Redditor sirdigbykittencaesar wanted to hear from the bosses of the world about the terminations they wish they could take back, so they asked:
"Bosses of Reddit, have you ever seriously regretted firing someone, and if so why?"
It must suck when you're duped into firing the wrong person and then you find out too late.
That Day
Kids In The Hall Comedy GIF by CBCGiphy"A long time ago I was asked to fire a salesman. He was kind, but not good at selling. It was a week before Christmas. I told my boss I would fire him on Jan 3. The boss said no and fired him that day. I regretted not giving him the holiday."
Tootalllewis
The Picker
"I had an assistant for about a year, who was a pretty good assistant for a difficult working situation. My boss, the district manager, hated him, though. She kept trying to catch him screwing up when I wasn't around. The trouble was, the company paid poorly, so talent was hard to come by, training was difficult, and the hours were 48 a week MINIMUM. This guy was the only assistant I had who didn't quit in less than a year."
"My stores were so undermanned, if this guy left, I'd be working 80-hour weeks like before I got him. The only reason it wasn't more than 80 hours was because the store's malls or shopping centers actually closed at night."
"Finally, one day, she wrote him up because she said 'a secret shopper' said he was picking his nose. This guy, who at least had SOME dignity, refused to sign the disciplinary paperwork. 'I want proof: I am not sitting in the showroom, picking my nose.' My boss said, 'he won't sign it, insubordination.'"
"'Fire him.' I really tried to reason with her, but she wanted him gone one way or another. 'Either you fire him, or I'll come in and fire both of you.'"
"I had to fire a man for picking his nose. I quit shortly after that because I knew this was just the lowest I had ever sunk in management. I still feel bad about all that."
punkwalrus
This Guy
"Years ago I got a call from a competing engineering company. They screwed up a job and rather than own up, decided to blame a senior technologist as the scapegoat. His immediate boss was against it but the partners demanded it. He phoned us and said 'You should hire this guy.'"
"We did and he was an excellent employee until he retired 20 years later. Our gain, their loss."
"The best part is that the guy who called me (who was a senior engineer) quit shortly thereafter and the company closed down a couple of years later - Karma I guess."
somewhat_random
The Team Member
"Someone else hired someone with no experience after I voted 'no.' I knew he would be in over his head and he had a good job already. They didn't train him or coach him. And then after about 6 months my boss's boss comes to me and tells me to build a case against him... my team member... and to fire him."
"I quit within the next two months. F them... I'm not doing their dirty work to solve a problem they caused and enable them to keep their hands clean in the process."
AdUnfair3836
It's just a puff...
4-20 Weed GIFGiphy"I was once forced to fire an awesome employee for failing a drug test (weed). And just a few years later it was legalized."
PsiOryx
When will we just let people smoke freely?
Bad Vibes
Duck Reaction GIF by PLAYMOBILGiphy"I had to fire someone on my actual last day once. And right beforehand, everyone was making a joke about the person I fired getting fired. That sucked. Not a good vibes last day at all."
backyardvegas
Terror
"I had an employee about 4 years ago now who had chronic attendance issues. I kept her MUCH longer than my boss was happy with because she was decent and very genuine. But eventually, I just couldn't put it off anymore. When we were in the room talking she burst into tears and looked terrified and told me her husband was NOT going to be happy with her. She said he wouldn't hurt her and she didn't need me to call the police for her, but even still I'm worried he was physically abusive. The level of terror was up there."
AlisonChained
Merry Christmas
"About 20 years ago I was running a bar Christmas Eve - chaotic night as we were incredibly short-staffed due to heavy snow and a lot of our workers being from a different area. Bar downstairs was closing up and the staff was being moved to the upstairs. We were £200 short in the bar and the main manager interrogated three out of the four - conveniently not the supervisor he was having an affair with."
"That supervisor was also in charge of the float and was generally sh*t at her job. That float for one until was convenient £200."
"Main boss wouldn't consider his fling could do wrong (a common occurrence) and he didn't want to deal with it. So it became me (the lowest of four managers) to sack three people for suspected theft. On Christmas Eve knowing I wasn't in any position financially or in terms of job security to say no."
"Only joy was that his wife finally caught him in the affair and his whole life went to sh*t soon after."
geekhalla
Regrets
"I was forced to fire a junior person on my team, my boss gave me no choice, because she had used a competitor's idea as inspiration (working in design). But it was our intermediary boss who told her to use the idea. I wish I would have taken a harder stand but I was afraid of being fired myself, I was only a few months on the job. I still regret it to this day but the other woman has had a good career so that’s a plus at least."
