Top 10 Employee Horror Stories

These employees and their actions top our list of someone you never want working for your business. From theft to all out brawls at work, these are HR Nightmares. Avoid situations like this and Outsource your HR and Hiring needs to an Expert!

#10 The Sneaky Lunch Thief

“ There was this a lady at my first job out of college who would sneak away into the lunch room, which was in the basement of the building and steal lunches. She’d go through all of them taking bites or eating it all. If she took a bite of something she didn’t like, she’d throw it in the garbage. Staff would come downstairs to find their lunches devoured or in the trash with one bite taken out of it. This all came to a head one day when some guy was up in arms after his meatloaf sandwich fell victim to the lunch thief. He ended up catching her, she was fired, and keyed everyone’s cars.”

Michael Chicago,Il

#9 Social Media Blunder

“I own an Art Studio and Host parties for fun like “ Wine & Paint”. On a particular Saturday I had a client from the city who was high maintenance and demanding but, a great customer with money who wanted to throw a bridal shower. I put two of my employees on the job, the one girl I had just hired straight out of highschool and the other one who was more mature had been with me for awhile. After the party was finished I got great feedback and was pleased. I later on check my Facebook page and the “more Mature” employee posted a picture with our companies apron on saying she was “exhausted from a demanding, high maintenance customer that she had to deal with all day”. I was horrified because clients are always checking out my Facebook page! I fortunately was able to delete the post and don’t think anyone saw it. Who would of thought the highschool girl was more mature and responsible than an adult who’s been working forever! I now have a long talk with new employees on the potential bad side effects from social media!”

Patricia Staten Island, NY

#8 Ms. Narcissus

“It was a busy Sunday morning at the grocery store I managed. It was football season and it was a playoff game so everybody was there buying snacks and beer. Once the shift started to switch over to the afternoon staff, I realized one of the employees was running over a half an hour late. I immediately called her and got no answer. We were already short staffed because I had someone call out sick earlier that day so, that meant it was up to me to ring up customers. Irritated at the situation but keeping a smile on for customers I cashiered for about an hour until I had a chance to give this girl a call again or try to find someone else to cover for her. When I called her again to see what happened she did answer this time. I said “Julie you were schedule from 11­7pm and it’s almost 1pm, where are you?” She replied “ Oh sorry I got caught up in the mirror I’ll be right in”. I was so mad I said don’t bother coming in ever again you’ll have your last check in the mail today. “

Peter Seattle, Wa

#7 “Where’s my Waitress?”

“ I’m a waitress at a high end restaurant on the Beach in Florida. The restaurant is fairly large and it was a typical busy night during tourist season. I had a section inside and out on the patio so I was running around like a crazy person but, it was good because I was making money. About an hour into my shift I started to get asked questions and yelled at by patrons that were not in my section. “Where is my waitress?” I’ve been waiting 20 minutes for my drink!” “Can you take my Order?”. Already flustered by all the customers I had I decided to go see where the heck “Sandy” was. She was usually on top of her tables. After a good search with the help of another waitress we found her in the back of kitchen completely strung out on something. She was escorted out by the police.”

Jill Miami,FL

#6 Reality TV in the Cubicle

“ Years ago I worked for a giant corporation in Upstate New York. I had been there well over 10 years and so had a few of my fellow co­workers in the same cubicle area. I unfortunately sat next to this one lady who was a complete nut. I’ll also preface she had an extremely annoying high pitched voice and would get daily phone calls from her children and husband that would end in screaming into the phone pretty much every time, multiple times a day. The calls would range from her kids getting suspended from school, drinking underage, marital arguments and so for. It really was like a reality tv show but they hadn’t existed yet. One day it escalated even more when she told me that she was having an affair with another employee in a different department. I who was happily married tried to stay out of it but she would always try to talk about this affair to me and what a loser her husband was. Well her husband did find out and it got so out of control that he came to our work demanding her to show him who the “boyfriend” was. Our boss didn’t seem to care too much because she continued to work there. I eventually quit and never had to deal with her drama again.”

