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Man in office | Source: Getty Images
Man in office | Source: Getty Images

40 Wild Stories About People Who Got Fired On Day One

Salwa Nadeem
Oct 06, 2023
03:20 A.M.

Landing a job and going to one's workplace on the first day is something most people get to experience, but getting fired on the same day is something only a few have had to go through. Going from "Welcome onboard" to "You're fired!" in less than a day is a journey only some folks embark on.

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A man scolding another man in an office | Source: Shutterstock

A man scolding another man in an office | Source: Shutterstock

What makes people lose their jobs on the first day of work? Do they say offensive things to their boss, or does the management learn about the lies they wrote on their resume? Or is it something else?

A few people on Reddit shared why they got fired on the first day of work. Their first-hand experiences reveal what happens in companies that fire their employees soon after hiring them and what these people feel after losing their jobs.

Comments have been revised for clarity and grammatical accuracy.

1. Hired on Christmas Eve

A man wearing his shirt | Source: Shutterstock

A man wearing his shirt | Source: Shutterstock

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u/ajoblesschristmas: Last Friday, I was interviewed for a full-time administrative position for a small local company. They called me back 20 minutes after the interview, offering me the job.

Fast forward three days, I was hired on Christmas Eve, came in to complete all the paperwork, worked a 6-hour training shift, and… was then let go a few hours after via faux-apologetic voicemail from my training manager.

Apparently, my hiring had been a miscommunication amongst upper management, and despite HR wanting to hire me, I "never should have been hired in the first place."

The person who trained me said the company owner had hired someone else instead of me, and they realized that after my shift ended. I wonder how the miscommunication happened because the HR department had just one person in it.

2. The Restaurant Manager

A man talking to a restaurant employee | Source: Shutterstock

A man talking to a restaurant employee | Source: Shutterstock

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u/PeanutButterOctopus: On the first day on the job for everyone at a new restaurant, a manager got fired because she was over the top.

I felt terrible for her because she was friendly and worked hard during training and orientation. She just had a very big personality.

They waited till the end of her shift to fire her. I remember they made her work in a sandwich costume outside all day, and then she came back inside and said, "I'm ready to get this!!!" while grilling some food.

I remember hearing the General manager say, "That's it, she's done," and firing her because she "isn't the right fit for the team."

3. The Casual Theft

A teen boy looking into his phone | Source: Shutterstock

A teen boy looking into his phone | Source: Shutterstock

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u/lo-key-glass: I worked at a gas station a while back, where I helped train this new guy. He seemed nice, and we all liked him.

He walks away with $150 out of the register during his first solo shift. He didn't even try to cover it up or anything. Everybody was shocked. What did he think was going to happen?

4. The Driver

A man driving a car | Source: Shutterstock

A man driving a car | Source: Shutterstock

u/crushcastles23: In his last job, a man drove cars from the drop-off point to the auction venue. One day, he was driving this really nice BMW, sitting at a stop sign at the base of a hill.

Suddenly, a semi-truck carrying logs loses its brakes and slams him at 50+ mph. He then proceeds to T-bone another car while still being pushed by the semi-truck.

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This made him collide with another vehicle whose driver had seen what had happened. The first responders had to cut his car to get him out of it. They soon airlifted him to a hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.

When he called his boss (after emergency surgery), the boss fired him. He sued the company for wrongful termination, and he's been living off the money for three years.

5. Fired Within the First Hour

A person cleaning a table | Source: Pexels

A person cleaning a table | Source: Pexels

u/Yakistonia: I worked at a 50s-themed restaurant where a kid named Joe got hired. He had to clean tables and set them.

He stole the tip while cleaning the first table on his first day. The server gave him the benefit of the doubt, but that was foolish.

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Joe approached an older man who was a regular at the restaurant. While chatting with Joe, the gentleman mentioned having just had dental surgery.

Joe is intrigued and begins failed negotiations with the gentleman for painkillers. The negotiations turned to pleading, and my manager intervened and promptly fired him. This happened within the first hour of his joining.

6. I Fired an Employee

Two people loading boxes into a vehicle | Source: Pexels

Two people loading boxes into a vehicle | Source: Pexels

u/zazameman: I fired a guy who arrived four hours late on his first day. I was working in a moving company at the time.

When he showed up, he asked if he still gets paid for the job. Since the bill included four people and we did the job with three, I told him to walk home and not to bother showing up the next day.

