People Reveal The Sketchiest Thing They’ve Done At Work

Admit it: you’re probably reading this at work. Maybe even while sipping the coffee you stepped out to buy without your boss knowing. When you’re sitting in the same office every single day for hours on end, it can be tempting to be a little bad. Humans are flawed creatures, and sometimes you just need to watch a little YouTube while filling out reports, yell at a rude customer, or send a picture of a kitten to the CEO.

Side-eyeing that last one? It actually happened, and we can’t get over it. Hundreds took to the internet to confess their most unprofessional work moments, and you’ll never look at waiters, accountants, and medical professionals the same way again. Ever fantasized about standing up to your boss and making a dramatic exit as you quit?

Tons of people have done that…and more. Keep reading for our favorite sketchy work moments from the world wide web!

Ransom Note Email

Occasionally you’ll hear somebody tell you to “really bug them” so they don’t forget to grade a few papers or clean their house. Most of the time you’ll innocently remind them, but other times, you’ll send them an incredibly annoying email that doubles as a ransom note…which is exactly what I did.

I sent an email to a “big shot” professor in which each word was written in a different font, different size, and different color. Why? He asked me to send him a reminder on Monday and to “really annoy me so I don’t forget.” Reddit user: mejok

You Shall Not Pass…at This Job

Most jobs have downtime here and there, but probably not enough to get through an entire book series without getting caught. I was able to read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy – on the clock – when I worked at Walmart nearly 20 years ago.I am honestly kind of proud of that.

I mean it’s not like I was slacking off a ton. There just wasn’t a lot to do as part of my role at the company. Reddit user: inflammable

What Happens on the Bus Stays on the Bus

Probably 10 years ago, when I was driving my bus, a friend and I were driving the same route in opposite directions, so we would pass each other every 30 minutes or so. Anyway, it started that as each of us passed each other, we would lean out of the window and shout obscenities to each other.

I then stuck a label to my head with various obscenities written on it. It kept on escalating, with each of us driving past each other with bigger and BIGGER signs written on labels on our heads. One of the best night shifts I have had. Reddit user: Big-Bloke

Caught on Camera

I’m not going to disclose the specific job I was doing, which would be the only way to determine if I was being sketchy and irresponsible or just being a bro. Sorry! I saw someone on the CCTV drinking free booze. We weren’t allowed free booze. Kept it a secret.

Thinking back on it, I should have asked the guy to share! But I had other things I had to do instead. Reddit user: ktfan67

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

When I worked at a long term care facility in nursing school, I used to kiss my residents goodnight and tell them that I loved them, and I meant it. As a nurse in a more acute hospital setting, I would never kiss a patient good night, but long term care is a different world.

Still, this is considered sketchy because you’re not supposed to have that sort of relationship with patients. Reddit user: desperatelyvintage

It Only Works on TV

The Office was in its first season, and I’d watched the sexual harassment episode just a couple weeks before we had our sexual harassment training. The entire attitude of the training was really unprofessional, with the trainer making jokes about what harassment is and isn’t.

I thought that maybe it wasn’t something the company cared about as much as they let on, so when the form came around to sign off on that you’d taken the training, I signed it as Daffy Duck. Reddit user: [redacted]

Putting on an Act

My whole job is unprofessional. I’m a security guard at a mega church. Everyone sees me as this young man of God who works hard with a smile and cares about everyone he meets, but it’s BS. I’m not religious, I don’t work harder than I have to, and I don’t really care.

I spend my day working out in the gym downstairs, playing Xbox One in the youth room, and watching YouTube/Netflix the remainder of the day. I’m 22, I make 16$/hr, I get 40+ hours a week, and am on track to be the department head in a year.

I put up an amazing front, but I don’t take this thing seriously at all. Still the boss’ favorite employee by far. Reddit user: Crackrjack75

Sleeping on the Job

Plenty have fantasized about taking a nap at work, but I actually took it seriously…and I got away with it! I work as a gardener, and I ended up accidentally falling asleep in a shed I used to take breaks/eat lunch on a housing estate once and was discovered by the manager there. 

He was pretty chill about it, thankfully. Gardening is hard work and I just really needed a break. Reddit user: fabulin

Quitting in Style

I worked my second real day at a retail job when I was in my early 20s, and I was at the cash register one day. Dealt with an irate customer who decided to throw coins at the counter, so I had to pick them up off the floor. I asked her to stop, but she continued and called me a name.

