25 Times People Got Fired So Fast, Their Heads Spun

As much as we hate it, the truth of the matter is that our terms of employment are controlled by our bosses. So while we may feel we abide by the book, or have due process to follow in case of a dispute between employee and supervisor, more often than not, the final decision to terminate an employees job is in the hands of the boss.

#1

Image source: hihungryimdadDOTcom, Jo Szczepanska

I told my manager at a fast food place that I was going to be looking for a new job, and to not schedule me after this pay period. The next week, I see my name on the schedule and ask her what the deal is.

“I told you I was going to get a new job and not to schedule me”

“Well, did you get a new job yet?”

“No. But I’m still not sticking around this one.”

“Well you know what, you can just not come back here now with that attitude.”

She sure showed me.

#2

Image source: RadBadGladCrab, cottonbro studio

Mom, brother and I were at Olive Garden about 20 years ago. We had the worst waiter in the history of the world. He was outrageously rude to the point of being abusive to us. At the end of the dinner my mom left him a dime for a tip and as we were leaving the waiter threw the dime at my mom (I was a little kid otherwise I would have probably at least attempted to defend her). Waiter’s boss saw the dime throw and fired the waiter on the spot. Everyone has a bad day, but that guy was just a prick.

#3

Image source: anon, Kaboompics.com

I handed my boss my two week notice and she ripped it in half and said “Don’t bother, you’re done today.”

HR wasn’t too thrilled with her decision as they had to pay me a severance because of her hatred towards me.

#4

Image source: anon, MART PRODUCTION

The summer between undergrad and graduate school, I was working in the customer service department of a Canadian department store. I got minimum wage + $1 extra an hour because I was the only person capable of answering the phones in English and French.

I asked for a Saturday off to attend my sister’s high school graduation. They said “what’s more important to you– this job or the graduation?” I said, well, the graduation actually (particularly in light of the fact that I was starting my second degree in another city about 10 weeks later.) Axed *immediately*.

Well, good luck finding a bilingual Albertan willing to work for minimum wage plus one, you stupid c**ksuckers.

#5

Image source: anon, MART PRODUCTION

Fired a person for disappearing on their first day of work for a couple of hours. We worked in a manufacturing plant and he took off to try to find some cute girl he knew that worked there, the guy was married and he asked “What am I supposed to tell my wife?” I said, ” probably not the truth”.

#6

Image source: ExcusablePlot, Tima Miroshnichenko

Worked at a call center.(Telemarketing)
It was my grandmothers birthday.
We didn’t hit sales quota for the day the boss told me I had to stay until we hit.
I told him family was more important.
Got fired immediately. Best decision ever.

#7

Image source: reflectorvest, Polina Zimmerman

I came back to my summer job at an amusement park from missing 3 days with strep throat, handed in my doctors excuse, and was fired for missing work. Apparently, to call off you couldn’t just talk to a manager, you had to talk to the department head, a person I had never met with a phone number that had never been made available to me. Because I missed more than 2 days, it didn’t matter that I had a note because I was considered a no call/no show. The assistant manager I gave my excuse to handed me a letter back that said I had 10 minutes to clean out my locker and vacate the premises or they’d call the cops for trespassing.

I was 16, in a state with very liberal employment laws, and my mom retained a lawyer. I didn’t win any money but they ended up having to list me as rehire-able in their system, and they paid a huge fine for essentially making it impossible for employees to call in sick.

#8

Image source: smallbankbigmouth, RDNE Stock project

Did not happen to me, but I was involved:
at a place I worked, people came to me saying someone was making sexual comments about my body, and they told HR about it, so when I got called in, I said “well, yeah, that makes me uncomfortable” and the person got fired on the spot. It was a huge deal because everyone knew about it. I had only been working there for a little less than a year and they had been there for over 10.

#9

Image source: red23011, Timothy Huliselan

I was 16 and working as a dishwasher at a summer tennis camp at an exclusive tennis club. The owner of the club was upset that I hadn’t taken all the trash out. I explained to him that the dumpster was full and overflowing. He told me that I needed to climb into the dumpster and jump up and down on the trash to create more room in it. I said that I wouldn’t do it. He told me that he wouldn’t ask me to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself so I said “Fine, I want to see you climb into the dumpster and start jumping up and down”.