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7. She Had a Purpose

A woman and a man working at a reception | Source: Shutterstock

A woman and a man working at a reception | Source: Shutterstock

u/Primesghost: I work in a college town, and we hired a new part-timer to work at the reception. On her first day, she casually mentions that her wealthy parents want her to experience what it's like to "struggle."

So, she has to work a job and use the city buses for two months, and then she can quit, and her parents will give her allowance back and get her a new car.

"Wait, so you're going to leave in two months?" the boss asked her. "Yeah, that's what my parents said," she replied. "Can I talk to you in my office?" the boss said.

8. Fired Too Soon

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A supermarket employee standing near the refrigerator | Source: Pexels

A supermarket employee standing near the refrigerator | Source: Pexels

u/[deleted]: I worked with a guy named Darryl for about 7 hours. Darryl was in his late 40s-early 50s and was a pretty intimidating-looking guy.

He was perhaps 6'6", 250lbs+, muscular, bald, and a full beard. He was hired as a produce manager at the grocery store I worked at.

I talked to him for a while, and he seemed to be an extremely nice guy. He said he was in the military most of his life, went to college in his 40s, and got a Master's in Industrial Engineering.

He was telling me how depressed he was that no one would hire him because of his age and that he was planning on working here while job hunting.

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We were almost off work, and the assistant manager came to talk to us. I forgot to mention that the assistant manager was terrible.

He came over, introduced himself to Darryl, and immediately began criticizing his first day's work. I don't know precisely what Darryl did, but he made a minor mistake that caused the assistant manager to ask him, "Do you even know what a Serrano pepper is?"

Darryl defended himself and apologized, saying he would fix his mistake. The assistant manager then delivered the final blow and said, "Noah, it looks like we've hired a produce manager who doesn't know anything about produce," and laughed.

Darryl then said what every employee there had wanted to say at one point, "You're not going to talk to me like a child." The assistant manager fired him on the spot.

9. The Pizza Delivery Guy

A woman cutting pizza in a restaurant kitchen | Source: Pexels

A woman cutting pizza in a restaurant kitchen | Source: Pexels

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u/RockonWeinerdog: I was a pizza delivery guy at a family-owned Italian restaurant. They brought a guy in to help make pizzas. Two hours into his training, he starts talking about wanting to get intimate with the female servers.

The female servers were the daughters of the owner. The guy teaching him how to make the pizzas was the older brother. He was physically ejected from the building.

10. Either Work or Go Home

A man shaking hands with a woman in an office | Source: Pexels

A man shaking hands with a woman in an office | Source: Pexels

u/nikunikuniku: I got fired on my first week right when the work schedule came out after training. I was in high school, and during the interview, I told the manager interviewing me that I could only work 20 hours a week.

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I didn't mind 8-hour days on weekends but couldn't do it on weekdays. The schedule comes out as soon as training ends, and I'm scheduled to work 39.5 hours with several 8-hour shifts on weekdays after school.

I went into the manager's office and told him I couldn't do it, so he said, "This is why we hired you. Either do it or you're fired". Well... That was that.

11. He Was Too Casual About It

A woman working at a cinema ticket counter | Source: Pexels

A woman working at a cinema ticket counter | Source: Pexels

u/Lord_Metagross: A guy applied for a general manager position at the movie theater where I worked. He got the job because he had prior manager experience at Pizza Hut or somewhere similar.

On his first day, he showed up wearing a "Suns out guns out" tank top and swimming trunk. Also, he was wearing two different shoes. The owner told him to leave promptly after showing up for work the same day.

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12. Do You Know How to Make Omelets?

A chef working in a restaurant kitchen | Source: Shutterstock

A chef working in a restaurant kitchen | Source: Shutterstock

u/[deleted]: I applied for a job in the kitchen of a restaurant. There was no application, just a walk-in interview. I show up to work a few days later, and the chef gives me a kitchen tour. "Alright, you ready to make some omelets?" He asked.

"Uh, sure.... are you going to show me?" I replied. He looked at me, paused, and started laughing. I nervously laughed as well.

As it turns out, the manager called the wrong person. She got me mixed up with a guy with five years of experience and had called me by mistake.

13. The Lazy New Guy

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A person using a laptop at a wood workshop | Source: Pexels

A person using a laptop at a wood workshop | Source: Pexels

u/growsgrass: I fired someone about two hours into the first day. We had a monster pile of branches to send through the wood chipper, and two of my better guys were working on it.

