Was There Cake?
I don’t know if it’s standard, but I worked at a place where HR wasn’t allow to tell us if someone was fired. It was a big enough place that you might not immediately realize someone had left and, when you found out, you weren’t supposed to ask why.
So, if you wanted to know if they were fired, you asked, “Was there cake?” Which was to say that, if the person had retired or left pleasantly after a number of years, they would be given a party with cake. If they were fired, not so much.
“I haven’t seen Brian for some time.” “Brian no longer works here.” …”Was there cake?” Story credit: Reddit / notsofastandy