Six Months With a Bizarre 'Kevin': Engineering, Egos, and ESD Wristbands Gone Wrong
If you’ve ever worked in tech or manufacturing, chances are you’ve crossed paths with a “Kevin”—that coworker whose combination of misplaced confidence, questionable expertise, and jaw-dropping pronouncements makes every day a new episode of workplace sitcom. Recently, Reddit’s r/StoriesAboutKevin delivered a sequel that’s pure gold: the tale of six months alongside a truly unforgettable Kevin in a Mexican electronics plant. Strap in for volcano conspiracies, metaphysical manufacturing theories, and the kind of antics that leave colleagues wondering if HR even checked his resume.
The Arrival of Kevin: "Fake It Till You Break It"
The scene opens with our narrator, a seasoned engineer and recent hire, joining a growing team. Among the new faces is Kevin: short, balding, skinny, and seemingly determined to project a “giant ego”—though, as the original poster (u/Bitter_Lab_475) notes, it’s less confidence and more “bad actor, insecure during a casting, trying to act the role Homelander.” The mystery deepens: Kevin’s backstory changes with every retelling. Is he a just-graduated newbie? A manager of 28 engineers? The proprietor of a PC repair shop? As one top commenter, u/thirdmulligan, quipped, “Some people are just a whole different species I stg.”
From day one, Kevin was more interested in “supervising” than assembling, lurking on the sidelines and delivering wild, unsolicited trivia. His pièce de résistance? Warning his colleagues about a “huge volcano under the city” supposedly revealed in a “classified” university paper—one that, suspiciously, nobody could ever read. As u/highinthemountains succinctly put it, “There are Kevins all around us.”
Negative Energy, 120V Bolts, and the Birth of Office Legends
Kevin’s tenure quickly became legend. After proving his lack of hands-on skills (and damaging more than he fixed), he was shuffled to the rework department—“where he could do the least damage possible.” There, he unleashed a new wave of confusion. When manufacturing hiccups arose, Kevin gravely suggested that “negative energy” from the team was damaging electronic components. Was he speaking in metaphors about teamwork? Nope—he meant literal bad vibes frying the circuits.
His coworkers tried to pin him down: Was he confusing electricity with “bad vibes” or “chakra”? Kevin doubled down, proposing that consulting a shaman could fix production yields. The plant’s wise supervisor, Joseph, delivered a legendary one-liner (in a thick Tamaulipan accent): “Don’t bring any of your crystals, incense or zodiac stuff here, it is not ESD (electrostatic discharge) compliant!” The whole plant erupted in laughter—especially when Kevin later insisted that assembling grounding tables required “120V bolts.” E1, E2, and even the techs riffed on the joke, with E2 shouting, “The substation needs 40KV bolts!” as the room burst into fits.
As u/now_you_see joked in the comments, the mysterious volcano must be the source of all that static electricity—“duh!”
Social Strikes, Golden Units, and Kevin’s Dramatic Exit
By month four, Kevin’s oddities had isolated him from nearly everyone. “He thought everyone wanted to be his friend, yet felt the need to try to make everyone else feel less than him,” the OP recounted. The breaking point came when Kevin insulted E3—a quiet, hardworking engineer—with a bizarre “unga unga, fix things!” jab. E3, usually unflappable, nearly lost his cool, and Kevin’s attempts to save face only made things worse. As the OP explained to him: “He doesn’t want to hang out WITH YOU! And I can’t blame him.”
But nothing topped Kevin’s grand finale. Assigned to a special Saturday shift, he was caught napping in plain sight—wrapped in his ESD coat, snoozing in the open like a cartoon character. The no-nonsense Taiwanese general manager discovered him, and Kevin was promptly fired (with security camera footage making the rounds for everyone’s amusement). True to form, Kevin’s farewell wasn’t a quiet exit but a melodramatic WhatsApp manifesto accusing everyone of betrayal: “Because of you I now know who not to trust. I felt your betrayal and for that I thank you for teaching me not to trust anyone.” The OP, in a moment of pure Reddit gold, confessed he wanted to frame that message.
And, for a final bonus: Kevin once disassembled not one, but TWO “golden units”—perfect, reference-standard products—just to see if they still worked, then promptly forgot how to put them back together. The general manager’s “very stern talk” was inevitable.
The Community Reacts: The Universal Language of Kevin
Redditors couldn’t get enough. Many, like u/cuavas, were reminded of Kevins from their own lives: “Haha, this Kevin is hilarious. He reminds me of a Kevin who went to university with me (Kevin didn’t even last one year at university).” The OP himself chimed in, reflecting that HR probably never even verified Kevin’s credentials: “Honestly… it was fun having him around, not because he was fun himself, but there were good stories about him.”
The consensus? Kevins are everywhere, and while they can be infuriating, sometimes their sheer oddness turns the daily grind into something memorable. As u/thirdmulligan observed, “It’s so unhinged that after six months you still couldn’t really be sure if he was even really an engineer in the first place.”
Conclusion: When Work Becomes a Comedy—Thanks to a Kevin
Whether you’re in engineering, retail, or any other field, there’s a good chance you’ve met a Kevin—or maybe you are the Kevin (in which case, please, don’t take apart the golden units). These stories remind us that while competence is key, the workplace is often made memorable by its characters. Sometimes, the most frustrating coworkers become the most legendary tales.
Do you have a Kevin in your office? Share your stories in the comments—or, as OP promises, stay tuned for more wild tales from the front lines of workplace absurdity. And if you ever hear about a classified volcano paper, let us know—we’re still waiting four years later.
What’s your best “Kevin” story? Drop it below, or tag a friend who’ll relate!
Original Reddit Post: 6 Months Of A Weird Kevin (Sequel to previous post)