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“Flipped His Desk”: 53 Coworkers Share The Fastest They Saw Their Colleagues Getting Fired
Getting fired isn't pleasant, but it's a pretty normal occurrence. Chances are, many of us have or will experience it at some point in our lives. Researchers estimate that 40% of Americans experience involuntary job loss. At the same time, the annual layoff and discharge rates in the U.S. have been steady since 2020 – around 1.0%-1.1%.
However, some folks manage to get sacked before they're even through the door. It's a talent in and of itself, but probably not one they should be proud of. Still, these situations come with pretty amusing stories, and Bored Panda is bringing you the most entertaining ones from a recent online thread where one netizen asked: "What's the quickest amount of time in all of your jobs in which you've seen or heard that a new coworker got canned, and what was it for?"
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#1
2 days. Working at Blockbuster, my boyfriend had come in to visit me and get a movie. New girl saw him, introduced herself, which was fine, no biggie, but then asked if he was seeing anyone. He said yea and pointed at me. He leaves, and I go out into the stacks to do something, and I get a text from him saying, "Uh, that new girl just looked up my account and got my phone number and called me and tried to ask me out. That is so not cool, and I'm telling my mom!" His mom was the store manager! She came in and fired her on the spot for accessing personal information and using it for inappropriate purposes.
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#2
I had to fire a guy 2 days into a job because he refused to be trained by female members of staff.
#3
We had an idiot show up the first day of work drunk as a skunk for a security gig. Homie was hiding his liquor in a Poland spring bottle. Immediately removed from site. In less than 2 hours. His termination paperwork was printed up and sent to his address of record. Scarily enough, about 4 or 5 years later I see him working as a police officer one town over.
#4
Worked at a power plant and had a co-worker quit the day he was supposed to be training me to work for another company at the plant. Came to work high his first day and got fired. My boss kept a position open for him so he could come back to us after his probationary period was over. I told her I wouldn’t work with him because he constantly used the n-word (we’re both white) and he creeped me out. He got arrested the week he came back to work and I never saw him again.
#5
One week. When I worked for a manufacturing plant we hired a safety manager. He seemed like a great guy the first week on the job. Over the weekend he went back home several hours away. He was a no show, no call the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday so was terminated for job abandonment. It later came out that he had been arrested for a domestic dispute during that weekend and his wife refused to bail him out or call in for him.
#6
I was a warehouse manager.
The owner's kid brought a guy to me and said "This guy is your new forklift driver."
OK...
Put the guy on a forklift, gave him my best spotter and inventory guy as his team.
Less than an hour later I hear someone yelling "Stop!" and a bang. New guy backed into some merchandise. Spotter said he wouldn't listen. I took him into my office, and gave him a documented warning (because he damaged merchandise) and told him any further mistakes and I'd put him on a dolly instead of a forklift.
He left my office and not even 10 minutes later I hear "NOOO!" and a crunch. New guy backed into a wall.
I put him in my office while I took pictures and documented what had happened. I made a formal write-up, had him sign it, took him back to the floor, gave him a dolly and assigned him to a picking team.
Went back to my office, called the owner to tell him the new hire wasn't working out. He pitched a fit and told me to "make it work". While we were talking, I heard more yelling and another bang. Told the owner I'd call back, went out to find a forklift on it's side in the parking lot. New guy had gotten back on a lift and driven off of the loading dock; fortunately in a spot where the hight difference was only a few inches.
I got four of my biggest guys (semi-pro football players) and had them escort new guy off of the property, with instructions that he never return and assurances that I'd have him trespassed and arrested.
Called the owner again and told him I fired the new guy. He went ballistic until I told him how much the forklift and wall repair was going to cost him.
It was quite a day.
Never did find out new guy's connection to the owner, had to be a favor of some sort or family. .
Glen Ellyn 3 hours ago
Where I live, you have to be qualified to drive a forklift. Obviously, this guy was not.
