Being fired after only a few days is bound to leave a bitter taste in anyone’s mouth.

When one employee lost a new job almost as quickly as he got it, he thought that was the end of the story.

But after overhearing a coworker proudly admit he wasn’t forklift certified, the situation led to some hefty OSHA fines.

Keep reading for the full story.

ie to me about still having a job? There are some things here I think OSHA would like to know about…

A few years ago, a good friend got me a job at the place he was working.

They dealt with large, rideable, gas-powered grass murdering machines and the pieces and parts needed to repair them — weed whackers and the like.

They’d recently started getting orders online, so they thought they could use an extra hand.

The rest of the employees were very knowledgable about the subject matter.

The five people I’m working with have been doing this for YEARS, so they know a ton about the machines they’re sending parts for, as well as where the heck said parts are.

So the first few days go pretty well.

Parts of the job were pretty overwhelming.

I’m doing my best to catalog this STAGGERING number of bolts and screws and washers and gaskets and wheels and JESUS!

When there was downtime, I’d walk through the parts section to try to get my bearings…

But after some practice, he starts to feel more comfortable.

After three days I’m starting to get it.

I still have someone with me watching as I start to grasp it.

So then came a slow day at the job.

Then it’s like Thursday and there’s nothing to do.

“OP, can you pull that stuff off and clean those shelves?”

Sure thing!

I HATE having nothing to do.

People that stand around and talk or just wander…ugh. I’m checking the clock every five minutes.

The employer made some promises to him that were promptly broken.

So then Friday, I’m told my hours might change but I’m TOTALLY coming back.

I get paid in cash for the week and am sent home.

I wasn’t called back.

Seeing as it was my friend that got me the job, I’m like, “What gives?”

His friend tells him what’s up.

“They saw there was downtime with three people doing the same job, so, sorry man, you’re dunzo…but don’t feel bad, these two dudes trying to run this department act like two monkeys trying to **** a football.”

There was one little thing though…

He thinks back to something troubling he witnessed on the job.

I overheard one of the employees on a forklift bragging that, “Hahha I’m not even certified, but watch this…”

Okay yeah, I was pretty ticked off, soooo.

I was unemployed and wasted aaand…

So he decided, if he can’t keep his job, why should they?

Reported them to OSHA.

OSHA tried to follow up with me, but I was like, ugh, I was just ticked and tipsy in the moment.

It’s whatever.

So OSHA went and checked things out for themselves.

I JUST found out… Me following up wasn’t necessary.

OSHA walks in, sees two forklifts, and NOBODY on site has a certification.

BOOM.

There were plenty of other violations too.

They also had crap stacked wayyy too high and a bunch of other infractions my buddy couldn’t quite remember.

All told? $18,000 fine.

This workplace paid the price in other ways too.

And they still have forklift certification people showing up.

Fire me for dumb reasons?

Mess around and find out.

This workplace got exactly what it deserved.

What did Reddit make of all this?

This commenter’s got jokes.

The wordplay here is too good to resist.

This user shares their kudos.

How could this company be so reckless?

Turns out, cutting corners can get pretty expensive!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.