I hired a new guy to help out. I spend all this time training him not to get injured by the wood chipper and send him out with my two guys.

I ran out a bit later to check on him and saw my experienced guys doing it. They are working hard and putting in work chipping branches.

On the other hand, the new guy picks up a twig and tosses it in the chipper, grabs a drink of water, another twig, another drink, goes and has a smoke, another few twigs, etc. I had to let him go.

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14. The Temporary Guys

A man working on a laptop | Source: Shutterstock

A man working on a laptop | Source: Shutterstock

u/DavidBenAkiva: My company hired temps for this big job. We didn't have a lot of space, so temps had to double up in cubicles. I did feel bad for them, but some of their actions were hilarious/terrible.

Our laptops require a password to log in, so one of the guys wrote his username and password on a Post-it note. Then, he spent two hours trying to log in. He didn't realize that he had to press enter.

Another guy was working on his laptop when his cube mate sneezed or was too loud. His reaction? He slapped her.

He got escorted out of the building. The next day, he shows up to work again like nothing happened. He was escorted back out and told to please not return.

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15. I Didn't Sign Up for This!

People working in an office | Source: Pexels

People working in an office | Source: Pexels

u/digital_darkness: I worked for an MSP (IT consultant/engineer) in my first big job after college. They hired a new guy; his first assignment out of the gate was one of our more demanding clients.

This guy was to go out and replace a switch (config and all). Four hours later, he still wasn't done. Come to find out, he had no clue what he was doing.

We hired him as desktop support, and they had him do network stuff. They called him in and fired him that day. I felt awful for the guy.

16. He Danced It Away

A warehouse | Source: Shutterstock

A warehouse | Source: Shutterstock

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u/Enraged_Toothbrush: I worked at a warehouse for about three months, and the company was moving to a new location, so we were taking all the boxes off the racks, putting them on pallets, wrapping the pallets, and loading them onto several different trucks.

One of my bosses was sent over to help train the new guy, but the new guy didn't know he was working with a boss.

While loading boxes, the new guy didn't catch a box because he was busy texting. Then, he complained that the box landed on his foot.

He was sent to the other team to tape up pallets. Once we finish our second pallet, the boss and I take it over to be tapped. The boss specifically requested that the new guy take care of it.

It turns out the new guy is missing. I'm now given the task of finding him. Ten minutes later, I see a pile of clothes sitting on the ground in the back of the warehouse.

I walked around it and absolutely could not believe what I was seeing. This guy took the clothes out of several boxes, broke them down, laid them out on the floor, and recorded himself breakdancing.

17. Who Stole the Video Game?

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Video games in a shop | Source: Shutterstock

Video games in a shop | Source: Shutterstock

u/[deleted]: I worked at a Future Shop when the store opened in my city. Since it was brand new, the first few days were spent setting up the store before the grand opening.

When everyone arrived on the second day of work, the management had everyone in the entire store stand in a circle while explaining that someone had stolen a copy of Grand Theft Auto.

They said that they knew who it was since everything was recorded by the security cameras, and asked for the person "who knows who they are" to please leave the store immediately or else they would call the police. The youngest and quietest teenager immediately walked out with his head hanging low. Super awkward.

18. The Spy

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Two women working on a computer | Source: Pexels

Two women working on a computer | Source: Pexels

u/hylian122: When I worked in student tech support in school, my boss told the story of one of the only times she'd had to fire someone.

Within just a couple of days of training ending, it came out a guy was installing some sort of remote desktop software on every computer he touched, meaning he could access all of them from his own PC.

These were students' private computers, not lab machines. He said he did it "just to make it easier when they needed help again," but no one bought that. He was obviously immediately fired and faced disciplinary action with the school.

19. Forklift Accidents

A man operating a forklift | Source: Pexels

A man operating a forklift | Source: Pexels

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u/awesomebobbo11: I worked with my brother at a Monsanto corn warehouse a few years ago. One day, a new guy came in and was training on a forklift.

After a couple of hours, he was on his own, and after about 20 minutes, he crashed his forklift into the wall. He shut the lift down, got up, walked out of an emergency exit door, and drove away.

Six months later, we had a new boss, and he was training a new guy who happened to be the same but was going by a different name. He got fired a month later for too many forklift accidents.