#7
Literally within 30 seconds into our first day when the supervisor said "well to start it's expected you do more than the 8hrs" employee out straight said "no chance". " Ok there's the door", he got up and flipped his desk.
Turns out he was right, I was gone 2 days later.
#8
Video interviewed a woman for a remote job that required in office training. A not even similar looking man shows up for the training. He is nowhere near fluent in English. Claims he was the person we interviewed. Thankfully we had screen caps, but it still took a couple of days for HR to get the paperwork together.
#9
Half of a shift. He started spewing white supremacist nonsense and locked onto me as having a German last name. Nope. Not gonna happen. Spun his behind out that door so fast he barely hit the ground.
#10
I hired someone with “a 4.0 from U of GA” and had to fire him after two days.
Day one he asked if he could get a salary advance. Um, hard no.
Then I gave him a short writing assignment. After 4 hours he came back with a single sentence and it wasn’t even spelled right.
We did a background check and discovered he lied about attending U of GA.
We called him into HR to discuss.
I said, “We found something on your background check…” and he said, “Is this about the restraining order?”
Buh-bye!!!
#11
2-3 days, new receptionist suggested to head of legal that she’d be interested in ‘extra’ work for money….
#12
Not fired but quit after 3 hours when they realized that being the only man in an entire office full of women didn’t mean they were in charge.
#13
A new hire was pulled by AP and subsequently fired within 30 minutes of their 1st selling shift after being observed stuffing money from the register into their pockets.
#14
Two days.
The guy was hired, showed up for Day One of training on Wednesday, then didn't show up. My boss tried calling him and seeing if everything was ok, but never heard back. By the end of the week, my boss considered him gone. By the next month, my boss received a notice from the state's unemployment board that he was filing for unemployment benefits and cited being laid off and not called back as the reason for his claim.
My boss couldn't believe the cheek on this guy, but between both of us, we had a great time writing those papers and detailing about how he didn't even make it past one day of training. My boss shipped it off and that was it. This guy had the nerve to resubmit his claim because the first was denied, so we sent back copies of the original response to the unemployment agency. I would have loved to have seen the look on that guy's face when he was denied, **again,** for lying about his non-existent job.
NapQueen 2 hours ago
Some people are, sadly, too money-hungry! A guy that used to work with us wanted every penny he could get from my Director, and even made claims that we're not allowed to have heating and we're only allowed to use the dishwasher on certain days - these guys will make ANYTHING up to try and get money.
#15
Four days. He seemed incapable of putting his phone down. I would speak directly to him while training and he wouldn’t even look up from his phone lol. Boss got pissed and fired him.
Glen Ellyn 3 hours ago
I'm a little surprised he lasted four days. I'd have shown him the door on day two...no, on day one!
#16
I worked at a pizza place, a coworker was beyond incompetent, he would get lost almost every delivery, if answering the phone he would ask me " do we have pepperoni?" Or "do we have sausage?" Or "Are we able to deliver across the street?" He was finally let go, and reapplied about 8 months later, was interviewed by someone who hadn't worked with him the first time, got hired and was fired before orientation because they recognized his name.
#17
We had a guy steal a phone from the safe in the cell phone store on his first day there. He thought he was being all slick but he was on camera. Also we had daily inventory counts so it's not like an $800 phone wouldn't be missed.
#18
New hire at bank transferred money from a customers account to her account. She didnt think they would notice. This was her 1st day working in the bank.
#19
1 hour, the new sales rep was introduced at a social event, he proceeded to get drunk within that hour and harass multiple female co-workers. He was escorted by Security and a Lawyer shortly thereafter.
Glen Ellyn 3 hours ago
I do appreciate businesses that act quickly on things like this. Reminds me of a time ages ago, when a new employee thought it was okay to harass females during an overnight shift. When I complained to the overnight supervisor, he "quarantined" the creep for the rest of the night (we were locked in the store). As soon as the opening store manager came in and heard the story, he fired the guy on the spot and escorted him out the door. I have a lot of respect for the overnight supervisor and the store manager. They did exactly what should be done to these creeps.
