Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

You're Fired: People Share The Real Reason They Got Canned From Work

Silhouette of man leaving an office carrying a briefcase
woman in black jacket walking on the sidewalk
Photo by Roth Melinda on Unsplash

Reddit user Sweetlo123 asked: 'What did you get fired for?'

Being let go from your job is never a pleasant experience.

Particularly if it comes out of nowhere, without any possible warning that this was a possibility.


Even if it isn't any more pleasant, generally speaking, most people have at least an inkling of why they were let go.

Budgetary reasons, dissolved departments, being told you weren't meeting company standards, or bad blood with the boss.

As well as some less common, highly unusual reasons which at least might make a good story down the line.

Redditor Sweetlo123 was curious to hear from people who were let go from their jobs, and why they were met with this fate, leaving them to ask:

"What did you get fired for?"

For Standing Up For What's Right.

"We were told we get OT for night work."

"The new 'company manager' let it slip that we don't actually get OT for night work, so when I was scheduled for five nights in a row working on a transmission line cell site I mentioned that I expect everyone working from our company on site get OT."

"Once it was said that we won't get OT and that it wasn't an actual policy (was written in employee handbook), I forwarded the email chain to the entire company and leadership at Verizon."

"I was canned, but now everyone gets OT for night work."

"My life is better now anyway and got my people what the deserve."- drklunk

This Was Never Going To End Well...

"Aggressively squeezing breakfast muffins lol."

"I was a few days into working at Mcds and someone complained I gave them a muffin that was too hard-they bake them at like 3 am and sit in a warmer all day."

"This was before they had the full bakery menu, I think muffins was the only thing baked and maybe cookies."

"So my manager told me to squeeze them before I hand them out."

"Me being a dumb teenager squeezed the s*it out of these muffins and got another complaint."

"They stopped scheduling me, haha."- eatmyknuts

You Have To Do The Work To Get Paid...

"I just stopped working and began only attending meetings."

"Lasted almost 9 months that way before they let me go."- frantictossing

martin freeman sleeping GIFGiphy

Wrong Time, Wrong Place

"I was fired after a month into my first job at a local pizza joint when I was 16."

"They called me during the Super Bowl and said I had to come in."

"I told them I was out of state without a car so no way I could make it."

"They said I should’ve known this was one of the busiest days of the year and I should’ve stayed in the area."

"I came in to work my next shift and they just gave me my paycheck and said they had to let me go for not being a team player."

"10 years later I was fired from a job in tech because I refused to move out of state."

"This one hurt a lot more."- seventyfive1989

Hard Not To Say They Had It Coming...

"The company's timeclock software ran off of the computers time, so when I was late I would just close the software, change the time back to before shift start and then clock in and change it back."

"The supervisor who showed me the trick fired me."

"A day or two later he saw me pulling in late, and when he went over the time info that day, it showed me clocked in on time."

"He knew why."- Grief-Inc

Nepotism Always Screws Someone Over...

"Worked at a gas station and was a sucker for the free soda."

"I would drink a few 24 oz glasses of Dr. Pepper (don’t judge) per shift and had to piss relatively frequently."

"I usually worked with the same lady every shift and every shift my drawer came up short even like $10-20 bucks."

"One day my usual co-worker was off and I worked with another lady who warned me to watch my drawer around the other and hers had been short when she was around."

"That got me to thinking."

"The next shift with the usual lady I stuck some receipt paper into the lip of the bottom of my drawer and hit the bead."

"When I came back the paper was on the floor."

"My drawer was short $20 at shift change and my boss fired me."

"I told her of my findings and asked her to review the security tape."

"She told me to f*ck right off the other lady had been there years."

"I left heart broken and rented some VHS tapes to indulge in and recover."

"One of the movies was Casino and man is that a good movie."

"Come to find out the usual lady was the boss lady’s cousin and they f*ckin told people I knew I got fired for stealing money."

"I though about calling a lawyer but also, I was in high school and was delusional I suppose."

"I got out of that town after high school and rarely return, especially considering all my family moved off."- woohhaa

Snl Smiling GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy

The Age Old Story Of Men In Power

"Caught the boss stealing."

"So he fired me."

"His word vs. mine and it didn't go my way."- freezingprocess

People Tend To Get What They Deserve

"Embezzled almost $500,000 from the doctor's office I worked at."

"Oh no, wait."

"That was my former supervisor who did that...26 years after she fired me for taking home a left over slice of pizza after a drug rep hosted a pizza party for the office staff."

