Getting fired is usually not a laughing matter. We work because we need the money and the insurance, and everyone (except maybe teenagers) have bills that need to be paid.
That said, sometimes life is so absurd there’s not much to do but laugh at it – and I hope these people were able to find the humor in these absolutely idiotic reasons for being let go.
Eventually, anyway.
1. Funny how that works out.
Someone was stealing from the register. I got blamed. Turned out to be the owner’s brother (who blamed it on me). I was let go just before Thanksgiving.
I never got my job back, but the owner did apologize months later.
2. Um…
i brought my own boxcutter to work at a temp job i had worked for 2 days already because they refused to replace the blades in their box cutters, and got fired because it looked like a knife.
3. Quite capricious.
I once worked for a small private school. A new supervisor was hired, and she called an after-hours meeting the Wednesday night right before Thanksgiving. One teacher didn’t attend and she was fired.
When the new supervisor was finally let go, I heard from the owner that they had 4 lawsuits from employees being wrongfully fired.
4. This shouldn’t be such a hard concept.
During my senior year in high school, I was working at McDonald’s, it was right after Christmas and we were really busy. I’d been there 4 hours, had 2 to go, was supposed to get a 30 minute break, since we’d slowed down I asked if I could have a break.
The shift manager said no one was getting breaks. I said “thanks a lot”, she told the assistant manager (pretty sure they were sleeping together) that I told her to fuck off. He fired me on the spot. Wouldn’t even let me give my side of the story.
A week later I was working at Jack in the Box. Was a shift manager in 6 months, did that through a couple years of college, dropped out (never wanted to go anyway) and moved up to assistant manager and then a couple years later, general manager.
I remembered how crappy I was treated at McDonald’s and made sure I treated my employees well. Had the 3rd lowest turnover rate in a 95 restaurant region, had the second highest average hourly pay…and #2 in profit improvement. Take care of your people and they’ll do the same for you.
5. I guess fine?
Accepted job and notified them I would need X date off for my sister’s wedding (2 months after the start date). Came back from my sister’s wedding and shit hit the fan while I was gone.
Not my responsibility, but my name was on some of the changes in the document. Canned that day for “not being there when they needed me”
6. No big loss.
The schedule was hanging off the wall and it was magnetised. Everyones names were little magnets.
Someone knocked it off the wall and “thought they put the magnets back in the right places”
Naturally i didnt show up for my shift.
I was fired the next day even after it came to light what happened because “i should know what my shifts were”
Meh
7. A fall guy.
Worked at Best Buy in the mid 90s when I was 16. I worked selling computers, and was pretty good at it.
We also sold things like memory, and hard drives that were behind lock and key. Part of our job was to take the tagged inventory from the trucks, and put it on the shelves. This included said memory.
So I close one night, put away all the new inventory, lock it up, and hand the keys to the manager. They do their checks of our department and we leave for the night. Next day I’m scheduled, I go in and the loss prevention manager said he has me on video stealing memory. I laughed and said, show me the video. Well I’m somewhat tall, red hair, and white.
The video he shows me has an older, very short, white guy with a shaved head. He told me that it was me, and that I was fired, and only showed me the video once, and immediately turned off the monitor.
Being 16, I didn’t know any better, said some things on my way out, and I left. Turns out the loss prevention guy, and his son were stealing for years to the tune over $250,000 and the guy on the video he showed me was his son.
Anytime problems popped up of missing inventory, they just fired a random person to keep the attention away from themselves. When police arrested them, their house was loaded with televisions, computers, everything from the store.
TL;DR fired for stealing when the video was of the loss prevention manager’s son stealing.
8. She’d do it again.
This happened over 20 years ago, at a medical insurance company.
I didn’t sue them, mostly because I was young and just didn’t know that could be a thing. I’d do it again. I wasn’t looking for kudos. Someone needed help so I did what was needed. I didn’t have any idea that it was Against Company Policy. We certainly didn’t cover it in my training class!
Oh – and the lady didn’t call her insurance company instead of 911. We were trying to solve an issue with one of her claims. I came back to her having an emergency after I’d had her on hold.**
I worked in a customer service call center for an insurance company. A customer called in and had a medical emergency (probably a heart attack, but I’m not sure) while I was on the phone with her. I used the phone in the empty cubicle next to me to call 911 and stayed on both lines to be sure that EMS got to her.
I was fired because A) I took too long on calls already and this was exceptionally long, B) I made an unauthorized outgoing call, and C) I gave the customer’s personal information (name and address) out to the 911 operator.
9. It’s school, man.
I took a job with a movie theater in high school, only accepted the job because they promised me a set schedule. Me and another coworker worked it out where one of us was always on shift.
About a month after I started, they handed me a new schedule starting at 2pm. I was in class until 3. Told them no.
Got fired for my lack of commitment to the theater.
10. I hope the donor found out.
My wife got fired once for giving a high level donor (she worked for an art gallery) a bottle of water at a big dinner and art auction.
Her boss had insisted that there be no water at the event, but when the donor asked for water, my wife went and found some water.
Boss found out and fired her the next day for insubordination.
