The Most Unprofessional Things People's Coworkers Did That Got Them Instantly Fired

Whether it was during the training window or later in our profession, we've all made mistakes at work, some bigger than others.

But there are some mistakes that are so bad, you'd immediately get fired, no questions asked.

Cringing in anticipation, Redditor Ok_Foot_5477 asked:

"What is the most unprofessional thing an employee has done that resulted in immediate termination?"

Pulling The Fire Alarm

"I was a kitchen supervisor in a nursing home, and we had a dishwasher on his third day pull the fire alarm on purpose to get out of his shift."

"I was part of the investigation since I was the supervisor on duty. He gave HR a wild story that he and another coworker were roughhousing and he was pushed into the alarm, and as he fell, his shirt got caught on the lever and pulled it."

"HR then showed him the camera footage of him looking to make sure nobody was watching, then pulling the alarm on purpose."

"After he was fired, we found out from another coworker he was also suspended from his high school a couple of months ago for pulling the alarm at school."

- maceman100006

Just Put The Cover Back On!

"I worked at a residential program for children with behavioral issues due to severe neglect and abuse. They loved to pull the fire alarms, so we had covers over them. The covers had alarms so we would be alerted if a child was trying to pull the alarm. The covers did not prevent or slow down anyone from pulling the alarm; they were just a way to reduce the number of visits from the fire department."

"Anyway, one night, an overnight staff accidentally bumped a cover off, setting off the cover alarm. He just had to put the cover back on to shut off the warning alarm."

"Two other staff stepped out into the hall to tell him to put the cover back on, AND before they could stop him, he reached up and pulled the actual fire alarm, setting off the building-wide alarm at 2:00 AM, waking up 34 children and sending out the fire department to shut off the d**n alarms."

"We didn't have to fire him because he just stopped showing up to work."

- MNConcerto

So Much Bacon

"I was a dietary manager in several nursing homes, and oh, the stories. One cook had a bottle of cheap booze half out of her purse on a shelf where everyone kept their personal items. The administrator took her into the office and fired her."

"On her way back to get her stuff (yeah, we should have escorted her out), she saw the maintenance guy, thought he had ratted her out, and started chasing him around the kitchen with a knife. Fortunately, the woman’s daughter worked there too and got her calmed down."

"I also caught a dishwasher selling 20-pound boxes of bacon out the back door. One cook was serving dinner and was drugged out to the point that when she dropped grilled cheese sandwiches into the tomato soup, she pulled them out (with tongs, thankfully) and tried to serve them."

"After dealing with this at several places, I realized that the industry wasn’t going to improve. I got an opportunity to do something else and jumped at it."

- Purlz1st

Stolen Prototypes

"I worked at an automotive OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), and only two types of summary terminations. One was leaking photos of pre-production items and stealing."

"My favorite was a guy who stole a set of prototype tires/rims and then just put them on his truck in the parking lot. The manager who had been looking for said missing items happened by the truck walking into work, realized those were the tires he was missing. Fired the dude on the spot, but also took their tires back while he was being fired. So when he walked out jobless, his truck was on supports with no tires."

- WitchesSwitches

Shameful Nurse

"Many, many years ago, I had an OB/GYN appointment. A test had come back abnormal, and things had to be discussed. I was young and scared. All I heard was CANCER and infertility. I just started crying."

"My doctor was wonderful and explained everything. I was reassured, but still scared."

"The doctor and her nurse left the room and I got dressed. As I left the examination room, walking by the nurses' area, I saw (and heard) her nurse mocking me, 'WAAAAAH, can I still have kids? WAAAH!!'"

"Not only was I hurt, but also I was p**sed! As I was rushing to leave, I passed the doctor's office. She was sitting at her desk doing paperwork. I knocked on her door jamb with tears in my eyes. I thanked her for being wonderful. But told her I wouldn't be treated that way by her nurse."

"She then asked me what I meant. When I told her, she took me by the hand and together we walked back to the nurses' desk. She directly asked her if what I said was true. The nurse fumbled over her words. Basically said yes, but she didn't mean anything by it."

"The doctor said, 'Get your things and get out of my office. You're fired!'"

"I never saw that nurse again. But I respected my OB/GYN even more."

- Silli_Filli

Stolen Office Items

"Things started going missing from people's desks, the culprit remained elusive until one day he showed his 'brand new iPod' to another coworker."

"On the back, it was engraved with the name of a different coworker who had just had his brand-new iPod stolen."

"Managers were summoned, he was gone within minutes, and so were all the unsolved thefts."

- zerbey

Disgusting Violence

"She kicked a service dog, thinking I wasn’t watching. I already knew this particular employee didn’t like dogs (which is fine as a personal preference), but this one was just quietly standing off to the side of the hallway, and it was clear she went out of her way to kick it. I fired her on the spot."

