A time you’ve got in trouble at work which was incredibly justified

[PinkMoscatoLover]

I was just thinking about the time when I started a new job in 2020. It was office based and we’d always have the radio playing in the background whilst working.

We’d listen to Heart, KISS or Capital FM and these stations would ALWAYS have some sort of competition going on. ‘Text us if you hear X song to win 30 grand,’ those sorts of competitions. Whenever I’d hear the specific song, I’d pick up my work phone and text the number in hope to win.

I was doing this daily for about 3/4 weeks when I received an email from someone relatively high up in the company. They’d sent me a spreadsheet of everytime I texted this number and how much each text cost. I racked up £98.56 or some nonsense like that😅

Luckily I only received a warning and was told not to do this again. They also highlighted that my work phone was to be used for WORK purposes only. Unofficially, my manager told me that the only reason I had kept my job is because I was ‘bloody good at it’ and reminded me to not be so stupid again.

Have you ever got in trouble for something at work and you totally deserved the bollocking?

Laughing so much at this!

Not me, but my friend at work changed a rude customer's name on their account to...

Mrs C Unt

A fact that only came to light when her Tesco Clubcard vouchers were printed out and sent to her.

I work in HR and for one of my first jobs we had external employment lawyers we'd use for advice. I was handling a few disciplinary cases and would call one of the lawyers most days for over a month or so and we started to get on really well. We'd spend about the 1st 55 mins chatting about our weekends, boyfriend troubles or the latest Made in Chelsea etc and then about 5 mins getting actual advice. My HR Director called me into her office one day to ask how I'd wracked up a nearly £10k invoice for advice in a month. The lawyer had been billing for every minute we were on the call, not just the actual advice as I'd naively thought...luckily my boss managed to see the funny side!

Omg - you company didn't have to pay it?!

I got told off for saying Jesus Christ too many times. I also got told off for saying P for penis when using the phonetic alphabet making a professional call. The other person was in stitches but someone snitched on me.

Just remembered another one, though I didn’t get sacked. I worked in the restaurant of a cinema with pretensions, it was a market town so we were really busy on market days for morning coffee, lunch and later for tea and cakes, they served those posh little cakes that came in foil cases and made proper coffee which was rare in those days - the restaurant probably made more money than the cinema, though god knows how, it was a dump. Anyway, one day the manageress called us all together because she had had a complaint about the cakes and was furious. “ I can’t remember how many times I have told you girls, it’s not too much to expect you to remember, just CHECK THE DAMN CAKES FOR ANTS BEFORE YOU TAKE THEM OUT TO THE CUSTOMERS.” Another day I got into trouble because one of my tables complained about the length of time their meal was taking. I knew I had sent the docket to the kitchen so I went to track it down. I found it, it had fallen into the cats basket in the kitchen. I didn’t tell the customers that of course, the cat was the best thing about the restaurant and earned its keep sorting out the mice .

I had a hamster and he seemed unwell. I went home at lunch to check on him and I was 5 minutes late to a whole staff meeting and when asked why I was late I tearfully mumbled my hamster was dying 😢
luckily he was just in a deep sleep and I had to pretend he made a miraculous recovery! The ‘don’t go checking on hamsters’ line was used as a warning to all of us for ages 😄

There’s times I’ve justifiably got into trouble, and times I’ve got away with it.

silliest one was getting bollocked for eating three penny sweets while bagging up 10p bags when I was 16 and working part time in a sweet shop.

Worst one was probably when I was laughing with a colleague about another colleague’s terrible orange tan and over-bleached hair without realising she was standing behind me. Not proud of that, I was young and bitchy.

Also got disciplined for pulling a sicky after a night out on a Thursday and being hungover on the Friday. I rang in and said I had a migraine, then I bumped into my boss in town on Saturday morning. He asked how my migraine was and I breezily said, “What migraine?”. Young and dumb, too.

IT made a complaint about me when I filled in a request for assistance form, under description of problem I wrote “Computer system is shit”

The one I got away with was when a parent rang me to report something that had happened (I am a social worker now) and my brain went “oh for fuck sake” and the filter between brain and mouth just epically failed in that moment. Luckily they actually found it funny.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Stuff it I'll share.
I got really drunk at the office Christmas party (shots were had).
I woke up in a cold sweat the next day remembering the little gift I had left for everyone to see on a whiteboard in the office.
I'd drawn little cartoons of everyone, including the big boss. With little blurbs about how I really felt about them underneath.
I was fired soon after, which I deserved because I didn't go in for about a week after that because I was hiding in shame.

Got shafted at work (a school) and amongst the list of sins and wrongdoings thrown at me….

Producing a 12 month diary of school events, departmental dates, lists relevant to us, holidays, training days etc. I printed a set of 6 out, punched and bound them.

My 5 colleagues appreciated them. Head told me off for wasting time - actually my own time.

