15+ Workers who crashed out and got fired on the spot: 'He torched his entire career in 90 days'

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 9, 2026 11:00 AM EST

These workers got fired for some ridiculous reasons, and it's hard to decide which incident is the most egregious. 

Have you ever encountered one of those workers who just totally refuses to actually do their job? I both admire and am exasperated by people with this attitude. I mean, it's just very funny to watch someone try to explain to the boss why they won't be doing the job that they're paid to do — all the while, they're literally clocked in, making dollars while spending those minutes explaining. You almost have to admire their tenacity. They're so insistent that it's beneath them to do their jobs that they find it insulting when the boss asks them to do actual tasks. Some folks make a career out of this — not every manager has the willpower to make a reluctant employee do their job. They'd rather just sit back, have other workers pick up the slack, and let that grouchy do-nothing continue doing nothing. And of course, this person will get fired eventually, and it'll be very funny when that happens, too. 

One of my favorite stories in this collection is about a dude who was hired to be a PMO. What job is that, you ask? Good question — I don't actually know. Maybe it means project management officer, though I've only gleaned as much from a simple Google search. It's okay that you and I don't know the answer. But it's pretty insane that a guy got hired to be a PMO, and was then caught by his colleagues as he Googled what a PMO even was. Bro… please… it could've been so simple if you'd just Googled this at home… I admit, I'm very impressed by his ability to think on his feet long enough to get a job without fully understanding what it even was. Yes, he was fired after just 3 days. Onto the next job, since he's clearly capable of pulling the wool over the eyes of a hiring manager! 

Keep scrolling to read the rest of these hilarious and surprising stories. You never know who you'll work alongside, and some of these stories may feel all too familiar! This one's for you, slackers of the world — you won't get away with delegating all your work forever, but props to you for getting away with it for a few months at least. 

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  • 01

    'New co-worker just speed-runned herself to a termination - have you [seen] worse?'

