'I was called into my bosses office... there was a printout of my post': 25+ Oversharing employees whose social media posts got them fired

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 26, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

Your boss might be more internet-savvy than you know. While going through the hiring process, it's crucial to ensure your social media presence is squeaky clean. Maybe you remember a few tasteless tweets from ages ago, or you have a few hot takes that shouldn't have been shared to Facebook. Even if those posts are old, they aren't harmless. Anyone who knows how to do control+F, allowing you to search a webpage by phrases, can find any salacious information on your profile. Even a quick Google search can reveal photos of you at a pool party or embarrassing snaps your friends took during a silly night out. Unless you want your boss snooping on your personal life, those privacy filters will come in handy. 

Unfortunately for these people below, they either didn't know that their companies would see their social media posts, or they didn't know they'd be fired for such innocent transgressions. Businesses want to keep their own image squeaky clean online, so they have no problem blaming employees for their posting habits. 

Check out these fascinating tales of social media embarrassment. Then, for just the opposite of these stories, check out these employees who quit after just one day on the job. 

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  • 01
    Font - 'He's been out on FMLA leave, claiming he's in so much pain he can't sit upright at his desk, and then he posts a picture of himself weightlifting.'
    via Victor Freitas on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Redditors who lost their Job because of a post to a social media platform, what happened? I've recently come into contact with a few people who lost their Job over a Facebook type social media outlet post, and it got me wondering... What kind of jobs take social media post so seriously?
    via r/AskReddit
  • 03
    Font - stumpyoftheshire A former colleague of mine posted about how he was going to use up all his sick leave then quit. He posted it at 9am, he was told he had no more job at 11.
    via u/stumpyoftheshire
  • 04
    Font - [deleted] I used to work for Geek Squad in college and a coworker was fired when a famous actor came in and she posted on Facebook a lot of his private info. Like full name came into our store and bought this and this and has a black Amex card and stuff he had on his computer ... not once but on 2 separate occasions.
    via u/ [deleted]
  • 05
    Font - Clank I worked customer support for a mobile game company. I was honest with a disheartened customer, who had complained that recent changes had made the game pay to win. It had, in truth, been a glitch with an update. I told them as much, assuring them the team would be fixing it in the next update. But then the games profits skyrocketed. The team kept the glitch, and put out a statement describing the change as an intentional one designed to improve the play experience. But
    via u/C1ank
  • 06
    Font - there was my name, plastered all over the game forums, claiming the opposite. I technically worked for a separate company that provided support for several studios, but the studio behind this game was our biggest customer. They approached my bosses, furious I jeopardised their cash cow, and demanded I be fired. I promptly became familiar with the underside of the bus, as I was gone within the week. tl;dr: worked customer support for mobile games, told truth, went viral(ish), fired.
    via u/C1ank
  • 07
    Font - Whaabz I was younger and an idiot. I posted something on facebook about wanting to go home and play the sims so I could create [telecommunications store I worked for] on it and then slowly k off all the customers. I was working a late night shift in a mall and forgot our new coworker had added me on facebook days before.
    via u/Whaabz
  • 08
    Font - _52hz_. I've had one employer refuse to hire me because I didn't have a facebook at the time. Wasn't a HR or social job, it was a fast food joint.
    via u/_52hz_
  • 09
    Font - HyenaPVM I was let go from the nations third largest insurance company for what were called "offensive tweets". Apparently someone with my similar name was tweeting vulgar things to comedy accounts and they brought me into hr and terminated me. Yes I sued for wrongful termination, so I could finish getting my mba.
    via u/HyenaPVM
  • 10
    Font - warboy3 I was once passed over for a job because I barely use Facebook. They straight up told me that they couldn't trust me because of how little info was on my page. For future reference, I'm sorry employers that 90% of my Facebook page is related to starcraft and/or miscellaneous gaming. I'm sorry that I don't get dr nk and post embarrassing photos of things you could fire me over. My personal life is my business and not Facebook's.