Keyspam102
Awful
"Had an underperforming employee, tried a pip, coaching, moving to a different job role with the team. Eventually came to terms with not being the right person for the job/team terminated employee. A week later her child dies in a house fire where they lost everything. I donated 1000 to the go find me but still can’t help but wonder if my termination set off the events that caused this."
smallboxofcrayons
Phony
That Is All Meryl Streep GIFGiphy"Nope. There's a long process before it gets to that point and almost nobody does get to that point. Except for the guy who got the job using fake identity papers. There was no long process to fire him, it went very, very fast once we found out."
AdmiralBofa
I hated firing people.
There is never a great time.
For those who are not feeling particularly bubbly at the moment, Redditor Chillay_90 asked:
"So, what ya'll mad about today?"
Being employed is a good thing.
That doesn't mean work conditions are always favorable.
A General Consensus
"Going to work."
– jebidiabooyaa
"I'm grateful to have a job just not always happy to go to it."
– jebidiabooyaa
Uncredited Employee
"Made an amazing job at work and everyone else that was higher up involved 'shoved' me aside and took credit. Now I'm the guy that worked 14 hours a day since mid December and all I got was being credited as some minor helper."
"To make matters worst I complained and my 'reward' was getting extra work and my boss saying 'in Old Rome when a gladiator killed a lion he wouldn't get a day off, he would have to kill another one the next day.'"
"I am seriously considering quitting today."
"EDIT 1: RIP my inbox, I seriously can't answer the literal hundreds of messages I am receiving right now. I thank you all for the support. I wrote in this just to vent some steam and found a lot of support here in a really bad moment. Also I am not considering posting the story again on another board mostly because I just want to move on and forget this happened altogether."
"EDIT 2: Talked to my GF and my parents and they were kinda shocked with this and asked me to quit as both see that this really took a toll on me. We will figure something out in the mean time and I have some solid savings for a rainy day, so I guess this is the time to put them to use. Also I talked to my direct supervisors this morning, as they had always been supportive and they say they will back me up in this process and try to make the next weeks as smooth as possible. One of them is apparently also considering quitting for similar reasons."
– _Didds_
Overworked/Underappreciated
"I'm a high school teacher. It's understood that we stay late on Wednesday for grade level meetings, content meetings, and professional development/training."
"I plan my life during the school year around that fact. Considering we're here until close to 6PM some Wednesdays, I make sure all afternoon/evening plans and commitments are never on a Wednesday."
"We came back yesterday and SURPRISE, we're going to be staying until 6PM on Mondays for additional meetings and training opportunities!"
"I have therapy on Mondays. BECAUSE of this job where I'm treated like sh*t from 3 different directions."
"This is my last semester at this school, so I just won't be attending. Fire me during a teacher shortage. I dare you."
– Ghost0fBanquo
Opinions matter.
So angry Redditors sounded off theirs.
Personality Clash
"My roommate’s ex wife is a narcissist. He’s got sole custody, and she still manages to cause problems. She’s the most infuriating person I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting."
– Phoenix_of_Asclepius
Everything Comes At An Exorbitant Cost
"Life is too f'king expensive."
– sam_francisco814
"For $9.99 you can unlock my opinion."
– Ryddim
Master Of Your Fate
"The fact that my future depends on me."
– BBQPHOENIX
That Time Of The Month
"It's the first day of my period, I'm mad about everything."
– whiskey__throwaway
Redditors discuss how the wide range of emotions they're feeling fueled the fire.
Soiling Clothing
"I got diarrhea and lowkey shat my pants."
"Edit at 0:36 AM: My house almost exploded due to my sister's idiocy. To tell it quickly: We have old main heating furnace that can take everything and those has option to heat up water only or to make heaters warm. She put two shovels of coal because she didn't care to check the lever that controls it. Thank god that entire house did a roar of nightmarish beast that sounded like it's about to devour you. I almost shat my pants again."
– Alex152Pl
Chill Factor
"The windchill is -40..."
– A40
Persistent Pain
"The migraine I had yesterday is still here today."
– GrumpyWampa
Grieving
"My dog collapsed right before Christmas. One blood transfusion and tons of meds later, she's on the mend."
"Went for her follow up today. Left the vet with one less dog."
"It's nobody's fault. Autoimmune disorder, probably. And she's 11, which is old, but for mini-dachshunds she should have had a few more good years."
"I'm just mad my poor dog is gone and there's nothing anyone could do about it. I miss you, Chloe."
– americancrank
Priorities
"My new computer has been updating for two hours. I want to play Sims 4."
– drunkplantmom
Let's all collectively take a deep breath.
Now exhale...
If you feel a little bit better and more relaxed, then good on you.
