'He pick[ed] up his car with a forklift': 15+ Fired employees who gave their bosses good reasons to let them go

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 29, 2024 3:00 PM EST

Goof off in the workplace too much and you might find yourself having a serious chat with HR and your boss. It's all fun and games until you get caught, and the people who shared their firing stories below can tell you some stories.  

Some jobs take employee surveillance really seriously, and they'll use cameras and nosy managers to make sure the employees are working constantly. Even so, a lot of employees manage to sneak away from their desks for long breaks, take long stretches of time off work using flimsy excuses, and some will even manage to take naps in their cars. At other workplaces, employees aren't supervised as closely, so they can get away with even more mischief. There's also the type of worker who can't help but brag in front of their coworkers, leading to trouble. The dude who decided to lift up his own car with his forklift could tell you all about that. Keep scrolling to read some of the most hilarious responses to u/GravyxNips' question: "What's the craziest reason you had to fire someone?"

Next, read about this petty gift-giver who canceled a family member's vacation after giving them the ticket! 

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  • 01
    DAKLAN NEW YOR
    via The Jopwell Collection on Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    What's the craziest reason you had to fire someone?
    via u/GravyxNips
  • 03
    MonkeyMeex I was a bartender/bar manager. This guy came in one night and said he was an aspiring DJ and asked if we would consider hiring him to come in just on Sunday nights to DJ for us. He said we wouldn't have to pay him at first, he would just take tips and we could renegotiate after he helped. to build up our Sunday night crowd.
    via u/MonkeyMeex
  • 04
    He lasted less than 3 months. He drove away so much business and I got SO many complaints. He played the same songs every week and when people made requests (for commonly known songs), he had no idea who they (the musicians) were.
    via u/MonkeyMeex
  • 05
    I had to fire someone who was working for free. He was a nice guy, which is the only reason he lasted as long as he did.
    via u/MonkeyMeex

    That must've been an awkward conversation to have! 

  • 06
    drumandbass01 Had an employee that was going to get fired for simply showing up late constantly with no legit reason. During the term meeting she tells me another employee cut the brake lines in her car - it's obvious this was to save her from being fired. She didn't realize that something like that gets cops involved. -
    via u/drumandbass01
  • 07
    She was termed, and then detectives showed up to her house to get statements. Of course, no evidence of lines being cut and now she's dealing with police for making false statements.
    via u/drumandbass01
  • 08
    momoispeachy Fired a high schooler because his girlfriend kept showing up and they would disappear behind the racks. I told him his girlfriend was banned trying to not fire him and she kept sneaking back. Worked in an office and they hired a girl from a temp agency to help me. She wouldn't do anything unless I walked her through each
    via u/momoispeachy
  • 09
    step after telling her she had to do it. Hey an estimate just arrived on the fax RIGHT NEXT TO YOU, complete the quote and send it back. Come to find out she was playing spider and solitaire on her computer...... She was also sneaking out back and the warehouse guys thought she was doing dr s. I told my boss get rid of her, I would rather work alone than babysit her so he called the temp agency and
    via u/momoispeachy
  • 10
    told them to stop sending her. She showed up the next day so boss sent her home and called the agency saying hey she is useless stop sending her. She showed up again the next day! This went on for over a week. The people at the temp agency said they told her to stop showing but she
    via u/momoispeachy
  • 11
    kept coming in every morning, mind you usually 10 to 20 minutes late. My boss wouldn't say anything to her face so finally I said hey we can't afford to pay you so we had to let you go through the temp agency. They should have told you. She was all oh I thought they were joking. I was so glad she was gone.
    via u/momoispeachy
  • 12
    woodenman22 Years ago, at a lumber company. Had a guy, less than two hours after he started on his first day, pick up his car with a forklift and stand underneath it to see what was rattling when he drove.
    via u/woodenman22
  • 13
    L... During my summer job when I was in college, I had a shift with this guy who didn't show up. I didn't have his number, so I asked my boss to look into it. He gets back to me a little later, and says the guy is on his way, should be there in about 5-10 minutes. 45 minutes later the guy still hasn't shown up, so I text my boss again, and he gets back to me a
    via u/Les-Gilbz
  • 14
    little later and says he's certain the guy should be there any minute. But he still doesn't show up. This continues until the end of the shift, and the guy still isn't here. Closing took a little longer than normal because I was on my own, so I was still working half an hour after my shift was supposed to be over, when this guy strolls in with his girlfriend. He halfheartedly
    via u/Les-Gilbz
  • 15
    helps for a little while, in between chatting with his girlfriend, before saying he's got some important family dinner and he has to leave. Apparently that wasn't even the first time this had happened, but amazingly this wasn't what got him fired. What finally did it was a couple weeks later when we had a staff meeting. My boss had an open shift that he needed someone to fill,
    via u/Les-Gilbz
  • 16
    and this guy volunteers. So my boss, in front of all the staff, has the following conversation: "You want to work this shift?" "Yes" "Are you sure you're available to work this shift?" "Yes"
    via u/Les-Gilbz
  • 17
    "So that means that you'll be at <location> at <time> on <day>?" "Yes" Then he still didn't show up. Some people, man.
    via u/Les-Gilbz
  • 18
    C... My coworker at a coffee shop. 1. Told a customer she didn't feel like making x drink and she should go elsewhere. 2. Wore cookie monster PJ pants while we had a very strict "black or khaki pants, no jeans, no leggings" policy at the time.
    via u/carbusinesslady234