Deedee Syracuse,NY

#5 Fido needs to Eat Too

“ I was the Store Manager for a well known Pet Store chain. The staff was friendly, great at teamwork, and overall hard workers. The only problem I had at the moment was our inventory was askew. I really couldn’t figure it out. Either I or another Manager was there during the shipment process and all employees were well trained on spotting and deterring theft. But I still had high dollar items missing. Most importantly it was mainly items for dogs and expensive brand dog food. One day I got an anonymous tip about a newly promoted Manager during the closing of the store. He apparently was letting employees “take what the desired” for their pets and he would “take” dog food and toys for his beloved dog. I later found out another employee would help elderly customers out to their cars and he would throw in a bag of dog food to the cart to take it to his car. I was stunned and fired everyone involved in the ring of pet food thieves.”

Enrique San Jose, CA

#4 The New Guy

“I was working a part time serving job while in college at an upscale restaurant. The job wasn’t great but I made decent money and you got free food at the end of the night. Anyway one day the manager hired a new guy and of course all the girls are into the new guy. After about a month of him working at the restaurant, two of the female servers started acting pretty catty towards each other. From giving each other the evil eye to snide rude remarks. One of the girls who I was friends with, confided to me that she and the “new guy” had been out a couple times and this other girl was trying to get in her way. I laughed it off and told her to stop worrying about. Apparently things turned for the worst when one night they were working together. The “New Guy” had been playing them both and they found out about it. Instead of getting mad at him they got into an all out brawl in the middle of the restaurant. The manager had to break them apart and sent both of them home. Neither of the girls worked there anymore but the “New Guy” was able to stay. That’s why you don’t get involved with co­workers.”

Mark Phoenix, AZ

#3 Not so Sweet Church Girl

“ I was getting my store ready for Black Friday and I had hired about 10 new seasonal employees. Usually hiring at this time is quick and you kind of just need people to fill in spots. This one girl I hired “Emily” who seemed very smart and sweet said she wasn’t able to work Sundays because she helped her boyfriend out at the Church. I respected that and said no problem you got the job but you will have to work Black Friday. I started her a week before the Big Day so she could get trained on the register because she had a pleasant smile and good customer service. Everything was going wonderful and I felt like this Black Friday was going to be a breeze. I had Emily on the registers during the peak morning hours because she had caught on so quickly ( better than some of my veteran employees). As I was doing my rounds throughout the store I stopped when I saw Emily ringing up a customer and when she was putting the money in the drawer she slipped a $100 bill in her pocket. She obviously had not seen me and wasn’t too slick. I was in complete shock and told her we immediately needed to count down her register. Mind you this was at 3am on Black Friday the busiest shopping day of the year! She got so flustered she started crying and I told her to get out or I’m calling the police. Not only did the whole store see what was going on but I had a line of customers waiting to be checked out. What I thought would be a breeze turned into chaos. Now I hire seasonal employees well in advance!”

Rose Charlotte, NC

#2 “I just need my Check”

“I was working at a car dealership that was family ran. The management was okay except for this one guy who was a cousin of of the owner. He would walk around like he was some big shot but he just a rude. I being young and really good at what I did, would not put up with it, so he naturally didn’t like me. One day when there were customers out in the lot that I was going to go help, he called me into his office and told me to move cars instead. He said I needed to give some of the other sales people a chance. When you work on commission, customers are what pays the bills so I told him no I was going to help the customers first. He started getting mad and telling me he was going to fire me if I didn’t move the cars first. I said fine then give me my check and I’ll leave. I had enough of this guy who did nothing all day. He pretended to call payroll but was just on his phone with wife. At this point I was getting madder and said I want my check now and some other not so nice words. He then blew up and charged at me. We ended up in a fist fight on the sales floor in front of customers and employees. When the police came and I explained the story they let me go with my paycheck. Lucky for me I don’t work in car sales anymore.”

Brad Las Vegas, NV

#1 A Retail Love Affair

“ I was working as an Operations Manager for a big brand retailer in Fresno, CA. The store was enormous and we had well over 100 employees. Part of my position involved Loss Prevention, so I monitored the cameras and the possibility of any internal or external theft. One day we noticed that two employees were acting suspiciously. At first we thought that they were stealing merchandise and covering it up by hiding tags and sensors. Once were started a formal investigation we went through video footage and realized this had been going on for months. No tags or sensors were ever found but we did find them “sneaking away together”. This was on a whole another level and the worst part was they were both married. Needless to say they were both terminated and probably had a lot more to deal with in their personal lives.”

Jose Fresno, CA