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Chances are, most of you know exactly what it’s like to have a certain someone at work who often gets involved in fishy business or is just an oddball character through and through.
Well, it turns out that there’s an online thread dedicated to tales about people’s colleagues! So, pull your chair in closer and enjoy these 37 real-life instances of employees pulling the wildest stunts and leaving their workmates, well, shook.
More info: Reddit
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
He was a strange looking person. Also smelled strange and said strange things to some people. None of which was very good for a temp looking to be made permanent. Words were had with him in private and to everyone's surprise, he turned it around. He's a strange looking person in general but he addressed the issues around personal hygiene and his general appearance (more groomed and professional looking) and he changed how he interacted with people. He got his permanent position and seems to be well liked overall. Just shows it's not too late, someone could be "that co-worker" because of issues in their private life. A few discreet words from a superior can make all the difference. Just knowing someone is paying attention can be enough to start a change for the better.
Mabelbabel 2 years ago
A friend of mine is a paediatrician. There was a junior doctor she worked with who had really, really honking breath (I met him once and you could smell it from 6 foot away-it honestly stank like a rat had died in his mouth). The whole team were trying to decide how to politely tell him to get it sorted without embarrassing him, and without getting accused of bullying him. It was so bad that everyone on the ward round did their best to stand behind him at all times, and not talk to him face to face so they could avoid the marsh gas coming out of his gob. In the end, they were pre-empted on the ward round by a small child with absolutely no social inhibitions or filter who complained loudly and at length not to let that stinky doctor examine him because he smelled so bad. Trust a small child to tell you the truth, because they will always tell it straight.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
it’s possible no one ever too time time, or made the effort, to guide them. So they basically don’t know any better. Someone taking that interest, and —-kindly and gently—-giving them some guidance on grooming, on interacting with coworkers, and not just looking professional, but being professional. And in this case, this person actually listened.
Jennifer Ness 2 years ago
A friend fostered her 11-yr old niece and realized the mom (sadly, lost in addiction for years) hadn't taught her how to bathe or shampoo her hair. Poor child would go in the shower for a minute, get wet and come out. You never know what somebody has survived.
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The Weird American 2 years ago
Truth. HR Here: sometimes an honest, respectful conversation can turn a career around. But in every case, there has to be a willingness on both sides for listening and growth.
Praea Kitten 2 years ago
Possible, but that's not the only reason that comes to mind. PTSD, DID, ADHD, ASD, to name a few. Not to mention just strange upbringing, we've all seen the "normal at home/strange at large" or "what I learned about life as an adult vs how I was raised" dumps, too
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Mickie Shea 2 years ago
When my dad said I looked pregnant, although I knew I was not pregnant I took a good look. Yes, it appeared I was with child, however, being a guy it puzzled me until my doc told me, “Your not pregnant, your just mid-age beer fat”. What a relief.
April Pickett 2 years ago
You mean there's a manager out there that's willing to address issues on a one-on-one basis?
Jennifer Ness 2 years ago
Some folks just can't pick things up with it being laid out for them. They are usually really great people but can't figure out social stuff. If you can be kind and genuine and tell them you knew they'd want to know, do it. Maybe a little white lie about having been in a similar situation once to help reduce humiliation.
RELATED:
#2
He missed work unexpectedly. The next morning the FBI showed up and went thru his desk. They only found a post-it that read, "Too slow FBI". It also had a smiley face on it.
Awesome At Being Autistic 2 years ago
Yeah, because the FBI is gonna show that post it note to all the coworkers just milling around the guy's desk. Pull the other one, it's got bells on it.
Mario Strada 2 years ago
My wife and I met this guy in a professional setting. He insisted on talking politics and he had a very Tea Party (MAGA today) slant. We tried redirecting the conversation for politeness sake, but he insisted. Eventually, he tried to sell us on some pyramid scheme thing he was working on and wouldn't take NO for an answer. That same week, he was disbarred and a month later he was arrested by the FBI for some securities scheme he was involved in. He is still serving a decade or so in federal prison, last I checked.
Oskar vanZandt 2 years ago
The post-it note sounds like a bit of poetic licence... I think the FBI would send out all colleagues and visitors before they thoroughly searched the guy's desk- unlikely they would share details of evidence collected.
#3
A small company. The dude who absolutely STANK, and I mean you could tell he had been in a room 10 minutes later it was so bad. After about a year at a staff part I think, someone had the (liquid) courage to ask him what was up with the odor.
Turns out he showered regularly but he was eating medicinal garlic oil which caused the terrible smell. Oddly, he had NO idea. He switched to a different type of garlic oil and the smell went away almost instantly.
Great guy, was at the company several years afterwards.
hitex 2 years ago
PLEASE, I beg everyone, let someobe know if they smell bad! Be discreet, but while there are a few who may get offended, the vast majority will appreciate the advice & work to change it...no one wants to be the stinky one
Bec 2 years ago
It's really hard to do. I worked part-time at an office and came in to find a heavier set coworker sniffling but trying to work; I guess someone had had 'the talk' with her to let her know a coworker had complained. I felt so bad for her.
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Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
So strange people don't notice that... when I was put on horse pill multi vitamins, it only took a week for me to notice my skin, urine, everything started having a strange yeasty smell like a loaf of bread. I stopped taking them
Lakota Wolf (she/her) 2 years ago
Being nose-deaf is real XD I’ve always had bad b.o. despite showering, deodorants, antiperspirants, etc. and bad breath despite good oral hygiene. I can’t tell when I stink, but I KNOW that I do, so I always appreciate when someone lets me know so I can re-apply deodorant or have some mints. (Turns out the worst of my stink was from being hormonally imbalanced - when I got a little healthier, I stopped smelling AS bad, heh.)
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Kim 2 years ago
A long time ago I worked with a lady who stunk to high heaven! Like 20 minutes after she left the area you could still smell her odor. It was awful! One of our motherly type coworkers pulled her aside and let her know in nice words that she smelled. This lady got so incredibly offended! She swore up and down she bathed and used deodorant and all that jazz and we're like well you're not doing something or ya got something going on and you need to get it fixed. She never did. She finally quit some time later on and we all sighed a (fresh) breath of relief!
martymcmatrix 2 years ago
...after another 20 minutes of sensual endurance...
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DarkViolet 2 years ago
They need to be told. Maybe in an uncool way, but THEY NEED TO BE TOLD. It's the kindest thing you can do for them, especially if they have no clue that their personal hygiene is making them a social pariah. What if YOU were in their position?
Coyote Osborne 2 years ago
When I was 19, I was hired to replace another intern at an ad agency. The reason the position was open was because of his garlic addiction. He ate so much garlic, fresh, pickled, loaded on pizza and such - even ate whole cloves of it - that it just came out in his sweat. We had to throw away the chairs he used because the smell was intense weeks later. He'd been asked to reduce his garlic so he could work there and he said he couldn't.
LargeMarge 2 years ago
Sometimes it's easier said than done. I work with a lady and her a@@ smell horrendous. I want to tell her, but she will deny it and she's a bit aggressive. So, we kind of just deal with it.
Shane Clark 2 years ago
Someone was drunk when asking. Atleast that is what I think it means.
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Andy Cran 2 years ago (edited)
ok , mustn't lose sight of possible medical conditions which must be terrible for those afflicted by them because obviously they are aware and self conscious of it....then we must also be aware of those on the spectrum (of which I am one,on the spectrum that is) some are not always aware of poor hygiene , often it just doesn't occur to them,it doesn't equate into their thinking sometimes (I reiterate some not all,and there are also sensory issues to be mindful of) ....but for me the worst "offender" is the over doer of after-shave or perfume,that stings my eyes and gives me breathing difficulty sometimes,for those in UK reading this I have one word "BOOTS" ....if someone is having hygiene issues please by all means say something but be sensitive about it like you'd like someone being sensitive if it was you
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
Do they actually work? Garlic pills always made me burp garlic all day...I'm just realising I should have noticed my garlic intolerance back then, not 10 years later!
