Whether fair or uncalled for, many times all it takes to get fired is one little push. One little dare, and you lose your job in a second. That or, you know, blatantly challenging your bosses to fire you. Like many of these people did.
1. Target Dress Code
A friend of mine worked at Target which we all probably know has a khaki pants and red shirt dress code. His manager got on his case about his "salmon" or not-red-enough shirt and told him to wear red and khaki the next day. So he did something amazing.
The next day, he shows up in red pants and a khaki shirt. He got fired on the spot.
Freepik,freepik
2. Fired By Liars For Lying
I was working at a telemarketing place. It was a horrible job. The company sold those paper rolls you put in debit machines at five times the normal price.
The pitch was essentially designed to trick the caller into thinking we were the usual supplier and we were just calling to confirm an order. It was selling by lying. Obviously, I decided it was unethical and I refused to do it. But I didn't tell them that, of course. No, I had a better idea than that. Instead, I would go into work every day, put on my headset, and pretend to call people.
Sometimes, if a supervisor was nearby, I would actually call people and go through the pitch. On occasion, a caller would fall for it, and I would have to tell them not to buy anything from us. It was great fun.
On the fourth or fifth day of work, the head office of this company was raided by the authorities. We didn't have work that day. We came back the next week, and our company had "a new owner" and a "new company name". It was back to business as usual. I think they were a bit distracted hiding from the authorities, and it took them two weeks to notice that I hadn't done anything the whole time I was there.
Finally, the "new owner" called me into his office and told me that I hadn't sold anything and that I had to change my attitude or I would be fired. I apologized and said I would try harder. The next day, I did what I normally did: pretended to call people and drew epic pictures on the back of the calling lists. The boss called me into his office again. He was furious. So angry that I would DARE to lie to him about trying harder, so he fired me. I have to admit I was a little confused. Did he not realize what kind of company he was running?
Anyway, I just smiled at him and walked out. I had successfully acquired enough money to get home for Christmas, so I was quite pleased with myself.
3. Someone Call The Health Department
I worked at an Asian buffet for a week. I was in charge of desserts and salads; writing recipes, ordering food, etc.
On my 7th day of work, I went to clean the fridge out and noticed a box of broccoli had fallen on the floor and the broccoli was all over the place. So, naturally, I picked it up and threw it out.
When the owner saw the broccoli in the garbage, he flew into a rage.
He then picked all the broccoli out of the garbage, rinsed it quickly, and placed it back in the fridge. I couldn't believe my eyes. We had it out for about 5 minutes before I walked out.
Freepik,8photo
4. Threat Escalated
My brother was working as a sandwich maker at Potbelly’s when he messed up an order for a particularly irritable customer. The customer gets lippy, he responds in kind. She says she's gonna have him fired, he says he's gonna have her executed. The former happened; the latter did not.
5. Random Testing
I wasn't fired. I quit. I was an IT worker for a medium-sized business. Not my field, but I learned enough about it in acquiring my degree to make due. I passed the pre-employment drug test. I passed the background check too. I started work on a Monday.
After meeting some people and receiving some documentation I began learning the ropes from another guy in the department. Suspiciously, the IT manager had told me that they had a jacket policy that required me to hang my jacket up all the way down the hall near the owner's office. Never mind the fact that all of the other guys in IT had their jackets near their workstations. Not thinking too far into this yet, I oblige. I should have seen the signs.
After about 45 minutes of learning some of the logistics of the department, the HR woman who hired me asked to "borrow me for a minute". I followed her to the IT manager's office to find my jacket splayed over a chair in post-search fashion. She informed me that they were concerned that I was under the influence of illicit substances.
She listed 4 things: 1) I twice drank water from the drinking fountain. 2) My lips seemed dry. 3) I appeared agitated. 4) My pupils were dilated.
In my head: 1) I require H20 to survive. 2) It is winter in the midwest. 3) It is my first day in a corporate environment filled with folks who I don't know in the slightest. 4) Turned out to be a lie upon inspection.