Buying best part of 100 apple computers, printers, scanners etc. It wasn’t my decision - far above my pay grade. The previous head signed it off after numerous meetings, discussions and a proper tendering process.
You should have bought ‘industry standard models’

Actually they were, and are, the ‘industry standard’ for graphics.

Another school, another head. Laser cutter caught fire just before open evening. Firemen there etc.

I’d left it going as I went to get a bite to eat - I should have stayed with it but at that point I’d been there nigh on 10 hours with another 3-4 to go.

Head was fine, said it could have happened to anyone.

@BadBadDecisions I think I used to work at the same place as you, unless you were at the one that was closed down?

I had similar once, a customer called because she couldn't get logged in to her online account. I checked and found that someone had changed the name on her account to Moaning Idiot, which is why she couldn't log in. I didn't tell her, I just corrected it and told her there was a small error with the spelling of her name, but I'd fixed it and she shouldn't have any more problems.

No idea who did it, but I wouldn't have reported it anyway!

Absolutely cannot stop laughing at this

This is from when I was young and stupid, but looking back I don't know how I expected to get away with it. I had a (terrible) job working on the supermarket deli counter where we made fresh pizzas - part of the job was to make pizzas and cut them up into samples for the customers. I used to take requests from colleagues for their favourite pizza and then CALL THEM TO THE DELI COUNTER ON THE TANNOY when they were ready. How I thought I was going to get away with that one I don't know.

I was a PA to a senior manager who left and was not replaced. This meant I was PA to...nobody. I had ZERO work to do. At one point, I did some minor bits and pieces for one of the other teams in another building. After a few days, I was told I wasn't needed there any more, but still - I had nothing to do.

So I used to pretend I was going over to the other building, but really I went home and watched TV all afternoon instead. I got found out but amazingly they didn't fire me. I felt like the biggest punishment was having to stay. Luckily I finally found another job.

Dundee?

Not me-i swear but I knew someone who rang work to say he'd broken his leg (he had the hangover from hell but hed only been at the job for two days and didnt want to admit it)
Silly sod went to work the following day,and when asked about his broken leg,he told them it had healed up over night
Won't surprise anyone to find out he lost his job 5 minutes later
His mum gave him a bollocking and told him to ring in with a migraine the next time he was pulling a sickie
He wasn't the brightest match in the box to be fair

I work in customer care
The other day a child came in to proudly show me his new handcuffs (plastic kiddie ones that have a small lever/plastic keys to release you)
A long story short,I ended up handcuffed to a chair
I couldn't reach the lever to release myself,the child couldn't find the keys and his parents where laughing too hard to help
In the end,my manager came to see what all the fuss was about and pressed the lever
I got a bollocking for that one-and I've had to promise never to allow a child to use their cuffs on me again!
Imay have promised to managers face but can't say it'll never happen again as I'm known for doing daft things

@BadBadDecisions Yeah *waves to old colleague

Haha hi!

Just remembered another guy who got fired from there. Someone phoned up to close their Clubcard account and said he could transfer their remaining points to his card. It was about 50-odd points, so 50p...

When we first got the internet at work, I was hooked and spent waaaay too much time "surfing the web". Got a justified bollocking and I held my hands up.

Several years later (and still pre-smart phones) - while I was working my notice - the office manager called me in and started on about my Internet use again. By that time we had a PC at home and I might occasionally look the BBC website at lunchtime but otherwise I absolutely only used the work PC for work - think sites like HMRC in an accountant's office.

I said "show me". Obviously she couldn't. So I reminded her I was already leaving and if anyone was wasting time, it was her. And I actually flounced out of her office.

Ironically I did do something once which would have - rightly - led to instant dismissal but the powers that be never found out. God, she would have loved that!

Noooo!!!

Oh Jesus that’s way worse than mine! Do you think the lawyer kept you on the phone as long as possible so that they could charge more?

When I was a student working weekends at a supermarket. I was sitting in the canteen with a male colleague and for a laugh I poured a load of sugar into his fizzy drink to make it foam up. It worked a bit too well and it foamed up everywhere, table and floor all wet and fizzy. The grumpy canteen manager made me mop it all up while everyone watched, I felt bitter about this at the time (and after) but looking back, fair enough 😆 I was a nobhead haha

I love the fact that this thread has put two ex colleagues in touch with each other😂 I need to know what else happens in Tesco customer service!!

Lots of times, lots of things. I'd get in trouble now if it wasn't for having a skill in short supply.

My step daughter is the legend tho, she got carried away working in a bar and accidentally kept the bar open until 6am when the cleaners came in. No idea how she managed it, I think she was surprised how relaxed I was about it. All I cared about was it didn't affect her studies, and she was okay for money

Oh god, we'd be here all night! I remember one guy getting fired for calling his friends from his desk phone when he was supposed to be taking calls, and another getting fired for sending Tesco gift cards to his girlfriend. Plenty more besides those. I was good though, I didn't get in trouble!