People Are Sharing Stories About How “That One Coworker” Got Fired, And They’re Wild (30 Answers)

Having a coworker get laid off or fired can be difficult. You wonder how to act and what to say, and you worry about your own job security. If it was a close friend, you may even feel lonely afterwards.

In some cases, however, a coworker getting fired comes as no surprise. You may have suspected it would happen sooner or later, or maybe even inevitably saw it coming due to various reasons. So when someone posed a question “How did that one coworker get fired?”, the stories started rolling in one by one, each better and funnier than the previous one. Below we wrapped up the most interesting ones!

We also reached out to Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, the CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts and best-selling author of seven books, including a global bestseller Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters. He was happy to share some insights into how getting fired affects employees long term and how to see the positive side of it. Scroll down for the full interview!

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Apparently he had been getting into those pickup artist classes and books b******t and how to be a real man wankery. Some female colleague disrespected his manliness by asking him to clarify a work issue or something that offended him so during a conference meeting he just got up, walked around the desk, and slapped her so hard that her head bounced of the table knocking her out and fracturing her jaw. His ring also gashed her cheek and damaged her eye. He then sat back down and tried to casually continue on with the meeting. He didn't understand why we called the police as well as the ambulance and why we wouldn't let him leave the room. He is in gaol now hopefully being sodomised like the little wankstain b***h he is.

darybrain , RODNAE Productions Report

Final score:

247points

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He had this job for several years. Nobody really liked him. Maybe because he told them he had the highest IQ of any of them. (he also worked the lowest labor grade job). I never talked to him much, but around the pandemic, I mentioned about the shortages. He started telling me he was ready for everything to crash with a bunch of silver coins and some gold. I was okay with our conversation until he started with white supremacy s**t. A few days later, a new guy he was training asked the boss to put him with someone else. He was Hispanic and the dude had started telling my that white people were superior because they were more intelligent. He got called in to speak with HR and he told the (black) HR manager the same thing. That's how he got fired.

weedful_things , Adi Goldstein Report

Final score:

161points

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Planned an armed robbery with her boyfriend on the phone. On the work phone. While on the clock. What about the boyfriend, I heard nobody ask? In jail at the time. On a monitored phone call.

Shop S-Mart, folks

perpterds , Dane Deaner Report

Final score:

153points

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Dr. Gleb explained that losing a job can leave you feeling like a ship lost at sea, with waves of psychological effects washing over you. “Some common reactions include feelings of shock, disbelief, anger, and even shame. It's crucial to recognize and address these emotions, lest they fester and become a hindrance to your personal and professional growth.”

To navigate this emotional maelstrom, Dr. Gleb’s advice is to consider seeking support from friends, family, or even a professional counselor. “Remember, even the most accomplished professionals have weathered setbacks and emerged stronger.” So, he argues, it’s best to embrace the resilience within and set sail towards new horizons with confidence and determination.

US military. Guy in my squadron was getting a general discharge for bad behavior like missing appointments, mouthing off, refusing to adhere to uniform standards, that sort of thing. (For anyone not military, anything other than an honorable discharge means you don't qualify for veteran's benefits and there's a little mark on your background check.) Still, a general discharge isn't the end of the world and was the best possible option for this guy. So all his paperwork was signed, bags were packed, and our first sergeant was escorting him to the airport to fly home. You know what he did at the airport? Punched the first sergeant in the face. So instead of flying home with a slap on the wrist, guess who got shipped off to military prison to await a court martial. Moron.

anagramqueen , Dan Burton Report

Final score:

145points

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She picked up a customer's baby without permission and walked off with her, the customer was beside herself thinking she'd been kidnapped. Co-worker didn't think she had done anything wrong because she's also a mother....

miss_demean0r , Antoni Shkraba Report

Final score:

141points

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We had an employee cafeteria at a Fortune 500 company. You'd get your food at a counter and bring it, in one of those white foam clamshell containers, to the register where you'd just tell the cashier what you got. This one fellow regularly ordered 3-egg scrambles and told the cashier he had just one egg. He got caught once and told never to do it again. He did it again, and lost a $100k+ job for stealing eggs.

Yossarian147 , Tim Samuel Report

Final score:

138points

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Many people wonder how a person’s further career can be affected by being fired. Dr. Gleb said that embarking on the job hunt after being fired can feel like trying to sell ice cream in Antarctica.