Load More Replies... #4
Male employee took female employees' house keys out of her purse and had copies made on his lunch. When the female employee got home from work that day, he was waiting for her in her bedroom. Thankfully she got out quickly and without harm and was able to call the police.
Trish 2 years ago
Guys like that are the reason we're afraid. Fortunately, there are good guys too, but how can we tell them apart?
Libstak 2 years ago
My gauge is how open they are about their lives, family and friends. If they treat you like à normal part of their life, happy for you to socialise with their family and friends they are not hiding skeletons just living life.
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DarkViolet 2 years ago
There, he'll get all the "action" he wants. And then some.
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Rose the Cook 2 years ago
Had something similar in Australia years ago. On the eve of long holiday male coworker went into to the estate agents that handled our rental just before closing and told the receptionist that he was my husband and had lost his key. Supposedly I was away and he faced being locked out over the holiday. So the stupid woman gave him the spare key without even looking if there was in fact a husband at that address. At that time there wasn't. Luckily my two teenage sons got home before me and I arrived as they were throwing him out.
Sunshine Lady 2 years ago
That's the reason we have special door lock, which requires 2 copies of key or special card to get a new copy. You never know who may take your keys and copy them
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
No “kinda” about it. It’s completely f*****g messed up!
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He got a forklift stuck in the grass while drunk. They tested him and he was positive for [illegal substances] too. On his way out he tried to argue "but half the warehouse gets high!" The next day there was a random [illegal substance] test and half the warehouse was sacked
detective miller's hat 2 years ago
pretty soon we won't be able to use any words at all with the way this site censors everything
Luke Branwen 2 years ago
And if someone says "drugs" as in "medicine", it will be [legal substances]. Maybe [semi-legal substances] for prescription drugs.
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Paula 2 years ago
Is it real BP? You censored "random drug test" to "random [illegal substance] test"? This is ridiculous...
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
"But half the warehouse gets high!!" Well- half the warehouse didn't crash a forklift did they? He did. So maybe don't do drugs at work while operating heavy machinery because everyone else is doing it. The odds of success are not in your favor
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
May the odds be never in your favor?
Load More Replies... Lakota Wolf (she/her) 2 years ago
OP on Reddit states the original dude was using, shall we say, a certain white powder. OP didn’t mention what the rest of the warehouse tested positive for, though XD
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Mike Fitzpatrick 2 years ago
I had a similar story but with legal substances. I worked in a near West Side suburb of Detroit in a print finishing plant on a paper cutter (think very large guillotine) and had a cup of coffee on the wing of the machine (~18“ table type affair). The owner walked into the shop and gravitates to my machine and looked into my cup and loudly exclaimed "we drink coffee on our coffee break, not while we're working". I turned around and pointed out that virtually every other machine being run had a can of Coke on it and asking what about all of those? He huffed and returned to the office and every operator on the floor got pissed at me for mentioning it. FU, Dennis! If you're still alive, I'm calling you out.
Oskar vanZandt 2 years ago
Doesn't surprise me the warehouse staff would use drugs... Likely to numb themselves to do the dreary work.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago (edited)
Good on them for firing them! It's so dangerous to operate machinery while drunk/high! My stepbrother was known to use the forklift in the warehouse, while sipping from his 'water' bottle. Also would start each day with a bong. He got fired too.
#6
Turns out her cancer was faked and she scammed us all out of $100K. Now she's in prison.
(google Amanda Riley, I worked with her around 2015-2016ish)
LH25 2 years ago
As a cancer survivor, and someone who has lost people I love to cancer F**K her.
Do-nut touch da donut 2 years ago (edited)
What did bouche do to go to prison?
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C.O. Shea 2 years ago
Ah, the infamous Amanda Riley. She's a great example why one should never loan money they expect to see again.
Cathleen Cummings 2 years ago
there is a great podcast about her -- "Scamanda" I think it is called
Mario Strada 2 years ago
I have a friend that died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. We were best friends. F**k this lady.
ConstantlyJon 2 years ago
there's a podcast about this called Scamanda so I'll be listening to that now
#7
College Junior, 1980's, office job proofreading. I get a new partner. A few years older than me, Army-style haircut, very fit and muscular.
He is nervous so I give him easy stuff and bring him along slowly. After a week or so he relaxes and tells his story.
He joined a cult as a teen, the Moonies. He rose through the ranks until he was running a team of teens traveling the country raising money for the cult. They sold flowers and magazine subscriptions door-to-door, in malls, train stations and airports. He drove them in a van and they all slept in one room at cheap motels. His job was to watch them, keep them in line and earning. He did it for years, always traveling, barely sleeping until he finally had a breakdown and ended up in a psych ward. Working with me was his first real job back in the world. We did fine, he was always on time and like me, read books during downtime. I found out from my supervisor that they gave him to me because if he went berserk I had the best chance of surviving @6' 4" and 230 Lbs.
Partner eventually requested a move to the day shift and I got an opera singer for my new amigo. Day shift is busier than nights. Ex-Moonie couldn't cope without my support and went Hulk smash and destroyed the office until the cops came.
Jeremy James 2 years ago (edited)
I used to work with a young woman who was raised in a cult. She was forced to proselytize (preach) from a young age. She got out. One time, we were hanging out at her place and I asked her to give me the spiel. It was like someone else took over. The most unnerving aspect was the eye contact. Her eyes locked onto mine and never flinched or blinked while she was talking.
Hokuloa 2 years ago (edited)
Fun fact: the Moonies have now morphed into an offshoot far-right paramilitary gun cult that has crazy close ties to the Republican Party in the US. They and their congregation hold services and rallies with everyone holding AR-15s, wearing crowns of AR15 cartridges, wearing camouflage etc. Apparently they hold paramilitary tactical training on their compound in Pennsylvania as well. Other than 2nd amendment rhetoric, they also spout a litany of other far-right and MAGA nonsense. They regularly get big name MAGA speakers and they donate heavily to the GOP and to the far-right cause. So yeah, the Moonies. Fun times
Metalhead Turtle 🇺🇦 2 years ago
I'm not surprised by that. I knew it sounded familiar.
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Praea Kitten 2 years ago
Sad story. I'm glad (at least this is the story I'm telling myself, don't convince me otherwise unless it's a happier story) you were able to provide him comfort, stability, and support, even if for a short time. Mental health (especially for men) is *seriously lacking* not just in this country, but the world over
Veronica Jean 2 years ago
Well...that's one way for your company to let you know they think you're expendable.
ThéveNinja (she/her) 2 years ago
The Moonies are no joke, especially with the new regime. If you see pictures of churchgoers holding automatic weapons and wearing crowns made of bullets, that is them
#8
Oh, they came in with a potbelly pig as their emotional support animal. Office meetings just got a lot squeakier.
MotherofGuineaPigs 2 years ago
I brought a sick guinea pig to work. had her in a sling I wore. No one was offended and she even got veggies from most people.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
Awesome! I have a parent of a child at my after school care who fosters animals and currently has a brushtail and a ringtail possum. I'm hoping to organise for her to bring them in for a visit!
Load More Replies... The Weird American 2 years ago
USA: ADA doesn't recognize any support animals but dog and little pony (not kidding). No reason to bring a pig into the workplace.
Patricia Healton 2 years ago
Emotional support animals don't have the same protection as service animals and can be refused entry to anyplace.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
My cousin works at a counselling place where they have bunnies and dogs for the clients to chill with. She runs the mindfulness photography sessions and actually included the animals in some of them.
#9
Management finally took notice and "reorganized" so that he no longer had any staff under him, but gave him a higher title and almost no work in the process. A short time later, they used layoffs as a reason to get rid of him entirely, but he parlayed his higher title into a more powerful, better paying job elsewhere, where they're now trying to figure out how to get rid of him. Basically, he failed up. That's what you get when you have hiring managers who get star-struck at an Ivy League education without checking if there's any substance behind it.
