Being in the office can be a bit like attending a masquerade ball. People are dressed up and many are wearing a mask. Most people try to be on their best behavior at work. You’re probably not going to see the crazy, unhinged side of them that they might display in peak-hour traffic, in a nightclub, or even in the comfort of their own home. But sometimes, the mask slips, revealing a person you could have sworn you’ve never met before.

Someone asked, “What’s something that a co-worker once did that lives rent-free in your head?” and the comments read like they deserve their own Netflix work drama series. Some were funny, like the guy who brought a goat to work once, while others were more disturbing, like the dude who robbed a bank during his lunch break and casually came back to work after committing the crime.

Bored Panda has put together a list of the best, and many might have you wondering if you really know Nancy or Paul from the corner cubicle as well as you think you do.

#1

My coworker went on his lunch, robbed the bank across the street, and CLOCKED BACK IN from lunch. He tried hiding the money in the store and the SWAT team came.

© Photo: GURRrrllll

We spend so much of our time at work that it’s only natural that some of our colleagues start to become like family. That’s despite many people not always showing their true colors at the office.

Decades of research have found that workplace friendships benefit us more than we might realize. Not only do they help improve productivity and morale, but our work friends can also provide practical support by sharing their knowledge and data.

Then, of course, there’s the emotional and moral support that we give and receive to our office besties. We’re going through similar or the same struggles and therefore, have a deep understanding of each other’s challenges and hurdles.

#2

I worked as a bartender at a night club and my coworker lived on a farm. His parents were away and he had to look after this goat that was sick or something, anyways we were short staffed and he got called in and he brought the goat to work because he couldn’t leave it by itself. The goat was just galavanting all night around the club making friends.

© Photo: biancabailey

#3

Faked her pregnancy for months by stuffing balled up clothing under her shirt. Planned a whole baby shower and went around asking opinions about decor and food. Then she quit shortly before her “due date”. My assistant manager saw her at a bar taking shots, with no fake belly.

© Photo: mommy2x

Research has found that people are feeling more disconnected from their colleagues than they once did before. Only 38% of Americans polled by Gallup in 2024 said they felt like someone at work cared about them. That figure is nearly 10 percentage points from January 2020. A separate American Psychological Association survey found that a third of respondents actually feel lonely when they’re working.

This could have something to do with the Covid pandemic, which saw people shifting to remote or hybrid work. It goes without saying that not seeing your co-workers face-to-face can make it challenging to forge friendships with them.

#4

Got pregnant by the team lead and when she had the baby tried to convince her husband the baby was mixed bc she had Native American roots.

© Photo: debruhs

#5

This new girl worked for like an hour, she asked if she could run out to her car to grab something and I see her on the cameras zooming out of the parking lot.

© Photo: 🍭🆓

#6

I work at a funeral home. One of my co workers told a family to have a good day.

© Photo: breezy

As mentioned earlier, having friends at work can be beneficial to your productivity, happiness and mental health. It also tends to give you a sense of belonging, so it helps to at least try to cultivate a few co-worker friendships.

If you’re struggling to forge meaningful connections, experts say it’s more effective to bond with one or two co-workers rather than all of them at once.

“Those initial friendships can bridge later ones, easing the social burden of introductions over time,” explains the WorkTango team. “These relationships can start small, with virtual or in-person coffee chats or striking up a conversation over a shared interest.”

#7

Clocked out for lunch and never came back.

© Photo: tee

#8

Ate boiled eggs almost every day. At her desk. Right beside me. Every. Single. Day.

© Photo: Abbyprofen

#9

Stood up broke his keyboard in half and walked out. never saw him again.

© Photo: chentendo

You don’t even need much knowledge of a colleague’s outside life to strike up a friendship with them, although based on some of the stories on this list, you may want to be cautious who you associate yourself with.

If there’s a colleague who seems like they might make a loyal, fun and great friend, you can get the ball rolling by maybe giving them a compliment on their work or offering to collaborate on a project with them. It’s better to do this in person, via a call, or video chat, rather than sending a text or email.

#10

Clipped their toenails in the shared office space!!

© Photo: Dzenet Tinjak

#11

Hooked up in the bathroom and broke the sink.

© Photo: Bryanna Kapanen

#12

I worked at this restaurant and there was this guy that worked in the kitchen that would always eat the leftovers that people would leave on their plates.

© Photo: lisenietlisa

Of course, there are some downsides to making friends at work, especially when or if the boundaries between work relationships and personal friendships become a bit too blurred.

