I love a good scandal honey. There is nothing better to pep up a slow work week. In fact, that maybe one of the tragedies of Covid. What kind of scandal can be born through ZOOM? Sure we may see someone naked or a home life debacle, but that doesn't put us in it. Now I'm relying on my Daytime stories. The workplace is pregnant with dramatic possibilities. I have a few I may write an anthology about. I know everyone can relate.
Redditor u/Wells99 wanted to gather up everyone who was willing share some saucy details and guzzle some scalding hot tea about things that happen while at work by asking them to divulge..... What was your workplace scandal?Also, look for cameras.....
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Let's just say, if you're going to have sex with a client in a work vehicle, perhaps move the minivan out of the commercial parking garage when asked to by the operator, so they don't look up the number plate and send the video footage to the boss. Also, look for cameras.
The best thing about it was that the guy was an awful worker but boss's favorite, and boss had no choice but to fire him.
Many moons ago....
I might've told this story in the past.....
Many moons ago, I worked a tech job in a factory. One of the production supervisors was a younger guy who was very nice and really good at his job. I noticed he always had the sniffles. I get bad allergies myself so I didn't think anything about that. One day he's not at work and everyone's talking in hushed tones about him. It turns out that he had a side hustle of dealing large amounts of cocaine. He got screwed over by someone in his supply chain and beat the guy to death. He was still one of the best supervisors I ever had.
Duck!!
Two people had a fist-fight. They never got along and one day one of them just snapped, jumped over the desk and they got into fight. One of them got sacked, the other resigned a week later.
And that's why I have my current job, I'm their replacement.
Ummmm....
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Had a guy abruptly leave work one day. To murder his wife.
The Stalker
Years ago when I worked at Target, the store manager, (a man in his late 40s), was cheating on his wife with one of the part-timers, (she was 19). When his wife found out she began to stalk the girl everywhere, leaving her vague threats in her mailbox, and then finally confronting her while she was working. The wife ended up getting arrested, the manager ended up getting fired, and the girl got transferred to another Target.
The Hulk
Commercial baking/manufacturing facility. Wore snap-down CINTAS uniform shirts and had to use Motorola radios for communication.
Guy gets irate at his supervisor, rips off his uniform shirt like Hulk Hogan and goes to strangle the supervisor with his microphone cord from the radio. Practically snapped out of nowhere.
Shadow Employees....
The HR manager set up her own recruitment company and was putting all new hires through her company. Not sure how she thought she would get away with it.
We had a round of layoffs for engineering, and our VP of Engineering laid off a bunch of the best people. We figured out what he was doing when he left for a startup he founded where he hired most of them.
Lunch Party
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We had a "team leader/sales manager" who would often come back from lunch really fired up and annoyingly loud. Turns out her lunch break was spent in the upstairs executive office doing coke and having tons of sex. She left "to pursue other avenues."
"Most helpful in the office"
The company I worked in used to give awards during the Christmas party, if you got a real award you were definitely getting a joke one. For example I got "Most helpful in the office." (Some days I never got back to my desk because I was helping someone with something) and my joke award was "Most handsome man in IT" (I'm the only man in IT). We always had one award that was just for the head of the company, this had been a tradition since the 70s, the award was a complete joke (Not mean spirited) called "Most paid for least work," the person who got the award was recently promoted to the role so they knew it was tradition.
The following Monday I was in the HR Department with a fellow colleague trying to wire up some equipment when we heard a massive crash and shouting going on, it was the head of our company, with a knife to the throat of the head of HR, screaming about the award she got. We now have a part time security guard, a new company head and no longer give awards.
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I had to fire someone for time theft. They were sneaking in late and finding different ways to try and document that they were actually on time. Anyway, after I fired her she got a hold of my bag while I went to the bathroom and slicing it up with a razor blade. She also wrote "freaking nark" on it with a sharpie which was kind of hilarious because I'm the one who discovered her doings and handled her dismissal by myself. I don't think she knew what "nark" meant obviously.
"hold it, we're busy"
Heard this story through my work in elder abuse. Old man with continence issues was asking aged care staff to take him to the toilet. They kept saying "hold it, we're busy." Finally old fella can't hold it anymore and tries to take himself. Staff eventually find him in the bathroom- whole place covered in crap with a broken neck. Instead of calling an ambulance they call the facility manager, who instructs them to clean him up and put him into his bed. Family is due to visit and find him 'passed away peacefully'. All the staff are forced to falsify notes under various threats.
The staff member who contacted my organization was terrified to report the matter in case she was black-listed in the industry and lost her livelihood- we were a confidential service and I got the feeling she just wanted to unburden herself... didn't give the name or location of the facility so never heard what happened subsequently. It sounds insane- but once you've worked in elder abuse for a while you stop being surprised by what you hear. I think the worst part was the fact that this poor man was the victim of so many systemic problems- not just a few dodgy staff- and even with whistleblower laws in place- workers are literally TERRIFIED to report.
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I See Vodka....
This guy I worked with was a recovering alcoholic. He was super chill and hard working. Was going places with in the company and had big connections as all the high ups liked him.
