Worst reasons someone has been fired

[Isgrimnur]

My wife just got of the phone with the unemployment office. She was fired a couple weeks ago, and advised it was because of an answer she gave on a work survey. The details were not provided to her at that time.

The officer requested and received the survey. It was in response to an employee orientation that she was required to attend, despite having worked there for some time. Despite asking for clarification on which was the offending remark, they did not respond to further requests. The only answer that he could see that might have been objectionable was something to the effect of, "The family of owners are good people, but they should probably not portray themselves as superheroes and show off all their cars and boats in an employee orientation video."

She will be able to review the decision of the agency in the morning.

...

Anyone got some good stories of themselves or those they know being fired for horrible reasons?

[TheMix]

Damn. Most of the places I've worked have always stated that those surveys were anonymous. I'm guessing it was a private company?

For me, the only time I remember being fired was when I was 15 (I think), and I took a "part time" construction job during the summer. The first week I put in 40+ hours. When my boss told me to come in on Saturday, I refused. He told me not to bother coming back. I wasn't exactly disappointed.

[Daehawk]

Two outright lies come to mind.

1. My very first job at 17. I was hired at the local road dept. I was told it was a full time permanent job. But right before 3 months were up and at the end of summer they released me calling me summer help.

2. A local picture frame company. Big place. Let me go right before 3 months were up claiming I fell behind on my work load compared to others. Funny thing was Id cut or saw so much frame that I piled it up on other workers tables and had to wait on them to clear the backlog.

Both times were lies as I found out 90 days is the time when once worked over that you can draw unemployment and get benefits. Bastard places. They just use young people.

EDIT: Sounds like your wife would have a good case against them.

[Jaymann]

The worst firing I had experience with was one I unfortunately had to do. The boss told me to fire someone because he wanted to put a friend's idiot nephew in that position. Fortunately after the boss left, I had to fire the idiot too.

[LawBeefaroni]

The only answer that he could see that might have been objectionable was something to the effect of, "The family of owners are good people, but they should probably not portray themselves as superheroes and show off all their cars and boats in an employee orientation video."

Doesn't seem like the wisest thing to say, especially in a dictatorship family-owned businesses. But hardly seems like a valid reason for dismissal.

Anyone got some good stories of themselves or those they know being fired for horrible reasons?

I got demoted on the first day of my promotion in a restaurant in Ireland because I didn't know what a bap was.

[Z-Corn]

Last time I ran a kitchen, in the 7 months I was there, I hired and fired 9 cooks and 24 dishwashers. That really sucked. I guess I didn't fire them all, a bunch of the dishwashers did no-call no-shows.

I've been fired twice. While I wear that like a badge of honor I do not care to give the details. This is still a small town I live in. Both times involved tears that did not come from my eyes.

[Smoove_B]

I was only ever fired once - from a golf course. I was hired as summer help to assist with grounds keeping. Family owned and operated. All the people there were direct or immediate relatives of the husband and wife owners. My supervisor was one of his sons. I was quoted and hourly rate and after making me fill out all the forms, they paid me the first week with a personal check. No statements or accounting - they just said they took care of everything on their end and it would be clarified in my official check next week. Week two, same thing. No different for the next month. I honestly don't remember if they even made excuses after the second one as to why I was just getting personal checks. Friday of my last day there, they gave me a personal check and sent me on my way. About an hour after being home the owner's son called me and told me I wasn't needed anymore. What I eventually realized was they just wanted me for 4 weeks to help them clean up and prepare for the season. They worked me like a rented mule and then let me go. There were multiple days where I was given a weed wacker at 7:30am and told to "widen the fairway" - and that's all I did until 3:30 in the afternoon. Golfers would aim at me, which is great while you're wearing ear muffs and your back is to them - random golf balls just dropping within a few feet of you. Anyway, big surprise - they didn't send me tax paperwork in January despite assuring me they took out al the required taxes (which is why my check amount was so low). It was probably less than $100 total but I called the IRS and notified them - spoke to someone. I have no idea what happened (probably nothing), but I do kinda hope they were audited. Probably another 10 or 12 years after that I returned to inspect their kitchen, but they were no longer the owners. F those people.

