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Formidable People Reveal The Most Pain They've Ever Experienced

Formidable People Reveal The Most Pain They've Ever Experienced

Formidable People Reveal The Most Pain They've Ever Experienced

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What's the worst pain you've ever experienced? For me, it was my ongoing battle with ulcerative colitis, and the relentless, unending feeling that my guts were going to shoot out of me. For others, broken bones or cluster headaches left them reeling in agony. Fair warning, these stories are brutal.

dazzler964 asked, What's the most pain you've ever been in?

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.

Sounds like the pain I experienced when I sneezed after having my colon removed.

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A sneeze.

I've been shot (once), stabbed (twice), had gallstones, kidney stones, and pancreatitis, but that sneeze was the worst.

I had open heart surgery (congenitally bad heart valve). They gave me a little pillow and told me to hug it tight if I felt a sneeze coming on. I thought they were crazy but kept it close. Next day, sneezed without warning.

I ceased to exist as a person. The universe and all in it ceased to exist. Reality was a single point of formless, featureless pain, exquisite in its purity, unparalleled in its intensity.

This is the pain of nightmares.

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Had a blood clot burst in my spinal cord, affected all of my nerves and I was pretty much stuck and frozen laying down. Couldn't move, could barely breathe, my neck was crooked and my whole body felt like it was burning.

Eventually, the ambulance arrived, I was able to breathe again once I got the breathing mask. It left me paralyzed at first but after years of therapy, I've been recovering. I'm nowhere near the condition I was before the incident though, probably never will be.

I have a hernia in my neck that paralyzes me when it flares. Working out the muscles around it helps. The pain is off the scale.

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Woke up one morning with back pain that I've never experienced before in my life. I couldn't even lift myself out of bed.

After 10 minutes of struggling to find a position so I could lift myself, I stood up and my hip was dropped and my spine was crooked. I can't even explain the pain, I've broken bones, painful recoveries from surgeries, this was the worst pain I have ever had. It was relentless shooting hot pain while my hamstring also felt like it was being pulled from my hip and femur. I couldn't even walk. People always talk about severe back pain and I always thought it was just relative to their pain tolerance.

I'm a healthy 21-year-old that is in shape, this pain would shoot down my legs and took my breath away, I'd literally DROP to the floor because my legs gave out from it. I went to the urgent care twice and they said it was probably sciatica and gave me steroids and stretches which didn't work. Got X-rays that said maybe it was arthritis between my L 1 and L2. This has been going on for around 4 months, the pain has thankfully decreased but it's still always there. I started working out again despite the pain because either way, I'm in pain so I might as well get a workout in.

I'm scheduled to get an MRI soon, so hopefully, that can answer some questions. I still don't know how or why this happened, but I have a lot more understanding of people suffering from chronic pain, it's absolutely exhausting and takes a toll on the mind and body.

Kidney stones sound like torture. *Chugs water*

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I once had Kidney stones due to not drinking enough water. It was not a big one, but multiple very tiny one. It was the first time where I, a grown **s man, had to yell from the pain in the waiting room. I even had to throw up just because of the pain. So dear Redditors, please drink enough water during the day.

Like kidney stones, gallstones get a big old nope.

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Gall stones brought me by far the most pain that I've ever experienced. Basically incapacitated me until the pain subsided.

Pleurisy is when the membrane lining your lungs becomes inflamed. Ouch.

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Pleurisy is a hell of an illness. The way my doctor put it for me was "there is a liquid between your lungs and your ribs. That liquid has now evaporated, and your lungs are rubbing on your ribs like sandpaper."

I know that's not scientific, but let me tell you, it's definitely an accurate description of what it felt like.

Strep throat has nothing on this...

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Throat ulcer which made me cough and every time I coughed it felt like dragging razor blades down my throat which made me cough even more.

I have ulcerative colitis, which is Crohn's ugly cousin, and I can confirm - the pain has made me beg for death.

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I have Crohn's disease and psoriasis only in my ears, both ears, even in the canal. Both diseases aren't under control. Also used to have horrible Kidney infections. Good news is, if the pain is severe enough, my body shuts it all down and I pass out. The bad news is, sometimes I wake back up seconds later only to pass out again. There have been many more times I can count that I have begged for death because the pain is so bad.

Magic mushrooms are being researched as a cure for cluster headaches. They have no agreed upon cause or treatment.

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Cluster headache on a plane while it was descending into Amsterdam. The longest 10 min of my life.

Needless to say, I had tears streaming down my face and mouth full of fabric to muffle my screams.

Pancreatitis sounds absolutely dreadful, and ER's sometimes don't take pain seriously enough.

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Pancreatitis.... all I could do in the hospital waiting room was yell, "help me". They finally took me seriously when I kept going in and out of consciousness.

Well, at least they have a story to tell...

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I went home with a guy one night, and he got a cluster headache for the first time in the middle of it. I thought he was having an aneurysm. Called an ambulance because I was sure he was going to die. We're both dudes, and he just started yelling and his roommates ran into the room - and that's how they found out he was gay.

I don't have a caption worthy of this pain. Or the mental image. You can't unsee it.

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Broke my leg playing soccer. Friends all laughed at me for a minute thinking I was faking until they saw the blood and bone sticking out. My friends loaded me up into the backseat of my car. I was 6'4" so I could barely fit sprawled out back there. One of my moron friends thought my leg was all the way in and slammed the door close. My leg wasn't all the way in.

These pain stories are getting dark... cement in your eye thought? Ouch.

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Physically: I got wet cement in my eye.

Emotionally: I held my dog as he seized to death. Similar to I AM Legend.

This is similar to what burn victims have to endure, and just, nope.

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Debriding an infection. Nothing like slicing open a tender area and the scrubbing the crap out of it.

And this is why I still have my wisdom teeth.

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When I had my wisdom teeth removed, I got dry sockets which turned into lockjaw.

I could open my mouth less and less, then not at all. Then the lower part of my jaw started being pulled outward. It felt like somebody was tearing my jaw off.

My mom doped me up with painkillers, but it didn't help. We made an appointment with the doctor the next morning, but it was the worst night of my life. Constant pain and couldn't fall asleep.

The next morning, on the drive to the doctor, I threw up because of the pain but couldn't open my mouth. So I chocked on my vomit and either had to swallow it or blow it out my nose.

I've never experienced physical pain worse than that.

My brother had to have this corrected (before it got this bad) - it was excruciating watching him dealing with it.

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Testicular torsion. Got my balls in a twist. Swelled to the size of my fist. Had an operation to untwist them. Swelled to the size of my head. Walked like Butch Cassidy for 3 weeks.

*Squirms uncomfortably in my chair*

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Having a badly ingrown toenail get stomped on, break in half lengthwise, get severely infected, and then removed without much in the way of numbing (doctor missed the nerve). There's a reason pulling toenails off is used as a form of torture. 0/10, would not recommend.

There's some irony here, considering he needed the morphine - let's hope the addiction gets treated.

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Got my leg rebroken. I was in so much pain. They asked me and my mom if I wanted morphine. My mom said no. I was 13 and had no say in the matter. Fun fact, 3 years later I got addicted to heroin.

Gotta admire this person's optimism... being 1/4 is pretty cool tbh.

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I got hit in the eyeball with a badminton birdie. Freak accident. I turned around to give my partner s*** about taking so long to serve. My eyeball bled, behind my eyeball bled and I was rushed to ER with the risk of losing my eye. Has to get freezing needles into my eye and wasn't allowed to bend over for fear of the clot bursting. It was a pain like no other. Just this horrible throbbing, pounding pain that resonated around my whole head. I was dizzy, couldn't see, shaking and any light at all caused significant pain. Having a needle come right up to your eye isn't the most pleasant thing either.

I have no peripheral vision in my right eye now. I'm like 1/4 pirate. It's cool.

I've had the same thing (yeah, I'm a mess), and the pain is indescribable. My worst was having three abscesses under my armpit merge into one giant abscess overnight.

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I had an abscess the size of a golf ball in my armpit lanced (I have hidradenitis suppuritiva), and even with the acid-feeling numbing agent he injected, the process was incredibly painful. The gauze wick that was stuck in there afterward was uncomfortable and felt so gross.

People Break Down Their Funniest 'Sir, This Is A Wendy's' Experiences

Reddit user deadmoby5 asked: 'What was your "Sir, this is a Wendy's" moment?'

Wendy's fast food restaurant sign
Photo by Siyuan Lin on Unsplash

Most of us have heard the "Sir, This is a a Wendy's" phrase, said in those moments when someone has said something totally inappropriate given the setting they are in.

And while some of these literally take place in a Wendy's or similar fast-food chain restaurants, these awkward moments can happen... pretty much anywhere.

Redditor deadmoby5 asked:

"What was your, 'Sir, this is a Wendy's,' moment?"

...Actually, This Is a McDonald's.

"I was working at McDonald’s and this lady said, 'Can I get the Wendy’s four-for-four?!'"

"I said, 'Ma’am, this is a McDonald’s.'"

"Without a moment's hesitation, she replied, 'Indeed it is, can I get a Big Mac?'"

- lukemercerrr

Someone Separated from Reality

"I had a guy come into my place of work yesterday p**sed off because he missed his payment date and had to pay extra to turn his phone back on."

"He said something along the lines of, 'It was due at midnight, and y’all aren’t open at midnight, so how was I supposed to pay?'"

"I calmly explained that we are open until 7:00 PM every day except Sunday."

"He screamed, 'Well, unlike you, I actually have a job!'"

"At my job."

"Whilst doing my job."

- lordgabe92again

An Office Mix-Up

​"I work for a CPA office that is in an office park with a couple of doctors' offices."

"One day, a guy came in only speaking Spanish, so I grabbed my Spanish-speaking colleague to translate. He talked to the guy in the lobby for a few minutes, and then the guy left, and my coworker came back and asked if that was a joke or if we put someone up to that."

"Apparently, the guy explained that his testicles were extremely swollen and painful, and he was looking for one of the doctors' offices and just walked into the first building in the complex."

"I'll never forget, he said, '...I’m like, sir, we do taxes here, not testicles.'"

- AlternativeAcademia

A Health Advocate

"I worked in a cell phone store that had a veterans support office behind us."

"One day, an older gentleman was waiting in the queue. When it was his turn, I called him up and asked what I could help him with."

"He stepped up to the counter and told me that the veteran's hospital was claiming his vision impairment was only 20% disability, and he felt it was much higher."

"I agreed, and I offered to walk him to the correct building, and told him I would be a witness for him, lol (laughing out loud)."

- fridaycat

The Deck of Entitlement

"I was in Lowes one morning right after they opened. There was a woman at the service desk having a complete meltdown down, yelling and screaming because Lowes didn't have a licensed contractor there at the store for her to hire."

"She apparently woke up that morning and decided she needed a deck, like, that same day, and thought she could just go to Lowes and have someone immediately start building a deck."

"It was dead so I stood with the cashier listening to the show. They ended up having to call the police to get her to leave."

- DasGoat

The Coca-Cola Theorist

"I've told this story tons of times to my friends and family because it's one of my favorite Domino's Stories. This happened somewhere around 2017-2018."

"One day, it was really slow at work at Domino's. I was still a relatively new Insider (only a few months into what would be about four years) and still in school, so I was hoping that it would stay slow so I could go home early, so I could cheat on my math homework, play some League of Legends, and get some sleep since my school started an hour earlier than other schools in the area."

"A woman, probably mid-40s, came in to order a pizza. She was pretty chill, and we were just chatting while she was ordering because there really wasn't much to do otherwise since we already cleaned the store and oven and all that."

"After she got her pizza all done up, I asked her if she would like any drinks."

"She was like, 'Oh, what do you guys have?'"

"I was running down the drink options and she noticed Coca-Cola and looked at me wide-eyed like she just saw someone get hit by a car."

"She said, 'DON'T YOU KNOW THEY PUT HUMAN EMBRYOS IN COKE?!'"

