Workplace craziness is an everyday occurrence.
And it doesn't have to be in an office.
The workplace can be lethal.
Firefighters, police, and EMTs aren't the only ones not coming home sometimes.
The easiest job in the world can be the deadliest.
That's because life is fragile and you never know.
Redditor Adventurous-Pea-4925 wanted to hear about all the drama and trauma everyone's jobs have caused. They asked:
"What is your workplace horror story?"
Working in restaurants was a daily minefield. People slip, fall and fight all of the time. It's hazardous.
4 Inches
Season 5 Fainting GIF by Living Single
Giphy
"I watched a woman get scalped by an assembly line. She was underneath it cleaning when someone started up the line, her hair got caught up in a roller and pulled off a 4” chunk of her scalp. So much blood."
GibberBabble
Ducked Up
"I wasn't there that day when it happened, but heard some of the details. I may be off but here goes. 2 maintenance guys were up in a scissor lift working on an overhead indoor crane. Someone on the floor grabbed the remote for the other crane and started to move it. One maintenance guy yelled 'duck' and ducked, the other turned to see what was happening and apparently was crushed between the 2 cranes and then fell out of the lift."
"I don't know how true this is, but apparently his insides were out and still alive for a short time. I got a call from my idiot team lead telling me work was shut down for at least the day, probably longer. He didn't mention the guy dying, just mentioned it was awesome to have a long weekend."
mat-tar
Severed
"I was the boss and some guy wasn’t paying attention and had his arm on the bar behind him on the forklift he was backing up. He backed up right into a container and all but severed his arm. Just a small flap of skin was holding it on. He ran in the building spurting blood all over and I ran over and stopped him, sat him down and got one of the guys to get me some stuff for an improvised tourniquet."
"I held his severed arm under mine and I squeezed the upper arm to slow the flow until I could get the tourniquet on and tight. All the while I was getting covered in his blood from head to toe. I finally got it stopped and sat there trying to keep him calm while the paramedics were on the way. After they took over, I asked the firemen that accompanied them if they could blast me off with the firehose."
"They blasted all the blood off but my clothes were ruined. I sat outside until I dried and then went home and showered well and threw the stained clothes away. I got dressed and went back to work to help the crew clean up the blood and toss the chair he was in in the trash."
"I could taste his blood the rest of the day. It even got up my nose! I didn’t notice until I went home again but my mustache and goatee were stained from the blood too. I had to shave clean. They were able to reattach his arm but it never worked right again. He went on permanent disability afterwards."
mrsmith2929
#NeverForget
"I worked in a manufacturing facility as a buyer. I was in my office one day when I saw two of the product line supervisors sprint by and head toward the production floor. Seems a mechanic had tried to get a machine unjammed and had failed to turn the machine off. He reached in and the machine indexed and caught his arm, then it indexed again and partially ripped it off."
"I was on the safety committee and trained in first aid so I was called on to assist the plant nurse and safety director. I thought I was going to pass out - the guy was lying on his back and what was left of his arm was shards of bone and tissue. I'll never forget it."
GreatMaria
Strap In
dennis quaid falling GIF by RETRO-FIEND
Giphy
"Superintendent of a construction project refused to tie himself in whenever he was on top of the building. On the very last day of the project, as the crew is cleaning up, he slips and falls 100 feet. The only fatality at our company and it sucks because it was really preventable too."
Old_Snow3086
Going to work does not seem safe. We should all be independently wealthy.
Crap
dog poo GIF
Giphy
"Not me but my office had a bring your dog to work day and I saw an intern slip right in dog poop. Half the office had to leave for the day the smell was so bad. Guess what day didn’t happen the next year. LOL."
Jasper_Beardly_
Death
"This was years ago, I worked at a small college. One day a woman in Financial Aid's estranged boyfriend came in and stabbed her to death in front of her co-workers and several students. Campus police were able to arrest him, but didn't get there in time to help her. We also had a healthy 40 year old professor drop dead of a heart attack while in a meeting with a student. Not as bad as the first one, but it shook the student up pretty badly."
Coconut-bird
click it click it....
"Was working a graveyard shift at a Comcast (May have been AT&T at the time) call center. There were TVs everywhere with movies on, as there weren’t many calls at midnight. Suddenly all of the TVs shift to a channel change, down to one of the paid porn channels. My coworkers and I spot this, and start chanting ‘click it click it.'"
"The click goes through, then the ‘do you accept the charges’ comes up. We chant again and wonder of wonders it goes through. Suddenly there’s a full spread on every television in the call center. We spot two managers running full tilt across the cubicles, and shortly after it got shut off. Apparently the security guard thought the TV at his station was just for him."
FoomFries
"reasons"
"We had someone electrocute themselves during their shift. Poor guy was only 18, went to plug in a floor buffer to an extension cord on the wall. The cord was faulty but due to 'reasons' was never replaced. When he plugged the buffer in the shock dropped him and away he passed, due to insurance and potential lawsuits from the family over the faulty equipment the security footage of that night is sealed and the company went crazy afterwords removing every single extension cord they used."
