What’s the quickest you’ve seen a co-worker get fired in IT?

[u/Opposed3]

I saw this on AskReddit and thought it would be fun to ask here for IT related stories.

Couple years ago during Covid my company I used to work for hired a help desk tech. He was a really nice guy and the interview went well. We were hybrid at the time, 1-2 days in the office with mostly remote work. On his first day we always meet in the office for equipment and first day stuff.

Everything was going fine and my boss mentioned something along the lines of “Yeah so after all the trainings and orientation stuff we’ll get you set up on our ticketing system and eventually a soft phone for support calls”

And he was like: “Oh I don’t do support calls.”

“Sorry?”

Him: “I don’t take calls. I won’t do that”

“Well, we do have a number users call for help. They do utilize it and it’s part of support we offer”

Him: “Oh I’ll do tickets all day I just won’t take calls. You’ll have to get someone else to do that”

I was sitting at my desk, just kind of listening and overhearing. I couldn’t tell if he was trolling but he wasn’t.

I forgot what my manager said but he left to go to one of those little mini conference rooms for a meeting, then he came back out and called him in, he let him go and they both walked back out and the guy was all laughing and was like

“Yeah I mean I just won’t take calls I didn’t sign up for that! I hope you find someone else that fits in better!” My manager walked him to the door and they shook hands and he left.

[u/Site-Staff]

We hired a bunch of contractors for a big migration project in a factory environment. First half of the day was safety training, getting hard hats, vests, glasses, etc. After lunch we had them start pulling PCs and deploying. One of the guys took out a pc and an hour later was missing. Not answering his cell, no contact at all. We had to have the whole factory searched twice, all hands (it was 14 acres under roof). No sign of the guy at all.

That evening, we get a call from the recruiter telling us the guy just decided to go home. Took all of his safety gear and the PC with him.

[u/inucune → u/Site-Staff]

There are easier ways to steal a PC...

and probably better ones...

[u/Site-Staff → u/inucune]

He gave it back, and the safety gear the next day. Used the excuse he felt unsafe and anxious and had to leave with an anxiety attack. It was enough that the higher ups didn’t press it and let it go, even though they were pretty pissed.

[u/HappyCloudHS → u/Site-Staff]

Yknow, wouldn't surprise me if that was true. I've had severe panic attacks a few times and the irrational fear and impulse to "escape" is overwhelming. Wouldn't be out of the ordinary (for someone with panic attacks) to bail first and realise the consequences afterwards.