[Z-Corn]

...random balls just dropping within a few feet of you...

Honey, if I had a dime for every time THAT happened...

[dbt1949]

I've never been fired but my last job I quit because I didn't get along with my boss. I did get unemployment insurgence tho.

[Blackhawk]

On topic, I was fired a few times when I was younger, mostly due to the stuff I'm on disability for now. In each case, though, I deserved it. I was in pretty rough shape back then, and it absolutely affected my ability to work. I kept trying, though. Later in life I learned to mask it better. Still, after a couple of years it would start to get bad and I'd resign the job, recover for a few months, and try again somewhere else.

There was once that I probably should have been fired, but wasn't. There was [bullshit thing] going on that was endangering people. I was in [posting] several days a week that made me responsible for choosing who to endanger unnecessarily. I discussed it with management, repeatedly. After several months, I finally just went in, and crossed [posting] off of my schedule, informing them that I wouldn't be doing that task anymore.

They immediately suspended me pending a decision. I was pretty obviously refusing to do my job, and fully expected the boot. They called me back the next day and shook their finger at me. It turned out that after I was sent home, nearly every other employee in the department who was qualified for [posting] came in and crossed their names off, too. I'd accidentally started a mutiny. As a result, they couldn't fire me without losing the ability to function. Instead, the demoted the person who was directly responsible for [bullshit thing.]

[Smoove_B]

...random balls just dropping within a few feet of you...

Honey, if I had a dime for every time THAT happened...

Collectively we're slowly morphing into the Golden Girls...

[gameoverman]

I worked at a family owned company once. The owner's two sons were 'managers'. My supervisor therefore answered to one of the sons, since he 'managed' our part of the company. So I got caught in the middle of THREE egos. One, my supervisor would assign me a task. Son A would appear and tell me to do something different. I'd point out that she was my supervisor then he'd point out HE was her boss. Son B would wander by and tell me to do something different. I'd point out that my supervisor told me to do one thing, that his brother(her boss) overruled her and told me to do this thing. Then Son B would say that he was a manager like his brother and therefore he had the authority to reassign me to a new task. Then my supervisor would show up and freak out because I wasn't doing what she told me to do. I'd let her know that BOTH sons claim their authority supersedes hers and that's why I'm doing what they told me to do. She'd then tell me that she was my supervisor and I'm only to listen to her and she'll handle the owner's sons. Rinse/repeat.

This went on until I got fired for not following directions. The place had a general manager, a close friend of the owner and second in command, and I had my exit interview with him. He asked what went wrong because he thought I was going to work out well there and I described what was going on. He rolled his eyes at the mention of the brothers in a way that made me think he knew what they were doing but he couldn't do anything about it. Their dad was the owner, and that was that.

[hepcat]

...random balls just dropping within a few feet of you...

Honey, if I had a dime for every time THAT happened...

Collectively we're slowly morphing into the Golden Girls...

My favorite firing story is still from my days as a copy editor at law publishing firm in Cleveland, Ohio. I got the job right after college and was there for about a year. However, I hated it. They also made the mistake of giving everyone flex time, which meant we could work whatever hours we wanted (within reason) as long as that added up to the full 40 hours each week. Combine that freedom with the mind numbing monotony of reviewing copy on boating laws in Ohio for untold hours each week, and you begin to understand why I went from showing up 9 to 5 every weekday, to 9 to 3...then 10 to 2...etc.. I was spending way too much time each night at the Nine of Clubs in the flats, and less time actually going to work.

So they fired me. And they had every right to. But what makes the story remain with me to this day is that I was fired by a woman who had covered her office with adoring photos of Fred Dryer. I mean, her office was a virtual shrine to the man.

The day I was let go, she called me into her office and solemnly closed the door, pulled her chair in front of me and sat down. I knew what was coming, and I was upset (at myself really, I knew I screwed up), but all I could see was



So when she started to calmly tell me that I was being let go for my attendance issues, I couldn't help but be distracted by the Dryer.