#20
I caught a temp laborer sleeping in a closet on a big project. It was only 7:25 and the job site opened at 7. So, he lasted all of 25 minutes.
#21
Had someone last half a day in the auto industry as a service advisor. He said he had already had 2 heart attacks and this place wasn't going to be the cause of his 3rd.
#22
1 full day at an office job. He made it thru the initial half-day of paperwork. Next day he was in an orientation meeting before noon and fell asleep. He was drunk af.
#23
911 dispatcher. Started her first shift and within the hour all hell broke loose. There was a major accident with a fuel truck on fire, more accidents in the backup, an armed robbery, and a few domestic incidents, all happening at once.
I wasn't a dispatcher, but was answering non emergency calls to pitch in. She sat frozen, just staring, then went into the hall and had a panic attack. She asked someone if this was normal and got the dark humor response of No, some days are really busy.
She and the supervisor decided she wasn't dispatch material.
Glen Ellyn 3 hours ago
Well, at least they found out right away. Dispatching for 911 is not for everyone.
#24
Less than 10 minutes. Said they had reach truck training… nearly tipped the reach truck on the test track.
#25
It was me, and it was while I was filling out tax forms during new hire process. They wanted me to fill out my name in a way that was incorrect (thus making it NOT my name), and I knew would be a pain come tax time to correct. I told her she was wrong, she said this doesn’t seem like a good fit, I said yeah obviously, and left.
Bummer because I was really looking forward to that menu discount.
Fungus John 6 hours ago
"you'll need to put your name as cash. just a quirk of our accounting software"
#26
This doesn't answer the question EXACTLY, but it's still a wild story.
While in college, I got hired to work the front desk of a local gym. Check in members, hand out towels, make protein shakes, etc. Not rocket surgery.
Shortly after I started my first day, the woman who hired me was fired. Maybe 10 minutes later, I was informed by the owner of the gym that the fired woman (manager of some kind) was never given the green light by the owner to hire anyone and was let go.
Also, today is my last day.
I was there like 3 hours and fired because someone else's mistake.
#27
In one of the restaurants I worked at, there was a highschool kid working there washing dishes, it was his first job ever. He was there about 2 weeks until one day he slept in and was like an hour late (happens to us all) but since it was his first job he didn't know he could just call in and be like "hey I'm running late" or just come in so he just stopped showing up because he thought he was fired lmao
I don't know why but that's always been funny to me.
#28
4 hours. Worked at a factory, 3 shift job. Supervisor was showing him our department and told him something like "...and here's the vending machine if you need something to eat during the nights"
Guy stares angrily at supervisor and says "I ain't working no nights"
He didn't read the contract he signed, or really paid attention to the job posting, ooooor the interview. It was hilarious to watch.
#29
2 days. This was back in the 1990s before cell phones. He went to a root canal appointment close by and walked there. His nice manager thought “Oh, I bet he needs a ride home due to anesthesia . I’ll call the dentist office so they relay the message.”
Dentist office said, “there’s no one here by that name.”
Turned out he went to a movie.
#30
10 minutes. A group of new hires came in and were in the smoking area, plant manager went out to talk to them and they all had a cig and then he asked them how the night went and they said they were day shift. Fired for not being on the production floor at start of shift.
#31
New hire taken around the office, introduced to everyone. Sat her down at her new desk with onboarding paperwork to complete. Office manager goes back about 30 minutes later, chick is sacked out snoring, head on desk, drool on blotter. They actually dithered for a while about whether to wake her up, or to just let her sleep.
#32
I used to work at a daycare. Girl got hired and came into my room to train at nap time. After I got the kids asleep and started explaining what we did during nap. She asked if we could use our phones. I said no, we use this time to clean our rooms and catch up on lesson plans etc. she got pulled out to help someone else but found out she quit because she couldn’t use her phone during nap time. 🤣.
