10 Office Stories That’ll Make You Appreciate Your Job More / Bright Side
Bad days at work don’t seem so bad when you hear about these wild office stories. Hilarious awkward moments and unexpected chaos remind us that every workplace has its share of drama and surprises. These stories will make you appreciate the calm days at your office a little more.
1.
My dad passed away. I was taking it all pretty badly. When I returned, I had a pretty rough time. I showed up to work, all my coworkers were very understanding. Except for my boss. After my first week back, we had a meeting in which he told me, “I really hope all that stuff with your dad finally got sorted, so you can focus on work again.” I found another job and left 4 months later.
2.
My dad was delivering catering to an office and the receptionist yelled at him in front of her bosses saying he was too late and that the order was wrong when it wasn’t. She said she’d get him fired. My dad gave her the number. She called and my dad picked up because he’s not the manager but the owner. Everyone in that room was laughing at her.
3.
My boss actually did organize a “fun run” for the whole office. The course was just running around the building ~20ish times until we eventually got to 5k. It was at 7:30 on a Saturday and only 7 people showed up.
4.
I was thinking about quitting. I scheduled a vacation with 3 extra days. My boss rejected my request. I thought about it, went to his office and said, ’I’m taking the trip no matter what.’ The next morning, the boss met me at hr and gave me a formal written warning. I responded by giving him my 2 week notice. They apologized and tried to convince me not to leave but it was too late.
5.
We had an anonymous feedback program. Our boss was livid with some comments that he lost his temper in meetings. The more he talked about how unfair these comments were, the angrier he got, until he pounded the table and shouted, “I DO NOT! SCREAM! IN MEETINGS! OKAY?”
6.
My boss acts noticeably more macho in front of ladies. He likes to bark orders at me in their presence, but not in a condescending way. I play along, he’s a great guy and really looks out for me.
7.
Working 24 hour shifts on an ambulance. We used to get run to the ground often. Sometimes, we were running calls non-stop from 8 am to midnight without a break. I called dispatch to ask for a break to get some food (there were other ambulances in service so a 20 min food break was reasonable).
My boss happened to be dispatching and he denied my request and said, “This is what you signed up for. Just run the calls or you’ll be written up for insubordination.” Mind you, I’ve been doing this for 5 years at that time. I was also his “Top EMT,” and for him to say that, was the final straw. I got a job with a hospital shortly after working as a tech. Best decision I’ve ever made.
8.
I had an employer of mine write me up for stealing trash. One of my duties was to gather all the trash. Our company got money based on the number of pounds we recycled. It ended up being $1500 per month and we didn’t pay our trash bill.
I got a final write-up for stealing company time for sorting our recyclables. So I stopped. The district manager was reviewing the write-ups and saw I got written up for stealing trash. I told him the story about the trash company and its promotion. He congratulated me for a job well done.
The next day he flew in to talk to my manager. She tried to pin it back on me, and our district manager fired her. He called me into the office and offered me a promotion to Assistant Manager.
9.
He wanted a pomegranate for lunch and they were out of season, but that didn’t stop him from sending me on a quest to every grocery store in town in search of a pomegranate. Multiple produce guys laughed at me, but that was the easiest $13/hr I’ve ever made.
10.
I’m on a diet that requires me to drink a lot of water, so I carry around a 1L bottle at all times. At the end of the work day, I pass the water cooler and fill my bottle up for the commute home. Yesterday I was doing just that when our office manager walked up and said, “You’re leaving for the day, water is for employees to drink when they are working in the office only” I laughed it off, finished filling my bottle, and headed home.
I thought she was kidding. Today I got into the office with an email from her to myself, my boss, and our HR saying that I’m stealing from the company, that I didn’t stop filling my water bottle and immediately apologize when confronted, and that she’s officially reporting this behavior and asking to have it documented.
We all had a pretty good laugh about it, my boss called me in hysterics and could barely form a sentence he was laughing so hard, and someone wrote, “Is proper hydration good for the company?” on my water bottle. Our office manager, however, is just walking by my office and glaring this morning.
Life has a way of being even more entertaining than the best sitcoms, with its wild twists and moments that leave us laughing in disbelief. In this article, we found 10 stories that show how the most unexpected and hilarious moments often happen in real life, not in a script.