    Generally, employees should be allowed to wear what they want… but wearing Cookie Monster PJ pants is taking it a little too far! 

  • 19
    3. couldn't figure out the concept of milk?? This still baffles me to this day. Like I was trying to show her how to steam milk properly, she was off in la la land and when she snapped back into the conversation asking, "What are we doing again" followed by me reminding her and she quite literally asked what was in the gallon
    via u/carbusinesslady234
  • 20
    jug that I poured into the metal pitcher. I told her it was milk and she just looked at me, her eyes saying, '???!??!!?" She was there for 2 days.
    via u/carbusinesslady234
  • 21
    CactusPearl21 We had someone fall asleep at his desk with a lit ciga tte in his hand. In a office full of cubicles like maybe... 6-7 years ago? Smoking wasn't legal anywhere indoors let alone in an office building Imao And the first time he wasn't even fired. He was fired when it happened again!
    via u/CactusPearl21
  • 22
    ENEBZILE I work at an art studio where we teach classes and sell pottery that our artists make for others to paint. I'm one of the artists and the manager. I started getting a funny feeling about one of my employees.. she wasn't doing anything blatently wrong, just seemed to work really slowly sometimes, request insignificant but kinda odd schedule
    via u/ENEBZILE
  • 23
    changes, and have different break habits from the other staff. I started feeling like she was stealing but this is a really small business so I didn't have her on camera or any way to really prove it... Until she accidentally sent me a video of herself painting pieces that I MADE from her home!
    via u/ENEBZILE
  • 24
    Donkey Tron42 CEO ordered me to fire one of my interns because he was trying to hit on one of the other interns the CEO had the hots for.
    via u/DonkeyTron42
  • 25
    CanineRezQ They stole a $3 bottle of wine that could have easily put on the "house" check for employees. Prep cook stole a 25lb bag of onions.
    via u/CanineRezQ
  • 26
    PomegranatePI... The guy had somehow hung on by the skin of his teeth when caught making plastic model funny cars at his desk (pro tip: throwing a newspaper over the model doesn't hide the smell of the glue), but when a client called complaining about our hero trying to sell him golf clubs out of the trunk of his car, he was gone.
    via u/PomegranatePlanet
  • 27
    P... He worked at the company for 2 weeks, came to the Christmas party on friday, got sh faced, told the HR manager that she was a and would di alone (they had some previous vaguely romantic history, went on a couple of dates or something) tried to fight 2 of the customer service managers who asked him to calm down, and while being
    via u/PoisonAlii
  • 28
    escorted out he turned to the CEO and COO and told them to go f themselves. He showed up to work on the Monday talking about how fun the party was and how he had seen some people who would probably be called into HR that morning.. he was the first and only employee to be called and was sacked on the spot.
    via u/PoisonAlii
  • 29
    C... I work construction, and one of the subs gave me an invoice with no receipts. Turns out he wanted 30k for 4 weeks of work without paying the companies he rented equipment/dumpsters from. I paid off the companies he owed money to and told him to f..... off
    via u/clenchingmycheeks
  • 30
    arbrady I worked at a retail store and found one of my coworkers. was using the company iPad (that we used to play music and order lunches) to go on Craigslist and search for hookups. She didn't even bother to delete the search history.
    via u/arbrady
  • 31
    W. Not me but my dad. He has a small handyman company with less than a hand full of employees. His tools somehow have the habit of growing legs when he's at construction sites so he rigorously writes his name on everything with permanent marker. One day, shortly after he hired someone new, his
    via u/WilhelmImWrobel
  • 32
    folding ruler is missing. He asks around if anyone has seen his folding ruler but that doesn't seem to be the case. He doesn't think much of it, sometimes things get lost. The next day he sees the new hire with a familiar looking folding ruler. He asks him to see it. New hire refuses. Dad tells him that he's his boss and insists he shows him the ruler. He
    via u/WilhelmImWrobel
  • 33
    complies under pressure. Sure enough, there's my dad's name on it in capital and bold letters. Now that could've been an honest mistake and there probably wouldn't have been any repercussions if he simply said "Oh, my bad. Must've put the wrong one in my pocket. Here's you're ruler" ... But the new hire insisted that this was his ruler and that the name on
