Getting fired sucks, but getting fired on the spot really pours salt into the wound. These employees share the times they got fired in the first week of starting a new job.
Sounds Like This PI Wasn’t That Good At Investigating
“Hired as a tech for a private investigator. They mostly did cheating spouses or insurance fraud.
The second day I walk in to get started in my new office. Told me that I’m let go, don’t disclose why, something about my background report and a state police matter.
Never been in trouble. Never been arrested. I was so confused. So I pull my own records. Nothing.
My last name is common in Portuguese/Brazilian areas. They had mistaken me for another woman, same name as me and of similar age, who had quite a lot of bad behavior.
I wonder how reputable they are if they didn’t think to not only cross-check the ages or go by the last four of the social but, at least the state police weren’t investigating me.
Which would explain why they were confused when I called them hysterical asking if they needed me to come in for questioning.”
Idiot Manager
“I started at a popular, used-clothing store in the University area of Seattle. The second day, the manager saw my vape pen sticking out of my back pocket when I went to grab an item off a high shelf. It had been covered by my sweater. She asked me what it was, I showed her and told her it was a vape pen I used because I didn’t like to smoke on the job. She asked me if I could put it in my purse instead of having it on my person. I complied and finished my shift without incident.
On the third day, they called me into the back office before I even clocked in. They already had the paperwork filled out. I was fired for using narcotics, ‘on the job.’ I was taken aback, and then I asked if nicotine counted as a narcotic. The manager looked confused, sneered, and said no, but that I was fired anyway. I asked her if she was firing me because she didn’t know what a vape pen was, and assumed it had pot (I don’t smoke pot and never have) in it. She didn’t answer me, but looked angry and just kinda sat there glaring.
So I left.”
It Pays To Be Honest
“It was my job to valet park cars at a casino. on Day four, I drive a couple other valet guys in our extended golf cart shuttle to the back parking lot where all the valet customer’s cars were stored. After dropping off the last guy at the car he was looking for, I decide to cut through a long row of cars with a gap big enough for me to fit through instead of having to drive all the down and around to the end of the row. Well when I went to turn the cart coming out of the two empty spaces, I turned it too soon because I wasn’t used to the length of this golf cart. I caught the corner of a brand new Cadillac Deville that an elderly couple had valet parked earlier that day. I stopped, got out and assessed the damage and then looked around for any cameras that might have spotted me. Didn’t see any cameras in sight so I hopped back on the cart and acted like nothing happened. Later that day, the elderly couple comes out to retrieve their car and freaks out when the valet guy pulls it up front.
My manager confronted all of the valet staff asking for info on what happened. No one knew anything. He comes back out three hours later and asks again. No one said anything again. On my way out the back of the casino that night, I see a woman in a suit with a radio. She sees me coming and asks someone on her radio if she should bring me in. She asks me to follow her and she takes me to a very small room with a folding table and two folding chairs where there are three men inside. One sitting down pushes a piece of paper at me and tells me to read it and sign it if it is accurate. Turns out they knew I had done it after they went back and looked at the cameras and my manager had come out a second time to just to see if I would confess to it. Turns out if I had just been honest, he wouldn’t have fired me. Lesson learned!”
Bizarre Reason To Get Fired
“Worked at a News Station for minimum wage. Just worked the TelePrompter for the morning show. The production manager calls me in at 8 pm to discuss something after the second day. I drive all the way across town to get there and we meet in his office. He said some of the workers were weirded out at my Twitter. They thought I was some creeper because I sent a picture to this girl I know of a toddler sumo wrestling another toddler. They said I need to delete my Twitter. I told them I would, even though I knew I wasn’t going to. I just didn’t show up for work the next day and the next day I had a voicemail saying not to come back in.”
A Care Salesman That Couldn’t Drive
“At age 18 I got a job as a car salesman despite the fact I didn’t have a driver’s license at the time. I worked right through the first day, sold three cars, and by all reports I was doing fantastically. I was asked to move a car at the end of the day, and I responded to the manager that I didn’t drive. He looked at me with complete bewilderment, and was absolutely stunned for maybe 20 seconds, apparently trying to process this information. He then walked over to the till, pulled out two hundred bucks, thanked me for the day’s work, forced the cash into my hand and marched me out of the premises.”
Bad Luck When You Lose Two Jobs In One Day
“I got a job at a framing store. The first day was a Monday, and I came in to do paperwork and train on the awesome pneumatic tools we would be using.
