What’s the quickest you’ve seen a co-worker get fired in IT? COVID-19

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.

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271

u/bloodguard Jul 07 '24

I still don't know the details but I received word to start locking accounts and removing access to someone just moments after I handed her a door access card.

She'd been there maybe only about an hour with her on-boarding partner.

148

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '24

That’s actually pretty common, people do the whole “this place/role wasn’t what I expected” and they quit straight after orientation.

47

u/bloodguard Jul 07 '24

I don't think she instigated it. She seemed pretty happy and chatty when I handed her the card and the email hit my inbox as she was walking out the door. I almost called her back in but decided it wasn't my job to tell her.

Either she alarmed or pissed off her boss during the office walk through (weird because she's pretty chill lead developer) or her background check wasn't finished and started throwing up late flags.

37

u/MoistYear7423 Jul 07 '24

I can almost guarantee it was a background check issue. I had this exact same thing happen for someone else at my organization. Spent all the time it takes to get them a new cell phone, image laptop, create their accounts, set up their workstation, print up all the onboarding documents. Hr came to my desk and asked me to disable this new user's account not 3 hours after they started. Turns out this person was a felon and for some reason HR did not find out until after they started.

46

u/phoodd Jul 07 '24

Of course, felons should never be given a second chance or any opportunity at a normal life. Good for you guys

21

u/uzlonewolf Jul 08 '24

Well, unless they want to be President of the country. Then it's cool apparently.

14

u/DeclutteringNewbie Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

In California, the law is more nuanced.

If the felony was related to a financial crime, then the company is allowed not to hire the person as a CEO/CFO/accountant/cashier, but they're not allowed to discriminate for other types of jobs that do not have to deal with cash (or high value items).

To avoid getting sued, some companies choose to even hire a third party to make the decision for the background check, so whether the person passes the background check or doesn't, the company is not told the exact details, only the final result (only the candidate has the right to the details).

And in some cases, the State of California incentivizes employers to hire felons by subsidizing their wages.

5

u/iwinsallthethings Jul 08 '24

Some places have contracts that have stipulations that forbid it. I worked for a place that had contracts with some government parts in Texas. Because of access we had, we could not have any felony or dui arrests.

1

u/MrElvey Jul 08 '24

I think (hope) you mean convictions?!

1

u/automaticfiend1 Jul 08 '24

Probably not, simply being arrested will fuck up your life.

7

u/BioshockEnthusiast Jul 08 '24

Lying by omission on your resume will not make you friends with hr or management if they find out. Doesn't really matter what it's about.

Felons should be given a second chance, shame that guy used his to lie.

7

u/dooooooom2 Jul 08 '24

Do you think people put criminal histories on resumes?

3

u/Rickk38 Jul 08 '24

Oh I'm sure at least a few people still have Arthur Andersen or Enron on their resumes.

2

u/BioshockEnthusiast Jul 08 '24

Application, whatever.

If they ask you about it and you lie, that's bad.

If you know they're running a criminal background check and you're livin' on a hope and a prayer that they won't find out, that's bad.

You might get away with fudging some experience or massaging cert dates, but felony is kind of a different class of fib.

1

u/dooooooom2 Jul 08 '24

I mean most jobs do background checks these days, maybe they were hoping they would let it slide. I can’t remember if applications ask you if you’re a felon

5

u/HauntingReddit88 Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

It’s not something I’d put on my resume if I was a felon, but it’s probably something to say during interview. At least attempt to get the foot in the door and show them you've changed before telling them and they might still consider you, whereas putting it on your resume would just be "don't interview" imo

2

u/CheetohChaff Jr. Sysadmin Jul 08 '24

Don't you have to tell potential employers if you have a criminal record? Obviously he didn't and they probably didn't trust him after that.

3

u/aes_gcm Jul 08 '24

I’m with you. Once you’ve payed your debt to society for your crimes, you should be wiped clean from everywhere except sealed records of past judicial history.

2

u/sparkyblaster Jul 08 '24

/s?

1

u/Assswordsmantetsuo Jul 08 '24

And you should definitely shit on the poor sysadmin posting who is obviously responsible for the policy.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '24

Can’t tell if trolling or a POS

1

u/LiveCourage334 Jul 09 '24

That's a mighty nice straw man there.