Some managers are very quick to fire people if they do anything wrong at all.

What would you do if you were a driver for a team of firefighters, but the manager of that team thought you drove too fast, so he fired you the first time you drove for him?

That is what happened to the driver in this story, but when he got to the office to process his paperwork, another manager hired him on immediately. He then had to work with the manager who fired him on a project, and he was irate that he still worked for the company.

Having a manager who fires people on a whim is a big problem, but it is good that it worked out for this guy. Read through the full story below and see what you think.

Fire me for driving too fast at 15 kph then tell me to drive back the district office? You got it boss!!

In the late 80s I got a job with the Ministry of Natural Resources driving to support fighting forest fires.

What an interesting job.

Great job, just over double minimum wage (major bonus @ 19) and they had no limit to the number of hours you could work. Fire season started early & by mid May I was supporting one that was (I think, long time ago) 3-400 hectares and growing quickly (1 hectare = 2.5 acres).

Back then I think the whole district was around around 100 000 sq. km (think all of Indiana), so there was a lot of driving.

The fire boss may have a legitimate complaint.

One day I get to the on site hq and get told to wait while they found me a return load. A little later I am told to go to the helicopter staging area to pick up the fire boss (FB). (To preface, the road was bad) I pick him and a few others up and make my way back.

Half way there I hit a deep pot hole and the FB just loses it. Starts bellowing about kids speeding, no respect etc. For the 5 minutes it takes to get back. I found out on the way there that going to fast was not a good deal so made sure to not go faster than 15 kph (9 mph).

Wow, he got fired for driving too fast one time.

As soon as we get to base camp, he slams his way out of the truck a screams ‘YER FIRED’!! Get back to district and have them process you!! OK, thank you very much sir. We were deep, deep in the bush. I don’t know how deep but it took me close to 7 hours to get there.

Cue Malicious Compliance

I grabbed 2 20l gas cans (5 gallons) and set off. Real, real slow. If 15 kph was to fast for these roads then the proper speed was obviously however fast the truck went at idle (unless there was a hill, I’m wasn’t a monster).

He must have had to stop to sleep on the way.

It took 22 hours to reach the first paved road and then I set the cruise control 5 kph below the limit and went to get fired. Extra $300ish ya me.

I process out and I meet one of the guys (call him crew boss CB) who taught the level 1 forest fire fighter course I took before I got hired to drive. We got along well but there only 2 new full time hires that year and none on his crew.

Well, that worked out perfectly.

He had just come with one of his guys who broke his leg and was going to personnel to find someone new. I was quickly hired on as his 4th. 2 hours later I’m being driven to meet his crew at a fire.

Couple says later that fire is declared out and we are off to a new fire. Yup. The fire I was fired from. Kinda revengish but it get better.

Let’s see what he does.

Cue pro revenge.

CB it turns out is besties with FB, so FB has our crew as the initial response crew. This meant that we spent a lot of time riding in the helicopter with FB and responding to jump fires that would take minimal time to deal with.

This guy is not happy that he is still working.

It took a week before he recognized me and I watched out the corner of my eye, something I thought was only in books or said as an exaggeration. This guy went from pink to red to actually turning purple.

I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I see the spittle flowing out as he yelled into headset and I got some major side eye from CB for the rest of the flight.

Why does the company let this guy fire so many people?

When CB asked about it later and I explained including the drive back he almost died laughing. Turns out (surprise), FB has a long history of exploding over nothing and taking it out on the nearest person.

He ended up firing 2 more guys over the same thing, and likely the same pothole. So, CB knew what he was like but they got along really well.

CB loves causing trouble.

Turns out he also really liked poking the bear. For the rest of that fire CB made sure I was seated so I was the first person he saw if he looked over his shoulder.

On a later fire our crew got admin duties and CB was FB’s #2. I got to be, as CB put it, his helper monkey and FB’s jock itch. The rest of the crew knew, so there wasn’t any friction and they got a kick out it.

This was a perfect job for a kid in school.

It was a great summer and I worked for CB 3 more summers through Uni.

Always went back with great stories, really nice money (I collected unemployment during school, not sure if it was legal but no one said anything and pretty sure time has run out any way) in amazing shape but with a really weird tan.

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He is really lucky that he got hired on by CB right at that moment, or he would have missed out on this great opportunity. It is unfortunate that the company lets FB keep firing people for minor things.

Check out what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

This commenter has a great idea.

Indiana is a pretty good-sized state.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a contractor who flew along way and spent 3 days on a fix only to find a breaker that needed to be flipped.

The initials worked out perfectly.

This company has some serious problems, but at least they have one good manager. It is really unfortunate, however, that they let the fire boss continue to fire potentially great employees based only on his temper.

This type of thing that can ruin morale. It also means that some workers with a lot of potential will never be able to prove themselves.