He fired me on the spot.

Edit: For those of you that agreed with the owner you should really check up on how OSHA and the health department would feel about this.

#10

Image source: Devornine, Getty Images

I was working for a small family-owned restaurant. All the wait staff, and most of the kitchen staff was family or friends with the owner. I was hired as a waitress, and I did okay, not great, not terrible, it was my first time being a waitress.

One day, one of their regular customers came in, who is a bit of a local celebrity. He apparently came in once or twice a week, and tipped very well. Normally the owner’s daughter would take the table, but she was out sick so I took them. I got an amazing tip from him, and he told the owner that he would like me to wait on them if I am available in the future. The second he left I was fired.

#11

Image source: anon, Tiger Lily

Me and my friend were two young Irish lads working on rebuilding the Canary Wharf tower in London (which had been blown up by some other Irish lads a year earlier, but that’s another story.) It was like the Nakatomi Plaza. There were so many floors, if you didn’t feel like working, you could just go to some random floor and hide out for a while.

So me and my friend, both 18 years old, were hungover one morning. We went to the 23rd floor where there was a comfortable couch and we lay there smoking weed. Suddenly the English foreman appears and fires us on the spot. As he was walking away, he says “That was taking the p**s, lads.”

Unfortunately, there was somewhat of a misunderstanding here. What he meant was that our behavior was so bad we had crossed a line. However, in Ireland at that time, “that was taking the p**s” meant I’m only joking. So we continued working for another three or four hours before he came back and said “I fired you this morning, what the hell are you still doing here?”.

#12

Image source: anon, The Castlebar

Chef here. Got fired because I sent a steak out that “had char on it”.

The only “char” on it was grill marks.

Ok lady, you probably just saved me a huge mess.

#13

Image source: isabsolutelyatwork, Yan Krukau

My boss set me up to be fired with an email he knew I would react badly to. When I reacted badly he fired me on the spot. Joke was on him, I took the other two guys in my department with me and our company suddenly had no tech support.

I was supposed to be going on an international trip the following week, and since we were all gone it had to be delayed indefinitely, which ended up costing the company the order. About $3 million because he didn’t like that I didn’t want to travel 150 days a year on a 5% travel contract. Karma’s a b***h.

#14

Image source: lolitololinho, cottonbro studio

Boss wanted me to work extra hours, travel in traffic and congestion and do 14 hr long days for no extra pay or benefits. and I said not sure I am willing to do it, I need to think about it. Next day pulls me into his private office and fires me, saying my skills were not on par with what they expected.

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE f**kerrrrrrrrrrr I now work in a place closer to home so I dont have to travel as much or as long, earning more for doing less hours and less work! xD.

#15

Image source: Chunderfluff, cottonbro studio

I was told Friday out of nowhere “we won’t be needing your services anymore” after being told in November I would have a position into next year at the minimum. So that’s a fun holiday gift.

#16

Image source: a_thousand_ninjas, Mark Hillary

This wasn’t me, but I witnessed the following: I worked at a camera store many years ago and we received a life-size cutout of Andre Agassi (the tennis player) who was promoting Canon cameras. We set up the cutout in the store but our crotchety owner came in, didn’t like it and told us to throw it out.

So we put it away, but when the owner went out for lunch, we took it back out and proceeded to take a few goofy pictures in front of it. Then we put it back away. When the owner came back from lunch, he returned to his office and then 5 minutes later came rushing down the stairs red-faced and screaming.

We had forgotten about the security camera and his secretary had snitched on us. “I told you to throw that thing out!”, he screamed. He then went into the back room, dragged Andre out, and started trying to tear the thing apart, bending the head back and forth. That cardboard is pretty tough though, and he was not strong guy, so he just stood there for 30 seconds furiously struggling with it.

We were all trying to hold it in, but one of my co-workers couldn’t help it and started laughing at the absurdity. Our owner heard it, whipped around and screamed, “You’re fired! Get out of my store immediately”. We were all shocked, but the guy picked up his jacket, walked out, never to be seen again.

