Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share The Dumbest Reason They Ever Got Fired From Their Job

office full of desks and workers

Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash

Reddit user strykazoid asked: 'What's the dumbest reason a job ever fired you?'

Make us preferred on Google

I once worked in a cubicle farm doing finance and accounting. A new employee disappeared just a few hours after the day started.

Eventually they were found.

On the floor.

Under their desk.

Sleeping.

They were promptly fired once they woke up. I wonder how their version of the story goes.

While that was a ridiculous way to be fired, for these folks, the employers were the ones with questionable judgment.


Reddit user strykazoid asked:

"What's the dumbest reason a job ever fired you?"

Heartless

"I was 17. My Grandpa died unexpectedly from a heart attack. My Mother called my work’s office to let me know."

"I was called to the office to talk on the office phone to my mother, and staff (who were told what was going on) left the area so my mother could privately break the news to me."

"I was obliterated of course, and walked outside for about 15 minutes to clear my head. I then went back to work."

"The woman who was in charge of the entire operation fired me for leaving the building."

"Human Resources stepped in and stopped the situation before I could be notified that I had been fired."

"I only found out that this had happened after my grandpa's funeral days later."

"I quit immediately."

~ moochir

Weekly Occurrence

"I had an alcoholic handy man who was promoted to manager. This was a family owned restaurant and this guy had known the father of the current generation."

"He 'fired' me several times a week for not bumming him a cigarette or not wanting to work the second dining room when we had 5 reservations or taking my approved unpaid time off."

"But he was a drunk who started with scotch and moved into amaretto so never remembered."

"I'd just come back the next day."

~ Shababajoe

Going Surfing

"For surfing the internet."

"Punchline: part of my job was to surf the internet and find content for their social media platforms."

"I wish I was making that up. I am not."

~ Sea-Woodpecker-610

Throwing Their Voice

" Fast food manager said a customer complained that he could hear me cussin' in the back."

"It was a couple days later when they fired me, but they said the incident happened on a day I happened to be off."

"I had a feeling the manager didn't like me much and planned poorly on when they'd claim the so called 'incident' happened."

~ Cool1Mach

"'I heard you cussin' when you weren't here. Don't ask me how that's possible'."

~ probablythrowaway71

Not an Escort Service

"I was 16 and refused to date the owner’s niece."

~ VosTutZich

"Do people think other people are property???"

~ Crackheadwithabrain

"Yes. Many, many people who own or manage businesses think exactly this."

~ G0-N0G0-GO

Last In, First Out

"In the days after 9/11 my employer (multinational bank) instantly fired the last 2 people hired in every department where there was redundancy, hedging against a financial collapse whenever the markets reopened."

"I just happened to be the last guy hired in my department."

~ ClmrThnUR

Poor Pandemic Planning

"Covid-19 forced everyone to work from home on hastily setup computers and infrastructure."

"Then they fired the IT staff because we were deemed ‘nonessential’."

"Bit them in the a** hard enough to remove chunks."

~ wkarraker

Not a "Team Player"

"Not 'fired' but let go with severance. CFO told me to make up historical reports because they weren't done in the past, but now required, and wanted to show how so much better metrics are now than in the past."

"What they were asking for was literally not possible to do since the data was not tracked to what they were asking and wanted to tweak the past numbers into a full-on made-up breakdown."

"I told the controller I wasn't comfortable doing this. The next week I got paid out."

"A month later I found out the CFO was canned."

~ Kir-ius

On Your Own Time

"Performance was bad. one of the reasons given was."

"'Reading newspapers in the lunch room'."

"Which was during my scheduled break."

~ tmacdevitt

Oops!

"I wrote a video game script for a small developer. They 'forgot' to tell me when they started voice work—part of my job required me to help with voice acting sessions."

"I finally was invited to a session with a big name actor, especially known in video games. The director asked me why I hadn’t been present for the past two weeks’ worth of recording."

"Apparently, telling the truth, that no one had told me recording had begun, was the wrong move."