Noticing I wasn't really paying attention to her, she started to get visibly frustrated with me. Her tone got a little harsher as she listed off my failings as an employee. However, all that was in my head was



Finally, she laid down the hammer and told me to clear my desk out. That's when I finally met her gaze...and started nervously laughing.

This, of course, pissed her off and she launched into a diatribe about how I would never amount to anything if I continued with this attitude. But at this point, the only thing in my world was



And the floodgates were not going to close at this point.

So I'm laughing, she's practically screaming at me, my immediate supervisor (who, thankfully, understood what was really going on with the laughter) is knocking on the door because it's becoming an office scandal at this point, and I'm pretty sure any future plans for copywriting/editing positions is dead at this point.

Finally, she lets me go after having security come up to watch me clean out my desk. On my way out, my supervisor (who I stayed friendly with for a while afterwards because he was so darn cool about things) stops me to shake my hand and wish me luck. Then he tells me, "Go get 'em, Hunter." .

At which point I almost dropped my box of belongings while trying to stop a full blown giggling fit.

[Skinypupy]

I have yet to get fired from a job.

And now I've cursed myself and will probably be let go tomorrow...probably when they find out that I made this comment on company time.

I got demoted on the first day of my promotion in a restaurant in Ireland because I didn't know what a bap was.

WTF is a "bap"?

[Isgrimnur]

I got demoted on the first day of my promotion in a restaurant in Ireland because I didn't know what a bap was.

WTF is a "bap"?

[hentzau]

I was fired from my first job because I was, on average, 15 seconds too slow making pizzas. Didn't break my heart, it was a suck job.

[Kraken]

I was a janitor at a large pipe warehouse (the plumbing kind, not the smoking kind)...had actual blue-collar shirts with my name on them and everything. I did an adequate job of keeping the warehouse trashed out and swept up, but I couldn't please the office staff. Especially the women. One in particular took a dislike to me and complained to my boss about what a lousy janitor I was. He relayed the message that I had to do a better job on the ladies' room, where I had neglected to dust the ribs on the air vent. Just mopping the floor wasn't enough; the tile grout had to be pearly white. I actually spent a couple of hours on my knees with a toothbrush, grotting the grout. And then got fired anyway the next day. My nemesis had placed a scrap of toilet paper behind the toilet pedestal, where it sat for TWO DAYS. Who can live like that?

In fairness, I wasn't really janitor material. My boss said "tell the unemployment people whatever you want, I'll back you up," so I was able to collect benefits for months after that. As far as the state was concerned, my reason for dismissal was "unreasonable employer expectations."

[Pyperkub]

I had to warn an employee not to leave his marijuana out on his desk, even if he had a "prescription" - he worked as tech support in a walk in area. Also had to warn a student assistant about not monitoring his home torrents on his computer in the office.

Didn't fire either one however.

[em2nought]

When I was sixteen I fired my dad because he kept weedeating people's trees until they were devoid of bark and died. I sure do hope he was proud I wanted to do it myself, and wasn't hurt that I wasn't working with him anymore. Being a guy, I never even thought to ask, and he never mentioned it.

I sure hope it wasn't his excuse to get away from my mother because "now" I could totally understand that.

[Paingod]

I've been fired twice in over 26 years of working.

The first time was my second job in IT. I worked as a temp-to-hire Junior Network Engineer at a large law firm, excited for the opportunity. I worked my shifts plus some, and did some after-hours work with the IT Director going site to site to set things up. As far as I could tell, I did exemplary, clean, documented work. No problems, no errors, no issues. At the end of my 2 month review, I was called into his office (expecting to be brought on full-time, full-hire, with a raise) and told I was done instead. The only reason he could give me was that I "didn't take the bull by the horns enough" for his liking. To this day I still have no idea WTF he was talking about, but I assume he meant I wasn't enough of an alpha-personality dickhead, like him. He'd be logged into the network at 2:00am tinkering, usually making the vendors we used when he couldn't figure something out wish he'd stop (those were their words, not mine). I guess I wasn't obsessing day and night over technology enough for him. I don't regret losing that job; it was a stressful, shitty environment (lawyers are only beat as terrible users to support by doctors) - but I hate the way he fired me. I walked into that office that morning feeling like a million bucks, ready to win. I left 30 minutes later, barely able to hold myself together long enough to drive home.

