Some years ago, I managed a small warehouse. I had five to six people under me. Most of the time, there weren’t any major issues and everyone got along pretty well. Like most places, if you’re going to be late or you are sick, you call in to let your work know. Well, today wasn’t a normal day for one employee.

I start asking around if anyone has seen [Employee]. I haven’t heard from him and he’s almost an hour late. The weather is kind of bad; we got a bunch of snow last night, so the roads aren’t that clear. No one has heard from him.

I make my way to my supervisor’s office and ask if he’s heard from [Employee] since he is the most reliable guy I’ve seen, always checking in with work if he is running late or is out sick. It is very unlike him to not let us know why he’s late or not coming in.

My supervisor hasn’t heard from him, either, so we wait an hour. We still haven’t heard anything from [Employee]. My supervisor has all employees’ home phone numbers, so he decides he should call [Employee]’s home to see where he is or if something has happened.

I don’t hear the other side of the phone conversation, except for a couple of spots where yelling is involved.

[Employee]’s wife answers the phone when my supervisor calls.

Supervisor: “Hello. This is [Employee]’s supervisor. I was just calling to see if he was at home or if you know why he’s not at work yet?”

Something transpires between my supervisor and [Employee]’s wife.

Supervisor: “Okay. I’m sorry for disturbing you. We’re just concerned because [Employee] hasn’t come into work yet, and it’s not like him to not show up or not call—”

Something else transpires between my supervisor and [Employee]’s wife.

Supervisor: “Yes, I apologize for calling your home and disturbing you. It wasn’t my inten—”

Now I can hear [Employee]’s wife screaming through the phone as my supervisor pulls the phone away from his ear.

Wife: “I ALREADY TOLD YOU I DON’T F****** KNOW WHERE HE IS! WHY ARE YOU BOTHERING ME?! I DON’T GIVE A F*** ABOUT—”

My supervisor hangs up the phone to avoid having to listen to her scream at him. My supervisor’s eyes are wide as we just look at each other for a moment, trying to figure out what the h*** just happened.

A moment later, the phone rings on my supervisor’s desk and he answers the phone. He pulls the receiver away from his ear and I can hear [Employee]’s wife screaming at him.

Wife: “NO ONE HANGS UP ON ME! WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU? I DON’T CARE WHY YOU’RE CALLING HERE ASKING FOR [EMPLOYEE]! I DON’T F****** KNOW WHERE HE IS! HE! IS! NOT! HERE!”

Supervisor: “Ma’am. Please stop yelling at me and stop cussing at me. If you continue to do so, I will hang up.”

Wife: “YOU CAN’T F****** TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU F******—”

My supervisor slams the receiver down.

Supervisor: “I sure hope she’s not like that with [Employee].”

Me: “Wow. I can’t believe she called you back to continue yelling at you for checking in on her husband. She’s nuts. I’ll just get back to work. Let me know if you by chance hear anything from [Employee].”

[Employee] did eventually show up about another hour later. He said he had started his van that he parks in his driveway in the morning to let it warm up. He came out about twenty minutes later and the van was gone; someone had stolen it from his driveway. He called the cops and then followed the tire tracks in the snow to see which way his van had gone. He said he followed the tracks for a few blocks and found the van stuck in the ditch. He had to wait for a tow truck to pull the van out of the ditch and also file a report with the police. That’s why he was so late.

I told him that we called his house trying to see if he was still there or if something had happened to him. There was a look of horror on [Employee]’s face when I told him we called his house. He said his wife was going to yell at him when he got home because she doesn’t like anyone calling the house for him.

I left that job a few years later, and to this day I don’t know if [Employee] is still married to her, but I sure hope he’s not, for his health and wellbeing.

We have a Human Resources worker who is extremely power-hungry.

She is walking around with the president of the company who flew in from Japan. She rushes him through the warehouse. She just spits out, “Oh, these are the warehouse guys. We don’t have to stop and talk to them.”

The president stops, walks over, and starts talking to me about my last vacation. He asks how buying my house went. I can just see her fuming behind him as we talk for almost forty-five minutes. I’ve had multiple meetings with him; we know each other really well.

I don’t think he likes her, and he dragged it out on purpose, but I was thrilled to see her just standing there bored as h***.

Back when years still begin with the number one, I am working in a warehouse. I’ve just clocked out and am about to head out the door when I hear a sound like something falling, followed by seeing one of the other workers staggering around, dazed, with her forehead bleeding.

