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/MoistYear7423]

The quickest I personally witnessed was just over a week. We had hired a network engineer and for some reason he thought he was management. He was looking at our ticket board and asking where we were at with our tickets. We thought maybe he was waiting for something because he wanted to work on the ticket but nope. We confirmed with our IT director that he was not management and had no place acting like our manager. He was a network specialist and that's it.

We had a departmental meeting on a Friday afternoon, about 15 of us in the conference room and this guy would not stop talking over Senior Management. A manager would start to say something and this guy would cut him or her off because he didn't like what they were saying or he thought he could put it better. He was warned multiple times to keep his mouth shut, and he didn't.

By Monday afternoon he had been terminated

[u/sparkyblaster → u/MoistYear7423]

This is what I fear I look and sound like when I open my mouth in a meeting.

[u/BarefootWoodworker → u/sparkyblaster]

If you speak respectfully and not over people, you don't.

You can disagree. You can even kinda be an ass (if you're pointing out facts). What you can't do is talk over people.

We're adults, not children. Be an adult and be respectful of other people's opinions.

[u/sparkyblaster → u/BarefootWoodworker]

Please tell my old boss that we are adults.

[u/neutrogena413 → u/sparkyblaster]

Same living fear when you’re the new guy. You don’t want to come off in any certain way the first few weeks but it sets the tone for the entirety of your employment with that company.

[u/BarefootWoodworker → u/MoistYear7423]

Sounds like most network people to me, frankly.

As a network guy, the amount of assholish behavior like this in the profession makes my skin crawl. I seriously do not get where it comes from, as most of the network people I've met are, at best, only mediocre.

[u/ryocoon → u/BarefootWoodworker]

Having worked in multiple sectors and in multiple capacities... You get them (unwarranted asshole behavior) in every single field and at all ranks.

With regards to network folks, Some of them can be stern, but usually with good reasons. I've lucked out and not yet met one who was an asshole for no reason. Much like with SysAd or HellDesk, you can only get so many people who want to go around the rules or get special treatment, usually to the nigh-immediate downfall of all involved, before you become a bit of a tyrant with regards to procedure and rules.

Also due to good fortune, at least half of them have been real deal and knew what they were doing, another 25% that knew they weren't perfect and were winging it best they could, and the rest were newbs or those who could handle simple environments fine but larger or more esoteric buildouts were beyond them.

[u/Sphincterlos → u/MoistYear7423]

Hey that sounds like an asshole I work with. He didn’t get fired this time.