Trish 2 years ago (edited)
That happened where I worked, but it wasn't someone star-struck over an Ivy League education. It was because our HR Director wanted to get with him. She did. It ended. His position was eliminated.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
Some people never learned not to s**t where they eat. Keep it professional at work, ffs.
Load More Replies... RandomPerson 2 years ago
Fun Fact: there were originally four schools.in the Ivy League, so over time it went from being called the IV ( Roman numeral for four.) League to the Ivy League.
Sue User 2 years ago
No, that is not a fact. The term was started by a sports writer, as originally , it was about common atheletic goals. He used the term because many of the schools had ivy.
Load More Replies... Mabelbabel 2 years ago
It's the same in the public sector. I work in the NHS and you have to do something really really bad to get sacked. Bad managers simply get moved sideways into a different department if they c**k up-if you keep rotating them round different departments, they aren't there long enough to cause major problems.
Carla Campbell 2 years ago
It sounds like a government job. If someone screws up, they just promote him/her.
Veronica Jean 2 years ago
My favorite thing about my job is we are almost 100% portfolio based. Yes your resume may have things that are good for us to know, but we have several staff members who never went anywhere outside of high school and are department heads because they are talented and passionate. Their work says everything we need to know.
Coyote Osborne 2 years ago
Every single person I have worked with who went to Harvard or another Ivy league school (especially Harvard) was utterly inept at their job, and too smug to learn. After a while, it got around in my whole industry locally that an ivy league diploma from someone who wanted to do IT was a huge black mark. The one exception was a gentleman who got in on scholarships and worked during school, who was not entitled, and was a great colleague (though he switched from coding to management as soon as he could).
David A Paterson 2 years ago
The real problem here is parlaying the title to get a better paying job elsewhere. Companies will often give their worst employees a gold plated reference just to get rid of them.
#10
Kid-centric water park. He put broken glass in the pool because he didn’t get one day of the four day span he requested off. We were taught in training that if broken glass was found in the pool, the park would have to be closed for about three days to complete a process to make sure it was fully removed. He figured he could use this to his advantage.
He got his day off, him and the rest of the morning shift were sent home while the glass was removed. The park ended up opening later that afternoon after the removal process was expedited. Luckily no one was hurt because this all happened in the morning before we opened to the public.
He bragged about it to some of our other coworkers who ended up reporting him.
Lost Penny 2 years ago
It was a good thing the guy was an idiot. A smart malicious a*****e would be more terrifying.
ConstantlyJon 2 years ago
what I want to know is who found the broken glass in the pool? That seems like something you stumble upon, not see.
April Pickett 2 years ago
Well, I'm glad he bragged, he was not the personality they needed in that job.
#11
She accepted a fake $100 bill that literally said “FOR MOVIE USE ONLY” on it and had Benjamin Franklin on both sides. We worked at a bank.
tracy black 2 years ago
i can top that worked with a man who accepted not one but 2 100 dollars bills that were black and white and cut out of the newspaper for a banks checking acct offer that they had going on the were about half the size of regular bills and had newprint on the back side as if the black and white didnt give it away lol
Christi Blankenship 2 years ago
I had an employee that worked for me who totally could be who this post is talking about lol she left us and briefly got a job at a bank. She was nice enough, but the dumbest girl I've ever met. Lol we'd ask her to find where we lived on a map for sh*ts and giggles. Spoiler: she never could
Christi Blankenship 2 years ago
Note: we weren't asking her to find anything small or specific on an unmarked map, we were asking her to find the STATE we lived in... she also thought South America was Africa soooo...
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Luanne Fliss 2 years ago
I was told of a teller that deposited a "check" into an account...excerpt it was actually a counter deposit form from another bank.
River wolf (she/her) 1 year ago
I have a 100 dollar bill that says for movie prop use only. Benjamin Franklin is on only 1 side, so already better.
#12
She starved her handicapped son with hot sauce and left him to die in an ice bath. F**k you, Shanda.
hitex 2 years ago
WTF?! Shanda deserves the bottomless pit of 9th circle of Hades - indeed, F**K you Shanda!
detective miller's hat 2 years ago
In case anyone is curious: https://apnews.com/article/child-abuse-crime-1966e1be2d3ba2e57d38256dedc7d76c
Zophra 2 years ago
Holy s**t - this article is even worse. I also looked up the mother's picture. Not what I expected, although I'm not sure what I expected - for her to have 666 on her forehead or something.
Load More Replies... Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
WTF!!! People like this make me hope for a hell because she put her own child through one. A child who is helpless and immobile. It's sickening.
SayaCat 2 years ago (edited)
nope , he died, see detective hat's link , as gor the mom being in prison not sure. can't find any mor info
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Andy Cran 2 years ago
we had a similar case here in the UK recently, absolutely sick! I'm sure my UK brethren on here know which one I mean (the young Welsh girl,I cannot think of her name right now...) parents left her to rot and that's just the tip of the iceberg so to speak... horrendous case
Isaiah Burger 2 years ago
god wtf is wrong with ppl these days she can go burn in the deppest pits of hell f@@k you shanda
#13
He was the life and soul of the office, a proper family man, and a trusted department manager. His wife was sadly diagnosed with cancer, so for a couple of years, he was on reduced hours to look after her and his young son.
Sadly, he passed away (never found out how), but the strange thing was the police had to reach out to the company as he had no next of kin. Turns out he didn't have a wife or son or any other close friends or family. Very sad.
hitex 2 years ago
Wow. He must've been in deep depression to go like that & lie about those things
Bec 2 years ago
Maybe m definitely strange. As someone without kids, I can relate little bit. Office small talk is often centered around kids and sometimes I've felt the odd man out.
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Oskar vanZandt 2 years ago
Maybe he was the one with cancer and couldn't face it... especially since he appears to have lacked a support network.
L. Murphy 2 years ago
People who do not have a support network do not want the fake pity of others. It's patronizing and disrespectful.
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Andy Cran 2 years ago (edited)
that's really sad.... there are people out there who are so lonely,no family no friends,i(and not because they're an awful person) it doesn't just affect the elderly either.... always remember there's a difference between being alone (nothing wrong with one's own company some prefer it)and being lonely....if you know someone who's happy being alone just make sure they aren't also lonely, please check in on them,just a " a how ya doing" will do, don't mollycoddle them you'll only further isolate them, respect their alone time
ॐBoyGanesh 2 years ago (edited)
This is heartbreaking. No matter how much we like to be be alone we still need human touch. We need to be caressed, hugged, held. We literally physically wither without. Not to say what it does to us emotionally. Its medical name is “touch starvation.” I love being alone when I can get it. My soul aches for those who are perpetually alone and lonely.
L. Murphy 2 years ago
Speak for yourself. Not fond of human physical contact. Too many cooties.
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Solidhog 2 years ago
It's amazing how businesses have survived this long with the way they are run now, and to be fair how our dire our education systems are. How do those in charge not realise that a piece of paper from a university or college is not actually proof of intelligence or ability.
#14
I used to work for this extremely unethical medical device company. The owners had really strong "timeshare salesman" energy, and would say or do *anything* they thought would make sales or improve their bottom line. As a result, most employees (myself included) got grossed out and left within a year or two, with the only ones staying having something deeply wrong with them, either ethically or professionally.
As a result, a lot of s****y behavior was tolerated from senior employees becuase the owners couldn't retain anyone else. Enter Bill. In the year I worked alongside Bill, I watched him:
* Ask a brown-skinned coworker how "his people" prayed. Said coworker was born and raised in Maryland.
* In a conversation about how people's personalities change when they drink, suggested to another coworker that he probably got "more autistic" (said coworker was not, and had never implied to be, autistic).
* During the George Floyd protests, assured everyone in the lunch room that he and his church had an impressive stockpile of weapons in case that kind of civil unrest cropped up in our town.
