People Share The Dumbest Reason They Ever Got Fired From Their Job
Reddit user strykazoid asked: 'What's the dumbest reason a job ever fired you?'
I once worked in a cubicle farm doing finance and accounting. A new employee disappeared just a few hours after the day started.
Eventually they were found.
On the floor.
Under their desk.
Sleeping.
They were promptly fired once they woke up. I wonder how their version of the story goes.
While that was a ridiculous way to be fired, for these folks, the employers were the ones with questionable judgment.
Reddit user strykazoid asked:
"What's the dumbest reason a job ever fired you?"
Heartless
"I was 17. My Grandpa died unexpectedly from a heart attack. My Mother called my work’s office to let me know."
"I was called to the office to talk on the office phone to my mother, and staff (who were told what was going on) left the area so my mother could privately break the news to me."
"I was obliterated of course, and walked outside for about 15 minutes to clear my head. I then went back to work."
"The woman who was in charge of the entire operation fired me for leaving the building."
"Human Resources stepped in and stopped the situation before I could be notified that I had been fired."
"I only found out that this had happened after my grandpa's funeral days later."
"I quit immediately."
~ moochir
Weekly Occurrence
"I had an alcoholic handy man who was promoted to manager. This was a family owned restaurant and this guy had known the father of the current generation."
"He 'fired' me several times a week for not bumming him a cigarette or not wanting to work the second dining room when we had 5 reservations or taking my approved unpaid time off."
"But he was a drunk who started with scotch and moved into amaretto so never remembered."
"I'd just come back the next day."
~ Shababajoe
Going Surfing
"For surfing the internet."
"Punchline: part of my job was to surf the internet and find content for their social media platforms."
"I wish I was making that up. I am not."
~ Sea-Woodpecker-610
Throwing Their Voice
"Fast food manager said a customer complained that he could hear me cussin' in the back."
"It was a couple days later when they fired me, but they said the incident happened on a day I happened to be off."
"I had a feeling the manager didn't like me much and planned poorly on when they'd claim the so called 'incident' happened."
~ Cool1Mach
"'I heard you cussin' when you weren't here. Don't ask me how that's possible'."
~ probablythrowaway71
Not an Escort Service
"I was 16 and refused to date the owner’s niece."
~ VosTutZich
"Do people think other people are property???"
~ Crackheadwithabrain
"Yes. Many, many people who own or manage businesses think exactly this."
~ G0-N0G0-GO
Last In, First Out
"In the days after 9/11 my employer (multinational bank) instantly fired the last 2 people hired in every department where there was redundancy, hedging against a financial collapse whenever the markets reopened."
"I just happened to be the last guy hired in my department."
~ ClmrThnUR
Poor Pandemic Planning
"Covid-19 forced everyone to work from home on hastily setup computers and infrastructure."
"Then they fired the IT staff because we were deemed ‘nonessential’."
"Bit them in the a** hard enough to remove chunks."
~ wkarraker
Not a "Team Player"
"Not 'fired' but let go with severance. CFO told me to make up historical reports because they weren't done in the past, but now required, and wanted to show how so much better metrics are now than in the past."
"What they were asking for was literally not possible to do since the data was not tracked to what they were asking and wanted to tweak the past numbers into a full-on made-up breakdown."
"I told the controller I wasn't comfortable doing this. The next week I got paid out."
"A month later I found out the CFO was canned."
~ Kir-ius
On Your Own Time
"Performance was bad. one of the reasons given was."
"'Reading newspapers in the lunch room'."
"Which was during my scheduled break."
~ tmacdevitt
Oops!
"I wrote a video game script for a small developer. They 'forgot' to tell me when they started voice work—part of my job required me to help with voice acting sessions."
"I finally was invited to a session with a big name actor, especially known in video games. The director asked me why I hadn’t been present for the past two weeks’ worth of recording."
"Apparently, telling the truth, that no one had told me recording had begun, was the wrong move."
"The developers fired me the next day despite my work already being done, which essentially meant I’d have no part in DLC or sequel(s)."
~ drewxdeficit
Should Have Dropped Out
"I worked at Walmart while I was in high school and one of the managers kept scheduling me to open or for me to be there at 2."
"I told them, many times, that I was in high school and those shifts wouldn't work."
