Ok, this is going to be pretty long, and sometimes I get a bit ahead of myself which leads to unorganized long-posts, so please ask for clarification if I fail to provide it at any certain point.
Ok, the players:
Cisco (that’s me!)
Bob (a good friend of mine for roughly 6 years)
Tom (Boss and friend for the last 3 and a half years)
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (lesser bosses (managers))
Cow-orkers
Note that all names except my own have been changed.
Ok, Tom is the owner of the company I worked at for the last three and a half years. A small resturant franchise, about 15 stores. Bob, as you know, is a friend of mine. About a year ago Bob decided to go into business for himself and bought one of these stores. He and Tom were previously friends but Tom basically started screwing him from the start, and it just got worse. To simplify things, the situation has started coming to a head as of late and Bob wants out. Tom has begun telling everyone that Bob is a theif and he has been stealing…etc, etc.
About 2 weeks or so ago, two cow-orkers were discussing the situation and going on and on about what a theif Bob was and, since we were the only three people in the store, I decided to throw my 2 cents in. I basically said
“Hey, wait, Bob is my friend, and he is supposed to be your friend too, and I don’t really think you should be talking about him like that, especially since you have no idea what you’re talking about. And now that you mention it, have you ever noticed that every single one of Tom’s business partners turns out to be a ‘Theif’?” I continued, “We’ll probably never know 100% of the truth from either side but I’m personally inclined to believe Bob over Tom” and that was the end of it.
Fast forward to the Sunday after Thanksgiving (one week ago today), I had been on vacation since Wednesday (had family in town, hadn’t had any time off in a really long time) so I called work to check in and see when I had to be back in. My friend on the phone immediately told me “I’m going to give you the heads up on something. Tom heard about all that stuff you were saying.”
My reaction was basically “Oh, whatever. When do I have to be back to work?”
He went back to check the schedule and came back and told me I wasn’t on it, and the reason was that Tom was extremely mad about “all that stuff I said.”
This is after three and a half years of loyal, hard work. I have called in sick twice in three and a half years. I have never declined to come in when they needed someone on my day off, and I have consistently picked up extra responsibilities just because I cared.
Every single person I have related this story to has basically said “They can’t fire you for that.” Well, can they? Any facts or details or elaborations would be greatly appreciated.
And now, I have another little problem. I don’t really want my job back (although I desperately need a paycheck from somewhere) because I’m trying to use this “opportunity” to get a job at a large software company, but Tweedle Dum was one of my references on my resume (which I submitted a few days before I found out about this.) He has always been a really good friend, but I found out from Tweedle Dee, that due to his overwhelming loyalty to Tom, he now hates me. What can he tell them when they call for a reference? Should I update my resume and say I got fired?
Sorry this was so long and unorganized and thank you for reading this far. Thanks in advance if anyone has any answers.