“Nevertheless, there's a right way to broach the subject with prospective employers. Be honest, but focus on the lessons learned and the growth you've experienced as a result. Position the termination as an opportunity for self-improvement and highlight how it has made you a stronger candidate for the new role,” he said.

Dr. Gleb urges people to remember that life is full of setbacks, but it's how we bounce back from them that truly defines our character. “Treat your termination as a trampoline, not an anchor.”

Got fired for "updating his resume using company property".

It was me. The job sucked a*s and I don't regret it.

Emotional_Yam4959 , Kenny Eliason Report

Final score:

124points

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My boss hired a new guy to help out on the closing shift (2p-11p) at a convenience store.

He started pissing people off right away; wouldn't stock any of the booze in the cooler because "his religion" forbade so much as touching it. Played fundie-a*s music in the store even after being told not to. Intimidated the manager.

He wasn't there a full week. One afternoon, the assistant manager was at the counter and Dale was in the office. A Sheriff's Deputy came in, looked around, asked of Dale [so & so] was working that day. Ken nodded and pointed toward the office door. "He's back there."

Deputy thanks him and goes back out. Comes back with a second deputy and they head for that door. Didn't take long. They came back out with Dale in cuffs.

Turns out our squeaky-clean preacher boy had warrants out for cocaine possession and for beating the living c**p out of his wife.

A few days after the arrest, the results of the company's background check finally came in and he was fired.

Here endeth the lesson.

FortGeek , Kindel Media Report

Final score:

116points

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I had a manager at Walmart who used to make snide remarks about my disability and gave me grief anytime I was trying to get an Acommodation.

She got arrested for stealing about $40,000 in merchandise.

AlettaVadora Report

Final score:

115points

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We also wondered what it takes for an employee to get fired on the spot from their job. Dr. Gleb explained that in the business world, there are indeed certain indisputable reasons that warrant firing an employee on the spot.

“One such reason is the display of gross misconduct. This includes, but is not limited to, acts of theft, physical violence, harassment, or severe breach of company policies. When an employee's actions jeopardize the safety and well-being of colleagues, clients, or the organization as a whole, there's no room for hesitation,” he said.

“Just as a pilot can't afford to ignore a fire in the cockpit, a manager must take swift and decisive action to maintain a healthy work environment,” Dr. Gleb concluded.

#10

Dude would drive to the site, park his work van, then have his GF pick him up and take off for 8 hours, come back and pick up the van, thereby cleverly fooling the GPS tracker in the vehicle...

But not the camera pointing directly at the spot where he parked, got picked up, and dropped off. Cost the company a substantial contract. And himself a job.

Dylsnick , Pavel Danilyuk Report

Final score:

109points

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#11

A temp office worker arrived around 10am.
She was found rifling thru someone’s wallet at noon.
Arrested and taken away by 12:30.

SafariNZ , Natalie Sysko Report

Final score:

103points

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#12

Caught on camera stealing tablets and laptops multiple times.

Caught on camera getting physically violent with a girl.

Threatened violence against two girls half his size when no one else was there. Didn’t deny it when HR got involved. Acted like they were wasting his time by holding a meeting and trying to resolve the situation.

Different people at the same job.

CryptoHam , Anete Lusina Report

Final score:

88points

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#13

He got drunk at the Christmas party, started hitting people's food and drinks out of their hands, kicked a wet floor sign at the CFO, fell and rolled down a flight of stairs on his way out, then ripped license plates of cars in the car parks and threw them like Frisbees as he left. Never saw him again.

GrownThenBrewed , RODNAE Productions Report

Final score:

87points

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#14

Our company was in the process of being sold. This guy who was like the assistant manager had been told by the original company that he would get the manager job when the other guy was promoted to regional manager (I'm simplifying it but that's the gist).

Anyway, the manager was kind of a d**k, and we didn't care for him, but this guy was a total douche. If he'd been promoted, it would have been a disaster.

When the time came for us to sign our contracts with the new employer, he went to each and every person in the department and asked us to refuse to sign unless the manager was fired and he was promoted.

He tried to stage a coup.

Nobody agreed with his plan, and one person reported him to the higher-ups. He took the next day off - because it was his birthday - and when he returned to the office HR was waiting for him.

Then he sued for wrongful termination. He lost.

gogojack , Antoni Shkraba Report

Final score:

86points

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#15

He was an arsonist…. I work for a fire department…..

