23 Real-Life Workplace Stories That Sound Like Sitcom Plots

Even ‘The Office’ couldn’t dream these up
23 Real-Life Workplace Stories That Sound Like Sitcom Plots

Unfortunately for most of us, the 9-to-5 grind isn’t nearly as exciting as the shenanigans over at Dunder Mifflin, which is probably why we enjoy workplace sitcoms so much. The genre pokes fun at the monotony of our jobs while infusing episodes with absurd hijinks that give us something to talk about the next day. That said, the things these Redditors have experienced at work sound fresh out of a sitcom (even if they’re a clear OSHA violation). 

Here then, are a few stories that give Superstore, Parks and Recreation and even The Office a run for their money…

littlemeah 4y My office had a terrible year. Sales were down, morale was low, and turnover was looming. Instead of listening to the employees' concerns management held a funeral in our warehouse. We were instructed to air our grievances on paper and then we ceremoniously marched up to the front and put our papers in a shredder. The shredded paper was then put into a cardboard casket and carried out to the dumpster by pallbearers and followed by a manager dressed as the grim reaper. The CEO proceeded to give a eulogy on a Power Point presentation that included a
edot IMAonemansubmarine . . 5y we held a jousting tournament with forklifts. ... 302
bryankicks 4y There's is a guy in our office who has problems controlling his anger, especially in a competitive environment. Naturally, he was in charge of the little office games/tournaments we have. This time we're playing basketball, the little arcade basketball game. His team makes it to the final game and he loses. As all of us are congratulating the winners we hear the sound of a ball slamming against the rim and I turn to see a ball flying at my face at high speed. I raise my hand and luckily deflect the ball away, but I was standing
wackeroniandcheese . 4y One of my co-workers took off a co-workers skin tag on her neck with a piece of dental floss.
tangerinelibrarian 4y One time one of my coworkers (an older man who is very quiet usually, been there for almost 30 years, never rocks the boat or says much at all) came in 15 minutes late to a staff meeting with his pants ripped all the way from his left ass cheek to his knee. Nobody said a word. Не didn't say anything, my boss didn't say anything, everyone acted as if it was completely normal. Now, yes, this is a very professional response but man I was almost convinced I'd imagined the whole thing. Bizarre day. ... 9
RussianBreadMaker . 4y Worked with a lady that led a not-so-secret life as a nudist. She broke her ankle doing the cha-cha at her resort. Ended up dating the paramedic that came to help her. ... 735
re ddi Obi1kentobi 4y S Im a pretty young consultant and because the number of desks on the main floor is limited, I was moved to the upstairs portion with the interns. Ive been forgotten multiple times, from meetings, to drinks, to the occasional evenint where im told to wait for the phonecall, only to go down and check and notice everyone has left and I've been waiting for nothing... ... 374
sassafrass14 4y I accidentally caused a frozen dinner to fall from the freezer in the teacher's lounge. When I picked it up I saw it was my good friend's lunch and the corner had come open. I thought it would be funny to slip in a tiny note that said Eat me!. I figured I would see her at lunch when she discovered it. Well something came up and I forgot about the note. Later in the week I heard about how my friend called the frozen food company to complain about the creepy note that was in her meal
caca_milis_. 4y The day my co-worker brought in a hitachi magic wand because all of us had been complaining about our sore backs from being hunched over our laptops. She was so proud of herself for being so thoughtful and doing something so lovely. Nobody could keep a straight face. ... 513
RoboNinjaPirate . 4y Back in the 90s my wife's department had a single shared laptop so that people could work from home as needed. Half her department was in NC, the other half was in CA. So if they needed the laptop, they had to fedex it across the country to the person who needed it about 4 or 5 days in advance. ... 742
steun88 4y In our monthly meeting with the entire office staff, there was a serious discussing which lasted for 45 minutes about the sort of toilet paper that should be used (single, double or triple ply). Highlights of the discussion were e.g. the arguments used were that you don't need double as you could simply fold 2 single ply pieces, 2 ladies went into details how it feels when using single ply versus double ply, some staff members felt that their vote should count more as they had a weaker bladder or had bad digestion. It was beautiful but also
