What do you do when two employees are days away from full-time offers… and instead of waiting for their background checks they steal company mascot costumes, hop on a golf cart, flip off every security camera, and disappear forever?
In Episode 23 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Emma react to some of the strangest listener-submitted hiring disasters yet — from drug test cheating schemes to candidates who vanish without a trace.
This episode covers everything from bizarre workplace behavior to deeper lessons about hiring judgment, accountability, and the surprising ways candidates can sabotage their own careers.
You’ll hear:
– Two contractors who torched their careers in mascot costumes
– Employees trying to microwave pee at a gas station to cheat drug tests
– A coding bootcamp grad demanding a $140K salary with zero experience
– A perfect candidate who disappeared… and resurfaced months later launching a startup
– A salon employee who tanked team morale and had to be fired
– An engineer who claimed he built “all of it” — but never wrote a single line of code
These aren’t just ridiculous stories — they’re reminders that hiring decisions shape culture, risk, and the success of your entire team.
💸 Think you’ve seen worse? Submit your story at TheBadHire.com for a chance to win $10,000.
Key Takeaways:
• Bad decisions can erase great opportunities overnight.
• Confidence without competence eventually gets exposed.
• Hiring mistakes rarely stay isolated — they affect the whole team.
• Ghosting happens on both sides of the hiring process.
• A great résumé doesn’t always equal real experience.
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Connect with Us:
🌐 Website: TheBadHire.com
📧 Email: [email protected]
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💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/thebadhire
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🎙️ Submit your own bad hire story for a chance to win $10,000 at TheBadHire.com