    via u/ warboy3
  • 11
    Font - New Random Hero A company I worked for had it written into their 7-page contracts that you were not allowed to even reference said company on social media. Anyone in breach would be fired instantly. There's a page on Facebook called "We Hate______" that's currently one of the world's biggest corporate-hate pages. It all started when someone working in our call centre posted online about how much the customers s ck. Then began something of a war between the staff and customers, customers p
    via u/New Random Hero
  • 12
    Font - The company was/is a major player in it's market (essentially had a monopoly) and there was a noticeable drop in sales that year. All in all, around 20 people were fired.
    via u/New Random Hero
  • 13
    Font - [deleted] Not me, but my mom's ex boyfriend. He was a waiter at a very elite restaurant and had normally expected very nice tips. Some guy left him a $5 tip for an over $100 bill and he got P and posted the customer's information on Facebook. He got fired the next day.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 14
    Font - Shylocv I had to fire someone for one. He was a volunteer firefighter and left for a call which I allowed. Fifteen minutes later someone showed me his 5 minute old post of him riding quads saying something along the lines of "sometimes you just need to off from work". That put him on a final warning. He then left because he said HIS house was on fire then half an hour later his wife tagged him in a photo of him sitting in a kiddie pool in front of his house.
    via u/Shylocv
  • 15
    Font - The funny thing is, in both cases, if he had simply asked to leave early I probably would have said yes. Edit: To clarify, this was over different days a few weeks apart and he worked for me but also volunteered as a firefighter. The fire chief also found out about this and dismissed him from that position as well. This guy had a few issues needless to say and honesty was not something with which he was familiar.
    via u/Shylocv
  • 16
    Font - wowhowfun My female friend (18) was DM'd through twitter by the news presenter (37) of our city. He was talking about her beach pictures and how she is really pretty and how they need to get together. She ended up telling him that it's pretty ridiculous that he's trying to get with her. He lost his job later that week. The only real reason he lost his job was because he used the wheather channels twitter account.
    via u/wowhowfun
  • 17
    Font - [deleted] Oh, this happened to me many years ago! I was on the job a week at a law firm, and had to ride with one of the female employees to the UPS store. She was a terrible driver, and almost wrecked multiple times. I posted on Facebook, "One week on the job and my coworker is trying to k me; worst driver ever." The next day I was called into my bosses office with the girl sitting there with an expressionless look on her face, and there was a printout of my post. It was awkward and they
    via u/[deleted]
  • 18
    Font - Bridgette Bane Former Chipotle manager here- as many of you know, Chipotle gives away free s on Halloween. So it's a mandatory weekend for everyone to work. Well, one of our employees called off that Thursday saying he had sw ne fl ... right. Of course he posted pics of his weekend parting on his FB. Upon which he was friends with our kitchen manager, general manager, and district manager.
    via u/Bridgette Bane
  • 19
    Font - Per company policy (and common fu sense) you can't return to work from serious contagious sh without a doctor's note. So he shows back up on Wednesday acting all fine and saying the doc cleared him. Oh, but his mom threw his release note away. Too bad buddy, we need that sh or you can't work. Since we didn't know when he would have it, we only gave him one day on the schedule anyway. So then HIS MOMMY calls me and asks why he can't work. I ask her, if she went to a restaurant and found ou
    via u/Bridgette Bane
  • 20
    Font - threw away the note! They were REMODELING! I asked, why can't the doc write a new one? Well, he went on vacation!...couldn't the receptionist or a P.A. get them something? She huffed and hung up on me. The next day he puts on FB "Dear Chipotle and managers: instead of cutting hours on someone, why not grow the fu b to fire them outright? Sok my di Pretty easy to let him go after that...