"...I'm sorry??'"

"She then spent the next SEVEN. MINUTES. Running down pretty much every major conspiracy, from human embryos in Coca-Cola to Flat Earth to the moon landing being faked, etc. If you think of a pre-pandemic conspiracy, she hit it."

"I was stunned. The only words that could come out of my mouth were, '...So no on the drink, then?'"

"She said brightly, 'Coke Zero, please.'"

"I guess the Zero means 'Zero Embryos.'"

- noblemile

Work That Connection

"I work in radio, and got a call on the contest line one time."

"'Yeah, I need a hotel room,' said the caller."

"'OK. How would you like me to help you?'"

"They said, 'Well... book me one!'"

"'You're aware you called a radio station's contest line, right?'"

"'Yeah. Don't you book hotel rooms for rock stars when they do a show in town? Book me one!'"

- originalchaosinabox

I Believe the Store You're Looking For is... Sephora.

"Not one specific moment, since it happened all the time when I worked at Ulta."

"She said, 'I'm looking for this lipstick,' and showed me a Sephora brand lipstick."

"I said, 'We don't sell that, but I can show you something similar!'"

"She was indignant. 'No, I want this specific lipstick, don't you sell it?! Well, where can I buy it?!'"

"I deadpanned, 'At Sephora, ma'am.'"

- Sunshine030209

A Misdirected Call

"I worked in a local cafe/newsstand/convenience store type spot. We also had a Ticketmaster outlet for a bit. Our small town had an annual concert that usually ran two or three nights. It was really popular with the local folks, so it brought in a lot of foot traffic with people buying tickets (my boss was honestly a small-business mastermind)."

"That was the extent of our involvement: we sold and printed gate passes."

"On night one of the event, I was closing the store as usual, at 10:00 PM."

"An irate woman called, wanting to 'file a noise complaint' about the concert."

"I was like, 'Ma’am, you must have the wrong number, this is a local cafe.'"

"She INSISTED that she was filing 'an official noise complaint' and demanded to speak to the owner RIGHT NOW."

"I said, 'At 10:00 PM on a Friday? Yeah, he’s not here.'"

"He also isn’t the police and doesn’t deal with noise complaints. Also, it’s only 10:00 PM, and this concert has been widely advertised for months."

"She then went on a wild rant that we needed to do… something?… about the noise, since we sold tickets. She wouldn’t let me off the call and was going berserk."

"I told her I was going to disconnect since we had nothing to do with the event or the noise."

"She called back multiple times, and finally I just let the phone ring… It was still ringing when we locked up. Like, MA’AM, ARE YOU OKAY?"

- Swimming-trifle-899

In Search of the Mystical Dairy King

"I worked at Dairy Queen about ten years ago, and a customer pulled up to our very busy drive-thru."

"Customer: 'Yeah, can I have the 10 nuggets for $1.49?'"

"Me: 'I’m sorry, sir, we don’t carry nuggets, but I can get you a chicken strip basket?'"

"Customer: 'No, I want nuggets! On your commercial! You don’t even know your own food?!'"

"Me: 'Sir, I’m sorry but we don’t carry nuggets. We have chicken strips and steak fingers?'"

"Customer: 'NUGGETS FOR $1.49!'"

"Me: 'Sir, this is Dairy Queen, you are referring to Burger King.'"

"Customer: 'Dairy King?!'"

"Me: 'You are at Dairy Queen, asking for a Burger King menu item.'"

"Customer: 'Oh. (proceeds to wait in line for another five minutes while I watch)"

- avianeyb

Deer in Headlights

"I worked at Wendy's throughout high school and some lady ordered a burger meal at the drive-thru. Over an hour later, she comes back to the front counter, slamming the burger on it, saying it was cold."

"I checked our receipts and told her she ordered over an hour ago and that burgers aren't meant to stay hot for that long."

"She said that was absolutely unacceptable and how dare we serve her a burger that gets cold."

"She then proceeded to ask me for my full name and details so she could sue me, at the same time freaking out when I didn't have a pen to give her to write down my info."

"Another customer walking by said, 'Holy s**t, lady, relax,' and she yelled at him to mind his business."

"He said, 'Well, I just feel bad for this poor employee you're yelling at. If you don't wanna eat here, go somewhere else.'"

"Bless his soul, I was only 17 and was so shocked."

- hayleexh

Not a Medical Professional

"I work as a cashier at a home goods store. I’m very friendly and honestly treasure my customer interactions."

"I was doing my usual patter, like, 'Hi there, how’re you doing, did you find everything all right?' and this lady tells me that it’s the first time she’s been out of the house in a while."

"I thanked her for choosing our store and went to move on with the transaction. She raised her shirt, showed me a HUGE angry red incision on her stomach, and started telling me about her recent hysterectomy. The stitches hadn’t even been removed yet."

"I sort of nodded and smiled and tried to pivot to her total so I could move on with the MASSIVE line that’s building, and she wouldn’t stop talking."

"I had to call for a back-up cashier while getting a very detailed description of surgery, uterine cancer, and the recovery process. She didn’t drop her shirt the entire time."

- souryoungthing

Depending on the Pet Supply Department

"I used to work for Kmart. Someone came into the store and wanted to know where the pet department was located. We only had one aisle of pet items and it was mostly items for dogs/cats (food, litter, toys, etc)."

"I took the customer to the aisle, and they said, 'This is it? This is all you have for pet supplies? You don’t have an actual department like other stores?'"

"'Yes sir, we just carry the basics. If you need a bigger selection, there is a Pet Supplies Plus located at the other end of the plaza.'"

"The customer got upset and said, 'But if I wanted to go to Pet Supplies Plus, I would have gone there. But I wanted to go to Kmart. So I’m guessing you don’t have fish food or anything like that?'"

"I showed him the same selection of fish food, and he got upset. He then started asking advice for fish tanks and again, I directed him to the Pet Supplies Plus that was located just a couple storefronts down from Kmart. When he insisted on not going to that store, I gave him directions to 2 other pet stores in the area."

"Eventually he left, but not before saying, 'This is why Kmart is going out of business!'"

"Sure buddy, the lack of a pet department is the sole reason Kmart is going out of business."

- DannyC990

...Oops.

"Found the product I needed online. I drove to the store and spent 20 minutes failing to find said product on the aisle it was supposed to be on."

"I showed the picture to multiple staff, none of whom recognized it."

"I finally went to the customer services desk and after 10 minutes of waiting in line got told the website I was looking at was one of their competitors."

- SarcasmWedding

Uno Reverse Card

"I went to the drive-thru at a Wendy’s and the person taking the order said, 'Welcome to Walmart.'"

"I was really confused and I heard laughing and he said, 'I’m so sorry,' he works there too and was on autopilot."

- SpecificLook7215

"You missed the opportunity for the uno reverse card. Imagine saying, 'Sir, this is a Wendy’s,' as the CUSTOMER."

- Avenntus

"A few months ago, I drove up to the Wendy's drive-through and heard through the speaker: 'Welcome to McDonald's, can I take your order?' (There was laughing in the background)."

"I did reply in a serious tone, 'Sir, this is a Wendy's!'"

"Cue uproarious laughter by all... I think they were stoned."

"10/10. Always going to that Wendy's."

- codeprimate

From hilarious to jaw-dropping to utterly shocking, it's fascinating to see how awkward things can get when someone does something completely inappropriate for a setting. At least in most of these cases, they made for funny and memorable stories.

What happens when a therapist's professional veneer cracks? These Redditors and therapists share their most bizarre, harrowing, and hilarious experiences.

1. Not There When It Counts

I’m a social worker who works with children. We got this underaged girl who was raised by a mother suffering from Munchhausen-by-proxy Syndrome, which essentially means the mother pretends that her child is sick to get attention and the pity of other people. This goes as far as poisoning her own child just to have a reason to seek out doctors and get their attention.

The mother in question was incredibly horrible, even when her daughter got taken away from her. For some reason, officials never took child custody from her, which made it easy for her to influence her daughter’s life from far away. She specifically used it to tell her daughter that she loved her and will always be there for her, but every time she needed to be there, she wasn't. This led to an absolutely heartbreaking moment.

One day, her daughter got pregnant. However, the fetus wasn’t viable, so they had to perform an operation. All the mother needed to do was grant permission by email, but although I called her several times and she assured me she would send it, it just never came. It took three whole, agonizing days for that poor girl to get the procedure she needed, simply because her mother just didn't do anything.

We finally reached out to CPS and got permission through them, but her daughter was deeply harmed by this and just never recovered from it. Seeing her like this was my first "I need a minute" moment.

SquishHotS

2. Let It Go

I was in a tiny room with this well-known patient of mine. She was a sweet, sweet woman who all of a sudden stood up, said “Excuse me for a second,” went to the opposite corner of the (again, tiny) room, and threw the biggest, loudest, perfect high-pitch toot I’ve heard in my life. Then she came back to the chair (two steps really) and smiled as if nothing had happened.

Whatisdissssss

3. Home Alone

white and red wooden house miniature on brown tablePhoto by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash

Working with kids has always affected me the most. I had one kid who was in foster care and had been pushed from house to house. He had apparently had a very rough upbringing before that. He was very quiet and didn't talk much. We always gave every child a box that they could decorate and fill with things they made in sessions. At the end of their sessions, they could then take it home if they wanted to. His response to this shattered my heart.

What did this kid do when I first gave him his box? He started making it into a house. Gave it a door, windows, a roof, etc. and then wrote a message to his mother (who he couldn't see anymore) on the side to say that he loved her. In the sessions, he spent the majority of the time playing with the dollhouse where it always went the same way.

He arranged all the furniture and people perfectly. He was very specific about what went where and what people had which rooms. And then he would destroy it all. Saying that “the new people are coming". I have a lot of stories but remembering his pain and his simple desire for a home always breaks my heart. I hope that he is out there doing OK now.

Vaytato

4. Don’t Carry It All

My client told me his family didn't appreciate his interest in guns, to which he proceeded to tell me he is always carrying. He then places his piece on the table in front of me and asked if it made me nervous. It did, but we focused more on why he wanted to know if I was nervous and brought it back around to his family. From then on, I made sure to always have access to a door and never put the client between the door and myself again—just to be safe.

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5. Sharing The Burden

I am an intake coordinator at a community mental health center. One day, I had to meet face-to-face with a woman who was wanting services. She desperately needed them. She was hoarding multiple properties and sleeping in her car at a fast-food restaurant. Her children wanted to help but she couldn't let go of the items. It was difficult to politely ignore the strong odor coming from her, but I did.

She's explaining how her life got this way. It was largely because she had to undergo treatment for cancer 10 years ago. My heart stopped for a moment. See, my mother had passed quite recently and very quickly with the same kind of cancer, after having been cancer-free for five years. I started to tear up. She thought it was so compassionate of me to listen to her story and work on getting her help.

After she left, I couldn't hold it in. I sobbed. The office staff teared up and they told me I was so professional and kind. I got a few hugs and I went to my car to process. But here's the ugly truth: I wasn't so much sad for the lady as I was angry that she survived her cancer and my mother didn't. That she lives her life in squalor while my mom perished just when she reached the happiest, most stable chapter of her life.

My therapist heard all about it. We've worked it out in our department to try to avoid cases that would be triggering if possible. My colleague will take the cancer ones for me.

elusivemoniker

6. A Bridge Too Far

woman in black crew neck shirtPhoto by OSPAN ALI on Unsplash

I used to work as an outreach clinician for people with serious and persistent diagnoses. A person who was experiencing a lot of paranoia was showing my colleague and me “evidence” that the local hospital had harmed them during a medical admission. They handed my co-worker a freezer bag full of grayish-yellow, oily curls. When they explained what it was, I nearly threw up.

The bag was full of skin they’d peeled from their feet and thighs as evidence of “being exposed to contaminants". I can hang with almost anything but we were NOT open to any more contact with the bag.