Outside-Tomorrow-775 , Artem Mizyuk Report

Final score:

86points

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#16

She tried to sell drugs to the owner of the company’s young teenage daughter.

Violently-ill Report

Final score:

85points

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#17

She was responsible in handling a shipment of flu vaccines in which sat outside of a refrigerator for five days and cost the company +$30,000.

RogerIsRighteous Report

Final score:

82points

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#18

He was stealing Klondie Bars from the company freezer.

One of the managers brought in a hidden camera to catch the thief. We all knew the camera was there so he crawled over to the freezer all ninja style to stay under the camera's field of vision.

It would have worked, except, when he stood back up he tried to do it all fancy, and fell backward back into the camera's view.

pirateteaparty , Teguh Sugi Report

Final score:

77points

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#19

Happened a few years after I left, but a reporter at the TV station I worked for committed a hit and run on her way in to work. Drove right to the station and went to work editing her news package. Police show up, and go back to her edit bay. They say, "Do you know why we're here?" She says yes, and they took her away.

I should have clarified. It was a hit and run of a pedestrian.

Accomplished_Exit_30 Report

Final score:

77points

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#20

Carried a bag for his own product line, complementary more than competitive to ours. In sales calls (that we sent him on) would make a pitch for both. Apparently had been doing this for over a year. Was caught when a customer called us for a quote on his product. Gone like sh*t through a goose.

Rgt6 Report

Final score:

72points

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#21

He would answer a call, put them on hold, fall asleep and when they hung up and the next person in the queue came through, the ring would wake him up.

KyleeesBoobie Report

Final score:

72points

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#22

She called in sick during the weekend and the boss discovered she was at a rave the whole weekend because she posted the footage on social media. This is why you don't befriend bosses on social media

oldbroadcaster2826 Report

Final score:

68points

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#23

Accused a coworker of sexually harassing female coworkers but got caught in his own lie when cameras showed he was the one doing it on the date/time he gave the manager to investigate

N-y-s-s-a , Yan Krukau Report

Final score:

63points

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#24

She was putting in her own number for rewards points whenever a customer didn’t put theirs in. Racked up tons of points, getting free gift cards and food and drink items from it.

Wrote a hilarious bad review for us after she got fired too.

CharacterSoft6158 Report

Final score:

62points

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#25

Stabbed a coworker with a fork.

nostromo7 Report

Final score:

61points

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#26

New associate straight out of law school got drunk on the annual summer river cruise, flirted heavily with the managing partner's husband, leaned in unexpectedly to plant a big ole kiss, fell overboard into the water, had to be fished out.

biogon Report

Final score:

60points

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#27

She called in sick for an entire week and then went on FB talking about my bridal shower. Tagged me in a bunch of pictures. She didn't realize I was friends on FB with our boss; who had been looking for a reason to fire her. One of the posts suggested she had been playing hooky all week.

musiclvr1246 Report

Final score:

58points

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#28

Worked in demolition. Pranked my coworker with a fire extinguisher by luring him into a small room an spraying him. We were in full hazmat gear so he wasn't harmed.

He thought it was so funny and ended up getting drunk that night and tried to pull the same prank on our co-worker in the hotel we were staying at. Then the fire alarm went off, and he tried to jump off the bed and kick the smoke detector off the ceiling.

Dude got canned

vellkarmala Report

Final score:

56points

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#29

Bounty hunters came to get him while he was on shift. I don’t know what for, but I guess it was something minor, because he was out again pretty quickly. He tried to come back to work for a little bit, but then stopped coming in without saying anything, so boss told us to consider him “let go”. The last time I saw him, (a couple months later) he was getting arrested (again) one shopping center over

marblez30 , RODNAE Productions Report

Final score:

52points

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#30

He sniffed a lady's hair

anon , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

43points

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#31

Worked in a semi-clean room, we had to wear full body smocks. No food or liquid is allowed in the work area. I was training a new guy and he kept eating M&Ms out of his smock pocket with tweezers. I asked him to stop. Repeatedly. He didn’t. He didn’t pass training and we let him go.

squirrel-phone Report

Final score:

21points

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#32

After what I was told was a very minor dispute over some lab equipment, he (a large man, think Liam Neeson) pushed another coworker (much younger and smaller) up against the wall, held him by the throat and said, "You're f*****g with the wrong guy. I've killed bigger punks than you."

feliciates Report

Final score:

21points

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#33

She's been a bartender at the country club for like 5 years. New manager comes in, and has a meeting with all the staff, tells everyone that there is to be no more drinking on the clock PERIOD.