I threw all of their merchandise on the ground from the counter, and I walked out. Never came back, even to pick up what little money I had earned in a paycheck. Reddit user: epigenesis5

Lunch Prank

We had a couple of employee fridges spread across the office spaces for lunch, etc., and I distributed my food in small parcels across them with my name spelled slightly differently on each label to confuse everyone. It definitely worked, though no one directly asked me about it or confronted me.

Yeah, I don’t really have any office friends, haha. I wonder why? It’s not like I’m a troublemaking goof. Reddit user: deepsoulfunk

It’s Just Politics

My boss is a high profile politician in a country I won’t say. Sometimes when I have to be at events (think bodyguards everywhere, news cameras, etc.), I’m just standing there on my phone playing Japanese dating simulations. He doesn’t pay me enough to care, if I’m gonna be blunt about it.

The only time that I try to make it look like I’m trying is when there are cameras directly looking at me. Reddit user: a_scattered_me

More Burgers, More Problems

I was working as a shift manager at McDonald’s. During dinner time, a bunch of teenage boys came into the restaurant to order 30 cheeseburgers. They were laughing their faces off to see us working even harder because of their order. I was getting annoyed about my job, and especially about these customers’ behavior, so I took a chance.

Took a leap of faith that a bunch of teenagers would not make an official complaint about me to my boss and yelled, “Glad you think this is funny, you little punks!” Reddit user: Eniotnacram95

Arts and Crafts Time

I work as a kennel technician/receptionist at a veterinary clinic. One day we had absolutely no afternoon appointments and we already took care of the animals in boarding and hospitalization. So, my coworkers and I created origami and clay sculptures. It was like preschool, but we were adults.

First of all, it was awesome. Second of all, customers should be thrilled that the people taking care of their animals are such sensitive souls. Reddit user: HateBri

Coffee Shop Theater

Worked in a coffee shop that was open a lot later than most people realized. Every once in a while on closing shifts, we’d turn the lights off a few hours early and watch movies in the back with cups of spiked hot chocolate. Nobody ever came in at that time anyway.

We could always hear if people came in anyway, so it’s not like people were at risk of leaving without coffee. Reddit user: rambunctiousmango

Job Hunting on the Job

They say looking for a job is a full-time job, so why not do it at your current job? I’m sure I’m not the only one to admit that they spend their days seeking out new opportunities and actively applying for other jobs. It can definitely be a recipe for disaster if you’re not careful, though.

Sure, your company might be monitoring your work computer, and you have other things to do during the day…but you clearly aren’t too concerned if you’re job hunting on the job. Reddit user: juguman

No Office Romances, Please

Don’t date your coworkers. It’s a general rule of life repeated on countless sitcoms and from all your friends who had to leave their dream job after a messy breakup with Bill from the accounting department. Trust me, you don’t want to run into your ex in the breakroom every day. Turns out most people agree.

I dated a coworker. 3/10, don’t recommend. It changes the whole workplace dynamic and everybody sees you differently. Reddit user: OsmerusMordax

Don’t Ignore Your Patients

Not me, but while I was in the hospital, I shared a room with a guy who couldn’t walk. He was ringing the buzzer for help to the bathroom, and the nurse that was assigned to him was looking at houses on Zillow. It took her twenty minutes to come in. When she finally did, she complained.

Some people probably shouldn’t work in the medical profession. This woman is one of them. Reddit user: thesmellofoldcrayons

Naked and Unafraid

Ever had a nightmare that you were doing a big work presentation and suddenly you realized you were naked? That was almost a reality for me one time, and I couldn’t have cared less. I shamelessly admit that I worked a full day in the office wearing only my boxers. 

I just could not even be bothered. I hated that job and I had no real care about whether people liked me. Reddit user: bnorb

Race to Stupidity

Our project team went to dinner about three miles up GA 400 from our hotels; we took two cars. After dinner, getting back onto GA 400, our boss driving the other car cut us off getting onto the on-ramp. So we floored it, passed him on the right, and then, like total freaking idiots, raced each other back to the hotel parking lot.

