Workers Share The Most Ridiculous Things They've Had To Handle On The Job

Ashley Hunte
A bored woman sitting at a table with a laptop.
Unsplash | Magnet.me

Every job has its ups and downs. Some jobs... may have a few more downs than others, though. And then, there are times when you're forced to confront utterly weird and ridiculous situations.

We've all been there, I'm sure. We've all had those moments on the job that sound made up, and yet totally happened. And as it just so happens, some Redditors shared their own experiences.

Welcome! Now clean up that mess you totally made!

Clear food containers stacked in a shelf.
Unsplash | charlesdeluvio

"A coworker screaming at me for leaving food to rot in the shared fridge. It was my first day there and I hadn’t even unpacked my belongings yet."

Off to an excellent start, it seems.

Hi, I want to take a book out but I also don't want to tell you who I am.

A hand reaching for a book in the middle of a shelf.
Unsplash | Guzel Maksutova

"I work at a library. The amount of people who don't bring their library card with them and then refuse to give me ID so I can look up their account is baffling. I'm just trying to prove they are who they say they are."

Alcohol and work really don't go well together.

A few glasses of beer on a table.
Unsplash | Teo Do Rio

"A drunk guy in his early 60s who was constantly [expletive] faced at work. He’d have screaming matches with my boss in the middle of the office, he’d call me on the phone from his cubicle to ask why he was cc’d on certain emails (they were short emails sent for informational purposes to everyone and I wasn’t even the author of these emails)."

"...and my favorite thing was when he would pass out and fall out of his chair."

Captain Picard rubbing his face with one hand.
Giphy

"'Call 911, Tony collapsed again' was like a monthly thing. I really liked my boss and when she left, the new boss kept asking me to finish Tony’s work. I left shortly after."

Why be respectful to drive-thru workers when you can be horrible instead?

A woman angrily throwing her drink in a man's face.
Giphy | TLC

"I had someone throw a drink at me through the drive-thru window, which is an unwise thing to do to someone standing in front of a shelf of other drinks waiting for the customers behind you."

Here's your bill! And the other 4 parts of it.

Lil Nas X unrolling an incredibly long scroll.
Giphy | 2021 MTV Video Music Awards

"Part of my job is emailing bills to customers. Some companies have crazy requests on how they get their bill. One company won't pay their bill unless it's sent by mail. He won't respond to emails."

"Another company will only allow 1 page scanned per attachment..."

Stephen Colbert ruffling through pages of a transcript.
Giphy | The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

"...and only 1 attachment per email so if the bill is 5 pages. I need to scan each page individually and email them individually."

I guess some places like to create more work for people?

It just keeps getting worse and worse.

A dog happily sitting outdoors.
Unsplash | Jamie Street

"Worked at a grocery store. Customers dog takes a [poop] at the front of the store by the registers. He stands there while I’m cleaning it, and the dog takes a second [poop] as I’m cleaning the first.

"As I’m cleaning the second [poop], the dog then pukes."

A dog laying on a bed, somewhat sadly.
Unsplash | Ryan Stone

"As I’m cleaning that, the owner pats the dog on the head saying 'good boy.' He was trespassed after so at least there’s that."

I... feel so bad for laughing as much as I did.

Imagine missing the point this badly.

A man shaking his head and saying, "Please don't do that."
Giphy | Saturday Night Live

"I was working as a sign language interpreter in a classroom setting and the teacher’s aide decided to stand between me and the student, blocking their view. I asked her to move and she told me that she was doing it on purpose so that the student didn’t rely on me too much."

Yikes. Don't be like that teacher's aide.

Accidental comedy at its finest.

A robot walking and slipping on multiple banana peels.
Giphy

"A coworker attempted to prove that you couldn't actually hurt yourself slipping on a banana peel by stepping on one. After which he slipped and hurt himself.

"I refused to write it up as an incident. It was too stupid."

I mean, did she ask them to move nicely?

Two Canada geese swimming in water.
Unsplash | Pedro da Silva

"One time while working front desk at a gym, a woman complained that there were too many geese outside and they should’ve flown south by then and we needed to do something about it."

Okay, it was one thing when the dog did it.

A man recoiling as if having seen something disgusting.
Giphy

"Some random dude took a dump in the floor of where I work. I had to clean it up and he was effectively banned from ever coming back."

Please... please don't ever do this.

Um, obviously that cat is a VIP.

A cat wearing reflective sunglasses.
Unsplash | Raoul Droog

"A customer insisting that we should change the brand of hot dogs we were serving because 'this cat I know' wouldn’t eat them. Not her cat just a casual cat acquaintance."

The math just isn't mathing.

A man who looks confused as he counts on his fingers.
Giphy | Originals

"Every interaction I have with accounts payable. Today’s highlight: 'if his flight was on 6/21, why was his Uber on 6/22?'"

"Well, ma’am. His flight landed at 11:58pm and typically people cannot just directly teleport from the plane to their Uber. But what do I know, I’m just a budget manager."

This feels like it was ripped straight out of a sitcom.

Homer Simpson holding a jar of pickled eggs containing is dismembered thumb.
Giphy

"A co-worker improperly used a table saw. While he was being taken to the hospital I had to play 'find the thumb.' It took a long time but I finally found it behind a filing cabinet."

There's one thing you don't mess with: another person's carrot juice.

A glass of fresh carrot juice, and the ingredients that went into it.
Unsplash | Alexander Mils

"Two employees got into a heated argument each claiming the other drank their carrot juice from the shared fridge. Yes carrot juice."

I'd say respect other people's stuff, but how did they both have carrot juice in there?

Not part of the job, and yet somehow part of the job.

Shaggy from Scooby Doo looking terrified.
Giphy | Boomerang Official

"I was serving at Cracker Barrel and a woman came up to me saying her son thought I was Shaggy from Scooby Doo and practically begged me to come to their table to talk to him. I gave them the laziest attempt at a Shaggy impression."

A robbery is a robbery, real weapon or not. I guess.

A hand making a finger gun.
Unsplash | Johannes W

"We had a guy that robbed our gas station for like a month with a finger gun before he finally got caught. Everyone knew it was a finger gun, but you have to comply when someone robs the store so...."

Don't talk! Wait, why aren't you talking?

Ariana Grande telling someone to "shut up."
Giphy

"One week my boss told me that I was talking too much with my coworker on my downtime when not with customers so next week we weren’t talking unless with a customer and then I was pulled aside and asked why we weren’t interacting w the team and if everything was okay. So contradicting."