That's just the stuff I witnessed first hand, pretty much everyone had similar stories of Bill.
The straw that finally, *finally* broke the camel's back came during a company picnic. We were playing cornhole and Bill, unprompted, said very loudly that I "should be careful not to throw the beanbags towards [the name of the only two black employees in the company] because *Black Lives Matter*" and then grinned like he'd told the funniest joke in the world. Everyone, including the two employees in question, heard him. Afterwords, as I was explaining the incident to HR, our HR director shook her head and said "this is really bad, you know this isn't Bill's first strike." Yeah no s**t Stephanie.
Haywood Jablome 2 years ago
I'm from Maryland, and he's right to ask our prayer is bizarre. We pray with 3 crabs in front of us, facing towards the Chesapeake Bay while pouring blessed Old Bay seasoning on our heads
Linde Van Den Berg 2 years ago
As a person who lives in Maryland I can confirm this is true
Load More Replies... Dr Robert Neville 2 years ago
Unethical salesmen? Say it ain't so. I used to sit opposite the lady who did our payroll and I used to love listening to her trip them up. One standout was a guy who'd driven 300 miles for a sales trip and put in 600 miles (return trip), she was trying to understand exactly how he'd done that without refilling his tank as there was no receipt for fuel during that time, he was trying to say he'd filled up canisters beforehand and used them to fill his tank when he ran out. Her face was flicking between anger and exasperation.
Andy Cran 2 years ago
I know that face, have used it many times in life myself
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Barbara Kayton 2 years ago (edited)
A church has a stockpile of weapons. As a Christian, I am horrified. Racism, gun rights, valuing a weapon designed to kill over children and adult lives - this is the absolute opposite of what Jesus teaches us.
TiNaBoNiNa 2 years ago
Fake Christian. Even Jesus doesn't want to own them.
Load More Replies... #15
One of the supervisors finally confronted him about the ever present smell of rum on his breath and his ever present, yet lighter in shade, bottle of soda. After being told he'd be given a breathalyzer at work he claimed he "had never been so insulted" by an accusation in his life and immediately quit...never letting go of his soda bottle.
hitex 2 years ago
His right to be insulted is only justified AFTER he blows 0.00 on the breathalyzer. Alcoholic here - my righteous indignation only occurs after I blow to prove I'm sober (if your family know you are in recovery, despite best intentions, they'll 'smell' alcohol on you - for me energy drinks cause this). I bought an expensive highly rated breathalyzer to prove I'm 100% sober if falsely accused of drinking. This guy needs some rehab & realize he's got a problem
Lakota Wolf (she/her) 2 years ago
Yep, I feel you, addict in recovery here as well :) It’s the same for me - family members “know” I’m “high on something” because of how I’m “acting”. It’s impossible for me to prove to them without a blood test (I think?), but they’ve seen how bad it can get, so I don’t blame them for accusing.
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hitex 2 years ago
I aspire to acquire this sobriety. 2023 is my first year sober since 2020 (when the alcoholism kick started)
Load More Replies... Farnzy 2 years ago
My husband is a welder and one of his coworkers was caught on the job with booze...hidden in several nooks and crannies. This person was a heavy machinery operator. I. Have never been. So.ANGRY. They were actually given a chance to go to rehab to keep their job, which I thought was fair. He decided not to and quit. It is a disease no doubt about it. But I'm still pissed how much danger he put my husband and everyone else in.
#16
He started making fart noises every time my other coworker bent over. To get something out of a case, pick something up, whatever it was, he was flarping it up and laughing it off.
We fired him when he tried to fist fight a customer.
TiNaBoNiNa 2 years ago
I have a milk allergy. I'd just chug a pint and let the fireworks start. Ask him how he likes it now.
#17
Woman I worked with, both of us in our early 20s, came into my office, grabbed my hands, and started crying with joy that I was in heaven with her. She was relieved to see a familiar face.
After a bit more of this conversation, I told her she should take the rest of the day off and get some rest.
Then she left work and [took her own life].
(Edit: I felt like it was my fault for a long time.)
Trish 2 years ago
That's hard stuff to carry. 14 years ago, I walked out to the parking lot with a coworker. Normal day, she didn't seem off and never said anything out of the ordinary. We talked about the weather. It was going to rain that evening, and I love the rain. She went home and put a rope around her neck, which was her plan all along (she left a note), but I never would have guessed that in a million years. Today would have been her birthday, hers was two days after mine. Happy Birthday, Cindi, I hope you've found peace.
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 years ago
In my experience people often seem happier or calmer right before they take their own life. They know they have a plan to end their distress. I hope you weren’t too badly affected by this Trish, and absolutely, I hope Cindy is at peace now.
Load More Replies... TiNaBoNiNa 2 years ago
The woman was obviously having a psychotic break. Unfortunately, most people don't know how to handle mental illness in others. The OP's response was to distance the problem from themselves and let it take care of itself. This was not done maliciously, of course. They just lacked the education to know what to do in this situation. 988 is the new mental health hotline number in the US. You can call them for yourself to get help or to get advice for someone else. Also, you can call 911 for someone having these delusions so they can get medical help immediately.
Boo-Urns 2 years ago
I absolutely relate to this, I was once faced with an employee acting VERY noticeably -- and uncharacteristically -- off. I was his supervisor at the time, and I honestly didn't know how to handle it. After our incredibly odd and disjointed conversation he went back to his desk, and I went to speak with my boss. He ended up sending him home, and as it turns out his doctor had modified one of his prescriptions and no one realized that it passed a threshold for interacting with another one he was taking. They put his dosage back and he was completely back to normal. Which, of course, is fantastic... but I always wish I'd done more in the moment.
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April Pickett 2 years ago
That must've been a shocker. I hope you have had therapy or someone you trust to be supportive of you.
Elemcie 2 years ago
Warning: graphic. My stepmother was very calm and lighthearted on Monday night when I spoke to her asking about her and my dad and how they were doing. The next day at 5 pm, my dad called and she'd shot herself in between the eyes at noon. She was 88 years ago old. My father was questioned by police for several hours since the odds of 88 yr old women committing suicide by gun is very, very low. I've felt awful since that day that I didn't recognize her despair or anything amiss. My dad lived the last 4 1/2 years of his life wondering what he missed and how she could leave him alone after 43 years together. It's heartbreaking and no she didn't have cancer or any other terrible disease. We just don't know what she was going through. It is haunting.
#18
I taught new technicians on the machines we worked on. In our work area all of us were required to wear work smocks. New hire I noticed kept eating M&Ms out of his pocket, with tweezers. Food in the work area is prohibited, so I told him he needed to stop. He didn’t. I told him again to stop, he didn’t. I told him to go to his locker and leave the food. Caught him later the same day eating something else out of his pocket, again with tweezers. He didn’t make it past probation.
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
TWEEZERS???? LOL!! Isn't this the worst way to eat candy out of your pocket? Did random m&ms just fly around plinking things because they would have no traction? This just baffles me lol
Wood Carver 2 years ago
Presumably this is because his hands are too dirty or covered in dangerous chemicals to eat safely. Think chopsticks for cheetos. Only places to absolutely ban food I've worked have been pretty bad if you ate in them.
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Paul Scheermeijer 2 years ago
He did not touch the food with his hands. So at least that was compliant
LinkTheHylian 2 years ago
"I eat my M&Ms with tweezers, but I eat my Twizzlers with a spoon and my name tag."
Mickie Shea 2 years ago
Not healthy to touch food when you don’t know where your hands have been.
#19
Worked in a different office but, serial killer. Possibly 25 victims in Southern California. Apparently he was religious and kept mostly to himself.
Der Kommissar 2 years ago (edited)
Friend of mine owned a car upholstery shop. One of his workers for a few months was Angelo Buono, one of the hillside stranglers.
