I was fired today. Fired in the most improbable way. I’ve never been fired in my life and I’m still not sure how to wrap my brain around it. There were only 2 people in the company - the owner and me. My former boss is a mean, crotchety old man who had a stroke last april and has shown a marked drop in intellectual performance since that time. I wasn’t his caretaker, I was his editor. He owns a small construction specification company in which he is (obviously) the only writer.
This guy comes and goes from the office as he pleases, sometimes for hours at a time, and is usually not there when I get there in the morning. Sometimes he doesn’t show up at all, sometimes he shows up drunk. He chainsmokes in the office (I’m a nonsmoker) and doesn’t have two words to say to me at any given time. Although the business has been too broke to pay me for the last couple of weeks, I have shown up to work faithfully hoping that some of our clients would pay us so that I could pay myself. I forfeited my last 2 paychecks so that he could pay the rent on his apartment which I had to remind him to pay, along with his cable bill. In fact, I had to forge the checks and overnight them since he didn’t bother to show up to work that day and I had received a couple of angry phone calls.
I am often late for work (never more than 20 minutes) and I know that is wrong, but he usually isn’t there when I show up anyway. I try to incorporate errands for the office and bank runs into my lunch break, but sometimes I have to wait in line at the bank for half an hour or more (downtown Boston - banks are always crowded here) to deposit company checks. I purchase all of the supplies for the office which also involves waiting in line at places like CVS, etc.
Today, just as I am walking out the door to go to my first Harvard Extension chemistry class, he tells me that he needs someone more reliable than me and that he is letting me go. He hands me a paycheck and another check for severance pay and tells me not to bother showing up tomorrow. Flabbergasted, I ask him what I did wrong. He tells me that I come and go as I please and that I don’t come to work on time. I mention that I am usually running errands for him (like picking up a bottle of scotch and some coffee beans, for instance). He grunts. I ask him if it occurred to him to say something about this before he decided to fire me. He says that he didn’t think it would do any good. This is where my brain melts. I pack my stuff in a box, throw my keys on his desk, and leave. I somehow make it through a devastatingly confusing chemistry class where I come close to a nervous breakdown.
It’s only after I get home that I realize he’s stiffed me for a week’s pay. :mad:
I don’t know how to deal with this situation. Advice and/or other anecdotes about being fired are welcome. I could especially use some truly mortifying stories about getting sacked. You guys have had it worse than this, right? Right?
Poor Sea Sloth. It sounds like it was a pretty dreadful job in any case, but it’s tough when they make the decision for you.
was once fired long-distance by a boss who was on vacation in Japan. The department head left on her vacation and told my immediate supervisor to give me the letter in a week. So I spent a week killing myself trying to save my job when I was already fired.
I also once got a raise and got fired in the same week.
Cat, what did you do when you applied for your next job? Did your old company allow you to use them as a reference? I’m afraid that won’t be the case here…just wondering how to explain this to potential employers.
After that time I got fired I went off to a trade school and learned to process words, gaining what was a very new and desirable skill in 1986, and I got my recommendation for the next job from the school. That’s probably not much help.
But I have an extremely checkered job history, so what I’ve done in those stretches when I was unable to provide decent references was take temp jobs until one of them hired me – nothing like doing the work to prove you can do the work, if you see what I mean. And temping (even if it’s not in your field and boring and poorly paid, and all that) keeps various wolves from the door while one is looking for someone who’ll take a chance on someone with a spotty resume. A recent job, even a temp job, and even without a reference, is lots better than a gap in employment.
Specific to us editorial types: One advantage of being an editor is that you get to take editing tests, and testing well (as you probably know) gives you a big leg up no matter how checkered a past you have.
You asked for stories…I once got fired a YEAR ahead of when I was up for renewal. The boss told me that even though my renewal was a year away and other people would (supposedly) be a part of the decision, he felt that he was ethically (!) bound to tell me that he would NEVER recommend my renewal, no matter what I did. Sheesh. Luckily, I found something else and got my fanny out of there.
