Wait Till You See How People Totally Broke Work Rules (And Lived To Tell The Tale)

So, in the ’90s, a guy lands a 3-month gig to wrap up a fancy project. When the contract ends, the company says, “Hey, you wanna just kinda hang around in case we need you?” The dude’s like, sure! No official contract, just some extra cash for doing basically nothing. A couple of months go by; he barely works but keeps getting paid. Six months. Two years. Three years. He’s chilling—getting paid for a ghost job. Then, suddenly, it stops. Mystery solved.

There was this dude just hanging out on a pile of pallets, puffing away. The CEO spots him and says, "Got nothing to do?" The guy’s all, "Nah, just chillin'." Next thing you know, he’s getting escorted out because turns out, surprise! He wasn’t even an employee—just a freelance trucker waiting for his load. Talk about uninvited lounge!

Back in the ’90s, a federal worker got stuck in a weird no-work zone. No team, no real tasks—just a lonely office. But hey, he had a tiny budget he HAD to use (otherwise it’d look bad). So what does he do? Builds a BBS (an old-school online hangout) to keep himself entertained while claiming to work. No surprise, he was insanely bored.

This guy worked at a telecom office and handled shipping supplies. But his daughter was running a mail-order stationary business on the side. So, he figured, why not use his work account to send her orders out? Sneaky? Yes. Caught? Oh, definitely. Under arrest? Also yes.

At a call center, this genius found a way to crash the system mid-call—which made it look like he was still talking while he sneaked out for coffee or a smoke. Salesman? Oh yeah, but only for a couple hours a day. Manager caught on, tried to fire him, but our guy pulls a quick doctor’s note and gets himself on leave. Smooth.

Hired to help move a project along, this guy’s manager promptly disappeared and forgot about him for six months. So, he started using AI to fake attending meetings while literally doing no work. When they finally noticed, they fired both him and the manager—but forgot to get his laptop back. Easiest $175k ever!

Owners put cameras where line cooks smoked something a bit too illegal. The cooks weren’t having it, so the night manager ‘accidentally’ kept breaking the cameras, blaming it on rats chewing wires. That’s one way to keep the peace and the smoke spot alive!

An educator with access to the school’s tax-free account went wild, buying expensive personal stuff including home renovation materials. All on the school’s dime! Caught eventually, charged (sort of), and their teaching license got yanked. Talk about going rogue.

After COVID, rates were rising but this sly bank worker acted like they didn’t get the memo. They faked incompetence running pricing, so nothing got implemented and rates stayed low. Basically, a silent hero—or villain—depending how you see it.

This guy built a secret little hideaway deep in the warehouse using dusty old pallets no one moved for years. He’d sneak away for hours, chilling in his fortress of solitude, and come back acting like he’d been working hard. Ghosting on the job level: expert.

Why work one remote job when you can do three? This overachiever juggled three different full-time remote gigs simultaneously. How they managed that without collapsing into chaos? Nobody knew, but we’re guessing some tricks (or sheer exhaustion) were involved.

An apparel sales guy landed a neat trick: He took a full-time buying job and placed orders to his own sales company. It was like playing both sides in a game and making bank. After three years of this double-dipping, he paid off his mortgage and retired. Risky? Yeah. Worth it? You bet.

A city worker was sent home for spilling private info and having a weapon at work. Then the city just totally forgot about her. 12 years later, an audit found she was still on payroll, getting raises, and health benefits—all without ever coming back. That’s forgetting in the extreme.

A utility company safety trainer basically scammed the system by creating his own safety supply company (in his dad’s name) and reselling gear back to his employer. He skipped teaching classes he didn’t like by outsourcing to his own company. When he was finally caught, they just told him to scram—but still paid him for years of fake sick and vacation time. Nice hustle.

One colleague turned business trips into personal holidays—claiming eight hours of overtime *every single day* they were away. It’s not the most original trick, but it’s definitely bold. Turns out the supervisor knew but didn’t want to admit they missed it, so no consequences came their way. Sneaky win?

This one manager got called out (like, officially disciplined) for dropping the phrase “we pay peanuts and get monkeys.” The irony? The boss accusing them was a white lady. Yeah, the whole thing was a big head-scratcher and maybe a classic case of over-sensitivity. So wild!

A work buddy kept dozing off in his cubicle and blamed it on blood pressure meds—and HR totally believed it! Turns out those ‘little water bottles’ he was always carrying were actually vodka. Yep, he’d been straight-up drinking on the job for years. That nap? Thanks to booze, not meds.

Two ladies running a program for homeless kids would go out collecting food and gift card donations. But the kids never saw any of it—they kept it all. Turned in multiple times but the principal wasn’t interested (hello whiskey and cigar bribes). The school district never stepped in properly. The con goes on to this day.