Rasberry_Sweaty

7. Not Now, Brain!

When I worked in bereavement, a client of mine used the term “skid-marks” when discussing the accident he and his family had been in. For some reason, there and then, the expression just caught me off guard. I joined the dots, and the corners of my mouth started to rise. In actuality, this may have only lasted a moment, but it felt like minutes. All the while I was drawing blood as I chewed down on the insides of my cheeks.

I felt like the worst human being alive.

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8. Happy And Unhealthy

I work at a residential group home. We had a kid who we had admitted about four months prior. In a family session, they mention they had parasites. At this point, I’m like what??? The mom goes, “Oh yeah, our whole family has them. We don’t believe in getting rid of them since they’re part of our biological ecosystem". I’m just dumbstruck from here on out.

We spent three weeks afterward convincing this family it was an infectious disease concern for all of our other residents. Three weeks of education, planning, and worst of all convincing this kid and mother that their IQ wouldn’t drop because they had agreed to irradiate the parasites!

Hollow_Comment669

9. You Can Do This

woman in white tank topPhoto by Molnár Bálint on Unsplash

I worked as a therapist at an agency that dealt with substance misuse before going into private practice. One of my biggest “I need a moment” times happened there. I was working with a young individual (and I myself was around their age) who was an addict. They were bright, intelligent, and deeply empathetic to the world but so, so sick. They had to have not just one open-heart surgery due to cardiomyopathy, but two.

This was prior to ever turning 30. They just kept relapsing despite trying so hard. This client never missed treatment. One day, they didn’t show up for an appointment so I called. No answer. They called back and asked to speak to me. I will never forget the sound of their voice when I answered. They were so broken. They had just relapsed before calling.

They were so afraid and disappointed. I remember thinking that their addiction was going to kill them and it weighed so heavily on me. I will never forget this client. After that call, I sat there awash in the realization that my client would likely die from this and they were my age. Addiction can turn people all out of character, but they were so sweet and kind.

They would give you the shirt off their back. I truly believe they were just too kind for this harsh world. But there was a beautiful ending to all this. See, this was a while ago. My client went to a higher level of care and I found out over a year later that they were sober and doing well and had moved states. I remember crying when I found out they made it all that time later.

deane_ec4

10. Rope-A-Dope Diagnosis

I’m an intake clinician and once had this exchange. Me: "What brings you in today?" Him: "I'm here for an addiction. I watch too many adult videos". At this point, not the weirdest thing I've heard, let's go with that. "Okay, tell me about it". Him: "I watch them three times a week, for 15 minutes or so at a time. My girlfriend said I'm an addict and forced me to come in".

I see lots of very extreme cases, but this was so minor that it made me stop for a moment. I sent them to couples' counseling instead.

apathyontheeast

11. A Few Eggs Short Of A Basket

I had a patient who was psychotic and believed their ex-spouse had been harming their child, when he hadn’t. They went into detail about the unhinged “tests” they would do on their child. I had to go to the door of my office and tell them they had to leave or I was going to call security. For the record, I never asked them about this, either, despite being aware of it from their crisis evaluation.

I'm an activity therapist and my assessment with patients is all about their lifestyle and activity. I was asking them about chores, housework, and their basic routine, and they just came out with this. Eventually, authorities removed the child from their care. The patient eventually cleared from their psychosis and recanted on their belief that their spouse was hurting their child.

maybe_little_pinch

12. Just A Moment

grayscale photography of woman in tank topPhoto by Davide Pietralunga on Unsplash

I'm not a therapist, but this stirred some memories for me. Weirdly, throughout the passing of my infant daughter in the hospital, I was quite composed considering. The usual emotions were there with all of us. But it was a few days after I traveled on the ferry to sign her birth and death certificate that it hit me. They gave me a box of all the documents and a few items like her hospital wristband.

On the ferry back, I just sat there on the chair with the box on my lap. As everyone departed the craft, I just sat there. A ferry worker came over to tell me it was ok to leave, and I snapped out of it. I must have visibly had emotion on my face and red eyes. She then said, "Do you need a minute?" with genuine sincerity. I just nodded and sat there for a moment.

She walked away. I took some deep breaths and departed, and I gently nodded to the lady with a smile. She smiled back. I guess I really needed that minute.

swanlevitt

13. No Consequences, No Manners

I was working at a camp for children with various psychological disorders, most with some sort of behavioral concerns. The girl I was paired with had a history of aggressive and violent tendencies. We went the whole day without any problems. That was, until we were doing some group physical activity to wind down and focus before leaving for the day.

She didn't like that this meant no longer playing with a certain toy, so she took off her shoe and threw it at the little boy in front of her. He had autism and immediately started crying and screaming. While someone helped him, I turned to the girl to explain to her that what she did was wrong. As I turned towards her, she punched me square in the face, then grabbed a hold of my hair.

She managed to pull out a good chunk. I'm about 5'1 and this girl was maybe one or two inches shorter than me and had about 20 pounds on me, despite being nine years old. Trying to get a safe physical restraint was difficult and comical to say the least. Finally, I got some help from other staff and we were able to calm her down after about 15 minutes.

The kicker was when we told her mom what happened, she basically dismissed the entire thing and laughed about it. SO frustrating because you just know this kind of thing is reinforced at home as there is no punishment. The girl then starts hitting her mom, who grabs and holds down her arms. The little girl laughs, looks at me and the other staff member, and says, "Ugh a little help over here?! Are you going to let her do this to me? She's hurting my arm".

I went home and did this weird laugh/cry for a few hours after that. Luckily you learn pretty quickly not to take things personally and move on, so things were back to normal the next day. I do occasionally look back at that day just baffled at how quickly that whole situation escalated.

sike_ology

14. Believe In Yourself

I was a CPS social worker working in a new country. The first client I met was an addict who turned tricks and was eight months pregnant with an elderly client’s child. She was homeless and disconnected from her family. The plan was to remove the child and place it into foster care immediately, and then she would have supervised visits. The first time I met her she was just such a sad and broken person.

The shame was just seeping out of her. I just tried to love her. I told her what needed to happen to protect her baby. She understood and was willing to work with me for her baby to be safe and healthy. She asked me if she would ever be able to have a child she could be a “proper” mother to. I looked at her and I said: “It will take hard work and determination and there will be lots of hoops to jump through, but I believe you can do it and I will get you help if you are willing to do it".

I wasn’t able to contact her again until I got a call from the hospital where she delivered because of her homelessness situation. I went and saw her. It was a really hard day, she was alone by herself having given birth by herself, and I had to take the baby and place it in foster care. I bawled the entire way there. This beautiful innocent child, this beautiful mother who just got messed up and lost in life.

What a tragedy. And then something changed. Over the next two years of supervised visits, rehab, reconnection with her estranged family, new living arrangements, and therapy, I watched that woman turn her life around through sheer will, blood, sweat, withdrawals, tears, and lots and lots of mental health support and medication.

I was due to go back to my home country, and during the last week there, I was able to share the privilege of starting the transition plan of her baby coming to live with her at her mother’s house for shared care. The baby would still be on the CPS register for a while but the reunification happened. The mother’s smile was dazzling, as she had been gifted dental work to remove all of her damaged teeth and receive dentures.

This woman looked like a new woman, and she was. Honestly, every time I think of her I need a minute to cry. If the only person I was able to help in my career was her, it was worth all of the struggle.

pinksultana

15. Personal Hygiene Is Not Public Hygiene

person with orange nail polishPhoto by sq lim on Unsplash

Needless to say, I’ve seen a lot of things during my time as a therapist, but there is one thing that stays with me. And, uh, it’s not what I would have expected. I once had a client come in, sit down, remove his shoes, and begin cutting his toenails while talking casually about his week. It took everything I had not to laugh, or scream, or somehow do both.

datguy753

16. I DO See Color

I work in a hospital, and we once had a confused little old white lady who thought she looked like Whoopi Goldberg. She also received a revelation from God saying everyone was going to turn Black by the end of the week. I haven’t noticed any changes yet. When she was saying all this, I was trying so hard to keep a straight face, but I needed a moment after.

ohsopoor

17. You Reap What You Sow

I wasn’t the therapist in this situation—I was the client. One day, I’m watching the news and I see my therapist’s face on the television. It was a mug shot. He had apparently been detained for sleeping with one of his clients, which is NOT legal, in case you’re wondering. But here’s the kicker. He was our marriage counselor, and he was married. So was the client.

markitzero

18. Not Music To My Ears

person playing pianoPhoto by Dolo Iglesias on Unsplash

I’m a music therapist and was engaging with a client when they became very overstimulated and began to thrash their head extremely hard. I was at the piano and they began to slam their head into the piano, so I used my hands to guard their head. Both my hands got completely crushed against the piano and I immediately had bruising and swelling.

By the way, this was all happening within the first five minutes of the session. I spent the remaining 30 minutes trying to regulate the client. They left the session and appeared totally regulated. I left in tears. I’ve been off work for two weeks so far and while my bruises are clearing up, I have nerve damage and pain each day (thankfully, no broken bones).

I miss and love my job, but it’s truly not all rainbows and singing “You Are My Sunshine” every day.

oliveyay

19. Here Today…

I completed an initial assessment with a client, built some great rapport, and agreed to a further appointment to discuss a treatment plan the following week. When that appointment came there was no answer for a while. When I finally found out the truth, I was floored. I got through to the client’s sister, who told me she'd passed from cancer.

She had told me about it the week before, but stated she'd been in remission for a while. It hit me so hard for not just being my first client, but obviously, when working in mental health you're conscious of mental health-related deaths and risk management, so I was completely blindsided and reminded that there are other causes of tragic ends.

It’s stuck with me since and took a while for me to manage my worry when clients don't answer the phone after the first ring.

MommyJelly93

20. Clean As A Whistle

Not a therapist, but in the mental health field. When I was a nurse on a surgical ward, a guy was being a bit odd and kept wanting his curtains pulled around him. After a while of hearing odd noises, I peeked in and he has SLATHERED himself in hand sanitizer. Head to toe, two full bottles. He looked rather proud of himself for getting rid of the germs, and I had to step outside so as not to laugh in his face.

13aquamarine

21. It’s Coming From Inside The Center

black and tan german shepherdPhoto by Sofia Guaico on Unsplash

I used to work as a Specialist Facilitator for a group of resource centers for people with profound disabilities, behavioral disorders, and mental health conditions. One early morning, my colleagues and I were setting up for the day when someone told us to come to the window quickly. I couldn't believe my eyes...One of our older colleagues was swinging through the trees and making monkey noises directly outside the center.

The center was on a regular domestic public street so we had loads of spectators. But it gets more embarrassing. The worst part was that her massive, unruly German Shepherd was running amok beneath her, barking at said spectators. Things came to a head when our colleague leapt on the roof of the center and started howling non-stop. My boss had to call the firefighters.

This woman then propositioned a male firefighter on the roof, and we ended up having to call animal control for the dog while one of our mental health teams helped our colleague. This was all before our service users arrived at the center.

Blackcat1206

22. You Are Not Alone

I’m not a therapist, but when I was in the hospital two years ago for mental health reasons, I had to fill out a safety plan. One of the parts is to list three people you can reach out to. I was barely 17, so they told me I could write friends but I had no one to put down beside my mom. The nurse even let me have my phone to look at contacts, but I had no one to reach out to.

The nurse just sat there staring at me and then got up and told me she needed a minute. A different nurse came in and apologized to me and helped me do the rest. When I saw the first nurse later, she apologized to me and told me she has a kid my age and it was just hard for her to see someone like her kid suffer the way I was. It’s something I think about a lot.

weston200

23. Foot In Mouth

I work in a community residence for adults with mental illness. Most of them are very capable and independent. One girl who is 27 years old constantly acts really dumb for sympathy and will do dumb things because she can, I guess. The first week she was admitted, she tripped on something getting out of bed and she fell on her foot and broke some of the small bones in the foot.

