Bizarre Work Moments Shared by Managers Who've Seen It All: '[She said] she couldn't touch any meats because she vegan'

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Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Nov 11, 2025 2:00 PM EST

If you've been doing the whole employment thing for a while now, you've probably learned that some days, the weirdest mistakes end up getting you the boot – not always the big ones. Back when I was a waitress, I had a really awful coworker. The kind that barely pays attention to their section of the floor and certainly doesn't have the presence of mind to help out with yours during rush hour. He was always trying to find a reason to take a break or sit around, but the straw that broke the camel's back and got him fired was, weirdly, when he forgot to wipe down just one of the tables in his section during a rush. I've forgotten entire rows of tables before, and nobody even blinked. But honestly, no one was really rushing to defend him. 

In this thread, managers spill their all-time worst employee blunders — the kinds of stories that make you salute HR quietly and go hide your lunch in the trunk. So lean back, maybe lock your work-computer screen, and scroll on for some wild, messy, and absolutely legit workplace tales.

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  • 01

    Managers, what is the stupidest thing an employee did that forced you to fire them?

    Cheezburger Image 10574368000
    via Kaspars Grinvalds

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

  • 02
    NJtoTheBay Not a manager but someone was recently fired from my job for something so stupid it probably inspired a few dozen face palms. I work at a retail store of a very well known technology company.
    via u/NJtoTheBay
  • 03
    Customers very often trade in their old smartphones for a credit when they buy a new one. Protocol is to erase the old phone in the customers presence. One employee didn't erase
    via u/NJtoTheBay
  • 04
    the phone, went through the camera roll, found some pictures he liked (the customer was female) and emailed them, to himself, using the customers
    via u/NJtoTheBay
  • 05
    email account that was logged into the phone. The customer found the emails in her sent box and complained to mgmt. He was several levels of fired.
    via u/NJtoTheBay
  • 06
    lestermason Every year during the holiday season, I'd warn the new hires, "listen, no matter how tempting it is, don't steal a customer's gift card. We can track it, I
    via u/lestermason
  • 07
    will track it and if I catch you, you will get fired. Every year people try it, every year people get fired. Don't do it." They do it anyway.
    via u/lestermason
  • 08
    gift card
    via AndreyPopov from Getty Images

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

  • 09
    WiFiForehead Wrinkles A lady I used to work with got fired for doing this. She'd swipe to activate the gift card, charge the customer then did a switcheroo to give the customer an empty. She
    via u/WiFiForehead
  • 10
    was smart enough to go to a different store to use the gift cards, but she was stupid enough to ask for an employee discount which required filling out a small card with name and employee number.
    via u/WiFiForehead
  • 11
    The manager that rang her through (only managers can ring through employees) noticed her huge stack of gift cards and got suspicious so she called our store, which had been dealing with customers claiming their gift cards not working. Put 2 and 2 together, and she got fired.
    via u/WiFiForehead
  • 12
    bbatwork Hired a girl to work in a bagel store, who on her first day told me she couldn't touch any of the meats because she was vegan.
    via u/bbatwork
  • 13
    Cheezburger Image 10574367488
    via RDNE Stock project from Pexels

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

  • 14
    MachineG Teacher New guy, around 20 yrs old or so, called in sick saying he thinks he had a stroke. Since he lived across the street from the store where we
    via u/MachineG*Teacher
  • 15
    worked, we all then stood and watched through the store's glass door as he packed up his truck with beach gear and drove off with his girlfriend. Fired the next day.
    via u/MachineG*Teacher
  • 16
    Cheezburger Image 10574368256
    via pixelshot
  • 17
    beeps-n-boops Girl decides to start stealing some of our products from the warehouse and sell them on eBay... as brand-new, with factory warranty. It only took a couple of weeks before we started
    via u/beeps-n-boops
  • 18
    getting calls for tech support for products with serial numbers we did not have registered as "sold" in the system. Brief investigation leads straight to her.
    via u/beeps-n-boops
  • 19
    She is fired (of course), and legal action pursued, but the sad angle to the story is that her father worked there too, and we were forced to make him stay at home with no pay until it could be determined beyond any doubt that he wasn't involved.
    via u/beeps-n-boops
  • 20
    racord360 I had an employee lock another employee in a closet one time. The person that was trapped called the police from inside the closet. It was quite an HR nightmare.
    via u/racord360
  • 21
    Monsternsuch Oh I bet. We had an employee get taped to a chair and left in a back room. Couldn't reach his phone but Siri dialed 911 for him. Police showed up, owner was p and un-tape him. Employees who ed, they find him
    via u/Monsternsuch
  • 22
    did it were fired on the spot, one was arrested, and tape guy was up in HR for 4+ hours before they settled on enough money to make him shut up. It was an insane day.
    via u/Monsternsuch
  • 23
    pawvel_catsyuk Forging a tip on a receipt. Like adding $20 wasn't going to get caught.
    via u/pawvel_catsyuk
  • 24
    Zeke219 Had a server drink out of the customer's Dr. Pepper and Coke to see which was which....in front of them...
    via u/Zeke219
  • 25
    Elim_Tain He stole a bunch of bananas. Seriously. It was a college dining hall. He was an employee of the dining hall, and got free meals while on-shift. He was not working that day, walked into
    via u/Elim_Tain
  • 26
    the serving area, hid a bunch of bananas in his bag, and tried to pass the cashier only paying for what was on his tray. When confronted and asked if he "had forgotten anything,
    via u/Elim_Tain
  • 27
    maybe in his bag?" He denied having anything else. Fired on the spot. The worst part, he was on a meal plan (a kind of debit system, except you
    via u/Elim_Tain
  • 28
    never get the money back at the end of the semester if you don't spend it). He had plenty of money for the semester. I have no idea why he felt the need to steal bananas.
    via u/Elim_Tain
  • 29
    Allthenamesareregone Guy hired to manage a store in a mall REFUSED to park in employee parking.
    via u/Allthenamesareregone
  • 30
    As I'm sure everyone knows, mall employees have designated parking places, far from the choice spots near mall entrances. This guy refused to park there, and every time he parked illegally, the store got fined $100. And he parked in customer parking Every. 1. Day.
    via u/Allthenamesareregone
  • 31
    He was called out on it, the policy was explained over and over. He got written up. He was told that on the next infraction he would be fired. And he did it the very next day. Was totally blindsided when we actually fired him.
    via u/Allthenamesareregone

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terrible coworkers boss employee fired Professional At Work work coworkers workplace Horrible Bosses entitled girlboss entitled people employment
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