He found an unplugged clock-in machine timed for 7:29 am. So he’d punch in, stroll in around 9:30, then basically vanish and head home early. His job was roaming the floor, so no one noticed. He pulled this off for a year and a half until someone finally got suspicious of his perfect ‘7:29’ clock-ins. He got fired but by then, his side business was booming anyway.

In a startup run like a boot camp by a retired army guy, one employee wasn’t having it. He wasn’t cut out for the drill, but his contract said they couldn’t fire him. So the next morning, boss walks in and finds him sitting cross-legged on the reception counter. That was it—he got his walking papers like, immediately. Zen termination.

He closed massive deals without actually talking to anyone. Used fake leads, emails, and addresses to “win” sales, all while no one ever paid. When caught, the boss called him out in front of 100 people during a company meeting—talk about public shaming. He walked out and ghosted his job history like it never happened.

This dude took his coworkers out for dinner on his card but told them not to expense it since they weren’t customers. Instead, they paid him in cash for their share. Then he submitted the full dinner to expenses under fake Korean names (because of the Seoul Olympics). Got fully reimbursed and then vanished. Sneak level: expert.

After being on long-term sick leave due to mental health issues, this guy was actually working at another bank at the same time...without telling anyone. Both jobs eventually kicked him out, but the plot twist? People thought he was just at work the whole time. Sneaky and tragic.

A warehouse employee got crafty and built himself a little secret hideout inside the warehouse out of boxes and even stole a chair from the break room to furnish it. The company fired him right before a photographer came around to spot his hideaway. Classic.

This person spent months just gaming (think WoW or Everquest) instead of actually working. They had fake apps as desktop wallpapers to look the part. Caught only when a network audit showed they logged into their personal computer remotely offsite. Nicely played, until they weren’t.

Back in the 70s and 80s, when workers went on strike and management took over their duties, the kicker was...no one could figure out what the striking workers *actually* did. The mystery jobs that vanished when people weren’t around. Specter employees, maybe?

Janitors at a brewery stacked cases of beer to build a little hideaway maze where they’d drink beer and chill. Plus, they’d punch-in and out on each other’s cards to rack up extra hours. Pay was peanuts, but this secret hangout made work way more fun.

One co-worker ran up $15,000 worth of household stuff and even dog food on the company’s Staples account before getting caught and fired. That’s one way to shop till you drop (or get dropped).

This employee’s official records had them working in a building they’d never set foot in and a job title that didn’t match reality. Complained for years with zero results until framing it as a safety issue finally got some attention. Sneaky loophole or admin nightmare?

Someone (nicknamed Poocasso) kept frosting empty rooms in an empty building wing with human poop. They did it AGAIN and AGAIN. Everyone was shocked because the culprit seemed like the last person you'd expect—clean, well-dressed, and even smelled nice. After catching them by matching schedules, they got canned fast. We hope they got the help they needed.

A teacher ran four jobs at once: regular teaching, night school teaching, and then moonlighting as the night school principal. He’d make adult students take math first (even if it wasn’t required) so he’d have full tutoring classes to charge for on the side. Sneaky, shady, and definitely not in the employee handbook.

During Covid, this employee claimed tech issues that lasted two years and basically did nothing the entire time. Video chats didn’t work, they never called the tech team, and could only be contacted on their personal phone. Finally got fired after two years. Talk about dedication to slacking.

While pretending to tutor, this guy would avoid any real work by wandering the hallways, ducking into alcoves, and basically just hiding until class was over. Meanwhile, he was secretly padded up so no one noticed he wasn’t actually teaching. Stealth mode: activated.

This worker carved out a cozy little gaming den in a pile of boxes in the storeroom, complete with a cup brewer and comfy chair. They spent a couple hours each shift playing Mario Kart on their DS, gone without a trace. Left the job under messy circumstances and left their hideout intact. Secret clubhouse vibes!

For eight years, this night shift janitor basically coasted through shifts, only doing about two hours of actual work. Could’ve done zero if bored enough, but sometimes helped out. Eventually quit to make better money and started actually working...and missing the easy life.

A property tax auditor basically didn’t work at all. His assignments were quick—visit property, write report—but deadlines were months away. To look busy at home, he’d have a news website running in the background. Made good money, had tons of free time, and absolutely owned the art of working less.

This half-time computer studies guru and night school principal made the most money in the whole school district—even more than the administrators. His secret? Moonlighting as a private math tutor (which wasn’t counted in salary figures). High salary, low work effort—school hack level: expert.

This manager would sneak out during the day for hours for baby appointments but told staff to say he was out seeing clients. He never took a single PTO day and left his team to juggle work. When he left, the dishonesty just left a bitter taste.

Assigned to a military base, this soldier somehow wasn’t on anyone’s radar. With no meetings, inspections, or reviews, he spent the whole day playing World of Warcraft and eating chow hall food—for months. When the base found the mistake, they kicked him out...and made him retake the same class in a sunnier spot.