'What are some of the craziest "employee did something [dumb] and got fired" stories you've heard/witnessed?': Employees share stories about the dumbest reasons people got fired

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Sep 15, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Sometimes the dumbest thing can be the reason for your firing.


You can get hired for a job position without being the most intelligent one. But you can get fired without being the dumbest one as well. Getting fired can even be easier than getting hired even was. To get hired, you have to send your resume, get approved, get called into an interview, ace it, and maybe go through even more interviews. Then, finally, after all that effort, you get the job. On the other hand, to get fired, you just need one dumb thing, and that can be reason enough for your job to no longer be yours.

So, if getting fired is that easy, does that mean that everyone could lose their job over one mistake? Well, it depends, but mainly, yes. Especially if the mistake is actually harmful to either the company or your superiors. You have to remember that, as an employee, you are just one more person who works in favor of the company. Your job description also includes being useful, being important for the company, not the reason that damages it. So, if by any means you dumb act or bad day, it's actually harmful to the company, its production, or any of the hired people who work for said company, then you can count on the fact that you will, in fact, get fired. And, unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about it, as it is justified.

I'm sure that every employee who has worked for a while at a company knows at least one story about a person who got fired from the job due to a dumb mistake. Sometimes is something extremely dumb that can even be not able to be understood by other people. And everyone just thinks, "Why did they do that?" But well, those things happen, and we have to just deal with it. If you want to know more about this kind of story, I would suggest checking the thread below. 

Advertisement
  • 01

    What are some of the craziest "employee did something dumb and got fired" stories you've heard/witnessed?

    1. New forklift operator "disappears" for, allegedly, 4 hours. They got fired the next day. I witnessed them being escorted out, but, due to their (former) role and mine, it wasn't uncommon for me to not see the forklift guys until breaks, so I didn't notice the alleged disappearance. 2. We were told this during orientation by the mentors, take it with a grain of salt. Female employee tried to smuggle some products out the way only women can. Unfortunately for her, the products had some literal
    via misatolily69
  • 02
    A man getting fired from his job. Model image.
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A man getting fired from his job.

    Model image.

  • 03
    and caused severe bloding. She made it to the turnstiles before the severe bl ding was noticed and an ambulance was called. 3. Another workplace, this time it's a print, another orientation, another mentor- told story. Taking personal phones to the work floor was prohibited due to policies certain customers mandate. Female employee, in her 20s, new hire, having had just finished orientation, signed the papers, including the own that she'd received and understood the "no phones allowed" policy. S
    via misatolily69
  • 04
    Progress products) area, took a selfie and uploaded it to, allegedly, Instagram (this happened before Tik Tok was a thing). First day on the job -> she got fired immediately. 4. Same workplace as #1. Material handler decided they don't feel like coming to work, in the last moment, without notifying anyone, several times during the probation period.
    via misatolily69
  • 05
    A room full of employees in a meeting. Representation only.
    via Campaign Creators

    A room full of employees in a meeting. 
    Representation only.

