30 Mortifying Ways People Were Sacked From A Job, As Told In This Reddit Thread

Workers are crucial people in society, and one way or another, we must be able to contribute by finally getting a job once we graduate—or during the course of our high school and college life. While it's true that many people despise the typical 9-5 jobs, a lot of us are really left with no choice but to comply, because it is also a way for us to survive.

Once we decide to be a functioning member of the real world out there and find a job to meet our needs, it can be quite hard to find one. But every once in a while, we do get lucky and land a job that gives us just enough salary to get by.

But most of the time, keeping a job is as hard as trying to find one. We always inevitably bump into other people in our workplaces who have such different personalities from us, sometimes even stronger ones, that it just makes the whole experience a lot worse.

It's true that the people you surround yourself with do have a great effect on how you settle your attitude toward a job, but we don't really have any choice once we get employed—because who are we anyway to handpick every single person that we only choose to work with?

It's even more difficult if that person with a challenging personality is your boss, and every single thing that you do seems like you're just one mistake from being fired. Indeed, a lot of people have experienced being fired in the worst way possible due to some questionable attitudes of their bosses—and we're just in luck because most of them flocked to Reddit to share their stories!

Check out the best ones below:

1. Fired Before An Unexpected Surgery

One capable IT employee was in the hospital due to an unexpected health emergency. They went to the hospital and fired him before his heart surgery. I s**t you not. - salzocowArkangel

2. Found Out Because Of CNN

Being the top dog of the FBI and finding out over CNN - CrockpotbobShinsuke Ikegame

3. Fired A Guy After A 12-Hour-Shift On Black Friday

I worked in retail and our manager fired a guy after his 12 hour shift on Black Friday. Could've spent the day after thanksgiving with his family, but instead, the manager made him work in case it was busy, then fired him at the end of his shift. It was a douche move. - LnonimousRăzvan Băltărețu

4. Fired For Not Being Able To Remember Ice Cream Flavors On The First Day

My first job ever was for Baskin Robbins when I was 15. I went in for my first day of training excited to finally be making pocket money!The owner made me try to memorize the ice cream flavours in the first 30 seconds of being there. When I was unable to recite them perfectly in their order he did this big hand motion and screamed "training over!"I laugh now but man that was crushing for a nervous teenager.

-Hippyhumanitarian

bargainmoose

5. Found Out Thru Their Paycheck

I know someone who went to his company mailbox and found a paycheck. It was stamped "TERM CHECK". He went to his manager and asked about it. She said "Oh. About that. You were fired..." -shakycam3Bullitt D. Bourbon aka Elle Ko

6. Employee Was Unaware That They Are No Longer Working In The Company Because No One Told Them Anything

I found out today when I got an email from a client stating. " <employeeX> was suppossed to be here today and won't answer his phone". I make a couple calls only to find out EmployeeX was asked to resign and nobody bothered to inform his accounts. I flew out of state to smooth things over (I'm in the hotel lobby right now, as this happened today). - anonsparker

7. Fired After Securing A Big Deal For The Company

Friend of mine helped secure a BIG contract for the company he was working for. An incentive for getting contracts is you get a percentage of the profit. He *Just* started working there about 2 months prior and went out own his own several states away to talk to a potential customer from a lead he got at a convention (Basically, "Oh yeah I have a buddy who's looking into that. You should meet him") in person out of his own pocket. He secured the deal, called his supervisor to tell him, was congratulated, then drove 12 hours back home. His payout would have come out to around $40,000 over 5 years Went into work the next day and was fired for "suspicion of theft" and the boss of the division (not the supervisor, that guy is lower) would be taking over all his current stuff. He lawyerd up immediately but since he was still on his probationary period and they could fire him without cause nothing but the finders fee (around $3000) was to be paid to him. Basically his boss tossed him to get some free money. - suitologydaffyduke

8. Fired Over The Phone While Recovering In Hospital

I was in a wreck on New Year's Day of 2009. A drunk driver hit me, injuring my leg up really badly. The driver didn't have insurance, their tags were fake, and their license was suspended at the time of the accident, so I was f****d. I couldn't walk and my job was being a soda merchandiser, so I was on my feet all day long. After reporting this to my employer, they told me to concentrate on getting well and to report back to management after seeing the doctor after a week or two of rehab.My doctor stated I may have to have surgery and wanted to run some tests, so I called my boss after an appointment. While I was being rolled out of the waiting room in a wheelchair, my boss fired me over the phone.