20. He Had No Idea about It

A gas station | Source: Pexels

A gas station | Source: Pexels

u/sleepyinottawa: I used to work for a landscaping company when a new kid was hired. We went out on a job, and after we finished, the boss asked the new kid to gas up the truck.

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He did what they asked. It turns out our work truck leaked oil like a sieve (the boss was too cheap to fix it).

No one told the guy that everyone puts in new oil when they fill it up. So, when the engine seized up later on, guess who got fired for it?

21. He Forgot the Keys

A delivery guy | Source: Pexels

A delivery guy | Source: Pexels

u/[deleted]: I used to work for a logistics company that specialized in transport computers. This new guy left the depot to deliver a parcel on the first day.

After making the delivery, he went to the petrol station to fill up, left the keys in the cab when he went to pay and returned to an empty parking lot and bad work references.

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22. Crashing the New Car

A Corvette | Source: Pexels

A Corvette | Source: Pexels

u/needawp: My father's friend was a car salesman for a little while at a Chevy dealer. While he was working there, they hired a new guy and asked if he wanted to test-drive any of the cars.

So, he says he wants to test drive one of the Corvettes, and they agree. One of the managers went with him on the drive. The guy goes too fast down a country road and crashes into a tree.

The manager was upset, but the guy still wasn't fired. He said, "Okay, we have to go back to the dealership and file an insurance claim," and forbade the guy from driving cars.

The guy starts yelling about how he can't afford to pay for the car and just starts running down the road. They end up calling the cops, and not only does the guy get fired, but he also gets arrested.

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23. I Thought They Would Train Me

A woman helping a child paint | Source: Pexels

A woman helping a child paint | Source: Pexels

u/[deleted]: When I was in college, I got a job at one of those "Paint Your Own Pottery" places. They told me they'd train me on my first day, but they were celebrating a kid's birthday when I reached there.

I didn't get any training and accidentally messed up a couple of kids' pottery items. The rest of the staff were really friendly to me but seemed like a cult.

At the end of the shift, it was a mutual "Thanks but no thanks" situation, yet the boss felt the need to call me the next day to tell me how much the other workers didn't like me. It was strange and petty.

24. Stories from McDonald's

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A McDonald's restaurant | Source: Pexels

A McDonald's restaurant | Source: Pexels

u/shuttlerooster: I used to work at McDonald's. It takes quite a bit to get fired on your first day, yet I've seen it happen a few times.

Once, a new hire got a customer's drive-thru meal prepped, only to start eating it before handing it to them.

On another occasion, a new hire said he couldn't work there, so our manager said, "Well, give me a reason to fire you then." So, he took off his shirt and began singing "Milkshake."

25. He Didn't Listen to Me

A man wearing welding mask covered in welding smoke | Source: Pexels

A man wearing welding mask covered in welding smoke | Source: Pexels

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u/zerbey: I witnessed it myself. We hired a new welder who was supposedly well-qualified, and I was the other new guy who didn't know anything. I was his "assistant" for the day.

That afternoon, he was asked to cut some steel with an acetylene torch (a pretty easy job for a steelworker). Where did he do this? On the new expensive floor that was recently installed.

I asked him, "Hey, shouldn't we be doing this elsewhere?" "Shut up," he says. "OK then," I replied. The sparks and bits of molten steel caused a couple of thousands in damage.

My boss spent 15 minutes ranting and raving to the guy about how utterly incompetent he must be. Finally, the guy meekly asks if he's fired.

He was fired. Not long after, I was taught how to use an acetylene torch and told to do it outside the building, too.

26. She Fired Me, I Took Revenge

A woman talking to a man | Source: Shutterstock

A woman talking to a man | Source: Shutterstock

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u/richardec: IBM hired me in August 1999. On my first day, I was chatting with my new manager. I casually mentioned I was a single father of two young children, among other things.

2 hours later, I was let go. She was concerned that I would not be able to meet the schedule. Had she asked, I would have reassured her. I asked her to reconsider and told her I'd be in touch.

She said her decision was final and I shouldn't bother. I let her have two weeks to think it over before I called and asked how she would like her name spelled in the discrimination report I would submit to the Ministry of Employment.

She asked, "For what?" I answered, "Marital and family status." She spelled her name. I said goodbye. A senior department head called me forty-eight hours later with a job offer.