They informed me that company policy was for me to take a test immediately. I hold my tongue (other than expressing surprise) and go take the tests. The HR woman drives me to a clinic. Negative prelim assessment. She informs me that I can continue work when I get back. I replied, "Oh, I'll be resigning when we get back". The car ride was dead silent.
Get into the building, head up to the IT manager's office, and inform him that I have passed the drug test but will be resigning. Something along the lines of not wanting to become part of an environment where the level of trust is so low...a poisonous atmosphere, if you will.
Oh and, by the way, the jacket was clean. They didn't find anything in it. I just found it strange that they "tricked" me into hanging it up out of the IT department so they could search it.
6. Fifteen Dollars
When I was 21, I worked at a cheesy hotel resort in Phoenix. I had to hustle drinks from the restaurant/bar at the top floor of the 10-story resort to the people at the pool (ground floor obviously).
It was a pretty fun job actually. I got a lot of exercise and the customers were pretty fun and just looking to have a good time. I spent most of my time outside, and I made really good tips. I wasn't too fond of my boss though. She seemed really immature, harping, and vain.
But whatever...people are people. I thought I could deal with it. I was wrong.
One day I had to serve about 8 women. They were kind of like sorority girls. They got tipsy and were super mean to me, made fun of my uniform and made fun of me. They would purposely run me by massively staggering their orders, laughing hysterically every time. And of course, they stiffed me completely. ZERO tip. Bad day at the office for me.
The next day I went into work and my boss FIRED me for taking money from those chicks. I didn't take a thing! I was floored. They told her that I'd left with money and didn't come back with the change (like 15$). I'd never do that.
Still, she wouldn't give me my last paycheck until I gave her the money. She was such a total jerk about it too. So I decided to get petty.
I went to the bank and got $15 in pennies. I came back into the office and grabbed my last paycheck out of her hand and threw the pennies all over her office. When I tried to run out, she grabbed me by my hair. I got free by losing a chunk of hair in the process.
I'd like to say it felt great...but it didn't. I went home and cried about losing a job that I liked, and the injustice of the world.
Freepik, pressphoto
7. Dare Gone Wrong
When I was 17, I worked at a Pizza Hut restaurant in the small town I grew up in. There was a guy there named Rodney who was also 17 and a quasi-friend. We laughed and joked but never hung out outside of work.
One night Rodney was working the drive-thru window while I worked the pizza board cutting and boxing the pies. At one point, Rodney runs over to my station to tell me that there is a really hot woman at the window. I laugh and respond without thinking “I will give you $20 to tell her that you want to lick her”. I should have known better.
Rodney goes back to the window and five minutes later is back at my station demanding his $20. I thought he was kidding until the woman's husband came INTO the restaurant 10 minutes later.
Rodney told the manager that the only reason he did it was because I offered to pay him $20.
Fired on the spot.
8. Reimbursement Over Insurance
I worked for a video game store in 2004 and made a whopping $6 an hour. One day someone took a $50 game during my shift. The next day the manager/owner tried to make me and another coworker reimburse him for the full $50. Even though the manager himself paid way less to stock it.
I couldn't stop myself, I HAD to say something. I told my boss, "Just because you’re dealing with a thief doesn't give you the right to be one to me". A few minutes later I lost my job.
The game in question was Fable. My coworker paid his $25 portion of the $50 and got to keep his job.
9. We Don’t Make Customers Smile ‘Round Here
This story happened to a friend of mine. He’d been putting little notes in the DVD cases at the blockbuster he worked at.
They were little things like "Hello" or "Enjoy the movie". They fired him the moment they found out.
10. Refused To Work More Days
My first IT job was 24 years ago. I worked at a mom & pop shop. I had started full-time three months prior. My "manager" went to lunch and the boss came in. He told me he wanted me to work every Saturday now (I’d been working every other Saturday at this point).
I tell him I can't. He says I better look for another job then. I ask “are you firing me?” and he says “yes”. I thank him, leave and drive right to the unemployment office.