11. He should have retired out of spite.
Guy preparing to retire, who had been training me to take over his job for the past 7 months, felt I was ready to take over completely.
Boss was afraid to lose 30+ years of experience and fired me to keep the old guy for a little longer.
From what I understand there was a pretty big fight. Old guy was a wonderful reference for me with the new job I obtained, with a 20k+ pay raise, and begrudgingly agreed to stay on for another year.
12. Seems like overkill.
My father was in hospice care and his death was imminent. Asked my supervisor if I could telework for a few days so I could be with him when he passed (this was 2019 before telework became the norm). Was approved to TW but had to document what I was working on, hour by hour. Not an issue since my dad pretty much slept due to medication up until he passed.
My boss and I were both fired for not clearing this with HR before proceeding, even though I had documented proof that I was doing company business for 8hrs a day while I was out.
13. Why are employers like this?
I broke my hand and got fired for asking to take a day off to go to the doctor, I never called in there once in the five years I worked there
14. Doesn’t sound unreasonable.
Supposedly, I “argued with the owner’s wife about working weekends”.
I specifically told them I can work weekends, but cannot work anytime with less than a day’s notice.
I’m not at your beck and call for $8 an hour, f**k me right?
15. That’s confusing.
I was fired for accidentally showing up for a shift I was not scheduled for and then leaving when I found out I was not scheduled for said shift.
16. How is this a reason?
I was fired for playing solitaire on my 15 min break when I was working as a receptionist. The doctor who owned the clinic was dumb enough to put that as the reason in my termination letter.
I collected unemployment after he tried to appeal it. They explained in great detail how stupid of a reason this was for termination.
17. Take a hike.
I was driving cars for a shady dealer.(under the table while I was laid off from my real job) Got a call that my uncle had attempted suicide and was in a psychiatric ward in a local hospital and wouldn’t talk to anybody else but me.
Told boss I had to roll. He said something like; “Your job comes before family. If you leave, don’t come back.”
I left. The next morning he called and asked me why I wasn’t at work. I hung up on him.
18. What on earth?
Got fired from a public library for taking TWO carts to collect books from the outside Dropbox instead of ONE. The past few times I emptied the dropbox on a Monday it required two trips, So I brought two carts instead.
It turns out the matter of how many carts were used in emptying the dropbox was a matter of a library board vote and I was in violation of a town ordinance.
Mind you, I wasn’t fired. I was placed on paid administrative leave pending a library board inquiry at which I was welcome to call witnesses. I couldn’t keep a straight face, so I resigned.
19. The right person got fired.
I worked with a woman who had to go to hospital in the middle of the night for emergency surgery after a medical issue. Her husband called up to say she wasn’t coming in and explained that she couldn’t ring herself because she was under anesthetic/unconscious.
The team leader he got angrily told him to ‘make sure she knows to ring herself next time’.
Husband rung someone further up the chain about it and said team leader got a boot up the arse for being a tool. At least my friend didn’t get fired .
20. This is totally weird.
My first job ever was as a dish washer. I was so proud. I was 18. Of course, my parents didnt believe me so my mom called them and asked them if it was true.
They fired me that night because they felt I was unreliable. I have yet to let my folks live that one down…
21. Someone has anger issues.
I got fired from Sonic when I told them I was no longer going to be available for last minute call ins because I’d gotten a second job. My boss was not happy, because I lived the closest.
So he stormed off and started screaming, “Guess this is Professional_March54’s last day! I hope you’re happy!”. I tried to clarify that I’d still be available for set shifts, I just wouldn’t be ON Call anymore. He screamed at me to shut up.
I hadn’t clocked in yet, and I could sense a tantrum so I asked if I should even bother clocking in. He threw a burger at me and told me to get out. So I did.
They had a Drive-Thru line wrapped around the building, and I was the only non-family employee on until 3.
22. Why not just ban him from the place?
My sister was dating this guy who was constantly accusing her of cheating. He would sometimes come into the restaurant she waited at to see if she was there.
She got fired because he kept coming in too frequently and not getting anything
23. Their loss, most likely.
When I was getting hired they told me I work Monday-Friday only. Great.
Couple months go by, work no weekends. Plan family vacation for upcoming weekend. Leaving for vacation right after work. At 4:30 they tell me I have to work the weekend. I say I can’t I have vacation. They say it’s mandatory.
Go home, decide to go on vacation anyway. Call in Saturday. Come in to work on Monday, fired. Spent the day fishing.
24. That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.
It was my second job after high school, i was 18 going on 19. I was a parts delivery driver for a local auto parts store. All the drivers had to report to a dispatcher she would tell us where to go and what to do, basically my supervisor. She had at least 10-12 years on me so i was basically fresh meat in the store.
After 4 months or so she started getting more ‘comfortable’ with me. She would rub my shoulders/try go give me back rubs would buy me lunch would txt me on weekends inviting for drinks.
This one weekend she was being a little too persistent in txting me so i politely told her that i was not interested. Well come Monday morning I got fired because apparently i had not being doing my job properly.