There was no interview but a direct placement in the company, assuring me they were a diverse department. I worked there until 2009, before the massive layoffs started.

27. He Was Aware of His Mistake

A woman presenting in front of people | Source: Pexels

A woman presenting in front of people | Source: Pexels

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u/SlateHardjaw: I was in the first couple days of two-week training at the University of Phoenix for recruiter (sales) jobs.

There were four rows of desks with computers facing the front of the room. The instructor is mid-sentence when two IT guys walk in without saying a word.

One grabs this guy's computer tower while the other rapidly unplugs all the cords. They take the tower and just walk out.

The guy sitting there looks a bit dumbfounded and a little sheepish. The rest of us are a little confused. The instructor is thrown off a little, but he continues.

The guy who lost his computer sits awkwardly for twenty minutes until the next break when someone from HR comes and escorts him out.

It turns out the guy was surfing inappropriate websites during his training for his brand new job and clearly knew at the time why they came and took his tower.

He just had to sit there while a class of twenty other people did their internal math on what he was just caught red-handed for.

28. Joke Gone Wrong

A young man reading documents and working on a laptop | Source: Pexels

A young man reading documents and working on a laptop | Source: Pexels

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u/saberishungry: A guy on his trial period comes in and seems friendly and good with people. Some new kid fresh out of college, most of us guessed.

Bossman comes in late, dressed in a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals because he's the boss and doesn't care about the dress code.

I saw the new guy walk over to talk with him, and I assumed he was doing his due greetings and didn't think any more of it. I didn't see him again after lunch.

Word got around that he joked with the boss, saying he should dress better in the office. We never saw the guy again after that.

Usually, people get released because they're not as good as they advertised, but this was the first time I saw a guy get dropped before his first day was even over.

29. She Shouldn't Have Said That

An older woman standing with her hands on her waist | Source: Shutterstock

An older woman standing with her hands on her waist | Source: Shutterstock

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u/SlateHardjaw: During the last census, I got one of the positions where you manage a team of census takers. Most people in the training seemed capable enough, but one lady was a bit strange.

She was clearly over 60 but came in wearing a spangly clubbing shirt showing more skin than one would hope she'd show off for a first day at a government job.

The topic of Chinese translators came up during instruction, as we have a sizeable Mandarin-speaking population.

That lady bursts out in the middle and says, "Well, a lot of THEM actually speak English, but they lie and act like they don't to trick you. Oh, they know."

Our instructor, clearly a Chinese-American local, looked at her dumbfounded. The lady was no longer there after the break.

30. High Expectations

Two men talking in an office | Source: Shutterstock

Two men talking in an office | Source: Shutterstock

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u/fabulousprizes: I got hired once for an inside sales position at a company that sold farm machinery. It was a step down in pay & responsibility from my previous job in outside sales, but it was close to home, and I needed the paycheck.

I showed up on my first day just before 8 a.m. and dressed to work in the office. Instead of giving me sales responsibilities, the sales head asked me to work in the warehouse and sort parts into bins.

I agreed and began working. At lunch, I drove home to change out of my business clothes and into something more appropriate for that kind of work.

At the end of the day, the sales head asked me how my day went, and I said this wasn't what the job description stated, but I was okay with it if this was what he wanted me to do.

The next day, I worked in the warehouse again, and the sales head met me at the end of the day. This time, he said I was fired. Why? Because I seemed unwilling to work.

He said I should have shown up about 20 minutes before work started and stayed after 5 p.m. He felt I should have worked more hours to show interest in the new position. I didn't argue and left.

31. Don't Tell Me What to Do!

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Close-up of McDonald's fries | Source: Pexels

Close-up of McDonald's fries | Source: Pexels

u/fletch33: My cousin got fired on her first day of work at McDonald's. Her manager asked her to take out the fries because the machine was beeping.

This was part of the job. She refused, and when she was fired, she told our family, "No one is going to tell me what to do." Seriously.

32. Which Wire Should I Cut?

A young man working in an office | Source: Shutterstock

A young man working in an office | Source: Shutterstock

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u/[deleted]: I got hired through a temp service to work at the local phone company. I thought, "No problem," as I had done tons of telemarketing before and figured it would involve working on the billing/customer service end. Nope…

On my first day, they had me on the phone with linemen up a telephone pole halfway across the country, asking me which wire to cut…

I had NO clue what I was doing and had a mini meltdown talking to my supervisor. She asked me how I could not know what I was doing after passing the test to get the job. My response was, "Test???? WHAT TEST????"

