15+ Workers who got fired on Day 1: 'Made an $11,000 accounting error'

It takes a really big mistake to get fired on Day 1. 

Orientation day is probably the easiest day of any job, so I know you're thinking, "How could someone possibly get fired from that?"

Well, some people show up wildly unprepared, or make it clear that they're simply not a good fit for employment at that line of work. Like, if you show up on your first day wearing shorts when you can see all the employees have to wear pants, you'll get fired. Yep, that actually did happen to one person! 

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  • 01
    Boss shows worker the office on his first day at the job.
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Boss shows worker the office on his first day at the job.

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

  • You will most definitely be shown the door if you show up late on the first day. If you oversleep — even accidentally! — you've blown your only shot at working there. That must be frustrating for management, too. They literally just went through all the trouble of hiring someone and vetting them thoroughly, only for them to mess it up within the first hour. 

  • 02

    Such a shame, it happens to the best of us

    enphurgen I accidentally set my alarm for 7pm instead of 7am. My first day I slept in, and came in 2 hours late, fired on the spot.
    via u/enphurgen
  • 03

    You'd think they would explain this during orientation

    DenL4242 Wore shorts. I wore shorts everywhere, and 18-year-old me never thought a music- store clerk would be required to wear long pants.
    via u/DenL4242
  • 04

    This wasn't even their fault!

    banewall was painting walls. co- worker i hadn't met yet knocked over my ladder and paint, and blamed me. had to walk home, since i carpooled
    via u/banewall
  • 05

    That is not even that much money

    lo-key-glass I worked at a gas station a while back. Helped train this new guy. He was really nice, we all liked him. 1st solo shift he walks away with $150 out of the register. Didn't even try to cover it up or anything. Everybody was shocked. did he think was gonna happen?
    via u/lo-key-glass

    Bro could buy like, maybe a TV for that much money… what did he think would happen? Your employer also has all your personal information, plus it was probably captured on CCTV somewhere, so uh… that is kind of a terrible plan. 

  • 06
    zazameman I fired a guy who showed up four hours late his first day. I was in a moving company at the time. When he showed up he asked if he still gets. paid for the job, since the bill includes 4 people and we did the job with 3, I told him to walk home and not to bother showing up the next day.
    via u/zazameman
  • 07
    [deleted] Friend moved halfway across the state for a job. First day the company announced layoffs. She was let go. Seems like a common theme in this thread which is really sad...
    via u/[deleted]
  • 08
    Primesghost I work in a college town and we hired a new part-timer to work reception. On her first day she casually mentions to us that her wealthy parents want her to experience what it's Ike to "struggle". So she has to work a job and use the city busses for two months and then she can quit and her
    via u/Primesghost
  • 09
    parents will give her allowance back and get her a new car. Boss: "Wait, so you're going to leave in two months?" Her: "Yeah, that's what my parents said." Boss: "Can I talk to you in my office?"
    via u/Primesghost
  • 10

    A delicious way to get kicked out of that store for 1,000 years

    MrMeeeseeks Not personally but one of my favorite reddit stories is of the teenage kid who got fired on his first day of working at the supermarket for eating all the skin off the rotisserie chickens.
    via u/MrMeeeseeks
  • 11
    [deleted] I worked with a guy named Darryl for about 7 hours. Darryl was probably in his late 40s-early 50s, and was a pretty intimidating looking guy. He was probably 6'6", 250lbs+, muscular, bald, and a full beard. He was hired as a produce manager at the grocery store I worked at.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 12
    I talked to him for a while, and he seemed to be an extremely nice guy. He said he was in the military most of his life, went to college when he was in his 40s, and ended up getting a Masters in Industrial Engineering. He was telling me how depr sed he was that no one would hire him because of his age, and was planning
    via u/[deleted]
  • 13
    on working here while job hunting. We were almost off work, and the assistant manager came to talk to us. I forgot to mention that the assistant manager was an ENORMOUS a
    via u/[deleted]
  • 14

    Not off to a great start

    He came over, introduced himself to Darryl, and immediately began criticizing his first day's work. I don't know exactly what Darryl did, but me made a minor mistake that made the assistant manager ask him "Do you even know what a Serrano pepper is?"
    via u/[deleted]
  • 15
    Darryl defended himself, and apologized saying he would fix whatever mistake he made. The assistant manager then delivered the final blow, and said "Noah, it looks like we've hired a produce manager who doesn't know sh about produce" and laughed.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 16

    This is what you get for standing up for yourself!

    Darryl then said what every employee there had wanted to say at one point, "You're not going to talk to me like a child." The assistant manager fired him on the spot.
    via u/[deleted]

    If he didn't rail against that kind of treatment on day 1, it would've just kept bothering him until the day he quit. 

