I was fired today, for the first time ever and it’s been eating me up all day long. I just started to work for a local pizzeria as a delivery driver. It was a temp job to help out with college. In the 3 days with this company, I feel like I’ve made the worst decision in my life by working there. The manager leaves raw chicken wings out for HOURS – health hazard? He never washes his hands when he comes out of the bathroom or when he wipes the sweat from his head. Gross!
I was late today for the deliveries because he decided to make the pizzas late and goof off and leave me 8 mins to deliver within 4 miles. I didn’t know the area too well, so I relied on my gps device. The customers called and complained their food was late and the manager told the owner it was my fault the deliveries were late. And of course the owner will believe the manager over a new worker. We were understaffed and business kept coming in. It was just the two of us there. I confronted him and asked him why he lied to the owner and said it was my fault, he said he was well within his power to do so.
After I clocked out, he came running after me in the parking lot and got REALLY close and told me he was firing me for being slow on the job and poor performance. I thought for sure he was going to hit me right there and then. I would’ve loved for him to touch me. I would’ve filled that place with so many lawsuits, his grandchildren would need lawyers. I called my lawyer afterwards and told him what happened and that I was fired for wrongful termination and he said I couldn’t do anything about it because it was At Will Employment.
I don’t know why I’m taking this so personally. I’ve never let work get to the point where I get depressed and lash out my anger against my loved ones.
It’s the way they fired me that ticks me off so much. The worst part is, this guy is going to continue to do the things he does. He not only deserves to be fired, but to be imprisoned as well for the intentional to sell people bacteria/disease-ridden chicken.
Definitely you got to try to fuck up that manager – minimum, snitch for health code, although probably won’t come to anything. Maybe a local TV news has one of those “Dirty Dining” type little segments – check it out.
You must be the only pizza driver with a lawyer on retainer, though. How, exactly, did that come about, if I can ask without being a jerk?
BTW, if it’s not clear, that manager is a piece of shit – you should try to fuck him up somehow, as sport. At least send him a package full of bird shit.
ETA oh, here’s a no-brainer. Make sure you file for unemployment, and go to court/arbitration when they challenge it. If you don’t need/want the $$, give it to a good charity – just make them pay, is all I’m saying.
Please don’t let, ‘getting fired’, from a pizza joint, by a jerk manager, give you high blood pressure. Jerk managers and small restaurant/franchises often go together. Lots of people have been fired by idiots.
You gotta just decide, ‘I’m going to let this go.’ Life is too short, to give this idiocy, space in your cranium. It’s kind of a life lesson in, self confidence, and letting things go.
You have to be confident that you did nothing wrong, and that this guy was way off base. There is nothing you can do, very likely. He’s the manager, you’d only worked there 3 days, etc. Any attempt to report the health code issues will likely look like sour grapes. Besides it’s not your job to police his place.
I don’t know either. But the OP could still probably file for it. Granted, I have a great capacity to hold a grudge and consider it cathartic to try to exploit enemies, regardless of whether or not it works out in the end or not. It could be fun to try – the owner is as culpable as the manager. He or she hired and retains the dumbass manager, after all.
But, seriously – what is up with the lawyer business? A family member or friend of the family? I’m guessing that’s it.
ETA obviously the OP is going to have to suck it up and just let it go – it’s just a stupid job run by stupid people. I’ve been there, and I’m guessing everyone’s been in that situation. Since letting it go is what’s going to have to happen, might as well have some fun, so long as one doesn’t get all worked up about it or invest too much of one’s self-worth in the little entertainment of playing Catherine de Medicis (she was the great poisoner of the 16th C, right?).
Or better yet, take a breath and let it go. This isn’t something worth getting worked up over or investing any more energy in. Don’t bother to file for unemployment (most states will deny a claim for a seasonal worker with three days on the job, and you’ll never convince an arbitrator your firing was unjustified.
Find another job or enjoy the summer, and take this as a life lesson:
Revenge is a waste of time, especially over something which you’ll come to realize was a relatively minor event.
It’s not worth pursuing. Leave it off your job history on your resume – it doesn’t sound like they’ll be circumspect and will flat out say that you were fired for cause.
Calling the health department might be a good idea, if only for the safety of the customers. But otherwise, pretend it never happened. The guy was a jerk and will remain one and you don’t want him to be running your life any more – which is what happens if you try to retaliate.
Let it go, but definitely call the county health department. I used to work for the HD and they have restuarant inspectors who would be very interested in checking out a kitchen where raw food is left out for hours. It’s not just payback, it’s protecting the health of the public.
Employees can dispute this if they feel they were fired unfairly/without cause. But yes, after 3 days I would assume that you don’t qualify, and it’s probably not worth the bother.
That said, your state’s unemployment office website can probably give you all the information you need about the various rules for qualifying for unemployment.
I suggest you move on, find a better career and generally improve the quality of your life while the asshole manager festers in his miserable shitty pizza job. I call it the “long con.”
I was involved in a few of these arbitrations when I was a manager. They involved a conference call where the moderator talked to the former employee for a bit, then put him on hold and talked to the former boss, then maybe a few more back and forth questions. Then the moderator will get back to both parties with a decision. You don’t get to hear what the other party is saying, and there is no cross examination.
There is no need to bring Perry Mason along because you aren’t going to court or even a formal hearing.
They usually look back at your earnings for the previous 5 quarters. A year plus the last quarter of the previous period.