#17

Image source: PirateCodingMonkey, Hà Nguyễn

My boss found out that I (a man) was dating another man. not another man in the company. not on company time. It had nothing to do with the business or my work. He just couldn’t stand that I was in a homosexual relationship. (btw, a coworker that I trusted was the one who told him. turned out that while I thought I could trust her, she was out to get me fired.) This was early 2000’s and no, there was no protection for being gay where I worked.

#18

Image source: KMelkein, UMUT DAĞLI

Was working in the deli counter of a supermarket. Asked from my closest manager that if I could come next week on thu 2 hrs later because I had a final exam that morning.

Got fired on the spot. ” Don’t bother coming to work tomorrow, you’re fired”

O.o.

#19

Image source: Delachruz, Yan Krukau

Almost a decade ago, I was in my apprenticeship to become an electrical planner. I’m swiss, over here your first apprenticeship is very important, and it’s hard to get any job at all if you don’t have at least one apprenticeship done.

As a result, there was big pressure in my last year of school to get a place. Initially, I wanted to do Computer Technician. But I just could not land a hit, so I had to start looking into other jobs. Eventually, I landed a job as an aforementioned planner.

Let’s not mince words, not only did I hate the actual work right away, I also hated my boss, and most of my coworkers. Initially I just thought I would soldier my way through. Finishing your first apprenticeship is important. I managed a little more than a year, before I started to get depressed, to the point that my parents were starting to notice and my mother got on my case.

I started missing work, I had a doctor that was very liberal in handing out a sick-notice for 1-2 weeks straight. So I would work for a month or so, miss like 10 days of work, and then work for another month or so. My grades started to drop, and I actually started to give my boss and coworkers lip for being so s****y to me.

For context, I was a glorified maid. Every morning I had to do take a 20 minute trip to the local bakery and get everybody their foodstuffs for the break. I frequently got abuse if the stuff they wanted was already sold out. “Why didn’t you leave earlier?”, because I’m already leaving almost an hour before the break actually starts, and then other people start complaining the stuff isn’t warm anymore.

Then twice a day I had to make coffee for everybody. They would frequently change their mind on the order, and then berate me for screwing stuff up. Often they would complain even if I did exactly as they asked. “You put too much sugar in.” No, you just can’t properly decide on how much you want. You asked for 3, I put in 3.

And properly the most offensive, I just couldn’t do anything right. I was an apprentice. I earned maybe 1/10 of what the others made. And part of that deal is that you’re allowed to screw up, and then taught how to do it properly. No such luck. I was basically required to learn everything by myself or google it. And then I would get 60 minute sessions of beratement for “not doing the work properly”.

The final straw was on a Friday. I had to leave around 4pm at the latest, so I could catch my train home. So I started cleaning everything around 3pm. 5 minutes before I plan to leave, I just finished cleaning the office-floor, whereafter one of the workers walks in wearing muddy/snowy shoes (It was February I think), ruining the entire floor again. I packed my stuff. Boss comes in, demands I stay to clean up. I don’t remember my exact words, but it was said very loudly, and would probably get me banned from most places Online if I put it to the screen.

When I came back on Monday, Boss told me to get out immediately. I remember laughing the whole way home. I was free, probably one of the best days of my teenage-life. Jokes on him anyway, I still had a bunch of stuff I was supposed to bring to the Post-Office in my backpack. Held onto it for a few weeks in case they would ask for it, and then ritually burnt it in the hopes of some Elder God smiting the Office. Did not happen, but it was satisfying nonetheless.

(Forgive my Engrish, I don’t often type this much).

#20

Image source: agentdanascullyfbi, Anna Shvets

I was told that my position was being terminated, not just at our branch but company-wide, and was escorted back to my office to pack up my stuff. It wasn’t dramatic or anything, but it was a shock. I didn’t get to say goodbye to anybody. Just two days prior, I’d had my performance review and received glowing praise, while the entire time, they knew they’d be letting me go in a couple of days.

That’s what bothered me the most.

