were now cameras in every room.
The museum was open on weekends and a young woman was the regular receptionist those days. About two weeks after the system was installed, I decided to check and see if it was accurately working so I printed out some of its standards reports and checked the weekend videos. I was astounded to see the weekend receptionist get up and leave the building without locking it and setting the alarms. She returned in a few minutes with her boyfriend.
They unlocked and took some money from the donations box then left for lunch. Again, she did not lock up or set the alarms. The museum was open to the public and unattended. A few people did come in and wander around the exhibits and left. One kind person even left the admission fee on the receptionist desk. About two hours later the couple returned, nuzzling each other and went into the ladies bathroom together.
They emerged twenty or so minutes later arranging their clothes. Obviously, they had been in the ladies having s*x. The boyfriend left and the employee sat down at the receptionist desk and put her head down to nap for the next hour. Again, two people came in and she didn’t even wake.
When she came in the following Friday to get her check I told her she was fired. All of us really liked this employee, and thought she was a honest person. But she had no qualms about leaving the museum wide open for hours. You see, we had the coded alarm system before, but never the ability to know when the museum doors were open or locked.
She argued with me, until I showed her the video. She wasn’t aware the new system had been installed and there were now cameras in every room.
Report
27points
#8
The manager robbed the restaurant on Christmas Eve night wearing a Grinch mask as a disguise.
Unfortunately for him, he had a distinctive tattoo on his hand that was visible on the security footage, and he was fired and arrested Christmas morning.
Unfortunately for him, he had a distinctive tattoo on his hand that was visible on the security footage, and he was fired and arrested Christmas morning.
25points
#9
Worked at Jimmy John's for a while. This one dude put earwax in a customer's sandwich. Fortunately, the shift leader saw him do it so she could stop that sandwich from going out. He got fired immediately.
24points
#10
Was part of s design team that remodeled/designed a Casino. it was close to opening so the Casino team was moving the contents of the existing Vault to the new Vault. They would do this in big wheeled carts with a few Casino management staff and armed security at all four corners. One of the tradesmen decided he'd pretend like he was robbing it as they moved it across the Casino.
Pulled his drill lout to make it look like a g*n. He was drawn down on by at least 2 of the security officers with sh*tg*ns. The GC field superintendent told him to leave immediately! This was a union job, so he called his union rep. once he arrived, the union rep watched the video and told him to get the f**k off the property. We still had lots to do before opening but that guy was not going to be part of it.
Pulled his drill lout to make it look like a g*n. He was drawn down on by at least 2 of the security officers with sh*tg*ns. The GC field superintendent told him to leave immediately! This was a union job, so he called his union rep. once he arrived, the union rep watched the video and told him to get the f**k off the property. We still had lots to do before opening but that guy was not going to be part of it.
24points
#11
A guy at my work was fired after only 2 weeks.
During those 2 weeks he did a lot of things to annoy people, repeatedly resulting in him being called into our boss's office to be told "don't do that." It was annoying/stressing our boss to constantly have to tell this guy not to do very obvious things.
One day my boss calls him into his office for another chat. My boss isn't sure if he's going to fire him yet, but is going to see how the chat goes.
The guy starts off the conversation with "[Boss], you really need to relax." My boss said "You know, you're right. You're fired."
The dude had unknowingly recommended his own termination.
2 weeks later he came back to the office to try to convince our boss that our boss had made a mistake firing him. That did not go well.
During those 2 weeks he did a lot of things to annoy people, repeatedly resulting in him being called into our boss's office to be told "don't do that." It was annoying/stressing our boss to constantly have to tell this guy not to do very obvious things.
One day my boss calls him into his office for another chat. My boss isn't sure if he's going to fire him yet, but is going to see how the chat goes.
The guy starts off the conversation with "[Boss], you really need to relax." My boss said "You know, you're right. You're fired."
The dude had unknowingly recommended his own termination.
2 weeks later he came back to the office to try to convince our boss that our boss had made a mistake firing him. That did not go well.
24points
#12
He started the week before Christmas and was a last minute addition to the Christmas “party”.