HE BOOM STORES captainmagictrousers . 4y There was a carpenter renovating the office next to ours. My boss went next door and yelled at him. You should do this after hours! Do you like listening to hammering and sawing all day while you're at work?! The carpenter said, ...Actually, yes, I do. ... 624
smstton2 4y On my very first day on the job, the receptionist had made some strawberry cookies and she was really excited for me to try one. I really don't care for strawberries and I wasn't in the mood for a cookie, and she was so sweet that I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I told her I was allergic to strawberries. And she threw them all away immediately! A whole tray, dropped it right into the trash and told everyone not to bring any strawberries into the office. So I've been pretending to be allergic to strawberry
CrabbyBlueberry . 4y My supervisor left to start his own company within the same industry. They sub-let their office from my employer. When the company went under, my employer rehired him and all of his employees. Basically the Michael Scott Paper Company storyline. ... 498
LunacyBin. 5y At my old job, a cat was living in our office for weeks without anyone realizing. It would hide behind a fridge during the day and then come out at night when we were gone and knock stuff over and eat any food that was left out.
jkbewb . 5y I work at a 24 hour McDonald's. Every night the system is reset and no orders can be taken for about 10 minutes. This story happened a few years ago. I was taking orders in the drive thru, and explained to the customer about the reset and they decided to wait. I guess the couple in the car figured I couldn't hear them. The male said what do you wanna do? Wanna blow me? Followed by some giggling and very quiet bj sounds. A good handful of employees listened and laughed most of the 10 minute reset.
muhzle . 5y We have this guy at work that we call two coke Tom, anytime you see him in the break room he has at least two cans of coke that he chugs and moves on to get more. One day while I was washing my hands in the bathroom, he walks in, downs a whole bottle of pepto bismol, looks at himself in the mirror for a solid 5 seconds and then heads straight into the bathroom stall. This guy already creeped me out so I noped right out of the bathroom before I heard whatever he was
joethehopper. 5y My previous employer bought everyone KFC for MLK day every year. Не was ~45, we were a group of white 20 somethings. We knew it was wrong, but we never could bring ourselves to jeopardize our free chicken. ... 111
finally-found-a-name . 5 5y I work for a group of doctors and we had a couple come in one time for syphilis. She had a more severe case with a rash and everything but somehow his numbers were low.. he claimed to have caught syphilis from wrestling. Не knew he contracted it and got treatment but never told his wife. The only reason she found out was because she started showing symptoms. She admitted that he gave her vitamins from the doctor before- turned out he also gave her the clap before but lied to her about it all. It was so
Cranky_And_Old . 5y Intern at a State Senator's office. A woman came in, used the bathroom, and left. Turns out she smeared shit all over the walls and left. Came back a few hours later for help filling out her tax rebate. ... 11
Eileen-KCCO . 5y Not crazy, but strangely funny. We had this Asian dude who demanded an office, but he didn't rank a legit office so they put him up in a tiny storage closet with a tiny window to look out. Не carried a briefcase and in it was a single gold ping pong paddle surrounded with foam to protect it. That's all that was in the briefcase & he would watch ping pong matches online during his lunch breaks. ... 14
PachaFerrera . 5y I put a cookie in the microwave once to melt it a bit and the cookie went on fire so it set the fire alarm off and we all had to evacuate the building (a nursery school inside a church building)....luckily it wasn't serious and there wasn't a church service or funeral on that day. Awkward. Was a total waste of a cookie. ... 39
Not an office, but still a workplace. I worked in a large retail store. Some highlights, all from the same assistant manager: Не took a trip to Seattle and was inspired when he went to that famous Pike's Place fish market, where they throw the fish and all. Не even held a meeting showing us a video about this place and said he wanted us to be more like that. The rough equation in his head must have been 'throwing things=improved employee work ethic' so he brought in a football and would just randomly start throwing it at employees, whether
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