Me: “What the [expletive] just happened?!”

A manager comes running over.

Manager: “The shelf fell down and she got hit by the pack of [ceramic product].”

Me: “Oh, no!”

Manager: “Can you take her to the hospital? I don’t want to wait for an ambulance to get out here.”

Me: “Okay.”

In retrospect, that wasn’t smart, but [Manager] and I are both panicking.

Manager: “I’ll help get her in your car.”

Two minutes later, I’m zipping toward the hospital. I arrive ASAP and stick around in the waiting room while my coworker is examined. Thankfully, it is only a concussion. After the hospital clears her, I take her to her home.

I come back the next morning to check on her and then again the next evening after my shift. Rinse and repeat for three days. And of course, since her car is still at the warehouse, I have to give her a lift in when she’s finally allowed to resume work.

On the drive in to work:

Coworker: “You didn’t have to do all that. Why bother? I’m just a nobody.”

Me: “Um, because it was the right thing to do?”

And that’s how I met my wife. We’re still happily married.

This takes place about twenty years ago. I’m in my early twenties and working a basic warehouse job — driving a forklift, shipping/receiving, packing orders, and so on. There’s nothing special about it.

The owner of the company is a decent guy. He’s always walking about, interacting with employees, and being generally light-hearted.

One of the lazier employees finds out that we have a warehouse opening, and he talks to the warehouse manager about hiring him to help in the warehouse. So, the manager sets up a meeting, conducts an interview, and then eventually hires the guy.

The new guy is decent. He seems to be hardworking and can follow instructions. The guy is diabetic; it runs in his family. This shouldn’t be a problem for anyone that is diabetic and they work on following proper guidelines to ensure they’re healthy. However, this guy wants zero to do with it. He doesn’t monitor his blood sugar; he just carries around candy in his pocket and eats it if he feels lightheaded. He loves to party and just doesn’t take care of himself.

After maybe six months of [New Guy] working, we’ve noticed he’s hard to find at times. We look for him outside (since he smokes) and we check all entrances, but we can’t find him. We check the bathrooms — sometimes he’ll sit in a stall for an extended period of time — but we don’t find him. We wander the warehouse, checking every corner, checking up in spots we store packing material to see if he’s found a place to nap — past employees have done this — but we don’t find him.

We double-check the parking lot to see if [New Guy]’s car is gone. Nope, his car is still in the parking log. We wander the warehouse again, yelling out his name, rechecking outside of the building and the bathrooms, but we cannot find him.

We’ve now spent forty-five minutes looking for [New Guy] and he’s nowhere to be found. The warehouse manager tells us to just get back to work, and if he shows up, he shows up. I continue to work on my tasks.

About half an hour later, one of the other warehouse guys tells me that [New Guy] was seen climbing down the racking from a pallet and that the warehouse manager caught him in the act. The manager took the pallet down from the top of the rack and found out that the new guy had hollowed out the inside of the pallet to sit inside of it and sleep. The pallet had forty-eight boxes on it; [New Guy] had taken out the boxes in the center except for one to act as a seat to sit on and built up the outer layer taller. He had then put the pallet on the top of the rack.

Aside from thinking that that’s pretty impressive, I also know the owner will be pissed about it because he was even out helping us look for [New Guy].

[New Guy]’s punishment is none of my concern. All I know is that the warehouse manager doesn’t fire him on the spot.

I go to lunch and I am sitting in the break room when in walks the owner. He gets his lunch out and starts making small talk with me.

Owner: “Did you ever find the new guy?”

Me: “Yes. Apparently, he hollowed out a pallet and was sleeping inside of it up on the top rack.”

Owner: “What? He was sleeping?”

Me: “That’s what I was told.”

His face turns bright red and he takes in a deep breath and yells.

Owner: “DID YOU FIRE THE F***ER?!”

Me: “Sorry, that’s not my call. You’d have to talk to your warehouse manager about that.”

The owner stood up and marched out to the warehouse.

Surprisingly, the new guy wasn’t fired, but I never asked why they kept him. But it wasn’t too far down the road that the guy ended up getting fired for not coming into work for three days straight without calling in.

I had a customer’s order get messed around by our warehouse, so I bent over backward to sort the issue. Then, they cancelled the order after a week of my running around to please them.

Six weeks later, I recognised the customer while I was in labor. She proceeded to ask me what had happened and what had gone wrong. 

Not quite what I wanted to hear from the doctor after twenty-four hours of labor when I was about to be brought in for an emergency C-section.