Should I Have Been Fired?

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(first off, I hated my job, so I am not looking for any sympathy)

I am a little bit confused. I had Sunday and Monday off. Monday night, I started to feel pretty shitty, so I called my manager at home and left a message with her boyfriend (and former employee) saying that I would not be able to make it in the next day. On Tuesday, I rested all day. I was unsure if I needed another day off until late in the evening. I called my manager at 9:00. She was not there, so I left a message with her mother, who said that my manager would be back soon. I then waited for a call back. It never came.

On Wednesday, I called the store a number of times, but my manager was not there. I then called her home, and left a messsage with her boyfriend, who said that I would be called back at 8:00. At 10:00, having received no word, I called again, and my manager was on the other end of the phone.

She told me that I had been fired for failing to get in touch with her. She told me that her mother was unreliable, and that any message that I might have left with her did not count.

My manager had informed me a few weeks ago that leaving a message with her mother was ok.

What the fuck. Did I fuck up somewhere?

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Thursday, 7 November 2002 20:33 (twenty-three years ago)

No your manager is crazy and unprofessional. You're better off not having to deal with her.

― isadora (isadora), Thursday, 7 November 2002 20:35 (twenty-three years ago)

hmm. this situation seems really unprofessional and ready for fucked-upness on its face. wasn't there an answering machine at the workplace where you could have left a message of some sort?

― maura (maura), Thursday, 7 November 2002 20:36 (twenty-three years ago)

when I called the workplace, I reached the staff. but I wanted to talk to the manager to make sure everything was ok, and to also tell her that I had a doctors appointment to go to today, and to ask what my new shedule would be because of this.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Thursday, 7 November 2002 20:39 (twenty-three years ago)

(I just realized how dud this thread is. Feel free to share any compalints about your own wrongful terminations!)

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Thursday, 7 November 2002 21:24 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think you should have been sacked. That sucks!

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 7 November 2002 21:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Dude, that's not right ! What are the laws that apply ? You should do something. You're the DC/NoVA person, right, where did you work (or what type of place anyway)?

― daria g, Thursday, 7 November 2002 21:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I don;t know if any laws apply. It never came to my mind, as I was unhappy there. I worked at a coffee shop in Ye Olde Towne, Alexandria. The customers were assholes. Thier interests were: complimenting each other's dogs, looking at antiques, and projecting a smug self-satisfaction.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Thursday, 7 November 2002 21:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh Aaron, I feel for you, I used to work at Olsson's Books & Records, a stone's throw for your current hell!

Getting fired sucks! Even when you hate your job and everybody that works there! Believe me, I know!

I'm sorry to hear this.

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 7 November 2002 22:37 (twenty-three years ago)

why couldn;t you leave a message with the staff at the store, and have them put it on her desk or whatever? I would never call my manger's mother.

― g (graysonlane), Thursday, 7 November 2002 22:40 (twenty-three years ago)

obviously not supposed to say "manger"

― g (graysonlane), Thursday, 7 November 2002 22:40 (twenty-three years ago)

G, you are a bad manger.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 7 November 2002 22:46 (twenty-three years ago)

hey aaron, my ex-girlfriend used to work at a coffee shop in downtown alexandria. she got fired for spitting on a customer who called her a "silly little wretch" for giving him the wrong espresso. just think, you got off lucky!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 7 November 2002 23:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I think you should show up to work tomorrow, and when questioned by your boss, tell her that when she told you that you were fired, that doesn't count. :)

― Joe (Joe), Thursday, 7 November 2002 23:46 (twenty-three years ago)

whoops, for "wretch" read "wench". important diff'rence!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 7 November 2002 23:49 (twenty-three years ago)

i dont think you should have been fired either, but it does sound like a blessing in disguise anyway aaron, what an erratic boss. go have a coffee there,and take a big motley dog with you for company :-)

― donna (donna), Friday, 8 November 2002 00:12 (twenty-three years ago)

"I would never call my manger's mother"
my manager lives with her mother.

jess I am curious as to which coffee shop it was that your friend worked at.

Mary did you work at the olssons in olde towne?

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Friday, 8 November 2002 00:26 (twenty-three years ago)

So, does all of Alexandria and Arlington suck dilapidated nuts or what? My only experience there was pumping gas, and I had the nerve of cutting off an SUV by a mere 1000 feet, and i got the honking of my life for it.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 8 November 2002 00:49 (twenty-three years ago)

parts of Alexandria are ok, and Arlington has some very cool areas. Arlington is damn close to being one of the best places in the country for thai and vietnamese food.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Friday, 8 November 2002 00:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I worked at Olsson's in Old(e) Town(e)...Agreed, Arlington roxor!