"I guess they didn't get that memo; the store manager fired me for missing work and being late."
~ stackjr
What Do You Mean You Were Gone?
"Walmart fired me because they put out the schedule while I was on vacation and put me on the schedule during my approved days off."
"When I brought this up they just told me approved days off are just a suggestion but not guaranteed days off."
~ Tee_hops
Good Customer Service
"I gave highway directions to a customer."
"They fired me for talking to my friends at work."
"I was a barista."
~ Cobra-Serpentress
Bereavement?
"Took a day off for my Grandpa's funeral which was out of town."
"Fired me when I came back the next day."
~ bublesboo
"My wife was fired for not coming to work after she found her father’s 2-day-old corpse in his apartment."
"She had to talk me down from some violent intentions towards her former employer."
~ isinhower
Has an employer ever done you dirty for an absurd reason?
Sound off in the comments.
The main reason why employees love their jobs is not exclusively due to the line of work they're in or because of the job description.
A lot of it has to do with good morale and work environment -- all of which stem from good management.
However, it takes one major misstep for all the chips to come tumbling down.
Curious to hear about the influence of higher-ups on hard-working employees, Redditor kraam1217 asked:
"What's something your employer did that instantly killed employee morale?"
Companies make business decisions... meaning, it's in their best interest, not yours.
Cleaning House
"I work in a big corporate building. The same older lady came by everyone’s desk towards the end of the day to collect the trash. Just the sweetest lady ever and every time she’d walk to my desk she’d give me a big smile and ask me how my day was and chat for a minute as she got my trash (usually I’d dump it in for her). I had some rough days but she has a way to cheer me up and send me home on a higher note. I know I’m not the only one either."
"So then a few weeks back our work implemented a new policy to ‘cut down on trash usage’. It’s no longer allowed to have a trash bin at our desk and we have to walk across the room and use the community trash to throw anything away. Not a huge deal but the real reason they did it is so they can cut down on cost... ie the cleaning crew."
"Sad to say that I haven’t seen Sharon since."
– schimsl
Big Changes
'We're moving manufacturing over seas.'
"Uhh... all we do at this facility is manufacturing."
'Yep.'
"Never seen a less productive or less motivated workforce. And it was announced over a year before the move too. Would have been better for the company to just spring it on people with two weeks. Although props to them for giving people a chance to find new work ahead of time."
– thedankbank1021
Company-Wide Punishment
"Electrical contractor of 35 (27 of which are out in the field), we earn PTO hours based upon the number of hours worked in a given week. Full-time employees earn what is equal to about 6 extra paid days off in a year, which is typically used for errands, sick days, taking care of children, and so on. One of the field employees is a known (to all other field techs) alcoholic, word makes it to office personnel that this individual was using his PTO because he had tipped too many back the night before and couldn’t make it to work on time. Owner denied his PTO claim and he drove into the office to have a shouting match with the owner."
"Very next day a company-wide email is sent stating that PTO will be indefinitely suspended because it is being abused. Not even sure if what they did is legal. But instead of dealing with this one employee, they decided to use it as a way to save paying out around 180 earned days off throughout the entire company. This happened about a week ago, morale dropped instantly. Most field techs started showing up late playing around on their phones and leaving early. Couple guys have already jumped ship and sounds like a large number of others are about to follow. I’m going to wait it out a couple of months as I’m owed a yeti cooler and vacation time on my anniversary 😝."
– longhornduck33
Some companies are just shady.
A Steamy Protest
"Small business. 20 employees +/-. Boss made a big speech about austerity measures and no raises this year. A week and a half later he drives up in a brand new Silverado with all the bells and whistles. Expensed to the business of course. He would hate to have to pay taxes on those profits. One of the less subtle members of the staff took a literal sh*t in front of his office door."
– DentedAnvil
Empty Threat
"Telling employees that they are going to fire you if you don't make more sales. Then when someone quits tell them naww that was just motivation. We were never going to fire you."
– lovelesschristine
Fake Incentive
"Boss Pitched a sales incentive trip to Cancun if the team hit the goal. My team exceeded the goal, and then they cancelled the trip. 2 people quit, I accepted a position with their main competitor, and less than a year later, they closed in bankruptcy. Karmas a beach."