The second time was my fourth IT job. Working 40 hours a week as a "subcontractor" for an IT vendor (an employee he didn't pay benefits to), I screwed up instructions on an email migration and blew up a marketing person's mailbox - well, I imploded it. It couldn't even be salvaged using advanced recovery techniques. It was just gone. That client told him I wasn't allowed back on site, and I'll admit that was my bad - though I'd love to kick the shins of whatever Microsoft developer put together the migration tool that let you aim a Mailbox back at it's own directory, letting it overwrite itself in transition. My second, and final strike was a few weeks later. The CEO of another client asked me to merge his personal mail with his business mail so he could see both without having to open two mailboxes. I did exactly what he asked. Apparently what he meant to ask was that I configure Outlook to have both mailboxes log him in automatically and show up in his folder list so he didn't have to each time. It took an hour to peel the two mailboxes apart. I was let go a couple days later. This was the lesson that taught me to never -ever- believe what my users say without prying it apart into basic language and repeating it back to them, and it has become Rule #1 when supporting people. The bright side of this one was the unemployment manager I was working with fought to get me benefits - working as an independent contractor (unbeknownst to me) made me ineligible for benefits. He listened to me, told me he appreciated that I was trying to do the right thing and work, and then proved that I was basically this guy's employee - not a contractor - so he got to pay for my time between jobs.

[LawBeefaroni]

I had a friend who fat fingered a trade on the CBOE (or Merc, I can't remember) and lost the firm $8M. They kept him around long enough to beg for the exchange to bust the trade and then he was dropped hard

Whenever I have a bad day I think about him laughing and telling me that story over beers and whisky...the day it happened. I strive for, never achieve but always strive for, that kind of resilience.

[Jaymann]

I had a friend who fat fingered a trade on the CBOE (or Merc, I can't remember) and lost the firm $8M. They kept him around long enough to beg for the exchange to bust the trade and then he was dropped hard

Whenever I have a bad day I think about him laughing and telling me that story over beers and whisky...the day it happened. I strive for, never achieve but always strive for, that kind of resilience.

That is one costly fat finger. I can't believe there is not a "Are you sure you want to make this transaction?" Even video games have more safeguards.

[LawBeefaroni]

I had a friend who fat fingered a trade on the CBOE (or Merc, I can't remember) and lost the firm $8M. They kept him around long enough to beg for the exchange to bust the trade and then he was dropped hard

Whenever I have a bad day I think about him laughing and telling me that story over beers and whisky...the day it happened. I strive for, never achieve but always strive for, that kind of resilience.

That is one costly fat finger. I can't believe there is not a "Are you sure you want to make this transaction?" Even video games have more safeguards.

The exchange ended up busting the trade but it still cost the firm a few $100K in penalties and payoffs to the other side of the trade IIRC.

No safeguards on the big boy terminals at the time. Lots of traders still don't, I imagine for speed it something. Heck, I have "one click" trades on the PC. Not on the phone though. I once butt dialed an option sale. Once, never again.

[mori]

Worked at a big box store while in college. Thought I was doing a good job but the store manager hated the sight of me for some reason. My coworkers were telling me he hated me but no one could tell me why. Then when the holiday season was over and my 90 day review was due, my manager called me into her office and I was fired and told I lacked enthusiasm. Never received any criticism from her prior to this.

I was given an official verbal warning today as a coincidence.Weeks ago I was 20 feet from my immediate supervisor and witnessed him screw up and damage customer property. I stopped him before things go seriously FU. My supervisor and myself were sent for drug testing which I thought was peculiar why I had to go. What did I do? Things are only going to get better. Today my department manager comes up to me this afternoon and asks if he could have a few minutes to talk about things. So I follow him into a room and a person from HR is sitting at the table. Immediate red alert. A hundred questions are running through my head. Did I fail the drug test? That's impossible as I don't do drugs. I did not do anything to get fired what is going on? Then they go on about the incident and why I was partially at fault and should of done more to prevent damage to customer property. I guess I was expected to read minds or sense when someone was going to do something stupid. I am a bit steamed by this whole affair. The lesson I learned today is if you see someone about to seriously screw up, run away and don't look back.

