Biggest scandal in your workplace (Mod Note in OP)

mr_fegelien · 15-09-2019 4:54pm #1

What was the biggest scandal ever in your workplace?

Don't have any but during my moms teaching days, almost all the foreign white teachers teaching Maths and English in Tanzania had fake degrees, the college just assumed cause they spoke English and where white they were qualified. Many students failed until they were asked to leave.

Mod - By all means share your anecdotes and stories.

DO NOT name and shame the companies or places involved.

We don't want any libel or slander issues.

looksee · 15-09-2019 5:01pm

In fairness that's probably a bit of an overstatement. Fifty years ago British and Irish teaching in East Africa went through the UK Foreign Affairs (or whatever it was called then). It required proper qualifications and a formal interview. I was there living in a teachers' hostel and subsequently in a secondary school and there was no issue whatsoever with qualifications. If it was less than maybe 30 ago things might have changed, or there might have been some sort of 'private school' scam going on, but in general in the 70s and 80s it was all above board.

Pauliedragon · 15-09-2019 5:03pm

Walking into work and there's police filming everything in the office as the boss gets led out in handcuffs for trying to import 15 kilos of coke.

piplip87 · 15-09-2019 5:11pm

Girl I worked with was been plaughed on Facebook on Instagram twitter by multiple accouns, she blocked all accounts sending her **** videos. Was getting calls at night with a fella **** down the phone. Gardai where called and it was traced back to the fella she sat beside in work.

Another guy got hammered at the Christmas party. Went on a grouping, using slurs against African and gay co-workers. Didn't work out so bad for him. Was suspended with pay for 3 months while the investigation took place.

brianblaze · 15-09-2019 5:14pm

An entire branch of an outlet in a company I worked for were fired for using customer details for fraud. Both personal ID copies and credit card information.

The company messed up the disciplinary process and had to give them their jobs back after a week.

Whoops

Deebles McBeebles · 15-09-2019 5:20pm

The Phantom Sh*tter, without a doubt. I've been lucky I guess.

suicide_circus · 15-09-2019 5:40pm

oh so many.

someone defrauded the company out of tens of thousands in OT he didnt work. He was not sacked. Why? because that would have highlighted the incompetence and total lack of oversight by his bosses.

steves2 · 15-09-2019 5:43pm

I work in the public sector, I can definitely attest that many mistakes go unpunished due to the managers not wanting to highlight that it happened on their watch.

suicide_circus · 15-09-2019 5:44pm

steves2 wrote: »

I work in the public sector, I can definitely attest that many mistakes go unpunished due to the managers not wanting to highlight that it happened on their watch.

its rampant in the semi states too

md23040 · 15-09-2019 5:46pm

A female worker gave the boss a blow job in the toilets of the office during a party at work. The boss told the financial controller and an external CEO in a sister organization. It got out in the rumor mill and the next day the worker put in a complaint to HR. The day after an inquest by the financial controller and CEO was held with all workers in the department questioned as to who started these false and malicious allegations. It was like something out of David Brent and the office.

Poor_old_gill · 15-09-2019 5:46pm

steves2 wrote: »

I work in the public sector, I can definitely attest that many mistakes go unpunished due to the managers not wanting to highlight that it happened on their watch.

One that I have been hit with when coming up with a new idea that could have saved us a decent chunk of cash over a number of years was - “if we do this now then they’ll question why we weren’t doing it all along” - idea was never implemented.

Biggest scandal is just a load of in-office affairs- I was totally oblivious to it goin in for a long time until someone pointed them out to me and now they seem to be going on literally everywhere

JohnnyFlash · 15-09-2019 5:47pm

Worked in a pub in London in the 80’s while in college over there. Place was raided one day by the police and they found a load of guns underneath the floorboards in a room upstairs. Turns out the owner was a big ‘RA man.

corner of hells · 15-09-2019 6:40pm

Not really a scandal but a bloke I worked with was shot dead by Gardai during a bank robbery.

Mad_maxx · 15-09-2019 6:51pm

corner of hells wrote: »

Not really a scandal but a bloke I worked with was shot dead by Gardai during a bank robbery.

Are you Steve Buscemi - Mr pink?

corner of hells · 15-09-2019 7:05pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Are you Steve Buscemi - Mr pink?

Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.

Chet T16 · 15-09-2019 9:43pm

Girl in work had a sex tape leaked. Not just the tape but screen grabs with her Facebook profile showing that it was her (same jewellery) in the video and her name and where she worked. It done the rounds on WhatsApp and I only got wind of it when friend of one of the work lads recognised the company name and messaged him.

