'It was like "Lord of the Flies" at the [call] center': 25+ Employees who got caught acting unprofessionally

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 20, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

If you don't try to push the limits, you'll never know what you can get away with. That's apparently what these employees thought before they shrugged their shoulders and did some absolutely crazy things while on the clock. 

Many employees take pride in their work, and take care to show up in a nice outfit and have a good attitude. Others don't care that much. Their bosses are lucky if they show up a half hour late and are wearing their uniform. Some folks just live life day by day, and they'll happily quit a job if it's suddenly not to their liking. 

For example, there's one dude who worked at a pizza place who just randomly decided to pick up the phone and curse out a customer. A different person was known to tell her boss to shut up. There's also a lifeguard who can't be bothered to save someone needing help—he took his sweet time putting on a pair of goggles before jumping in the water! You can check out all of these stories about the most unprofessional employees out there down below. 

After that, check out these diabolical designs that're just made to annoy people, like one person who was infuriated to discover "[My] car is not usable while updating." 

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  • 01
    ZARA TA3 RACE
    via Carl Raw on Unsplash+
  • 02
    What is the most unprofessional thing an employee has ever done at your workplace?
    via u/FreddieDinardo
  • 03
    m.. guy arrived at workplace 2 hours earlier powered off whole rack of servers because there was no other outlet to charge his phone. He didn't realize it. Someone else found out after 2 hours and a half.
    via u/muchrandom
  • 04
    thepilotguy89 One of the managers will tell anyone that disagrees with her, including her boss, "shut up, you're stupid".
    via u/thepilotguy89
  • 05
    N... Installed cable for a while, one day I was training a new kid and saw him I of cash from an old lady's dresser. a After I saw that I told him we had to go back to the warehouse to pick up some equipment I needed, and when we arrived I told him to hang out in the truck and I'd go pick up the gear and
    via u/Navett
  • 06
    come right back so we could hurry back to the site. Went in and called the police then the supervisor to tell him what happened. I waited in the truck saying the warehouse manager was having trouble with finding what I asked for until the police arrived, then I took the money and I gave the police the address of the woman who he stole from. Went back and told her, along with
    via u/Navett
  • 07
    the police, what happened, finished the job and never saw that kid again
    via u/Navett
  • 08
    [deleted] Worked at a popular clothing retail store in the mall back in high school. One of the ones where the staff wears earpieces & walkie-talkies to communicate with each other and the people in the inventory area. One afternoon on a busy Saturday, one of my co- workers - lets call her "Beth" - was M.I.A for like 15
    via u/[deleted]
  • 09
    minutes. My manager, trying to find her to help on the floor, called over the headset (reminder, every employee can hear this) "Hey, Beth, where are you? We could use some help out here." silence for a few seconds. Manager again: "Has anyone seen Beth anywhere?"
    via u/[deleted]
  • 10
    After a few more seconds of silence, Beth responds, and I mean yells into the headset "IM TAKIN A ME A MINUTE" , JUS GIVE Now every employee can barely keep it together, in a packed store with customers everywhere. Hilarious, but highly unprofessional.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 11
    Clearly Doesnt Getlt I was a lifeguard. I worked with this guy who insisted on wearing a wetsuit while guarding. He was just generally weird. He would saw logs between his legs. on free time and when he said he was going to the bathroom would come back a half hour later with his upper lip stained with slushie. Way too many stories to tell. Anyway Tim is
    via u/ClearlyDoesntGetlt
  • 12
    guarding the deep swimming area and a kid starts to get tired and clearly needs help. We scream to him "tim help him!" he slowly looks up looks back at us, sighs takes off his towel stands up. Reaches under his chair to get goggles. Keep in mind this is all while his kid is about to become an active drowner.
    via u/ClearlyDoesntGetlt
  • 13
    He puts he goggles on and starts adjusting. While this is going on one of the other guards saw Tim taking his sweet time, ran down the dock, jumped in the water and helped the kid out. Tim was kept on special details around the area from then on.
