People Share Stories Of Being Fired, And Some Are Outrageous

Getting fired is never fun, but it can at least be entertaining.

Getting fired from a job isn't exactly rare. Forbes estimates around 40% of Americans have been given the boot from a workplace at some point in their lives.

I'm sure everyone reading this knows someone who has been canned, and I'm sure many of you may have been in the unfortunate spot yourselves.

Well, it turns out people on Reddit aren't strangers to being fired, and their pain is now our entertainment.

People are going viral with wild stories about being fired.

People share crazy stories of being fired.

A thread titled "Why did you get fired?" is blowing up, and the stories are both concerning and fascinating. Check out some of the responses below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com:

• I was tasked with washing something that would have 100% electrocuted me. I refused. They fired me. Then asked another employee to do it. They were electrocuted. Sued into oblivion and the place is gone now. Missed my chance for a big payout but eh... didnt nearly die.
• I was 16 and working at an Ace Hardware as an after-school/weekend job. One of my responsibilities was taking out the trash at the end of the night. One evening, I was closing with another guy who was a long-time employee. He said he would get the trash and that I could go home. Come in the next day to boss waiting for me. Says, "WonManBand, how come trash wasn't taken out last night?" I respond that other employee said he'd do it and told me go home. Boss says that's not what other employee is saying, says I was supposed to do it and just left. I disagree, get fired. Over 20 years later, still salty. Didn't even like that job but f*ck you, John.
• Got fired for quitting. See, phones weren't allowed on jobsites. But, we were expected to call into dispatch before 5pm to get our next daily assignment. Buuuuuuut, we worked from 7a to 7p almost every day, so we couldn't call into dispatch. After being reprimanded for not calling in on time, I said "Ya know, this job isn't going to work out and I quit." Dispatcher said "You have no idea how stressful you people make things for me. You're fired, and no longer allowed to work for this agency!"
• I asked too many questions but also did too much on my own without asking for clarification. Then I pointed out that those two things in my review conflicted, and they really didn’t care for that.
• A manager once told me I needed to do a "complete 360" of my attitude. He didn't find it amusing when I told him that if I did that then nothing would change.
• Quality standards kept changing unpredictably while time limits kept crunching tighter and tighter. Eventually my quality slips one too many times and boom, that's all folks. The entire program shut down about a year after I fell off. The company had lost their contract. I sure didn't have to wonder why.
• Back in highschool, I didn’t invite my 30 something year old manager to my underage drinking party. Fired the next shift at work during a rush.
• I openly mocked my supervisors spelling errors and didn't show up to a shift they scheduled me for after I specifically told them I couldn't work that time
• District manager emailed the whole store giving us a (large) list of tasks to complete before Black Friday. Jokingly, I simply typed "No." and showed my co-worker, just to get a cheap laugh. I was obviously not going to send that. Before I could react, my co-worker reached over and hit "send". My heart dropped and I got a phone call later that evening saying I wasn't a team player, I was refusing a "direct order from a superior". I tried to explain it was a joke and that I accidentally hit send, then I got berated for "not taking the job seriously". Looking back it was a blessing in disguise. It was the last Thanksgiving with my brother before he passed.
• Because I wouldnt let my boss at a new job, put my name on a nasty email. I called her out and said I dont speak to people that way. She was awful. I was happy to see that pink slip in her hand a week later.
• Changed my status to "available for work" inadvertently while job searching on linkedin. Was connected to HR at the firm and they saw it. I realized my mistake a couple hours too late but they saw it and let me go. Honestly was the best thing ever. I started my own business after it happened a year ago and am thriving.
• The owner was from India. His son wanted Valentine’s Day off to go to a seven day wedding, but I already requested and had it approved. He crossed my name off the calendar and put his and told me if i wasn’t there I’d be fired. Expected me to pick up all his missing shifts the whole week. I picked up all his shifts, but I wasn’t there on Valentine’s Day.  I was fired.
• After my training and onboarding, I was only getting 2 shifts a week consistently for over a month. Asked for more, was given the "we are unionized, we have to follow seniority, you've only been here 3 months" schpeel. So I went and got a second job and started telling the first one which of the 2 or 3 days a week I'd be available to work for them. Got let go for not being available for shifts 7 days a week.
• OD’d at my desk.
• Because I smelled bad. They weren't wrong. I had just recently moved out on my own for the first time, nobody was really encouraging me to take care of myself, I was struggling with depression and just.. didn't bother. It was pretty f*ckin embarrassing.
• My dad was dying and the company didn’t want me spending so much time helping him. I offer to have my dad die at a more conducive time for them but they didn’t take that well so I changed my number in the company directive to a local pizza shop and got things in order.
• Called a customer a witch. And that was being polite. I could have and should have been a lot worse.
• I left a USB stick with sensitive files plugged into a computer that was turned off, inside a locked office, which was inside a secure area.
• Alcoholic Chef here, self explanatory. 1 year sober!
• I left a 17 hour shift 10 minutes early.

Some of those stories cut deep, and others, honestly, sound a bit justified.

*KNOCKS ON WOOD* 

I have never been fired from a job in 30+ years of life. However, I have quit two jobs. One in spectacular fashion. I'll withhold the name of the place, but it was the most mindless boring work you can imagine. One day, the manager wanted me to move to the most boring part of the job. I'd had enough. I straight up quit on the spot. Being there felt like my brain was dying. The guy was in a legit state of shock, but the decision had been made. Got my stuff, shook his hand, got in my vehicle and drove to a bonfire with my friends. I was so unbelievably happy. Haven't regretted it for a second.

Now, is it possible I'll eventually get fired from a job? Hard to say, but you can't really rule anything out when it comes to the content game and living life like a gunfighter on the run from the law.

For now, the lights remain on and I love OutKick and my other work ventures. If I do get fired and disappear from the content grind, just assume I went out in the most entertaining way possible. Do you have a great story about being fired? I want to hear about it at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.