I think I'm about to get fired. How should I react?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been working in the office of a shipping company for five years. It’s a huge corporation, but there are only 15 employees at my location. For the last several weeks, rumours have been floating around among the truck drivers about my departure. According to one driver, my supervisor told him that I’d be gone by (last) Friday. The supervisor and manager (the only two other office workers) haven’t said a thing to me. Apparently they’re hiring someone to do both my job (billing) and also be a supervisor. My release has nothing to do with my performance, which I’ve always been told is excellent.

Today when I went into work, the manager shook my hand when he welcomed me. Odd. That doesn’t usually happen. Actually, he’s usually already gone home by the time I show up. He hung around for a while, but didn’t say anything to me. Later, when I was closing up, one of the drivers told me that the manager had instructed him to obtain my key to the office. Freakin’ amazing. They have someone else take my key and not even tell me why, leaving it for me to assume. I would put this thread in the pit so I can rant like a maniac, but I just don’t have the energy. I tried to call him at his house. Not home. Cell phone. No answer. Then I tried my supervisor’s home phone and cell. No answers there either. They were ducking my calls.

I had fit spendidly into this job that they’d gone through 11 people in 12 months trying to fill. I was dependable. I did my work promptly and accurately. I was originally hired through a temp agency. My manager gave me three raises in my first year, and hinted at hiring me away from the temp place. Never happened. He got promoted to another city and a jerk took his place. I haven’t gotten a raise since then. I’ve been “temping” on the same job for five years. This means no insurance and no paid holidays, sick days, or funeral leave. It really sucks when you have to decide between flying to your grandfather’s funeral and actually making a full week’s pay to put food on the table (luckily, I was spared the decision by the generousity of my grandmother).

I was never happy about this situation, but I was determined not to let it effect my work. It didn’t. Nobody ever complained that my work was subpar. Of course, I didn’t get the encouragement and genuine appreciation that the first manager had given me, but I could live without it.

I have a feeling that I’m going to show up at work tomorrow only to be turned around and sent home. More than anything I want to tell them off. I want to curse them for informing truck drivers of my firing weeks in advance, but not bothering to mention it to me until the absolute last possible moment.

I have to remember, though, that this job will have to go on my resume. I mean, it’s five years! When you’re 24, that’s a long time. So how should I react? If I raise hell with them, and a potential future employer calls them as a reference, that won’t look good. On the other hand, if I just calmly accept my fate and move on, would they tell the future employers that I’m a total pushover who can be walked all over at anyone’s whim? Should I try to find some kind of middle ground? What do you guys think?

2

Wow.

I think I’d feel about the same way you do now. While your employers are deserving of being called asshats to their faces, don’t do it. Never burn bridges. Ever. Somewhere down the line, there’s a pretty good chance of it coming back to haunt you.

If you calmly accept your unfair fate and move on, I think you’ll be seen more as classy instead of as a pushover. What are they really going to say? “Well, we fired neutron star and dammit, she/he didn’t even come back to set the building on fire!” And from the way your manager and supervisor are behaving, it sounds like they know that they are spineless clods, so you probably don’t need to tell them.

Honestly, it sounds like you are much, much, much better off somewhere else. Somewhere with sick days and raises and insurance!

Good luck with the impending new job search. Let us know what happens.

3

It also sounds like they may be feeling a little guilty. Perhaps you can use this to your advantage by thanking them for the experience and asking for letters of recommendation. This is a tough thing to do though considering the circumstances. I agree with SLICE though, don’t burn bridges.

4

Wait, if you are still temping then shouldn’t the temp agency be the ones to inform you that the assignment is over?

5

Neutron - You must look at the bright side, you are extremely marketable right now. Sounds like you may be layed off but not fired. And 5 years in one locations show’s loyalty, perseverance, and dependability.

Use this to find other work, 5 years in one place makes you highly marketable. Use it. Good Luck!

6

Amp, technically, that’s correct. But in my experience, it’s always the employer that does it (unless they’re spineless clods, as per our OP’s employer). The spineless way would be to call the agency and make them do it.

I’ve been temping at the same place for a year and a half, and because layoffs are in the air, I asked my boss, who I get along with well, if he would tell me rather than the agency (who I don’t really have any contact with) if and when the time comes.

That said, these people are pretty rotten. Maybe you could go up to the boss and ask if they’ve considered putting you on full-time yet. Maybe that’ll force them to shit or get off the pot. DON’T burn your bridges. You need the reference.

7

Even better, if your first manager is still working for the company you could try and contact him for a letter of reference while you’re still employed there.

Since he saw enough in you to give you three raises, he probably would write you a shit-hot recommendation letter.

8

Take the high road, and act with total professionalism right up to the end. It’s time for you to move on anyway, and you’ll be much better off working somewhere else where they will appreciate you.
I know it’s corny to say, but a person’s character is measured by how they react to rough situations.