― Mary (Mary), Friday, 8 November 2002 06:32 (twenty-three years ago)

i can't say whether i've had the honking of my life yet, and this makes me excited

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 8 November 2002 06:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Torch the fucking store. And make sure your manager is in it first. Christ, I hate work.

― lol p xx, Friday, 8 November 2002 11:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Jess, sorry, but has your ex-girlfriend heard of customer service? I don't know about the states, but in Europe it is deemed impolite to spit on your clients. I have been fired on numerous occasions. But I pretend I am still employed and return the next day. (Of course this mainly works because my parents are my employers.)

― nathalie (nathalie), Friday, 8 November 2002 12:42 (twenty-three years ago)

You have your manager's home number? Is this normal?

― Graham (graham), Friday, 8 November 2002 12:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Nathalie, calling someone a 'silly little wench' well deserves a spitting - customer service or no. Actually, it deserves a strategically spilt coffee as well.

― toraneko (toraneko), Friday, 8 November 2002 13:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought accepted practice wz to spit IN the coffee, out of sight behind the machine that makes all the slurping noises

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 8 November 2002 13:11 (twenty-three years ago)

If someone called me some sort of name because of an honest mistake I'd made I'd not just spit on them, I'd throw them out of the store. I don't care where you're from or what you believe, but you can not treat anyone like shit just because you're paying them.

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 8 November 2002 13:15 (twenty-three years ago)

I dunno, I thought it was standard practice to call the workplace as early as possible at the beginning of each day you are going to be off... However, sacking you does sound pretty extreme.

― Madchen (Madchen), Friday, 8 November 2002 13:30 (twenty-three years ago)

The spitting sounds kind of justified. But I would still expect to be fired for it.

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 8 November 2002 13:51 (twenty-three years ago)

''i thought accepted practice wz to spit IN the coffee, out of sight behind the machine that makes all the slurping noises''

that is acceptable practice in starbucks actually. oh yes!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 8 November 2002 14:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Madchen your idea would work in most workplaces. However, I was working at a place that opened at 6am. Usually, I worked the morining shift. To ensure that I could be ready for work, and there on time, I was getting up at 5am. I was feeling quite shitty on Tuesday, so it would have been difficult for me to get up that early, especially when I had called on Monday night to say I wouldn;t be in. The schedule for Wednesday was not posted, and that is why I had to talk to the manager.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Friday, 8 November 2002 15:18 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to work in Old Town too, actually, for a publisher that's no longer there, it was just off King St near this Christian bookstore.. I hope it wasn't Misha's, that's the place I always went to & it seemed super nice. I rarely made it all the way down to the super touristy end of Old Town by the waterfront, since the cool thrift stores are much closer to the metro end. It's a bit snooty, isn't it.

― daria g, Monday, 11 November 2002 23:34 (twenty-three years ago)

no not mishas. i would have liked to work at mishas more, i think. they allow smoking there.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 03:57 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

Since this would seem to be a DC-area firings thread, I'd like to vent a bit, sometime lurker that I am. My feeling is exactly the same as Grossman's in his first post. My job was a terrible temping gig, and involved alphabetizing thousands of packets of papers in an office alone with no computer. On the first day of doing this, I let my manager know it was going pretty slow because everything was out of order in the first place, and after alphabetizing I had to check against a list. I'm an intelligent person, and though I can be lazy/ADD there was no computer to distract me, only the frequent coffee break so that my mind did not entirely shut down from the numbness of the work.

Lastnight I am told to train a new girl at this task and my system of doing it, and I do so, even though I have to tell her 6 times before she understands it, and every name on the list takes up 30 seconds of her time. I am incredulous at her slowness and thickheadedness with such a simple--albeit tedious--task. My coworkers and I fully expect her to be told not to return. I get home late that night (worked 9am-9pm as they encouraged people to do) and get a call from the temp agency saying I was "not working fast enough" and would not be returning the next day.

Is a week an inordinate amount of time to take accomplishing a task like this? Do I have an unrealistic appraisal of my own abilities? I was very openly communicative about the time it would take to finish the task without asking for help. Meanwhile, the woman in charge acted out passive-aggressively before even the slightest word in my direction--absolutely nothing. The last time I even saw her was Monday morning when I made sure she got the message I'd be late due to a doctor's appointment. What did I do wrong?

― richardk (Richard K), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah and the worst part is that even though I just got my degree I can't get too much of a better job because in two weeks I leave for London--but I need the money for said trip! |

― richardk (Richard K), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 16:56 (twenty years ago)

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