I take her to get her cast and she gets the usual: “Don't get the cast wet, use your crutches, elevate, etc". Since her bedroom was on the second floor, we had to send her back to her mother's house for a few weeks since she would not be able to exit the building in time in case of an emergency. Well five days later, the boot to put over your cast comes in and we call her up saying we'll bring it over.

Her response: “Well, I don't think it'll fit" “Why not?” We ask. "Because I cut my cast off. I got it wet and it was too tight". They didn't give her a second cast and she never used her crutches, claiming they were unstable and she would fall and get hurt if she used them. Oh, but the worst was yet to come. Her foot never healed properly, and two months later she fell and broke it again.

She's since told us she wants her foot amputated because then it wouldn't hurt so much. ~Logic~

PeruvianVipertooth

24. You’re A Strange Animal

two man talking to each other on grass fieldPhoto by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

I used to work with children who have autism and Down syndrome, which means a lot of play therapy. I had my “I need a minute” moment when one of my clients wanted to sit on my lap while we practiced reciting animal cards followed by their corresponding noises. It ended in disaster. I made a noise that made him laugh so much that he ended up peeing on me from the laughter.

That night was also date night.

Flipopaotamus

25. Gotta Stay Hydrated

Not me, but this was a therapist I was supervising. Her and a client were in her car because it was community-based counseling for severe mental illness. Her client pulled money from her nether regions and put it in her water bottle. She then shook it up and drank the water. She then offers the therapist a sip. Absolutely bizarre and she didn’t know what to do with it.

DrSnarkyTherapist

26. Mistaken Identity

I got a phone call from a co-worker right as my 3 pm client was walking into the office. My co-worker’s words stopped me in my tracks. She said, "Dan’s gone". Now, we had a mutual co-worker named Dan, so my initial reaction was that it was him. I was in shock as she continued to talk about needing to "review the chart". I then realized that she was talking about my client, Dan.

My stomach dropped as my grief changed into something that was still grief but also fear and worry. I was in disbelief that he was gone. He was too young. I was worried it was self-inflicted that I missed something or had failed. I was realized that I had several clients who were friends with him and that they were impacted. It was horrible.

The co-worker hung up the phone with me and I burst out crying in front of my 3 pm client. I had to tell them that I wouldn't be able to meet today because I just had bad news. I needed more than a minute. It was hard. It was never determined if it was accidental or not. My agency provided zero support to me, other than reviewing the chart and telling me "everything looked fine".

It didn't feel fine. It sucked, all around.

AlwaysTheIntrovert

27. One Bad Day

a man holding his hands to his facePhoto by Charlotte Knight on Unsplash

I’m a school counselor. I was working in a school and one of the young boys I was seeing and helping was in an accident one night and perished. I didn't find out until the next morning when word got out during the first period. I was called in and rushed over to help with the students, a lot of whom I often saw along with this boy. I tried to stay composed and do my job, but we filled the library with over 100 students who were just finding out and breaking down.

Eventually, I had to crawl behind a bookcase and have a meltdown, although I quickly composed myself. The whole day was a nightmare and heartbreaking. At one point, I had to leave campus to track down the boy’s closest friends, who had run off and driven away. When I found them, the state they were in broke my heart. It’s the hardest thing I have ever had to go through as a counselor and took me weeks to emotionally recover. I still think about it.

Inevitable-Deth666

28. The Truth Is Out

I am not a therapist, but my husband and I were in therapy after losing a daughter to trisomy 18. The truth was all our family was horrible during this time and even before. It was rough. One day, my husband was finally opening up and talking. Then, he let out this loud, 30-second long toot. Him, me, and the therapist had a really good laugh.

It took us a few minutes, but we composed ourselves and continued the session.

Viperbunny

29. Too Young To Lose

I used to be a crisis counselor. I once did an assessment of a 13-year-old kid who, years earlier, lost one of his older brothers, and had lost his other older brother just a couple of months earlier. The way he and his mom talked about it, they had only just started to finally process and put the pieces back together after grieving their oldest when the other brother passed.

This boy had really fallen into a deep depression after. I’ve worked with a lot of youth before, but I still have never seen anyone like this. His sadness just radiated off him like that. I was able to keep it together during the assessment and gave his family some resources for therapy and grief support groups but I had a good, long cry in my car on the way back from the office.

danger-daze

30. Boy Meets Real World

medication pillsPhoto by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash

Once I was with an adolescent client who wanted help because of his impulsive and antisocial behavior. During our fourth session, he tells me that he had bought pills to calm himself. As he continues explaining that he got them for "cheap," he reaches into his backpack and brings out what I only assume were thousands of very powerful…antipsychotics.

Like, these were STRONG. They were restricted for public use and were like $100 a pill. He was totally unaware of the price and only knew that the "friend” who gave them to him expected "some" value/compensation out of the transaction. He didn't want to sell them and was totally unaware of the danger of dealing with the kinds of people who would sell them.

At some point, I had to stop the session and explain to him the severity of the situation. Thankfully I worked in the public sector and managed to get the family a lawyer and help from the municipality in case they were threatened to give back the money. They immediately left the pills with the authorities. For a couple of months, he thought I "betrayed" him, but he kept coming and finally understood that the law can also bring you protection.

He has been doing much better since then. I have to admit that at some point I was in awe of the unawareness of the boy.

DyausVaruna

31. Let It All Out

A teen I had been working with for about a year was finally "going there" and talking about her deep pain related to her mother. She had cut ties with her biological mother and was having issues with her stepmother. She looked me in the eyes, sobbing, and asked, "Why can't I get a mom to love me? What's wrong with me?" Her vulnerability in that moment reminded me of a small child.

She has since been doing much better. There was a lot of emotion in the room during that session.

hi17

32. Not In The Job Description

Oh, this takes me back. But this time, it was my (terrible) therapist who made me take a minute. She stopped me in the middle of a session to tell me that the real problem was that I made everything about myself. Which would have been a valid point, had she not kept talking.

She continued: "Like right now, you're just talking about yourself, and about your life. Every week you just talk about yourself. You know, I just had a baby a few months ago, but you never ask me how that's going. You never ask me about my life, or my friends, or my relationship with my husband. If you're like this with everyone in your life, I can imagine why people don't like being around you".

I left super ashamed and never went back.

Staruckerbyday

33. Too Much Of A Good Thing

shallow focus photography of prescription bottle with capsulesPhoto by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Went through a couple of years where I was using Xanax too much and eventually got my license taken away. I had to go to a counselor to get it back. She had a weird shed/building she had converted into an office, so I was already feeling uncomfortable walking into someone's backyard for therapy. I got there for my first session and was proven WAY right.

She immediately offered to get me a Xanax prescription after me telling her my history. Thankfully, at this point, I was already clean and had decided to stay that way. It was definitely a what the heck moment I needed to take a minute on. I'm glad I didn't find her at a time when I would have been weak enough to accept the offer. Screw that therapist.

MennyNdJaddy

34. Child’s Play

I was 39 and had unearthed my wife's affair only a week previously. I was just a total heartbroken, shattered mess. Well, my therapist’s recovery plan was to "make a man out of me". This guy kept telling me in our sessions that video games were "for children". He was well into his 70s. I fired him. I have since remarried. I still play video games.

Dobralov

35. A Cruel Joke

I am not a therapist, but I was in a therapy program years ago and we got a new patient. Within the span of a week, her mother passed from cancer and her house caught on fire and her dad and sister perished in the accident. The sister passed after slipping from the girl’s hands and falling into flames. I felt so bad for her and I couldn’t comprehend it at first.

EmiEvans

36. Pop A Wheelie

black and gray wheelchair on blue floorPhoto by vitor camilo on Unsplash

A client referred to a wheelchair as a "wheely boi". We'd been on a call and I had tears in my eyes from laughing. I don't know why but that humor really gets me. Further context: the client was unable to reassure me of their personal safety and so I had been persuading them to go to the hospital. They responded with, "I'll only go if they give me a wheely boi".

succsinthecity

37. At Attention

I was working surveillance one night at a psych ward, keeping a close watch on a mentally ill patient. Right before my shift started, I was briefed that the patient had started eating one of the lightbulbs and went for a nurse. At around 5 am, he woke up and saw me sitting there at the end of his bed. I said good morning and he didn’t reply.

About 15 minutes of silence went by before he stood up and stared out the window. Then he made the most bizarre remark: "A person is most vulnerable while taking a poop". I didn’t sit back down for the rest of my shift.

Sigouin

38. Hard Work

I'm not a therapist, but I go see one. One thing we talk about a lot is that I have a narcissistic mother. She told me that I must be very resilient to be able to put up with my mother because anytime she has an hour-long session with a narcissistic patient, she makes sure to have a break for at least an hour afterward. It kind of helps knowing not even she would be able to stand my mother.

ShutterBug1988

39. Take A Bow

man in black knit cap and black hoodiePhoto by Altin Ferreira on Unsplash

As a new therapist, I had a particularly intense client take a dive, Fight Club-style to try and get me in trouble. It wasn’t really a problem because there was a camera in the room, but I was so shocked that I said to him, "I'm going to sit here and breathe a moment," and I did. That's the only time I've ever needed a minute in the session, but it was scary.

the_virtue_of_logic

40. Let A Little Too Loose

Once, I had a client with a child who did nothing but scream at the parent for about 20-30 minutes straight. As soon as they left, I cried for 20 minutes due to how emotionally charged the words and accusations were. I tried to defuse it at times, but it continued to rebound quickly until I just had to sit there and watch it happening right in front of me.

Ryahh61577

41. See You Never

I went to an appointment with my therapist and the door was locked. I waited 15 minutes and called him. No response. He texted me back a few minutes later and said he had the flu and was in bed and sorry he didn’t call to cancel. I went to the grocery store instead. I saw him shopping. He ducked when he saw me. I never went back to him.

Beths_Tissies

42. Good On You

closeup photo of man with beardPhoto by Vinicius "amnx" Amano on Unsplash

I had been working with this client for a while to build their self-esteem and alleviate their depression, and at the end of the session, they told me I was the reason they found the strength to keep going that day. The session had started rough but it ended on such a high note and it felt great to hear that from them. I had to take a minute between sessions and appreciate the improvement the client was able to feel, outside of the compliment.

Mind_taker84

43. Observing All The Niceties

This past December, I talked to a very angry father of a kid I worked with. He ended the call by shouting down the line, "And you have yourself a happy freaking Christmas!" It was just so funny and weird, I had to take a minute before moving along with my day.

BellsIAm

44. Use Your Eyes

A client was going to probate court and thought he'd dress up by putting a non-slip sock on his collar as a tie. Trying to be supportive, I told him, "Nice tie". To which he replied, "It's not a tie, it's a sock, stupid". Yep, that one just about did me in with laughing.

EggiWegZ

45. We Don’t Deserve Them

selective focus photography of orange and white cat on brown tablePhoto by Amber Kipp on Unsplash

Any time anyone tells me about their pets dying, I need a minute. I do not know your cat. But I love your cat.

Itsnottreasonyet

46. Sticks And Stones

I’m a school counselor going into the second year of my career. I had a student with who I had grown close. She disclosed her major depression, highly impulsive tendencies, and her eating disorder to me as we talked more and more. But she had gone through extensive therapy and treatment and was getting better with it all. Her parents kept in close contact with me as well.

One day she came to me sobbing, wouldn’t say a word, just grabbed my hand and handed me a thumbtack that she had been scratching herself with. I asked her, “What happened?” When she replied, I nearly burst into tears. She said one of her best friends came up to her and told her she no longer wanted to be friends with her because she had too much “baggage".

