'[They] pushed the photocopier down the stairs': 25+ Workers who got fired expeditiously

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Apr 7, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

People tend to have some patience for the new person, but there are a few things they can do that will get them fired ASAP. In fact, if you were looking for ways to get out of a job the fastest, this is a great list of ideas. 

When a coworker gets fired, word spreads like wildfire. It quickly becomes the water cooler gossip of the day. The crazier the offense, the better the story is! After all, you have to be doing something majorly wrong if you're fired within hours of signing your onboarding paperwork. 

This person, u/mango-chocolate, asked r/AskReddit to share the "quickest way you saw a coworker get fired," and the answers didn't disappoint. Some workers didn't understand the company culture, like one woman who started her job, then spent the next afternoon shopping instead of working. Fired! Another person began working at a paper press, then decided to hit the emergency stop button "for fun." That was not the start the company was hoping for, and after losing 3-4 hours of productivity, they gave that dude the boot, too. There are some mistakes that make the business realize you're just not cut out for their company, and these people made some incredibly dumb moves. 

Check them all out below. Then, read about the behind-the-scenes world of influencers, like the person who thinks she's a Kardashian, but all of her followers are bought and paid for by her BF. 

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  • 01
    What's the quickest way you saw a co-worker get fired?
    via u/mango-chocolate
  • 02
    Left_Apparently. In my old law office, a firm wide email was sent out announcing the arrival of a new employee. We will call him Paul. So Paul decided to reply all to let all of us know that he was aware of our recent legal defeats, that many people should be fired for these failures, and that his hiring was the first
    via u/Left_Apparently
  • 03
    good thing our firm had done in years. The dude was a legal assistant right out of college with no experience. A minute after the email went out, I heard a crazy shout and then watched one of the senior partners run past my office towards HR. And 5 minutes
    via u/Left_Apparently
  • 04
    later Paul walked past with the HR manager and a security He lasted less than 45 minutes.
    via u/Left_Apparently
  • 05
    ThroughTheHoops ⚫ I worked at a lotteries company. A guy working in testing got access to production data and printed off some test tickets with some unclaimed winning numbers. He only did low amounts, like $500, and claimed 3 of them in 3 completely different locations around town.
    via u/ThroughTheHoops
  • 06
    Of course the company was really really interested in the story of someone who found a 6-month old lottery ticket and claimed it, but they were even more interested to find it was the same person going to 3 locations. Needless to say when they realised the guy actually worked in the company, he got pulled into a room with cops a-waiting him.
    via u/ThroughTheHoops
  • 07
    daHawkGR Idiot pressed the emergency stop for fun on his second day at work. The emergency stop that he hit switches off all drives on the 100m long paper machine. This means there is a loss of production for 3-4 hours for the entire paper mill.
    via u/daHawkGR
  • 08
    He was immediately escorted from the factory premises by two colleagues.
    via u/daHawkGR
  • 09
    [deleted] Worked at a bank, we were robbed at point. One of the tellers was quick to tweet out "woooo get the rest of the day off!! Feel free to visit me at work with a and ski mask anytime!" Fired upon walking in the next morning.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 10
    kenb99 The boss sat her down to talk about her recent behavior at work. She whipped out her phone and started taking a video, saying that it was her right to record for "when it goes to court." The boss said "okay, this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about, you're fired." This was at a Domino's Pizza
    via u/kenb99
  • 11
    Bob_the_brewer. Evidently robbed a bank on their lunch break. Came back like nothing happened then the cops showed up and took him down, it was crazy.
    via u/Bob_the_brewer
  • 12
    rpgmomma8404. When I was in high school I used to do seasonal work at haunted houses which I did for four years. A new guy that they hired was supposed to help with parking. Now, in the three years that I worked at this haunted house, they never once charged people for parking (it was a very dark
    via u/rpgmomma8404
  • 13
    parking lot off of a cliff so had to make sure no one drove off of it trying to park). This cheeky son of started charging people $5 to park. It was only found out after someone complained because
    via u/rpgmomma8404
  • 14
    they didn't have the money to go in with their friends because they had to pay for parking. I think the guy was only there a couple of hours before he got fired.
    via u/rpgmomma8404
  • 15
    [deleted] They got hired and then fell asleep during a meeting their first day and was asked not to come back.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 16
    BDATriangle001 A guy got hired in the first firm I ever worked for, turns up for first morning at work, and within an hour has emailed the entire company (6,000 people) about his band and their availability for birthdays, weddings, etc. He was dismissed by lunchtime.
    via u/BDATriangle001
  • 17