– lifecoachannalisa
Wrong Recognition
"I once had a retail manager who sent out a memo that we worked so hard and did such a great job this month that she gets a bonus. That went over like a lead balloon."
– HoboTheDinosaur
Credit Where It Wasn't Due
"Comment repost: I went through this same kind of bullish*t."
"I, along with 9 other coworkers, did a Kaizen project where we cut customer complaints from over 100/month to single digits due to streamlining our process. The plant manager sent out a company wide e-mail essentially taking credit for the whole thing. He noted how he put together this team and under his direct supervision he got the project done without even mentioning our names. That pissed all of us off until the Continuous Improvement manager sent a reply thanking all of us in a big fu**k you to the plant manager. I was just happy that the CI manager was a no bullsh*t guy. I left that job a few months after we completed it and still use it on my resume."
– 69this
The employers in these examples just lack class and empathy.
Egregious Message
Put up a poster that said 'Complaining is like vomitting. You feel better but everyone around you feels sick.'. The morale was already bad but it was just a sh**ty way to take a hit at upset employees rather than do anything positive."
– wild_flower87
Questionable Credentials
"I told the hiring manager that I was disappointed in one of his hires because he knew literally NOTHING about our job and asked him 'doesn’t that cheapen my knowledge and expertise?'”
"His response: 'Well, let’s be honest, your job doesn’t really need all that, does it?'”
"There were four other people my level, with varying fields of expertise, at that meeting, and it got real quiet after that."
– backstagestitches
Unnecessary Protocol
"They banned phones, electronics, puzzles, books, etc. from being used at your desk. I work at a call center. We were expected to just sit and wait for the next call to come in 'distraction-free,' even if it was a super slow day."
– forever_a10ne
If you work in a well-paying, positive work environment where your fellow co-workers look forward to showing up and your superiors treat you with respect, congratulations.
You're in the minority.
Not everyone can say the same. But don't lose hope. Opportunities are out there if you keep on the look out.
And if you're an employer, remember to treat your employees well, because that will influence the future of a successful business.
We all know that companies will do whatever they can to save a buck and move it into profit instead. That is how many successful companies were able to rise. There comes a time however when the big redline of ethics is crossed and the cost savings turns into an issue of causing harm to others.
DuPont chemical was one such company that caused grievous harm to an untold number of people through corrupt business practices. A compound used in manufacturing their Teflon was found to cause cancer and other issues in rodents decades before they did the studies to show similar in humans. Thousands of people have been affected, drinking water contaminated, loss of live stock, and irreversible environmental damage has been done.
However, it took an extended period of time between worker complaints of the toxin and action being taken. Although there have been monetary payouts, the company still functions making their products today just now hiding as a subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company (DowDuPont).
Sometimes the corporate corruption runs too deep to be fully resolved. Redditor Chillay_90 wanted to hear other workers all too common encounters with serious corruption.
They asked:
"What's the most corrupt thing you've witnessed your employer do?"
They fled the country…
“At the first company I worked at the general manager had all his personal expenses paid by the company. His wife also had a company credit card and was paid a salary but she didn't work. The company paid for things like their groceries, house mortgage, car payments and family vacations.”
“The kicker is he wasn't the owner of the company. He had a creative accountant that hid these expenses but the owners became suspicious and they hired an auditor. It took them about 4 years to figure it out. He was fired and his family fled the country so I am not sure what happened to him.” optoph
She was a Mc-A**hole…
“A few years ago I was working/living at a McDonald's in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The area manager decided to ‘save’ the store so she became very... involved... in its day to day micromanagement. One payday morning she made an announcement that, because everyone kept coming in asking for their checks and bothering her, she would be giving them to us when she felt we deserved them.”
“I called the local Department of Labor, who referred me to the state, who referred me back to local, who then told me they just didn't care and weren't looking into it. It eventually resolved itself anyway when she handed checks out the next day.” twistedlemon732
Do not work for free!
“I've had a couple that try to pressure you to work off the clock, without actually asking you to do so in order not to get sued. Suckered some people into doing it, if they complained after the fact they got canned. And by that I mean they got all hours cut until they were forced to quit so they couldn't file for unemployment."
“I just made it clear I wasnt playing their games in the first place. First time they tried me I was like 'I n't that working off the clock?' And they were like 'ohhh no no, of course not! We're not asking that at all, just looking for volunteers!'"
