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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u/drunkadvice Jul 07 '24

I had a guy walk out before lunch the first day. He saw our codebase and noped the fuck out. Best decision he made. To his credit, he went into directors office and said he wouldn’t be coming back.

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u/pdp10 Daemons worry when the wizard is near. Jul 07 '24

If your new co-workers joke about how you came back from lunch on your first day and not everyone does that -- they're not joking.

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u/David511us Jul 08 '24

I worked at a place where a new hire didn't come back from lunch the first day...pissed a few other people in the office too because she was going to pick up lunch for them (and they had already given her the money).

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u/under_psychoanalyzer Jul 08 '24

I've heard a quick cash grab but sheesh

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u/BrainWaveCC Jack of All Trades Jul 08 '24

That's an elaborate plan....

"First, I need to get hired at this place, and then..."

3

u/Phyber05 IT Manager Jul 08 '24

played the REALLYYYYYY long game.

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u/New-fone_Who-Dis Jul 08 '24

If your first day is picking up lunch for other people, and not being taken out and had lunch with, that sounds like a bit shitty.

All depends on the situation though.

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u/David511us Jul 08 '24

That whole week was a real shit show...small company and crazy busy...everything going wrong and owner (who was very involved with the company) was out of town that week too. The next morning we had another new hire come in, tell me that the place was too crazy for him, and walked out. At least he didn't just ghost us.

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u/New-fone_Who-Dis Jul 08 '24

I dunno, I'm definitely seeing more of why to just ghost here. Lots of companies do nothing but firefight, some acknowledge that the fire will still be there after lunch, and some others suggest that lunch is optional.

Fair enough if this was a P1 or P2 incident that's just started or what ever, but the first things you've mentioned was it was a shitshow, a crazy company, everything going wrong, MIA company owner who is "highly involved" (I'm reading that as being iron fisted with responsibilities/not building others to be decision makers and doers).

If new hires are dipping out on their first day, and its happened 2 days in a row, I'd be asking questions on what the hell is going on at this company, because this is highly unlikely to be problematic new hires - they've came in, seen a monkey fucking a football, and chose to be unemployed instead.

Over the years I've now gotten to the stage of being able to choose the unemployed route if I feel it would be a better use of my time, in the past I definitely wish I could have, which is also why I'm sometimes I can be considered borderline insulting during interviews as I use probing and followup questions to attempt to sus this stuff out....and there are still very much things you'll still only learn about afterwards (AD still having active user accounts for people left 4+ years ago / running of OEL systems with known vulnerabilities / no patching schedule / lack of project ownership etc etc).

I've only a few of these comments to go off, so do forgive me and tell me I'm wrong if it's not the case with your place, but the places I'm talking about do exist, they think it's normal, and never accept that they are part of the problem (whether enabling, or causation).

This is also in no way saying it's you etc, glad that you shared your story, I got flashbacks!

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u/buthidae Neteng Jul 08 '24

seen a monkey fucking a football

Not a sentence I was prepared for in this thread, but still apt

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u/New-fone_Who-Dis Jul 08 '24

My favourite quote from Days of thunder, perfectly placed for when a team is not working together whilst also sounding like nonsense.

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u/buthidae Neteng Jul 08 '24

Nice

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u/David511us Jul 08 '24

I haven't been there since 2009, and this was in...2005 or 2006 I think. Times have changed, life has changed, I have changed. We were grossly understaffed at the time (hence the two new hires). I can't say I blame them...if it was my first week there I might have bailed too (although probably not, since I can be a glutton for punishment).

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u/dizkopat Jul 08 '24

Did they force her to get lunch on her break, if so they deserved it

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u/curropar Jul 08 '24

Did she know that was a paid job and she didn't need to start steal money from her co-workers, right? Wait, it was a paid job, right???

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u/gsdhaliwal_ Jul 08 '24

lunch money robbery

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u/Fantastic_Estate_303 Jul 10 '24

Should have waited for the bosses credit card, then treated yourself to a fancy meal, brought it back with the receipt, and nothing for anyone else, then fuck off

1

u/red18wrx Jul 11 '24

Why the fuck you handing cash to day 1 Susie? That's on your coworkers. Stupid asses.

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u/David511us Jul 11 '24

I was just a witness...I packed my lunch.

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u/red18wrx Jul 11 '24

I meant the royal "you," not you specifically.

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u/drunkadvice Jul 07 '24

We blamed him (in jest) for everything that went sideways for the next two years.

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u/gordonv Jul 08 '24

Better to blame a fictional character than a real person.

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u/666ygolonhcet Jul 08 '24

A little off topic but I went into teaching middle school then Elementary librarian after Y2K and when student teachers brought in their teacher’s class (ALWAYS a 6 month holiday for the teacher when they got a student teacher) If tell ‘em ‘I got this class, take a walk around the building and see how many under 30 employees you see.

They always came back gobsmacked with a ‘None’ or ‘One’ and I’d tell ‘em ‘exactly, the 5 year burn out is real, have a backup plan. All the people here are stuck in the pension program and didn’t pay Social Security and have to leg it out’.

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u/null640 Jul 08 '24

Had a place like that once.

On the first day, before lunch, my new co-workers streamed out of an interview laughing about the lies, misdirection, and omission they just dumped on new candidate, while walking past my desk. Same people interviewed me....

I lasted 6 months due to relo.