I looked at the schedule and noticed that they had me opening the following day (Tuesday) at 10 am. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be a problem — but I had a second job serving at a coffee house/bar / music venue. I’d be working Monday nights until 2 am, and wouldn’t be able to get up early and make the hour-long commute to be there on time. When I interviewed & accepted the job offer at the frame store, I had specifically blocked Tuesdays off my availability. I mentioned this to the manager, who said it’s no problem. Just come in on the next scheduled shift (Wednesday).
So I show up bright and early to begin work on Wednesday, and the first words out of my manager’s mouth were ‘Sorry dude, but I’m gonna have to let you go.’ Apparently, I was hired to replace another employee who was a total piece of trash — and he knew somehow that I was his replacement. When I didn’t show up that Tuesday, the piece of trash called the district manager, who in turn called my manager. The district manager told him unequivocally to fire me for a no-call/no-show.
Disheartened that I somehow managed to lose a very promising job through no fault of my own (paid way more than I could get in my college town), I went to work at the coffee house. When I got there, the assistant manager broke the news that the coffee house was closing down, because the owner didn’t want to operate two separate businesses.
So I guess I lost two jobs in one day.”
Hey, Take The Day Off…Actually, You’re Fired
“I was working as a bookkeeper for a local middleman construction supply company. They bought things like toilets, fixtures, and would sell them to construction companies. My job relied solely on the incoming vendor invoices of the day, so I could record them, do their markup, and send out invoices to their clients.
I started on a Monday, and the following Monday was a US federal holiday with no mail, so they told me on Friday that since there was no mail, it didn’t make much sense for me to come in because there wasn’t much to do and I was new. Ok Cool. Monday afternoon, there’s a message on our answering machine (this was years ago), and asked if I could call them back. After doing so, I got reprimanded for not showing up to work by the same guy who told me to take the day off, and told me not to bother coming in again.
He was just covering his own butt for a mistake he made. What I’ve learned from that experience is either get that stuff on voicemail or written down. Won’t keep you from being fired, but you can make a pretty big stink about it and maybe cost that moron his own job. Make him think that maybe owning up to mistakes is better than ruining it for someone else.”
Fired For Being Fat And Sweaty
“I was fired from this lousy organic grocery store in Pittsburgh the first week. They wouldn’t tell me why, just that it wasn’t working out. Later someone I knew socially who also worked there at the same time told me the manager told him that I was fired for being fat and sweaty. I worked next to a pizza oven and they would open the doors and turn off the AC. Also it was the middle of summer. Like a year later they went out of business. From what I understand they had a huge turnover.
What annoys me the most is why did they hire me if they didn’t want a fat person working there?”
Oh, What? No Take Your GF To Work Day?
“Coworker of mine had to fire a new employee on his team on day four.
The new hire brought her girlfriend to work (who was not employed with us) and she sat in the lunchroom on her laptop, working on…god knows what. This occurred for two days before anyone realized she didn’t work here. We told the new hire to tell her to leave. She said, ‘If she goes, then I go.’
They both left.”
Fired For A Once In A Lifetime Experience
“I used to do tennis court maintenance on an island in Florida at a resort. My first day, the shop pro is late and I’m sitting on a golf cart after brushing the clay courts with Monica Seles just standing around waiting. She busts out with, “Want to hit a few balls?” So I’m down, how awesome is this? If you’ve never played with a professional tennis player before, you have no idea how fast that ball comes flying at you. It was like she was just practicing serving at me and I may have, being very generous, tipped a couple maybe. Well the shop pro shows up 15 minutes later and they do their thing. Comes up to me afterwards tells me I’m fired because policy says the court maintenance can not interact with the pros. Best thing I’ve ever gotten fired for!”
It Was The Greatest Job He Had Ever Had
“I worked at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant in town that had just opened. It was under the table and I was a freshman in high school. Some of my friends worked there too as waiters and waitresses, but I was assigned to the kitchen. I was the only white person who worked in the kitchen, everyone else was either from Japan (chefs) or from Indonesia (dishwashers/prep). Immediately on my first day I was taught some basic Japanese, basic Indonesian, basic food prep skills, and then fully expected to act as a go-between for the two groups.
In the morning the Indonesians had me chopping vegetables I had never seen with knives I had never held. In the evening the Japanese chefs who were normally very stoic would grow sentimental and let me cook with them. I left work well past midnight having not spoken English for hours, sweaty as all heck, and smelling strongly of soy sauce.
My last day of work (day 7) the Indonesians gave me a bracelet made out of seashells from their country to wear. That evening, the Japanese chefs tied a Japanese flag bandana around my head to wear, just like them. They brought in a black and white samurai movie to watch while we worked.
