'He left sugar fingerprints on everything...the sugar bandit': 20+ Awful employees who made their boss's lives a nightmare

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 4, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

Bold is the coworker who calls out, then posts their beach day to their Instagram story. Why people do this baffles the mind. Why would you call out of work sick and then go out on the town, leaving a digital footprint behind you? Or worse still, the person goes out to their own workplace, as if their boss will welcome them with a big smile instead of a writeup. 

The bosses of Reddit decided to reveal the craziest things that their worst employees ever did in response to u/RoryC's question. The funniest stories are often the ones that are completely inexplicable, like the sugar bandit story (see #37). It brings me delight to tell you about this dude who loved dipping his hands into the sugar container meant for the office workers. Instead of using a spoon, this oddball would literally use his hands like a child. Then, he wouldn't wash them, leaving a trail of sugary evidence everywhere he went. That's also the kind of person who probably never washes their hands after using the restroom… time to get rid of that employee and get a new sugar container ASAP. 

Next up, this bride ended her friendship with a bridesmaid after she accidentally sent her a scathing text that was not meant for her eyes. 

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  • 01
    'Next thing I know she comes out from the kitchen, flinging toast at the customers like throwing stars'
    via Amel Majanovic on Unsplash
  • 02
    Bosses of reddit, what's the worst employee you've ever had to deal with?
    via u/
  • 03
    kranzmonkey Had an employee play sick for 2 weeks, sending us daily emails to update us on his condition. At the same time, his band was posting. photos on Facebook of their road trip to SXSW.
    via u/RoryC
  • 04
    soik90 My dad fired a guy because on top of being an incompetent carpenter, he would not stop looking down the barrel of a nail gun every time it jammed.
    via u/soik90
  • 05
    datass630 Girl comes in as a waitress. Would take food out of the window because she thought it was hers and wouldn't bother to wait for the whole order to be finished to check that it's hers. She would take it out to her table and realize it wasn't hers, chuck it, ask for new stuff because "the cooks messed it up" and another waitress'
    via u/datass630
  • 06
    orders by throwing them away. Then she asked for change for $100. She receive $100 in change to make change for her one table. Instead of counting it out, she hands the entire $100 back to the woman, who leaves with it all. The girl was $80 short at the end of the night. Normally it would come out of her pay but our boss covered it in the mean time and told her to pay her back. Weeks go
    via u/datass630
  • 07
    by, still hasn't paid our boss. back. My boss gets persistent about it and so the girl goes and talks to her mom about it. "My mom says we all make mistakes and I shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes" was her response. Eventually it resulted in the girl suing our boss for $80 that "our boss scammed out of her". And then she had a meltdown about working 12 hours a
    via u/datass630
  • 08
    week stating that it was too much for her and why doesn't anyone understand? I'm not gonna lie; I celebrated when she quit.
    via u/datass630
  • 09
    Otakudemon Back when I was a manager at a Pretzel place we noticed when we had this register that the drawer the would always come up short so we were watching her. We were between paychecks at the time and she had mentioned she was broke. She went on break as we were counting the drawer and we discovered we were $125 short. She
    via u/Otakudemon
  • 10
    came back with new shoes and was talking about how cute they looked and We asked her "How much were your shoes,...about $125?" And I will always remember her shocked genuine look of surprise as she said... "How did you know?!"
    via u/Otakudemon
  • 11
    icuddlekittens Not me, but my sister has a coworker who constantly calls out of work. My sister works at a small gas station/quick mart. When she works, there is usually only one person on staff for a shift. One time, her coworker called out because of a "doctor appointment" on a Friday at 4pm, then was seen at a bar at that exact time by a regular customer.
    via u/icuddlekittens
  • 12
    If you're going to call out sick, at least stay home or go somewhere far away where you won't be seen by anyone you know. It for my sister because she'll work from 5am to noon, then find out the lady called. out, so she then has to go back into work from 4pm- 10pm. She rarely sees her daughter ever because of this, and her boss refuses to replace this lady.
    via u/icuddlekittens
  • 13
    t... I worked as a supervisor for a catering company when I was in college. We had this guy who might have been the dumbest person I have ever met. I remember we had to label dishes the cooks sent out to know what went where without uncovering them. I asked him to label a
    via u/thetoughtruth
  • 14
    breakfast and he misspelled every word.....even the word 'eggs'. The worst however is late one night we were cleaning up and I asked him to mop the kitchen before we locked up. I was in the office doing paper work and a horrible acrid smell started filling the kitchen area.
    via u/thetoughtruth
  • 15
    I told everyone to get out and started looking for the source. Turns out this idiot decided to mop the floor with bleach and ammonia. I kicked the bucket into the drain and went outside, coughed for 45 minutes and ended up in the ER. The owner of the company was so desperate she refused to fire him, so I gave my two weeks.
    via u/thetoughtruth
  • 16
    A few months later I hear the guy t-boned another driver with a catering truck trying to run a red light at an intersection, the resulting lawsuit ended up shutting the business down.
