10 Totally Stupid Reasons Why People Were Fired From Their Jobs

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10 Totally Stupid Reasons Why People Were Fired From Their Jobs

We all hope that we'll never be shown the door by our boss, but apparently it's something we should all be prepared for. These 10 people were just minding their own business when they were unexpectedly canned. Some were even doing this jobs too well.

See if you think any of these cases are reasonable:

1. Committing a crime...almost 50 years ago

At 68 years old, customer service representative Richard Eggers didn't look much like a hardened criminal, but he lost his job with the Wells Fargo bank because of his chequered past. But Eggers wasn't a bank robber in his younger days, the only thing he "stole" was a 10 cent wash.

In 1963, Eggers found himself in trouble for using a cardboard "slug" shaped like a dime to wash his clothes at a laundromat for free. That was enough to get him fired over federal banking regulations targeting "dishonesty, breach of trust or money laundering." No, not that kind of laundering.

2. Adding a slice of cheese to a burger

A McDonald's worker in the tiny town of Lemmer in the Netherlands was sent home after breaking the rules by giving away an extra slice of cheese. The worker sold another employee on his break a burger, but added a free slice of cheese at his request.

McDonald's claimed this was not allowed, because a cheeseburger is more expensive than a regular burger. After taking the fast food giant to court, a sympathetic judge ordered them to pay the worker €4,500 in lost wages. That's a lot of cheese.

3. Repeating a Seinfeld joke

In the classic Seinfeld episode "The Good Samaritan," Jerry suggests that instead of "God bless you," people should start saying "you are so good looking" after a sneeze. This caught on with a group of workers during a retreat in 2009, but when they went back to the office they found that not everyone shared their sense of humor.

One of the employees, John Preson, was fired when he repeated the line over and over again to a sneezing woman, which was considered sexual harassment. Funny how that never came up on the TV show.

4. Stopping a carjacking

Juan Canales was working at a Thai restaurant in Florida when he noticed a customer was being carjacked at knifepoint outside the restaurant. Canales managed to wrestle the thief to the ground and restrain him until police arrived.

But when his shift ended later that day, Canales's boss told him not to come back. Apparently the hour he spent rescuing the customer, talking with police and being interviewed for the news was too long for his boss. Luckily, job offers poured in for Canales once his story was shared on local news.

Brace yourself, because this next one is totally unbelievable...

5. Being "too fat"

Too be perfectly clear: it's wrong to fire anyone because of their size, but firing a 5'10", 120lb model because she's too big just doesn't make any sense. Filippa Hamilton was a model for Polo Ralph Lauren when they released a photoshopped ad where her head is bigger than her waist.

The edited photo that Hamilton blames on her firing, compared to a real photo of her.Timeline

Apparently the real Filippa wasn't living up to the brand's standards anymore, because she was fired for not being able to "fit in their clothes any more." For what it's worth, Polo blames her firing on a contract dispute, but Hamilton said the brand owed American women "a big apology."

6. Winning a basketball game

You would think that a high school girl's basketball coach who lead his team to a 100-0 victory could count on some job security, but that wasn't the case for coach Micah Grimes. He was fired by The Covenant School because his crushing victory wasn't "Christlike" or "honorable."

To be fair, The Covenant School's team was competing against a group of girls with learning differences, but he insists that fans were cheering his team to victory as they won.

7. Saving a life

When Tomas Lopez from Hallandale Beach, Florida rushed to save a drowning man, he earned himself the key to the city but also lost his job. That's because Lopez left his assigned watch position to rescue the swimmer, who was drifting in an "unsupervised" part of the beach.

Lopez's boss told him he should have just called 911 and left the man to drown until they arrived. Other lifeguards resigned in protest alongside Lopez, and the episode made the city shop around for a more reliable lifeguard company.

8. Wearing orange

At the Elizabeth R. Wellborn law firm in Florida, employees had a tradition of wearing orange on paydays, when they would go out for Happy Hour celebrations after work. Orange is of course associated with Florida, but the law firm's new management didn't make the connection.

Janice Doble was one of the workers who were fired.ABC News

They fired 14 employees because they were convinced the matching outfits were a protest against new company policies. Apparently, they were convinced the orange outfits were meant to look like prison jumpsuits. Of course, the employees filed a wrongful dismissal suit. That's what you get for making assumptiuons!

9. Shaving her head

Stacey Fearnall lost her father to cancer, so when an opportunity to raise money for cancer research presented itself she jumped at it. Fearnall raised almost $3,000 and shaved her head for cancer awareness, but her boss wasn't impressed.

Fearnall, who works as a waitress, was told to wear a wig or else she would be violating the company dress code. She refused and was sent home. This didn't sit well with the public, and the restaurant had to close temporarily because of the backlash.

10. TYPING IN ALL CAPS

Vicki Walker's job at a health insurance company could be VERY FRUSTRATING, because she forced to constantly repeat instructions about how to fill in forms correctly. To get the message across, she liberally used ALL CAPS, bolded words and red fonts in her e-mailed instructions.

A sample of Vicki's handiwork.Gizmodo

Her bosses thought this approach was too confrontational, and they fired her. But after filing a wrongful termination suit she was awarded $17,000 in lost wages. HA!

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