The girl later called her parents with me in the room and sobbed to her mom. She said, “I wish you and dad didn’t care about me so much so I could just be done with this". That was the first time I simply could not keep my composure. I asked another counselor to come in and stepped out of the room to sob at the fact we simply never know what a person’s going through, and words hurt so much more than we know.

bdenn27

47. One Heck Of A Curveball

I arrived at a client's house for a session one day. I was doing in-home therapy for adolescents at the time, and it was with a 13-year-old kid. He was a little late getting home from school so he wasn't there yet. His mother has me sit down to wait for him and says that while he's not home, she wanted to ask me something. I never could have guessed her next words.

At that point, I'm assuming it's about her son since that's why I'm there. Nope. She proceeds to ask me why I think her boyfriend won't please her in the bedroom and if I have any suggestions to change that. Really didn't see that one coming.

freechurro824

48. The Ones Who Got Away

pink and white flowersPhoto by Mayron Oliveira on Unsplash

It was my first internship on my path to being a counselor and I was working in a funeral home under the grief counselor there (grief and trauma is my focus). We were taught to be strong and supportive to those grieving, of course, and if we needed to cry, we were supposed to go in the back or to the bathroom. On one memorable occasion, I helped an elderly lady view her husband before the service.

I showed her to a chair in front of the casket—and then watched in despair as she completely lost it. The poor woman laid down on the casket, bawling her eyes out and declaring how much she loved him and missed him. She begged him not to leave her and to come back. That totally destroyed me. I immediately started crying behind her.

She stood up and I sucked it up to help her walk back into the hall to start greeting guests. I thought I had done a good job collecting myself, but my mentor took one look at me and softly said "go to the back room," which I did. I completely lost it for a few minutes, cleaned up, and went back to help with the service. I definitely needed that minute.

Tacomapenguin81

49. You Never Know What Can Happen

When I was just starting out as a therapist, I worked for a community mental health clinic at the satellite office, which was located in the basement of a community center. Looking back, it was completely unsafe. No other staff worked there except for me. I was in a cinderblock room, alone, with individuals who had varying degrees of mental health issues. One day, it came to a dark climax.

The incident involved a woman with Schizoaffective Disorder. She was typically very odd in her presentation, with loose associations and bizarre speech. However, she really was a sweetheart overall. But one day, she came into my office holding a giant rock. She was agitated and indicated that people were trying to "mess with her," so the rock was for protection.

I'm grateful that I had an established relationship with her and navigated the session without getting bludgeoned. But afterward, I was shaking and needed a bit to center myself for the next client. I also began to raise concerns about the safety issues (and it didn't change a thing).

AlwaysTheIntrovert

50. There’s Someone For Everyone

This wasn’t a client, but I once got an inquiry from someone seeking therapy because he was cheating on his wife…with his mother. I’ll admit, I needed a moment. Then I collected myself, put my game face on, and referred him to a colleague of mine who specializes in infidelity. At the end of the day? You just do the job and process personal feelings and reactions afterward.

That’s why maintaining clinical supervision (even after full licensure) is a best practice.

Seeking_Starlight

If you were to ask most parents these days what they hope their child might be when they grow up, chances are the majority of them will say a doctor or a lawyer.

Or, at the very least, they might say they hope their child marries one.

However, had you been growing up in late Victorian or Edwardian England, being a doctor or a lawyer, let alone marrying one, was not exactly something to brag about.

For if you were someone of any means or rank, you probably wouldn't work at all.

Thankfully, the stigmatization of those jobs wore away over time, and people now respect them for the important professions they are.

Sadly though, the passage of time has not been as kind to other professions, whose pedigree has suffered the reverse fate.

Redditor probablyuntrue was curious to hear which professions people believe no longer carry the same pedigree they once did, leading them to ask:

"What job used to be prestigious but isn't anymore?"

If Anyone Rues The Invention Of The Automobile...

"Blacksmith."

"They were the town engineer, manufacturer, craftsman, and problem solver all in one."

"Now they are mostly just hobbyists."- BaconReceptacle

And All They Told Was The News...

"Newspaper columnist and local news anchor."

"They used to be celebrities when they were the primary mediums people got their news from."- 4Ever2Thee

Blame It On The Name Change...

"Flight attendant."

"Back in the 1970s, if you were dating a 'stewardess', all your friends were jealous."- Earguy

Cabin Crew Applause GIF by KLMGiphy

Maybe It's People's Taste Which Has Taken A Hit...

"I was a furniture and cabinet maker in the 2000s."

"I designed and built entertainment centers for the new flat-screen tv fad."

"Paid great, everyone thought I was cool."

"No one gives a sh*t anymore and the pay has scaled way down with this economy so I’m back in school."- Low-Abbreviations-38

Owing To Certain Connotations, Perhaps?

"Spice trader."

"I was of course talking about reading actual spices."

"With the new movie, being a character in Dune is probably more prestigious than it has ever been."- I_might_be_weasel

Thanks Spotify...

"Nighttime radio DJ."- Scrappy_Larue

"They used to set what music was cool and not."- laudinum

Dj Puppet GIFGiphy

Before There Was Kinkos...

"Printer."

"Lithographic or various others."

"Used to be an amazing career and essential to society."

"Since the rise of the internet and decline of printed media the industry has died."

"Not that long ago, the spread of information was made possible through printers, not anymore."- Advanced-Stupid

There Sevice Has Been Expedited, or perhaps "Expedia'd"...

"Travel Agent."

"Finding flights, booking good hotels, knowing the cool places to go, how to get tickets to events, and how to pull it all together for someone used to be fairly useful skills to have."

"Now the job is basically nonexistent apart from super high-end or specialty positions."- MrMojoFomo

Their Cargo Is Seldom Precious...

"Letter carriers for the postal service."

"All I deliver now is junk mail and Amazon packages."

"Certified letters used to be treated like it was a classified gov document(because it could be) that you were responsible for."

"You even had to sign out to receive them because you were accountable for them."

"Now they come mixed in with the bulk junk mail."- flyjum

Postal Worker Vintage GIFGiphy

"Bank manager."- biga204

"I would argue that position is still prestigious in towns under 20k pop."- 2cats2hats

Some Money Management Isn't So Glamorous...

"Working at a Bank."- DogusEUW

"Before the credit score was invented, working as a banker was prestigious because you got to decide if someone got a loan or not."

"Everyone want to be buddies with a local banker because he could sign off on a loan and set the terms."

"How do you think grandpa bought the house?"

"Now individuals don’t do that algorithms do."- Limp_Distribution

"...All The Livelong Day..."

"Freight conductor/ engineer."

"Used to be a great career."

"The hours and schedule have always been rough but the pay made up for the inconvenience."

"Now corporate greed, sh*tty contracts, mass company surveillance, and insane attendance policies have turned railroading into a sh*t job."- Boo_Blicker

Survey Says...

"Land Surveyor."

"3 of the 4 presidents on Mount Rushmore were land surveyors, and owning property was a big deal so people who could give you legal authority over ownership were pretty well respected."

"Now you make $12 an hour starting to dig holes lol."- HandsOfJazz

When You Realize You're On The Wrong Track...

"Working in academia, in a way."

"Over last several decades, tenure tracks got way more competitive."

"Young scientists are now often overworked, underpaid and have uncertain future."

"No wonder that many leave the academia for private sector."- MyKinkyCountess

It's Very Easy To Judge..."

"Is any job considered prestigious nowadays?"

"It feels like the internet has allowed us a deeper look into what every profession really is like and the aura of mystery/awe that used to surround particular jobs just isn't there anymore."- justgonnaknowaway

What Do You Do For A Living GIF by Hot BenchGiphy

It's certainly worth wondering what makes people think a job is prestigious or not?

The pay? The duties? The qualifications?

None of which should ultimately factor in, as when push comes to shove, all jobs have value.

After all, most of the jobs that were considered "essential" during the height of the pandemic were generally anything but lucrative.

But where would we be today without them?

Saying “You’re Fired” Never Felt So Good
Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

No one wants to hear that they’ve been let go, but, trust us, in the following examples, it’s definitely for the best. From shocking acts of sabotage to dangerous drownings and even playing with oneself on company time, these jaw-dropping Redditor’s stories have one thing in common—a sometimes sad, but always satisfying, ending.

1. Hey, Sleepyhead

I never micro-managed my employees and I always gave them a lot of discretion in how they did their jobs. However, when I got a new contract-to-hire guy who was gone from his desk way too much, I decided to investigate.

I used my admin credentials to log onto his computer and check out what he was working on. I looked into his emails and bingo! There was a message where he told a girl that he parks his car in the basement away from everyone and he goes there to nap.

The next day, I went down and found him sleeping in his car. I tapped on the glass and asked for his keycard for the door. The look on his face was like a little boy. He knew he was totally busted.

JonnyBravoII

2. Bye For Now

I was supervising a call center in the early 2000s and we were still manually dialing numbers from paper call sheets. I had a new guy who, after a few days, still had zero success in getting anyone to do a survey. So I decided to listen in. After getting an answering machine on his first call, the second one was answered by a human:“Hello?”

As a reply, my employee muttered, “I know where you live, you gutless jerk!” Holy jeez. Of all the hundreds of calls this kid made, I caught that one on the second try. I called him into my office and said, “Dude, you can’t work here anymore”.

When he asked why, I replied, “Because you said, ‘I know where you live, you gutless jerk’”. The look in his eyes said it all.

Ellipses1

3. A Real Head Scratcher…

woman wearing blue coatPhoto by Austin Distel on Unsplash

I hired a young person who was VERY pleased with himself, to put it mildly. He had gone to the best schools and was well looked after by his mom and dad. I chose him from a large field of strong economics graduates. Red flag number one: During his first week on the job, he made a point of boasting to his ex-employer about his new job.

After six months, he was a nightmare of self-absorption. The quality of his work was very poor and he would groan audibly when asked to do any menial task. He also got into the habit of surreptitiously denigrating the people who were paying his bills (aka me) and was silly enough to print and circulate these emails internally, which my assistant often found.

I particularly enjoyed his email that described how much of a jerk I was, how much I was being paid, and how I drove around loving myself in my Porsche (when I actually drove a 1978 Toyota Corolla!).

On the anniversary of his much-anticipated review, which was also the eve of his fancy overseas trip, I kept him back late and called him into my office. I then calmly handed him the stack of his emails my assistant had collected and said, “You left these on the printer. Enjoy your holiday, and don’t bother coming back”.

bpmhigh

4. Taking Care Of Business

I once hired this guy who was so absolutely sure that he always was the smartest guy in the room when, in actuality, he was quite stupid. However, I needed employees in the yogurt shop I owned, so I kept him on making sure to only give him shifts when I was in the building.

One time, a group of his friends came in after one of his shifts and I knew trouble was coming. They all had loyalty punch cards, which I’m sure he supplied and punched out, so I had to give them whatever they wanted for free—strike one.

Another time, I had to leave the building when he was working and I came back to nothing having been rung up for an entire hour, yet the register had been opened over a dozen times, which was clearly theft (and strike two).

I sat him down, and since he thought he was such a smart guy with the brightest of futures, I said, “Well, I think it’s time I make you vice president”. You should have seen his eyes light up.

“Yep," I continued, “you’re VP of garbage collection. Now go change all of the bags and pick up all the trash in the parking lot”. As he sat there motionless, I said, “Oh, and I’m only going to need you for an hour a week at the most”. The look of confusion on his face was priceless.

fiffle44

5. Swim For Your Life

I was the head lifeguard while working at a summer camp and one of my employees was new. Normally, we all knew each other because we had been working there for years. I was shocked to discover this new guy must have faked his certification. It was actually so embarrassing to watch.

He couldn’t swim a quarter of a mile, couldn’t surface dive below three meters (10 feet), and had no clue how to do anything. We did training and he nearly drowned me when I was a practice victim because he had me in a headlock with my face underwater. I had to start punching him because he wouldn’t let go.

Eventually, one day, a kid started actually drowning and this new guy was standing around. One of our lifeguards-in-training started screaming and jumped in to save the kid. Naturally, the trainee got pulled down by the drowning victim and my new employee was STILL just standing there, chilling.