"The developers fired me the next day despite my work already being done, which essentially meant I’d have no part in DLC or sequel(s)."

~ drewxdeficit

Should Have Dropped Out

"I worked at Walmart while I was in high school and one of the managers kept scheduling me to open or for me to be there at 2."

"I told them, many times, that I was in high school and those shifts wouldn't work."

"I guess they didn't get that memo; the store manager fired me for missing work and being late."

~ stackjr

What Do You Mean You Were Gone?

"Walmart fired me because they put out the schedule while I was on vacation and put me on the schedule during my approved days off."

"When I brought this up they just told me approved days off are just a suggestion but not guaranteed days off."

~ Tee_hops

Good Customer Service

"I gave highway directions to a customer."

"They fired me for talking to my friends at work."

"I was a barista."

~ Cobra-Serpentress

Bereavement?

"Took a day off for my Grandpa's funeral which was out of town."

"Fired me when I came back the next day."

~ bublesboo

"My wife was fired for not coming to work after she found her father’s 2-day-old corpse in his apartment."

"She had to talk me down from some violent intentions towards her former employer."

~ isinhower

Has an employer ever done you dirty for an absurd reason?

Sound off in the comments.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Screenshots of Jessica Tarlov and Emily Compagno; Abdul El-Sayed
Fox News; Sarah Rice/Getty Images

Jessica Tarlov Has Perfect Clapback After Fox News Co-Host Criticizes Abdul El-Sayed For Not Being A 'Practicing Physician'

Fox News host Jessica Tarlov had the perfect response to her colleague Emily Compagno after Compagno complained that Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is not a "practicing physician."

El-Sayed, an epidemiologist who campaigned on expanding healthcare access, strengthening the economy, and ending unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel, became the first progressive to win a statewide primary in a state carried by President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. He is set to face former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers during next month's midterms.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tom Holland; Florence Pugh
Jeff Spicer/ Getty Images for Sony Pictures; NBC

Florence Pugh Revealed That Tom Holland Is The Reason She Appears In 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'—And We Love To See It

Florence Pugh has built a career on scene-stealing performances, but her latest Marvel appearance came with one particularly flattering endorsement: Spider-Man himself.

While promoting her latest historical drama, East of Eden, Pugh stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she was asked about her surprise appearance as Yelena Belova in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kelsgordon's TikTok video
@kelsgordon/TikTok

Woman Reveals The Fallout After She Caught Her Sister's Fiancé Cheating Just 2 Hours Before Their Wedding

Some people would rather live in a state of oblivion than know the truth.

TikToker @kelsgordon realized her sister was one of those people when she discovered, just two hours before her sister's wedding, that her sister's fiancé had a whole other romantic relationship in the works—and she intended to go ahead with the wedding anyway.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @maddieogle10's TikTok
@maddieogle10/TikTok

Woman Shares The Biggest 'Red Flags' That A Friendship Is Ending—And TikTokers Are Sounding Off

Most of us have experienced a friendship coming to an end, and while it sometimes comes as a surprise, we can usually look back and see some signs that the end was near.

TikToker @maddieogle10, for example, believes that it's obvious that a friendship is coming to an end when something starts to feel off or like the friend is losing interest.

Keep ReadingShow less
Conservative political activist Peter Thiel arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer Award in Berlin.
Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP via Getty Images

Tech Billionaire Goes Viral For Bonkers Claim That Being Evil Can Actually Be 'Kind Of Good' In Cringey Viral Clip

While everyday Americans are watching the cost of seemingly everything eat away at their bank accounts, the billionaire class continues operating in an entirely different financial multiverse.

Now, tech billionaire Peter Thiel has apparently found another luxury afforded by extreme wealth: redefining whether “evil” might actually be a good thing. The eyebrow-raising philosophy came during a September 2026 appearance on MD Meets, where Thiel sat down with fellow billionaire Mathias Döpfner.

Keep ReadingShow less