25. They just forgot about him.
My brother worked part-time in a hardware store. In winter, the low season, the store would stop scheduling the newest employees, and would start scheduling them again in spring. My brother was one of the new guys and wasn’t scheduled in the winter.
In the middle of spring, he went to check when he would start again. There was a new manager he didn’t know and she told him he wasn’t on the employee list. Without a reason. Apparently they just assumed he wouldn’t work again and terminated him without telling him.
Since we have good labor laws, my brother got a few thousands in settlement for lost income.
26. Be worse at ping pong.
I got a middle level position at the company where they boasted at how family orientated they are. They are the kind of company that has a small arcade and puttputt and ping-pong table and encouraged people to relax and play them..
After a month of being there I decided to play some co workers in ping pong since I’m pretty decent at it. The owner and his son ends up walking through the doors and sees me playing and challenges me. I play the son and absolutely demolish him.
He got extremely upset and walked away after throwing the paddle at me. Later that week I was fired for not fitting the culture.
Cool
27. Sounds like a setup.
I got fired from Burger King because a coworker let me use his vape on my break. When I was off break, I tried giving it back but kept getting ignored. I figured I’d give it back after we close but he left early.
I went back the next day (my day off) to return it and got fired for stealing.
28. Poor kid(s).
I got fired from my first ever job as a CIT (counselor in training) at the summer day camp I went to every year as a kid. I was given the 6/7 year olds. One of them asked me if I had a girlfriend (in a girls are gross, why would you do that sort of way) and I said yes.
He asked me if I ever kiss her and I said yes (in a fun, horror movie voice manner). He was like, “ewwww! Gross!”. We all had a laugh. I thought it was a fun exchange.
Well, I guess the kid went home and told his mom that night and she freaked out. Demanded I be fired for teaching her child about sex and giving details of my sex life to her child. I was 13.
All I said was that I kissed a girl. The camp fired me right there. I had no idea what I said was out of line.
29. Probably worked out for the best.
I took a filing gig with a working interview. The filing lady was being promoted. The lady asked if I knew my alphabet. Yes I do, thanks.
Turns out her system was shit. “Hazel Fretta” was filed under h and “Bob Dylan” was filed under d. I dared question this and I was also not as fast as her on my first day.
You know, the lady with the dumb system she made up and had been doing for 10 years?
At first I was insulted. I’ve never been let go for doing a bad job before.
Boy was that a control freak bullet dodged.
30. Karen alert.
My pest control guy told me a story about how he lost a customer. She was asking him about his family, and he said that he has 8 kids. She replied in a disdainful tone, “You know how that happens, right?” He said, “Yeah, my wife is beautiful.”
She flipped out, fired him as her pest guy, complained to the woman who’d recommended him, and went on Facebook/Google/etc. to say he’d been talking to her about his s^x life and was extremely inappropriate.
Like, there was no way he could have won, she wanted to insult him for the size of his family and didn’t like that he had a comeback. He’s actually a really cool dude and his company does well so he can absolutely support his big family, so more power to him.
31. Micromanager, much?
I worked at this hotel doing afternoon/evening shift and two overnight shifts a week. They listed the following reasons for letting me go:
Claimed I was leaving property without clocking out because I wasn’t on camera the entire time. The date they said specifically was an evening that I spent cleaning up the meeting space because it was slow. I was also not the only front desk person on shift.
When working overnight I would sit on a chair to do the audit from midnight to 3am. Sitting on a chair at the front desk was not allowed, even at midnight/early morning.
Also when working overnight I had to fold linens so I would listen to the radio/music through a Bluetooth headset while folding and cleaning up the back. That was also not allowed even at midnight/early morning.
They honestly probably just didn’t like me but after they fired me I went and got a new job at the hotel next door and started making a lot more money and was able to do all the things I was let go for.
32. He had regrets.
kinda fired I guess. Got a job offer and they wanted me to start asap, but told them I want to give my job at least a weeks notice. turned in a 1 week notice. Later in the day went to our scheduled breaks 5 minutes late because I was busy doing something at work that I couldnt just put down.
So I came back 5 minutes late.
manager came up to me acting really mad and said I was fired for abusing breaks. I just laughed handed him my badge and started walking to my car. he tried stopping me saying HR needed to see me to fill out paper work. laughed even more and got in my car and left.
Took the week off to relax before starting my new job.
33. Something is rotten in Denmark.
I worked at a bar that was notorious for firing people. It well known that no one lasted for more than a month, and it was a big deal if you made it longer than that. I made it to month three when I was fired for not putting ketchup on a customer’s table.
They were eating shepherds pie and salad respectively and didn’t even ask for ketchup.
34. Expectations were off.
I had pneumonia and I couldn’t even talk (lost voice) so I asked my mom to call my boss to tell her I was severely sick and couldn’t come to work. She called me the next day saying I shouldn’t rely on my ‘mommy’ to call in for me when I’m sick and that I was fired for blowing a shift…
I was a hostess at a restaurant and was in grade 10 lol….
I would be so mad but also aghast? I hope they filed for unemployment.
What’s the silliest reason you were ever let go? Tell us about it down in the comments!