    Older woman with brown hair in pink shirt crosses arms, behind her a woman in blue shirt holds laptop and smiles while standing in office setting
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • 02
    I work in a fairly corporate environment in a midlevel job. We had a new hire who came in and for some reason - made every single thing a massive drama despite just walking in the door. She would start to cry, claim that people "are victimising" her without ever saying what they are doing. Blatantly stole my work on a project and changed a few fields and fonts in a sheet and claimed that she had "streamlined" it and she was
    via u/trampstar9
  • 03
    entitled to 50% credit. She would raise a formal grievance about multiple people in the team for making her feel bad about messing something up when in reality, it had to be addressed and corrected. She felt bad about it and therefore she was the victim. Im heavily against any workplace bu ying but this was far from that.
    via u/trampstar9
  • 04
    The final straw seems to have come when she invited herself to an office on the other side of the country and made sual advances to the senior director (who is married). She's now been fired for misconduct. Have you ever had a colleague like this who basically just crashes out?
    via u/trampstar9
  • 05
    Realtenenbaum We had a guy hired to be our new head of PMO. In the first morning break he was caught googling what is PMO? He lied massively on his CV. Took 3 days for his boss to figure out and get rid. So long Jaz
    via u/Realtenenbaum
  • 06
    Melzilla79 I had a roommate who got fired the same day he started a new job, because he went in there and told them everything he thought they were doing wrong and acted like a superior a hole. They sent him home early and told him never to come back
    via u/Melzilla79
  • 07
    III-Parsnip2657 I worked in a university library. They hired a new librarian to manage the cataloging department. Apparently he sat in his office for his 90 day probation period and did nothing. Not one thing. He played on his computer all day. There were piles of books all around his desk that had never been touched.
    via u/III-Parsnip2657
  • 08
    He was a brand new grad with a fresh masters degree. He refused to leave the building when he was fired and campus police had to him out. He torched his entire career in 90 days.
    via u/III-Parsnip2657
  • 09
    MonteCristo85 Yup. We hired an accountant for a mill a couple states away. He came to our branch to be trained. He was very odd. Would make random barnyard noises (moos, clucks, etc) rearranged the furniture in my office because he felt "trapped", went on long rants about how much kids cost (was a
    via u/MonteCristo85
  • 10
    single 22yo). We managed to get through training (I'm fairly use to odd people lol) and sent him off to his plant. He went haywire. Unplugged his phone from the wall, was told to put it back as people needed to be able to reach him (providing account numbers to floor staff was a big part of his job). Went back and forth several times with management on people needing to ask him things,
    via u/MonteCristo85
  • 11
    and he stating he didnt want to talk to people. He tore it out of the wall. Busted into the plant managers office after two weeks and demanded a raise. Kept carrying on in an unhinged way until he had to be escorted off the property by security. Lasted like 4 weeks total maybe.
    via u/MonteCristo85
  • 12
    After the fact we stalked his socials and he was clearly unhinged, but savvy enough to hide during his original hiring process. Conspirary theories and all kinds of nonsense. We were super glad he was a couple states away.
    via u/MonteCristo85
  • 13
    Otherwise-Leek... I used to do shift work and 99% of the time I am early for my shifts. There was a gentleman I used to do shift trade off with. Most of the time he would relieve me and 99% of the time he was at least 10 minutes late. One day I am on my way to relieve him and I stop for snacks. When I get back to my car I had locked my keys
    via u/Otherwise-Leek7926
  • 14
    inside. No big deal, I still have an hour before my shift. The locksmith doesn't get there for two hours. I've been in contact with my supervisor letting them know what's going on and she just laughs because the guy on shift always leaves. me hanging and is getting mad.
    via u/Otherwise-Leek7926
  • 15
    About 30 minutes after my shift was supposed to start, I get a phone call from someone in the company that I didn't know. They asked me to get there as soon as I could because they didn't have a clue what to do and he was an emergency fill in. I get there and the new guy tells me the original guy was furious that I was late and
    via u/Otherwise-Leek7926
  • 16
    when new guy had shown up for an inspection original guy started screaming at him, stripped off his uniform and threw the uniform at new guy. Original guy drove off in his boxers and never returned.
    via u/Otherwise-Leek7926
  • 17
    ReddyKilowatt W... I've shared this before, but applies here: This is not me, but someone that worked in the same company as my spouse. Dude was hired in for an entry-level position in a highly sought after industry/company in our state. From day one, he was a problem. He was lazy, had a bad attitude, always on his
    via u/ReddyKilowattWife
  • 18
    phone, and was always late. Despite being a grown man, he would use the excuse of "My mom forgot to wake me up" for being late. Several of the people training him had gone to management to complain about him, but upper management refused to fire him. So, his training. continued. Finally, he got an attitude with the wrong person, and his direct supervisor told him to get
    via u/ReddyKilowattWife
  • 19
    his stuff together, put it in his truck, and meet him at the central office. When they got there, Dude gets out of his truck and asks his supervisor "Where are my keys?" Supervisor goes "Keys for what?" Dude says "Keys to my company truck. I'm getting a promotion, right?" Supervisor just looks at him and laughs and says
    via u/ReddyKilowattWife
  • 20
    "Not only are you NOT getting a company truck, you are getting FIRED!" Dude was floored the company had the audacity to fire him. When he got to upper management's office, he pitched a toddler fit, cussed out everyone in the room, and started throwing management's desk stuff at him and on the floor. He was
    via u/ReddyKilowattWife
  • 21
    escorted out of the office and off the premises by security. Needless to say, he will never work in that industry again.
    via u/ReddyKilowattWife
  • 22
    [deleted] Our new head of IT catcalled a woman in the parking lot. on his way in to his first day of work. That woman turned out to be our head of R&D. He was fired before lunch
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    Traditional-Ad-1... Had an employee that reported to a male manager. Wasn't a bad employee, wasn't a superstar - just got his job done. The male manager resigns and we hired a female. Immediately the employee started having problems culminating in an anxiety attack where he had to work remote. Then COID
    via u/Traditional-Ad-1605
  • 24
    hit and he was in seventh heaven; worked 100% remote, productivity dropped, etc. He went from being a reliable, no drama guy to being 100% unreliable. Sad when we finally got rid of him but he literally did it all by himself.