    Edit: answering the questions in the replies about how anyone junior could have access to the 'All Users' address. This was back in about '94, shortly after email (it was called MS Mail, I think - I assume the precursor to Outlook) was rolled out within the company. I remember
    via u/BDATriangle001
  • 18
    not having a work email address when I joined. I don't think the IT department had yet got up to speed on what could go wrong letting everyone have access to everything!
    via u/BDATriangle001
  • 19
    TheRealReapz I was working at a place that made food items. You could have as many of these as you liked while at work but can only take one home with you. A guy gets hired and takes advantage of this and consumes a bucket load of these items at work, which is fine, that's the deal.
    via u/TheRealReapz
  • 20
    He then goes to leave for the day and security asks to check his bag. He hesitates and asks security if they could just check it tomorrow instead. They say no, and he says "I do have some items in there, I haven't left the site yet, can I put them in your fridge?". Security relents and let's him do this.
    via u/TheRealReapz
  • 21
    Security then checks the fridge and there's 18 items in there that weren't before. The guy is immediately terminated. Lost his job over $8 worth of products.
    via u/TheRealReapz
  • 22
    Few_Horse4030. One day Tim announced that he wasn't paid enough and was going to basically sit at his desk doing nothing until he was paid what he wanted. 20 minutes later the boss walked in and ask Tim if he could have a word with him.
    via u/Few_Horse4030
  • 23
    5 minutes later the boss walked back in and announced that Tim no longer worked there and if there were any questions. There were no questions.
    via u/Few_Horse4030
  • 24
    wbro322 A server I worked with was adding in her credit card tips and adding a quarter to every tip to charge on the card. A couple people every now and then would notice on their bank statement and it got to a point
    via u/wbro322
  • 25
    where management vetted her receipts one night and the tips she would enter in and sent her packing asap
    via u/wbro322
  • 26
    tizod Interviewed a guy that was replacing someone who was leaving. Offered the job and was supposed to start the next day. Just so happened that we were having a going away party for the leaving dude that night so new guy was invited as a chance to "get to know the team."
    via u/tizod
  • 27
    New guy shows up and proceeds to get absolutely :faced and asked the head of HR is she wanted to go back to his place because he "got a vibe" during the interview process.
    via u/tizod
  • 28
    Next day, new guy is a no-show so we were thinking bullet dodged. He shows up just before lunch clearly hung over making up some excuse for being late. Big boss came out and told the guy to gtfo.
    via u/tizod
  • 29
    dunwerking I fired someone who decided her second day that she was going to go out to lunch and not come back. The next morning she told everyone all about the shopping she did. She seemed confused about the expectations.
    via u/dunwerking
  • 30
    Daemonicvs_77. My first job out of uni was a severely underpaid junior position (go figure). I stayed there for about 2 years and made really good friends with an older coworker, Martha. I freelanced for other companies the entire time I was there and
    via u/Daemonicvs_77
  • 31
    left after one of them made me a job offer that was too good to refuse. A few years later, I'm a key emoloyee in a company of 25 people (quite large for the field) and I make in a month what I used to make in a year at my old job. I don't talk about it or show it tho. As I was working insane hours at the time, my boss (the
    via u/Daemonicvs_77
  • 32
    company owner) wanted to hire someone to lighten my workload and do the legwork on a few of my projects. Since this is what Martha did at my old job and since she had recently started her own freelancing practice, I recommended her. She did the interview with my boss and got the job.
    via u/Daemonicvs_77
  • 33
    Within a few hours of her first day, my boss forwards me 2 emails. The first one is a lengthy message from Martha to my boss saying how she's just reviewed my work (she's had it for at least a month), finds it lacking, "which isn't surprising due to my lack of experience", and that she suggests she take over projects A, B, C and D from me.
    via u/Daemonicvs_77
  • 34
    The second email was my boss asking Martha to invoice us for any work she may have done and not to contact anyone from the company ever again.
    via u/Daemonicvs_77
  • 35
    Jeffery95 We have a set of movable stairs like they have in supermarkets. Goes about 2.5m in the air. Old mate decided to vigorously shake and move it while another coworker was on it as a joke.
    via u/Jeffery95
  • 36
    He went on suspension immediately and stayed there until he was officially fired and the two weeks notice ran out.
    via u/Jeffery95
  • 37
    SplatThaCat Someone finally lost their at the photocopier (it was fairly new but regularly caused issues, lost jobs, printed on the wrong paper etc). They unplugged it at the wall, opened the door to the fire stairs, and pushed the photocopier down the stairs the noise and the mess (coloured
    via u/SplatThaCat
  • 38
    toner spread over 5 floors worth of stairs) - caught everyone's attention. They were escorted out by security immediately. Its always the quiet ones you have to watch out for - nobody expected it from her.
    via u/SplatThaCat
  • 39