The temp agency was supposed to give all applicants a test to see if they had the experience necessary to do the job. I had a call from the temp agency telling me I was fired before I got home that day.

33. I'll Take the Food Home

A waitress serving food | Source: Shutterstock

A waitress serving food | Source: Shutterstock

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u/what_the_puck: When I was in college, I worked at Pita Pit for a day. About halfway through my first shift, the manager asked me if I had a car.

I said yes and asked him why. He asked me to do a few deliveries because the driver who was supposed to do them didn't show up.

If I didn't, he said I was fired. He also told me I had to pay for the gas and give all tips to him since I was still making $8.20 an hour instead of the $4.50 the drivers made plus tips.

He handed me seven bags and a list of MapQuest directions to them, three deliveries 10+ miles away. I took them and left. Fifteen minutes later, he called me, screaming that I hadn't made all the deliveries yet.

He added that he would fire me after I handed him the tips. At that point, I was done. With five deliveries remaining, I took the bags to a friend's place and had fun eating the food.

34. I Got Someone Fired

A factory worker sitting on the ground | Source: Shutterstock

A factory worker sitting on the ground | Source: Shutterstock

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u/oograh: I was working at a factory job. I had been there a couple of years at this point. They had just hired a new batch of people.

I knew one of the people they just hired (let's call him Ed) from school. He was strange and thought he was being friendly when he punched someone in the arm.

We weren't friends at school, but we were cordial when we met at my workplace. When he got hired and came to talk to me, my supervisor told me to inform him if he messed with me. I found that strange, but later realized why my supervisor said that.

While we were working on different machines that day, the parts on my machine were running slower. At that point, he thought the slow speed meant I wasn't good at my job.

He came to my workstation and jokingly slapped the back of my head hard, yelling, "Hurry up, slowpoke." I was annoyed and angry.

At lunchtime, I pulled the supervisor to the side and told him what had happened and that it was dangerous since I was handling hazardous equipment. He tells me he will take care of it. I return from lunch, and Ed is being escorted out of the building.

35. This Is Not Black Coffee!

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Women working at a restaurant | Source: Shutterstock

Women working at a restaurant | Source: Shutterstock

u/IAmNotYourBoss: My wife got a job at Bob Evans when she was a teenager. Her first customer was an older man and a regular.

The customer ordered a black coffee, so my wife brought him a black coffee. Apparently, black coffee meant something totally different to him because he wanted it with two creams and sugar.

His response to this adversity was to throw his cup of coffee at my wife (unlike a normal person who would ask for what they really want). Her entirely reasonable response was to walk away.

Her manager fired her on the spot; apparently, she was supposed to ask the guy what was wrong in response to getting the coffee thrown at her. I think it's for the best that she got out of there.

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36. No One Told Me I Was Fired

Waitress cleaning a table | Source: Pexels

Waitress cleaning a table | Source: Pexels

u/Intergalactic_Feta: On my first day working as a hostess at Applebee's, I was removing dirty dishes from a table when I accidentally dropped a cup and whispered an inappropriate word.

No one told me I was fired. I found out by going to work the next day to see my name missing from the schedule. I tried to talk to managers and everything, but I was kept from knowing I was fired.

It was like a bad breakup with mind games. Eventually, I had to force myself into the GM's office and make him explain what was happening.

37. He Wasn't Supposed to Do That

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A shocked man | Source: Shutterstock

A shocked man | Source: Shutterstock

u/blank_mind: I worked in a grocery warehouse, driving a forklift in the freezer section. This freezer was supposed to be kept at -20°F, which means they kept it a little colder (I once saw it at -46° on a rainy day).

It was my first day, and a middle-management guy was giving me a tour of the place when we saw a group emerge from the freezer. There was one guy in the middle clutching his mouth and had tears in his eyes.

It turned out this guy stuck his tongue to a cold surface inside the freezer, just like kids dare each other to stick their tongues to a pole during winter. He had to wait until someone stumbled upon him in the freezer room. He was fired on the spot.

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38. No Lunch, No Breaks

A man working in an office | Source: Shutterstock

A man working in an office | Source: Shutterstock

u/[deleted]: I was hired as an "independent contractor" for over-the-phone tech work. Hours were 8 a.m.-6 p.m. OK, that's perfect.