- JohnnySack45

Reckless Driving

"He peeled into parking lot 9:00 AM drunk and sideswiped a manager's car. Then casually walked to his desk. He was walked out about five minutes later."

"Bonus: Another employee told a customer, 'I wouldn't buy the big bag of food,' when they called to check on their dogs' testing results. This was not a vet with a dark sense of humor; it was a customer service rep replying to someone who had called into a lab to check on results. The rep did not even have the authority to disclose results."

- NarwalsDelight

Disappearing Act

"Years ago, I worked with a woman who applied for a smallish loan at some point. I don't remember what it was for, but definitely something specific. She ended up being approved for $5,000 and told me the news like she had won the lottery."

"She then pulled a no-show the following day and never came back. This was a preschool, so that complicated things a bit for the week, but we managed to make it work until someone could fill in permanently. I remember the director commenting that what she did was so stupid, and he'd never re-hire her again (no s**t, Derek? Glad to hear it, keep up those standards)."

"Anyway, about a year later, I ran into her at Walmart where she was refolding some shirts or something. We only briefly caught up, but she did mention with wide, shocked eyes that the school wouldn't hire her back when she came looking for work again. Shockingly, it had not taken her long to blow through her... winnings."

- sanityfordummy

Obvious Alcoholism

"The secretary at the front desk was visibly drunk at 11:00 AM. She was fired immediately with a ride home offered."

"She immediately went to a bar across the street and had to be kicked out with the police involved. It ended up, she already had a drunk driving conviction and wasn't supposed to be drinking at all, so she went to jail. Sad story."

- pcetcedce

Cheating On The Company Dime

"We sent a couple of sales reps on a work trip. One married man (we'll call him Bill Smith), one woman who was not his wife. The submitted expense reports and it was apparent that they had shared a room for the duration."

"It was confirmed they were having an affair on the company dime. I'm not sure who was fired and who quit, but they were both gone by the time I was hired to work the phones."

"Not long after I started, I got a call from a woman asking for Bill Smith. I explained that we didn't have a Bill Smith on my list of employees, and the woman said, 'Oh yes, you do, I'm his wife and he's a vice president there.'"

"I put her on hold and asked around, and was told that Bill used to work there, but no longer did. I had to explain to this woman that Bill truly no longer worked there. She was not, in an way, shape, or form, pleased to hear this, and I'm not entirely sure she believed me anyway."

"My coworkers were delighted to fill me in on the gory details later. One of the senior staff agreed to call Bill's wife (ex-wife, maybe) and handle things."

- cwthree

But First, A Selfie

"Taking selfies and posting them to social media in a facility where photography is strictly prohibited."

"Dude took a selfie in front of some proprietary gear and posted it to his IG. Within 30 minutes, he was escorted out of the facility." 

- easy10pins

"I was at Apple for 20 years, and you’d better believe that everything is secret. When we transitioned to Intel, the new MacBook Pro was shown at Macworld, but the packaging was not. This was when Apple changed from the big, bulky boxes to the much slimmer packaging. I had so many of these boxes stuffed into my office and lab because we couldn’t trash them in the normal way yet."

"Anyway, one afternoon, a coworker came into my office and directed me to a Flickr page showing the unboxing of the new Intel MacBook Pro with pictures of the packaging and all. The pictures were obviously in an Apple lab, and the coworker asked if it was one of my guys, and I said no and that I didn’t know anyone that stupid."

"Turns out I did know someone that stupid because the lab was around the corner from my office, and the person was a kid that was kind of an up-and-comer. Saw him being escorted out a week later."

- jenorama_CA

Fraud

"When I worked as a mortgage loan processor, I discovered that the loan officer was falsifying documents in order to get a fraudulent mortgage approved. I worked with the manager to re-verify all the documentation, as well as documenting how and why the documents he provided were fraudulent."

"He was called into the manager‘s office and confronted, whereupon he ran away. Literally just got up and ran and got his car and left."

- 1beautifulhuman

Caught In The Act

"I had a manager (let’s call him Paul) who didn’t like me for whatever reason, which was a first for me. I’ve always had the reputation for being dependable and a hard worker. Whatever. So the two managers above him announced they’re going to start their own business together and they’ll be leaving the company in about a month."

"Within a few minutes, Paul comes up to me with a huge s**t-eating grin and says to me, 'Just wait until they’re gone and I’m promoted. I’m going to fire your a**.'"

"I asked him what I’d done to him, and he basically just explained that he felt I was a brown-noser and the only reason I had my job was because his two bosses liked me. So it’s my fault I was likable. Cool."

"I told the two bosses who are leaving what Paul said to me, and all that was said was, 'We’ll take care of it.'"

"An hour later, they caught Paul and another employee in the parking lot smoking weed in his car, which was against company policy. He was fired immediately."

- EevelBob

It's alarming the things that people sometimes think they can get away with, let alone in a work environment.

The best thing to do is to be a good person, no matter what environment you're in.