{"id":349904,"date":"2026-09-18T03:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/349904\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T03:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:10:20","slug":"manhattanite-fired-after-just-2-5-hours-on-the-job-over-poor-hygiene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/349904\/","title":{"rendered":"Manhattanite fired after just 2.5 hours on the job over poor hygiene"},"content":{"rendered":"

This job loss stinks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Manhattan resident Chris Smalls, 35, recently confessed in a now-viral Reddit post<\/a> that he was fired from a new corporate gig after just 2.5 hours because his bosses \u201ccited hygiene issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smalls, who posted under the username Havocko, wrote that after nine months of unemployment<\/a>, he found the position through a temp agency. <\/p>\n

Smalls says he showered the night before his job began, and wore a brand-new polo shirt when he showed up at the AI tech company where he was hired to work in \u201cpeople ops.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a now-viral Reddit post, a Manhattan worker says he was fired for \u201chygiene issues\u201d despite being clean. Antonioguillem \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

After an uneventful first few hours filled with light onboarding, he was told to take an early lunch. Before he even made it out of the building, he received a call from the temp agency notifying him that he was being let go for \u201chygiene issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an exclusive phone call with The Post, Smalls recalled that the liaison who broke the news sounded confused and didn\u2019t elaborate on his dismissal, though she did ask what he had been wearing. He confirmed it was the brand-new polo shirt he had set out the night before.<\/p>\n

The jilted employee maintains that he was well-groomed and washed<\/a>, telling online detractors, \u201cI thoroughly washed myself, including my a**,\u201d though he conceded his pants \u201ccould\u2019ve used a lint roller.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCould it have been when I scratched my nose and it looked like I was picking it<\/a>?\u201d Smalls wrote. \u201cMaybe at some point I burped <\/a>with my mouth closed and someone heard it? I honestly don\u2019t know and haven\u2019t received closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some commenters felt sorry for Smalls, while others questioned if he really was as stink-free as he said. Tasneem H\/peopleimages.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

He asked both his roommate and a friend if he smelled; both said no, and he has no reason to believe they lied. Smalls added that while he owns a cat and a dog, his apartment is clean, he lives with a \u201cclean freak,\u201d and only one roommate smokes.<\/p>\n

Smalls told The Post that although the temp agency initially expressed interest in continuing to work with him, he hasn\u2019t heard back since a follow-up call where he pleaded his case. He still has not been paid for his brief shift.<\/p>\n

Reactions to Smalls\u2019 post\u2014which racked up over 7,500 upvotes in under 24 hours\u2014ranged from sympathy to suspicion.<\/p>\n

Smalls believes that if New York were not an at-will state, he may still be employed. metamorworks \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible to shower poorly and insufficiently,\u201d wrote one netizen, who wondered why Smalls didn\u2019t shower in the morning like most adults. \u201cAlso, especially after a night of sleep, I consider deodorant a daily must.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d wrote a more sympathetic commentor. \u201cThis would make me paranoid as hell and super self-conscious. I\u2019m sure they just needed to invent a reason to send you away and chose violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few Redditors suggested Smalls might be a victim of \u201chire to fire<\/a>\u201c\u2014the practice of hiring employees with the intent to terminate them quickly to satisfy internal metrics or turnover quotas. Smalls considers this unlikely given his short-term contract, noting that after a few weeks of reflection, his \u201cbest guess is that they thought I was picking my nose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now back on the job market, Smalls admits there may not be much of a lesson to learn beyond a grim realization: \u201cJobs will make up any excuse to let you go, and temp agencies are users.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe laws regarding firing people need to change,\u201d Smalls added. \u201cIf New York weren\u2019t an at-will state, I\u2019d probably still be employed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This job loss stinks. Manhattan resident Chris Smalls, 35, recently confessed in a now-viral Reddit post that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[112733,232,9,56,63,65,64,24162],"class_list":["post-349904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-hygiene","tag-lifestyle","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-the-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}