Absolutely awful, I felt so bad for her.

sportsfan90 · 15-09-2019 9:51pm

Deebles McBeebles wrote: »

The Phantom Sh*tter, without a doubt. I've been lucky I guess.

Ah yes I had forgotten about that. I presume this was the one in Waterford?

Or has our Phantom Sh*tter moved on and repeated the trick in pastures new?

patrickc · 15-09-2019 9:58pm

I worked in a fast food place in the early 00's, the tills were down money regularly and we were getting blamed for it, turned out it was the manager taking money when cashing up. He was caught after robbing 10k in total.

Sleepy · 16-09-2019 12:43pm

When I was a young lad I had a part-time job in a large chain clothing store where it was discovered that one of the cash-office staff had been stealing money for years. She was made sign a confession and shown the door and the manager was let go but no charges were ever filed.

Mad_maxx · 16-09-2019 12:45pm

Chet T16 wrote: »

Girl in work had a sex tape leaked. Not just the tape but screen grabs with her Facebook profile showing that it was her (same jewellery) in the video and her name and where she worked. It done the rounds on WhatsApp and I only got wind of it when friend of one of the work lads recognised the company name and messaged him.

Absolutely awful, I felt so bad for her.

Was she good looking?

Stevieluvsye · 16-09-2019 12:53pm

Got to my office one morning and it was cordoned off as some lad shot in the head the night previous (day off work)

Someone taking a dump on the bathroom floor in the disabled toilet.

One girl caught riding two lads from the office in toilets on a half day saturday shift (Cleaner caught them and told me but said nowt to bosses) She was a decent looking mare too. I tried my hand a few times with her but no luck.

All different jobs

Neyite · 16-09-2019 12:53pm

Married IT manager wearing the face off a very young and very drunk colleague publicly at the staff Christmas party.

Colleague getting hammered and telling a senior staff member and office wanker exactly what people thought of him (she was a hero tbh)

Manager stealing commission from sales from junior staff for years- he got fired for that one.

Rather tame really I suppose.

greenspurs · 16-09-2019 1:00pm

Person taking money from petty cash to pay for horses - got rid of, but given a good reference.
Another person in the same office caught doing the same - also got rid of.

Mango Joe · 16-09-2019 1:04pm

A girl I know had to update firmware on a system that was rarely worked on in a comms room which was effectively deserted (ie no staff at desks there ever etc) except for a 24 hour security desk.

She got a green light from HQ to carry out this work at 4am on a Saturday.

Basically she walked in on the Security Guard with his pants around his ankles **** furiously to internet porn.

Neither said anything and she never reported him......She just thought it was all a bit lousy for him......

PS I suppose I should go search out the " worlds best jobs" thread and post this there too?

Innervision · 16-09-2019 1:08pm

I worked in a large supermarket back in my college days and a young checkout guy was found to be stealing people's credit card information. He was one of these people with a super photographic memory and when people would hand him their cards he'd be able to memorise all the details with a quick glance. As far as I remember he waited til the busy Christmas season to do it and then only used to put small enough online purchases on each one so it took ages for it to come to light.

Sleepy · 16-09-2019 1:13pm

Neyite wrote: »

Colleague getting hammered and telling a senior staff member and office wanker exactly what people thought of him (she was a hero tbh)

I've seen that one a few times!

cj maxx · 16-09-2019 1:18pm

Working in a pub and the rumour was a member of staff was riding the manageress now and again.
I had to defend her honour as I was usually the last one there. And I didn't see anything

evil_seed · 16-09-2019 1:19pm

I worked in one of the big 4, where there was headline news of a top 10 list of the hot chicks in the office being circulated via email. Names of top brass on the email chain. Was still talked about years later. Nothing of note in my new office

Stovepipe · 16-09-2019 1:23pm

In the former State airline, quite a few of the loaders and caterers have been busted for stealing high value goods from the aircraft trolleys, either at the catering building or from the trollies. More than a few have been busted for stealing and keeping found objects, such as passenger phones and laptops. Others were busted for stealing from baggage in the hold. Apart from that, the well known person smuggling affair.

Skylinehead · 16-09-2019 1:27pm

We're too boring to have any scandals.

Other than the Holocaust thing. But that was a bit before my time

CrankyHaus · 16-09-2019 1:29pm

One clown managed to get rid of paid optional overtime for the whole company. He was always signing himself in as working all Saturday, a true Stakhanovite in hours without the results to match. After years of this and some suspicions Management checked CCTV which showed him walking in to his desk to turn on his PC and then walking out to take golf clubs out of the boot of his car and hailing a taxi to the links. Coming back hours later he'd just log off and stroll out. He'd been doing this every saturday for years. Company kept it secret, stopped him from getting any further promotions and just removed paid optional overtime for everyone.