#21

Image source: argole, Thirdman

My first job out of college was for a very small dental insurance claims clearing house. The company had recently split from another company, whose name was on the software that all the Dentist offices used, so that was the name they recognized. The two companies were basically fighting over their client base. So, my job was to call up all of their clients to remove the old software from the former partner and install the new janky-a*s s**t they’d cobbled together since the split.

My job alternated between:

* Calling up customers to install the new software and train them on it
* Troubleshoot the problems with the software and come up with work-arounds, typically *during training calls*.

Clients typically were finding out from **me** that the software was changing and I was supposed to insist that it was the same company, just different software.

After almost a year of this, I was getting to a point where it just felt so awful to trudge my way into work because I knew I’d spend the day getting yelled at by clients who were upset that their routines were changing. I spent a lot of my downtime complaining to my friends over my personal email about how awful it was. Probably not the best thing to do, but I was young.

Well, one day I come back from lunch and find the door to my office closed and my boss standing there waiting for me. He showed me the emails he’d printed out from my personal email account with portions of conversations highlighted that he didn’t like. I never used any names or revealed company information – just my emotions while working there. He shoved the papers in my hands and said “Explain this to me.” I basically said I was just having trouble with the day to day grind, but he just responded with, “I think it’s time for you to find something else. Get out of here.”

Fine by me. I probably should have left before it got to that point, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

#22

Image source: GooseOfDoom, Inzmam Khan

17 still in high school. I was hired as a custodian for a hotel and was tasked to clean the pool. I was asked to back flush the system to clean the filters, which involves turning the pumps off, and closing pipe valves. Well, there’s about 20 valves, but only 3 needed to be closed. I thought I did them right, went to open the filter on the pump, and BOOM! the cap shot off and water started dumping out of the pump. The pool maintenance room is in the basement next to the pool, so it’ll dump the whole pool if it’s not stopped. I panicked and tried forcing the cap back on. Ran upstairs and through the hotel completed soaked. It was the weekend so my boss was off. Took him about 20 minutes to reach and get him to the hotel to help me with the system. In the end, there was probably a foot of water flooded the floor. It damaged the water heaters, got into the furnace, maintenance office, and phone system. Not sure on the damage cost, but it had to be in the hundreds of thousands, if not over a million. I was promptly fired by the hotel manager.

#23

Image source: anon, Brooke Cagle

I got fired from my first job at Panera. I was being trained on barista, and when told how many pumps of caramel to put in a caramel latte, I (very obviously) jokingly said, “Nah, let’s do 8 pumps”, then proceeded to make the drink correctly.

Next time I came in, manager called me into the office, and fired me for “going against specs” even though I didn’t, I just joked about it, once.

#24

Image source: kloiberin_time, Trevor Docter

I was 15 I think. I was a lifeguard at a subdivision pool. Being the “new guy” and the “young kid” I worked every weekend. Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday day. I had already missed going to my grandparents a couple of times, and my parents were taking a vacation. I asked off and was told that I couldn’t go. My dad basically said, “you are going, I don’t care.” I told the boss this and she said, you still have to work. I left with my parents, and when I got back there were a dozen messages on my parents answering machine saying that they couldn’t open the pool because I wasn’t there. She fired me 3 or 4 times that weekend.

She was a bored housewife hired by the HOA to schedule the lifeguards who were mostly high school kids. She fired another for wearing a bikini. They didn’t use her the next year, but by that point in time I was 16 and had a better job.

#25

Image source: xeskind30, ANTONI SHKRABA production

I was fresh out of College at an IT contract-to-hire job. I came in on a Tuesday, sat down at my desk, the boss/owner came up behind me and told me I was fired. I sat there, mouth open, and then asked, “Why?” He said that I was not a good fit for the company and that I had to leave. So I gathered my things and he stood there watching me (probably making sure I did not steal anything) and escorted me out of the office. I found out later that because of the size of the company, at the time, they were looking for a tier III worker, but I was a tier I; I told them this in the interview, but apparently they did not have the resources to train me. Well jokes on them, I went through a month of unemployment and I found an even better IT job where I make a lot of money and work only half as hard as that job.