She leaves the meeting, goes to clock in for her shift, and blatantly pours herself a massive Tito's and soda.

She couldn't understand why she got immediately fired.

NagoGmo , Matilda Wormwood Report

Final score:

20points

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#34

I was the one who fired him. I was his supervisor and I caught him stealing IV supplies from medical (we were guards at a large car factory). He tried to say the needles for filling up his vape some how but I just couldn't look the other way. My instincts were right considering he was arrested for heroin possession just three weeks later.

gil_beard , Ibrahim Boran Report

Final score:

20points

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#35

He arrived and from the first day was very adamant our comapny switch marketing agencies. He spent hours a day setting up meetings with the comapny in question which led to our company reviewing the call logs.

This idiot was using the company phones to hatch a scheme with his brother-in-law where we'd switch to the BIL's marketing company and the co-worker would get a cut of whatever we paid them.

The best part ... He was fired 6 days into his contract.

Cold_Hour , RODNAE Productions Report

Final score:

19points

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#36

Had a relationship with a subordinate employee. When she chose to end it he became verbally threatening and abusive to a ridiculous degree...all via text message. Nice, recorded-for-posterity, easy-to-screenshot, text message. They fired him so fast he might have just vaporized on the spot.

WillArrr Report

Final score:

19points

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#37

I knew a guy at work who did quality control at my company- I work in financial b******t so QC is done entirely on a computer

For a year and a half he faked all of his reports and he used company time to write a book

Guy never finished the book unfortunately

_water_drinker , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

17points

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#38

The assistant manager at a restaurant I worked at would give change back but wouldn't ring up the ticket. At the end of the night, he would do them all at once and apply coupons. I don't know how long this went but they finally caught on. He didn't actually get fired, but quit when the jig was up. Last time I saw him he was a police officer.

weedful_things , Taylor Davidson Report

Final score:

17points

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#39

I had this one coworker I worked with for years in highschool. Thought she was great. I came back from college to work over break and found out she had stolen $2,000 counting drawers over the years.

JuliusSeizure22 , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:

17points

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#40

She stole cash tips off tables as a busser. When we got her on camera and confronted her, she said she never used the cash she stole, just put it in a savings account and let it sit there, as if that would clear her name.

Forsaken-Character10 , Ali Alcántara Report

Final score:

16points

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#41

He tried to wash his 3 foot bong in the back sink of our fast food restaurant. Like during work hours.

Thrownstar_1 , RODNAE Productions Report

Final score:

16points

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#42

Rolling joints on the control panel of his machine

thorpie88 Report

Final score:

16points

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#43

I work for a certain purple freight moving company, and I saw a couple of people get fired/arrested for trying to steal something a few weeks ago. I’m not sure what they were trying to steal, but there’s no way it was worth it. For anyone who isn’t aware, any charge like that on federal land (an airport) is an automatic felony.

_austinm Report

Final score:

16points

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#44

Worked at a call center. Someone brought a taser to work and was showing it off. Another person dared them to zap it, and they did. Guess HR caught wind of it because she was swiftly let go.

DisneyFoodie20 Report

Final score:

16points

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#45

She taught at an all boys Catholic school. Was dating a fellow teacher and got pregnant. Decided to have the baby but not marry the guy.

She got fired. He got moved to the girl's campus as a "punishment" since the girls' school was seen as less prestigious.

Business_Loquat5658 , Matilda Wormwood Report

Final score:

15points

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#46

Walled out into the lobby naked after pooping himself... Twice. Same guy also called a customer racial slurs.

He knew one of the higher ups so he didn't really get fired he just got moved to a different branch

No_You_Can-t Report

Final score:

15points

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#47

Wouldn't stop chewing gum, usually while talking on the phone. It was just the most ridiculous 2 weeks of my life sharing an office with this middle aged guy who was trying to talk to clients and trades with a golf ball sized gum was constantly moving. I raised it with him early and when he didn't see the issue, so the owner rang him a couple times to hear for himself and then he was gone.

Jerratt24 Report

Final score:

15points

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#48

He didn't do anything. I mean that, that's why he got fired, because he didn't do anything. Everything was tired of his laziness and total ineptitude

llcucf80 , Mikhail Nilov Report

Final score:

14points

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#49

coworker at CCity. at the tech bench. customer came up to ask questions. after a while he turns to the customer and SCREAMS! "GET AWAY FROM ME OR ILL EAT YOUR FACE!!!!"