    New line cook thought it'd be funny walk around like Edward Scissorhands with all the knives. He was around the corner right as a server was coming through, and she almost got got. New Line Cook just chuckled and waved his knife-hands around more until the GM
    via r/AskReddit
  • 40
    strode right up behind him, grabbed him by the collar, and marched him right out the back door. All this happened in under 5 minutes.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 41
    ShakespearianSheep. Worked at bank as a teller. One of the personal bankers (35- ish) went on a week long vacation. Monday rolls around, she isn't back. Tuesday, no show. Wednesday she rolls in like nothing happened and was immediately escorted out. Apparently the company had a 48 hr no call-no show policy.
    via u/ShakespearianSheep
  • 42
    What I never understood was why she didn't just lie and call it sick or something. We had generous PTO/sick leave.
    via u/ShakespearianSheep
  • 43
    T-Money93 Worked in a warehouse for a few years, and there was this guy on the other shift that apparently had a habit of just...disappearing. He wouldn't leave the facility, his badge never scanned the exit door and his car was always in the lot. If a manager called his cell phone trying to track him down, he would
    via u/T-Money93
  • 44
    answer and show up out of nowhere. But he would notoriously disappear for hours at a time. Until one day, the supervisor is walking through a back corner of the warehouse, and he hears what sounded suspiciously like snoring - he looks
    via u/T-Money93
  • 45
    around and ends up finding the guy, who had built a secret nap spot up high in the stacks by cleverly arranging the pallets. Would sneak up there to nap all the time. His snoring gave him away. He was fired on the spot.
    via u/T-Money93
  • 46
    Catacombs Rave. As a teenager, I worked at a bowling alley. Within an hour, a new employee was fired because she dropped a ball on a complaining patron's foot.
    via u/Catacombs Rave
  • 47
    Chalkarts A server and regional manager are standing at the pick up window. RM: Run those plates that just came up. Server: Those aren't my plates, not my job. RM: You don't have a job. Get your stuff and go.
    via u/Chalkarts
  • 48
    uoYredruM Guy at my job went on vacation the Friday before Thanksgiving and the whole week of Thanksgiving, only he wasn't approved. The boss literally told him if you don't come in tomorrow, you'll be fired because your vacation was never approved. Guy didn't show up Friday.
    via u/uoYredruM
  • 49
    He walked into the office today like nothing happened and was told to hand over his keys and company phone and to get off the property immediately. He didn't understand why he was fired.
    via u/uoYredruM
  • 50
    Poctah When I was a teen I worked at a restaurant as a hostess and they hired this guy who was 20 to work with me as another host. Anyways first day he comes in works his 1 hour training shift and ask the manager to use his cellphone so he can call his mom to get him(this was around 2004 so cell phones
    via u/Poctah
  • 51
    weren't as common as now). Manager thinks nothing of it and gives him his phone. He then just walked out immediately and left with his phone. Manager had to call his mom and she brought it back a few hours later saying he has a bad habit of forgetting things and not to fire
    via u/Poctah
  • 52
    him and he got fired anyways. Was the quickest I've seen anyone get fired.
    via u/Poctah
  • 53
    TheRealMrD Chef boy was hired and started his first day on a Sunday. He bragged to the other food prep (small bar kitchen) about how talented he was, and how he had trained with some award winning chefs and didn't get accepted to Master Chef as he was considered too much of a professional by the TV executives!
    via u/TheRealMrD
  • 54
    Later that day, he robbed the safe in the basement. As soon as he'd gotten his loot, he made his daring escape, leaving the building, and the safe door open. But he didn't escape far, he went across the street to another bar, where he sat down and ordered himself a drink.
    via u/TheRealMrD
  • 55
    It was quickly noticed that chef boy was unavailable to prep any orders, and so one of the owners came in to take over running of the kitchen. It was when she went to the basement to grab food from the freezer that she noticed her safe open. A quick scan of the empty safe and a look to make sure the camera was still pointed in the correct
    via u/TheRealMrD
  • 56
    location, she went upstairs to the review the footage. The hiring manager was informed of the events that happened, and he made a few phone calls and quickly located chef boys whereabouts (about a 90 second stroll from his place of employment).
    via u/TheRealMrD
  • 57
    Chef boy had consolidated his loot, divided it into several portions, and made various "drops" in the surrounding area, which he then gave that information to the hiring manager, sending him on a little treasure hunt!
    via u/TheRealMrD
  • 58
    Most of the money was recovered, however $4,990 was still missing....just below the $5,000 threshold which would change category from a petty crime to a serious crime. Chef boy had experience and knowledge on how to avoid jail time. He did not return to work.
    via u/TheRealMrD
  • 59
    reddi Karsa69420 Dude showed up in his boxers and t shirt hunger over as on his first day. Said he lost his pants and needed some for work.
    via u/Karsa69420
  • 60
    oblivionguard Working at Domino's and one of the late night drivers bought their ps4 in and started playing mortal kombat on the security camera monitor
    via u/oblivionguard

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