-crouchingroundhouse

prairiekittin

9. Was Fired And Had No Transportation To Go Back Home

Not me but a very close friend that was working with me at the time.His shift started at 11pm, mine started at Midnight, and we were both given transportation from door to door, meaning, pick up at your house, drop off at the very office, every day.My friend was picked up on time and brought to the office as usual, 15min before his shift started. He was fired on the very spot, for some errors he had made, that in my opinion shouldn't be grounds to fire him but for a warning and coaching, but whatever, they were clauses in our original hiring contract, so, it wasn't appealed. Now comes the bad part.In my country, the last buses run at 11PM for most areas, and even earlier in some others, and he lived two cities away, and while firing him, they also revoked his access to the building and the business center where the building was located, and was escorted out, with no way to get home.And of course they wouldn't provide transportation, as he was no longer an employee, and neither could he wait outside for the buses or even his scheduled morning transport, since by firing him, the system automatically removed him from the travel routes.Couldn't they fire him at the end of his shift, or at least call him and let him know so he would have got to work on his bike? Or at least, not showed up to work that day and come in the next morning, when there are transportation options and then do the paperwork. It was awful.

-Aedrian87

Eric Fredericks

10. Were Told To Attend A Presentation On Sexual Harassment, But Got Fired Instead

Once when I worked in an office, they told us that we had to visit "corporate" for a presentation about sexual harassment in the office. We were broken in to groups to go on different days. Monday - Thursday, the groups got a video on harassment. The Friday group got fired en mass. The whole thing was a set up. -sykopoetJaysin Trevino

11. Got Fired Because The Boss Was An Idiot

I got fired because my boss f****d up and blamed it on me.I started my own business in the same field and made all key people leave my former employer and work for me instead. A year later they had to file for bankruptcy.Ah, the malicious delight.

-anon

Maryland GovPics

12. Someone Thought They Were Fired So They Didn't Come To Work And Was Actually Fired

On night shift a coworker comes in and tries to log into the computer system. It doesn't work. She's locked out of everything. She'd also had trouble clocking in. The night shift supervisor is off that night. This lady starts freaking out and crying. She says she knew they were looking for a reason to fire her. When were they planning on telling her? What is she suppose to do now? Despite multiple people reassuring her that if they were going to fire her, this is not the way they would do it and suggesting there might just be a mistake, she is still determined that she's been fired and they forgot to tell her before they cut her access. She goes home and doesn't come in the next night either. She won't answer calls, and is out for the rest of the next week.Turn's out they hadn't fired her, but they had been looking for a reason to fire her. Not calling and not showing up for work was enough of a reason, so then she really was fired.

- name_pending__

Mike

13. Fired For Yelling At A Kid, But For Good Reason

I was working 20 ft up a ladder on the side of a house. I hear a BB gun fire and the pellet hit the wall a few feet beside me. After a couple more of these I turn around tell the fat kid standing in the yard if he does that s**t again he better be able to out run my hammer. Mom starts screaming about me threatening her kid. 15 minutes later I'm unemployed. - RazorRushMike Mozart

14. Was Filling In For A Major Role But The Company Found Someone Else And Fired Them

This one resonates to me as I was let go three weeks ago. So story time:I was hired at a company back in October by a woman whom I consider the ebst boss I ever had. Awesome person, kick as marketer, we are still friends to this day. Anyway, at the end of December before we go on a New Year Break, she tells us she is leaving for a much better company. I don't blame her, the company is awesome.Now when we get back, I instantly inherit all of her work and basically become a Director of Marketing without the title. I proceed to bust my a*s to pick up all the new duties, make sure everything is attended to, and try to make a case for being the replacement. Well the VP goes ahead and does interviews, we meet with some candidates, ultimately they hire the one who was my last choice of the four. I didn't like her. She was just off...anyway, I take it in stride and just go back to doing my job well.For the next three weeks I proceed to continue doing all of the work I was doing before she arrived, and then some, while teaching her the business and how we did things. Well three weeks ago today I come into the office, go about my routine, and then get pulled into an office where I see HR. I instantly feel sick to my stomach. She then proceeds to terminate my position due to "budget" and I am let go. No severance, no real explanation, nothing.So basically I manned a department for nearly four months, trained the new Director, and was then laid off by her three weeks into her tenure. Oh, and I found out she quickly replaced me with a friend she had worked with at four other companies. Needless to say it sucked and I was livid.