    via u/thetoughtruth
  • 17
    missspiritualtramp One of my former employees stole ~$10,000 from the charity we worked for. Other than that she was actually an amazing employee!
    via u/missspiritualtramp
  • 18
    relaxed_heathen Had a guy on our crew who would deliberatly himself to go home early. After the third time in as many weeks I fired him. And yes he did have to ride in the back of the truck.
    via u/relaxed_heathen
  • 19
    [deleted] This wasn't an employee, it was a business partner. We had started a consumer credit counseling business together. He had experience managing one as an employee. I had just gotten out of another successful business. Part of that was that I had a few large lines of credit with several electronics retailers/wholesalers. So I
    via u/[deleted]
  • 20
    took $50k out to purchase all the equipment we needed to get 20 work stations, a server system and the software we needed, the phone lines and a lot of other stuff. So we were going at it and things were going really well. I was away for a long weekend. I check my phone and have a bunch of messages on it. It's before lunch so I figure I'll head in,
    via u/[deleted]
  • 21
    find out what the problem is. I walk onto the floor and the doors are wide open. I walk in and there is nothing. Absolutely nothing. All that was left were the desks and cubies and the cat5 wire I had installed. All the phone equipment, the computers, the chairs, even the floor mats for the chairs. desk was gone. my
    via u/[deleted]
  • 22
    The security cams for the building showed him a few skeezey friends of his loading everything into a Ryder truck. I never heard from him again. It set me back for a long time, but it worked out. That's the worst employee I have ever had.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    [... We once had a guy working for us who tried to swat a wasp with a sledge hammer, the wasp flew on his face so he hit himself in the face with a sledge hammer them tried to sue the company for not telling him swatting wasps with a giant hammer was a dumbass thing to do in health and safety talks. He lost the case and the wasp got away.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 24
    fisch09 I worked at a restaurant small family style breakfast place. I wasn't the newest employee but I was the most regular one on Sundays so I became the assistant manager (I was 16) I was also the only waiter. One employee had a meltdown because 5 minutes before closing a couple walked in and ordered. I told her they wont be long and worst case
    via u/fisch09
  • 25
    we get time and a half. While trying to calm her down 3 more tables walked in. I seated them took their order when she found out to keep her calm I said just make their toast and you can go ill give you till I leave on your card. Next thing I know she
    via u/fisch09
  • 26
    comes out from the kitchen flinging toast at the costumers like throwing stars goes into the kitchen breaks a few things and leaves. TL;DR employee unleashes ninja death toast
    via u/fisch09
  • 27
    VestedTomb I once had an employee who was seemingly a reformed. convict, but ended up later robbing a bank and tried to take the money north into Canada (I'm in Colorado). He took two of our employees with them and they were caught about halfway through Wyoming.
    via u/VestedTomb
  • 28
    In honesty, it ended up being funny because he signed his real name on the banks Welcome booklet before he proceeded to rob them.
    via u/VestedTomb
  • 29
    notmewasthedog Had a lady who smelled like a hamster cage, like the sawdust stuff you put at the bottom, who changed my whole perspective on human kind. She was large, breathed heavy, and complained about everything.
    via u/notmewasthedog
  • 30
    She would show up late, when she didn't call in sick she would show up with her lunch in hand. Her lunch consisted of multiple packages of twinkies and a nacho platter from 7-11. But she wouldnt settle for the small section normally reserved to fill with the cheese. Nope, she would remove the lid and fill the entire lid with nacho cheese.
    via u/notmewasthedog
  • 31
    Then come in, bag of twinkies on arm lid of cheese in one hand, chips in the other. Remember she's late but still had time to stop for this
    via u/notmewasthedog
  • 32
    Once at work, she would smoke every 30 minutes, then come back inside and complain about how terrible she felt. Of course, you feel like ! Nacho cheese and nicotine are not going to help. This was everyday, seriously everyday.
    via u/notmewasthedog
  • 33
    Finally she stopped showing up. No warning no calls nothing. I fired her as as a no show with no notice filed under job abandonment and guess what.... she is probably still collecting unemployment.
    via u/notmewasthedog
  • 34
    GhostxInkxHeart Delivery guy for my store told the young lady who was helping to unload the weeks load that 'women should not be working in deliveries. You're too weak and have no common sense." Such comments seem almost tongue in cheek. Apparently not.
    via u/GhostxInkxHeart
  • 35
    The delivery guy called the parent distributor claiming he should get double pay for having to work with 'a girl' whilst unloading. He also called our store and stated he would simply refuse to deliver again if the assistance he would receive was female.
    via u/GhostxInkxHeart
  • 36
    The man is in his late 30's. The store manager who he partitioned and the distributor director were both females.
    via u/GhostxInkxHeart
  • 37
    manrage I was an IT manager: We had this guy who liked to dip his hands into the sugar, which was meant for coffee. We would of had no idea except he left sugar fingerprints on everything in the break room, and a crystal trail back to his cubicle. The god damned sugar bandit
    via u/manrage

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