    via u/ClearlyDoesntGetlt
  • 14
    thesilversandwich Some higher-up in an office across the country opened I and infected our whole server system. We had to keep our computers off for the rest of the day. When we were able to turn them back on half our documents had vanished; it was like we were turning on our computers 18 months ago. IT told us to consider them gone forever.
    via u/thesilversandwich
  • 15
    -- I was sick to my stomach this was hundreds of letters/arguments/research - - but thankfully they were recovered eventually. I was the one who noticed it and basically yelped out the discovery to my colleagues. in a weird shaky voice. The company had to set up new servers and virus control after that. I don't think the person was fired either.
    via u/thesilversandwich
  • 16
    The_Phasers One guy at my work went to go work at a competitor down the street. Sounds normal right? Except for small one detail- he never quit working for us. Basically, he would drive back and forth between Company A and Company B. all day "attending meetings" and such. He did this for a few months before a group
    via u/The_Phasers
  • 17
    of my coworkers were out to lunch talking about something and his name came up. This is what happened: Well a group of coworkers. from Company B were there and overheard the guy's name and came over and said "Oh hey you know this guy too?"
    via u/The_Phasers
  • 18
    "Yeah he works for us over at Company A." "Wait, that's weird, he works for us over at Company B!" Realization "Hey, wait a second..." Long story short, he was immediately fired from both jobs, blacklisted from the industry, and ended up doing some jail time for fraud.
    via u/The_Phasers
  • 19
    DD225 I used to work at one of the top pizza chains some years ago. We had one employee who had a "Don't care" attitude. He did his job but sometimes he would do odd things.
    via u/DD225
  • 20
    The worst was picking up the phone and told a potential customer "[Pizza Chain Name], you" then hung up the phone and continued working like nothing happened.
    via u/DD225
  • 21
    [deleted] One time, a group from our office was in China and hit the karaoke bar a little too hard. They drunk-dialed a coworker and left a pretty racy prank voice-mail that must have seemed hilarious at the time (to drunks, anyway) insinuating a party just short of r/gonewild worthy. The recipient
    via u/[deleted]
  • 22
    thought it was hilarious and forwarded it around, so we got a twofer of idiocy. Wives, husbands, managers and accounting were all ready for them when they got back.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    [deleted] I worked at Lowes and someone left a rusty bmx bike outside behind the concrete pallet. So I took the bike, spray painted it neon green and hid it in the lumber dept. A few hours later I found a box from a water tank and turned it into a robot costume. Costume
    via u/[deleted]
  • 24
    and bike at my disposal I rode around the store for a few minutes getting laughs out of everyone. And then I got fired.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 25
    smilingonion One night while working at a call center the phone system went out...the nationwide phone system Since none of the reps could take calls within five minutes it was like the Lord of the Flies at the center with reps running all over the place hooting and hollering for two hours
    via u/smilingonion
  • 26
    These co-workers who up til then I had only seen quiet and wore down from taking horrific calls all day turned into animals once they knew they were free This lasted until our shift ended at 1am(and wasn't fixed til nearly noon the next day)
    via u/smilingonion
  • 27
    How they kept that from hitting the papers I'll never know (this was a major telecommunication company)
    via u/smilingonion
  • 28
    cokeclassic_93 Not me, but my father works for the postal service as a letter carrier. Anyway he's being inspected on his route and for some reason or another he's asked to assist another carrier on their route. So they drive 15 or so minutes out and they see the other carrier taking his time walking and when they go to greet him, this guy is literally eating a fried
    via u/cokeclassic_93
  • 29
    chicken leg while walking around. My dad said the dude would stop at a box, put the piece of chicken in his front pocket, and then toss mail into the boxes.
    via u/cokeclassic_93
  • 30
    According to my dad the inspector watched the guy for a good 5 minutes, mouth open in complete awe before asking him what the he was doing. The guy said something along the lines of the route being too long and he was multitasking.