And if you're still feeling irritable, frustrated, or still majorly peeved, I hear you, and I validate your distress.
But whatever it is that's ticking you off, it could always be worse, amirite? All we could do is just hope for a better tomorrow. Cheers.
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I throw phones. I'm Naomi Campbell to walls and floors. And I have to get past it. What is funny is that I always assume the phone will survive. Trying explaining THAT to Verizon.
Pickles
season 6 happy dance GIFGiphy"I was a cashier and was scanning items. Customer was buying a huge jar of pickles that fell on its side as I went to scan it, shattered instantly, and pickle juice immediately leaked deep within the scanner/register guts. It all shut down in a few seconds."
The Drop
"My tablet was sitting on the toilet tank. It slipped from my wet hand. It would have landed on my cushioned toilet seat cover but because of my lightning fast reflexes I spiked it at the edge of the shower and shattered it."
"A lot of the times you drop soft objects that you can kick back up and catch. Other times you take a penalty shot with your phone."
Be Clean
"As a child virtual pets/tamagotchis were all the rage and I loved them dearly. I had a beloved 12 in 1 that let you have a bunch of different pets instead of just 1. Well, the screen was dirty and I wanted to clean it. So, I ran it under tap water for like 5 minutes to make sure it got clean. Low and behold I learned the hard way water and electronics don't mix."
WASHING MY REPLACEMENT!!!
"When I was washing my sheets I had neglected to check to make sure I had my cell phone in my pocket so I accidentally washed it and it was pooched. That wasn't my stupidest time. The stupidest time was WASHING MY REPLACEMENT a couple months later after vowing to check every time. Now If my cell isn't in sight, I don't turn on the machine."
Nailed!!
mom + pop music hammer GIF by HindsGiphy"Sat down on a nail with my phone in my back pocket. Saved my butt, killed the phone."
I'm not alone. Thank God. We really expect a lot of our technology. I know we spent a ton of coin, but machines are only machines. Continue...
How much could a banana cost?
"Moving out of my apartment after graduating college. I'm loading up my car the night before leaving in the morning. My trunk light is out, so I put my phone on the edge of the trunk gate to use its flashlight to help organize everything. Finish up and close the trunk, and crunch. Phone looked like a banana."
- JuRoJa
Flushed
"Back in the smallest phone arms race circa 2005 I was playing Tetris while on the toilet, I pocket the phone before cleaning the scene, but not deep enough. I flushed and pulled up my pants, my phone flew out of my pocket, bullseyed the hole and went down with the last glug from the flush. For context, I was at work so it was one of those industrial flush public toilets."
- gharr87
Stupid Stunts
"As a kid I ran a magnet across my tv. At first I ran it a couple inches away from the screen and the picture would distort a little bit and go back to normal. Got ballsy and just swiped it glass to magnet and my tv just went black."
Oh Mother!
Cbs No GIF by HULUGiphy"Opened my laptop so I can clean it for it to speed up. Ended by damaging the motherboard."
- kiwiwar
Soniced
"I saved my allowance for 4 months until I had enough for the handheld version of Sonic the Hedgehog. Brought it to school on the 1st day and it needed to be reset, which required sticking a ballpoint pen or a safety pin into a tiny hole. We only had pencils, so I thought, "Pencil, pen, same difference." Not for that, it wasn't."
Damn Vodka
Drunk On One GIFGiphy"Microwaved a cell phone to dry it out. Alcohol may or may not have been a factor."
Viral Invasion
"I pirated a game and instead of mounting the image I ran "install.exe" that was packaged with it. All of the viruses. All of them."
"For anyone who has Windows Pro (or Enterprise), you should know about the "Windows Sandbox" feature. It lets you spin up a fresh Windows VM in just a few seconds, and closing the window cleans everything up."
"You can also create configuration files to adjust the memory, add Virtual GPU support, etc."
A Quick Death
"Spilled water on my laptop. I quickly unplugged it, pulled the battery, then opened the chassis and dried it out. 24 hours later I plugged it in and everything worked! Within minutes I spilled another glass of water right on it and it just died immediately."
- Xe1ex
"Dishonor"
"Ruined a $950 prototype circuit board at my job because I was in a rush, and didn't pay attention to which power supply on my bench I had grabbed, and I plugged 120V directly into it. Board immediately blew up, complete with sparks and smoke. I slammed my office door shut, and repeatedly called myself a freaking moron for about 10 minutes."
"Once I calmed down I went and talked to my boss, after a couple days we got another prototype sent out to us, and we proceeded with testing. That board is now framed and hangs on a wall above my computer screen with a note that says "dishonor". Yes, I still work for the same company."