Meanwhile, my manager comes back from lunch and sees signs in the window: Help Wanted: Computer tech. He asks the owner: “Where's (my name)?”
Flash forward 20+ years and I'm a senior-level security guy. I’m still good friends with my former manager and the owner has long since run his business into the ground.
11. Straight Out Of A Sitcom
One of the department heads in my office locked himself inside the conference room with an office admin. They had intercourse but were completely unaware that the teleconferencing system had been left on. It was broadcasting a live video feed to our remote office in Boston.
Yes, they were fired.
12. Catering To Clients
I was working at a deli for about 3 weeks. An extremely fat woman came up and gave me a hard time about everything. She said something along the lines of "I should be serving her every whim because she's the customer".
So I said "Here's a recommendation: they sell 2% milk now". I walked away from the counter, went into the back room and ate a Twix.
I then got fired shortly thereafter. Worth it.
Freepik,stockking
13. “We Don’t Pay You To Stand Around”
I was a busboy, standing at the restaurant window, staring out moodily on a rainy day, no customers.
Boss's wife: Rinnip, go clean the stoves. We aren't paying you just to stand around.
Me: At $1.65 an hour, you aren't paying me to do much of anything.
I was fired on the spot. And yes, the minimum wage in California was $1.65 when I was 17.
Freepik, freepik
14. Comeback Story
A friend of mine was working in downtown Indy on the 45th floor. He was in IT.
Out of the clear blue, on a Friday, they fire him for some made-up nonsense. He cleaned out his cubicle of personal items and left, determined to go to his neighborhood pub and tie one on.
They have a cafeteria on the 40th floor, and having worked there for 8 years, he had gotten to know the people. So he stopped in to say bye. Best decision he ever made.
He saw some other people taking an early lunch at the cafeteria that he knew from the 38th floor. They saw his box of personal items and figured out he had been fired. A quick discussion and impromptu job interview was set up.
He was hired on the spot to start Monday—he didn't even have to take his personal stuff home.
The best was Monday morning, when he got on the elevator with his old boss, who asked, "Where are you going?" "To work", he replied. "No you’re not", the old boss retorted, "I fired you Friday, don't you get that?" "Hey, I didn't say I was going to work for you, man"!
Priceless.
15. Knock Out
I punched my boss in the face. I got fired once he stopped crying.
16. Game Release Night
I worked at a GameStop alongside a friend of mine. On the weekend the Xbox 360 Slim came out, he was scheduled to work that night and the next morning completely alone.
He ended up having around 160 people requesting trade-ins (obviously we didn't have the inventory). Plus people just streaming in the door.
He finally snapped, told everyone to get out, locked the doors and left the keys on the counter. We had a good laugh about that one.
He was fired on the spot.
17. You Didn’t Do My Job? You’re Fired!
I’d been working as a game tech for an arcade—my worst job to date. My job was supposed to be simple things like fixing ticket jams and token counters.
But since I had a basic knowledge of computers and electronics, I was usually asked to do the more elaborate things. Things we normally left for my supervisor who was responsible for actual repairs.
It was a busy season and unfortunately, we were understaffed. I was asked to work a lock-in after having worked an open and close shift. I needed the money so I agreed.
Before the lock in I was charged with setting the games to free play for the people who paid to stay overnight. By 3 am the owner of the arcade could see that I was physically and mentally exhausted and sent me home early knowing I had the next few days off. I reminded him about the games on free play and he assured me my supervisor would fix them in the morning.
Fast forward to 2 days later. I come in for my opening shift to find 4 games still set to free play. I asked the owner what the other game techs worked on while I was off. I’d trained several on how to change games to and from free play so this was alarming to me. He informs me that only my supervisor worked while I was off.
He asked why I asked and I showed him the games still set to free play. Irate, the owner then confronted my supervisor reprimanding him for the obvious oversight. Five minutes later, the owner went back to his business and my supervisor called me to his office.