We won, so we slipped into the conference room in the hotel where our meetings were taking place and changed the first page on his flip chart to read “Second Place is the First Loser.” Reddit user: Flahdagal

I’m Not on Call

I once hung up on my boss, who called me on the phone from her office (a mere 20 feet away) to come in to talk to her. No. I told her I was too busy doing actual work and that I’d get back to her (some day). (I quit a few weeks later, if anyone is wondering.)

Risky? Yes. Worth it? Most definitely! I needed to start standing up for myself more, and that helped. Reddit user: gouf78

He Threw Away Her Phone

As a waiter, I threw away some ridiculously rude woman’s phone after she disrespected me the entire time I was serving her and then stiffed me. Your phone? Nope. Haven’t seen it. Check with the hotel lost and found. Got away with it, don’t regret it, would do it again. 

Sometimes you just have to retaliate and stand up for yourself when you’re not being treated as human. Reddit user: tinyhorsesinmytea

Dude, Where’s My (White) Car?

One of my roomates told me this story. He was working at the parking garage in Universal Studios Florida during the peak of summer. He got bored with his coworkers and at the start of the day, he decided to marshall every single white-colored car to the third floor of the garage.

By the end of the afternoon, the entire third floor was a sea of white cars. The next shift was SO angry because they had to work extra hours since people were having a hard time finding their cars. Reddit user: peelandeatbananas

Iced Out

I work at a grocery store. One of my coworkers is deaf in his left ear, and this dumb lady was on his left side, yelling at him to give her bags of ice from the freezer. He didn’t hear her until she was yelling obscenities at him. She then decided to just ask me for help.

I politely obliged, already scheming as to how I was going to ruin her day. She asked for ten 20 pound bags of ice, so I filled up a cart and brought it to her car. She sat down in the front seat as I loaded them into the trunk. We carry box cutters with us at work, so I decided to use mine. 

I ripped open every single bag I put in so that when she attempted to pull them out, the bags would come out, but the ice would stay. She showed back up at the store in a rage the likes of which I had never seen before. Apparently she took a while to get home and the ice melted, hit some open wiring in her 2002 Ford Taurus, and completely ruined all the electronics in her car.

So she lost it, started screaming and throwing stuff for like 45 minutes straight, started hitting me, then got escorted away by security. Reddit user: [redacted]

Well, Hot Dog

I used to work in a small hot dog restaurant where I would have to run the place by myself. I would be the only person working there, so that means I had to make the food, do register, clean, etc. Anyways, since there was nobody else there, I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

This allowed me to bring my friends and just hang out while at work, since hardly any customers came in during the day. One time, my girlfriend and I were all alone and bored, so being teenagers, we started making out. We were making out for a good minute or so until I had an odd feeling that I was being watched.

As I turned around, I noticed a man just staring at us. After a moment of awkward silence, he says, “Someone’s bein’ naughty!” Reddit user: danman1232

Flirting with the Boss

Ever accidentally sent an embarrassing text to the wrong person? There was a coworker I kinda flirted with. We would ask each other questions, and the other person had to answer honestly. Off to a great start. I asked the guy whether he had chest hair, but instead of sending it to him, I sent it to my boss.

Fortunately, my boss laughed it off and told me to go back to work without any fuss. Reddit user: lalaino

Donut Thief

It’s a whole new level of happiness when somebody brings donuts into the office…until the break room fills up and somebody has eaten the glazed one you had your eye on. Ugh. Don’t be that person who ate half the donuts before anyone had a chance, please. 

Instead, be the person who brings donuts – and happiness – into your colleagues’ lives on the regular. Reddit user: bruingrd84

Professional Internet Browser

I worked at a call center through my college days. I browsed Reddit and Wikipedia for hours every day for about a year, and no one ever noticed. I was a bilingual agent, but they forgot to throw my login into the queue, which resulted in me never taking any calls.

Honestly it was the best job ever. I don’t know how I lasted so long in their system after not taking calls. Reddit user: benet116.

Hide and Seek: Coffee Edition

When I worked at a 7-11, my boss used to leave his coffee sitting around the store. So I hid it on him every day. Ended up getting other employees to do it while I was away at college also. You’d think he would learn not to leave his coffee sitting around.

