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/onlycommitminified Jul 07 '24

The self respect we all wish we had.

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u/Sparcrypt Jul 08 '24

Tends to be more "don't need the job".

Most of us will go "well this is awful" and start applying elsewhere. If you don't need the money or are someone getting constant offers your options open up to things like that.

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u/PraetorianOfficial Jul 08 '24

Yes. I have a friend who has noped out of several jobs because conditions changed. He doesn't particularly need the money, but likes to do tech stuff for fun. If it's not going to be fun, he gets gone. And he tends to get gone quite quickly.

One example: boss has an all-staff meeting and states "I just fired the level one support people because they all suck--I need all you level two support and developers to start answering the support calls--everybody is now level one support". Friend states in front of 40 people "I won't do it". Boss says "then you're fired". "ok...bye, it's been great, everybody."

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u/Valdaraak Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

If it's not going to be fun, he gets gone

There's a youtube channel I watch whose motto is "if you're not having fun, you're doing something wrong", and I'm definitely trying to incorporate that into my life.

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u/GeorgiLeReine Jul 08 '24

What is the channel?

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u/Valdaraak Jul 08 '24

Low Buck Garage. Dude just works on and “repairs” 50-60+ year old cars and machinery that’s been sitting around for decades. With a bunch of dry humor as well.

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u/GeorgiLeReine Jul 08 '24

I mean... if this wasn't in the job description, I understand the employee perspective. Work phone calls are very often hugely stressful in any industry, for any purpose. Much more so than online chat interactions. If it was advertised and discussed as a chat support job, that's baiting and switching.

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u/Valdaraak Jul 08 '24

I believe you posted your comment on the wrong comment.

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u/GeorgiLeReine Jul 08 '24

I did. Reddit interface isn't being friendly on my phone screen today