I say “party” because it simply involved everyone finishing early on the Thursday (because not everyone was in on the Friday), traipsing to the pub a few doors down, the CEO putting his card behind the bar and everyone getting f*****g annihilated. It was amazing.
The new guy went too heavy, too fast. He was ruined by 7pm and we could tell he was one of those that couldn’t handle his drink. That was the point he decided to walk up to the CEO and loudly declare, “you, mate, are a f*****g c**t”, and laugh loudly at himself. No one else laughed. You could’ve heard a pin drop. He walked in the next day and got escorted immediately back out.
For the record, the CEO is not a c**t. He’s legit one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. We’re friends on LinkedIn and I’ve had two jobs since then because of him recommending me to others. He’s a top guy.
I say “party” because it simply involved everyone finishing early on the Thursday (because not everyone was in on the Friday), traipsing to the pub a few doors down, the CEO putting his card behind the bar and everyone getting f*****g annihilated. It was amazing.
The new guy went too heavy, too fast. He was ruined by 7pm and we could tell he was one of those that couldn’t handle his drink. That was the point he decided to walk up to the CEO and loudly declare, “you, mate, are a f*****g c**t”, and laugh loudly at himself. No one else laughed. You could’ve heard a pin drop. He walked in the next day and got escorted immediately back out.
For the record, the CEO is not a c**t. He’s legit one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. We’re friends on LinkedIn and I’ve had two jobs since then because of him recommending me to others. He’s a top guy.
24points
#13
I'm not a manager, but my last manager was fired because he was not paying employees overtime cuz corporate was on his a*s about having a lot of overtime. An employee immediately noticed he wasnt being paid extra for his double (16 hour) shifts. S****y manager was instantly fired once corporate found out how he did such an amazing job suddenly lowering overtime hours... so many managers dont deserve to be managers.
24points
#14
I wasn't his manager, but I had a guy try to r**e a coworker in her car in the parking lot on his first day at work. Iono who goes, 'Man I really need this jo--no, you know what? I need to do a r**e even more!' Fortunately someone saw them struggling within seconds and ran over to help, so his a*s went to jail.
23points
#15
I worked with a woman who got fired for making tiny calzones for the rats, because she felt bad for starving them when we had to implement a super strict cleaning regimen and lock up all their food sources.
20points
#16
Led a team at the corporate office for an outdoors themed retail chain. The worker purchased a firearm from one of our outlets with the employee discount then gifted it to a friend immediately. It was discovered quickly because the recipient of said gift came back into the store the next day and requested service on the firearm.
In short, they were fired for an obvious straw purchase. Got in trouble with the ATF too.
In short, they were fired for an obvious straw purchase. Got in trouble with the ATF too.
20points
#17
Audited a bank teller’s drawer. She had a handwritten IOU in drawer of all the money she ‘borrowed’ over a couple weeks period in correct denominations down to the nickel.
Another teller was stealing money from customers’ business accounts via cashier’s checks made out to cash. She was caught because she was the only teller to misspell ‘hundred’ as ‘hudrend’.
Both were fired and prosecuted.
Another teller was stealing money from customers’ business accounts via cashier’s checks made out to cash. She was caught because she was the only teller to misspell ‘hundred’ as ‘hudrend’.
Both were fired and prosecuted.
19points
#18
I wasn’t in their department but when I was a department manager at a grocery store the high school cashiers had a racket ringing up everything their friends bought as bananas
One day the cops showed up and arrested like 8 people (they scheduled them all at the same time to make it easy lol).
One day the cops showed up and arrested like 8 people (they scheduled them all at the same time to make it easy lol).
18points
#19
I knew a guy who stole iPhones from the warehouse we worked in, ran out on a meeting with management about it with the stolen phones in his pocket, jumped a barbed wire fence to escape, and then filed a grievance for "wrongful termination".
17points
#20
Guy at my old office got walked out on his third day. He'd been telling everyone he was a 'cybersecurity expert' and on day two he plugged a random USB drive he found in the parking lot into his work computer to 'see what was on it.' It was a pentest drop our own security team had planted as a trap. He didn't even pass go.
17points