-OriginalTodd

Brett L.

15. Was Forced To Be In A Position To Fire Her Colleagues Until She Fired Herself

My mom worked for a small medical practice that was fast on its way to bankruptcy. Her boss gave her a promotion without raise and over the course of the next year, made her fire her coworkers one by one. She came to realize the reason she was "promoted" was so her boss could make her do the firing while he avoided everyone. Her coworkers saw what was happening, but still drifted away from their friendships with my mom as they saw her as an accomplice with the boss. The stress of firing her peers and feeling completely isolated at work was really eating away at my mom right up until the day her boss fired her, too.I'm sure there's worse ways to get canned, but my mom is a sweet woman who hadn't yet learned to speak up for herself and I'm disgusted at the lack of character and integrity her boss had.

-looknass

New Voices

16. Was Fired After Telling Their Boss They Had To Do A 2 Week Training

Told my boss I had a 2 week mandatory training block coming up with my reserves unit. Got told there's no way I'm not working during that 2 weeks. Told him it's not like I have a choice. Got fired. - anonlagohsep

17. Fired Post-Shift In The Bussiest Time Of The Year

Ex Public Accountant Here - In '09 one of the firms in my city laid off about 30 percent of its staff without warning a week after busy season (IE these poor accountants just worked 80-100 hour weeks with no days off for the last 2-3 months for an annual 50k salary).I would have literally taken off my bosses high heel and tried to stab her in the jugular, Happy Gilmore style, if she would have pulled that s**t on me.

-RichardCranium00

Ben Baligad

18. Found Out Via Email Talking About Their 'Unsatisfactory' Work

Headed out with family to celebrate at a Christmas Eve service, phone dinged because I inadvertently got copied on an email from my boss to an office assistant, directing her to draft up a letter terminating me "for cause", starting with the "unsatisfactory" job I did painting the entire new office on my own time when I started the job as an associate attorney one year prior. I immediately called him to ask "WTF?", He responded that he couldn't talk because he was in a church service with his family. - HamDragonsboyarrin

19. The Manager Asked Them To Work 2 Unpaid Hours After She Fired Them

i was fired from petsmart for reasons i can no longer remember. immediately after the manager delivered the news, she asked me if i would mind staying for two hours to wait until the evening shift relief arrived. unpaid, of course. i laughed in her face and left. - elentaariTed Van Pelt

20. Fired Before Christmas After Planning The Work Party

Girl I knew was here on work visa. She had been working at a company for several years that treated her well but ended up moving and got a job at a new one. Her boss apparently used her as a scapegoat, set her up with impossible, b******t tasks (like planning the office Christmas party about a week beforehand), then fired her shortly before Christmas. That meant her work visa expired and she was going to be sent back to her home country. Apparently it's the law that the employer in this case pay for the fired employee's plane ride home, and her boss chose to fly her out on Christmas. - iprocrastinaspablab

21. Expected To Be Fired For Confronting The Boss Regarding Committing Fraud And Embezzlement

Not quite fired yet, but today 3 of us publicly confronted our boss over proof of her committing fraud and embezzlement. The organization serves people with mental health conditions and we confronted her during a public meeting in front of those the organization serves.It was painful, we hated doing it, but the truth needed to come out.

- LolaZe

UBC Learning Commons

22. Fired While On Holiday

I got notice while on holiday. The day before I was supposed to fly back.I ended up just not getting the plane back and living in holiday city with a new job <2 weeks later, so it didn't all end badly.