    via u/Bridgette Bane
  • 21
    Font - o yo_maaaan I got fired from an internship for posting on Reddit before. It was a very small environmental engineering consulting firm. We were doing work on a site that had lead and arsenic contamination on it. The site was very dusty, and if it didn't rain for a few days the dust would often kick up and blow onto the street next to the site, which happened to be the main road in this semi-smallish town. Someone mentioned on Reddit, in a totally unrelated way, that they were from this to
    via u/yo_maaaan
  • 22
    Font - saw dust coming off the site that he should contact the engineers which were housed above one of the local bars. Apparently this guy didn't really want the site to be redeveloped at all because of the already high congestion in the surrounding roads, and he called and complained and mentioned my post on Reddit. The company was so small it was obvious it was me who posted it, and I fessed up about what I had said, and immediately deleted the post. Even though I didn't do anything illegal,
    via u/yo_maaaan
  • 23
    Font - that. People deserve to know if the dust they're breathing in could give them cancer. I moved onto a different field (marine biology) and haven't even remotely looked back.
    via u/yo_maaaan
  • 24
    Font - [deleted] I remember hearing a story about a young teacher in my province getting fired for posting vacation pictures to Facebook; bikini, margaritas. A dips! parent or teacher reported it, as any uptight group of PTA mothers would want to defend young eyes from that.
    via u/deleted
  • 25
    Font - jtb3566 I didn't actually get fired (because I just don't post about work), but I did once get written up (almost suspended, but my supervisor convinced management he needed me for the shifts that day) once. I was scheduled to work a double (16 hours, no breaks in between) 3 days in a row. Before I went in for my last double, I updated my facebook saying "I am so tired" They literally tried to suspend me for that.
    via u/jtb3566
  • 26
    Font - Peabob 8 yr. ago Guy at my company got sacked for putting a Facebook status along the lines of "f-| immigrants, I hate them" not realising both his bosses (also owners of the company) were 2nd generation immigrants from India. They started the company from scratch and now employ 30 people. They pay for full gym membership, healthcare, and generous pension for all the staff, which he had to say goodbye to when he was fired. How's that for your "f- immigrants"?
    via u/Peabob
  • 27
    Font - tiffibean13 Not me, but a teacher got fired because she had been tagged in a photo on facebook of her in a brewery. She'd gone on a tour while on vacation. She wasn't holding beer or anything, was just in the photo.
    via u/tiffibean13
  • 28
    Font - blsnychapter I didn't get fired but I did get written up for a post on facebook. It was about 5 years ago at my old job. Spring just started and it was the first day it was in the 60s. On lunch I posted something like "what a beautiful day. Can't wait to get out of work and enjoy it". Well that didn't go over well. Funny thing is, I wasn't Facebook friends with anyone from work. They had one guy that would creep people's fb. This is
    via u/blsnychapter
  • 29
    Font - when I learned about privacy settings. He told the boss and I got pulled in the office. They basically asked why I didn't like my job and why i couldn't wait to get out of work. I was like, It's the first warm day in what feels like 6 months. Of course I want to be outside. The reason I got written up was because I was "on Facebook at work" even though I was on lunch. Bunch of a place. worked at that
    via u/blsnychapter
  • 30
    Font - lksaeuuuu Labor & employment lawyer here. I've seen people fired for the following: • Posts insulting a supervisor, the employer, customers, coworkers; • Posts that show the employee has been lying about something (e.g., he's been out on FMLA leave claiming he's in so much pain he can't sit upright at his desk, and then he posts a picture of himself weightlifting).