"I can't volunteer. Do you want me to stay, clocked in, or go home since my shift is over?"
"Oh well... I suppose you can go home. We'll figure it out"
“Needless to say, they did not like me much after that and made working there a living hell. Cut my hours to low numbers, but not altogether. But I had already asked my old boss if they'd take me back, which they welcomed me back with open arms. Only reason I took the new job was they paid like, 3 bucks an hour more. But obvs not worth it if I'm expected to work for free." Reddittoxin
Warranty scam…
“I was a mechanic that found out that the company was not letting me fix customers cars that had oil leaks when the customers had paid for a 200k mile warranty. The manager would tell the service writer to say that the warranty company declined it and eventually started making me take a photo to him so that he could tell me that the leak wasn't bad enough to fix.”
“The customer paid for a warranty and the company wasn't holding up their end of the deal because it was costing them money. They are one of the most profitable car dealerships in my town and now have 3 dealerships and are expanding.” Idontgetitbrah
Stealing workers tips…
“I was working at a small brewery / bar, and caught the owner dipping into the tip jar at the end of big nights. It was a new place that just opened and was kind of struggling during the off season. We literally had a staff of two bartenders and the owners (husband and wife), so the bar staff would pool and split that days tips.”
“Come to find out that he was taking a cut of the tips because "he worked there too". When I confronted him, I explained that its actually a violation of the FLSA. In fact it's even an exact example listed as illegal things to do with tips. He argued that it was his right as owner and fired me, so I reported him to Dept of Labor.” Rustee_nail
Political and corporate corruption go hand and hand.
“I used to work at a place that was owned by an organization with some political affiliations. There was a rich Middle Eastern investor who owed my employer money. Literally millions from a contract that they simply never paid.”
“It was quite a sensitive issue and one that everyone really wanted to keep out of court. Some negotiations took place and the investor agreed to pay but in return, wanted a spot on the board. Everything was agreed, the guy would pay and then there would be a big party event, with some press, for his appointment to the board.”
“At any rate, a few weeks before this was supposed to happen, the head of my organization became very ill and needed surgery and was gone for several weeks...the big party where the investor would become a member of the board had to be delayed. It turns out, our big boss wasn't actually sick at all and did not need to have surgery.”
“Actually what happened was, the head of the organization that owned my employer was running for political office and was worried about the optics of the whole event (only being able to get this rich middle eastern dude to pay us what he owed by putting him on the board and granting him a bunch of power over the organization) and basically ordered our boss to feign a long illness that would require the event to be delayed until after the election.” mejok
“if they asked you to work extra they would delete hours…”
“Worked in a restaurant that didn't allow employees to work over 40 hours as they did not want to pay any overtime. Instead of you wanted to work extra or if they asked you to work extra they would delete hours off of your time card to keep it under 40. They always asked you when they did that in a kind of hush hushed way so it wasn't exactly without permission but I think it was bullsh*t all the same.” cloudstrife1191
“stolen a combined 400 hours from eight people…”
“Growing up my father always told me to save my pay stubs and time receipts. I ended up working a job in my early 20 's at an airport moving cars. I get my paycheck one day and i realize that it's not right.”
“So i do a little digging, and a lot of math, and i figure out that the company was taking hours from me. I ask around and it turns out that they were taking hours from literally everyone at the job site. After doing more math we figured out that over the six months we all worked together, the company had stolen a combined 400 hours from eight people.” 42spuuns
So you get fired for that?
“Had a job out of college selling yellow pages advertising. A big part of the job was just renewing the old adds in the book and we had to call each business to have them renew their ad.”
“But as the yellow pages book became more and more obsolete more customers would cancel their ads. So the company changed the policy of having us call each business and instead put in a policy that any customer who didn't specifically call to cancel would be auto renewed.”
“Then they would purposefully send out the renewal notices late enough that the customers couldn't cancel in time to avoid the following years charges. If one of us did actually get a call from a customer looking to cancel and with time to legitimately do so and we actually cancelled them....fired.” totspur1982
Strangest Things Seen In A Contract's Terms And Conditions | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Knowingly exposed their workers to asbestos…
“I work underground in the mines. One place started having, what the workers found out later, was asbestos type rock in the ore. The company took samples of it and then said it's kind of like asbestos, but it's not old enough to harm you.”
