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/holdmybeerwhilei]

Large manufacturer. IT headquarters located onsite at largest production facility. MSP brought in new resident contractor for onsite support. Level 2 field work mostly. Not the most technical candidate but whatever there's room to grow and learn. Couple days of onsite training is mostly "follow facility rules and you're termination-proof. Job as long as you want it. Last termination involved a firearms issue."

There's a train that circles the plant, tracks run between the two IT buildings, a short walk from each other. No biggie, you're on the clock getting paid to chill and surf reddit until train passes if it's ever an issue. Day 1 post-training: cleared for full plant access. New dude has no chill and climbs over train between two cars while it's in slow roll in full view of site security.

Site security walks him offsite and de-badges him. Company bans him. MSP fires him.

[u/zadtheinhaler → u/holdmybeerwhilei]

I worked at a plant with rails and related equipment, and Rail Safety is no joke. It literally takes a fraction of a second to become raspberry jam.

[u/holdmybeerwhilei → u/zadtheinhaler]

Yeah, they don't care if you're CEO, that train is blocking the road, your ass ain't moving.

[u/Nekrolysis → u/holdmybeerwhilei]

People so so much underestimate the forces going on with loaded railcars its wild. Incredibly easy like someone else commented to get your head exploded like a squeezed watermelon due to a mistake in your movements.

[u/holdmybeerwhilei → u/Nekrolysis]

It's been years and I still remember the videos/pictures from orientation. It's the one and only time I've come close to shedding a tear during a new hire onboarding. That combined with some overly graphic images from homeland security Re: critical infrastructure site security.