Being a trainee, that person was only supposed to reach or throw, but because of an unrelated, annoying incident, they were the only lifeguard on the dock. My buddy and I heard the commotion, sprinted there, and jumped in wearing all of our clothes. We grabbed both of them and dragged them out. The new guy's reaction floored me.

He said, “Oh sorry, I took a bunch of stuff earlier, so I’m really high”. I fired him right there in front of his entire class. I told him to get his stuff and sit on the side of the road. I then called my boss and the authorities who took him away.

grubas

6. Completely Unhinged

a man wearing sunglassesPhoto by Marwan Ahmed on Unsplash

This one time, I witnessed an employee throwing his girlfriend into the wall in the breakroom and was like “WHAT THE—? You can't do that, man!” He told me that it was none of my business. Unfortunately for him, I was both of their supervisors and it was, in fact, my business.

So, after about five minutes of threats, I locked myself and his girlfriend in an office and called law enforcement. I then came out and tried to reason with him until I saw the authorities pull in the drive. Right around the same time, he took his shirt off, threw it at me, and said, “Meet me outside if you’re a real man!” and stormed out.

He didn’t see the law coming around the corner and was instantly detained as soon as he walked outside. While he was getting cuffed, I leaned out the door and said, “Hey, I don’t know if you knew, but you’re fired. We’ll mail your check”. He was crying like a little kid in the back of the car while they talked to his girlfriend.

It was absolutely beautiful. Little did I know he also had warrants. So… bonus, I guess? Oh, and for anyone wondering, the last I heard was they are still dating.

jman4220

7. Got Your Back

I hired what I thought was a diamond-in-the-rough employee—a 40-year-old youth pastor who had some experience cleaning. Mind you, I was 23 years old and it was my first time in a management position, so I had been forewarned that it may be a little rough trying to manage someone much older than me.

Anyway, things started out fairly well as I walked him through his tasks. He seemed like an OK guy, but when I would show him little tips and things we were supposed to do, his reactions were verging on disrespectful. Eventually, toward the end of the morning, I simply asked him if he had done a part of the bathroom that we were supposed to do.

He replied, “You know I wasn’t born yesterday, man”. I was sort of taken aback by it, and when I went to check if he had done it, he obviously hadn’t. I let this slide though and near the end of the morning, he sat looking at his phone because he was “finished” instead of helping me with my work.

I absolutely hate when people lack decency and teamwork skills. I had been nothing but kind to him, and all I received was disrespect. The final task was to take the trash out to the dump, so I led him to the dump and said, “So how are you liking this job?” He said, “I don’t mind the job, it’s just you, man…your mannerisms”.

I was fed up at the end of a long night and I laughed in his face and then looked him right in the eyes and asked what I was doing wrong. He just kept ranting about how disrespectful I was and how I didn’t say “please” and “thank you”. I started to laugh at every little thing he noted, which really ticked him off.

The next day, I told my boss what happened and my boss told the guy that it wasn’t going to work out. The guy then proceeded to send a long email about how my boss had smelled like drinks upon their first meeting and how I was a terrible manager. My boss is a former heavy drinker, so this hit him pretty hard.

It was the first time I had heard my boss swear profusely to me as he vented about this guy. Needless to say, I never saw the youth pastor again, and my boss and I bonded to the point where he gave me a significant raise and a part-time “counseling position” (aka he now vents to me often but I enjoy it).

casedude

8. Plot Twist

I fired a guy by telling him he was obviously too skilled to work under me and should be running his own kitchen. He found a new job and ended up thanking me.

farang

9. Special Delivery

gray sedan beside pizza storePhoto by Matthew LeJune on Unsplash

I worked at a pizza place in a college town, we had a driver—let’s call him “Derrick”. The manager was also named “Derrick”. Derrick the Driver sold illicit substances on the side. It was nothing big time and he didn’t make it obvious, but most of the other kitchen staff knew.

Another driver calls in on his day off and asked to speak with Derrick. Derrick the Manager came over, picked up, and said, “Thank you for calling Pizza Place, how may I help you?”

“Yoooo, Derrick! Where da buds at?” Wrong Derrick. Click. So, Derrick the Driver worked the rest of his shift. Then Derrick the Manager brought him into the manager’s office and fired him. Derrick the Driver was a nice guy and well-liked by most of the staff, and the story got out quickly.

The dummy who called in and asked the stupid question was also fired, but not as many people cared about him. The whole event became a Pizza Place legend for the next couple of years.

LowNotesB

10. Very Dirty Work

I own a chain of dry cleaners. Three years ago, a month before I sold the business, I went undercover and started training with the staff as a newly hired part-time employee. We didn’t want anyone in the company to know that the business was being sold until everything went through. I couldn't believe what I uncovered.

On my first day of a ride along with one of the delivery drivers, he showed me how he filled up the van with the company credit card while also putting $20 worth of fuel into his personal car.

When I was training with one of the store managers, she showed me how to make some extra cash. She came into work with pockets full of coupons and applied one to every other cash order after the customer left. This gave her an average of an extra $10 per hour.

On my last few days, I was in the production plant training with the production manager. I was mostly learning about the equipment and its maintenance. I found out that he wasn’t doing half of the regular maintenance that needed to be performed.

He was simply marking down that the service had been performed and then throwing out brand-new filters, which were $290 each. On the final closing day, I went around with the new owner and his wife and met the staff…I came to every employee and properly introduced myself.

When I came to these three clowns, I came up to each one and said, “You’re fired". To say they were shocked is an understatement.

Vovik82

11. Mixed Emotions

This was an easy one for me. All I said was “Welcome back! You’re fired” after my employee had failed to show up four days in a row without giving any notice.

shinslap

12. Yikes!

person showing handcuffPhoto by niu niu on Unsplash

I found out that my assistant manager was a serious addict who was taking money from the registers and regularly using substances in the bathrooms. But that wasn't the worst part. One morning, she had a hit-and-run accident at 4:00 am and came to work right after.

At noon, officers showed up, cuffed her, and took her to the station. As they were taking her away, she told the other employee to lie to me and tell me she was sick in the bathroom when I called. Luckily, that employee called me instead. I came in and sent that employee home while HR and I figured out what to do.

Not surprisingly, the addict keyed my car on the way out. When she came back for her next shift, it gave me great satisfaction to say, “You’re fired”.

rubyexpress

13. That Escalated Quickly

I used to manage a T-shirt shop. I had an employee who was re-hired after having left years and years beforehand. When this employee was hired back, she did not receive seniority since her prior work with us had been more than five years ago. She didn’t like this.

One night while I was working alone, we were absolutely slammed and I didn’t get around to putting tags on the last 10 or so t-shirts in my pile for inventory. Clock-out time rolled around and I left a memo on the counter for the new/old employee asking her to finish tagging the last few shirts—as a sales associate, this is her job.

The next day, she sent me a four-part epic of a text message. Within the text, she straight up threatened me with bodily harm if I ever dare leave her work again. She then went on to colorfully explain that it’s not her job to do mine if I feel lazy and that I’m a sleazeball for taking her position.

She even went so far as to explain to me how the extra 10 minutes it took her to tag the shirts totally messed up her flow, boohoo. Now, this on its own would have been grounds for a write-up.

However, since this wasn’t her first outburst or incident involving threats, I got to follow up her text with a phone call that went as such: “Hey S, just sent that text over to [our bosses’ name], you won’t need to worry about being in that sort of a situation ever again! You're fired”. It felt good.

Permalink

14. Up In The Air: The Prequel

A job I had back in 2003 once gave me the task of flying out to a city I’d never set foot in, firing the entire crew, and hiring and training a whole new crew. I had never met these people before in my life. I wasn’t even told why these people needed to go.

All I knew was that I was making $20/hour (which was a lot then) to do this. I felt horrible. I felt like the lowest human imaginable. One of the women cried. She said she would lose her apartment if she lost this job. I never want to do that ever again.

It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t my fault that these people were let go, it felt like it was my fault. And I don’t want to feel like that. Some people can deal—I can’t. Unlike George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air, though, I wasn’t trained to do this.

Hiring people? Absolutely, I was good at that. Training a crew? No problem. The firing aspect was completely new to me. I didn’t even know I was going to be doing that until the flight was booked. I felt like I had been duped into it.

Also, I was only 20 at the time, so I couldn’t rent a car. Imagine you’re at work, doing your thing, and you see this kid hop out of a cab, introduce himself to the crew, and then sheepishly tell everyone that their work won’t be needed anymore. What a nightmare.

Microsoftpretzel

15. You Deserve A Break Today

people inside buildingPhoto by Sangga Rima Roman Selia on Unsplash

During high school, I worked at a department store. Over the years, I eventually worked myself up to the role of weekend/night manager. I had the ability to fire people, but it had to be for a “REALLY good reason”.

I had an employee, who was the same age as I, who was often spotted in her car getting it on with her boyfriend. Her breaks were supposed to be 15 minutes, but she often took much longer.

The final straw came when she had the nerve to get her boyfriend to call in sick for her while they were very obviously boinking. I told him, “Getting laid is not a valid sick excuse, and if she doesn’t find someone to swap or come in then she’s fired”.

guru42101

16. That Was Too Easy

One of my employees was selling illicit substances during her shifts at my internet cafe. I had my night guy come in with me. He went behind the counter and I asked her to come talk to me outside. She said, “Who is going to watch the till?” I told her the night guy was.

We then went outside and I asked her if I could buy an ounce off her. She said, “Just a sec, I’ll get you some”. I said, “Hey, don’t bother”. She looked at me, confused, “What?” I just smiled because she'd just dug her own grave.

I said, “You’re fired”.

Permalink

17. Slow And Steady…

My most satisfying “You’re fired” moment was with an employee who had been part of our family business for about four years. For three of those years, he had been surreptitiously pilfering money from us.

We finally switched over to a new accounting system and he kept doing it. The old system could only be used as soft evidence, but the new system was rock solid. Once we added up his total theft, it was just below Grade A Grand Theft for our state.

So, we sat on it for a day or two trying to decide what to do. By the time we finally acted, he had moved himself up to Grade A Grand Theft. We were able to get all of our money back, but I guess he still has a record to this day.

MarvinWaters17

18. Timing Is Everything

selective focus photography of lensPhoto by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash

I had an employee who was an addict. He also thought he was smooth enough to swipe merchandise and sell it behind the store. I sat through six tapes worth of security footage, and in one of them, you can very clearly see him snorting something off of one of the boxes in the storeroom and then slumping over for fifteen minutes.

After those discoveries, it was all just a matter of time. In a scene that could have been right out of a movie, I told him that he was fired right as the authorities were putting the cuffs on him. The best part was I got a pay raise and an award for finding the source of the in-house theft.

whoatethekidsthen

19. Bonus Points

I work at a residential facility for at-risk youth. One time, I caught the supervisor sleeping with an adolescent. I told the supervisor to go home and wait for the authorities. However, the facility tried to cover it up so I called law enforcement Child Protective Services, and two other government agencies on both the employee and owners of the facility—quadruple firing.

Cestlavie03

20. Damage Control

I used to be a manager at Journeys (the mall shoe store), and I always liked to lay it on thick when I was letting teenagers and early twenty-somethings go. I’d start off by telling them that because I’ve been fired before, I know what they’re going to do.

“You’re going to tell your friends and family that it was a misunderstanding or that I’m a jerk or anything that absolves you of guilt here,” I’d say. “You will point the finger, but I want to make it very clear to you, as it was made to me, that it was 100% you who got yourself fired”.

DegenerateWizard

21. Belt And Suspenders

woman in brown shirt covering her facePhoto by Fa Barboza on Unsplash

When I had to fire someone, all she did was cry. Even though she had been given three verbal warnings and three written warnings, she still tried to blame everyone around her. She then accused me of inappropriate behavior and harassment.

