Getting dismissed from a job is rarely straightforward, and the reasons behind some terminations of employment can be stranger than others. From an employee sacked for trying to combat a colleague’s bad BO with air fresheners, to an office worker who took revenge on a lunch thief using the world’s hottest chilli peppers, the inconsiderate coworkers in this article are some of the more amusing you’ll ever read about.
What these stories have in common is a simple lesson: being an inconsiderate coworker, whether that means stealing lunches, having bad hygiene or leaving a mess for someone else to clean up, can have consequences far beyond a few awkward conversations.
In June 2026, a scandal erupted at the national broadcaster that led to a review of its pets-at-work policy. The incident took place at the ABC‘s Northbourne Avenue offices in Canberra. According to reports, an employee brought their dog into the office and took the animal to the toilet, where it left a surprise on the floor. The owner then left without cleaning up the mess. A separate staff member later discovered the deposit and was left to remove the waste and sanitise the floor.
ABC’s facilities manager Jane Franklin sent an email to all staff addressing the incident. The email included a photo of the mess and was titled “Pets On Site.” Ms. Franklin acknowledged that the ABC had a “practical” approach to pets in the office. However, she highlighted the attached photo of the dog poo, warning that such incidents could have the “potential to impact that privilege for everyone.”
Ms. Franklin said that those who bring dogs into the office should supervise them at all times and make sure they go for regular toilet breaks. She ended the email by thanking the staff member who “kindly removed the offending poo and sanitised the floor.”
According to a source at the ABC who spoke to the Daily Telegraph, staff were struggling to identify the responsible employee. “I can’t believe it happened,” the source said, adding that it was hard to work out who it was because “none of us would have done that.” Another staff member noted that “It is a pretty decrepit old building from the 1960s so I am surprised someone noticed the poo on the floor.”
According to The Australian, ABC management was actively working to identify the owner of the dog responsible for the incident. Reports indicated that regardless of any further disciplinary outcome, the dog in question would no longer be permitted on the premises. Management indicated that a repeat of the incident could result in the pets-at-work policy being withdrawn entirely for all staff at the Northbourne office.
Back in 2018, a US worker decided to do something about her colleague’s body odor and faced termination of employment as a result. Amber Bridges was a senior staff member at Marion County Magistrate Court in Indianapolis, Indiana. She faced termination of employment in May 2017 and later sued the city. According to her lawsuit, in the previous year staff at the courthouse began complaining about a colleague’s “obnoxious chronic body odour,” which they said was affecting their ability to work.
As the senior member of staff, Ms. Bridges reported the complaints to her supervisor. She then purchased and placed air fresheners around the office to “improve the overall quality of air in the office.” Other colleagues followed her lead and added air fresheners to their own work areas.
In May 2017, the colleague at the centre of the odour complained to HR and Ms. Bridges’ supervisor. He alleged that the air fresheners had created an uncomfortable working environment. Ms. Bridges was told that she had created a hostile workplace and was subsequently dismissed. Her supervisors stated that her conduct had “distracted from the overall professional demeanour” at the courthouse.
In her lawsuit, Ms. Bridges argued that her dismissal violated her protected civil rights. She cited US law that protects individuals from discrimination based on their association with a person who has a disability. Ms. Bridges argued that her colleague’s chronic body odour constituted a protected disability under US law and that her dismissal was therefore unlawful.
Under US law, body odour can be considered a protected disability. Employers are therefore obligated to make reasonable adjustments for such an affliction. This may include providing flexible restroom breaks, installing air purification systems or allowing the employee to work remotely. Ms. Bridges argued that she was simply making accommodations.
Some years after it was lodged, it’s unclear whether Ms. Bridges’ lawsuit was successful.
This story of an inconsiderate coworker comes to us from Reddit. An office worker wrote how they regularly brought homemade meals into the office. They placed them in the fridge in tubs clearly labelled with their name, only for a coworker to repeatedly “not see” the label. The inconsiderate coworker would then heat the food up and eat it, before apologising afterwards.
Fed up, the office worker decided to turn the tables on the inconsiderate coworker. They decided to do this by making a batch of chillies made from “super hot” ghost chilli peppers. Ghost chilli peppers are the hottest in the world, being more than 170 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The office worker put a “full bag” of the peppers into a large batch of chilli, which they then brought into the office to eat for lunch across several days. Sure enough, the food went missing midweek, and the coworker responsible was sent home sick. They later took time off to see a doctor for “stomach pains.”