“Later after a bit of more concern from the workers, it was found out that the sample they took came back as inconclusive due to something else. They lied and allowed their workforce exposure to asbestos. I quit after that and found work elsewhere.” Chillay_90
Part of the healthcare conspiracy…
“Work for hospital, largest healthcare co. In that area. There was a situation where a doctor was involved in a law suit and I had to testify to some stuff. At the attorney's office I observed that THE ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD OF THE PATIENT HAD BEEN ALTERED COMPLETELY. Everyone's notes had been changed. Scared the sh*t out of me. I realized then that no one really has any power except the corporation itself.” mxrichar
Some manual planned obsolescence…
“I worked for a pump company, We repaired all kinds of liquid pumps, from the little sump pumps you drain your basement with to the 2000 gallon per minute sewage pumps.”
“I was rebuilding one of the large pumps and the boss came in as I was assembling it, he came over to the bench and picked up the main bearings and took the seals off of the bearings. Essentially, it keeps trash out of the bearings to extend bearing life.”
“ He looked at me and said, ‘The warranty for a repair is 18 months, that's how long these bearings have to last. I buy the ones with the seals in them because they're cheaper and they look good on a itemized bill. So if these bearings last for 20-36 months, I'm losing money. Pull the seals out of these before you install them.’ I never did, f**k that guy. He was a piece of sh*t on so many different levels as well.” JomadicallyWondering
They missed the part in the Bible about giving away their riches…
“Worked for a Christian ministry that was fully funded by donations and run by volunteers who had to raise their own support. The CEO used donated funds to take his family overseas for vacations, to purchase 50% of a new vehicle whenever he wanted, to pay for golf trips for himself and his friends whenever he felt like it, and to help his children (who were also at the ministry) with house payments. Also forced the volunteers in the evenings to do childcare for his grandkids so that he and his children could go out to lavish dinners on the ministry.” GandalfsFavDwarf
Racism in the workplace…
“My first promotion at my first job included interviewing applicants if the manager needed help and I jumped at the opportunity (which should have been a red flag for a 30+ manager giving an 18-year-old that kind of early responsibility). It was sales and according to her she hired almost everybody 'but if you need to make choices, I tend to skip the black people because they don't do good in sales and don't know that many people'."
“I was f**king speechless, I didn't know what to say though and was afraid of losing my first job. At first, I thought maybe it was a really racist bad joke because English is not my first language but that b*tch was dead serious. I just picked up my materials and set up but I eventually quit and reported her to the corporate offices and BBB after hiring every person that came in for a job that week." s-p-a-r-k-e-r
“we had all been being poisoned…”
“I worked in a restaurant and an employee began having breathing problems on shift. She went to the ER and was diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning.”
“The owner didn't think it was from the restaurant (despite the fact that the employee was on shift for five hours and went straight to ER) but after several weeks of complaints from this employee decided to put up a CO detector. She put it out on Saturday morning at open and two hours into the shift the alarm went off.”
“She picked it up and rushed it into the back stating that it was malfunctioning. She refused to put it back out. Two weeks later and everyone was getting sick while at work. The owner denied that anything was wrong and refused to acknowledge that employees were getting sick.”
“I called OSHA and after an inspection it was determined that the HVAC unit was pumping CO into the restaurant and we had all been being poisoned. The owner was very upset that she had to pay to fix the heating unit and "couldn't believe someone would do that to me" (call OSHA).”noh8tred
“got shocked by 220 volts a few times…”
Shocked Ash Ketchum GIF by PokémonGiphy“I worked for a signage company as an installer, some of the signs had LEDs and required the transformer to be connected to a mains cable. In South Africa its law that if you're dealing with electrics you have to be qualified, obviously no one that worked there was.”
“So like a dummy I just connected the main cable to the transformer for any signs I installed, and got shocked by 220 volts a few times, before I left I saw an invoice to a customer that I just installed a sign for, and the owner was charging the clients for a professional to do the electrician work. All the while I was doing it.” southafricabest
Profiting off illegal baby formula…
“When I was 20 I was working in a supermarket. At the time I was working there there was a global shortage of baby formula (milk powder.) The town where our store was located had a leading formula factory not even 5mins away. So we always had it in stock, and usually more than other stores. Even though we were only allowed to sell people one container at a time. So every once in a while I would walk back to where the freezers and loading area was.”
