A new hire was reportedly told to wait for his trainer before touching anything. He drove a pallet jack into a packaging machine instead

A Reddit thread has collected stories of new hires who were let go before or shortly after their first shifts began. The conversation started when u/cuddly_trex asked r/AskReddit for the fastest anyone had seen an employee go from their first day to getting fired.

One of the most extreme stories involved a new forklift operator whose manager told him to stay put and wait for his trainer before touching any equipment. According to the commenter, he ignored that instruction, grabbed a pallet jack, and drove it straight into a packaging machine. The commenter said he was let go on the spot, before his shift had officially begun.

The incident reportedly happened before his shift even started. One user wrote, “I think being fired at negative fifteen minutes might be the record here.”

The forklift story was far from the only quick exit

IT departments had their own stories to share. One Redditor described a new server manager who received an email attachment that the antivirus software blocked. Instead of taking the warning seriously, he allegedly walked into the server room and bypassed the security protection himself.

According to the commenter, the attachment was a virus, and the employee was out the door within three hours. It remains unclear why a first-day hire had the access needed to bypass the block.

One user described a new hire who reportedly spent an entire training video searching for dogfighting footage, showing the videos to people nearby and talking about his interest in the topic. He also allegedly had pornographic pop-ups appearing on his screen. The commenter said, “Security was put in place that day so it couldn’t happen again,” adding that they were furious and made sure management took action.

Inappropriate comments also landed some new hires in trouble immediately. One warehouse worker allegedly told his boss on his very first day, “I’m gonna show up in yoga pants tomorrow,” before following it with a crude remark about his coworkers. His manager reportedly walked him out right away.

Not every quick exit came down to the new hire’s own behavior. One commenter said a credit card company let them go an hour after a trainer asked whether they thought she was hot, and they had answered, “I guess? I didn’t really think about it, I have a girlfriend.” Speed alone was enough for one owner, as a fast-food worker fired three hours into a first shift found.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify these stories, as they come solely from a Reddit thread. The accounts are individual claims shared on a forum and may not have happened exactly as described.