I go in and get acquainted, start taking calls, and hours go by. When do I get lunch? News flash. No lunch, no breaks.

Independent contractor or not, I was pretty sure here in the U.S., you have to give people some breaks and lunch at some point in a 10-hour shift. I feel sure there is some kind of law about that.

So, I tell my new boss, look, I'm starving. I'm going to get something to eat, and I'll be back in an hour. He said if you leave, don't bother coming back. I left and never went back.

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39. I Was Clueless, and I'm Still Clueless

A female server | Source: Shutterstock

A female server | Source: Shutterstock

u/Pokiarchy: I got a job as a waiter at an Australian-themed steakhouse. They had me buy construction boots as part of their uniform and a pair of black shorts totaling $50.

I had never worked as a waiter before, so they had me shadow one of their female servers. I followed her for drink orders at two tables, and then she told the boss it wouldn't work out.

I have no idea what happened, and that was my last $50. In retrospect, that place just screams, "You don't want to work here," but I'm still mad about it a decade and a half later.

40. They Weren't Interested in My Script

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A man working on his laptop | Source: Shutterstock

A man working on his laptop | Source: Shutterstock

u/hi_from_brian: I took some temporary work when I was in between jobs and early in my tech career. Among this work was a manufacturing outfit that needed a few thousand records digitized.

Upon the early part of my discovery, I found that they already had most of this data in a giant flat file and were bringing in only two new pieces of unique data. I knew what I had to do to make this task easy.

As a tech guy, I spent around four hours writing a script that would cut the 5-day job to about two days because it would take care of the data. I only had to enter two pieces of information per record.

The lady in charge of watching me asked me how many entries I had made, and I told her four. I knew I would be done with hundreds by the end of the day because of my script, but she thought I was too slow.

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After I did about twelve of them, a security guy entered and escorted me outside, saying I wasn't performing well. I asked them to let me show my script to them, but they refused to listen and fired me because I wasn't doing the data entry task as they wanted me to do it.

41. I Was Fired before My First Day Even Started

A man talking to a woman in an office | Source: Shutterstock

A man talking to a woman in an office | Source: Shutterstock

u/[deleted]: My interview at the tech company went great, and they hired me as the head of a new startup. "Congratulations, you can start tomorrow!" The boss said.

"Thank you, see you tomorrow morning," I replied. The next morning, before work, I dropped off my young son at daycare and unexpectedly ran into my new boss.

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As soon as he saw me, he yelled, "YOU'RE FIRED! DON'T YOU DARE SHOW UP AT MY OFFICE!!!" Confused, I looked around and asked, "Are you talking to me?"

"OF COURSE, I'M TALKING TO YOU, WHO ELSE WOULD I BE TALKING TO?" He replied. "I don't understand; you just hired me?" I asked.

"Your personal life and work life are going to collide in ways I hadn't anticipated," he said while shaking his head. Shocked at his response, I said, "I believe I can manage both. Give me a chance to prove it." Unfortunately, he had made up his mind. He said, "I'm sorry, but it's best for the company. You're fired."

42. Coffee Shop

Coffee Shop | Shutterstock

Coffee Shop | Shutterstock

Deleted user: In the evening, I stop by my coffee shop and the newbie yells at me, "BOSS, WE HAVEN'T MADE A SINGLE SALE!" Totally confused... This has NEVER happened in the 10 years I've run my coffee shop.

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That day, the newbie was the only barista on duty.I rush to check the security cameras.What I saw floored me. I call up the newbie. Me: "In just 3 hours, 16 people came in and none of them bought anything?" Newbie: "Yeah..." Me: "What, did they just come in to look at the coffee and leave?"

Newbie: “They were all so weird! They kept asking me if I could make an Americano, and of course, I said no, I couldn't.Me: What? Why? WHY COULDN'T YOU MAKE THEM AN AMERICANO? Newbie: Well, it's not tasty, I prefer cappuccinos...

I was just in shock... I fired him on the spot. A whole day without any profit...

People in a conference room | Source: Pexels

People in a conference room | Source: Pexels

Sometimes, getting fired on the first day of work is because you did something wrong, but other times, it's just because you have a terrible boss, or your employer has strange rules. Whatever the reason, losing your job on day one is mostly an unusual yet interesting experience you can recall with your friends and family and laugh over.

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