But nothing can prepare you for what anonymous social media users witnessed when Redditor Dankuser2020 asked:
"People who work in Human Resources, what is the weirdest sh*t you have seen?"
The thread began with peculiar comments.
Breaking The Monotony
"Worked in HR for a couple years now, mostly for large firms managing facilities within properties. One of the strangest cases was brought about because a Client asked us to review CCTV footage as he'd driven past the office late at night and noticed the motion sensor lights inside going on and off and was concerned there had been a break in."
"Turned out our night security officer who's primary role is to monitor cameras from the control room was skipping up and down the corridors cause 'he felt too full of energy" and had to get it out of his system somehow."'
"Watching the footage of him skipping featuring the occasional star jump through vacant corridors for 20 minutes at 1am really made my day."
– Wiwig
Safety Precaution
"I no longer work in HR or at this company, but it's my favorite story from my time there."
"Our benefits team made the decision to eliminate reserved parking as lots of employees were frustrated when they walked past dozens of empty spots in the reserved lots every day. This new policy applied to all of the company's locations."
"Of course, the benefits manager received hundreds of complaints in the first few days from people insisting they needed an exception for their own personal spot. The best reason by far was from one person who 'needed a spot close to the door because they were terrified of bobcats.' No other context. We didn't have bobcats near the corporate office so at first we thought they meant construction equipment? Turns out there actually were sightings of bobcats, like the animal, near this person's location."
"Last I heard they were told to arrive earlier to get a closer spot and didn't get an exception."
– Amia262
Stirring The Pot
"I once had a temp job in HR. I was scanning lots of old personnel files, and the one perk of the job was reading old complaints against people. The best one I came across was a mediation caused by one member of staff accusing another of witchcraft."
– thedarlingbuttsofmay
Romantic Manipulator
"I got a call from a woman I'd never spoken to, asking when she could start. She'd received a job offer after interviewing with a manager for a customer service position, she told me, but no one ever contacted her about a start date or pre-employment processes like a background check, and it had been a month."
"After a lengthy investigation, it came out that this manager had fabricated a job opening and offered it to this woman in an attempt to impress her. She quit her job (but, it should be noted, did not respond to the manager's romantic overtures) with the expectation of joining my company. She got a settlement (with an NDA) and the guy who 'hired' her got fired."
"There was also a guy who faked his son's death for some extra PTO."
– drinkthecoffeeblack
Some people were up to no good and were asking for termination.
That's Not Kool-Aid
"One of the dumbest things, an employee that worked night audit at a hotel parked his car at the entrance and would occasional go out there to drink a bottle of vodka in full view of the cameras. He didn't even sit in his car to drink! Just grabbed the bottle out of the car each time and drank in the open. Seriously, he could have put it in a water bottle and drank at the desk and would have not been caught as soon as he was. If at all!"
– tanttrum
The Second Shift
"Got a call from our office in India that staff who supported the night shift were running a brothel from the office. They didn't know they couldn't do that."
"Still fired. They tried to appeal the decision. Did not work."
– gay_flatulent
The Smear Campaigner
"I’m not in HR but my sister-in-law used to be one for a large Canadian tech firm. An executive at the company got very drunk at a conference in Vegas and the company got a call from the hotel saying they’d have to pay for outside contractors. He had rubbed his poop all over the walls of his hotel room and the hotel cleaning staff refused to deal with it."
– WhiteyMcBrown
Relieved Himself Of His Duty
"Call center employee calls HR to complain about their supervisor: 'He’s abusive... he won’t even let me leave my desk.' Supervisor calls HR to complain about employee: 'can you please tell ____ that she’s allowed to leave her desk. Oh my god... she’s sh**ting in her trashcan!' "
"It may sound humorous, but there was significant mental issues at the heart of this."
– JayArlington
It's not an easy job trying to manage everyone's expectations.
Dark History
"Worked for a large trucking company. Every employee would get a present on their birthday (in the mail) and their names on the video board (this weeks birthdays are:)."
"A guy called to ask if his name could not be on the board. Reason : his twin brother murdered his parents and he did not want to be reminded of his birthday."
– _ana_banana__
Mass Exodus
"My dad works in HR. He just told me about a day when they had to layoff about half of the company. It was crazy and there were a whole lot of moving parts that day. Unfortunately, in all the craziness, no one remembered to tell this one new hire that sadly the position he was hired for was no longer affordable. So he came in to the office only to see everyone clearing out their desks and leaving. And then...he got laid off. An hour into his first day."
"He said the guy understood, but it was the most horrible he ever felt for someone in his life."
– Stopman
How Not To Get The Job
"Not HR but have been on teams to interview and have input on possible hires."
"One standard question: 'What would you do if your were having problems with a coworker?' "
"Answer's can include: 'I would try and work it out' or 'I would take it to a manager' etc."
"His answer: 'I'd take him out back and beat the sh*t out of him.' "
"He was surprised when he didn't get the job."
– MeGrendel
While health benefits are the best perk of any job, an added bonus is being privy to the plethora of gossip and other privileged, scandalous information that many people who work behind the scenes get to experience.
We'd love to hear of all the odd happenings and situations you've been witness to as a worker in HR or any position that oversees the operations of a business or organization.