He should be thankful that the worst we ever did to it was hide it, not put extra sugar or salt in it or something. Reddit user: Blinsin

Hello, Kitty

While working at a national accounting firm of 2,000+ employees, I emailed a picture of a kitten to the CEO, every partner/head honcho I knew, and my co-workers late at night. Alcohol was involved. No one ever reprimanded me. I left the firm (for other reasons), but from what I hear, people still talk about it.

Is there a problem with sending pictures of kittens and other baby animals to your friends and colleagues? Without the presence of alcohol? Reddit user: briceiron

Not Throwing Away His (Water) Shot

I squirted a policeman with a water pistol out of my office window. I don’t know what I was thinking. You ever have that feeling where you’re so bored or distracted or something that you do things without even thinking, like belching in the middle of a quiet room because you forget where you are?

I guess life is short, squirt the police officer with a water gun. That’s what I’m going to keep telling myself. Reddit user: awan001

You Can Go Your Own (Wrong) Way

I was working at an extremely busy gas station with a line out the door. A woman came in, going right to the front asking for directions. I said I would be glad to help her, but let me get through these paying customers first. (I was the only one there, and this was before Google Maps.)

Well, she would not stop yelling about it and interrupting. So finally I asked where she was going. She said the name of a mall that was literally down the street. I gave her directions to another mall 20 minutes away. All the customers watched and listened to me give these wrong directions.

When she was in her car driving away, the 10 or so customers I had in the store gave me resounding applause. Reddit user: elmatador12

Never a Dull Moment

I stabbed a customer by accident one time. Went to hand him a cheap snap-off razor blade, but instead I poked him in the hand and drew blood. Er, sorry about that Steve. Thankfully he was very understanding and didn’t get angry or come after the store or anything like that.

Now I know, though, to be careful, and I’m always super obsessive about how I hand things to people. Reddit user: BagelDesk

“Go Home, You’re Fired!”

I was a server at Spaghetti Factory years ago, and it was super busy. I had a table of 15, and they were treating me terribly. I dropped a salad plate on the floor and it shattered. The whole table started to laugh at me, and I couldn’t take it anymore.

I said, “Oh yeah, you think that’s funny?” I threw another salad plate on the floor and said, “What about that? Think that’s funny?” I proceeded to throw four or five more plates on the floor. The whole party was shocked and staring in disbelief. I walked off and figured I was about to be fired but didn’t care.

My manager came up to me and said, “What was that? You’re fired! Go home!” I said “Good!” and threw my apron on the counter. Reddit user: grizzdoog

Poker Face

I work in a library, and we have some realllllly slow times. So I set up a remote tool to my PC at home so that I can play card games or any of the other stuff that I have installed on my computer. I’m thinking about installing something more substantial like WoW.

It’s just more fun and less obvious that I’m not working, unlike playing something on my phone. Reddit user: AstralShiki

Sketchy, But Sweet

I used to work at Kmart, and this old lady who had an illness always came into the store and bought a ton of cans of cat food. When I would ring her up, I wouldn’t scan but maybe 10 cans. She was so sweet to everyone, and Kmart’s prices were way too high for everything, so I gave her free stuff all the time.

It definitely was sketchy as far as my company was concerned, but not as far as I was concerned. Reddit user: gatsbygirl93

 Sorry, Turkey

Not my workplace; I was 8-9, and we didn’t have internet, so I came over to my mum’s work to play flash games and stuff. My mum worked as a secretary, and her office had two computers, one inside her secretary place, and another in a separate conference room kind of place.

Her office PC had an old keyboard, so I hated it, which got me to the conference room PC. I play some games, and the PC crashes at some point. Computer-savvy kid that I am, I’m thinking restarting it will probably fix it. As I shut it down, the entire floor gets an awful lot noisier.

Later, I found out that this particular PC was the server. So I crashed and restarted a server. My mother worked for the Treasury Ministry of Turkey. Reddit user: moonphoenix

Accident Waiting to Happen

I was working in a ticket sales booth at an amusement park. They left me there for eight hours despite my having to pee for the last five of them. Finally, I peed in the vacuum tube that takes the money to the counting room. At the end of the day, people were wondering about the tiny droplets on the canisters. 

Sorry not sorry; I tried to avoid doing that, but in the end I really had no other choice. Reddit user: [redacted]