One of the big betting chains had a full company christmas party where the founder would be at a random table to show his man-of-the-people credentials. This seriously rough one allocated the seat next to him showed up while off her biscuit on yokes and drink and just acted like a disgrace all night. He took it surprisingly well and her "career" continued undamaged.

Mucky_Tackies · 16-09-2019 1:32pm

Long time back, I was a chugger (charity mugger/one of those people trying to flog direct debits for charity). Didnt last long at all as didnt buy in to it at all. There was a guy there who every day was hitting top sales numbers/ringing the bell. Was being championed by the managers and even giving talks to the whole group about what worked for him best. He was actually a grand lad, down to earth and good sense of humour from what I call. He was also an ex guard and said he left as he just couldnt deal with the corruption and needed a career change.

Anyway, I left not long into it and bumped into a guy who was there when I was but had also left. Turns out the ex-copper had basically been making up names and credit card details and lobbing them in. By the time, these were submitted to Concern and whatever their processes were, the commission had been paid out. Straight out fraud. Guards were brought in to the office. Wasnt just one or two snuck in each day either, was serious numbers supposedly. Not sure how he thought it was sustainable and not likely to come back on him. Turns out he was also booted from the guards for robbing.

Can find nothing about it online. Would imagine the charity and the 3rd party sales group may have preferred to keep it off radar.

Stevieluvsye · 16-09-2019 1:33pm

CrankyHaus wrote: »

One clown managed to get rid of paid optional overtime for the whole company. He was always signing himself in as working all Saturday, a true Stakhanovite in hours without the results to match. After years of this and some suspicions Management checked CCTV which showed him walking in to his desk to turn on his PC and then walking out to take golf clubs out of the boot of his car and hailing a taxi to the links. Coming back hours later he'd just log off and stroll out. He'd been doing this every saturday for years. Company kept it secret, stopped him from getting any further promotions and just removed paid optional overtime for everyone.

One of the big betting chains had a full company christmas party where the founder would be at a random table to show his man-of-the-people credentials. This seriously rough one allocated the seat next to him showed up while off her biscuit on yokes and drink and just acted like a disgrace all night. He took it surprisingly well and her "career" continued undamaged.

Has to be Jonny Boyle

Blazer · 16-09-2019 1:34pm

cjmc wrote: »

Working in a pub and the rumour was a member of staff was riding the manageress now and again.
I had to defend her honour as I was usually the last one there. And I didn't see anything

That’s because your face was buried in her tits.

Blazer · 16-09-2019 1:35pm

evil_seed wrote: »

I worked in one of the big 4, where there was headline news of a top 10 list of the hot chicks in the office being circulated via email. Names of top brass on the email chain. Was still talked about years later. Nothing of note in my new office

**** that happened in my office.
Top 4 as in US international company?

Skylinehead · 16-09-2019 1:36pm

Blazer wrote: »

**** that happened in my office.
Top 4 as in US international company?

Big 4 accounting firm I'd guess.

Blazer · 16-09-2019 1:38pm

Skylinehead wrote: »

Big 4 accounting firm I'd guess.

Yep that’s right. I was just in the middle of editing my post.
I remember that , company in Dublin wasn’t it?
Back in the early 2000’s I seem to remember. It even got my company down in the south

In fairness there was some crackin dolls in it.

16-09-2019 1:42pm

Sleepy wrote: »

I've seen that one a few times!

almost always the mouthy one with a chip on their shoulder tbh

King of Kings · 16-09-2019 1:44pm

Worked for an insurance company perhaps 15years ago...fella there had a gambling problem but was able to fleece some pension funds of money - over 100k.
He was eventually caught cos he had a plan to win back what he owed and replace the missing money and took a further75k .
Company were afraid of their reputation and repaid the pensions without saying a word.
He was allowed resign and was given a reference.

Ended up moving to one of the so called pillar banks .

facehugger99 · 16-09-2019 1:46pm

Someone took a dump in the work shower.

Had to be closed for 2-days and a deep disinfection carried out.

This is a white-collar workplace BTW where nearly everyone has a 3rd Level Qualification.

The phantom sh;tter was never identified and may still work here.

Squall Leonhart · 16-09-2019 1:51pm

A man I worked with had a day booked off work. The day he was off we saw on RTE a man with the same name from same place was jailed for distribution of child pornography. It was him alright. He had thought he was going to get a slap on the wrist and he'd just come back to work the next day with nobody any the wiser.

