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?