Maisey Myles 2 years ago
Pretty much every serial killers neighbors say “he seemed like a nice guy..went to church and kept to himself”
Coyote Osborne 2 years ago
I've worked with a couple of people - usually middle managers - that I was convinced probably had a freezer full of heads in their basement. I believe that there's a higher number of sociopaths the further you go up in management.
Andy Cran 2 years ago
yep, narcissists....some become president of the US
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Anna Bender 2 years ago (edited)
I worked with a kid at McDonald's that killed his parents and his grandfather when they found out he was stealing from his grandfather. I also worked at Walmart with a guy that was later arrested in the cold case murder of April Tinsley. My ex- husband was in a clown club with John Wayne Gacy
Kiwi Panda 2 years ago
Of course serial killers are loners-they kill everyone they come into contact with
hitex 2 years ago
No correlation. Most worship themselves more than anyone else.
Load More Replies... #20
Company put us all up in a hotel for one due to snow closing the roads and public transportation down. One of my co-workers decided living in the hotel was way better than at home and extended his stay for a week.
He got fired when the company got the bill for his hotel stay. No idea why he thought they would pay for it.
Mickie Shea 2 years ago
Appears (Look Close) more like a “Lizard Headed”, “Reptile Man”.
Load More Replies... #21
S**t his pants intentionally 30-40 times over the year to be able go home early to play video games before his wife and kid got home. Age @ incident 37
Neb Skram 2 years ago
that is quite the devoted gamer to s**t his pants at work i would be too embarrassed to show up after s******g my pants at work 1 time much less 30-40 times
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
GROSS GROSS GROSS. I s**t my pants once as a healthy adult. It was mortifying. I'm still afraid security footage will pop up somewhere of this incident. I was running around with my baby in the carrier, needed a bathroom, ran to the office and it was locked. There was nowhere to go. It was horrible. No woods, nothing. Just mortifying.
Richard Michael 2 years ago
You would think they would require him to bring a change of clothes after the 4th or 5th time.
Parker Plumer 2 years ago
Oh my f*****g god... this is literally a running joke in my friends' circle. We're all fairly mature and responsible people, so none of us has ever honestly considered doing it, but we joke about it. We call it Plan B (not original, I know). When one of us says they don't want to go to work for the day we tell them to 'Plan B it' since no one is going to make a person who just pooped themselves stay at work after that. I guess I'm glad to know it would work, but I sure as hell would never do that on purpose.
Tucker Cahooter 2 years ago
That's why I always keep a spare pair of underpants in my desk, you just never know...
Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago
Working in the sewers, I keep 2 full sets of clothes in case I get covered in the nasty. My work partner got covered a few weeks ago. Head to toe ,drenched to the bone with straight out of the pipe sewerage. Good thing we wear the same size.
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#22
I had an internship as an electrician in a hospital and one of my colleagues, middle aged fed up with life dude , was always stretching the barriers. The f****r (you'll see why I just called him that soon) had wife and kids to take care of but he was Showing up late, going shopping while still punched in and just had a general lazy attitude towards work.
The boss sent him over to another hospital nearby where after a few months the grounds keeper called us in to tell us someone had been sleeping in the vent room for a good while (weeks) and there was a mattress there and a reading lamp.
We immediately figured it was our guy but no proof.
Anyway the hospita where I worked had 8 floors, and the 4th floor was off limits as they had closed that specific department (can't remember which specialists where in there) but some of us could access this floor to do maintainance work.
.
So he gets transferred back and a couple of months pass. Collegues starts noticing he's hanging around the orthodontic department alot and is gone for weird periods of times, til one day one of the security guards does a round on 4th floor (all abandoned and dark) and hears moaning coming from one of the rooms.
Start walking there when moaning stops abrupt and a person f*****g bolts out of the room with a jacket onto of his head and trousers halfway pulled up (strong pull out game).
Dashes to the doors like Casper the horny ghost 👻 and then this poor lady he was f*****g was just left there.
He'd even dragged a worn out mattress for the occasion (and they say chivalry is dead).
Anyway so you have to access the floor by swiping you card and enter your personal code so we had our Scooby-Doo meeting the next day where we revieled our horny-ghost-on-floor-4 must've been our collegue.
Aaand he was fired..
Oh and he lost his family too🤗
Oskar vanZandt 2 years ago
My father used to work with a guy who took w@nk breaks... This was at a manufacturing plant for pots, pans etc.: my father had the unfortunate experience of accidentally happening upon the w@nker when he went to retrieve some sheet metal from stores.
#23
After he quit, special investigators showed up asking for him and wanted to know where he was.
He had apparently been trying to [end] his wife by putting rat poison in her coffee every morning.
Paul Scheermeijer 2 years ago
I would go crazy also if my story turns out blanc..... where is the (con)text here?
#24
Her husband was the head of a department in another area of the company, banging his secretary. She’d I guess had had enough of his BS and unfortunately decided to confront him at work by bursting into his office and stripping off her clothes in front of his whole department screaming “Am I not woman enough for you?” Husband and wife were both in their mid 60s. Both got fired/forced retirement. Not sure about the secretary- I think she just never came back to work.
I felt sorry for her. He was a known prick and she must have gone through a lot to get to that point and snap.
The Weird American 2 years ago
Doesn't matter if secretary openly seduced him...he was her boss and had position power over her. He should have been fired, secretary should not.
Richard Michael 2 years ago
The secretary is an adult and knows the difference between right and wrong.
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#25
Oh, Gregory?
Gregory started getting more and more and more f****d up a work, to the point where he was taking four-hour long fifteen-minute breaks. Boss wouldn't fire him because, quote, "he's not as high today as he was yesterday".
Once, his mother showed up and followed me around the sales floor demanding to know why I didn't take care of her, quote, "precious boy" and protect him. From what, she never specified, and I later figured out that she was trying to get me to stop him from shooting up in the parking lot, without saying with her out-loud voice that that was what he was doing. I tried explaining that I was neither a manager nor a babysitter, but she just kept repeating that he was precious and that I was supposed to protect him.
Anyway, eventually the manager above my manager did fire him. Only for him to come in the next day. And the next. Not to work; to skulk around my department with his hoodie up and his hands in his pockets in a very I-have-a-gun way, muttering about what a******s we all were. For hours. My manager wouldn't do anything, because she felt bad for him.
Eventually, the manager above my manager had him escorted out and banned.
He's probably dead now, if I had to guess.
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
Wtf??? Why would you keep this person around? Fear? The mother is 100% of the problem
Lyone Fein 2 years ago
Nah man. She may have contributed some, but people are responsible for their own srew ups.
Load More Replies... Dr Robert Neville 2 years ago (edited)
Wow, we have a lot of drivers at work, they have random drink and drug tests. Company policy is to get them the help they need if they get flagged, that's according to the handbook anyway. It asks you to talk to HR if you feel you have a problem and they'll refer you.
Glass Ghost 2 years ago
This reminds of one time I was on shift at a factory and the person taking over my machine was very clearly strung out on something. Never been more uncomfortable in a situation. No idea what happened to the guy after that. Thankfully ended up quitting 😅
#26
They went and visited an escort during an entire work trip and didn’t attend any of the very important customer meetings. Submitted an expense report asking to be reimbursed for the entertainment. They were not reimbursed.
hitex 2 years ago
At least go to the d**n customer meetings! You wouldn't have the opportunity for the hoes if not for the work trip!
ThéveNinja (she/her) 2 years ago
Sorry, Montana Mariner, you get an upvote from me. I also am not sure what this person’s deal is.
Load More Replies... Der Kommissar 2 years ago
Know someone who was a construction foreman and one worker said he got a back injury. He was told to go to a back doctor or chiropractor and that the company would reimburse him. He brought a receipt from a massage parlor (the naughty kind).