    via u/cokeclassic_93
  • 31
    pealiro Stuck her ungloved finger in the _pesto on the line to taste it. I HAVE TO THROW THAT OUT AND WE HAVE NO BACKUP. AND PUT ON A HAIRNET, GLOVES, AND APRON OR GET THE OUT OF HERE YOU DISGUSTING SWINE.
    via u/pealiro
  • 32
    [deleted] Not sure if it's unprofessional or just stupid, but someone at my call center once forgot to put water in his cup-a- noodles and then decided to leave the break room while they were cooking.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 33
    To make a long story short, the cup melted into an abstract art piece, the noodles turned black (and may've ignited, depending on who you believe,) and smoke came out of the microwave. The smell traveled, and it lingered, and for the rest of the night the telemarketing section had to sit with the card activation team on the other end of the call floor.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 34
    abmaybe I worked in a cafe and one of the waitresses got to work one day in wet clothes (she had biked to work on a very wet day without a raincoat). So she stripped off several layers, jersey, tshirt, even shoes and socks and was left in bare feet, tights and a singlet. She then proceeded
    via u/abmaybe
  • 35
    to drape her wet clothing on the backs of chairs in the cafe to dry, very kindly avoiding chairs occupied by patrons. It stunk.
    via u/abmaybe
  • 36
    bdby1093 In high school I worked at Hollister in woodland hills mall. One day the general manager replaced the typical mind-numbing Hollister music with audio from an exorcism (the audio that's played at the end of some horror movie I don't remember the name of). Customers lost their
    via u/bdby1093
  • 37
    spartanburger91 Doctor's office drone. One of my dad's employees. Anyway, she was disgruntled, but still hanging around and I was working in the office for the summer. So, I get a friend of mine to call the office to inquire about scheduling an appointment. She puts him on hold and leaves him on hold for twebty minutes. We go to the phone room, and I
    via u/spartanburger91
  • 38
    tell him to stand outside and stay on the line. I go in and ask, "Busy day?" "Not really." She's looking at a Chinese take-out menu while my friend is on hold. Walk into the manager's office with the phone beeping and sit down. "Nineteen minutes, ... twenty minutes, ... twenty- one." He figures out what's going on and reprimands her.
    via u/spartanburger91
  • 39
    It gets better. Got a letter at home claiming that my dad was sleeping with another doctor in the practice. Horseshit, just to harass. It's to my mother, typed, unsigned, no return address. But the address is handwritten in big block letters, all caps like a person who's only partially literate would do. We suspect it's from a trouble employee, rule out about half the staff, and pull twenty job
    via u/spartanburger91
  • 40
    applications from active employees as well as those of recently fired ones to compare handwriting. Phone drone hag is a match. We sent it to a handwriting analyst just to be sure, and we were right. She got fired shortly after. It turns out she had looked through patient information to get our home address. Multiple torts, multiple crimes. After she was fired she made a
    via u/spartanburger91
  • 41
    complaint to the state unemployment commission for wrongful termination. We sent them a copy of the letter and the analyst's report. This isn't even the most unprofessional of my former coworkers. Just the most personally offensive. If you think that's bad, I have a couple of lawyer and doctor stories for you too, if anybody asks.
    via u/spartanburger91
  • 42
    [deleted] At my old job I would purposely go slower on peoples orders and sometimes "forget" them. That's pretty unprofessional right?
    via u/[deleted]
  • 43
    MikesKitiKat One stocker got mad at another for having to go behind him and ticket items that should have been ticketed. Words were exchanged. Next thing you know they are rolling around in the parking lot.
    via u/MikesKitiKat
  • 44
    The stupid thing, besides this, is the store manager on duty did nothing and hid the situation, afraid for his own job, because they had info on him for improprieties.
    via u/MikesKitiKat
  • 45
    TJB92 Just today our new GM disappeared for an hour during our lunch rush. Turns out he was hanging out at the restaurant next door. Seriously, this 35 years old dude decides it's a good idea to just bail on us during the busiest time of day and go flirt with high and eat cookies. What the man.
    via u/TJB92
  • 46
