An American employee was hired, forgotten, and paid for months without lifting a finger. His experience isn’t just bizarre—it raises serious questions about corporate structure and modern hiring practices.
Hired, Then Forgotten Before Day One
This strange case begins on the East Coast, where a man landed a job at a major international real estate company. According to Esquire, everything seemed normal—until his recruiter was fired just before his start date. When he arrived on his first day, no one was expecting him. An employee from another team pointed him to a desk, and that was the last direction he ever received.
“I tried reaching out to managers, but no one responded or seemed interested,” he wrote anonymously on Reddit. Over the next few weeks, he showed up, waited, and realized that no one was supervising or assigning him any work. Yet, he continued to get paid—nearly six figures annually—without question.
Keeping a Routine to Justify the Paycheck
Rather than vanish, the employee created a loose routine to make his presence known. He went to the office three days a week, worked remotely the other two, and every Friday sent a payroll spreadsheet to a supervisor who never replied. “It takes about 15 minutes a week,” he admitted.
The rest of his time? Reading, watching videos, or doing absolutely nothing. When asked why he didn’t take up a second remote job, his answer was blunt: “I’m a flemmard [lazy person]… even this job, I didn’t want to do it. Why would I add another one?”
The post quickly gained traction online, with users questioning how such an oversight could continue for seven months without triggering internal audits or HR intervention.
He’s Not Alone—And Some Used It to Build a Business
Another similar case reported by Esquire involves an anonymous man who spent two years on a company’s payroll without doing any work. Like the real estate employee, he was hired but never onboarded or assigned to a project. Bored and resourceful, he used the time to launch his own business while cashing his monthly salary.
“I was never given a task,” he said. “Eventually I realized I could use the hours to build something else.” He quit only when his new business became profitable.
While these stories may sound like isolated flukes, others have described similar experiences. Companies like Meta have faced criticism for hiring engineers with no clear roles—allegedly to prevent them from joining competitors, according to internal reports cited during the pandemic hiring spree.
What This Reveals About Corporate Dysfunction
At first glance, these cases seem laughable. But they point to deeper organizational issues: poor communication, bloated management layers, and unclear accountability. When recruiters leave abruptly or teams lack proper onboarding procedures, entire roles can disappear into administrative limbo.
The situation also spotlights the downside of mass hiring, particularly at large firms operating across multiple regions or time zones. In some cases, recruiters may fill quotas or post roles that serve HR metrics more than real business needs.