Have you Ever Had the Sack?

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I still flush with shame when I'm reminded of my stint as a Purchase Order Processor for a builders merchant.

I was answering the phone on day one with only a catalogue of nuts and bolts and a disinterested supervisor to help me. I was frustrated because I didn't know what I was doing, so I used my time there more constructively by emailing my friends details of how much I hated it, look out for a new job for me etc etc. I spent hours emailing temp agencies, sending out my c.v, and bitching about how shit it was.

I came in one morning and was summoned to the m.d's office where the stony faced old bitch was sitting with reams and reams of A4 in front of her. All of my emails. Slagging the place off. My colourful c.v's, tweaked and modified for the individual jobs I was applying for. I had no idea that if printed my emails would amount to so many trees, what a shocker.

I was 'advised' to leave, vamoose, remove myself. I had no choice. I was still on my trial period. I came out of her office and everyone was looking at me. I grabbed my jacket, went into the kitchen and calmly washed my cup, took a packet of biscuits (well I had contributed to the biscuit fund) and snatched my Sports Gums and pen holder off my desk.

I didn't cry until I got outside. Although I'd hated the job and had planned to leave anyway, this was a major blow. Sacked. I was mortified. I called my best friend first, she was great, I considered lying to my mum but couldn't, I told her the truth and she was calming and supportive. My then boyfriend was outraged at me and made me feel like shit, and my other friends had a good old chuckle after the general consolation.

Some people take being sacked in their stride, some people take it very very hard. I looked upon it as fate helping me get out of that shitty job and now I'm very glad it happened. I only wish I could have said all the smart ass comments I thought of on the way home when I had the chance.

Have you been sacked? How did you take it? Did you let loose with showers of vitriol?

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I have the sack.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I have. I was giving my friends free cds at the used cd store I worked at in high school and was discovered. It was relatively painless. They confronted me about it, I admitted it, I walked out the door and never came back. I'm glad the owner kept his temper. Other than a little bit of kicking myself the day it happened, I didn't get emotional about it or even regret it that much. I wasn't living off that money or anything; I think most of it went to pot and mountain dew.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I had a friend who worked in Safeway and had done for a couple of years. He was proud of punch because they were sending him on some managers training course in England.

Then he was caught not scanning my vodka through with the rest of my shopping. And sacked. I don't know why he blamed me.

He's got a better job now anyway, Safeway was just small potatoes.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I got sacked, i cried, I really liked my boss and felt that I had let him down, he had been told to fire me by someone we both hated, and had been getting it in the neck for hiring me all along.

― lukey (Lukey G), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:42 (twenty-one years ago)

When I was 15, I was sacked from a part-time, school holidays job in a deli for stealing a clubmilk to have during my teabreak. But the other staff revolted and I was reinstated. Pretty soon, we were all nicking clubmilks and other shit from the miserly prick deli owner.

― Penelope_111 (Penelope_111), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I got sacked after one nights work once. A friend had offered two of us the same job as dishwashers at the kitchen where he worked. I should have dropped out then, of course, as that is a horrible situation, but apparently we would both get jobs. This was not the case. So after one night's work they fired me, saying they didn't have work for us both ad he was a better dishwasher. I had been a dishwasher before! They doubted I had washed a dish in my life. And I lived with my friend, he can't wash a dish to save himself.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:49 (twenty-one years ago)

two of us = you and another friend?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:52 (twenty-one years ago)

yes. He offered me the job, I said yes, the he offered another fried the job, and he also said yes.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Thursday, 14 October 2004 07:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I've told the convoluted (and quite frankly rock 'n' roll) story of my firing from a hotel a few years ago before on this bitch - suffice to say that I've never regretted it, and the hours of fun that led up to ti, not to mention the soap opera that its fallout created, has provided me with enough anecdotes to fill a lifetime of after-dinner speeches.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Thursday, 14 October 2004 08:05 (twenty-one years ago)

When I worked in a Hotel, I finally snapped on my last day of work anyway, and called the chef a wanker for blaming me that the steak wasn't cooked enough (Talk about blaming the messenger: I was in room service, all I did was take it to the room). Anyway, he banned me from the kitchen, making my job untenable. But I was quitting that day anyway, so I didn't mind. Not to mention that chefs swear at you constantly in a hotel. He was a wanker.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Thursday, 14 October 2004 08:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh god, there's a thread in here from the summer of 2003 that I should dig out about how *not* to get sacked...

― Danger Whore (kate), Thursday, 14 October 2004 08:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't get caught spending your day on ILX...

I've got unfounded trust in the people who sit behind me in work. Any one of them could point out that I seem to spend the majority of my working day on here. I could be under surveillance RIGHT NOW.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 14 October 2004 08:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Twice, both for shitty get me through college jobs.

First was working at a 24 hour petrol station (Esso garage in Southport.) I was the dogsbody I had to stack the shelves, do the stock, clean the forecourt etc. Well cleaning a large 24 hour petrol station forecourt on your own including pumps, carwash, air and water bit, signs, front of building and surrounding grass areas is a hard job a petrol station gets dirtiermor quickly tha any other place, oh and I also got to supervise tanker drops only £15,000 worth of petrol and diesel and if it went in the wrong tank unspecified BAD THINGS happened. Well there was going to be some big inspection thing and I was supposed to have the whole place sorted on the Saturday for the inspection on Sunday, needless to say my motivation was low. I spent the day talking to the cashier and got called in to be sacked the next day.