    Also, the old GM got fired because he told an employee he wanted to their mother. Classy guy.
    via u/TJB92
  • 47
    [deleted] Heard a story about a guy who got drunk, locked himself in a broadcast studio, and kept yelling "pirate radio" over the air. Apparently this was allowed. to go on for a couple of hours.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 48
    [deleted] Not my workplace, but I have a friend who used to work at Home Depot. He would clock in, go home and chill for the duration of his shift, and go back to the store to clock out. He got
    via u/[deleted]
  • 49
    away with it for a couple months before they got suspicious. He worked out in the gardening section, so I guess nobody was really around him enough to notice.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 50
    _Sweater_Puppi... I work for a major automotive company and we get a killer deal on lease vehicles. Dude found a new job, took a in the back seat of the lease vehicle and turned it in. I heard the woman that went to inspect it for damage just O.O and closed the door.
    via u/_Sweater_Puppies_
  • 51
    [deleted] Jumped a sand dune on the company Polaris.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 52
    synystershadows Old boss at a local pizza place I worked at threatened to fire me because I wasn't quite sure what to do. It was my first day.
    via u/synystershadows
  • 53
    Gil_ByrdlsTheWord A guy I worked with (let call him Tim) once signed his time card as if he worked every day for three months. Somehow every week his boss would just sign it and never bothered to really look. Dude bought a huge SUV and a boat. I think his boss's boss or someone doing an audit found out first. One night Tim's at work and his boss called him
    via u/Gil_ByrdlsTheWord
  • 54
    into his office frantic to confront him. I don't remember the exact details but he's allowed to back to work, but he just left the building and went home. Last I knew they never pressed charges and Tim's boss was employed here until earlier this year, over 10 years later until he left for another company. He was of course demoted though.
    via u/Gil_ByrdlsTheWord
  • 55
    retroslik Prints his syllabus/ module guide in comic sans. I work at a college.
    via u/retroslik
  • 56
    tantalising-tickler I worked at a municipal sewage treatment plant for a summer and there was quite a few things the guys working there would do. If there wasn't much work one of them would go tanning on the roof of a building. A couple of them would go take a nap in the back bushes (which were out of camera view). There was
    via u/tantalising-tickler
  • 57
    also a really big run-off pond and they started trying to stock it with fish so that they could go fishing when there was nothing to do. The one thing I participated in happened when it had been storming all day so we took. our John Deere Gator's and tried to see who could make the biggest splash by driving. through the big puddles. It was the best summer job I've ever had.
    via u/tantalising-tickler
  • 58
    E... I used to work at a certain restaurant as a bartender. The bar isn't really a bar where you can seat at, but is actually just a spot in the kitchen where you make all the drinks and desserts and put them on the bar for the waiters to grab them and get them to their tables. Since the bar is inside the kitchen, I can basically see
    via u/EdSharpe
  • 59
    everything the cooks do and naturally I would walk around the kitchen itself from time to time. On several occasions, I saw one of the cooks drop some pasta on the floor while plating it, and then picking it up while nobody is looking (he didn't see me) and put it in the plate. The same thing happened to him with a burger, and he just picked it
    via u/EdSharpe
  • 60
    up and put the patty in the bun again. I also saw a different cook drop a pizza on the floor, pick it up, "fix" the cheese so it would look normal again, and serve it. disgusting. I got them both fired.
    via u/EdSharpe
  • 61
    brochynashere Girl came into work from her break and it had been raining outside. Im standing behind the counter as she walks in. She walks behind the counter to come clock in and I look down and she's not wearing any shoes or socks. We work in a freaking fast food place for one, and also who the does that?!?! I literally couldn't
    via u/brochynashere
  • 62
    contain myself and I ask her "Are you crazy? Put your shoes on!" Then she tells me "They are wet though." Really? Do I don't care if the are wet or not that is disgusting. She was not the brightest crayon in the box...
    via u/brochynashere

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