Agfox 2 years ago
I have one like this: we had selected State Office staff come to Central Office for a 3-day training course. This dude never showed up after lunch on the first day & spent the next 2.5 days back in his home city using his Government credit card in various Gentlemen's Clubs. Sacked & charged by police, never heard what eventually happened to him
#27
She was legitimately f*****g nuts. Like she seriously needed to be medicated. Her moods would shift right in front of you, it was unnerving. And for some reason, despite doing next to no work for probably the highest salary, she was a miserable a*****e. Took it upon herself to literally set people up for 3 strikes so she could fire them. She managed to get through 2 managers for b******t reasons because the regional manager didn't give a f**k no matter how many times she was reported for harassment. He didn't have to work with her so he went on about his business also being paid to do nothing.
She'd started to set up a third manager for the chopping block when she finally went too far. She had just gotten through firing #2 when she made a fatal mistake - she put the company at risk. She told me she'd fired him for "skimming money from the till" which was absolute b******t. She told another employee he was fired for "telling a breastfeeding customer to cover up" which actually happened - in a completely different store hours away. It made no sense whatsoever, nevermind the fact that she wasn't supposed to tell anyone anything in the first place.
Given the potential legal ramifications, they finally fired her. By then, **two dozen** employees had quit or been fired in **3 months**. They could barely open the store with the people who were left. They marched her ugly a*s out the door carrying a plant and her fish. Last I saw her, she was stuck standing at the front of Best Buy as a greeter.
The Faded Moth 2 years ago
I was a Carmelite nun, only for 5.5 years. There was a sister who did this, but with 12 postulants. She went after me, and I developed severe PTSD, and left before 3rd year vows. I did make waves with the general superior in the 3 years immediately following my leaving, and that sister was eventually expelled. No one was good enough for her standards.
Apachebathmat 2 years ago
I had a job with a business owner very similar to this, she was at least 400lb and would have a tantrum about the smallest of things, one day we had ordered the wrong highlighters (sadly we didn’t read her mind that she wanted a specific brand) and she stood there having a full on, stamp ya feet, screaming fit, I just got my stuff, called her a tit and left
silowew628@picvw.com 2 years ago
Sounds like borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder all rolled into one fun package.
Diana Wilcox 2 years ago
If you can carry your fishtank, you're doing it wrong. Not shocked she'd abuse animals...
#28
Called in sick the first day on the job. Later that day his wife called, asking to speak with him. We told her he was home sick, She told us he was definitivly not. He never came back in. Maybe "coworker" isn't really the right word.
Dr Robert Neville 2 years ago (edited)
Had a senior manager at a sales meeting with a client, he was a creepy dude who no one liked. Anyway, director of sales is on the phone to the same client and client asks is someone can come in and quote for that. Hold on, Jeff can do that he's there today for a meeting with Steve. Silence st the other end, nope Steve's on holiday. Are you sure? Yep. Hmmm, it's in the calendar that Jeff's there. Let me ring him on his mobile. Jeff confirms he definitely with client in their office. Jeff is asked to find guy who's on the phone. At this point Jeff's phone gives out. We never saw Jeff again.
#29
He started getting a thousand-yard-stare while in the office. He sat at his computer and stared at the monitor, which is what we all did, except his monitor was off. One day he didn't come in at all, and a few days later we learned that he had been arrested in another state for stealing a car and attacking the police that arrested him.
Hugh Cookson 2 years ago
Ah, the looney tune - I'm pretty sure we've all worked with one or more of them. As a retired Chef with 38 years o working in kitchens Worldwide, an employee being arrested ranks quite low on my story bank .......
Apatheist Account2 2 years ago
Some people develop that stare due to chronic over-work. It's a precursor to breakdown. Don't deride them as a "looney tune" without knowing the full story.
Load More Replies... Just another idiot 2 years ago
All in all, I've heard of things ending much worse after someone gets that stare. I hope they got help.
#30
We worked at a group home agency specifically for mental health. Still something I feel incredible guilt and shame for not being able to do more about earlier.
Ex coworker openly said she searched for married men to fool around with, and seemed proud about it. Big yikes. She had a second job at another agency that worked more as a halfway house. I worked every shift nearly every day at our shared agency, so I was scheduled with her every few days or so.
It wasn’t until she confided in me that one of the married men in her rolodex might be married to a woman in one of the homes in an agency in town. There weren’t many, and it’s not our shared group home agency we were both employed at because the clients we had weren’t married. (Most were barely 18) I was loud about how wrong it was, she said she didn’t even know the woman or that it was for sure a client at the agency. He had confided in my coworker about the struggles of having a mentally ill wife in a home and he kept it very vague as to where she was. I called the applicable state agency to report her behavior and they said while it was incredibly bad taste, no HIPAA laws were being broken and I didn’t have enough information to prove it was. I looked for advice everywhere, and everyone told me that if you can’t confirm it IS a client in the agency and it’s not HER specific client, then you can’t report it accurately. I was honestly kind of shamed for “getting involved in private lives.” I didn’t know names or locations of the second agency clients/homes as it was all protected by HIPAA. We really do take that seriously, and weaseling the information out of her was so f*****g upsetting to me. I kept the colleague relationship fresh despite wanting to vomit when scheduled with her, mostly because I felt that this was wrong and wanted to gather as much evidence as I could to prove it. I actually considered applying for a job at the other agency so I could ask around freely. I found out the agency name, and the current house she worked at. I wrote in an anonymous email with my information so far and it went unreturned.
A week or so later, she told me she was reassigned to a new house and for sure the woman lives there by confirmation of the husband after bragging about “a new position.” She talked down on the client and started telling the husband when she refused her meds, to leave her, etc. “He has the right to know that she’s not even *trying* to get better.” I will never forget feeling upset enough to throw up, but keeping it hidden to press her for more information. I needed to know where the house was and the husbands name, hoping the client had the same last name and SOMEONE, ANYONE, could connect the dots. As a bonus to being loose lipped and trashy, this woman let slip the clients name. After finding out everything I called everyone I could. Head of departments, the state department, our manager at our shared agency, her manager at her second agency. I did not stop and admittedly, it probably seemed crazy to some people how obsessed I was with getting this woman banned from working with vulnerable populations. I had everything I needed to finally end this.
She was fired from both jobs and threatened to [end] me because it was obviously me that told people. No idea if applicable agencies gave her a VA report through the state but I strongly advocated for one.
I blocked her on everything and ended up moving a short while later back to my small hometown.
Imagine my face when I walk into my local gynecology clinic a year later and she’s sitting at the front desk.
Ellie Ahmed 2 years ago (edited)
I'd tell the OBGYN first. Take the emotion out of it, just explain calmly "hey, just wanted to check you're aware, I worked with your new hire in a previous job and there were some serious ethical breaches in her conduct". Explain what happened, sticking to the facts and keeping the discussion between two health professionals. The clinic may not actually know any of this happened, depending on whether she had an official sanction recorded and how deep they looked when hiring her. At the very least they can be aware and monitor.
Load More Replies... ॐBoyGanesh 2 years ago
To be clear, this is an ethics violation and there are regulations and laws to prevent it is most places. However, this is NOT what HIPAA means nor is it what HIPAA covers. It’s insane how this DHCS regulation in regards to medical records has become a misunderstood catch-all for any violation in health care. It just isn’t so. The HIPAA (Health Information Protection & Accountability Act) is specifically about health information (your medical records et al) and how it is handled securely and confidentially, be that electronic, oral, written or audio/video and it specifically applies to health workers and how they transfer, receive, store & share you information. Sleeping with a patients spouse may be morally wrong and may have some professional ethics violations, if the two participating aren’t discussing the patients medical information, it’s just not a HIPAA violation.
Miriam L 2 years ago
Although at the end, it did become a HIPPA violation unless the fired coworker had permission to discuss specific details of the wife's health with her affair partner. I'm willing to bet that she didn't, or that the permission didn't extent to informal contexts
Load More Replies... Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
I hope you turned around and walked back out! The receptionist at an OBGYN's office was drunk at the bar and has photo copied a girls pap smear results from her file and was yelling "Jessica so and so has HPV AND HERPES!!" Really disturbing. I should have found out which office and reported her
Lyone Fein 2 years ago
She did that on purpose. Like some sort of revenge thing. She sounds like a villain.
