Employee Fired From New Job After Joking With Co-Workers That He 'Hid In The Bathroom On His Phone' The Entire Shift
Be careful with jokes in the workplace.
4x6 | Canva Pro After working a new job for only three weeks with no issues, an employee was flabbergasted to learn that he was being fired.
Perhaps even more shocking was the reason why he was being fired. After being moved to a different floor for a project, the new hire told his co-workers that he wasn't really working. He lied and said he was hiding in the bathroom during his entire shift. Instead of fessing up that it was a joke, he doubled down on his fib and learned an important lesson in the process.
The man was fired after joking with his colleagues that he ‘hid in the bathroom on his phone’ the entire shift.
The new employee revealed that he had been working for a company for three weeks in an office building, and all seemed to be going well.
“The entire three weeks I've been there had me working downstairs on the first floor,” the man reported. However one day when he came into work, he was told that he would be doing something else and that they needed him on the third floor for the day.
“I stayed up there for the entire day and didn't go back downstairs until it was time to leave,” the man wrote.
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After working on a different floor for the day, he sarcastically told his co-workers that he spent the day in the bathroom hiding.
When he went back downstairs to his locker at the end of the day, his colleagues asked him where he had been all day.
“I was joking when I said this, but I told them I was on the third floor hiding in the bathroom on my phone the whole time,” he shared.
While he believed that his colleagues would understand his sarcasm, one of them, whom he described as a “snitch,” did not and ran off to management to rat him out.
“When I came to work the next day, they sat me down and told me what was reported,” the upset worker explained. “They said that is time theft and they're terminating my employment."
Even though the man told his bosses that he was being sarcastic with his colleagues, they claimed that it was “no excuse.”
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While they allowed him to stay and work for his last day, the man claimed that his supervisor repeatedly checked on him throughout the day to ensure that he was doing his job.
Now, the man is at a loss and is unsure how he will be able to convince his bosses that he was kidding.
Ultimately, the employee learned an important lesson about socializing at work, especially in a new environment where co-workers and colleagues don't know you or your sense of humor yet.
Others advised the employee that his colleagues were not his friends, and to avoid making jokes about company time around them in the future.
“Always watch your audience in the workplace. Always assume a co-worker will be petty and cruel instead of cool,” one commented.
“You don't make jokes to your co-workers about what you do on company time. They are not your friends. You also don't make a comment like that while you've only been there three weeks. Live and learn,” another wrote.
Others believed that since the man was joking, he was wrongfully terminated and should seek legal help.
“The supervisor checked on him and knew he was working. Absolutely should have been a warning and I'd be inquiring about wrongful termination. He was fired on bad information that can be disputed easily,” one person pointed out.
“I've been in management for a while and I'm really surprised they are letting you go just over this. You could come back with a wrongful termination suit fairly easily depending what state you're in,” explained another person.
The employee might have grounds for a wrongful termination lawsuit.
In most states, employees must be able to provide concrete evidence that they were wrongfully terminated for reasons of discrimination or retaliation in order to claim wrongful termination.
Other than his co-worker's interpretation of his joke and his take on the incident, the company has no definitive evidence that the man really spent his entire shift on his phone in the bathroom. In fact, the employee indicated in his post that plenty of people were working near him during the day in question and could attest to his whereabouts.
While the man could certainly file a wrongful termination lawsuit against his former company, he should avoid making such jokes for future reference.
He was still new to the job and unfamiliar with his colleagues’ sense of humor. Someone who does not understand sarcasm can easily misinterpret jokes as something to be taken seriously, which can ultimately hurt people.
Megan Quinn is a staff writer who covers workplace news, self-help, love, and relationships.