“And every so often there would be a van parked up by the open doors, where only trucks are allowed to load and unload the carts of products. The van arrived empty, and it left filled up with, you guessed it, baby formula. Followed by this driver wandering through the stockroom to the service desk and making two consecutive transactions because the maximum amount you could pay in one go was 2999.99. I think my boss's franchise was shady as hell.” Highway2022
Someone needed to call OSHA…
“I work in a MNC, and it is mandatory for each factory of the company around the world to share and report to HQ if there is any accident happen. In 2016, there was an accident happened where the finger of an operator was cut and bleeding previously, because the PPE implemented wasn't up to the standard for the task."
“Luckily it was flash wound and not an amputation injury. The factory treated and gave paid sick leave to this operator and reported this accident with action plans to prevent this from happening in the future."
“Few months later, a new plant Manager joined Mr. BA, started with our plant in 2016. He will soon be the most corrupt sob in the plant. Almost every year since 2016 there was at least one minor accident happened, and he will ask his subordinate, the HSE manager to keep quiet and not to report to anybody."
"Every single year he and the safety manager will proudly report to us all that the last accident was in 2016. There was an accident happened during Social Accountability audit, when the auditor was reviewing documents in the office."
"A maintenance guy's arm was sprayed by hot glue and got second degree burn, they will ask the maintenance guy to keep quiet, secretly go to ER, and come back to work the next day (as they don't want a loss time) and surprisingly, the maintenance guy follow this instruction."
"Another accident happened when an operator accidentally had his tip of a finger chopped off by a machine and also, no report. Until today, the factory proudly report every day, it has been 1800 more days since the last accident." beary12345
Higher Ed. had a lot to hide…
“I've worked in higher ed my entire career this far and particularly in some Ivy League schools so yikes I don't even know where to start…I can think of a few examples of students actual civil rights being violated and also someone embezzling over $100,000 from funds set aside for students with disabilities off the top of my head.”
“As corrupt as those things are though, they aren't the worst. I would argue that across the board in higher ed, the most corrupt thing is the coverup. The bigger the university, the more they try to hide these literal crimes to protect their reputations.” Ghostridethevolvo
Corruption everywhere…
“I have a few. I worked for a company who once took our Christmas bonuses and donated them to a family with a special needs child 'in our name'. We later found out that the mother of the special needs child was the cousin of the owner of our company but this was never disclosed to us by the owners. I don't mind giving to charity, but the way they went about this was super sketchy."
“Okay, last one. I had a side job with a small TV station and one day my paycheck bounced. I went to the owner, who claimed it was a mix-up and gave me cash. Then it happened again. I go to the HR girl who tells me that the owner of the station likes to gamble at the casino with the account used for paychecks. Quit then and there." AlanaDev
Perhaps the most concerning thing about these experiences, outside of victim impact, is the fact that most of these white collar type crimes are rarely or minimally prosecuted.
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When hunting for a job, making it to the interview stage is an exiting moment. The tedium of resume beefing, cover letter writing, and phone interview minutiae has finally paid off.
But it's important to not allow that excitement to cloud one's judgment. Just because an employer may want you, that doesn't automatically mean you need to want them.
Some Redditors recently gathered to discuss the clearest signs that you should think twice about a prospective employer and keep searching.
Sardinesocks asked, "What are some red flags when talking to potential employers?"
Many people identified the signs--both subtle and glaringly obvious--that a workplace is not a socially or professionally comfortable place to be.
They advised ways to determine if a place would turn out be a toxic environment day in and day out.
Sensing a Pattern
"Everyone assures you the dozens of people, who had your position before you, were simply disgruntled or had political agendas to damage the organization."
"A bigger one is verbal statements become totally different, whenever it becomes a text or e mail, after you start."
-- ThePoetZiggy
Maybe It's the Team
" 'We've had a hard time finding someone who fits in well with our current team' "
"Usually it's because there's something weird or toxic about the 'current team' and they can't find anyone willing to stay and put up with it."
