Employees share the biggest ‘I’m definitely fired' moments that they got away with: ‘[My boss] just laughed so hard for about 5 minutes…’

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Aug 9, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

Employees make mistakes that they sometimes can't come back from. These employees felt like they made those kinds of mistakes, except when they went to face their boss about it, everything was fine. In fact, one boss simply laughed it off and encouraged that kind of behavior! What was the behavior? Leaving work early without telling anyone and not coming back to the office for two days without calling out. Like, what? How far can an employer truly be pushed before it's too far and you get fired? We're not talking about arrest-able offenses, we're just talking about little things that everyone knows it a big no-no, and yet you still got away with it. Things like, "oops, I accidentally shredded important irreplaceable paperwork…" or "I mindlessly took home the most expensive piece of tech from the office…" or heck, even, "I thought I called out, but I guess I didn't and haven't been to work for four days…" How is it possible to get away with all of these kinds of things? 

 

Well, it turns out not all bosses are monsters. Some can call a sincere accident when they see it and will let things slide here and there. 

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    via Unsplash+ (and Robert Bye)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "What is the biggest 'I'm definitely fired' thing you've done at work, but nobody ever found out?"

    chipshot I accidentally deleted the company hard drive once and coworkers were starting to talk about not being able to access their files.
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  • Everything was shut down for a reboot. I was given the task, and was able to restore everything back during the reboot.
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  • reedshipper Lol this was what happened to me too when I first started my current job. Deleted all the bookkeepers files by accident but was thankfully
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  • able to regain them back. But for a few days there were some files that she had to pretend she couldn't find when people would ask her about them.
    via reedshipper
  • Anguskaiser I started a job at wal-mart decades ago. They were transitioning into a new store and it was a total sh-show. So i just left for the rest of my shift. The next three weeks was just me clocking in, going home, and coming back to make sure i clocked out (also had to make
    via Anguskaiser
  • sure i clocked in/out for lunch). I only did it for three weeks because that's when the new store was ready for operation. That's when i reported to my boss for my normal day-to-day job, fully expecting to get fired
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  • because nobody had even seen me. But it turns out that there were multiple people in the department that day they he'd never seen because they worked the past month with the move. So he never questioned it.
    via Anguskaiser
  • Kent_biker There was a guy at the new hotel I worked at many years ago, did the exact same thing. The staff were brought in 3 months before the hotel
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  • was opened, primarily to train the staff up, but in reality they just wanted hands to help get everything sorted because the opening was way behind schedule. The first day was just shambles,
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  • so next day and for the following 3 months he clocked in and out, going off to another job in between. The week before opening he quit and no one, except a few in the know, never found out
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    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Interesting_Wing_... I did that once. I supervised an office of 18 grown women. One day, they were all bickering like toddlers. By 10 in the morning, I was fed up and left for the day without telling anyone. Didn't
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  • go back until 2 days later without calling in. I thought. for sure I was fired. I went to the VP to tell him what I had done. I also told him they were so busy arguing they didn't know I was gone. He laughed so hard for about 5
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  • minutes. Told me I could do that any time I wanted. They did straighten out really quick after I went to see him. They knew I had gone to see the VP and tried really hard to find out if I had complained about any of them. I just smiled and said nothing important was discussed.
    via Interesting_Wing_461
  • The68Guns I once shredded a huge stack of paperwork before leaving on vacation.
    via The68Guns

  • Does the internet share stories about empathetic bosses usually? Heck no. Usually, we see stories about how a boss was a narcissist or incompetent fool. But here we have proof that there are employers out there who are forgiving and cool. We're all humans, after all, mistakes are inevitable. 

  • yesnomaybeso267... One time a had to come in early for my evening shift so my coworkers were still there. I got up to go use the bathroom and I had an ounce of shrooms in a small ziplock bag in my pocket for later use that fell out on the floor. My coworker was like
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  • omg you can't bring that here! And I'm that moment I knew I was getting fired so I quit and walked out that same day. I was so embarrassed because I actually really liked that job.
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  • It wasn't actually that big of a deal I don't think, I was in Portland Oregon but I had never been fired before so I got scared and left
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  • reedshipper At my first job as a receptionist at my local church's office, I was supposed to stay downstairs only because the priests' living area was upstairs. But during times when they would all go to lunch or dinner I'd sneak upstairs and
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  • peek into their rooms and grab snacks from their tv room. There wasn't a lot to do, I was like 15, I was alone, and I was bored. Then at one of my other jobs as a cashier at a small Greek restaurant I used to sneak into the walk in fridge to eat rice pudding and baklava lol.
    via reedshipper

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