He tells me that since I can't be a team player he's going to fire me. He continues that I should have taken the blame since I was the one who changed them in the first place. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
A few months later I found out that the owner immediately fired my supervisor for firing me. He wanted to hire me back since I could do the supervisor's job anyway, but I’d already found a better job.
18. Refusing To Side With Evil
This was more of a "I don’t need this, I quit". than anything else.
I was working for ATT. During the first week out of training, a guy calls in to make payment arrangements for his bill that is over $1k. Looking at his bill, I comment that he might want to get a data plan if he intends to use that much data and he says "What? I have data blocked".
And surely, he had data blocked...until he called in a month before to change his messaging plan. I look at his history and he had called in previously to block data. But when you changed certain features (such as the messaging plan) you had to add a data plan.
So, whoever made the changes for him never put the block back on for his data.
I go to my supervisor who tells me to help him set up payment arrangements, I reiterate that the error is on our end. He asks if I told him that we made an error and I said I hadn't. So he told me to go ahead and transfer the call to him and he would set up arrangements.
I went back to my desk, informed the guy that we had made a mistake and what had happened. I then told him I would transfer him to my supervisor to correct it.
I got my things, gave my supervisor a big smile and walked out.
19. Great First Resume Entry
This is embarrassing but I didn't know how to tell time on an analog clock until the 7th grade.
In the 3rd grade I was a "library helper". This meant I was supposed to leave class at a certain time once or twice a week and help return, sort and shelve books. But there was just one problem.
My very first "shift" rolls around and I'm watching the clock all day trying to remember which hand was which. Eventually, even though I had no idea what time it was, it just felt right and I left class.
The librarian told me I was two hours late and advised me never to return.
On a related note, I was also fired from the 'lunch helpers' team in the 6th grade. Overall not a good start to my professional career.
Freepik, asier_relampagoes
20. Pants On…Fire?
I worked at an IHOP kind of place washing dishes many years ago. I also had a job at a gas station. I was really barely making ends meet and couldn't always keep my clothes super clean for a lack of time with the working of two jobs. I barely had any clothes to begin with.
So one day I was sick with a stomach bug but I had to work. I ended up crapping my pants at the gas station and throwing out my undies with no back up. I thought I cleaned up really well, but I didn't notice the mess bled through and was visible when I bent over to pick things up… And the pants were getting very thin in the back. Plus I was still feeling sick.
So off to my IHOP-type job right after the gas station. I'm in the kitchen washing dishes like a champ, no problems. I get a 15-minute break and sit at a table and drink some hot tea. I thought I farted, but in reality it was much worse.
Break over back to work. Well, my stained pants now have bled into the seat and a rip has developed in the back of my pants. I guess I should have known that the cool breeze was not normal. That and something felt wet.
So my manager comes by to talk to me on my way to the restroom to investigate my pants. I take off my hat. She calls my name and asks, "Were you sitting at that table?”' Pointing to where I drank my hot tea earlier. "Yes", I said, "I took my break there, why?” She says, "A customer says the chair smells like poop and was wet".
My face lit as red as a baboon's behind and I dropped my hat which I had been clutching in my hands. When I bent over to pick it up, I mooned half the restaurant and my manager with my poop-covered rear.
I was fired on the spot.
I wish unemployment had been 99 weeks back then.
21. Karma Won On This One
I worked at a fast food joint when I was 17. In the middle of my shift, I got called into the back office by two managers.
They told me (not accused, but presented it as fact) that $300 was missing from a till and that I was the thief. Being young, and very afraid I bawled my eyes out and just went home.
When my mother heard what had happened she was having none of it. Enter super mom.
My mother pulled together a bunch of facts and took the fast food chain to the Labour Board and eventually to court for unjust firing.
They’d fired me with absolutely no evidence I had done anything. There were two cameras in the store and neither of them covered the register in question. So there was no video.