"Karma can take a long time, but it always comes through."- YourFront

Late To The Game...

"Being the last hired when they instituted layoffs."- BubbhaJebus

Some Plans Can't Be Cancelled

"1970s YES 'Close to the Edge' tour."

"I had my tickets and had the request approved for time off, they changed their mind at the last minute and would not let me off."

"Pfft."

"Left anyways and was genuinely surprised when I got back on Monday and they informed me that I was fired."-AmandaBRecondwith

Treat Others Like You Want To Be Treated

"My boss was talking sh*t about me to employees, and I confronted her with 'how would you expect the people below me to respect me when you show them that you don’t?'"

"She didn’t like it and literally went crying to the owners, who then fired me for 'causing problems'.”- Successful-Snow-562

For Literally Doing What They Were Supposed To

"I got fired for slacking off and underperforming at work by taking my legally required lunch."- 10leej

Hungry Lets Eat GIF by TRTGiphy

They Couldn't Have Waited One Day?

"Worked as a QA tester for an online game company."

"Found bug while on my personal account at home."

"Came in the next day and reported the bug."

"I was VERY clear I found the bug while playing at home on my personal account."

"It was a nasty bug that let you duplicate very expensive items."

"A few weeks later someone in customer service was checking the logs for people exploiting the bug."

"They found mine and the company decided to fire me on my birthday."

"That was around 15 years ago but it still upsets me every year, on my birthday."- PedanticCyborg

While most believe "ignorance is bliss", anyone handed a pink slip deserves to know why.

Even if sometimes the reason gives no closure whatsoever, and instead only results in even more questions.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Screenshot of Erika Kirk and Caleb Chilcutt
Turning Point USA

Erika Kirk Has Ultimate Freudian Slip While Honoring Student With 'Charlie Kirk Courage Award'

Erika Kirk was mocked online after she had an epic Freudian slip while honoring Utah Valley University student Caleb Chilcutt with the Charlie Kirk Courage Award at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest over the weekend and misspoke while comparing Chilcutt to her late husband, far-right activist Charlie Kirk.

The late Kirk, who was assassinated at UVU in September, was a virulent white supremacist who aligned with the Christian right and advocated for Christian nationalism, promoting a nativist, fundamentalist Christian view of society. All the while, he openly attacked LGBTQ+ rights, backed the white genocide conspiracy theory, and was a major figure in the MAGA movement.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk; Sydney Sweeney
ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images; Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Lionsgate

Elon Musk Slammed After He Makes Gross And Juvenile Comment About Sydney Sweeney's Body

Why can't he just continue to fail to make rockets and self-driving electric cars?

Instead, tech billionaire Elon Musk has recently drawn criticism after posting remarks about actress Sydney Sweeney’s appearance following the Los Angeles premiere of The Housemaid. The controversy centers on Musk’s comments about Sweeney’s dress, comments that were seen by many online as focusing on her physical attributes rather than her work.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sam Altman speaking into a microphone with an American Flag in the background.
Andrew Harnik / Staff/Getty Images

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Just Shared An AI Image Of Himself As A Ripped Firefighter—And Was Promptly Roasted

To say that the rise of artificial intelligence, or AI for short, is a contentious issue would be a gross understatement.

In addition to the growing concern that AI will create job scarcity in almost every profession, recent studies have shown AI continues to leave a devastating carbon footprint. Its water usage alone surpassed the entirety of bottled water worldwide.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Thomas Massie; Pam Bondi
CBS; Win McNamee/Getty Images

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie Threatens To Impeach Pam Bondi Over Heavily-Redacted Epstein Files

Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie announced that he's launched an impeachment investigation into Attorney General Pam Bondi following the release of several heavily-redacted files related to the late financier, pedophile, and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie and California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed by President Donald Trump on November 19, say the Justice Department has failed to comply with the law by missing the December 19 release deadline and providing documents that are heavily redacted and incomplete.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jack Black and Paul Rudd discussing Elle Fanning's comments
@efanningmedia/X

Jack Black's Reaction To Elle Fanning Calling Him 'Sex On Legs' Is Hilariously On Brand

Crush alert! Turns out Elle Fanning has kinda got it bad for none other than Jack Black. Hey, everyone is someone's type!

It all began when Fanning took part in Vanity Fair's popular lie detector test video series, during which Fanning was forced to confess her undying attraction to Black.

Keep ReadingShow less