    via u/lksaeuuuu
  • 31
    Font - • Posts showing the employee is violating the rules of the workplace, especially w/r/t safety or hygiene (e.g., a factory worker posting a pic of himself climbing on dangerous machinery). • Posts so offensive that the company could suffer PR damage if the general public knew this person was an employee (e.g., racist/sexist jokes, posts advocating the overthrow of the government, posts by a doctor mocking a patient's illness, posts by an employee bragging
    via u/lksaeuuuu
  • 32
    Font - about how she is so overpaid, etc.). It's worth noting that most employees in the U.S. are at-will by default. That means you can quit for any reason at any time, but your employer can also fire you for any reason at any time. There are obviously exceptions to this (e.g., if there is a contract that provides otherwise, if the employer fires you for an illegal reason, etc.), but unless some exception applies to your situation there's usually nothing wrong with an employer looking at your s
    via u/lksaeuuuu
  • 33
    Font - [deleted] Not me, but a friend of mine. He and his girlfriend (at the time) both worked at Zellers. He worked as the head cook in the in- store restaurant, and she worked as a server/hostess. After a few years of being together, they decided to get married. They announced their engagement proudly to everyone, and the branch manager of their Zellers gave them a massive discount on food and supplies for the wedding. The wedding preparation took nearly a year, but they pulled it off and had
    via u/[deleted]
  • 34
    Font - friend's wife was promptly dismissed because "husbands and wives aren't allowed to work in the same department." After months of lead-up to their wedding, the manager somehow forgot to inform the happy couple that getting married would mean one of them being let go. So my friend posted on his Facebook. "Zellers has a policy where a husband and wife may not work in the same department. Because they did not tell me and my wife this policy, my wife has been fired. If you disagree with this p
    via u/[deleted]
  • 35
    Art - The next day, he was fired as well.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 36
    Font - Roook36 One of our best agents got fired for this. She was a single mom, fairly new to the job but she was great at it. She posted up "I hate having to go work but I'm blessed to have a job at <company name>". Bam, walked out the door.
    via u/Roook36
  • 37
    Font - Twas Echoes1701 Not me, but a few years ago I knew a girl doing social media for Entenmann's (the pastry people). Well, this was also around the time of the Casey Anthony trial, and the day the verdict was released she tweeted "Who's #notguilty about eating all the tasty treats they want?!" It SERIOUSLY blew up and she ended up getting fired a few days later. She was pretty upset about it for a while, but tells the story at parties now and gets that it's pretty funny
    via u/Twas Echoes1701
  • 38
    Font - deathToimmortals I posted my facebook status about how big of d head my boss is...... and tagged him.
    via u/deathToimmortals
  • 39
    Font - Joetato Comcast fired me for a tweet I made. Here's what happened: Someone on my timeline posted an article about Comcast customer service. Someone replied to him saying, "wow, Comcast actually has customer service? lol!" Working in customer service myself, I reply (from a personal account that is in no way connected with my job) with the tweet, "Yup, we do. We complain about management as much as you do."
    via u/Joetato
  • 40
    Font - Comcast did not like that. Despite me having zero personal details on Twitter, they somehow still figured out it was me. I realized after that I had GPS autolocate on for my tweets, so I suppose they could have looked through that data to figure out where I lived. (I checked, it's clear what house I live in whenever I tweet about being home.) Anyway, the point is, they linked the account back to me and fired me for suggesting the employees are anything other than 100% happy all day at wor
    via u/Joetato
  • 41
    Font - "You said the aren't happy. We can't have people suggesting the employees are in any way unhappy with management, it makes us look bad as a company. Comcast has worked extremely hard to get the reputation it currently has and things like this will make people see Comcast in a negative light, which is unacceptable." employees They also implied (though did not outright state) they're letting legal look at it to see if they have a libel case against me. It's been 5 months and I haven't heard
    via u/Joetato
  • 42
    Font - The weirdest part was, the woman firing me seemed completely unaware the general public hates Comcast.
    via u/Joetato
  • 43
    Font - ThingInTheNorth I lost my job because I was upset at my boss and I put it on Facebook. A customer threatened me and instead if kicking me out, the boss bought him free shots. So I posted to Facebook that anyone who came and cussed me out would get a free shot and vip
    via u/ThingInTheNorth
  • 44
    Font - D3adklOwn Someone I know posted something about a customer on her facebook. Nothing revealing about the customer, just "Ugh, don't you hate when your customers are too dumb to RTFM!!" A "friend" of hers, who worked for a competing business, took a screenshot of that status, including the profile pic of her in her work uniform... This then found itself posted on the competitors FB page with the text "Don't worry guys she doesn't work here." anyway, she got fired.
    via u/D3adklOwn
  • 45
    Font - unterlagen The example I was given during new hire orientation: Someone's fiance sent a bunch of flowers to her at work. She took a picture of them at her desk and uploaded them to Facebook. In the background were a couple clearly readable classified documents. Understandably, once HR found out she got terminated.
    via u/unterlagen

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