SleepingGunner3282
Inked
gross dumb and dumber GIF
Giphy
"One of the printers briefly stopped thinking for like 30 seconds, went to clean a roller while the machine was operating at a high speed, and half of his finger got tore off. After he went to hospital, my brother went over to run the machine through to get the blood out and the other half of the finger came out and fell in ink tray."
Soul_of_Miyazaki
Aisle 8
"A man was murdered on aisle 8 in the freezer section of the grocery store I worked at. Happened 2 minutes after I left my shift for the day. One guy made inappropriate comments about the other guys 14yo daughter, and he didn't like that. He stewed for a bit, took his groceries and family out to his car, went back inside, confronted the man, it turned physical."
"Guy knocked him to the ground and stomped his head into the ground. Afterwards he went outside after someone called the police, went outside and said goodbye to his family, that he was going away for a long time, and waited for the police to arrive."
nryporter25
On the pavement...
"Don’t work there anymore this was an internship I had in construction management. Asphalt paving contractor. Several years ago, an inspector who was hard of hearing was out on the job site. He did not realize he was in the way of an asphalt compactor."
"The compactors move really slowly and their brakes are not built to abruptly stop (at least the old ones) seeing as you could see these things coming with more than enough time to move. Several guys on the equipment tried yelling at him to get out of the way thinking he would right away but he didn’t hear them. The guy on the compactor obviously applied the brakes but the others realized too late that he wasn’t getting out of the way."
"You could imagine what happened next. They said the sounds were unimaginable, he didn’t make a noise but his body being crushed did. They had to scrape him off the pavement. The guy on the compactor took an office job after this and now has severe PTSD."
achavira13
Dry Heaves
"Ugh. Ok. I had this guy who was around 650lbs come in to the hospital via EHS. It took twelve people to move him onto a stretcher. He was coated in rotting flesh from his behind, groin and thighs from sitting in a recliner for so long, and there were flies buzzing everywhere. There were so many maggots and flies covering him that we had to shower him outside of the department while he lay in the stretcher."
"We wheeled him into the trauma bay, leaving a trail of brown rot-water behind him. Lucky me, I got assigned the job of placing a Foley catheter in him. I had two masks, a gown, and as much other PPE as I could find. The smell was not masked in the slightest. As I tried to fight back my dry heaving, I pulled the blanket back that was covering him in an attempt to grab his penis for cleaning prior catheter insertion."
"There were still maggots literally alllll over his groin and legs, and some were legitimately falling out of his penis hole. I damn near threw up in my mask. I remember thinking to myself 'omg, I’m going to be pushing maggots up into his bladder, but I gotta do what I gotta do.' End result for all you wondering, he passed away later that evening."
Nurse_malibu87
The Creep
"Dude got fired for being useless and a huge creep towards anyone he was even remotely attracted to. He'd always been quite inappropriate with his jokes and about what kind of stuff you're supposed to talk about in the workplace (hint: not your puppy play fetish or nazi sympathies)."
"But it had gotten out of control by that point. During his one month period of notice he wore the same clothes every day and never showered. On his very last day he went into one of the bathrooms, masturbated and finished over everything."
Jealous_Hospital
Head First
"I used to be a lift operator for a ski resort. A guest at the resort asked at closing if I new where to get marijuana. I did and I help the guy out by taking him with me to go get some. The next day he crashed head first into a tree. I happened to ski past the scene minutes after it happened and before ski patrol responded, dudes head was in several pieces. I could tell from his jacket that it was the same guy."
off_the_cuff_mandate
Salad Guy
"I work in a restaurant, one evening one of the salad tenders cut off the tip of his finger and it was bad enough that he had to go to the hospital for it. Unfortunately, the salad he was making somehow made it out of the kitchen and onto a table. Shortly after, a guest complained about something chewy in their salad that they thought was a piece of bacon, and they didn’t want bacon in their salad. The salad guy couldn’t find the tip of his finger before he left."
Sz3to
Miserable
"A long-term employee who started at the lowest rung was promoted repeatedly over time to his level of incompetence as a manager. It only because the CEO was closed personal friends with him, not because the guy was in any way qualified for the job."
Turns out this guy's main objective was to make everyone's lives as miserable as possible - to subject employees to the vagaries of his temperamental whims and make workers feel afraid of his potential reprimands for the least little thing. It turned what once was a pleasant, productive environment into an oppressive, fear-dominated workplace."
Back2Bach
The Filth
Chuck E Cheese Wink GIF
Giphy
"Chuck 'e cheeses was literally the most unsanitary place I have ever been in, the kitchen was crawling with roaches, the balls in the ball pit actually had mold on them even after they where clean, which by the way they used a pickup truck and a drive through car wash to do that, and the rat costume reeked to such a degree that the only people who could be inside it where the 2 people who had no sense of smell. The boss was also just the biggest a**hole and would regularly harass his own employees."
froopty1
This is why I work from home. Although that isn't the safest either.
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
Money Burn GIF by nog
Giphy
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
south park wedding GIF
Giphy
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
homer simpson episode 23 GIF
Giphy
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
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
Giphy
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
Disney World GIF
Giphy
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.