Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People's Most Memorable 'How I Got Fired' Experiences

three women sitting beside table

three women sitting beside table

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

A Reddit user asked: 'How did you get fired?'

Make us preferred on Google

A natural part of work is the possibility of losing your job.

Sometimes, it's because the company is downsizing and needed to eliminate your position.

Other times, the company is losing money and needs to make lay offs.

And sometimes, the company specifically doesn't want you anymore, and they fire you.

Getting fired is always a big experience (though usually not a good one), but in some cases, the experience is more memorable. Reddit users have stories like that and are eager to share.


It all started when Redditor shittlebuffout asked:

"How did you get fired?"

Yikes!

"Little Ceasers."

"Mixing vodka and orange juice in the dough machine after close."

"1991."

– bardwick

Secret Shoppers

"Working as a cashier I missed a case of water underneath someone's cart and turns out they were a secret shopper or something... I had a couple days off and I came back to look at the schedule and was told I was fired"

– spiderman96

"A case of water is what, $4? They don't understand that it costs a lot more than $4 to replace an otherwise good employee? Even if you made that mistake once an hour indefinitely they still make absolute bank off your labour."

– quackerzdb

"I worked at Sam's Club for a couple of years as a cashier. Sometimes I had to work the exit door where I had to check peoples' receipts. It was surprising how much stuff was missed by the cashiers. AFAIK, no one was fired over any of it."

– imnotlouise

"I can resonate, I worked at a theme park and I was loved to one of those sh*tty pop up merch stands in kidsville. My shift finishes and someone comes over and asks to buy a drink. Till was already closed but they had kids so I obeyed and gave them a water. An undercover worker was near by and had me taken away to their theme park jail… over a water 😂"

– Particular_School190

So Little Time, Even Less To Do

"My first real job when I was 16 was at a burger joint. I watched an entire movie without pausing it during my shift, I was the only person there that day. Boss walked in as the movie was finishing and I had my feet up on the table. Came back a few days later to check the schedule and I wasn’t on it. Even more awkward because I was dating the boss’ daughter at the time."

– shittlebuffout

"I can relate. My last job was quality assurance position and when working in the receiving end it was a lot of waiting since I couldn't do anything until we actually got a truck in and someone unloaded it. Most of the time it was literally HOURS before anyone got around to unloading anything so I'd just be on my phone or something. But God forbid one of the auditors over me comes back and sees me. I could never get him to understand that since there were no trucks there was nothing to check. I'd offer to do work in another department until one came in but he didn't want me to do that either. He wanted me there waiting. With nothing to do. 🙄"

– AstalosMayhem

I Tell All

"I already had a new job lined up but it wasn’t starting for another 2 months so I was just trying to lay low and then give a 2 week notice. My old a**hole boss made one snarky comment too many and I couldn’t help myself. I put him on blast over some of his nefarious activities in front of our CEO. He fired me at the end of that week, but he was forced to retire a month later after everything I said was confirmed."

"I was a District Manager and we had this one customer that owed us a lot of money on change orders, but wouldn’t pay. My own boss was throwing up roadblocks preventing us from collecting. That seemed strange (obviously) so I did some digging and found out that the customer and my boss were old friends that went in together on some side business. Corporate hunting/fishing outfit or something like that."

"If this customer’s projects came in under budget, he would get large bonuses. He would sole source our company for all of his projects and always understate the scope. My boss would then stop me from collecting change orders. The guy would come in under budget, get his bonus, and use it to help fund their new business venture."

"I was willing to say “f*ck it I’m gone in 2 months anyway”, but the a**hole had the nerve to question my district’s revenue numbers on a conference call during a monthly P&L review, not knowing I knew what was going on. So I busted him and waited for the hammer to fall."

"I don’t know what happened to the customer, but the a**hole had enough time in that they let him “retire” instead of being fired."

"I’m not exactly proud of it but…oh who am I kidding, f*ck that guy."

– asimovsroomba

Never Show Weakness

"Threw up on my first day."

"I also don’t live in America. I live in the netherlands. And i was fired because apparently working @ a boat cafe isn’t for the weak."

"it wasn’t a mobile boat. that’s what makes it funnier."

– angelicdollface

Worth It

"Went to see Grateful Dead at RFK stadium in DC. I told the manager not to schedule me that weekend but he did anyway. Told him I wouldn't be there. When I returned Monday I was fired. Worth it."

" Funny thing is my wife (gf at the time) was also scheduled and went with me to the show. She wasn't fired - but she quit when she found out I was fired."

"Darryl's Restaurant in Raleigh, NC. - by the way they had some pretty good food."

– fleetber

Ooops!

"Gave a spectacular demonstration of the top-heavy nature of a UPS truck. Rave reviews from locals, as the roadway was scattered with hundreds of packages. Management was unimpressed and suggested a different career."

– pullin2

"UPSiedaisy"

– salimeero

Ending Up Glad

"I took on a role that was not fit for me. It was my second job as a software developer, and the role was dev #2 at an early stage startup. As in, the entire dev team was me and another engineer."

"Startup life can vary greatly, but this was a financial tech firm near Wall Street. To say that it’s a lot of responsibility is an understatement. There’s no such thing as saying “that’s not my job” or “I don’t know how to do that”. If the company needs it, you have to do it."

"It was a good learning experience because I was pushed very far outside of my comfort zone, but it also gave me crippling anxiety and I got burnt out. I made a bunch of mistakes and was eventually fired over it. The job was so hard that I was actually relieved to get fired."