NCC74656 Report

Final score:

14points

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#50

Had two jobs. Would click on on one, then go to the other and come back in the evening to clock out.

starfishy , Liliana Drew Report

Final score:

13points

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#51

Showed up drunk on the job, passed out on a chair in the lobby, then pissed his pants.

SheZowRaisedByWolves , BOOM Report

Final score:

12points

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#52

He was taking a nap at his desk because he wasn't feeling well during a slow Saturday shift when the CEO happened to walk through the pit before any of us could wake him up.

Hrekires Report

Final score:

12points

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What do you think ?

Death’s Entropy 1 year ago

Oooh, I have some good ones. 1. I went through Basic Training and part of AIT (where you learn your specific job skills) for the army with S. He made it a point throughout training to mention his daughter, and would show us her picture. We had to wait for a few weeks after graduating to start AIT, no big deal, but once we began training he almost immediately got busted for drinking and smoking (military trainees aren’t allowed to drink or smoke) and got 4 “Army” tattoos. This (the drinking and smoking) got him kicked back into the class after us. After about a month of training, he got word that his “fiancée” had been in an accident and his daughter was in the hospital, so he got sent home to spend time with his daughter. One of our drill sergeants had a soft spot for children and wanted to send the kid flowers, a stuffed animal, and a Get Well card, so he tried to find the hospital that she was in. Well…. Not only was there no child in the hospital, the dude had made her up.

6points

whatever 1 year ago (edited)

Had a new installer for a glass company I worked for get canned their first week. The installers would carpool to a job in the morning and then carpool back to the warehouse at the end of the day. New guy was driving and on the way back to the warehouse thought it was a great idea to stop at 7-Eleven, grab a 12-pack of Busch, and proceeded to guzzle a few cans while not only driving with a few coworker in his car but also while still on company time. One of his passengers secretly recorded him doing so, and as soon a they made it back he immediately went to the owner's office and showed him the video of this dude driving and slamming beers like a frat-boy. Got the ol' heave-ho which worked out for us because the foreman said he sucked anyway.

5points

Carol Emory 1 year ago

Wasn't hired by the company yet, but was waiting for an interview at Sears when a guy came out of the office angry and stomped off. I went in for my interview and the manager says "Sorry about that..just had to fire him. He decided to curl up in the cabinet where we keep the cushions for the outdoor furniture and take a nap." I said "Someone found him?" He said "Well it wasn't that hard considering how loudly he was snoring." Oopsie.

ejfs 1 year ago

My mother had a colleague who would steal other people's lunch from the fridge and then complain that they weren't tasty enough. Unfortunately she was married to a much higher positioned person and it took YEARS for her to get fired.

3points

Rosie 1 year ago

A US transportation company has all new hires go to a 3-day training. They put us up in a small but nice local hotel, where we get free breakfast & lunch, plus an allowance for dinner. It's work time, so for those days you also get paid while you attend training classes. The first day we are all warned that it's official work, you're already an employee & represent the company & you *WILL* get fired for misbehavior or even falling asleep in training. Trainers also mention that in almost every group people get fired for trashing their hotel rooms &/or bringing hookers in. I thought they exaggerated, but it happened in my group too. Morons are morons.

1point

AK to LV 1 year ago

I missed work one day. I came in the next day. ICE had shown up at work and arrested one of the drafters. This was in Alaska. The drafter was Colombian and apparently had a fake green card. He had just bought a house a couple of months before and had talked about the different programs you could apply for to help with your mortgage. I think that's how he got busted. He tried to apply for political asylum but got denied.

Nickie LaRue Premium 5 months ago

My coworker sold these 2 huge cans of Beast alcoholic energy drinks to a woman wearing a chefs jacket.. 4 hours later, she goes down to the employee dining room to get lunch, and sees that woman behind the counter, drunk off her a*s. Practically laying in the food. She texts the head chef to come down, they pull the woman off the line and start asking her if she's been drinking. She slurs that she "might have had a drink or two".. when they tell her to get her things and security would escort her out, she asks why? They tell her there's no drinking on the clock. Her reply? "Wow, you're so much stricter than the hospital!"

0points

People Are Sharing Stories About How “That One Coworker” Got Fired, And They’re Wild (30 Answers)

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