On top of that, any employee on staff had access to the register at any given time, and also I had just gotten paid $700+ for two weeks where I had worked overtime. But I haven't even gotten to the sweetest part yet. My mother caused an investigation which ended up proving that a manager (who had taken a previous dislike to me) had actually taken the money—yes, one of the managers who had been present at my firing.
I won over $7,000 in the settlement, and promptly put it into my university fund.
22. Schedule Mishap
They used to give me my schedule a week ahead of time and I wrote it down. It said no work on Thursday. So I didn’t go to work on Thursday. I show up for my shift Friday morning to see a new girl on the register.
My boss asked “Why are you here?” I tell him “to work of course”. He then tells me I missed my shift the day before and he thought I wouldn't show up that day.
I questioned why nobody had called me and he told me “I should know my schedule by now”.
I had just started the job and was suddenly fired just like that.
23. The Salad Toss
I used to work at Einstein Bros. Bagels. Once there was a district meeting at my store and all of the local stores' employees and managers were in attendance.
After some random informational stuff, the regional manager begins to describe some of the new menu items we were going to have. He talks about a few of them before he begins a spiel on our new freshly made salads.
These were different from normal salads, which were pre-made and available in a fridge in front of the counter. After explaining the difference he then says:
“And cashiers [me]. When customers order our fresh new salads, please make sure to ask them if they would like their salads tossed today.”
I LOST it. I had a laughing fit that almost asphyxiated me.
I would laugh, then try to stop myself just to burst out laughing seconds later. After a solid 5 minutes of interruptions, I was asked to leave.
They got shut down about a month later anyway :)
24. Clever Retort
In high school, I worked at a movie theater. Things were slow and my boss told me to wipe down the poles that hold the ropes that designate where the lines begin. Yes, the poles.
He said “wipe down those poles” and I told him to wipe my pole.
Bye-bye job.
25. The Raisin Accident
A buddy and I worked at a movie theater. He was working one day as a floor supervisor, which meant he was in charge of cleaning things up.
So this really old woman trips in the hallway and breaks her hip. It's a big ordeal and the ambulance has to come. The woman starts claiming that she stepped on a Raisinet and that it was the theater's fault. WHO TRIPS ON A CHOCOLATE-COVERED RAISIN?
The manager, who was new to the theater, gets worried and decides to suspend my buddy to hopefully make the woman feel better. My friend was really mad about the whole situation and was already getting sick of our new boss, so he decided to get his revenge. He took a box of Raisinets and poured them all over the floor in the manager's office. He then starts stomping around yelling "Do you see this?! Do you see how they smash when I step on them? It's impossible to trip on a RAISIN"!
Fired on the spot. Worth it.
26. Gossip Gone Wrong
It wasn't exactly on the spot, but my boss once overheard me calling him a shaved Wookie while on lunch.
I said some other things. I was really venting. Turns out he was two booths behind me at the restaurant…
I had all kinds of free time the next day.
27. How Time Passes Us By
My cousin was working at a grocery store as a bagger while working on his undergrad.
He complained about something or was annoyed at the manager, and she said, "You know you're just a bagger, right?" to which he replied "And you're just a manager at this little grocery store, the difference between us is I won't be here the rest of my life".
He got fired. He’s a PhD at a top university now.
28. A Version Of “Ouch”
I yelled "jumping zombie Jesus and not-so-virgin Mary" when I burned my hand on the grill at McDonald’s.
My manager was a Morman and fired me for shouting profanity.
29. “He’s Right Behind Me, Isn’t He?”
We were closing down the bar after a big Saturday night and my boss asked me and someone else to stay (unpaid) for another hour to mop the floor because the cleaners wouldn't be in the next day.
After my boss had exited the room I turn to my colleague and say "Screw this. I'm gonna throw a bucket of soap water over it, make a sandwich and then have a nap on the sofa. The stupid smackhead wouldn't know a clean floor if he was snorting H off it". Big mistake.
I turn around laughing, and see my boss standing behind me. He was about to hand me the keys to lock up for the night. Oops!
