The other day, redditor u/JavaMamma0002 asked the internet, "Why did you get fired?" People shared the wildest, dumbest, and messiest reasons they were fired from their jobs, and wow, some of them will seriously take you by surprise. Here are the most shocking results:
1. "His wife thought he was having an affair with the office manager. He asked me if I thought it was possible that he was having an affair with the office manager. I said, 'It’s possible, but I don’t think you are. I could see why your wife might think so, too.' I was 21 and naïve as hell. Never should have said anything."
2. "A business I went to long ago was hiring, and I got the job. Right after I signed all the paperwork, the department manager comes in and asks who I am. I tell him I was just hired as a temp. The manager says he never authorized any hiring and fired both me and my boss on the spot. I did not work for this company at all, and they fired me."
3. "I was an entitled kid with a summer job between my junior and senior years in college. I thought I was getting a 'data entry' job. It was indeed data entry to an extent, but most of the work was actually taking items off the shelves in a warehouse and taking pictures of them. (These pictures would be scanned and then entered into a system with a description.) I thought this was below somebody with my 'obvious' skills as an engineering student (who had failed to secure a summer internship in his field). I told my boss that the work was really a two-person job — the other person could do the warehouse stuff — and she agreed and said she’d look into finding another intern to help. I took that to mean I could slack off, posting on Warcraft III forums all day until they hired the other guy."
"One day, I came home to a voicemail, telling me not to bother coming back. I 100% deserved it. I hate my younger self sometimes…"
4. "I went to the emergency room instead of work. Came back with an ER note, and they said, 'We won’t be needing that. Can you come with us?' I was 18, and it was my first full-time job."
5. "I got fired once for putting in my two-week notice. The only other time I've gotten fired was when I worked for a trade company, during the first week. I was a supervisor, and there was a second supervisor on site. I got a call that my wife had been rushed to the hospital, which was literally less than a mile away. I asked the other supervisor if I could go to attend to her, and he said, 'Sure, no problem, I've got things here. Go.'"
"I returned to the job site later to find the boss there, and he let me go on the spot for leaving the team 'without a supervisor.' He knew what had happened, and he still fired me. I won't lie, that one kind of pissed me off."
6. "I was denied a raise by HR after consistently working 60–70-hour weeks, and my VP (who had supported and requested the raise for me) told me to stop putting in the extra time, work my 40, and spend that extra time applying to new jobs. Within a month, a meeting was called to 'mutually part ways' because my work wasn't getting done."
"I was gratified to learn that they had to hire two people to do my job after I left."
7. "I got fired for getting lunch. I was 18, working at a mall kiosk with a 'manager' title, even though I managed nothing for something like $8/hour. Hours painted on the door, zero support or other employees to relieve for a break. The owner showed up while I had locked up to go get a bite to eat. Fired on the spot."
8. "I talked my way into a job at a software company when they put a hiring notice in a local paper. I had no idea what the software did. I still don't. They hired me as a trainer, and no one ever explained what the product was. I did a few weeks where I was trained on the software, but literally, none of it ever made sense to me. It was like they were speaking gibberish."
"One day, I showed up; a lady I had never seen before gave me a check and walked me out to the parking lot. No one even ever said, 'You're fired' or anything. It's one of the strangest things that ever happened to me."
9. "I was jobless for three years. Did lots of online work during that time. Finally got a job. Forgot I got a job. Got a letter from my employer informing me that I got fired after a week."
10. "I got fired for submitting my timesheets on Monday at 8 a.m. when I got to work. By policy, they were to be in by noon on Saturday, but my Fridays ended in the field, so I just did them on Monday mornings. My bosses didn't even look at them until noon on Tuesday, so it had zero impact on them. I drove home from being fired, feeling relieved because of how unhappy I was at that job."
11. "I came down with bronchitis. My doctor provided a doctor's note and told me to return Monday. They terminated me Friday."
12. "Told my boss I was doing too much work for not enough pay and that's why nobody stays."
13. "I refused to come in 15–20 minutes early unpaid for my shift. I was always 5–10 minutes early, but they decided they wanted me there earlier. I carried on as normal as I’m not coming in if I’m not being paid. Turned up for a 12 p.m. shift at 11:49 a.m.; no one would look at me when I arrived, and then I was thrown into a meeting and fired for being 'late.' Was out the door before it even hit 12."
"It was the only time I’ve ever been fired."
14. "I got fired for doing my job too quickly and sitting down the rest of the time. Gas station cashier, third shift. Me: 'Why should I stand when I’m the only person in the store?' Manager: 'It’s more professional to stand than sit.' Me: 'Then why do you sit in your office?'"
15. "I was on the edge of a serious burnout and had a sick leave for two weeks. The day I returned, I got fired. This all after I had pretty much given my all for one and a half years working 10–14 hours every single day, working from home, and not having a private life at all. That’s how I learned that you should never give too much at a job."
"It’s just a job, and they won’t thank you for anything at the end of the day."
16. "I worked in a DIY store. Ten minutes before my shift ended, I moved a pallet cage of paint cans (slowly) to the warehouse, and when I got in there, one of the sides came off along with half of the paint cans, which spilled all over. There were about two minutes of my shift left, so I moved the pallet over the paint, covered it a bit, and went home. It was all caught on CCTV."
And finally...
17. "My boomer manager kept insulting me, blaming me for things my coworker did, and kept getting an attitude with me any time I didn't bend over backward to accommodate her ego. So, one day she asked me why my coworker did a certain thing. I told her I had no idea. She pressed me. I said, 'How am I supposed to know? Explain it to me. Tell me how I am supposed to know what he did.' She said, 'I don't know,' so I walked away to keep doing my job. The next thing I heard was, 'You know what? Just go! Get the f*** out!'"
"I got 'un-fired' by her boss a few hours later and transferred to a better location, but being able to cold shoulder her after months of asking her nicely not to belittle me was quite satisfying."
Have you gotten fired from a job for a wild, dumb, or shocking reason? Feel free to share your story in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.