Coworker creates a fake HR email to "secretly" air out his grievances, quickly gets caught by IT and fired: 'He said it was “just a social experiment.”'

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Nov 1, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Working in an office with other people is a little like having roommates. You're not sharing personal spaces, but you are sharing things like bathrooms, kitchen, and just space. So, you have to keep that in mind when you are working and you also have to be able to communicate with your coworkers if something upsets you. You can't just run to HR for everything… 

 

This employee decided to take a secret third option when he needed to complain about his coworkers. This secret third option ended up getting him promptly fired. What did he do? He pretended to be HR, created a fake HR email, and sent it to every coworker, with individualized complaints… 

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  • "Coworker created a fake HR email to 'discipline' people"

    Cheezburger Image 10570442240
    via Unsplash+ (and Vitaly Gariev)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • So I recently started working at a mid- sized logistics company. Pretty normal place, lots of spreadsheets, lots of coffee, and a handful of characters.
    via Difficult-Most-4004
  • One of them, Brad, really wanted to be in management. Like, desperately. Always talking about "leadership potential" and "company vision." Thing is, Brad's job title is literally "Data Clerk." No shade, but he's not exactly changing corporate policy.
    via Difficult-Most-4004
  • BEEPHAL
    via Unsplash+ (and Glenn Carstens-Peters)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Last month, a few people in our department got these odd emails from "Human Resources@Company- Policy.com." It wasn't our normal HR domain.
    via Difficult-Most-4004
  • The emails had these passive-aggressive "warnings" about "team morale" and "dress code professionalism." They weren't official, just weirdly specific.
    via Difficult-Most-4004
  • Like, my friend Laura got one saying her "workplace laughter was distracting others." Another said someone's "lunch choices had strong odors and could be reconsidered." IT finally traced the emails after someone reported them.
    via Difficult-Most-4004
  • Cheezburger Image 10570452992
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Guess who set up the fake domain? Brad. He literally created a Gmail alias, formatted it to look like a corporate HR address, and had been "issuing" fake warnings to make people "take him seriously." When confronted, he said it was "just a social experiment." He was walked out the same afternoon.
    via Difficult-Most-4004

  • First of all, that is a bad plan. Like, what? You really didn't think people would know it's you? Also, you very much underestimated your IT team, because they very promptly traced the emails to you and got you fired. So yeah, career advice: Don't do what this guy did.  

  • Mr__Jim Lahey Live by the HR, die by the HR.
    via Mr__JimLahey

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