What Would Happen When You Leave the Room
"When the interviewer makes insulting remarks about their current employees." -- WebsiteArchivalBot
"Or, uses the statement 'I know I probably shouldn't be saying this, but.....' " -- CircleBackMurray
"I would add the more subtle 'we like your enthusiasm, it's refreshing' "
"Turn out every employee is either overworked and/or depressed because it's understaffed."
"Yeah, my enthusiasm quickly faded." -- sunforrest
Flipping It Around
"when I'm interviewing I always ask about turnover in the team and company. like 'how long have YOU been with the company' and 'how much turnover did this team have in the last year?' "
"if everyone you talk to has been with the company months, not years, and you find out that half the team quit in the last year, they've got a very serious turnover problem."
"even if it's for legitimate reasons, it's a good sign of a poorly functioning team."
Others discussed the very cute and enthusiastic ways that company's divulge just how structurally unsound they really are. Typically, this amounts to under-staffing or general personnel chaos.
Either way, you'd be best to turn the other way.
Way Too Easy
"When they hire you on the spot they're understaffed and you're gonna be doing the work of at least two people." -- peachu_
"and it'll never be enough" -- frequentstreaker
"Also means they probably aren't getting qualified candidates. If you aren't in the industry, that can be a good signal. If you are, you've probably already gotten that signal." -- Fadnn6
That Fun Lingo
"Any time they use 'rockstar,' 'ninja,' 'unicorn' or 'guru' to describe a position. Extra-neon-red flag if they can't easily describe or articulate the duties and responsibilities of the role." -- SDFDuck
"Looking for a self-starter rockstar. Must be flexible and comfortable with multi tasking and wearing different hats. We have competitive wages and a casual atmosphere. We work hard, we play hard!"
"Are you this unicorn? Come join our family!" -- the_electric_company
"Many Hats" Isn't Always Ideal
"Be aware of the term 'Wear many hats.' It means they aren't sure what they want and your job duties will be largely ambiguous."
"This could lead to you getting all the work nobody else wants, or leave you with no clear direction for what to do."
"This can be good if you are truly a self-starter who looks for opportunities to improve things and acts on them, but if you need direction with your job duties it's probably best to steer clear."
-- Byizo
Finally, some people described the problems that accompany employers who are dodgy with their information about finances, be that of the company or the payment standards of the particular position in question.
Nope, It's a Job
"When they don't offer salary/pay rate info, or are reluctant to give it. Or if they imply that you're there for something other than a paycheck."
"They're trying to guilt you into taking less pay than you're worth."
-- VVillyD
6 Months Becomes Forever
"We can start you off at ____ because we are a small buisness but we can talk about a raise in 6 months. ( you will never have that convo)" -- qwertycvbnmasdfkhgfs
"See also: postings with a salary range from some low figure to as much as 100% more as the high. They're gonna waste too much your time before they tell you you'll have to start near the lower figure and not the one that was merely there to draw you in." -- The_Quibbler
Just Came Right Out With It
"In an interview a potential employer once told me..."
" 'Well you certainly have the skills for the job and then some and we all really like you so far...the problem is, it's not that I don't want to pay you what you're worth, but I don't have the money to pay you what you're worth. Will that be a dealbreaker?' "
-- RayDeaver
Ideally, you're happy at your job and have no need to go through these kinds of interactions.
But in case you're on the hunt, or unemployed altogether, keep these tidbits top of mind.
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People Divulge The Exact Moment They Realized Their Workplace Was Toxic
Leaving a stable job is a weighty choice. Good salary, benefits, friendships with co-workers, and room for upward growth are all factors that may entice someone to stay put.
But sometimes those positive elements can cloud a person's vision.
In fact, there may be a slew of factors that make the job absolutely miserable, and they're all being silenced by a person's focus on the positives.
But then, in a single instant, the cons outshine the pros: a manager does something stupid or unfair, "legal" begins to seem like an optional concept to the higher ups, or somebody in the office is just plain inappropriate.
Suddenly, there is clarity. The only drawback? Realizing that maybe the person should've listened to their gut a little sooner.
Expwar asked, "When was the moment you realized your workplace was toxic?"
A Constellation of Toxic Variables
"I had a job where my girlfriend's Mother was my boss, so I guess the moment I realized my workplace was toxic was when my girlfriend cheated on me and then my girlfriend's Mom hired the guy she cheated on me with."