Horrible.

Hector Savage · 16-09-2019 1:57pm

suicide_circus wrote: »

oh so many.

someone defrauded the company out of tens of thousands in OT he didnt work. He was not sacked. Why? because that would have highlighted the incompetence and total lack of oversight by his bosses.

public sector ?

BillyBird · 16-09-2019 1:58pm

Blazer wrote: »

Yep that’s right. I was just in the middle of editing my post.
I remember that , company in Dublin wasn’t it?
Back in the early 2000’s I seem to remember. It even got my company down in the south
In fairness there was some crackin dolls in it.

2010 no?
Hardly a big secret, it made world news.

AlphabetCards · 16-09-2019 2:05pm

Stovepipe wrote: »

In the former State airline, quite a few of the loaders and caterers have been busted for stealing high value goods from the aircraft trolleys, either at the catering building or from the trollies. More than a few have been busted for stealing and keeping found objects, such as passenger phones and laptops. Others were busted for stealing from baggage in the hold. Apart from that, the well known person smuggling affair.

I was let go by the same airline for reporting similar, whilst working as an aircraft cleaner. Lads used to go nuts every time I handed money/goods into lost and found.

realdanbreen · 16-09-2019 2:10pm

Woman(married) ran away with supervisor(single) about 8-10 years her junior. Her husband arrived to the workplace in a bit of a state and ran straight into a glass door, carted off in an ambulance. Never heard how the run away couple fared out afterwards.

antix80 · 16-09-2019 2:15pm

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Don't have any but during my moms teaching days, almost all the foreign white teachers teaching Maths and English in Tanzania had fake degrees, the college just assumed cause they spoke English and where white they were qualified. Many students failed until they were asked to leave.

I know a chap who is a qualified primary school teacher. He wanted a job in "one of those countries" (Asia/Africa/Middle East) and bought a Masters in English online from a diploma mill. So it still goes on.

Biggest scandal I saw in a job was a large company I worked in that had to pay commissions to small businesses internationally. They simply stopped issuing commissions cheques saying they moved to EFT and they stopped posting statements. Most of these agents had no way to contact the company and even if they did, they rarely got a reply.

I don't even think all this incompetence was planned. It probably saved a hundred thousand max in commission but at the expense of long-term revenue.

B_ecke_r · 16-09-2019 2:26pm

was before my time in the company but a lad was arreseted for child images on his work computer

irish_goat · 16-09-2019 2:37pm

facehugger99 wrote: »

Someone took a dump in the work shower.

Had to be closed for 2-days and a deep disinfection carried out.

This is a white-collar workplace BTW where nearly everyone has a 3rd Level Qualification.

The phantom sh;tter was never identified and may still work here.

We had one in our office. Someone was ****ting on the floor and on the walls. Cleaners complained twice and management called a meeting basically telling whoever it was "to get help". Everyone suspected the office weirdo who had dodgy personal hygiene, loved to scratch herself in front of people and would pick her hair and eat it. She failed to submit security documents during her probabtion so was turfed out and the toilets have been unsoiled since.

El Tarangu · 16-09-2019 2:39pm

Right after I finished school, I worked briefly in telesales. There was a lady that worked there who announced one day that she was going off travelling for a 3 months, and was gone the next day.

(It was a kind of fly-by-night operation with people starting and leaving all the time, so this didn't arouse much comment.)

Someone then saw in the paper the following week that she had been sentenced to 3 months in prison for credit card fraud; part of her job at this place was taking down people's financial information...

magic_murph · 16-09-2019 2:41pm

Working in an office, small IT company.
One of the girls from my teams comes back to her desk disgusted.
Turns out, one of the other girls, had gone to the bathroom to give her lady garden a bit of a trim - not shaved, waxed or anything neat - but cut, with what we could only assume as office scissors.
The cuttings were just left all over the cubicle floor for all too see.

At the time only 4 females worked in the office – 3 brown / brunette haired and one jet black. You can guess what colour the cuttings were.
Very Random. Must have been some important last minute booty call she got

AlphabetCards · 16-09-2019 2:43pm

irish_goat wrote: »

We had one in our office. Someone was ****ting on the floor and on the walls. Cleaners complained twice and management called a meeting basically telling whoever it was "to get help". Everyone suspected the office weirdo who had dodgy personal hygiene, loved to scratch herself in front of people and would pick her hair and eat it. She failed to submit security documents during her probabtion so was turfed out and the toilets have been unsoiled since.

It is never the obvious suspect.

Biggest scandal in your workplace (Mod Note in OP)

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