#33
I worked at an HVAC company. A guy was hired to work in the warehouse. He was there 20 minutes when the warehouse manager asked him to help move a new furnace. The guy refused and said that was an OSHA violation. He got walked out. I don't understand what he thought he would be doing working in a warehouse.
#34
Not officially fired, but we had someone last about 4 hours.
Secretary had been in another department for over 20 years. She was moved to our department so she could work under more supervision than she had at the other department. She came in the first morning looking like she'd sucked on a bag of lemons. She went to lunch and promptly went to HR and resigned.
She was the only secretary in the other department and had little oversight. I filled in for her a few times, but actually did the work I was assigned. She wanted to do her own thing.
When I filled in for her the first time, I couldn't work until I scrubbed down her desk and computer area as there was dried food, Cheeto dust CAKED on her keyboard. It was so nasty!
#35
Under 24hrs, though he was practically out the door after 5hrs.
We had a job for him to do at the other end of the country, so arranged flights etc, he came in for induction at 1pm, taxi to the airport at 3pm, confirmed arrived at 4pm from the taxi company.
He called his new Manager at 6pm to say the flight had left "early" so he'd missed it. He then emailed Admin at 7pm asking them to book him a new flight the next day and he got our taxi firm to take him back home.
Manager said don't bother - turn up to head office tomorrow. He turned up an hour after starting time, then spent an hour hiding in an office.
We still can't work out how you turn up to the airport 2hours in advance and still miss the flight (small airport). The flight flew late too, so that excuse was BS.
#36
30 mins. Turns out they called the wrong applicant and said "see you Monday". So this chick shows up and the person training her introduces her to everyone by the name "jen", she just smiles and nods. Then the boss shows up and sees this chick and nope that isn't "jen" (boss did the interviews so she knows at a glance). Had to tell "jen that there had been a mistake and that she had to go. I get that the job market is hard but when they call and say "is this jen?" And you are not jen, probly let them know they have called the wrong number. Or when you are being introduced as "jen", maybe say hey my name is actually Susan.
#37
**It took less than two hours to fire someone for a high‑level finance role at a billion‑dollar company. The background check didn’t include federal charges.**
On his very first day, he met his new team. One coworker tried to add him on LinkedIn and, with a quick search, discovered he was currently facing charges for an **$8 million Ponzi scheme**.
#38
About 4 days. I worked in a hair salon that hired a new stylist that was fresh out of prison. She had completed a cosmetology program in prison and was licensed when she got released. Cool, people should get a second chance after completing their sentence. All the hairspray was disappearing quickly and she was acting weird. Turns out she was huffing it in the bathroom. The owner fired her and told her parole officer. Idk what happened to her after that, but I hope she got it together and got to stay out of prison.
#39
About a week. She showed up 30 minutes late every day with Starbucks. Truly a bold move, but did not pay off.
#40
About 2 hours. The supervisor came in late for some reason and ended up working next to her without properly introducing herself. New woman starts mouthing off about how much she already hates the job and how soon she plans on leaving. Supervisor tells her she can leave right now as we don’t need that kind of attitude.
#41
First week! We work in a food processing plant. This fool was on an upper level and decided he needed to pee. Walking downstairs is hard so why not use a drain right? The operator caught him and turned him in. The new guy lied and said I didn't pee, I spit in the drain. He was fired because there's no spitting in a food processing plant.
#42
4 hours. Turns out they lied about their background and had a felony conviction they "accidentally forgot" to mention.
#43
During the FIRST DAY orientation, he had to watch a video. He fell asleep. Canned.
#44
I had emailed my resume for a position and got a response: "Okay, please print it out and come in!" I thought it was an interview but me and one other candidate were put right to work. It was inventory and online sales, so pretty simple. They ordered us lunch and I went back to hunting for something in their archives... Unsurprisingly, the other candidate left after getting her free lunch.