  • 17
    [deleted] Got fired on my first week, after training when the schedule came out. I was in high school and during the interview I told the manager interviewing me that I could. only work 20 hours a week. I didn't mind 8 hour days on weekends but during the week I couldn't do it. As soon as training ends, the
    via u/[deleted]
  • 18
    schedule comes out and I'm scheduled to work 39.5 hours with several 8 hour shifts on weekdays after school. I went into the managers office and told him that I couldn't do it and so he said, "this is why we hired you, either do it or your fired". Well... That was that.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 19

    A classic mistake

    [... I applied for a job in the kitchen of restaurant. There was no application, just a walk-in interview. I show up to work a couple days later and the chef starts giving me a tour of the kitchen. "Alright, you ready to make some omelettes?" Uh, sure.... you gonna show me?
    via u/[deleted]
  • 20
    He looked at me, paused, and started laughing. Nervous laughter from my side. As it turns out, the manager called the wrong the person. She got me mixed up with the guy who had 5 years experience and called me by mistake.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 21
    EDIT: Everyone is like how do you not know how to make an omelette? I can, but they look like homemade omelettes, not the fancy, fluffy, perfectly folded ones this restaurant serves. I did have experience in the kitchen, but it was limited to food prep and working the fryer.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 22
    MastadonBob At orientation, they told the twelve of us that we were the bestest and the brightest of 900 or so interviews they'd conducted. We got our access badges and our corporate Amex cards.
    via u/MastadonBob
  • 23
    One of the "best and the brightest" went to a high- end men's clothing store on his lunch hour and purchased four thousand dollars worth of suits, ties and shoes.
    via u/MastadonBob
  • 24

    Stunning lack of self awareness here!

    He came back from lunch and bragged of his exploits. Fired on the spot. He actually thought his Amex card was a job perk. "Can I at least keep the clothes?"
    via u/MastadonBob

    I love this story, and I wish he did get to keep the clothes. He really had that corporate C-suite mindset, but he just took that approach like 40 years too soon. You've got to work your way up to that, kid! 

  • 25
    Cold-Produce-2... It was training for the job, got dropped off late. She made an example out of me. I had no way home and hitch hiked this was the late 90's. So dumb.
    via u/Cold-Produce-2021
  • 26
    Delivery worker climbs stairs while looking at her phone.
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Delivery worker climbs stairs while looking at her phone.

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

  • 27

    Tough luck

    LoveDistinct I called in sick on my first day. They told me to come in or get fired and I stayed home.
    via u/LoveDistinct
  • 28

    This story was interesting because this person got really down voted

    Bubble355 Made an $11,000 accounting error. In my defense I was only working at the company as temp, hired and placed via a temp agency, and most notably was NOT trained in any way, shape, or form on HOW to do the job. The extent of my orientation included my trainer/supervisor asking me
    via u/Bubble355

    They were seemingly hired for something they knew very little about, and they still seem a smidgeon confused about the whole experience. 

  • 29
    if I knew how to do basic math. I answered yes. Then, beyond critiquing my typing skills and using the num pad on the keyboard to enter data I received zero feedback about doing the work correctly or incorrectly and what the actual ins, outs, or quirks of the position, the company, and the industry were.
    via u/Bubble355
  • 30
    TL;DR: hired as a temp (through an agency) at an accounting firm. Training consisted of a manager asking me if I knew basic math. I did and said as much. Surprise, surprise... the job consisted of things a bit more nuanced than just basic addition, subtraction, and multiplication so I inevitably made a mistake at some point in the work that
    via u/Bubble355
  • 31
    resulted in a loss of $11,000 to the company and/or client (I still am not 100% certain whose money I precisely lost) and that was of course enough for them to show me the exit door on the same day I laid eyes on the entrance door. Still don't felt
    via u/Bubble355
  • 32
    good and carry some guilt about my error and the consequences, but over the years I've come to accept that it wasn't wholly my own mistake and that I was set up for failure in many ways.
    via u/Bubble355
  • 33
    Ernie2y I was 15, would have been my first job. Movie theater. I applied and interviewed (in person) and they had all my info. I showed up for my first day of training, and they said "we realized you're 15, you have to be 16 to work here" and handed me $12 in
    via u/Ernie2y
  • 34
    cash (2 hours pay) and sent me home. I couldn't drive of course, and this was before cell phones, so I had to call home from a pay phone and leave a message for someone to come pick me up. Sat outside on the curb and waited. Pretty awful memory actually.
    via u/Ernie2y
  • 35
    Worker picks up belongings spilled on staircase.
    via Eduardo Ramos For Unsplash+

    Worker picks up belongings spilled on staircase. 

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

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