#31
She was my partner in surveillance. She started leaving me for hours at a time which got really frustrating. I would try to find her on camera so I knew where to call to get her to come back so I could have a bathroom and/or coffee break.
I started to notice that every time I looked for her, she was chatting with this one new girl. This was happening every day and then I noticed they started taking night shift breaks together. Then one night, I saw them head outside together. They both got in her car and were just chatting in the front seat. Suddenly, they start making out and next thing I know they're both getting out and getting into the back seat. This became a regular thing on night shift.
Fast forward several months, she's now separated from her husband and living with this coworker.
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
This happened to my two good friends at work. It got weird when they both got insanely jealous and fighting when I talked to the opposite one. Too much. They ended up leaving and working elsewhere, but it sucked to lose my best work friends
LinkTheHylian 2 years ago
I know I should feel bad for the husband, but I'm an LGBTQ+ ally. And there was no mention of kids suffering because mom found her true self.
Lyone Fein 2 years ago
Good for them, but don't leave your partner hung out to dry on the job.
#32
He's a great guy, he's very excited to work... except that he's terrible at it. Nobody wants him, but nobody wants to fire him, so he keeps moving from one area to another.
I like the guy, I really do, but this isn't a charity. He needs to be fired, and the longer management delays that, the harder it will be.
The Weird American 2 years ago
HR Here: I bet he got great annual appraisals too, and NOTHING on his record to support termination. HR is about risk-avoidance and this is what makes us nuts....we get a call on a miscellaneous day about what a terrible performer Employee is, and we should fire them immediately, but there is absolutely no documentation to support termination. None.
HangryHangryHippo 2 years ago
I know one of those. Eager to learn, but everything entered through one ear and passed out through the other. It didn't matter how many hours of theory/ applied training or how many manuals we had. They will make the same (or similar flavour) mistake time after time, miss steps, and fail to troubleshoot even the most basic issues. A lot of time, resources and good will was expended with this person, and nothing worked.All the team, even managers, did their best to help this person. I liked them but was a burden to the whole team. My mental health took a dive, my performance too as I spent a lot or time mentoring or even fixing their mistakes when they couldn't (personal/ medical leave). Awful situation for everybody.
#33
It was obvious he was a hard drinker. What took the weirdness to the next level was when I was almost home and a voice called out my name *and it was him*. He had actually stalked me. I'm a thin 5'5" woman.
He tried to be casual about it and extended an invitation to a neighborhood bar.
Inner monologue went from *This guy followed me from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the Subway? Whoa.* to *He doesn't live in this neighborhood.* to *Does he know which apartment I live at? Maybe I should walk to the fire station and call a roommate.*
His voice trailed off seeing the expression on my face, which probably looked like *you have bad idea written all over you.*
He was a raging functional alcoholic who was on the razor's edge of slipping into dysfunction. If you've met the binge drinking college student whose idea of bravado is how much they can put away in one night and still function the next day, he still had that outlook on life in his early thirties.
Yet he wasn't aggressive. Just accepted my slow "Um, no thanks" and shuffled away.
Instead of talking to the boss I kept polite distance. He never tested that boundary again. A year later I left that job.
----
Interesting to see the reactions. He was obviously close to destroying himself. Didn't want to nudge that situation over the edge by involving management if it could be avoided.
That said, getting followed home by a coworker was legit terrifying. He had been testing boundaries on the job. A couple of times he was rifling through my desk when I returned from lunch looking to "borrow" office supplies without permission. Had shooed him away in the moment. Yet between that guy's swagger and the occasions he had leered at me, there was no telling what boundaries he would respect. He went right up to the line. The next several months were stressful on the way home, especially during winter when the sun set before the end of the work day. This incident was one of the reasons I moved to Manhattan at more than double the rent for a doorman building.
My head hopes he got himself dried out without losing his career; my skin still crawls at the thought of him. Never asked what became of him after leaving that job.
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
The other day at Goodwill, this strange man came in so I called out for my daughter and went to stay with her in the next aisle. A minute later HE called my daughter's name and she looked up questioning and said, "Daddy?" And I said, "NO that is NOT daddy!" And rushed her out of there
Seedy Vine 2 years ago
Please say something to higher ups about guys like this or they will just do it to other women.
Courtney Christelle 2 years ago
Once in high school (still not sure how he got my address- maybe I told him?) a random guy I didn’t really associate with just showed up at my house. I opened the door and he just waved over his should at his mom and she drove off. Bet she was surprised when my mom dropped him back off at home10 minutes later. Super weird dude.
Marina Rocha 2 years ago
This woman was very much at risk. I think more than she realizes from the way it reads
Adira Bennett 2 years ago
It doesn't really matter that he had a drinking problem. Lots of people with drinking problems manage to avoid becoming stalkers. Alcohol doesn't create predatory tendencies; alcohol disinhibits predators. This man was displaying very inappropriate and threatening behavior, and consequences were warranted.
GothamQueen 2 years ago
Ugh, this hits too close to home. A man I worked with off and on followed me home one night, actually rode the same subway car and approached me and informed me the universe had brought us together and we were going to be a couple. I was really stunned at the whole thing and was trying to think how to get rid of him while remaining safe. He’s one of those fast persuasive talkers who bombs with conversation so you can hardly think. I got off at my stop clearly saying goodbye but he got off as well wanting to visit my apartment! H*LL to the no and I try to get rid of him. I walked the opposite direction from my apt. and thankfully had developed a relationship with the people at the corner diner and told them what was happening so at least I’d have witnesses. He’s much bigger than me. It was a long time until I could get rid of him. I would run into him at jobs and he would’ve try to get me in trouble -he’s one of those “nice guys” who get nasty and fast when they don’t get their way. Ugh
thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
“He went right up to the line” — nah, it sounds like he crossed it several times. The idea of shooing him away from the desk he was snooping in as if he’s a fly doesn’t make sense to me. He’s not entitled to do that.
Elemcie 2 years ago
You left yourself at further risk and other women, too, by not reporting him to your boss or HR and to the police. He was stalking you and you were in a very dangerous situation. I honk you were trying to calm yourself by not making a big deal about. So glad he didn't accelerate his dangerous behavior (as far as you know).
Rosie 2 years ago
I'm confused. "I'm a thin 5'5" woman." implies being fat would have made a difference. I think the OP may have wanted to indicate she's small, but then 5'5" is not that small. Maybe that she's attractive? Again, why does it matter? Stalkers, just like rapists, don't care about your attractiveness, age, size, etc. It's all a matter of control & dominance.
#34
He was in his late 20s. He started a twitch stream. Got a lot of followers right off the bat. Let the success go to his head. Met one of his female followers IRL. She was 18, but still in high school. Sealed the deal, so to speak. In another state. Told his wife he was on a business trip. He phoned HR about possibly moving to that girl's state, since his contract doesn't require client visits. Girls parents found out. Since the girl was, um, accepting of the event there was nothing the police could do. The parents then googled his name and location. They found a phone number, took a chance when they called. The girl's parents spoke to the coworker's wife and spilled all of the tea. Dude went down a spiral for the next three months and got fired for poor performance. He landed on his feet, but his alimony and child support payments are crippling, as his wife hasn't worked in 2 years because daycare is prohibitively expensive where we live. She also got the house. This dude works a day job 5 days a week and reportedly drives uber during all of his spare time, some friends ended up getting him as their driver and had a convo about everything that happened.