9

This company has taken horrible advantage of you, neutron star. Back in my temping days, I would only stay for 6 months before the company needed to hire me or release me so I could go find a company to appreciate me. As far as I’m concerned, if you need me longer than 6 months, you need to hire me.

As for your dilemma now, I would do these things in this order:

  1. Start looking for a good job. Make sure your résumé is up to date and ready to go.

  2. Talk to your pimp agency. Ask them if they know anything about your assignment ending. (What kind of agency lets your assignment go for five freakin’ years, anyway?)

  3. Talk to your supervisor at the job. If you can’t get a straight answer anywhere, continue with your job search and don’t make any big purchases.

  4. When you are released from this assignment (and we both know you’re going to be, if not now then soon), walk away knowing that a company that treats people like that doesn’t deserve an employee like you. Try to get a letter of reference from a good supervisor if you can.

  5. Learn from this experience, and don’t let assignments go this long. What this company did is truly shameful, and is against the law in Alberta (at two years, a company needs to hire or release their temps).

Good luck - it sounds like you’re a good worker and good employee, and just need to find someone to appreciate that.

10

I think most everyone here has already given you the same advice I would.

Hang in there. It’s a crappy situation but it may just mean it helps you find a job where you really excel and can actually get the little things… like insurance and paid vacation. Sounds like they had you for longer than they deserved anyway.

11

Just to reinforce what others are saying, be tactful and professional, and do what you can to cover yourself. Get letters, as they can help you get not only a better temp job but perhaps even a full-time job if that’s what you’re looking for. They won’t think of you as a total pushover; resisting a layoff won’t do any good because they do apparently intend to get rid of you regardless of what happens. (BTW, unless they tell you that your performance sucks, call it a layoff or “being let go.” Use that term when talking to your temp agency or discussing your resume with anyone else. Mention that you were a temp and that division was reorganizing.) You can politely express your disappointment, perhaps even slip in a comment about how you would have loved to join with them as a permanent employee. For those who will write letters of recommendation for you, you might consider writing out a carefully-worded list of your accomplishments while you were there, along with the years you worked there so they get it right in the letter.

I got laid off from my last job due to budget cuts, and was kind of jerked around in the process - basically the department head had told my division head about it a month before, the division head said ‘no, absolutely not, out of the question’ and thought that was the end of it, but they went ahead with layoffs anyway. I found out a week before my time was up that I was being laid off. The division head really went to bat for me, but failed in getting me retained. I was furious and frustrated, but didn’t voice it to the people in the department (though I did to those in my division, politely, as they were sympathetic and disappointed), and conducted myself professionally, even during the short exit interview. I got superb letters of recommendation, and even a personal letter at my home from a departmental secretary saying she now realized the meaning of the phrase “don’t know what you have until it’s gone”, praising my efficiency and ease to work with, and saying that things weren’t going so well since my departure.

And I agree with murky’s last sentence - they had you longer than they deserved. Some companies don’t know how to treat loyal employees, temps or permanent staff alike.

12

Look at it as an opportunity – you built up a good record at a temp job, so now you can go someplace where you can get benefits. I bet in six months you’ll be glad you moved on.

Your boss, BTW, is being a jerk and a coward. Sure, it’s embarassing and possibly awkward – but that’s his job. He should grow a backbone and be willing to do the uncomfortable parts.

I second everyone else: be classy. You’ll win in the end.

13

Take your cues from our role models at the US Postal Service. That’s all you need to know!

14

Wait - you mean that the company still calls it a temporary position, not that you are going through an agency, right? That way, they don’t have to offer you benefits, but you still work there.

15

I don’t know if considered a “firing” if you still work for the temp agency, but if you want to keep your record clean, ask them to invite you to resign instead of firing you. That way, if anyone ever asks you if you’ve ever been fired, you can look 'em in the eye and say “no”.

It also helps to be employed when looking for another job, so ask them if they can accept your resignation at the time you find another job and keep you on unpaid leave with no benefits until then. That way, you can tell potential employers that you are “currently employed by such-and-such company.”

Can’t hurt to ask, and DO NOT burn that bridge! In the end, you’ll be glad that you were a bigger person then they were.

16

Wanted to reiterate what welby said. Excellent suggestion.
In addition, technically, your temporary agency assignment with this company has ended, but you were not fired or laid off by anyone.

I realize it’s nitpicky. However, it is important when looking at verifications of employment and such. Working in HR, I would occasionally receive requests to verify a previous temporary worker’s employment. I could not provide information and would instead refer them to the temporary agency (for liability reasons, or because the contract between employer and agency required this). Unfortunately, temporary employees will also often not receive the severance, pay-in-lieu notice or other payments made to those regularly employed.

