Sometimes, firing an employee is a necessary step, but that’s not always the case. Here, employees share the pettiest reasons they were terminated. Content has been edited for clarity.
Dad Vs Subway Owner
“I was fired from Subway when I was 19. The dressings and sauces come in these big plastic bags, which you cut a small hole in and pour into the bottles. When you’re done, you put the bag and its remnants in the fridge for the next fill-up. One day before my shift, the owner brought me into the office and he and his brother had three half-full bags of dressing.
They asked me if I threw them away, instead of putting them back in the fridge. I said no.
They had no clue who it was, but they kept accusing me of it. They said we could watch the tapes to find out so I said fine, watch the tapes. They had no tapes. They kept persisting that I did it, and when I finally just said I didn’t know who it was, but my shift was starting, they said they needed to know if any more bags were thrown away because they were taking it out of my check.
I told them, ‘You’re not doing that.’
They told me to leave my shirt and apron and I was being terminated. I went home and told my dad, whose first response was, ‘They fished through the trash for these bags and are gonna serve it to the customers?’
So he called them and threatened to contact the board of health, they apologized profusely, and I went the next day and got my last check.”
Finish Deadline Or Hang Out With Co-Workers?
“I was let go after 2 years for not being a ‘cultural fit’ for the company. I worked in the accounting department, and this came after I had a big deadline coming up and I opted to stay behind and work, rather than going to a co-worker’s birthday lunch. My supervisor forced me to go anyway, which took 2 hours and I was unable to meet my deadline.
A few weeks later, I transferred someone over to their correct associate in the department and she started screaming at me (in front of her supervisor and my supervisor) telling me I wasn’t a team player, that I should have taken the call even though it wasn’t my region.
After that, the same morning the department manager called me in and said. ‘It just seems like you put your work before people, therefore we don’t feel like you’re a cultural fit.’
She literally meant because I opted to work as opposed to socializing that I was being let go. Oh, but they still wanted me to stick around to finish the financial quarter to help keep their numbers up. I agreed under the condition I get my full bonus for that quarter.”
Bad Time At Pizza Hut
“Years ago I was fired from Pizza Hut. I was a shift manager and there was really bad tornado activity one night. An employee was freaking out because we’re from the Midwest and she lost her friend to a tornado recently.
I called the store manager and she said to close and go take shelter (Luckily, my house had a basement and was a few blocks away).
Thirty minutes later, the sirens stopped and we went back. Trees were uprooted all over the road and glass was broken near the drive-thru window. We were soaking wet from the rain. When we got back, online orders had been coming through like crazy and there were only 3 of us. My server was shivering and I told her she could change into basketball shorts that were in her car. Anyone from the Midwest knows after tornadoes EVERYONE goes out to look at the damage. We got slammed and to make matters worse, a man gave us 10-minute notice that there would be a party of 30 coming. This was a Monday night with 3 employees. We spent hours after close trying to get caught up but finally left.
The next day, I got a phone call from the store manager. I came in and she said she ‘had no control over this’ and she ‘was going to have to let me go because she received 2 calls about a server wearing shorts and not black pants.’
I explained the situation and she started crying saying ‘it was over her head.’
Plot twist later figured out the real reason I was let go was because I reported an incident to the district manager involving an employee throwing a metal crock pot full of ranch at an angry customer. It missed the customer but I had to clean it. And the customer was upset. The employee was sleeping with the store manager who fired me. The store manager was later terminated for having relations with this employee in the office while on the clock. And also stealing thousands of dollars over the years.”