“Challenging situations can arise that can affect not only the individuals involved, but entire teams and even organizational culture. These entanglements create tension points where professional responsibilities and personal loyalties collide,” warns the Best Corporate Events & Team Building site. For example, if a manager promotes one of their friends and overlooks other candidates.

The experts caution that even if decisions are made with “legitimate professional justification,” there can still be a perception of favoritism.

Another risk is when two friends who work together have a disagreement outside of the office. This can easily spill over and affect productivity, team collaborations, mood and morale in the workplace.

#13

My desk buddie quit and on her last day she left early and flipped the entire office off through the glass windows walking to the exit. 20 minutes later she walks back into the office bright red with her head down… she forgot her phone.

© Photo: amberj_616

#14

Cheated on her husband with an employee and lost her GM position.

© Photo: Ben Dover Fordik II

#15

A girl quit and sent an email to the entire project (400 people plus) (pre-covid so we were in office) blasting upper management for having adult relations with each other and putting basically everybody’s business out.

© Photo: oh

#16

A girl my sister worked with stole her credit card out of her purse, went shopping, came back and put her credit card back in her purse and then proceeded to show my sister what she bought. She was arrested a while later for frauds, theft and was jailed. She was even featured in a magazine or newspaper story.

© Photo: loopyLoo

#17

Fell for the email scam and spent 10k on Amazon gift cards.

© Photo: cupcake_kristin

#18

Had an affair with a married regular customer.

© Photo: emzo

#19

Hit someone with his car…the SAFETY guy, of all people. But yeah he drove off…so it was a hit and run. Safety guy was thankfully okay. They got it on camera. Dude got fired.

© Photo: MarthaStewartsPoncho

#20

She called out of work because she said a tree fell on her car, it was the 3rd time she called out in less than 3 weeks of working there so our manager asked for proof, hours later she sent back two pictures of a tree on a HOUSE, but the two pictures were not of the same house, and we immediately found them on google. Our manager confronted her and then she said her grandpa [passed away].

© Photo: emily

#21

A girl I used to work with was presumably doing an experiment to see how much mould would grow in her coffee mug on her desk she would cover it every day with a paper towel. We all knew and watched her tend to it for weeks it was so weird she would come in and check on it, replace the paper towel etc.

© Photo: gh12321

#22

Gave a confused patient a lap dance with their tele sitter watching. She did not get fired.

© Photo: Hanna Presley Dipple

#23

Years ago, a guy I worked with in a bank stole 10 thousand dollars and tried blaming me. An investigator came in and questioned all of us and he ended up getting fired. Not long after, he was charged with selling illegal substances.

© Photo: Kim

#24

On Xmas eve a family came in 10 mins to close and explained to us their house burnt down & they lost everything. The cashier got rude with them bc they were in a bit past close and said “well we all want to go home”. GIRL THEY JUST LOST THEIR HOUSE THEY CAN’T GO HOME. There was 0 empathy or understanding from her. I kept apologizing to the customers.

© Photo: berkley

#25

Asked all the other employees if they liked her or me more. She was 48 and I was 26 at the time. (I was her boss too..)

© Photo: Jenny

#26

Asked if i’m pregnant or just getting fat.

© Photo: ashlynstevens18

#27

He no-showed his shift and later that day, he showed up to order a burger. Another day, he showed up at his shift only to make himself a burger and leave.

© Photo: UserName

#28

A warehouse guy got fired and spat in my boss’s face on the way out.

© Photo: cheersb

#29

RN here. Had a new hire nurse fresh out of orientation who was supposed to inject 10mg of Loxapine to an agitated patient. Instead she injected 100mg.

© Photo: jtran91

#30

Dug a rock out of her sock and immediately served plates to a customer and didn’t wash her hands.

© Photo: lianna

#31

Manager ate a customer’s onion rings on the pass in front of the customer. [They] asked for a refund.

#32

Coworker tried to put a whole insulated METAL soup container in the microwave and I called them out. Flash forward to later in the day they told me “embarrassed them & made them feel “small”. You literally could have burnt down the building. Hello??

#33

We gave a co worker one of those fake lotto scratch offs. When he saw that he won he told the manger to [get lost] and what he really thought of him and quit laughing on his way to his car. We called him and when he finally answered we told him the ticket was fake. But that he was also fired for telling the manager off. Looking back maybe that was not such a great prank.

#34

My ex coworker put garlic bread in the microwave with the al-foil still over it. The foil caught fire. 😭 Lucky she unplugged the machine before it got worse.

#35

Stole my ideas and got employee of the year.