    via u/WilhelmImWrobel
  • 34
    the side of it wasn't my dad's handwriting but rather a note the new hire had written on it himself to remember my dad's name. What makes it even more stupid is that my dad's company pays for the tools of his employees. He could've simply asked for a folding ruler and my dad would've given him one for free but, no, he needs to steal the bosses folding
    via u/WilhelmImWrobel
  • 35
    ruler and give the stupidest. lie imaginable as an excuse. Edit: I really hoped I wouldn't have to deal with a "your dad fires people for taking 3€ tools" comment but as it came up and is far down the comment chain I'm gonna put it here in case somebody else also feels the need to address this. 1. If you're working in handcraft you probably
    via u/WilhelmImWrobel
  • 36
    already know about the special importance of your tools. 2. It's also very much about trust. An employee of my dad will be unsupervised in stranger's homes at points. Showing such a disregard for other people's property doesn't pair too well with that.
    via u/WilhelmImWrobel
  • 37
    My dad is very trusting of his employees and former employees. He frequently lends tools and cars to his employees for their private projects (like moving). He has also helped plenty of former employees to start their own business and when they do so, he'll let's them still come by and lend/use the special machinery he's collected over the years to which new
    via u/WilhelmImWrobel
  • 38
    businesses usually don't have an access to. So, if you're still not convinced that this isn't a show of power, kindly... F off.
    via u/WilhelmImWrobel
  • 39
    milesthafivethree When I was a bank teller, a fellow teller got fired for stuffing her purse with a strap of $100s every day ($10,000). Here's the interesting part.. she always put the strap back into her teller drawer at the end of the day. She did this for months and months apparently without anyone noticing, but when the camera auditors finally did
    via u/milesthafivethree
  • 40
    catch it, she was confronted and fired. When they asked her why she put a strap of money in her purse each day but always put it back, she said that if the bank were ever robbed then she could just take the money home because everybody would've assumed it was taken by the robber.
    via u/milesthafivethree
  • 41
    [deleted] I worked at a pet store, and was the lead cashier so I had to train this girl who didn't think she had to abide by the uniform because it's just(store name) and doesn't count as a real job. That was a warning that despite her thinking she did need to follow the uniform rules. Then when ringing up customers she actually told customers they couldn't buy
    via u/[deleted]
  • 42
    certain items because we were running low and she planned on getting a pet soon and wanted these items. I apologized and rung them up. Second warning with me explaining how that's not how it works and she could shop when she's off the clock. Finally my manager fired her when she tried to steal one of the cats that were up for adoption after being told she needed to wait for approval after
    via u/[deleted]
  • 43
    they do a home visit and make sure she can care for the cat. Her excuse for trying to steal the cat? Her landlord doesn't allow pets so she wouldn't be approved and she'd be a much better pet parent then anyone who else who wanted the cat and much better than any of the customers we got. The girl didn't even last a week.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 44
    ohiomensch 1. He said, My ex wife di_d and there's no one to take care of our kids. Needed a week off to sort everything out. Ex called to talk to him. Boom.
    via u/ohiomensch
  • 45
    2. One of the guys went to lunch with short hair and came back with a ponytail down to his a . Identical twins that were sharing the job. All the guys knew and thought it was funny. Yikes.
    via u/ohiomensch
  • 46
    formerPhillyguy I was a florist and had a 40- something woman delivering for me. I received a call from the building manager of a brand new office building, with only one tenant, telling me my driver wrote on the elevator wall with a sharpie. They had video showing that she was the only person to use the elevator during the time the vandalism took place.
    via u/formerPhillyguy
  • 47
    The worst part for me was, this happened a few days. before Valentine's Day.
    via u/formerPhillyguy

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