It does sound like a horrible job, and there must be something better out there for you. Can you think of it that way yet?
Oh, my firing: I was late for the third time in 89 days (policy was that they could fire you if you were late 3 times within 90 days) on the day of an emormous blizzard. I was 2 minutes late. The power was out, so they closed anyway.
Did I mention that my 2nd tardiness was because my car’s timing belt broke? Didn’t matter, I was written up anyway.
Did I mention that I won a customer service award that very same week?
Good advice, Chris, but I think he may be unaware of the missing paycheck since his brain is somewhat befuddled due to his stroke. I’ll call tomorrow (yikes!) and tell him. Shit. I really don’t want to call, but I have to.
Cat, I think I asked you in some other thread somewhere out there (sorry, working on my 3rd beer, here) about freelance copyediting. I never had time to look for your response. My hotmail is on the fritz at the moment, but would you mind if I e-mailed you about that once I am up and running again?
Hey Sea Sloth, does your name come from your knowledge that there actually were aquatic giant ground sloths? Man, it’s hard to imagine a terrestrial ground sloth. An aquatic ground sloth stretches my brain past the breaking point. Of course, my favorite south american mammal is the Thylacosmilus, the marsupial sabertooth. Ummm…did I hijack the thread? Well, maybe you need distracting or something…
Don’t call. Write. Send it certified mail with a delivery receipt.
As much empathy as you may have for this person, they have already demonstrated that they are not “reasonable”. File for unemployment as soon as possible and try to keep everything in writing.
My mother just went through a rough firing. She worked as a nurse in a hospital for 20something years. She became friendly with several of the doctors, and one of them offered to send her back to school(for 1 year) to get her nurse practitioners degree, and then come work for him. The great part was, that he was going to pay for her schooling and her regular wages while she was in class. All this happens, and she quits her job at the hospital. Once she graduates, he decides that he doesnt need her, and just throws her out in the street. Now she has no job, and a new degree with zero experience. She pretty much wasted a year of her life in good faith that this guy was going to hire her, and then he just fucked her in the end. If i was closer to home I would have went and kicked that guys ass
I once took a call when my boss was out. It
was the Urban League telling him they had
found a person for MY job. I left the
message on his desk, walked out, and never
looked back.
Sounds to me like the guy couldn’t afford you anymore, but didn’t want to admit it. So, to save face for himself, he trumped up some excuse to fire you, rather than admit that he could no longer make payroll on a regular basis.
I was once fired on an answering machine message. That was the worst one. I feel so bad for you Sea Sloth, getting fired sucks. I know you will find something great soon.
Bummer about getting fired. As a couple of others have already said, it looks like they couldn’t afford you, and the business will probably go under soon enough anyway.
I have worked for companies that were going bust, and I know that people persuade themselves that things will get better - but why do you realise that when you forfeited your paychecks, you were paying his rent and cable bill?
Oops - isn’t that illegal? Rhetorical question - it is illegal, even when you commit fraud with good intentions, and to no personal gain. One of the accountants at my Mother in law’s office was sacked this year for doing exactly the same thing - suppliers complaining about getting paid while the boss was on holiday, so she forged a cheque for them.
As others have said, you should try your labor board - but if the company is bankrupt, you won’t get much out of it.
Good luck with the job hunting - that last one wasn’t worth keeping anyway.
Seasloth:
I agree that this guy probably just didn’t want to admit his business was headed for the crapper. Maybe he assumed if he forgot to pay you that you’d leave on your own and spare him the trouble of firing you.
The bottom line is that you’re better off,whether you feel it now or not. Move on and don’t sweat about it. You can find another job. As for explaining the firing, it’s so easy really. Just point out that he had a stroke which necessitated some changes in his business. It’s the truth and there’s no reason for anyone to not believe it.
You’r not moving on, you’re moving up!
Don’t forget that!