In around 6 years of working in the HR field, I’ve had to prepare much of the paperwork and conduct some of the exit interviews in about 6 layoffs involving perhaps a total of 300 employees in two different companies. Most people don’t find out until the actual day of the layoff, unfortunately, which adds to their frustration. The executive rationales for avoiding a general non-specific notice (unless required by law, i.e. federal WARN act) include; avoiding employees not on any layoff lists to jump ship and; avoiding a period of anxiety throughout the company wondering who is on the list. Specific notices are avoided to prevent those rare possibilities of sabotage, theft, etc., by employees being laid off (and some executives are incredibly paranoid about the likelihood of such things.)

17

Do not do this–if you do, you will not be elegible for unemployement compensation. Make the cowards lay you off.

When I was laid off in January, 2002, my supervisor popped into my cubicle, tossed an envelope on my desk, and said “Go to this meeting.” The cowardly bitch then ran off before I could even turn around and look her in the eye. There were thirty people at the meeting, including one poor guy who had moved from Chicago to Memphis a week earlier to take a job with the company, and we were all laid off. Now, the company is no more and the owners are under indictment for 23 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy totalling over $50 million.

18

vibrotronica, FYI, I was talking about being fired, not laid off.

Here are the options I would take, in order:

  1. Lay off
  2. Invitation to resign
  3. Firing

I would only want to be fired if I couldn’t afford to live for a while on my savings or credit. The stigma of being fired wouldn’t be worth 3 or 4 months of unemployment benefits (for me).

19

Well, needing that recommendation letter, I’d show up when the manager’s there and ask for one. Be very friendly, no great loss, tell him/her that you really enjoyed working there, blah blah blah. If he/she says they don’t have time right now, hand over a “sample” letter all ready for signature. If you need it on letterhead, use their copying machine and there you go. Don’t let the weasel not give you a recommendation.

20

Thanks for the advice and encouragement, everyone. I went in today to get my time card signed and find out for sure if I was laid off. I was. The manager said he hadn’t told me because there was some sort of requirement that the temp agency do it. He said that he had called the temp agency this morning, but apparently they never called me to relay the message. Geez. They charged the company $4 for every hour I worked for five years in exchange for doing absolutely nothing except printing my paychecks. They can’t be bothered to make a simple phone call? Oh well.

When I went in, I played it cool. I smiled, I shook hands, I told them that I harbored no hard feelings. I kind of meant it, too. While I’ll miss the money, I’m a little happy to be rid of this job. Most of the drivers are open racists and one is a proud wifebeater. I got so sick of going in there every night and having to listen to that crap…

Actually, the current manager isn’t really a bad guy. I oversimplified in my OP. Good manager served for my first year. Jerk served from then up until about three months ago, when he was demoted to a salesman (“Hey, I got an idea! Let’s take the most annoying, creepy, condescending-despite-the-fact-that-he’s-stupid, jerk and put him in constant contact with the customers! Brilliant!”).

The person who replaced him also somehow manages the Baton Rouge terminal, which is an hour and a half away in heavy daytime traffic. He probably spends half his job just driving back and forth. I didn’t see him too much. Even so, he was letting me go, so I decided to play the sympathy card and ask him for a letter of recommendation, despite not having known him for long. He readily agreed and even let me write the letter myself. I put in all of my good qualities. His only revision was to spruce up the letterhead and add his contact information. Then he printed it out and signed his name. Cool. I guess that works.

I’m planning to move across the country in three or four months, so I’m really going to have to scrimp, save, and eat ham sandwiches instead of my Big Bacon Classic combo meals from Wendy’s. My wife works, though, and I have another part-time job during the daytime, so hopefully we’ll be able to scrounge up enough money to get out of here.

If this had happened two years ago when I didn’t have the other job and my wife was in school, we would have really been screwed. If it had to happen, it’s good that it happened now. And, hey, now that I have my nights off, I can actually watch Law & Order when it’s on TV instead of having to wait and download it later (I’m very bad about remembering to set the VCR).

Thanks for the information. It’s nice hearing from someone in HR about this. I do have a couple of questions for you, if you wouldn’t mind.

How should I show these five years on my resume? Should I show my employer as the temp place, or the trucking company? This was the only job I held with the agency, and I’m afraid that if my application only shows that I worked for a temp place for five years, someone reading it may get the impression that my work was sporadic and that they were shifting me around from job to job, when, in fact, my work was all at the same place, five nights a week, and as steady as any permanent employee. Also, how should my dismissal be phrased? I mean, technically the company laid me off, but I still work for the temp agency. I do not, however, want to take any new assignments, since I won’t be here too much longer and I doubt they’d be able to find something compatable with the hours of my other job (which I won’t quit, because, low-paying as it may be, it’s actually a job in IT and will look good on a resume, since IT is what I’m planning to do). So does that mean I quit?

Also, what do I do with my reference letter? Should I take it with me on interviews and bring it to their attention? Or should I put “References Available Upon Request” on my resume and only give them the letter if they ask? Or perhaps something else?

Forgive me if all of this sounds like a barrage of really stupid questions, but all of the jobs I’ve had before this were low-paying service industry jobs that required little more than filling out an application and a fifteen-minute interview.