Suddenly, I was called to the boss’s room (whom I had never met or seen). He was Japanese and spoke English with a thick accent. He commanded me to sit, and to my horror I saw that 3 of my coworkers from school were there too. He then informed us that we were all fired, effective immediately. It turned out that one of the idiot white kids was stealing sake from the bar and selling it in the parking lot. The boss man didn’t like that, and thought it reflected poorly on all of us white kids. So we were all fired, though I had no idea what was going on. The Japanese chefs looked at me sternly when I went back to grab my things, but gave me firm handshakes. The Indonesians were teary-eyed and gave me quick hugs.
I returned to school a few days later and to my boring existence. This was many years ago. It was the greatest job I’ve ever had.”
Got Fired From A Job And All I Got Was This Lousy Shirt
“I was fired the first hour of being hired once.
Was looking for a job. Came into a local chain restaurant. Meet the manager, shake his hand, ask for a job. We have great chemistry and after a brief chat session; he tells me I am hired and to come back on a certain date about a week from that day.
Wait a week, come in on the date I was told. I am in a great mood and ready to work. Especially because I am totally broke after going another week without work.
I meet my trainer, and she brings me new hire paperwork and a T-shirt. I put on the T, and start filling out paperwork. While filling in the spaces; I look up, and behind the kitchen line (had a big open wall that showed into the kitchen from the dining room) I see a guy from high school that was a huge bully to me. He snuck punched me more than once, would call me out in the hallways and at lunch challenging me to a fight, and just generally trash-talked me.
Being that this is almost five years after high school. I barely give a care in the world. I wave at him and smile, thinking we are about to start working together. (Honestly, I am kind of excited to have someone I recognize there, even if he was a moron in high school.) In response to my wave, he just scowls at me and walks away out of sight.
I don’t think much of it, and just keep working on my new-hire paperwork. Not even a minute or two later. My trainer walks up and says.
‘Yeah, I’m sorry; but actually, we just aren’t looking for new people right now.’
My mouth is agape in shock, ‘but, I have been waiting for this job for a week now…’
She just kind of shrugs ‘Sorry.’ Not really sincere. ‘I am going to need that T-shirt back.’
I begin to become furious at this point. I look up and the bully from highschool has reappeared behind the line and is just smirking with his arms folded. I can’t help but think this is his doing.
I begin grabbing my things.
‘Haha, heck no I am not giving it back. I am taking it since you idiots made me wait a week for this.’ I tell my now ex-trainer.
‘Dude, you cant keep it.’ She says with growing aggression.
‘TAKE IT FROM ME B*!’* I shout at the top of my lungs and leave, knocking over my chair in the process.
Ended up making the decision to move away from that town a week later, so it was probably for the best. But seriously, forget people that live their lives still in high school.
I still have that shirt.”
You Had One Job, Buddy
“Not my story, but a friend. He was hired at a factory job to do QA on an assembly line. All he had to do was look at the products coming down the line and remove any defective or foreign objects. Oh, did I mention he was the kind of kid that got car sick while reading or playing games?
Within three hours of starting his first shift, he gets nauseous and throws up on the assembly line. They now have to shut production down while they clean up. They send my friend on a break to help him recompose. After an hour or so, he gets back on the line and with in minutes throws up again.
He was not asked back the next day.”
No Fun At Toys R Us
“Let’s talk about Toys R’ Us. I needed a place to work. I told them I wouldn’t be available until next month (about 20 days away) because I was going through finals. They said that everything sounded good and they looked forward to working with me. The next week rolled by and I got a call saying I didn’t show up to my shift and that I’m fired. I thought, ‘Really? They can’t keep track of when I’m supposed to work? I don’t want to work for these jokers if they can’t manage simple scheduling.’
A month or so goes by and I get a call, asking if I want to work for a different Toys R’ Us store. I say sure. I get to work, everything seems nice. I put in a couple of months of work. Liking the staff. One day I ask for a week off. This seemed to be the most insane request they have ever heard. They started freaking out about scheduling and saying it just wouldn’t work that I couldn’t take it off. The week I wanted off was over two months away. I told them that I needed it off and that the schedule wasn’t even made for that month yet.
I was told, ‘Well if you’re so determined that you just MUST take a vacation in the middle of the month, then you might as well put in your two-week notice (saying that I’m leaving the company).’ I said, ‘Fine. Consider this my two-week notice.’
I wrote it on a piece of paper that was next to me and signed it. They then said, ‘No, you can’t just leave. We were about to make the schedule.’ I told them, ‘Fine. Don’t put me on it. I won’t be here.’