Luckily for me, the security supervisor had been outside the open conference room door the whole time. I was also glad that the room I fired her in was under camera surveillance.

It sucks, but that is why that workplace required a female member of management to be available while a male was firing a female employee, and vice-versa. The allegations still had to be investigated, but it did not take very long. I encourage all businesses to have a similar policy.

MetagenCybrid

22. Hello, Goodbye

My dad told me about this girl who showed up an hour or so late to work three days out of five during her first week. On the third day, he asked her why it took her so long to get there. She said, “Oh, this morning there was a lot of traffic coming from my hometown”.

Little did she know she lives in the same town as us. My Dad said, “That’s funny because I live there too and I had no problem getting to work”. Before the end of the day, she had been sent on her merry way, carrying her personal items in a box.

Permalink

23. Getting Paid To What…?

I few years ago, I was a security guard supervisor for the NASCAR campgrounds. After trying to get ahold of one of my new guards on the radio for about 20 minutes, I assumed he had fallen asleep. He was supposed to be sitting in his car at a somewhat remote guard post.

Naturally, I thought it would be funny (and teach him a lesson at the same time) to sneak up on him and scare a reaction out of him. As I approached him in his car, I froze. He was looking at his phone and doing something so obscene.

The look on his face was both horrified and embarrassed. I said, “Go back to the compound, turn in your radio, and drive home, with BOTH hands on the wheel”. I had never wanted to fire anyone, but this time it felt right.

SQWID

24. Meet The New Boss…

brown tabby cat on green and white textilePhoto by WTFast on Unsplash

This happened during my first week on the job. I was a manager and one of the employees thought I was an intern so he started complaining about management (aka me) and bragging about how he sleeps on the job and so on.

During a particular work day when he was playing World of Warcraft on his laptop in the break room, I asked him if he ever gets in trouble. He told me that the game is a diversion and he’s actually watching dirty movies.

He alt-tabbed to show me he wasn’t kidding and then told me to keep cool and don’t tell the new jerk department manager. I then told him that I was the new department manager and that he was fired. I went straight to HR.

ntran2

25. Fill ’Er Up!

I heard this story from one of my favorite bosses. Our lead character is a particularly nasty little piece of work. He’s creepy to women and extremely gifted at alienating everyone.

He got a job as a driver on a fairly decently budgeted movie and my friend didn’t want to employ him but this guy had weaseled his way in with some of the top people. Partway into production, he got told by my friend to fill up one of the production cars with diesel and drive it back to the office.

He pulled into a service station and went to fill it up. The car had lost its diesel tank cover and a cheap plastic one that just said “fuel” was in its place. So, the bozo jammed a pump into the tank, not noticing it didn’t fit properly, and proceeded to fill it up.

He then drove the car back to the office which was an hour-plus drive. For those who don’t know, regular fuel in diesel cars is a VERY bad idea. The damage to the engine was five figures worth and the source of the error was traced back to bozo. If he had come clean, he would’ve been fine. If had apologized, he would’ve been forgiven.

When he got called into the office, he came in like a big swinging jerk, swearing at everyone within earshot and trying to pin the blame on my friend. He was so obnoxious about it that he was fired on the spot.

goodie2004

26. The Best Movie Ever

As the manager of a movie theater, I make sure I have security cameras pointed at key areas of the business. I had one employee who would roll his eyes and straight-up argue with me about anything I asked him to do. I needed to have just cause to fire him.

One day, I asked him to do something and then headed back to my office. My assistant manager was watching the camera and told me that when I turned my back, the employee made a rude gesture with his hand. I cued up the camera system and brought this guy into my office.

I proceeded to play him the clip and then I fired him. It was amazing. I felt so happy to be rid of that little jerk.

fixitstevens

27. To A Tee

people in restaurantPhoto by K8 on Unsplash

I got my boss fired. I worked at a restaurant and we would order uniforms and retail shirts that we sold to customers every month. I put away the items in order, and then the next day I saw that the retail shirts were all gone.

When I asked my boss about it, he got weird and then said he gave them away to the crew. I didn’t question it, because he was my boss. The next day, he sat me down and wrote me up for checking my email on a work computer. The company policy was to not go to a website you wouldn’t show your mother.

I started to realize that he was just trying to find excuses to fire me. So I asked some of the crew members if they had been given t-shirts. No one had. That's when I got suspicious. I looked at the security video from the day before and saw the boss was leaving with a big garbage bag full of something.

I called our district manager and then, on a hunch, I checked eBay and sure enough, someone was selling our company's retail shirts. I checked the invoice, and the amount perfectly matched what was on eBay. I called the DM back and he told me to come in for the opening shift as well because he needed me to work a double.

I showed up and my boss was puzzled as to why I was there, as he was opening that day. I told him that the DM had asked me to and his face fell into an “oh no” look. The DM confronted him with the information, my boss admitted to it and the DM fired him.

Joliet_Jake_Blues

28. Not-So-Healthy Work Environment

About a year ago, the health club company I worked for bought out another health club chain, and I was tasked with going to the new club and turning it around. Because the old club was bought out, I was expected to correct all of the problems.

Our club opened up at 4:00 am and within a couple of days of taking over, one of the members took a cell phone picture of my front desk check-in person sitting there on her phone. My boss emailed me the picture with the instructions to “Fix this”.

This was my first big management gig, so I had to prove to him that I had the balls to fire someone. I pulled her aside and asked her about it. She said that she was frantically trying to find someone to drive her kid to school because her car broke down. She actually traveled several miles that day to get to work by 4:00 am.

I felt horrible because I was given the “It’s either you or her” speech by my boss. I put it off for the rest of her shift, kind of hoping the whole situation would pass. It didn’t. She cried and told me her rent was due and this was her only job. She begged me to give her another shot.

Keep in mind I didn’t even know her name before I was expected to fire her. I ended up firing her, but I hooked her up with a job at my buddy’s restaurant where she was paid almost twice as much.

MikeDuck1

29. A Way With Words

I was the night manager at a Subway, and with that title came very little added responsibility. However, I did have the ability to fire people at my discretion if I had just cause. Well, this one girl was downright disgusting.

She came into work smelling like straight poop and looking like a hobo that had been beaten with a severed deer head on the regular. One shift she managed to upset a customer to the point of tears.

That incident was so wrong but it was also a gift in the form of my perfect opportunity. I said, “We cannot keep you anymore, please leave and I’ll send you your pay at the end of the week”. She was surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

ckyxasg

30. Nepo(ish) Baby

man in black jacket holding a lightPhoto by Kyle Johnson on Unsplash

The setting for my story is a low-budget horror movie. I spent pre-production volunteering in the art department in the hope of getting my first job. Others came and went, but I hung in there. On day one of filming, another guy joined the department.

He had no trouble getting in because his dad was dating the producer. I didn’t particularly like him but I worked with him. He was very loud and opinionated and forever saying how he thought things should be done. I knew about his connection to the producer, so I just kept my mouth shut about him.

Two weeks into filming, one of the department heads came to me and asked what I thought of him. Before answering, I briefly wondered what he had been saying about me, but I just told the department head that we get along fine. A few days later, the same department head came back to me.

Apparently, the guy has been mouthing off about the visual effects in the movie and what he thinks my team should have done instead. I again said that we are fine, but the department head looked at me skeptically and said, “Because I think he treats you like a huge idiot”. He then walked off.

Apparently, this jerk had alienated the first assistant director, the third assistant director, and the stand-by props guy. He was also loathed by the visual effects guy and the two art department heads. When Monday rolled around and there was no sign of him on set, I asked around.

Apparently, he’d been transferred to the film’s “viral marketing” department.

Goodie2004

31. A Friend In Need...

I had a cashier who worked for me for about a year. He never did his job. If he went out into the store, he’d tell other employees that he was finished all his work and that I’d sent him to help them. He would then follow them around idly chatting and preventing them from working.

He would ask his friends to come in and shop so he could “help” them for what would sometimes be over an hour. On several occasions, I caught him actively hiding. I couldn’t prove any of this, and my boss was constantly furious with my shift (and subsequently me) for requiring hours of overtime every night trying to catch up with the work the kid didn’t do.

One night, feeling angry and more than a little spiteful, I refused to let the kid leave until he’d finished his work. He whined and cried that his ride was outside waiting and that he wouldn’t be finished for hours. I told him tough luck, he should have finished his job earlier, then, and went into the office to do manager things. Then I heard voices.

I came out to discover that he’d let his ride into the locked and closed store and this person was doing the kid’s job for him! I told him that under no circumstances was it okay to let people into the store after I’d locked the doors. I ushered his friend out and locked the doors again. But that wasn't the end of it.

The second I was back in the office, the kid unlocked the doors and let his friend back in. That was when I realized with glee that I absolutely had the front doors on camera. I finally had rock-solid evidence to get the kid out of my store once and for all. I forwarded everything to corporate.

The very next day, he was fired—and my overtime issue was resolved. Good riddance.

Laugh_With_Me

32. Dollar Signs

I worked as a supervisor for a sign-spinning company for a long time. I had permission to hire people, and although firing wasn’t in my power, my word was enough to make the person above me do it. So, in effect, I could fire people.

I fired people for reasons ranging from dirty uniforms (and I should specify that I am not strict on dress code so you had to be pretty bad), attendance, and attitude. My favorite firing was a man we will call Mr Price.

Mr Price attended one of my hiring events in Orlando, and I was desperate to assign people out in the Clermont/Groveland area. We hire people at $10 an hour but, at the time, I had the authority to give someone a temporary raise to $12 if they had to travel to a location 30 miles or more away.

Anyway, since I was desperate, I said anyone who would take the spot could have the raise for the weekend. He took it, and I found out the location was a block away from where he lived. I had already given my word, which I do not break, so I let it slide.

He called out his first day. The next day, he came to work (we have a hard time replacing people, so continued employment after several no-calls is quite common). All is fine and dandy. The next weekend, he called out after I said that he couldn’t have the $12 an hour.

The next few weeks carried on with spotty attendance from Mr Price. I finally found someone else to work the area and assigned that person. Mr Price contacted me looking for work and I told him he could have the same spot (I intentionally double-booked).

I got a call at 1:30 am from Mr Price saying his phone is about to die so he won't be able to make it to work. I proceeded to let loose and tell him to never contact me for work again.

Gdowling714

33. No Child Left Behind?

blue ferris wheelPhoto by Brandi Alexandra on Unsplash

I was a supervisor at a summer camp and one time we had a field trip to a theme park. I gave the staff a pep talk explaining the various methods to not lose a child (ex, buddy system, numbering the kids, having them hold a rope, etc). The counselor in charge of the six-year-olds did none of those things.

At the end of the day, I was astounded by her negligence. She came back 20 minutes late and one kid short. Fortunately, another counselor from another group found the child. I pulled her aside and said, “You had one job. If I had my choice of leaving my son with you or a random bum, I’d leave him with the bum, because for 10 bucks he’d watch my kid”.

She cried, and I took over her group until we found a suitable replacement.

1maxwellian

34. Spill The Beans

Not a typical employer-employee situation, but I used to care for some young children who had special dietary needs (no gluten, no dairy, limited sugar). It wasn’t a case of helicopter parents—these kids had legitimate allergies and it was very important that we followed their special diet.

Once the older child had started school, and bearing in mind that I would soon be moving out of the area, the parents decided to transition the kids into an in-home daycare that seemed great. The mother agreed that during the transition period, I would be at this in-home daycare with the kids.

I started out staying the entire time they were there. Then I would leave a little early. Then I would come late and leave early, etc. Due to their special dietary needs, the kids were sent with a variety of snacks and treats to be given to them during the week as well as daily lunch and beverage.

One day, I walked in to find the daycare provider feeding the younger child (who was non-verbal and did not have full comprehension of his dietary needs) bites of her own sandwich and giving him milk. His sister, who was older and able to identify that this was bad, was telling the daycare woman that he couldn’t have those things.