– tenaciousDaniel

Fresh Food

"Was working in McDonalds two years ago. I was the dude who was responsible of the fries. One evening this dude comes in asking for a regular order of a burger and fries. We serve him accordingly. Next morning he comes in screaming about how the fries he ordered yesterday were soggy and demanded to speak to me. By the state of him and his face he had clearly been drinking the night before."

"I went up to him and he started screaming at me, I started by apologising but then after him screaming at me for 10 mins I started defending the fries I had made. He said “Do you think I am lying just to get a refund, I just had the fries before coming here and they were soggy.""

"One of the other staff members who was working the till recognised him from the night before. Turns out he had left the fries in his car the whole night while he was out drinking and still expected them to be fresh and crispy the next morning. I lost it and kicked him out."

"Two hours later the owner of that franchise comes in and fires me for kicking his NEPHEW out of the place. All the other staff members were on my side but he threatened fire them as well if they had a problem with his decision. The place closed down because they couldn’t find people to work there as the owner kept firing people for petty reasons"

– kingbatuk013

"This reminds me of egg guy. I used to work at a little diner, and every Sunday this old guy would come in and get scrambled eggs to go. And every Sunday, about 3 hours later, he would cone back with the old eggs and ask for fresh ones. We always made them because there was clearly something not right with him. I explained a few times to just come and buy the eggs later, we serve breakfast all day, but he still did this."

– SmudgeZelda

Don't Want You Here

"Pretty sure they were just wanting to get rid of me. I was working at a meat market/deli store and I was called on my phone after work hours by the owner to tell me he was letting me go because I upset a customer that day."

"It was Saturday which were just half days but incredibly busy. An older man and his wife had ordered something chicken so I wrapped it up, priced it, and gave it to them to take to the register. Well he tells me he wanted the breaded chicken whatever. I say, oh sorry she didn't specify breaded but I'll get you the correct chicken. I unwrapped what I gave them and put it back in the case, throw away the wrapping paper and do it all quickly because there were people waiting in line."

"So I get the breaded chicken wrapped and priced and hand it back to them. The wife asks is this the chicken whatever and I say it's the breaded chicken whatever. I swear I didn't say it with nasty tone just affirming that it was breaded. Well the husband gave me a dirty look and they leave."

"Well the owner calls me later that evening to fire me because he was pals with that old guy. I file unemployment, the owner fights and I guess he tells the agent what he thinks happened because when the agent called me. I was telling him my side and the agent tells me, "Well the owner said you did this thing and that," and I tell the agent the owner wasn't even there that day and him and that customer were friends. I think that sealed it in my favor because I got approved."

– Glass_Chance9800

Work places can be so unfair!

Do you have any similar experiences? Let us know in the comments below.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

'The Craft' cast, including Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Rachel True and Neve Campbell
Columbia Pictures/Getty Images

'The Craft' Star Speaks Out After New Bratz Dolls Were Sent To Influencers But Not Original Cast

Bratz enthusiasts have a lot to be excited about right now, as a new collection of the dolls have rolled out, this time inspired specifically by the original cast of the 1996 horror film The Craft, from which Bratz dolls came to be.

But just because it's an exciting campaign doesn't mean it's perfect.

Keep Reading Show less
Trick-or-treating
The Boston Globe/Getty Images

HOA Sparks Debate After Sending Letter Telling People Not To Hand Out Full-Size Candy Bars On Halloween

Within our communities, it's important to make everyone feel welcome and included, and sometimes that means making changes so that everyone can afford to be included. But sometimes changes are made simply because someone with the power to change it doesn't want to do something.

The question is whether changes are being made for inclusivity or convenience.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @serena_loscalzo's TikTok
@serena_loscalzo/TikTok

College President Goes Above And Beyond To Help Student Prank Her Chronically Oversleeping Roommate

University of Vermont President Marlene Tromp and UVM student Hannah Lapier have gone viral after their fabulous wake-up call—and fortunately not the negative, reality-check kind!

Lapier opened up to her roommate, Serena LoScalzo, about struggling to get out of bed in the morning for her classes. Lapier prompted her friend to use any means necessary to help her make it to her morning classes on time, because she wanted to take school seriously.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @itsvictoriavega's TikTok
@itsvictoriavega/TikTok

Woman Sounds Off About 'Worst First Date Of My Life' After Guy Made Truly Unhinged Request

There are bad first dates, there are the worst first dates ever, and then there are the dates that are so terrible, you can't help but wonder how they occurred in the first place.

TikToker Victoria Vega, for example, went on a first date with a guy after what she thought was a promising start, but when she actually went on the date, it was nothing like she'd expected. In fact, she called it the worst first date of her life.

Keep Reading Show less
TikToker Kae; Walmart storefront
@lolxdlolxdlolxd23455/TikTok; Douglas Rissing/Getty Images

Fired TikToker Shares Bonkers Behind-The-Scene Stories About What It Was Like Working At Walmart

Whether or not we've ever worked there, we've all heard horror stories and seen internet memes about "people at Walmart" and the weird things that often happen within the oversized chain convenience store.

TikToker Kae, or @lolxdlolxdlolxd23455 on the platform, worked at Walmart for more than six months and ultimately was fired because he'd accidentally logged his PTO time incorrectly and also requested multiple days off,—but he'd intended to quit anyway given his unpleasant time working there.

Keep Reading Show less