Half-way through the next week, they put my name on the schedule for the next month. I told them I wasn’t going to come in because I only had about another week left. The remainder of the week and next week go by. I put in my regular hours. I have never missed a day of work in my life. It’s the day after the two-week time period I gave them when I got a call saying that since I didn’t show up to work, and that I was fired. When I went to pick up my last check, they were trying to guilt me into working a free day because of ‘all the trouble I caused them.’
The manager then tried some reverse psychology stuff, saying ‘if only you didn’t give us that two-week notice, you could be working right now.’ Like, uhh… no. I turned in the two-week notice because I DIDN’T want to work here. What the heck? No, I’m not coming back.
The big problem happens AFTER they fired me. I could not land a job for over a year. I found out that the Toys R’ Us manager was saying I was a very horrible employee that didn’t listen and rarely showed up to work. I wasn’t even putting them on previous work history. But it’s in my file somewhere I guess because they kept calling me ‘last known place of employment’ and getting the same lousy Toys R’ Us manager.
Years later I received a payout from a civil lawsuit against them for how they treated their employees and lost wages.
And by the way; I won employee of the month twice, and I only worked there for two months. I was your star employee the entire time I was there.”
She Had To Get The Police Involved
“When I was 16 I got my first job at a small discount grocery store. It wasn’t a great job but my parents had just bought me a car and the deal was I had to pay the insurance, so I didn’t care either way.
I was a very responsible kid and had some experience running a cash register at a relative’s store so I figured it would be easy money. I went in for my first shift and it was uneventful, so was the next one.
We didn’t count our own drawers at the end of our shifts there. The manager on duty did and we weren’t allowed in the room. The third day my drawer came up short $40. Mistakes can happen to anyone but I felt totally stupid and was upset with myself. The manager on duty was really lousy about it but just told me to be back the next night.
On day four my drawer was short over $100 and I knew I hadn’t messed up that badly. Especially since I had been sure to be extra careful and count everyone’s change back to them.
The same manager counted my drawer that night and informed me I would have to pay that money back by the end of the week or they would press charges. Still didn’t fire me.
When I told my dad what happened he put two and two together and told me I was being taken advantage of. He took me to work the next day and spoke to the store manager, who said there were no cameras in the counting room so they had to take the manager’s word.
I worked my shift with the same manager that night and sure enough, my drawer was short again. This time I called my dad and he came and called the police, who watched me willingly turn out my pockets and purse in front of the manager.
She refused to do the same and told the police I was lying, that I was mad she had fired me earlier during my shift for not being at my register. She said I had been stealing from day one and I was lucky she didn’t press charges.
I never went back to even try to speak to the store manager. That was my first time dealing with an adult ‘authority’ figure who blatantly lied about me, so it messed with me for a while.”
Didn’t Get Fired, But The Universe Gave Him A Sign
“I wasn’t fired really, but I would’ve been fired if I had stayed there any longer.
Just a note beforehand, I have Tourette’s Syndrome and it can get triggered by pretty much anything. Smells, emotions, chemicals in foods, etc.
Well, I get a job at a local pizza place and everything is fine in the morning. As my first day goes on, I notice my Tourettes is starting to act up more and more, and figured it was from the smell of all the oil and grease back in the cooking area. You can hold them back, but it takes a lot to focus on them. I let my manager know this when I was interviewed and she told me that it was fine.
Day keeps ongoing and I have to focus more and more on holding them back so I don’t channel the spirit of Michael J. Fox into my body, and it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with everyone else. My manager keeps on yelling at me for this, even though I told her flat out that this could happen. End of the shift and she tells me, “Change your attitude if you want to keep working here.”
On the drive home I was thinking about just quitting while I’m ahead, and figure I would wait one more day to see how I do. I ended up in a ditch, and decided that was a sign to quit.”
Take This Job (And Uniform) And Shove It
“Day Two. I was fired because ‘We can clearly see you aren’t getting it.’
This was at a deli. They never actually showed me anything and left me on my own to serve customers during a lunch rush. Nothing was labeled to tell me what it was and their selection was HUGE. The customers were actually very nice about it and pointed to what they wanted, but when they finally returned they yelled at me in front of customers for the place is untidy. The owner turned into a demon woman when she told me to clean their meat slicer and I asked for training. When I was let go she bellowed ‘And return that uniform, and make sure you WASH IT!’
A friend and I ran the uniform over with his car several times, I then dragged it through the mud and posted it through their letterbox when they had closed.”