12 Wild Stories About People Who Got Fired On Day One

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

7. She Had a Purpose

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

12. Coffee Shop

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.

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...

Bonus Story. I Was Fired before My First Day Even Started

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.

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."

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.