When it comes to firing an employee, the reasons can vary. Sometimes, however, there are extreme circumstances when someone barely lasts a full workweek before getting canned. Reddit user u/GravyxNips asked the question, "What’s the craziest reason you had to fire someone?" and some of the responses might make your jaw drop. Here some of the best ones.
1. "Years ago, at a lumber company. Had a guy, less than two hours after he started on his first day, pick up his car with a forklift and stand underneath it to see what was rattling when he drove."
2. "A guy shaved/trimmed off his pubes and left them scattered across a shared desk in a shared office. When confronted, he pulled a George Costanza: 'Oh, is that frowned upon?'”
3. "Dumbass stole a $100 bill out of the register at the end of his FIRST shift alone on register."
4. "We had someone fall asleep at his desk with a lit cigarette in his hand — in an office full of cubicles, like, maybe...six to seven years ago? Smoking wasn't legal anywhere indoors, let alone in an office building lmao. And the first time, he wasn't even fired. He was fired when it happened again!"
5. "They stole a $3 bottle of wine that could have easily been put on the 'house' check for employees. Prep cook stole a 25-pound bag of onions."
6. In the early 2000s, I managed a coffee shop that required that the customers' names be put on the cup. One guy looked like he was doing it, but upon closer inspection on some cups, he was writing an IP address. Turns out he was running an illegal sports book out of the shop. He did quit before I had to technically fire him because he found out I knew."
7. "Had to fire a guy for coming to work high on meth and getting lost in a closet while painting it. Asked him what the deal was and he told me, 'Shhhh, I am having a conversation.' That was his last day."
8. "I once had a guy call in sick to his restaurant/bar shift right before it started and then proceeded to show up shitfaced for happy hour during the time he was supposed to be working."
9. "I worked at a retail store and found one of my coworkers was using the company iPad (that we used to play music and order lunches) to go on Craigslist and search for hookups. She didn’t even bother to delete the search history."
10. "Profanity-filled road rage rant through an ambulance PA system at a crowded intersection. I had complaints coming in for well over a month."
11. "A guy was hired at the metal fab shop I was working at. He had been laid off when we were slow and was rehired on a Friday, started Monday. Went and did his drug test first thing. He failed. Apparently he had celebrated being rehired over the weekend. It was funny listening to my boss say, 'Are you kidding me? You knew our testing policy! You couldn't wait three days??'"
12. "I was a florist and had a fortysomething woman delivering for me. I received a call from the building manager of a brand-new office building, with only one tenant, telling me my driver wrote on the elevator wall with a marker. They had video showing that she was the only person to use the elevator during the time the vandalism took place."
13. "A guy told a female coworker he wanted to take her newborn baby home with him to 'inspire' his wife to have one. Dude was creepy as fuck before that, but the complaint she made to management was what got him cut loose. He denied ever having said it, despite corroborating statements from other employees and a couple of customers."
14. "OK, this is my cousin's story. He worked as an electrician. He and a coworker were running some data cables in an office. An attractive young female office worker got up from her chair and left the room while the coworker was working in her office. When she returned, she found the electrician intently sniffing the seat of her chair. She complained and the guy got canned."
15. "I had to fire someone because they refused to take off their Confederate flag hat when politely asked by the Black wedding party who were concerned it might end up in the back of photos. At the age of 18, I had quite the discussion with him about freedom of speech and at-will employment that day."
16. "Might not be the craziest, but when I was working in fast food at Subway, I had to fire a guy for assaulting a customer. He had a bad temper. He threw the tuna scoop at a particularly difficult Karen. I had to ask the customer not to press charges."
17. "Guy called in to work and asked if we had found his weed stash, because work was the last time he remembered smoking. Weed wasn’t legal at the time."
And finally:
18. "A coworker at a camp I used to work at got fired for posting 300-plus photos of people with disabilities on her Facebook page without consent."
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.