Plop...
Matthew Phone GIFGiphy"Had my phone between my chin and chest while peeing. Looked up to flush... plop."
Crunch!
"Had phone under car hood, near the edge. Worked on car. Closed hood. Crunch! Folded iPhone in half right between the board and battery. Was able to swap into another phone and save it, but original body and screen was folded."
"Lol I used a phone as a flashlight, dropped it, and it landed between the exhaust manifold and the block where I couldn't reach. That phone did not survive. Very hot in there."
The Brick Wall
"This isn't something that happened to me but happened to my brother. so my brother had just got his first phone and he was testing out the case for it... he would throw it up in the air and let it hit the ground, he threw it higher and higher each time. he eventually threw it as high as he could and it didn't break. he then told me to come and see how strong it was... he threw it as hard as it could at a brick wall and... yea..."
So, what happened?
"Well, this was not me but I suffered the consequences: I used to work at an art center, we had all the tech stuff we needed, sound, video, PC's. One day I am at my desk and all of a sudden all the power went down at the same time. Unusual I would say. We had recordings in one of our studio, a group was rehearsing they play that they were developing, and all the electricity failed. So, what happened?"
"The boss' secretary, bored of not doing anything at the moment decided to wash the walls with a hose, and watered the main electric board. So many things got destroyed. The light projectors, two PC's one video projector and all the 3 amplifiers we had in out back stage. Luckily we were ensured against stupidity, otherwise, she would have been even more screwed."
Crash
airijuana GIF by FUBAR AGE OF COMPUTERGiphy"I bought a cheap drone and crashed it into a tree on the very first flight."
There is no motherboard I will touch. I accept my tech limits and clearly so should the rest of us. Be kind to our technology, it's only trying to take over/I mean help!
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I am at my wit's end with people who are overly polite while driving. I know on paper that sounds like a good thing but when you are polite, you tend to buck the rules. The rules I'm trusting you to follow. So when you buck the rules, even for kindness, I can't be secure as a driver. Now I'm mad.
to be rich
Seriously GIF by Debby RyanGiphy"My "friend" stole a book. I asked him why he stole it when he's rich. He got really offended about the word "rich" and said I need to use the word "wealthy," because "rich" implies he didn't earn what he has. He never earned crap, especially that book."
Theater Trip
"My ex got mad (yelling, followed by a weekend's worth of sulking silent treatment) during a road trip because I didn't know where the movie theater was or how to get there in the city we stopped in for the night. A city in which I had never been. This was years ago, before smartphones & GPS existed."
The Great Divide
"For trying to use a divider to divide his groceries from the person behind him. He told me it "offended" him and he tried to wrestle the divider away from me. He even had the audacity to tell everyone I was the crazy one."
"Oh lord. I worked as a cashier for years. People can be crazy!"
- Amie80
CLEARLY!
"Jealousy is a hell of a drug, mine is "because I changed into a jumpsuit and flats at a wedding after party for my SIL, that I attended with my fiancé, her brother." CLEARLY I was actually hitting on this rando's bf in front of all my future in laws because… I… am disabled and can't stand in heels for more than an hour and wanted to be comfortable - so I guess I should have put a poncho on that says I'm Gross!!"
"To avoid confusing your man, my bad. She legit came up to my chin ready to go "I'm from Boston I'll freaking take you" I guess I'm happy her bf and another groomsman carried her away because my MIL would have slit my throat for fighting at the big money wedding. I for sure could have taken her butt lol "I'm from Boston" I'm from Canada and have thrown shovels of snow heavier than you when I was 12."
Girl!
Real Madrid No GIF by DAZNGiphy"Because I thanked their boyfriend for opening the door for me... Like, what?"
Humans are a mess. We can't have nice things. I think it's because trust has clearly become a mirage. But so many other issues are the problem. And when we can't trust that always leads to anger.
Ignored
ron swanson spinning GIFGiphy"I wasn't at my house, I told the guy I wasn't going to be there and he just ignored me and still went to my house."
Roomies Know...
"My roommates girlfriend was talking about how she needed an oil change for her car. I offered to do it for her and was explaining what all I needed to do it. My roommate got pissed and stormed off throwing a tantrum. They got into an argument because he's thinking me changing her oil is my way of trying to have sex with her. So now it's become an inside joke with me, my girlfriend, and my other roommates."
The Cashier
"I used to work in a store that sold food and this guy and his girlfriend came in, and he was asking me about some of the food. Normal sales conversation stuff. The girlfriend kept inserting herself between us and trying to turn him away from looking directly at me. I gave up on trying to do my actual and literal job and just walked away and she smirked at me the whole time."