I wound up working there for another year but it was so analog - handwritten time sheets and checks for weekend overtime. I appreciate the bare bones approach but no benefits meant I was playing with fire fishing out odd heavy objects...
#45
I had a woman come in, sit down with my boss, and promptly talk herself out of the job.
Her whole demeanor was “you don’t have to tell me what to do, I can put these guys in their place…” But that’s not how it works here.
After her first comment, my boss looked at me and I knew. Thankfully, we had a 3 month period where we hire a temp, but shift them into a full time position at the end of three months.
After she left, my boss just looked at me and said, “No.”.
#46
Maybe a couple of weeks? A guy got hired on as a house keeper at a nursing home. Apparently he had already made some nursing staff uncomfortable with his flirting.
He was showing a newer hire around and says, “these are the beautiful ladies who do the laundry!” I didn’t know about the previous run ins and jokingly said, “hey, that could be considered inappropriate.” As a JOKE.
And he started apologizing profusely. Came back a little while later to apologize more. I was like, “I was kidding your fine…”
And the next day he got fired, because I’m assuming we weren’t the only people he introduced like that.
#47
Two got let go within a week for dress code violation in food service. One was a dumb policy about covering face and neck tattoos with makeup. She was told about it in her interview and agreed to it. First day, no problem. Refused to follow policy after that and got let go within four shifts for insubordination. Had another guy that I told he needed to tuck his necklace under his shirt if he was going to wear it. He refused and got sent home. Never came back after.
#48
I got hired alongside a girl we'll call Emma. I was on break with her and she started ranting about how large corporations are corrupt (I agree completely but I wasn't about to go off when there was another more senior employee in the room cause I needed this job badly.)
The other employee leaves the room, and the manager is in there in a few seconds flat, telling Emma to get out of here and how dare she disrespect the company like that ect ect. Completely goes off like a mad woman on Emma who just shrugs and leaves.
Manager than goes "I'm so sorry you had to deal with her don't worry she won't be back here at x company we don't tolerate that sort of slander." Hugs me (very uncomfortable) then proceeds to go on a 6 month break, I don't see her again until she's back and absolutely destroying team morale around Christmas. Wild times.
#49
Worked in airport restaurant.
Must pass checks to get badge. Must have badge to have job.
Went through a period of low staffing. Lots of hiring. Lots of people lying on applications about felony charges. The airport police will call and go nope. Usually this means you worked with us for 1 to 3 days. Have seen hours happen.
#50
One day our manager mentioned there’d be random spot check days of all employee lunchboxes, purses, etc. as we all left for the day. I watched as the first day on the job warehouse guy was let go for stealing a sponge that we sold for maybe 20 cents. Shame of it is our manager always let us buy stuff during the week and pay for it on payday. He could’ve mentioned he didn’t have any cash on him and he would’ve been given it for free.
A 5 for a buck sponge. Go figure.
#51
My supervisor got canned after his first week because he was under an active federal investigation for hacking into his former employer's servers and never disclosed it on the job application. Well he didn't exactly hack his way in. He left a back door on his way out and steadily doing nefarious things that I can't mention. But then after he got fired from our company, he did the exact same thing and had 2 federal pending cases by the time I found out what happened to the guy.
#52
An hour or so because he was creeping the supervisor out (wasn't actively doing anything apart from just existing but ya know giving off that creep vibe). Was escorted off the premises and next minute was routing round in the hedge and pulled out his bag...we had a perfectly decent secure staff room.
#53
In my current job, we hired someone, I created their account and setup their laptop on a Friday. The following monday was supposed to be their onboarding, but they don't get creds to log in until that onboarding. I was sitting in the conf room waiting for them to get on Zoom when HR came in and was told they were let go.
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What do you think ?
Lyone Fein 2 hours ago
I think companies could also do better with more accurate job descriptions.
Lyone Fein 2 hours ago
I think companies could also do better with more accurate job descriptions.
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