[hitbyambulance]

My supervisor and myself were sent for drug testing which I thought was peculiar why I had to go. What did I do?

that alone would be reason enough for me to start looking for a new job. reminds me of when, after my brother had gotten into three car accidents over the span of a couple years, my dad tells us that if either one of us has a car-injuring incident 'again', our driving licenses would be taken away... but never mind that i hadn't gotten in a single accident myself.

(i was also blamed for one of them because i was changing the radio station from the passenger seat when my brother rear-ended another car - so i was a 'distraction')

[YellowKing]

I've only been "fired" one time, but it was more of a quitting-without-notice story. I'm sure it's been relayed at some point over the years on this board, but here goes.

Got a job at Walmart working layaway. I hated it from the start, but I was a good employee. My manager (let's call her Karen), however, was a complete bitch. I don't mean that to be sexist - she truly had a terrible attitude and would berate us for even the slightest mistakes or oversights. Which happened quite often because the layaway department was a complete mess. She filed things haphazardly, threw stuff on the shelves haphazardly - things were constantly getting lost, misfiled, etc.

It didn't help that my main co-worker (let's call her Becky) was this girl who was basically a Mini-Me of the manager, and constantly trying to pin stuff on me that I didn't do. Ticket misfiled? Oh that was me. Order lost? That was me. Even if I wasn't the one that rang up the order. She was constantly trying to pin her flubs on me so that she wouldn't feel the wrath of the boss.

One day I forgot to put the PAID sticker on a TV a guy picked up from layaway, and caught it just as he was turning around to leave. Before I could stop him Karen literally shook her finger in front of my face and yelled at me right in front of the customers as if I was a toddler. After she left I turned to my co-worker and said, "If Karen puts her finger in my face one more time, I quit." They laughed it off.

Cut to a few days before Christmas. Layaway lines around Christmas time would sometimes almost reach the front of the store. It was complete mayhem. We couldn't find an order, and I know it was Becky who rang it up and shelved it because it was her handwriting on the ticket. Becky's pulling her usual "it wasn't me, it was him" routine, and Karen blew a gasket. Right in front of a HUGE line of layaway customers she wags that finger in front of my face again and screams "YOU'RE RUINING SANTA CLAUS FOR THESE KIDS!!!!!!"

I didn't say a word. I took my Walmart apron off, slapped the name tag on the counter, walked past Karen and that HUGE line of people waiting on their orders, and clocked out. All I said as I walked by my stunned co-workers was, "I told you."

I don't know whatever happened to Karen, but Becky STILL works at Walmart to this day. And has some kind of severe neck injury so that she basically has to hold her head at a 45 degree angle all the time. Karma's a bitch, Becky.

[Combustible Lemur]

I've been "pushed out" twice so bosses could hire their friends. Once, the day after I signed a lease on a house in the neighborhood.

Fired twice because I broke my leg. Same break two jobs.

Everything else was voluntary or just moving up the ladder.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[hepcat]

Fired twice because I broke my leg. Same break two jobs.

Is that you, Secretariat?

[Kraken]

In my life I did a lot more firing than getting fired, but none of those stories are memorable enough to remember. Sometimes I liked it; usually I didn't...but they always had it coming for one reason or another.

[Combustible Lemur]

Fired twice because I broke my leg. Same break two jobs.

Is that you, Secretariat?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Jaymann]

In my life I did a lot more firing than getting fired, but none of those stories are memorable enough to remember. Sometimes I liked it; usually I didn't...but they always had it coming for one reason or another.

We all got it coming.

[em2nought]

Fired twice because I broke my leg. Same break two jobs.

Is that you, Secretariat Ruffian?

Fixed that for you.