#35
Guy who worked in my office for about 6 months. Older guy, nice but kinda weird, disappeared after taking a giant s**t in the stairwell leading down to the cafe. I saw him suddenly get up and walk as fast as possible to the stairwell. There were bathrooms downstairs across from the cafe. But also ones a closer walk upstairs. Didn't think anythjnf of it till I heard a scream about 10 minutes later. Giant pile at the top of the stairs and a trail leading down
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
We had a mystery shitter at family dollar. I only worked there for 45 days. Second Worst place I have ever worked. It was a customer (Pretty sure but no cameras so who knows) The third time they pooped on a pallet and dumped Tide all over it. Ugh
Trish 2 years ago
I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you started your story with "We had a mystery shitter at Family Dollar..."
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Poison Ivy/Boo 2 years ago
Used to work in retail many moons ago and we had a regular that would hike her long skirt up and p**s in the doorway. I thought my colleagues were taking the mick on the newbie until I saw it for myself one day. It was then that I realised that some ppl do live in their own little worlds. Not as bad as s******g, but still gross AF!!
#36
I had this one coworker who was a couple days out of training and made some memes poking (lighthearted) fun at our dumb as hell customer base in what was supposed to be a fun Slack channel (it was literally called Watercooler). Come to find out the CEO is actually in this supposed "fun" group and wasn't fond of us making fun of our customers.
Kid immediately gets fired and anyone who liked or replied to the post were reprimanded and we all had to attend an all hands meeting to basically get chewed out over what happened. This was at a time they made a lot of s****y changes, so needless to say I updated my resume pretty soon after.
Nancy Marine 2 years ago
I've worked a lot of customer service, both customer facing and telephone, and making fun of the stupid stuff customers out us they is the INKY thing to get you thru the day. Until you've taken that third or fourth call of the day from a customer asking, "Why was I charged interest? I made my minimum payment on time!" You just can't understand. It's ASTONISHING just how truly inept the average American is at Life in General. I can remember being asked by agents at both call centers in other countries, "Don't American schools teach financial literacy?" Why? Because the US iss one of the few countries that DON'T teach it. This helps explain why there are kids out there with student loans they'll be paying off for the rest of their lives because of the incredibly high interest rates where borrowing $25,000 has nearly $100,000 in interest over he life of the loan.
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Parker Plumer 2 years ago
Time and a place for this sort of conversation. In this situation, they seemed to be venting about customers in an appropriate place. If the CEO didn't want that kind of talk to happen there, they should have been explicitly clear about it and been sure that any new hire is aware of it as well. I firmly believe everyone should work in one of the least respected customer service jobs for at least a few months to appreciate what it's like. Preferably a job as a server in a chain restaurant. My experience as a server and most other servers I know say that is the job that made them lose hope in humanity.
#37
He came drunk, with an extra bottle. We both finished it in the office balcony
Parker Plumer 2 years ago
Okay, I'm a recovered alcoholic, and I know drinking on the job is bad. However, I worked at a little sandwich deli during college. It was actually in a pharmacy, so picture CVS but shove a tiny sandwich shop in one corner. There were only 3 of us and the other two were my twin sister and we were great friends with the third. One s**t day, we got my sister to bring in some vodka and we put it in our soft-drink cups, but not enough to get drunk on. At one point, we're all sitting down with our drinks, catching our breath from the s**t day, when our boss walked by. He complimented us on doing a great job that day and said we deserved a drink after work. I cheekily raised my vodka-filled soda and said, "I'll cheer to that." The others just about lost it in laughter.
What do you think ?
DB 2 years ago
Assistant manager I had would regularly go off on customers at the slightest provocation. One time it was because the guy asked her if she spoke Spanish. She also had a habit of coming up behind me and for no apparent reason sticking her boobs into my back. After the third time I told my District Manager, and he transferred her. Her new store manager said he had nothing but problems with her as well.
Rosie 2 years ago
The bank I worked at hired a temp to help w/some archived filing. I got to share an office w/him & we talked a bit. He was new to NYC & I gave him my phone #. Big mistake! The guy started asking me to cash a 3rd party check (made to someone else), I said no. Then asked for a loan, I said no. Then kept calling about the check, even telling the operator to interrupt me if I was in a call as it was an emergency (you could do that w/landlines). Finally I went to my boss & he was told to stop harrassing me. He apologized. Then did it again that same day. Fired. We never even used the same temp agency again.
MagicJacket 2 years ago
I know a guy, worked for a box company. He said he was going to a networking business conference in Australia. Company paid for it. When he got back, his boss, Randy Nations, asked him about his trip. He told Randy he made a few good contacts. Randy said he checked and there was no record of this guy going to a certain meeting. The guy said he wasn't feeling well that day. Randy then said he checked and there was no record of him going to ANY meetings. So the guy, John Locke, fessed up and said he went there to go on a walkabout, a journey of spiritual awakening, even though he was in a wheelchair. He said he would pay the company back and just take it as his vacation. Randy fired him on the spot. John left the building and there was this fat dude name Hugo, who was part-blocking his disabled-ready van's wheelchair ramp. He got all pissed and yelled at the guy, but it turns out it was the guy who owned the box company. He also owned a temp agency and got John a new job.
Sharon Ammons 2 years ago
I started working in a management position in a museum. My first day there, one of the higher-ups told me I needed to fire my assistant. I told them I wasn't just going to randomly fire someone without proof they had done something wrong, so let me check into it and if there was evidence, I would fire her. So I started looking into it. Turns out there were all these odd charges on her corporate credit card. Like hotel costs in other cities, restaurant meals in other cities, etc. I start talking to my other staff and ask them if the assistant had been travelling a lot. They say, "Yeah, she's been going to a bunch of church retreats." Yeah, those retreats just happened to be in the same cities that she had been submitting expenses for. So she was essentially stealing money from a non-profit museum to spend on travel for her church.
DB 2 years ago
Assistant manager I had would regularly go off on customers at the slightest provocation. One time it was because the guy asked her if she spoke Spanish. She also had a habit of coming up behind me and for no apparent reason sticking her boobs into my back. After the third time I told my District Manager, and he transferred her. Her new store manager said he had nothing but problems with her as well.
Rosie 2 years ago
The bank I worked at hired a temp to help w/some archived filing. I got to share an office w/him & we talked a bit. He was new to NYC & I gave him my phone #. Big mistake! The guy started asking me to cash a 3rd party check (made to someone else), I said no. Then asked for a loan, I said no. Then kept calling about the check, even telling the operator to interrupt me if I was in a call as it was an emergency (you could do that w/landlines). Finally I went to my boss & he was told to stop harrassing me. He apologized. Then did it again that same day. Fired. We never even used the same temp agency again.
MagicJacket 2 years ago
I know a guy, worked for a box company. He said he was going to a networking business conference in Australia. Company paid for it. When he got back, his boss, Randy Nations, asked him about his trip. He told Randy he made a few good contacts. Randy said he checked and there was no record of this guy going to a certain meeting. The guy said he wasn't feeling well that day. Randy then said he checked and there was no record of him going to ANY meetings. So the guy, John Locke, fessed up and said he went there to go on a walkabout, a journey of spiritual awakening, even though he was in a wheelchair. He said he would pay the company back and just take it as his vacation. Randy fired him on the spot. John left the building and there was this fat dude name Hugo, who was part-blocking his disabled-ready van's wheelchair ramp. He got all pissed and yelled at the guy, but it turns out it was the guy who owned the box company. He also owned a temp agency and got John a new job.
Sharon Ammons 2 years ago
I started working in a management position in a museum. My first day there, one of the higher-ups told me I needed to fire my assistant. I told them I wasn't just going to randomly fire someone without proof they had done something wrong, so let me check into it and if there was evidence, I would fire her. So I started looking into it. Turns out there were all these odd charges on her corporate credit card. Like hotel costs in other cities, restaurant meals in other cities, etc. I start talking to my other staff and ask them if the assistant had been travelling a lot. They say, "Yeah, she's been going to a bunch of church retreats." Yeah, those retreats just happened to be in the same cities that she had been submitting expenses for. So she was essentially stealing money from a non-profit museum to spend on travel for her church.
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