She was totally ignoring the girl. I asked her to clarify what she was feeding him, and she admitted that she was giving him gluten and dairy products but insisted that a little wouldn’t hurt him. When I informed the parents, they thought it was a misunderstanding at first, but once they realized the truth, we went and picked the kids up.

We had actually been worried about the boy because he had recently started to behave strangely but didn’t realize that it was because of a change in his diet. We had assumed that this woman would take his medical needs seriously.

It was really satisfying to be able to say, “You’re not a professional with children if you can’t take their needs seriously. You’re fired”.

justimpolite

35. That Got Dark

I once fired a co-supervisor for punching a 16-year-old female employee in the eye because she threw an ice cube down his shirt. It felt good to send that jerk packing—or it DID until he went to the regional office and complained. I can't believe what they did.

The higher-ups fired the hard-working girl he punched because she caused it by “horsing around”. To make matters worse, her mother had a serious drinking problem and this girl was the family's only breadwinner.

50clock_somewhere

36. Party Pooper

white sedan parked on sidewalk during night timePhoto by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

At the limo company I used to work for, there was this one employee who was always breaking minor rules (ex: wearing jeans when we were supposed to wear slacks, showing up five minutes late every day, etc). These were not fireable offenses but they were annoying.

She was also constantly complaining about how hard it was to be in college (she was taking one online class), have a job, and have a kid. She also never shut up about her baby daddy drama. Basically, all of her problems were self-inflicted but she complained about them constantly.

So one day I was at work and had already been there almost eight hours when about six people called in for the night for various reasons (I ended up working about a 21-hour shift that day). This particular girl (we’ll call her Jennifer) called in sick, saying her daughter has lice, she picked her up early from school, and she can’t leave the house until both she and the kid get checked.

This should have been our first red flag since it was Saturday but we were so swamped that day that this fact was overlooked. This girl knew all the limos and buses would be downtown that evening. So, at about 9:00 that night, we were so busy that the owner of the company had to drive a group in one of our party buses.

He was downtown on Fifth Ave and who does he see walking across the street right in front of the bus in a short gold dress? Needless to say, he was upset. He dropped off his group and went back to the hotel he saw her go into. Long story short, it took him a while but he found her.

She saw him coming from pretty far away since he’s a big guy, and she cowered down at her table, trying to hide her head. He calmly walked up to her and whispered in her ear, “Hey, Jennifer… You’re fired”. He then grinned at her and sauntered away. That 20-hour shift was worth it for me after hearing that story.

CatherineConstance

37. Excuse This Interruption

My buddy Chris is an executive chef at a semi-fancy restaurant. One evening, I was walking by and saw him taking a break out back, so I walked over to chat with him. We were having an interesting conversation about movies and bicycles when one of his waitresses came out back.

“Chris! This is not fair! I wanted to take my break but Audrey said she had already switched with Wendy and so I thought it shouldn’t matter and so I went to take a break and Frank said I had to stay on the floor and it’s all so stupid!” But that wasn't all.

She took a breath and continued, “And when I got here this morning, I know I was supposed to be rolling silverware, but I had to check in the back because Rodney said something about needing help when he’s not on the line because he’s probably in the walk-in, but Rodney wasn’t there so I went back to the front”.

“I swear it looked like the rolling had already but done but it wasn’t so Frank yelled at me and THAT’S why he won’t let me take my break! It’s so wrong!” This girl carried on, breathlessly ranting, whining, and complaining for five solid minutes as Chris and I stood there, silently. Eventually, she shut her giant mouth.

Chris said, “Angie, you’re fired. Turn in your apron. Your final check will be in the mail”. We watched the girl turn green, blue, and then purple. “But I…I just—” Chris interrupted her. “I said get off the property and don’t come back. You’re done here”.

I wanted to pick up our conversation where it left off, but Chris, who was an eternally calm, cool, and collected dude, felt it necessary to explain. “I put up with that noise for THREE weeks. Every single day. I have my limits”. And that was that. We went back to chatting about movies and bicycles.

CitizenTed

38. Lowest Of The Low

I employed a nurse and nurse assistant who both threatened and hit elderly patients. I was very happy to walk both of these people out of our facility. I wasn’t happy that I got to fire someone, but I was happy that they were caught on tape and were no longer in a position to harm others.

RNbynight

39. News To Me

woman in black long sleeve shirt covering her facePhoto by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

I have a weird one. She was a writer and every writer had to write seven articles a day. If you were diligent, you could knock one out in half an hour, it wasn’t really strenuous or anything. Anyway, some of the editors started to notice “similarities” in her work.

We found a few cases where her submissions were actually old files that she had dug out of the file share and changed the byline on. She was reprimanded about this three or four times over the course of six weeks. Each time she said she really didn’t know how it happened.

She was so convincing that we were suspecting a technical glitch or something. It was not like she changed a few sentences around, the articles were exact duplicates. A manager finally decided to dig around—and she couldn’t find a single original article submitted by this employee over the past six months.

This employee had been coming in to work for six months and doing god knows what. No one knows. When confronted about this during her firing, she cried and said she still doesn’t know how it happened. People liked her, too. Her firing really wasn’t satisfying, even though we caught her lying about months of work, because it was so disconcerting.

Her behavior was like she had a brain tumor or something. Tons of people from the office had been charmed by her. We were all friends and she lost most of her social group because no one could understand why she did what she did.

Halfawake

40. What Happens In Vegas…

Our company’s new secretary/promo model came to a Las Vegas event with us and ended up disappearing with some guy for the rest of the trip. She didn’t even fly back home with us. When she eventually showed up for work, I was given the green light to fire her.

I believe she ended up moving to Vegas for the guy and then became a woman of the evening.

snwstylee

41. Food For Thought

It’s never been satisfying to let somebody go. People rely on regular pay and when I fire a person, I’m taking away their ability to provide for themselves and their family. I understand that it needs to be done, and I am the one that chooses to do it because of their performance, but nobody should find that feeling satisfying.

What’s even worse is when I have to clean up another person’s mess. For example, when somebody needs to be let go because they’re underperforming or won’t fire people who have been given ample warnings and chances to get better and they expect to pick up their slack.

I’ve had to walk into a room and fire people I’ve barely worked with because their boss didn’t have the sense or the balls to do it.

Permalink

42. No Brainer

person in black shirt standing in front of brown wooden table with brown and white woodenPhoto by Joshua Fernandez on Unsplash

I have a friend who works at a jewelry store with an accountant who they had to report to the feds—for the craziest reason. It turns out the accountant had faked most of her references to get the job. She then used the business bank account to buy hundreds of dollars worth of intimate toys on Amazon.

The accountant also used the company account to buy multiple plane tickets and reserve tons of hotel rooms in Europe for an upcoming vacation. They fired her pretty fast, but she disappeared. The authorities found her and pretty quickly threw her in the slammer. Oops.

alejandrofrankenheim

43. Morale Booster

As a young manager at a large corporation, I was once tasked with firing the branch manager, assistant manager, and two other employees at one of the branch offices. Basically, there was a love triangle going on among these three, and upper management (from another state) wanted them all fired.

I was called on a Sunday night and told to greet them all on Monday morning with security. I also had to perform their exit interviews, which is absolutely impossible once you’ve just fired someone.

The entertaining part was when one of the employees desperately blurted out, “I only slept with [Branch Manager] because I thought it would help the company!” I asked her to explain why and she went through a whole weird rationalization.

After she explained herself, she said, “So, do you understand?” I said, “Yes, I understand”. She smiled at me and said, “So, I’m not fired?” I said, “Of course, you are still fired!”

CruiseMyDoor

44. Happily Ever After

I supervised a woman who was beyond retirement age by a number of years. When I became her supervisor, I knew that it was time for her to be let go. It wasn't because she was old, but because she just didn't care enough to try anymore.

She slept at her desk regularly, was frequently late, left early, etc. When she was working, she made frequent mistakes and was little or no help in fixing the mistakes she had made. One of the big reasons we kept her on was that she was supposed to have extensive knowledge of a process we were updating. We were so wrong.

As we were working on updating the process, we learned the hard way that she didn't understand, nor did she care enough to learn anything about how the process actually worked. She knew enough to use the process, but that was it. She was not a nice woman, and she was a worse employee.

I honestly think that when I made the decision to let her go it was the best for her and for us. That's what made it so satisfying. I felt like I was doing her a favor by making a choice she couldn't. Mentally, she felt like she was still a great employee, but she couldn't recognize that she had given up years ago.

Now that she's retired, our team is in a better place and she's much happier. It was a good decision to let her go.

Permalink

45. Big Baby

woman in brown sweater covering her face with her handPhoto by Dev Asangbam on Unsplash

When I was a manager, I had a girl working for me who was a total ditz. Luckily, the job wasn’t that hard, so at first her lack of intelligence wasn't a big deal. One day, however, her friends came in and asked her to go somewhere.

She then asked me if she could leave early. I said no because she was closing that day. She proceeded to cry and lock herself in the bathroom. She even called her mom and told her how much of a jerk I was. I just knocked on the bathroom door and told her she could go—forever.

Blue_Line

46. Let This Sink In

I told a very poorly performing employee to take a paid day off and think about whether this job was a good fit for him. I called him after the day off and he said, “This is definitely the right place for me”. I told him to take another day and think about it some more.

He finally saw the writing on the wall and realized that I was offering him the chance to quit before he got fired.

Kimshew

47. Um, Fries With That?

I had an employee who we suspected was less than perfect. This fact was confirmed, however, when I watched her preparing a customer’s meal…My jaw literally DROPPED.

She accidentally spilled a blob of ketchup onto the floor. She looked at it for a second, paused, and then scooped it up with her hands. After that, well, you know the drill.

radherring

48. Shine On You Crazy Diamond

During the summer, I managed the mowing crew at a large park. I had a few stoner kids but I really didn’t care as long as they cut the grass. I had this one kid who was assigned to cut the grass along the road outside of the park.

He drove the mower out at 8:00 am and by noon he was still gone. I started to worry when he wasn’t back by 4:00 pm. I drove out in the pickup and saw that the grass had been cut all the way along the road to the on-ramp for the highway. I followed the grass-cutting trail—30 km (17 miles) later there was the kid on the side of the highway.

He had just kept cutting until his tractor ran out of diesel. I found him sitting there still clutching the wheel with a big smile listening to Pink Floyd. Guess he was on some really good stuff, but I still had to fire him.

c3h8pro

49. Relax, It’s FedEx

I used to be a manager at a FedEx office and had recently been switched to work in a new location. It was 24 hours so it had to be staffed around the clock. I spent the first week or two trying to get in tune with the flow of things and noticed that all the night duties weren’t getting done.

I decided to dig a little deeper—and came to a shocking realization. I found out that every day, our main graveyard shift guy would spend his first two hours getting some of his work out of the way, then he would sit down at one of the computers and go online.

About an hour before the person who was opening got there, he would start doing some organizing and small tasks to make it look like he had done more than he really had. Anyway, the next day I watched him sit still for five of the eight hours on his shift on the security camera.

I then went further back and saw that he did that for most of the previous week. I then went in and checked the browser history: Reddit. I fired him the next day. He didn’t protest. He knew he was a terrible employee.

Permalink

50. Caught In The Act

I used to do mechanical maintenance at a brewery in New Zealand while I was studying. Out of the blue, a chain on one of the conveyors kept coming off, and it was very difficult to put it back on.

When this happened, it usually meant that the packaging line needed to be shut down, and all the staff were sent home early with pay. We were at a loss as to what was causing the chain to keep coming off so we decided to set up a camera. That's when we learned the disturbing truth.

It turns out, an employee was jamming a metal pole between the chain and drive sprocket because he didn’t feel like working a full day. Too bad for him, he didn’t know about the camera and we got everything on tape.

SheepShaggerNZ