    via u/Traditional-Ad-1605
  • 25
    babichickan Had a girl hired where I work who after a period of 3 months training 'graduated' to having her own clients. During the training she was the loveliest, most studious and polite person. As soon as she got her own caseload she became a complete AH. She adopted an an inflatable crown someone had brought in for
    via u/babichickan
  • 26
    a birthday gag and called herself the princess of the floor, would talk over people in meetings and once told me I could tell her client to off, I'm busy' when they called to speak to her, whilst she was sat next to a senior manager.
    via u/babichickan
  • 27
    She got let go during a performance review and left the building literally screaming at everyone she walked past 'You'll be next. They've told me they're coming for your job next. They've said you're performance was sh and they don't want you here anymore' amongst other things.
    via u/babichickan
  • 28
    scrappymerman Had a guy whowouldwritecodelikethisn ospacesdidntfollowanyofour codingconventions. Didn't comprehend why it was a problem. Left after about a month.
    via u/scrappymerman
  • 29
    T. I had 2 of them in the same position. My counterpart in a separate division. She was a coworker responsible for sales numbers, commission numbers, and reporting sales winners annually. She submitted the wrong, several months old data for the final annual awards. It wasn't discovered until after
    via u/Traditional_Fan_2655
  • 30
    the awards were purchased (Tickets to a designated awards trip in the name of winners), award trophies were made, and the award ceremony announced all the winners to the company. After a company reorg, the divisions merged and both positions reported to the same manager, despite remaining separated sales groups. The new manager had already hired a
    via u/Traditional_Fan_2655
  • 31
    replacement for the other position. Her replacement lied on her resume. She also couldn't understand why the sales pipeline and budget had to balance. According to her, if it was several hundred million, why would it matter. if it was a few 10k off. The manager who had hired her started assigning me to verify all her work before it could be published. He didnt want yo look bad for a bad
    via u/Traditional_Fan_2655
  • 32
    hire. That meant I basically had to redo it start to finish in order to verify all changes, adjustments, completed contracts, and new additions. All of this despite her bragging she was hired in at 20k more. I had never realized previously how messed up the hiring in the other division had been.
    via u/Traditional_Fan_2655
  • 33
    I found a better job paying much more. The manager had a stunned Pikachu face when I got sick of doing her work plus mine and quit. I was hired to consult on a portion of my former job, strictly for the old sales force I had supported before the merge. I was able to witness the crumbling results of her careless habits, poor balancing, and telling people "that can't be
    via u/Traditional_Fan_2655
  • 34
    done". Without me to "fix" things in that group. She was fired shortly afterward. I continued consulting for years, on my terms.
    via u/Traditional_Fan_2655
  • 35
    Woman with brown hair holds laptop and smiles with one hand in pocket in office setting with 4 people sitting on gray couches in background
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • 36
    FitOrFat-1999 Many years ago I also worked in a corporate environment, doing business. and market research in a large library. I came in with several other people right out of library school. All were good at their jobs except one. I didnt know much about her work habits until after she was fired about 4 months
    via u/FitOrFat-1999
  • 37
    into 6 months probation, for telling our manager that she was planning her wedding and needed time during the work day to do it. Manager said take all the time you need, you're fired. Turned out she was a clock watcher, regardless of assignments. Our group had a big project of 25 company reports, with each of us given 4-5 to do. After she
    via u/FitOrFat-1999
  • 38
    left I was sent to her desk to find out what she'd done. There was a big pile of printouts of articles on the companies, with a few things highlighted, and that's it. No reports even started. Crazy thing was that job paid 50-100% higher than any other starting job in the field. Plus she didnt pay rent. because she and a friend
    via u/FitOrFat-1999
  • 39
    were living in a house being probated and the heirs just wanted someone there. She lost a good deal.
    via u/FitOrFat-1999
  • 40
    Sunbro-Lysere Fastest I ever had at a place I worked was a dude who didnt even make it through his first week of training for retail.
    via u/Sunbro-Lysere
  • 41
    After one of his breaks the person who was training him didnt know where he went. Half an hour later a lead found him "testing" one of the electric carts. Definitely not worse than your example but it sure was fast.
    via u/Sunbro-Lysere
  • 42
    [deleted] I was the administrative supervisor for my office. I had a temporary position available that had a great chance of going permanent. I worked for the municipal government and our salaries and benefits were off the charts. We were also one of the highest paying employers for admin jobs.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 43
    This woman was an outstanding employee so when the position was made permanent I hired her. As soon as she became permanent she began doing no call/no shows. I even went to her house to try to talk about it but she refused to come to the door. I had no other choice but to fire her and I'm still confused about what happened to her.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 44
    misterjones4 We had a kid come in and just.. never do anything. We had flexible hours, but he would come in an hour after anyone else, and leave early every day. Took long lunches to sleep in his car. Never finished a single project. Never really started any. He got off of his probationary 90 days for new employees about a week before his PIP
    via u/misterjones4
  • 45
    started. He was let go a week into the pip because he straight up said in his first follow up "I don't understand what y'all want from me, and I'm not gonna try harder"
    via u/misterjones4
  • 46
    livasj When I started my carreer I was hired to replace a guy who apparently did nothing. but made it look like he did a lot until he couldn't hide it anymore and was fired. I ended up getting a bit of side eye at first for asking for more to do because that caused the boss some bad deja vu. Luckily for them, I actually just did a lot.
    via u/livasj
  • 47
    Ofreelancero Someone was running a counterfeit bag business from his IT issued laptop. Both at home and in the office. He got arrested on- site and the computer was confiscated by the cops
    via u/Ofreelancero
  • 48
    kcox1980 We just hired and fired a manager in under 2 weeks because his LinkedIn profile was public and he was actively commenting on multiple posts about how he was still looking for a job and had only taken this one for temporary benefits to hold him over until he found a better one.
    via u/kcox1980

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