"In hindsight, probably more than just the workplace was toxic."
-- the-cschnepf
Mafia Ethics
"When someone was called into the manager's office, then returned to box up their desk and leave. When I asked the manager if she was okay, I was told, 'We don't talk about people after they leave.'"
"If someone quit or was fired, they were just never mentioned again. It was creepy AF."
-- solar-shock
Power Hunger
"They fired a new father the day before Christmas eve because he missed a month of work due to his wife getting very sick after giving birth, he didn't try to get medical leave or anything because he was worried about his wife and taking care of his newborn."
"Second one was when I sat in on a leadership meeting, I worked at the time as almost a bridge between two sides of the company and all the leaders did was gossip about their employees and talk about who they wished they could get rid of, and who annoyed them."
"One of them was a new leader and they were friends with these people a month ago."
"The meeting was about how to improve morale on the floor and the end result was a competition for a 25 gift card to the company store that is nothing but company apparel that no one wants anyway... it didn't work."
-- Earthwick
Look at Your Shoes, Look at Your Shoes
"When our boss got into a screaming match with one of the managers (his daughter) in the middle of the office."
"I'd just started there 3 weeks ago and it was absolutely mind boggling to watch. I looked around at my coworkers and everyone was just looking away, doing their best to stay quiet and not look at either of them."
"Person at the desk next to mine saw my shocked face and whispered 'they do this a lot. Just ignore it.'"
Incentives All Out of Whack
"One of my job's metrics for how our performance is graded by is 'on time departure.' We get so many points if we're within -10, -5, 0, 5 or 10 min from scheduled."
"People try to cheat by tampering with the clocks and that's a punishable offense."
"I was good at leaving early or on time most of the times. Got a call one day to warn me that I was under investigation because I had the most points in the company."
"They assumed that I was cheating, that's when I knew I had to go. I wasn't going to start being late to avoid repercussions."
Skipping Town
"We reached a point where we regularly had to wait to cash our paychecks. We basically were told we had to get orders completed and paid for, in order for the account to have enough money to pay us."
"During this time, the boss went on a vacation which was just great for morale."
"My manager had to take a day off, effectively putting me in charge for the day. I texted my manager, 'What should I do if the IRS shows up? lol.' 2 hours later an IRS agent did stop in looking for my boss."
"I found a new job not long after."
-- ghost-0427
Left Out in the Wild
"I once got asked if a wanted a different position, away from coding, into project management. I said, okay, if you help me set it up and give some guidance."
"The next week I got a project, through a binder being placed on my desk and the words, this is your project, good luck. Before I could react, they were out the door."
"I had a hard time getting projects started, worked on common sense and some help from coworkers taking pity on me. I made a checklist for software deployments, for instance, but when I told in a rare department meeting that I made such a checklist, I was told sternly not to waste time on stuff I couldn't charge customers with."
"After the confusing meeting, several coworkers asked me for a copy of the useful list... It still took me some 2 years of working 60+ hours a week, to make my way out the door. (And got a 65% raise starting the next job.)"
-- gozba
"Hurtful For This Man to Hear..."
"A couple of female coworkers went to the HR manager to file a complaint about sexism in the workplace, related to the same guy."
"They got told by the HR manager and their boss that the company wasn't gonna do anything about it, because it would be very hurtful for this man to hear that his behaviour was wrong..."
"Later when some anonymous survey showed that employees were really not as happy as they(company) were claiming on social media, and people even felt discriminated against in the workplace..."
"...they brushed it under the carpet saying people were just too stressed when they filled in the survey, like that is not a problem on its own."
"Many more of these kinds of things, but that's defo when I realised I had to get out."
Terminally Mixed Messages
"In college I had a part time job at a big retailer selling appliances. They would generally have a promo of either 0% financing or free delivery, one or the other but not both."
"That being said, there was a workaround where we could still give people both, and multiple members of our management team told us that if that was the only way to get the sale to do it."
"2 months later they fired half the department for doing what we were told to do. I quit right after that."
NOT Your Fixer
"When a boss told me to go to the port to bribe the officials there to release several containers of materials for the hotel we were building."
"I did not (and neither did that chickensh**)."
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