#36

One of my managers came into work with a new truck, took his girlfriend out to concerts within a week. Turns out he was stealing 10k from work and now will do time.

#37

He told me to clean the bar [because] that was not a man job. I smiled [and] did it. Next day he was fired since I was the bar manager.

#38

When I was still a nursing assistant, one of the patients passed away. The nurse had a few patients with similar last names and called the wrong family to tell them their father had passed. Didn’t verify name, just said where she was from and that she had some bad news about their father. The family was extremely upset as their father was only there for a colonoscopy. They were relieved to find out he was still alive. But that nurse never lived it down.

#39

Cut his arm with a knife when managers refused to let him leave.

#40

Drinking white claw at her desk at 10am.

#41

Managed to rickroll head of IT in front of the entire company…

#42

Asked me if I was doing number 1 or 2 in the staff toilet.

#43

Had me fired when i was pregnant. It’s all good though cause i won the law suit on my son’s first birthday. Poetic.

#44

Left while there was a fire. We were literally security officers.

#45

She would turn off the AC cause she was cold: the shop gets up to 40 degrees in the summer (I work in a bodyshop; paint shop has to stay warm year round) so we’d have the AC on in the office to cool down, she went to HR about it.

#46

Would ask people why they’re going to the bathroom..it was so odd.

#47

We were in a call and I was going through the steps as I was still learning and he called me a good girl..he apologized and I said it’s ok and laughed but I think we both learned something that day ..

#48

Had me fired while they shared my medical info. So I did the same when I left the company. Now everyone knows.

#49

My fav coworker at the bank got fired over something silly due to another coworker reporting her. I caught the silly reporter allowing a wife to take money out of her husbands acct that she wasn’t a signer on and I’ve never reported someone so fast in my life. Lady got fired that same week. I got revenge for my girl.

#50

I called in sick one weekend but really I was at concerts and meet and greets… they called me I faked sick on the phone, monday came and I got called into the office, my co-worker sent the pictures of me at the concert to our manager and PRINTED THEM OFF.

#51

Sprayed my pepper spray that was attached to my keychain in a board room cuz she didn’t know what it was. The dealership had to be evacuated, and a woman was coughing so hard she burst a blood vessel in her eye.

#52

She got “injured” at work and had to call out for a couple of weeks. Camera showed her staging the fall 😂 the whole set up was crazy.

#53

An old guy,the last day before his retiring said to the big head in front of all the team „if the cleaning stuff didn’t come for 1 week everyone would notice,if you don’t come for a week,no one will.“

#54

He brought a whole Costco rotisserie chicken for lunch, didn’t refrigerate it, ate only some of it, didn’t finish it and threw it out. He did this everyday.

#55

Someone took a sick day so they could go to a family event. A photo of them with their family was posted on socials. Co-worker took the photo and reported them to HR.

#56

I once worked with a lady that sent out a company wide email with the subject line “goodbye” and attached a formal complaint and an 8 page document name dropping different team members detailing what she didn’t like about them and what they did that she didn’t agree with. Spoiler alert: she was bad at her job and was difficult to work with so she was getting let go anyway so she decided to beat them to it. First and last time I’ve ever seen someone walked off the job on the spot.

#57

Cheated on her husband with the guy who worked at Verizon next door. They even took a lovers trip to Florida for 3 WEEKS!! Husband didn’t find out for over a year.

#58

STORY TIMEEE: at one of my previous jobs, my coworker didnt show up to a catering event. she was the “right hand woman” she helped run the show. so we go thru the entire event without her, missing some snack trays, but its ok. we get back to the restaurant…… there is a blood trail from the meat slicer to the couch in the bar. this woman got so drunk ON SHIFT that she sliced her hand open and passed out on the bar couch.

#59

Put frozen garlic bread in a toaster.

#60

Literally was about to quit this was at McDonald’s and a customer was being a prick . Handed his resignation in and beat tf out a customer in the parking lot.

#61

She brought an electric griddle and made us all eggs burritos. Then she burned a tortilla and the alarms went off.

#62

Bought her a Christmas present and it was a cute oversized turtle neck sweater from Aerie and she gave it back to me and told me she didn’t like it.

#63

Farted beside me and kept a straight face. I was mortified.

#64

A coworker got me fired from my job because she lied and told her sister (I worked at a daycare and this girl’s sister was our supervisor) that I mishandled a kid, I DIDN’T but I still got fired but this big back, stanky heffer actually hit a kid ON CAMERA AND THE PARENT SAW but did that big back stanky heffer get fired? NO. But the daycare shut down not too long ago.

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