  • 06
    nylonvest At our cafeteria they offer two kinds of soup. Usually there's a regular soup and a premium soup that costs a bit more. Some guy got fired for stealing from the cafe by trying to get the premium soup at the regular price, by floating a layer of regular soup on top of the premium soup. Like, crab bisque underneath and a layer of split pea soup on top. I think it cost less than a dollar more to get the premium soup.
    via nylonvest
  • 07
    Dax888 Boss's son started on Monday and disappeared on Thursday with all the wages cash in the safe, (it was a long time ago). Boss was a dignified and respected guy and paid all the money back himself, felt sad for the guy, I'm sure he took that embarressment to the grave.
    via Dax888
  • 08
    Dude-from-the-80s Over 20 years ago: New kitchen guy mixed some different chemicals together to clean with.....bad idea. I've never seen a human face literally swell up like a balloon like that before. He nearly lost his life. Definitely lost his job. Got high on his lunch break and crashed his scooter into a pole in the parking lot trying to "drift". We must have watched that video 20 times on the security footage dong laughing. He was fine, but without a job. Asked a coworker to have his brown
    via Dude-from-the-80s
  • 09
    HuskyCruxes Was getting my state vehicle inspection license for work and my instructor told us about this lady who clean scanned (took the vin of one car to scan it and pass vehicles that failed) for a couple hundred cars. Not only did she get fired, she got put in prison for 15 years. Clean scanning is a felony Edit: it was the obd not the vin. For emissions inspections we have to plug into the obd port. She was using the obd data of other cars to pass cars that should have failed
    via HuskyCruxes
  • 10
    PDXDreaded 2 new laborers on a window fan where I did Maintenance were issued standard kevlar PPE. Quite a bit of it, balaclava, long shirt, arm guards and gloves. One of them, dressing in his new gear, decided that cut resistant-cut proof, and began a razor knife fight. The other retaliated, they were laughing for about five seconds before they'd realized they were both crimson. 220 stitches between them. Immediate termination.
    via PDXDreaded
  • 11
    MaxxBlackk I hired in a freelance videographer and he committed now less than five fireable offenses in the first few days. Day one I met him outside at the smoking area and while we're standing there, I smell pot. I look down and ask, "Is that a joint?!" He says, "Yeah, but I'll be cool, I'll drink some hot water before we start." I say, "But we got a s ot to do, are you going to be OKAY?!" "I'll be fine." He wasn't, he was staggering around, befuddled. Then, at the end of the day, I leave him
    via MaxxBlackk
  • 12
    his mother to pick him up because he wrecked his car the day before we were scheduled to sot. The next day, on a hunch, I ask him when he clocked out and confirmed that he waited for his ride to arrive before he clocked out. Similarly, in the first week I notice that, while our start time was 10 AM, his time card is altered to read 9:45. I ask him about that and he says that he marks his time from when he pulls into the parking lot. By Friday, I read him the riot act but in my passive way, I tol
    via MaxxBlackk
  • 13
    "No way, Jose, they don't even know your name.' He thinks a bit and asks, "Can I email them?" I changed the password on my computer. He insisted on taking lunch exactly at 2. No matter what we were working on he'd announce "LUNCH" and walk away. I kept him on for a while because he was so creative and did great stuff. Most of the time. He finally did himself in by insisting on a substantial raise. I let him go. I tried to help him and lent him some equipment, when I asked for it back he said he
    via MaxxBlackk
  • 14
    countrymermaidaz Had a store manager that was training me to be assistant steal deposits that I signed for. He taught me how to count the tills, and write up the slips. there was a specific spot on the store to do this that was on visual range of the cameras so they would catch funny business. The safe also had a camera that worked like an ATM camera. we would count the tills, do the slip, seal the bags and then he would carry all of it to the office/safe. The safe camera caught him tucking the
    via countrymermaidaz
  • 15
    ancientastronaut2 This one is something that happened to my husband about twenty years ago: A bunch of managers and employees were at a trade show in las vegas, and they went out to a club afterwards. A new, young woman on the sales team got very drink and was on the dance floor... What's wrong with that you say? Well, she had a short stretchy skirt on with no underwear underneath and the more she danced, the more the skirt moved up til she was flashing her whole thing to everyone there.
    via ancientastronaut2
  • 16
    theacearrow This story was before my time but. Every few months, my job had mission critical events that required ~10 days of 24/7 monitoring. Certain times are more critical than others. One of the most critical personnel decided he needed Burger King right at an extremely critical point in the process. He walked out of the building and headed to his car. Fortunately, folks caught him before he could drive off. He finished out his shift and was walked out by security so they could take his badg
    via theacearrow
  • 17
    SebrinePastePlaydoh At a trade show, a new sales rep got so dr nk that she tried to tie the CEO's shoe laces together. They told her she was not permitted at the hotel bar after the sales floor closed. She ordered a bottle of wine from room service. (So fired)
    via SebrinePastePlaydoh

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

getting fired employees workplace tales from the job
Scroll Down For The Next Article