"I was also cashiering up front when they got ready to check out, and the girlfriend let someone else go in front of her so they wouldn't be at my register. Ma'am if you're that insecure then that's not everyone else's problem to deal with, therapy is easily available these days."
People Break Down The Creepiest Research Holes They've Ever Fallen Down | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Chucky Fans
"I used to work in a toy store when I was a teenager and there was this crazy lady who would come in once a week to yell at me because we didn't have any Chucky dolls. From the stupid movie where he comes to life and is evil. At the time, no one had them, because no one made them. Something I informed her of every week. I know they make them now so I hope she's happy."
Check Please!
Michael Buble Check GIF by bublyGiphy"This happened recently, actually. I work at a restaurant, and we're kind of short-staffed right now, so one of my managers, without my permission, decided to sign me up for some extra shifts on a volunteer sign-up form. When I reported this to my head manager, the other manager got mad at me and called me selfish, which is ironic, considering he's the laziest fool I've ever laid eyes on."
I am the boss!!
"I gave them a report EXACTLY as they explained, twice, this was apparently wrong - despite them telling me to modify it this way, so I did so to the T. I then got called up for insubordination. Same person, couple months after asked for the 4th time on how to do a task - I showed them and asked them to take notes because and I quote "this is the 4th time I've showed you this process, would you mind taking notes?"
"Got wrote up again because "I am the boss, it is not for you to tell me what to do." I leave in 1.5 months, I'm the only person who knows how to do my job, he doesn't have a replacement and I've got 10 years of knowledge in me noggin - guess you should have started taking notes on how to do my job."
Gimme them rolls...
"Had a roommate text me furious that I had eaten her pizza rolls without asking because she was going to have them for dinner. I made all my own food, I didn't eat her pizza rolls... my best guess she got home drunk one night, like she did a lot, ate them and didn't remember."
Retail Days
"Working in retail and some lady was having some problem with the self-checkout machines. She showed me her card and told me there's something wrong with the machine since she's had no problems at other stores. I look at her card and it's expired not by a day or maybe a few days, 2 freaking years. The card expired in 2019."
"I told her that her card was expired and that she needs to use a different card, she looks me dead in the eye and tells me not only am I an idiot but that she'll have me fired for being incompetent. She walks away I go help someone else and 10 minutes later she comes up to me and tells me to go screw myself as she walks away with what I assume to be her husband."
"I'm not sure how she paid for her stuff and there's no way in hell her expired card would work so I can only assume she's been using her husband's card or some other card that's not expired but still somehow found me to be the one at fault. If anyone ever wondered why this world is screwed it's because of people like that are allowed to drive, make decisions, and vote."
Clipped Wings
woman toenails GIFGiphy"Thought I'd broken one of my grandpa's wooden birds and proceeded to scream at me and slam my foot in a door. The bird had been broken by my grandma who'd been dead for more than a decade at that point."
Emergency Response
"I heard an ambulance approaching when my light turned green. I didn't cross so as to leave the crossing empty for the ambulance. The van behind me started honking. After the ambulance had passed and we were driving, this van passed me. From the corner of my eye I saw the driver and he was making these 'I'm sorry' kind of gestures. That was nice. Reminded me of the fact that we all make mistakes sometimes. I responded with 'sh*t happens' gestures."
Stay Still
"My husband yelled at me in the middle of the night because he thought I was shaking the house somehow. We were having an earthquake. Had a good laugh about that the next morning."
The Mountain
"Both my family and my in laws are mad at me because I don't regularly spank my kids. I've gotten into several argument over it. My Aunt who co-raised me won't speak to me until I let her spank my kids when she babysits. It's a hill I never thought people would die on."
PAUSE!
sky motion graphics GIF by ibeefaloneGiphy"Someone got mad at me for stopping my car because children were crossing."
Try Mustard!
"My mom yelled at me and told me i was ungrateful, that i never did anything for her and that she always did everything for me and i never even thanked her for it. I just couldn't find the mayo in the fridge, lol."
"Omg mood. 2 weeks ago I went into my uncle's and aunt's house while they were at the hospital with their newborn baby. He knows I know the door code."
"I left pre-portioned lasagna in the freezer, fresh banana muffins on the counter, and put up a streamer and left a card. According to my mother I'm an idiot, overall stupid, she wishes I would move out, and I violated his privacy. Well, they loved the surprise, loved the muffins, no complaints. Gotta love moms."
Anger in hospitality is a given. So I'll let that one slide, but seriously people... we need to do better. Except when it comes to Chucky. Anger towards Chucky is good. But let's try to be calmer in general.
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