30. For “Aiding” A Thief
I worked at TigerDirect. I got fired 30 minutes after the store closed as soon as a very particular "investigation" ended.
Someone helped themselves to a laptop. They blamed me.
Not for taking it myself, but for "aiding" the thief.
This was false. I gave the laptop to the cashier and told her it was for that guy. The guy slipped out of line and said "I forgot another thing". He came back with a monitor box and placed it beside the laptop to hide it away from the cashier's point of view. While she was cashing other people out, he swiped the laptop, walked up to the greeter at the door, and said "This is my laptop, I was just getting it repaired". The greeter let him go and off he went on his merry way.
TigerDirect did not have barcode door detectors. The greeter also got fired at the end of the shift, and he was rehired about five months later because he has down-syndrome and was going to sue the store.
The worst thing is, that was my first "infraction" and was there for 2 years as a Service Technician. Selling laptops wasn't even my job. I was just doing the salesman a favor.
The same thing would have happened to anyone. But because I TOUCHED THE LAPTOP, I was automatically labeled as an aid in theft.
Thankfully, unemployment insurance saw through my boss's weird reasoning and compensated me for nine months of same-wage pay. So I guess I won.
31. Milk Gymnastics
I was a cart attendant. You know how you forget the gallon of milk underneath the cart every now and then? Well, I decided to throw it in the air as high as I could one night. Turns out, that was a big mistake. I really thought I was the only one who saw it...
Apparently, it's frowned upon by customers—especially when it lands right next to them. Who would've known??
Freepik, asier_relampagoest
32. Indecent Exposure
I was working for a propane delivery company. I went to pull over into an empty parking lot to take a leak.
Get back in the truck to go back to the yard. As soon as I get there my boss calls me over and tells me someone saw me when I was peeing. There was a giant neon phone number for the company on the truck.
I was instantly fired.
Hippopx
33. Burn
I was working at a Sonic. I think it was my third day on the job. I'd just started cleaning the grill when the boss's son (who I went to High School with and had a few physical altercations with) purposely bumps me so my hand touches the back of the grill.
I burn my hand and turn to punch him in the face. It was after I hit him I realized two things: His father is standing 10 feet away looking like he wants to end my life, and that I have third-degree burns.
He fired his son, fired me for punching his kid, and then he drove me to the emergency room.
34. This Waiter Trying To Be Snarky
I was with a Japanese friend at a Denny's when he asked for some steak sauce. The waiter then pointed to the soy sauce on the side of the table. My friend said "That's soy sauce", to which the waiter replied, "That's YOUR steak sauce".
We called over the manager and he was fired on the spot. That was not our intention as we just wanted some A1 sauce.
35. Enough Said
Let’s just say the boss ended up having a grandson nine months later.
36. Fired For Wit
Years ago, I worked as a temp sweeping floors in a factory. There were quite a lot of women working there and the boss was constantly making inappropriate suggestions toward them.
At a certain point, he tapped his fat belly and said "Good tools are stored under a roof". To which I remarked, “nothing grows in the shadow”.
That was my last day.
37. For Being Rude To The Office Idiot
I worked at a crappy job binding books for four hours a day, every day. It was not too bad considering I could listen to my iPod and just go about it mechanically.
I worked with a guy who was way into weird conspiracy theories. I would listen to him and humor him because it was harmless fun.
Then we got a new guy. When they hired him, I’d been there for about four months. On his second day, while my other co-worker was away, he told me straight to my face that I don't have the authority to tell him how to do anything.
Mind you, I was showing him how to bind a book properly because he was royally messing it up, to the point where the book was falling apart. I wasn't mad at him, I was simply trying to correct him. Then, he came to me a few days later and complained that I wasn't stocking the soda in the refrigerator properly.
Being the person I am, who has three jobs as it is, I stopped caring what he had to say. Until one particular day, in which it was just me and him working. This was the final straw.
I’d had a pretty rough morning at my other job. We were left that afternoon to bind a lot of books by ourselves, which meant that, as the senior employee, I would be supervising.
