Ten Easy Ways to Get Fired

It’s Monday morning, and things seem different at the office. The regular chit-chat is subdued. As you swing your chair around, you see the sticky note on your computer screen. “Can you come to HR first thing?” All of a sudden, the room gets warm, your heart starts beating faster, and you’re not sure your rubber knees will carry you all the way to the HR office. Your mind starts racing. Did they find out about the ream of copy paper I took home last week? Or that I used the stamp machine for my monthly bills?

Fortunately, when you get there, it’s just to pick up your new health insurance cards. Had it been any of the other scenarios, your next walk could have been out to the parking lot with a cardboard box and a security escort. There may be “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” but here are 10 easy ways to lose your job.

1. Lying on your resume – It doesn’t take much: Inflate your last title, the length of your employment or your last salary. Claim you graduated from college when you didn’t. Let that last conviction slip your mind. There is no statute of limitations on falsifying a resume. Trust lost is gone forever.

2. Taking more than your share – Embezzlement is on the rise. It could be desperation, or the “robin hood” mentality, but getting caught stealing from the company is a one-way ticket out the door. The employer can press charges and, depending on the method used, you could be facing federal charges with serious jail time.

3. Refusing to “play it safe” – Worker’s compensation claims costs companies billions of dollars every year. Safety violations causing accident or injury are serious matters and may warrant disciplinary actions or termination.

4. Shopping on company time – Time is money, whether you are hourly or salaried. Taking work time to do your holiday shopping, print coupons, or research billing errors is the same as stealing, since it’s the value of the time you are taking for your own.

5. Riding the clock. So what’s so bad about punching in a few minutes before or after your shift? Or spending the first 30 minutes of your day checking the football scores and catching up on Facebook? Wages are for working, plain and simple.

6. Using profanity on the job. Check your employee handbook, and you may be surprised to find though it is common these days to use the F- or B-word, it isn’t acceptable or tolerated in the office.

7. Working like “Mad Men.” Drinking on the job may have been commonplace in the 60’s, but this is 2010.

8. Making threats. You may have only been joking when you said, “If I had a gun, I’d shoot that guy,” but if it comes after an argument or altercation, you may be considered too risky to keep around. In a stressful workplace, even off-handed comments are cause for concern and often, termination.

9. Looking for love – Office romances happen, but when the attention makes the other person uncomfortable, is unwanted and repeated, it can be sexual harassment. Take a request to “back off” or “stop” seriously. Instead of a date, you may get a pink slip.

10. “Loose lips sink careers” – Giving away (or selling) the recipe for your restaurant’s world famous wing sauce, or sharing the details of the next hot product with the competition robs the company of its innovation, future revenue and market edge. You may not only lose your job, but have a tough time convincing another employer to trust you as well.

 

If you are interested in a customer service career, view www.customerservicejobs.com

By Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, MJNH Consulting

Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is a freelance writer, blogger, and consultant. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in "Training" magazine, "Training & Development" magazine, "Supervision," "Pulse" and "The Savannah Morning News." You can read her blogs at www.skirt.com/savannahchick, and www.workingsmartworks.blogspot.com/. On the web at www.mjnhconsulting.com.