She Faked Her Child’s Death for Money [The Bad Hire Ep. 48]

She told her coworkers she had adopted a child.

Then she said her house burned down and she lost everything. Her coworkers rallied around her, organized a collection, and gave generously.

A few weeks later, she came back with even worse news: her child had died.

They grieved with her. They collected even more money.

Then HR discovered the truth:

There was no adoption. There was no house fire. There was no child.

The entire story had been fabricated to get money from the people around her.

In Episode 48 of The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Kylie react to another collection of unbelievable workplace stories involving terrible judgment, employee theft, toxic coworkers, safety disasters, elaborate lies, and a police chase that ends at the employee’s own workplace.

Some of these employees made one catastrophic decision. Others gave warning sign after warning sign. Either way, Episode 48 is a reminder that judgment, character, safety, and culture matter just as much as what someone puts on a résumé.

• The chemical plant employee who lights a cigarette next to 10,000 liters of acetone
• The new hire trashing his employer online before finishing his first day
• Jason Bivins on choosing culture over a toxic high performer
• Two Subway employees caught stealing from the same manager
• A new hire who ignores safety policy and drops a semi-trailer off the dock
• The fake adoption, fake house fire, and fake death
• A drunk new hire who arrives 12 hours early
• A police chase that ends in the company parking garage
• An employee whose escalating red flags eventually become impossible to ignore

• Take safety policies seriously from day one.
• Don’t tolerate toxic behavior just because someone performs well.
• One strange incident can be a mistake; repeated red flags are a pattern.
• Protect a culture where people can remain compassionate without abandoning accountability.
• Sometimes a bad hire reveals themselves almost immediately.

• 00:00 Cold open
• 00:28 Ken welcomes Nathan and Kylie
• 01:19 What The Bad Hire is all about
• 02:24 The $10,000 Bad Hire story contest
• 04:43 One cigarette away from disaster at a chemical plant
• 06:02 He lights a cigarette next to 10,000 liters of acetone
• 08:43 He trashes his new company online on his first day
• 10:10 He’s shocked his coworkers found the posts
• 11:30 Social media background screening
• 13:42 Sponsor: Bchex
• 14:40 Jason Bivins: the high performer destroying company culture
• 15:47 When great performance isn’t worth a toxic employee
• 17:13 The Subway manager robbed by two different employees
• 19:56 New hire ignores policy and takes the semi-trailer
• 20:47 The trailer comes loose and slides off the dock
• 22:28 “We grieved with her for no reason”
• 22:33 She claims she adopted a child and lost everything in a fire
• 23:13 HR discovers the adoption, fire, and child were all fake
• 24:04 Telling the warehouse they mourned someone who never existed
• 25:12 Why one terrible experience shouldn’t destroy your compassion
• 27:08 A drunk new hire shows up for his first shift
• 28:34 They realize he’s actually 12 hours early
• 29:52 He runs from the police — straight to work
• 30:45 The police chase ends at the company parking garage
• 33:10 Every red flag led to the same place
• 34:24 She travels across the country uninvited
• 34:52 The escalating misconduct finally ends in termination
• 37:03 Final thoughts and show wrap-up
• 37:45 $10,000 contest reminder