At the end of the day, right before we left, I discovered that he had been binding the books completely wrong, again. But at this point, they'd all been sealed in envelopes. If they had gone out that way, we'd have been royally screwed.
So I said, "We need to open each of these and fix them". To which he replied, "You don't have the authority, they're fine as they are".
Now, I'm a relatively calm guy. I get angry, sure, but never really explode.
I exploded on this guy in a series of profanities and verbal assaults that, by the end of it, he was cowered into his turtle shell and kept repeating, "Okay, I'm sorry, okay, I'm sorry".
Unfortunately, the manager happened to overhear this and I wasn't allowed to come in the next day.
But honestly, it was completely worth it. Guy was a total tool.
38. Sharing The High
I used to work at a Dairy Queen and this guy we worked with got fired because he forgot to clean the milkshake/blizzard spindle. This was after making a milkshake with hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Those kids probably had the best blizzard they have ever had.
Wikimedia Commons, Exchange Associate
39. “What’s The Worst That Could Happen?”
A co-worker of mine was three hours into his first shift (as a temp) for the factory and decided that it would be fun to see what happened if he hit the emergency stop button on a fifteen-person line. Literally, no other reason.
First, and most importantly: the line was designed to be as non-catastrophic as possible if anything went wrong at some particular point. The whole factory was a bit of a mess generally speaking, but they had good techs and the line design was usually excellent.
This particular line was what we called "a cold line" - basically hot stuff would get poured out into the containers and then pass through a large refrigerated passage to turn it into a solid state. We were making hair pomade in this case.
The line manager even gave him the benefit of the doubt, asking seriously if he had thought there was some emergency or if he'd just gotten overwhelmed on his first day. Nothing wrong with that. But no. He said, "Sorry man, I just thought it would be hilarious". We couldn't believe it.
Candidly speaking, the biggest impact on the line was financial. We'd get paid better rates depending on how long it took to do a certain number of units in a shift, and anything that slowed us down just sucked. This shutdown set us back by like an hour.
Of the 15 people on the line, only a few were really adversely affected. Hitting the emergency stop brought everything to an immediate halt, as you'd expect, but there were some particularly bad problems:
The gunk in the spouts at the top of the line started to solidify, which caused a huge clean-up problem that our line runner wasn't actually able to fix on her own. We eventually had to use a mixture of pure ethanol and un-bent paper clips to get it cleaned.
The (at the time) several hundred units of product in the cooling cycle ended up getting TOO cool, somehow, and all had to be discarded. We had to save the jars, though, so everything needed to be scraped out of each individual unit. This took forever and was also amazingly hard.
The hundred-ish units that were on the conveyor belt BEFORE entering the cooling cycle were left exposed to the air for a too-long-by-regulation amount of time, and all had to be scrapped as well.
None of this is apocalyptic, sure, but for a bunch of people making no money and hoping to make a little bit more it was like a calculated insult.
The temp was fired on the spot. And then tried to take the pair of safety glasses we had given him when he left.
Freepik, pikisuperstar
40. This Man Getting “Offended”
I once had a co-worker who was just generally annoying and got on everyone's nerves. One day, he loudly says to a female Hispanic colleague "You know, I would really like to take you on a date, it's too bad you're brown and not white". Seriously.
Of course, she was offended and snapped back with a "Not if you were the last man on Earth" type of comment. He got unreasonably offended and started going on about how "that attitude is why black and brown people will never be respected like white people because evolution apparently allowed them to stop at apes". Seriously, again.
He was gone before lunchtime.
Freepik,DCStudio
41. The Taste Tester
While working in a chain Steakhouse, I had one coworker who was really doing poorly. The managers suspected he would come to work high and they were looking for a reason to fire him.
In this particular incident, he had two glasses of tea on his tray ready to take out to his table. He somehow forgot which glass was sweet tea and which was regular. So, his solution was—while standing directly in front of the general manager—to grab one of the glasses and take a drink. He proclaimed that was the sweet one, set it down, and started to take the tray out to the table.