The following Monday, the office worker was called into a meeting with HR, bringing a fresh batch of the super hot chilli as evidence. HR accused them of deliberately trying to “poison” the colleague. The office worker then asked HR if the colleague had admitted to stealing their lunch. HR said that they had, and the office worker argued that as someone who genuinely enjoys spicy food, they couldn’t be held responsible for what happened when someone else ate it without permission.
To prove the point, the office worker then ate some of the chilli themselves in front of the HR representatives, before offering some to them. Those who tried it agreed that it was spicy and concluded that this was simply how the office worker liked their food, dismissing the idea that it was a revenge plot. However, HR stopped short of disciplining the food thief, who was simply given “a slap on the wrist” and kept their job.
However, the lunch thefts resumed shortly after. The office worker’s manager went back to HR, this time armed with the official record from the earlier meeting. The manager pointed to the lunch thief’s own admission of guilt. Confronted with their own words, the lunch thief was fired the very next day for “Theft of property” and was told that they would not be provided a reference.
The Reddit post attracted hundreds of comments, with many users sharing their experiences of dealing with lunch-stealing coworkers. One commenter recalled working as a dispatcher for a trucking company where lunches kept disappearing. A colleague who required frequent colonoscopies had access to “pretty powerful laxatives” and used them to spike his lunch before leaving it out as bait.
The lunch was duly stolen by a truck driver who was partway down a long stretch of highway when the laxatives took effect. According to the commenter, the driver didn’t make it to the next exit in time and ended up having to pay for the clean-up of his own cab. Another user described a jar of jelly beans that kept vanishing from their desk overnight. Their solution was to fill the jar with “the gross jelly beans that taste like vomit, throw up, ear wax, grass, and other horrible flavors.” The commenter said that the thefts stopped almost immediately.
The Victorian Supreme Court case David Hingst vs Construction Engineering (Aust) Pty Ltd [2018] involved a Melbourne engineer who claimed his supervisor “lifted his bum and farted” on him up to six times a day. The engineer had his $1.8 million workplace bullying claim dismissed by the court after it found the flatulence, even if it occurred, did not necessarily amount to workplace bullying. It also rejected the worker’s claims that his supervisor verbally abused him over the phone and that colleagues conspired to have him dismissed.
David Hingst worked as a contract administrator for Construction Engineering from May 2008 to April 2009. He alleged that his supervisor, Greg Short, would come into his small, windowless office and break wind at him repeatedly. He said “he would fart behind me and walk away” up to six times a day. Mr. Hingst also claimed Mr. Short would “thrust his bum” at him while at work. In response, Mr. Hingst began calling his supervisor “Mr. Stinky” and sprayed deodorant at him.
Mr. Hingst also alleged his supervisor called him an “idiot poofter” at a Christmas lunch. He had also sent an email to another manager referring to him as “Colonel Hingst” while mocking his competence.
Leading up to his redundancy, Mr. Hingst claimed that Mr. Short called him to say that he had “f**ked up” and was “not worth [his salary].” The supervisor also allegedly said that his direct report was “not worth sh*t” and that he “kept f**king up.” Mr. Hingst claimed he could hear “loud laughter” in the background during these calls, as though colleagues were listening in.
He alleged this conduct formed part of a “conspiracy” involving Mr. Short and two other senior managers to marginalise him and terminate his employment.
Mr. Short did not deny the flatulence outright when giving evidence to the court. He said that he didn’t remember doing it, “but I may have done it once or twice, maybe.” When asked whether he had done it to harass Mr. Hingst, Mr. Short replied: “No. No, no, no, no. No, not at all. No.” A colleague told the court that Mr. Short “would fart…and that would happen quite frequently.” However, he said it was “typical banter or mucking around” and that Mr. Hingst “took quite offence to it.”
Mr. Hingst was made redundant on 8 April 2009, which the company attributed to a downturn in work caused by the global financial crisis. Mr. Hingst didn’t rush to court. He settled an earlier unfair dismissal claim for $10,000 in 2009, then pursued a separate workers’ compensation claim for years before finally suing for $1.8 million in 2016.
Mr. Hingst’s claim was heard by the Supreme Court of Victoria in late 2017. The court dismissed the claim in full, making the following findings:
Mr. Hingst later lodged an appeal to the decision, which was rejected in 2019. The Court of Appeal ordered him to pay the defendant’s legal costs.
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Whether you’ve faced unfair dismissal, workplace bullying, forced resignation or another breach of your workplace rights, it pays to get advice from people who understand the system. We at Australian Workplace Discrimination Representatives help employees across Australia take action through the Fair Work Commission.
We offer a no win, no fee service, and your first consultation with us is free and completely confidential. Don’t wait to get advice. Contact us today on 1800 333 666.