Well one night he was closing and his "friend" came in to shop. He also had a bottle of vodka in a paper bag with him. He got the guy I worked with to drink about 85% of the bottle. So now the only person who was in charge of my department was totally wasted and couldn't even speak coherently.
He ran outside and jumped on one of the stores managers car and damaged it badly.
Then came back into the store and curled into a ball in the breakroom with the rest of the bottle of vodka.
He actually still had his job and his position after this but he was to ashamed of what he did that he couldn't work there anymore and quit.
He had the backing of the high ups and they were willing to forget this ever happened but he was so embarrassed that he let it all go. We think that his "friend" came in because he didn't like his buddy choosing to not drink anymore and so he just couldn't wait to get his buddy back to the way he liked him. Hammered as hell.
She was Crazy....
My former manager was fired for being suspected of stealing around $10,000 from the company. Shortly after being fired we found out she had also been "borrowing" money from several customers. She never paid any of them back. We also found out she had not been paying her rent for quite some time. There was also several rumors about her selling drugs in the parking lot as well as having relations with customers in her office. It also came out that it was very likely she faked her credentials for the job.
Not long after she was fired she was arrested a few cities over trying to sell meth as well as abandoning her child in a hotel room several states over. She was released from custody pending trial. She then fled and was found a few states over in a stolen vehicle with stolen guns in the car. A wild ride from start to finish honestly. Hard to explain to customers why the new manager was suddenly gone too.
Ho-Ho-Ho!!
During a Christmas party, one of my coworkers was disgruntled with the size of his Christmas bonus (working in a field where most companies don't bother with one at all) so he snorted some nose candy, rented the services of an escort, and railed her on each and every one of my boss' desks.
He's still employed.
Customed Service
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AVP sales took company jet to Mexico for sales meetings, transacted a little bit of business on the side while there. Customs caught it when he returned.
Cruel People....
I worked for a very big wholesale and export company. I was an apprentice. There was this older lady working as a cashier and handling all the paper cash (several 100k per day), she was really friendly and very nice.
When I was put in her department we talked a lot, she was very happy to have a young guy talk to her for a change. One half of her face was paralyzed and so were other parts of her body. She was a breast cancer survivor. She later told me that after her husband left her because of the breast cancer, she had to somehow care for her daughter alone and actually managed to do so. Then the second cancer hit her - I don't know the term but it was in a gland in her ear.
That lady went through hell in life already and the metro didn't see any other choice than to fire her to reduce personal costs. Seeing how such a globally big company can treat their tiniest workers with so much disrespect was beyond me.
Never again will I work for a company where you are nothing more than a small, replaceable number. That crap was just heartbreaking. The lady was also so kind - very cruel. And this is only one story.
Guy 1 & 2...
Guy #1 and guy #2 were equipment operators in a section of a facility. It was known they had problems with each other, and they mostly just exchanged words and glances from time to time. Eventually guy #2 decided he would have his "friend" show up during break time to intimidate and possibly assault guy #1. So, during break, with tons of witnesses standing around outside, this "friend" pulls up and starts threatening guy #1 while he's sitting in his car during break. Guy #1 repeatedly tells the "friend" not to come near him, which of course he ignores, so guy #1 pulls a gun and shoots at the "friend" several times as he screams and runs through the parking lot.
The police came, took his gun and car as evidence, but did not charge him with a crime as everyone was a witness that it was self defense. He was fired because of company policy about violence at the facility, but got to go home. The "friend" was hit at least twice and had to leave in an ambulance. Guy #2 is said to have quit out of fear of retaliation from people who knew guy #1.
I missed the action but stood around eating a burrito while cops stood around talking amongst themselves. The burrito was bland and gave me indigestion.
The Psychopath Test
At a bookstore I worked at years ago one of the assistant managers had a scam he was running with two of the regular employees where if someone made a large cash purchase they would come back after the fact and do a post void (basically cancelling the transaction after it's gone through) and pocket the money. They managed to get away with it for a shockingly long time until one of the regular employees got greedy and did two post voids in one day, which got loss prevention's attention and led to an investigation that saw everyone involved get fired.
Things got a bit hairy for the rest of us afterwards too because there were apparently some people at the district level who were convinced that everyone in the store must have known this was happening and that we all needed to be fired, but thankfully cooler heads prevailed and that didn't happen. None of us did know it was going on either, including the general manager.
The assistant manager was a massive monster and none of us were sad to see him go (and I just recently read John Ronson's The Psychopath Test and realized looking back that the guy fit the bill for a psychopath perfectly) but I'd really liked the two regulars and couldn't believe they had gone in on something that scuzzy. You can just never tell with some people.
The RV Life
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An area supervisor was doing side jobs on new homes we wire, ended up burning down an RV garage with an RV in it because he didn't know the difference between a 30A 120V RV outlet and a 240V one. (It was supposed to be 120V, he wired it for 240V) He no longer works for us, and is a reminder of why you don't do side jobs, especially if you don't know what you're dealing with.
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- People Confess The Most 'Not Safe For Work' Thing They've Ever Done At Work - George Takei ›
- People Explain Which Massive Scandals Most Folks Seem To Have Completely Forgotten - George Takei ›
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.