I still don’t know if he was high or just really stupid. But he was fired right on the spot.
Freepik, Racool_studio
42. She Dropped The Ball, Literally
As a teenager, I worked at a bowling alley. A new girl was fired on the spot, within an hour of working there, for (purposely) dropping a ball on the foot of a complaining patron.
43. The Ole Celebration Trip
Once, a guy was hired but didn't show up on the first day, second day, or third day.
I had to work a double shift for three days straight. Not fun. I answered the phone when he finally “called in” on the fourth day.
He told me, "I'm going to be honest with you, I've been in Orlando. My parents paid for a small vacation as a reward for getting the job. Would it be okay to start next week instead of this week"?
He got fired before even starting.
44. Have Accidents On Your Own Time
I got hired for a manufacturing job through a temp agency called Manpower. A friend of my wife’s and I were both supposed to start on Monday at the plant for a week-long orientation.
She got into a fender bender on her way to orientation, and called them to say that she'd be a bit late. Apparently that she just needed to wait for the officers to take a statement from her.
The manager told her not to bother even coming in.
The girl was torn up. She took pictures of the report to the hiring manager. She even tried to explain things to the company HR managers. Still, no dice.
She was fired before ever clocking in.
45. The Good Samaritan
Growing up, I attended a Catholic school. In 4th grade, one of our school teachers (a total badass and basically my favorite teacher) talked about a lot of things—and one of them was how it was never okay for a man to touch you in your privates. Even if he is a priest.
She did not show up the next day. Turns out the priest was a predator and the school did a coverup. She was fired so she could be silenced.
46. The Job Was Never Real
I was fired on my second day as a line cook at a Mitzel's Restaurant in Washington State back in the 90s. It turned out I’d been hired just to threaten the job security of a long-time line cook with an attitude problem. Ie., to keep him in line.
He got the message and apologized to the manager. So I was fired for "breaking a yolk when flipping fried eggs" one time. I'd been a line cook for a few years by then and thought I was doing pretty good.
But I was taken out the back door and terminated on day 2.
47. The Accidental Hookup
I used to be a DJ at a “dance” club downtown. We had a regular customer who owned a local area sports bar. Every time he got inebriated, he’d offer me a job. This was about once a week. The job was to come and be a bouncer at his place because I'm also a pretty big guy.
Right around Christmastime I figured that I could use the extra money. So on a whim, I told him that I would work for him for a few weeks on the side.
My first night there he told me that he only had 2 rules: Don't drink on the job and don't mess with his daughter Shannon (bartender and fellow drunkard).
About 1 week after that, I stayed after hours and had a few cocktails with her and some of the waitstaff and the next morning. I, 22 and virile, wake up to him yelling some foul words and a very undressed Shannon, 18 and loose, next to me on a fold-out couch in his living room.
I was VERY fired.
48. Priorities
When I was 18, I got a job at a grocery store along with three other teens. We all started training together.
On the first day, we were training in the evening and one girl asked to go home because she said her head hurt. They let her go, she clocked out, went to grab a grocery cart, and started filling it with booze.
The store manager walked over and asked her if she was having a party. She said yes. She didn't even try to come up with an excuse for it. It was basically just, "Yeah, I am, so I needed to leave early on my first day". Honestly, I was almost impressed.
He fired her.
49. Ex-Girlfriend Drama
I was working as a delivery driver for a pizza place last year. While I was on my way to the car with my deliveries, a wild ex-girlfriend appeared.
She jumped on my back and kicked and punched like crazy until I got locked in my car.
I called for help, managed to get a protective order, and walked back inside.
But guess what? I was fired for not keeping my personal business out of work.
It was especially painful because I had neither seen nor heard from her in 6 months.
50. Lobster Attack
I worked in a grocery store for a while. A new guy took a lobster out of the tank, removed the elastic bands on its claws, and then proceeded to put it back in the tank.
The thing destroyed all the other lobsters in the tank.
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