Other time was at a pizza place, my job was again the lowest of the low, washing shit, cleaning shit, making up flat packed pizza boxes in a cold storage room. I'd been there a few weeks trying desperately not to spend my wages buying a pizza from work after i'd finished (they were really good though.) Anyway my boss was an Iranian guy who was the uncle of a mate at college he seemed okay at 1st, he'd fought against Iraq in the war apparently and still had bullets inside him so no-one fucked with him. He drove a BMW M3 which cost more than his house or something I mean who spends more on their car than their house? Anyway I went to the store to get some more pizza boxes to fold (I can still remember exactly how you do it) they came in big 3 foot towers wrapped in plastic, this batch however had somehow got damp in the top 5/6 not soggy but definitley not useable for pizza so I stuck them in the wheely bin and got back to folding. About an 45 mins later he comes out the shop and puts something in the bin, he see's the pizza boxes I'd thrown away and goes ballistic, utterly mad rage comes storming into me and demands to know why i'd thrown them away

"because they got wet."

This was apparently no excuse, so I was sacked on the spot.

God I hate shitty jobs.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 14 October 2004 08:31 (twenty-one years ago)

if it went in the wrong tank unspecified BAD THINGS happened

All your customers' cars get fucked up, basically - they don't like running on a vague petrol/diesel mixture.

― caitlin (caitlin), Thursday, 14 October 2004 10:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm trying to think of a situation where I was sacked. Mostly I "get quit", meaning I know that me and a job should be parting ways.I worked at the Black Dog, on Martha's Vineyard, in every capacity known to man. Dishwasher, bakery girl, t-shirt seller, warehouse, waitress...and i think i got sacked at least twice, but was always able to return to a brand new job. After a year or so. I was given a gift certificate by the Black Dog for being an outstanding employee - for my efforts in the warehouse - which was amusing because i clearly recalled being fired when performing some other job. Or not performing - ie not showing up for a shift.
I'm really bad at quitting. i usually do stupid things, like calling out sick endlessly, until the job people get the clue that I don't want to be there anymore. It's very undignified.

― aimurchie, Thursday, 14 October 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I dug out the previous thread about getting sacked, but it was too painful and traumatic even to just read it. Sigh. Search on "Quitting your job when you don't have another one lined up" or something.

― Danger Whore (kate), Thursday, 14 October 2004 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm proud of punch.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 14 October 2004 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha! I shared a suite at college with M3g4n Rundl3tt, whose dad owns the Black Dog. She was a fairly ruddy, airheady preppy type well on her way to burst-vessel booze nose. Sound familiar, Aim?

Of course I have been sacked from retail/service jobs, mostly for 'bad attitude' (which means a threatened assistant manager just doesn't like you because after trying to be nice you got bored and there's not much that can be done). One time when the chalk/cheese factor was pretty obvious the girl said 'I'm sorry, we just have a personality clash' and I replied, since they were only paying me to be nice to her, 'In order for there to be a clash it would help if you had a personality.'

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 14 October 2004 13:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I have never been fired! This boggles my mind. I got reprimanded a lot in the Air Force though.

― TOMBOT, Thursday, 14 October 2004 13:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I quit a job in anger before.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 14 October 2004 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been sacked from more jobs than most people have ever had!

― Danger Whore (kate), Thursday, 14 October 2004 13:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I have somehow never been fired.

I had a "talk" with my boss at the job I am leaving now in which he told me I had been making mistakes and that he had thought of letting me go on the spot. I asked for training, which I had been promised and never received. He said no and gave me 30 days. Then of course I didn't make a single mistake for the next two weeks and they loved me (again). After which, I quit to rub it in their faces. They then literally begged me to reconsider until they looked like the fools they are. They still ask me if I am sure about what I am doing, Yes, I am fucking sure.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 14 October 2004 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

if it went in the wrong tank unspecified BAD THINGS happened

All your customers' cars get fucked up, basically - they don't like running on a vague petrol/diesel mixture.

Oh I know why it's bad but I wasnt ever told explicitly, obviously the information would have destroyed my fragile little mind.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been fired from two different retail jobs, basically for incompetence. As you can imagine, I find this somewhat depressing.

― Wooden (Wooden), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

i've never been fired or quit a job. i think this is due to my exceptional profesionalism

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

or your complete lack of motivation?

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

lack of motivation to get fired i guess

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

no, I meant more about not quitting a job.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

i see.. i'm quite happy though (and they promoted me once - actually i changed departments... i guess that counts as quitting?)

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

what do you do, ken c?

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

i work in IT in healthcare

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I've just sacked U***t.

They don't offer me any work for two months and then they have the fucking cheek to say I'm not "proactive" enough as a freelancer. Fuck them.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 14 October 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I was fired once, from a bookstore. Very upsetting. In retrospect, it was probably called for, and ultimately good for me, although it was handled very, very poorly. And it made me wanna make sure I never get fired again, which has been a boon to me and any number of my employers.

I have also fired a number of people over the years. Frankly, I find firing people almost as upsetting as getting fired myself--even those who really needed firing. Not that I expect any of the folks I had to let go to care, much less sympathize.

In any event, both ends of that particular process suck.

― Formerly Lee G (Formerly Lee G), Thursday, 14 October 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

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