-DrippyWaffler

allen watkin

23. Fired Before A Promised Promotion

I posted this in an askreddit thread about a week ago, but it fits this thread perfectly:When I was in my early 20s, I was about 9 months into a job at a retail store and I had been working my a*s off for a chance to be part of a new department that the store was about to open. I aced my review and I got the promotion to the brand new department. It was going to be more challenging work, it came with a pretty hefty pay bump, I would have my own office, and the work would be impactful to the whole company.The promotion didn't kick in until the start of the next week. I was laid off that Friday. When they were asked to cut payroll, management literally selected the people who were making the most money. My name was listed next to the salary I hadn't yet received. Instead of admitting that they f****d up and keeping their best performing employee at that store, they doubled down and tried to hold my last paycheck ransom until I trained my replacement in the job that I hadn't even done yet.The store owner just happened to be around that day. Normally he was a very kind man and knew everyone by name. I tried to explain the ridiculous situation to him and he just told me to go home. In a rare moment of frustration, I said something to the effect of "You know, b******t like this kills stores". He coldly replied "Hastings will be around longer than you."

-Nevermind04

PrestonFassel

24. Fired After Planning A Birthday For Their General Manager

It's a long story, but I was early in my career. I wasn't fired for a good reason and I hadn't really stood up for myself yet. I just took abuse from management and did the best I couldIt was my GM's birthday, and we all had to pick names out of a hat, and we had to buy them a cake etc for their birthday. Well I had the GM, who wanted to do his birthday in the morning with bagels.So I picked up 30+ bagels, cream cheese, giant thing of coffee, and we had this stupid bagel birthday thing or whateverHalf hour later I get back to my desk, I'm called to HR and I was fired. Oh and thanks for the bagels

-spaghatta111

purpleslog

25. Fired Because They Found Someone More Experienced, But Asked The Fired One To Train The New One

I had a friend who worked in an office doing office type s**t. One day, his boss croaked and he was was made interim boss. Anyways, he busted his a*s in order to try and keep his new position. A month later, he interviewed. A week later, his boss called him into the office and said.... *You know, we really wanted to hire you, I was rooting for you, but someone with more experience and qualifications got the job..... do you mind training him?*They asked him to train his replacement.

-anon

usarmyccdc

26. Sacked A Lot Of Employees Due To The Company Being Sold And One Of The HRs Also Got Laid Off

I worked at a place that was sold to investors, they brought in a hotshot CEO to bump up the numbers, then sold to our major competitor. During the transition, about 20 people were let go in one day. The head of HR (M) and the other HR employee (F) spent all day at it. It wasn't easy, since a lot of the employees had been there since the early days, 15+ years. There were tears, some shouting, the awkward "Hey Imma just stand here casually while I make sure you don't get weird while you clean out your desk also I'm so sorry this is happening" thing... After a whole day of that, the head of HR turns to the other HR employee and tells her, "Oh BTW we're gonna have to let you go too."You may ask, how did I know there were tears, shouting, etc.? Because that skeezy b******e head of HR shared all the gory details with my coworker the next day, in our open office workspace. She didn't ask, but he needed to tell someone. To this day I get mad thinking about it.

-owls-and-vergubas

popcorncx

27. Found Out She Was Fired While Looking For Another Job

I worked at a Chiropractic office once. One if the girls found out she was being fired when she was on Craigslist looking for other jobs and found her job posted for another X-ray technician. She came to work pissed and stripped off her scrubs in front everyone and walked out in her undies. My hero. - anonAaron Jacobs

28. Fired During 'Take Your Daughter To Work' Day

My dad told me once about a coworker getting fired on take your daughter to work day. It was before lunch too so they both had to be escorted out of the office carrying their brown paper lunch bags. - schnit123The National Guard

29. Fired After A Presentation

We were having a departmental meeting, and the head of engineering, Myron, was giving a speech about how all of our customers are happy - and how all of his ideas are f*****g awesome. Both of these were very false, so he was either lying or is disillusion.Next his boss is giving her presentation, and the little email message popped up at the bottom corner of the screen saying "You need to fire Myron" . Myron was soon fired... and good riddance.

-ooo-ooo-oooyea

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

30. Fired 3 Days After His Kid Was Born

Was fired 3 days after my kid was born for missing time because I requested the weekend that my ex was in labour off, got the go ahead from my supervisor but I guess that never made it upstairs to the top boss because they got rid of me lol. - koopakid902reimagingerica

No one likes to be fired (unless you have secretly wanted it to happen because you never had the guts to resign yourself), and it's really humiliating to be sacked—especially in the ways mentioned in these stories! Some people definitely need a lot of time to heal, because most of these are borderline traumatizing.

Do you have a similar story to share? Comment down your thoughts, or share this article for all your family and friends to see!