You've ever been fired?

[entremet]

I'm at the point of my career where most people I've known have been fired at least once. I was fired when I changed careers and was learning the ropes with a brand new gig. I played it too safe. Eventually, persistence won out and I successfully career changed after taking another job in the same career path. I just had a IDGAF mentally this time and that worked lol. I did my job, but I didn't panic about my job security. I gave it my all and didn't worry about it.

It's funny, once you're fired once, and it does suck, you kinda get innoculated from it. You learned you can bounce back and it's rarely a fatal mistake. It's like your first big breakup. That first one always stings the most.

However, you also learn not to give your blood, sweat and tears to a company that doesn't give a shit about you. Especially in the private sector (the only one I've known), everyone gets fired in some point in time, especially in the US, the home of no workers rights basically. You also learn to keep your professional network warm, especially recruiters, and Linkedin and resume updated.

I do notice there is this taboo of people never mentioning they were fired. I think that does a disservice to younger generations, whom are already plagued with perfectionism due to social media and such.

 

[Booshka]

I tried working for a windows and doors company, as a truck driver (I don't have a CDL) and it should be required. I shadowed for a couple weeks in a giant box truck and was way over my head. Made some mistakes and got let go, I wasn't qualified nor trained properly for the job.

 

[CherryWoodFuton]

I got fired from a an assistant management position in a hospital unit The new chief of nursing that came in basically wanted to clean house. Initially she fired the nursing manager and eventually found a way to fire me (I was blamed for an employee leaving the hospital without clocking out of his break-he got fired too but I was fired for not being aware of my employees at all times I guess)

 

[Doggg]

I've been let go and not had my contract renewed for dissatisfaction with my performance, which was a nice way of letting me go even though they didn't have anything against me personally. I've also been in a position where it my boss just really had it in for me, so it was prudent for me to quit before he pulled some bullshit.

 

[krazen]

Yup. Been with a company for years and moved to a new group within that was pretty political in the way it was run. My manager's manager got pushed out and the new guy less didn't like me, but wanted his own 'people' there that he personally hired so they pushed me out too.

In hindsight it's not like you can work in a place where one of your bosses wants you gone, but I really really was offended by my manager since while it was happening was never straight with me, lots of gaslighting until that fateful day. During the eight months it took a bunch of people left and she had a meeting begging me to stay after writing me up for bullshit, lol. And like a dummy I did :( So its less I was pissed at getting fired, but getting played.

 

[Layell]

Not technically a situation where I was "fired" but here's what happened.

I was part of event staff for my University during the summer. Was really fun and chill, a few events around the campus each week, sometimes free food or free shirts.

The position was technically unionized for the staff for the regular school year, so I had to re-interview if I wanted to do it as well for the main year.

In any case, I interviewed for the school year position, and even though they loved me during the summer, they called me a week after to say I wasn't being offered it.

 

[echoshifting]

Laid off when we lost funding and our entire branch of operations got shuttered. Really sucked because I lived on company property and I only had a few days to figure something out. Almost ended up homeless.

 

[djplaeskool]

Had one IT position offshore'd and had 90 days to train my overseas replacements and look for a new gig, and one contract get prematurely terminated due to a dispute between the employer and the staffing firm. Always nice being reminded that regardless of your performance, you just might still lose your job.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Exactly one time, because my manager deliberately ignored me when I told her, the day I was hired, that I was incapable of working a specific week because I would be on the other side of the country on a school trip, and then repeatedly reminder her of it the entire month before hand.

It was a shitty retail job, so it was her loss.

 

[Rosebud]

No, but I left a job to do a college internship and then came back when it was over

 

[Jeffolation]

Me and another dude were fired from Wal-Mart because we were stealing electronics to buy drugs.

 

[Orion117]

Not yet 🤞

 

[ILikeFeet]

almost. felt like some bullshit, so I bounced before that happened

 

[Coyote Starrk]

No. But I have quit a job before they could because I knew it was coming.


On a completely related note fuck retail jobs.

 

[Genesius]

No I've just had managers make my life so miserable that I basically had to quit

 

[Rosebud]

Me and another dude were fired from Wal-Mart because we were stealing electronics to buy drugs.

Click to shrink...

Shitty bosses firing for anything smh

 

[Jakenbakin]

Fired from one job because they wouldn't accept my doctor's note which confirmed I had bronchitis, but not every exact day I had it.

Was fired for "stealing from the safe" because there were hundreds of EXTRA dollars in the safe, and my boss refused to accept the explanation that they had told me to sell the local newspaper, while never giving me a sku to put into the register to sell the papers. The books were balanced on paper, not on the computer, and I was walked out by the police. Was a fun week to find out we were having a baby.

 

[Deleted member 13798]

No, I had an inkling that it might've been coming once so I beat them to the punch and resigned but it was a horrible job where I was basically being gaslit about my performance. Come to find out later they did the exact same thing to my predecessor which drove them to quit as well.

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

AT&T threatened to fire me (got the whole quit or your fired threat) because they claimed I leaked company confidential info on the HTC One X because I was able to accurately guess it's release date by training material info they provided us.

 

[M. Wallace]

Me and another dude were fired from Wal-Mart because we were stealing electronics to buy drugs.

Click to shrink...

Which drugs?

 

[Leeness]

Many years ago. Partially. It was a job I had for about a month, the supervisor didn't like me, and I didn't like the job. I openly was like "I'm going to a hiring fair for a different job over lunch!!!" lol.

They got around to firing me (over email) first, but I think I was literally signing onto my email to send them an email to say I wasn't going to be returning. 😂

 

[MrBS]

Got fired from my first job at 14 for an attitiude problem. Didn't agree with it then, agree with it now lol

 

[Poppy]

i got laid off basaically in an office space esque scenario where two guys came in to interview us all under the guise of helping our IT situation and then i was basically interviewing for my own job, but didn't really take it that way, so they axed me because i was just going about my usual business

that job sucked anyway

 

[bryehn]

All 3, baby!

Also got a low-level sales/support job with IBM of all places that was eliminated/downsized just before I started lol

Had bought a bunch of new clothes and everything

 

[Jeffolation]

Which drugs?

Click to shrink...

Coke but not the kind you drink.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

Never been fired.

Been written up and verbally reprimanded at least once in every job -- usually while making a mistake early on -- but never outright fired. I don't think I've ever felt like I needed to challenge any disciplinary action in the past.

 

[entremet]

AT&T threatened to fire me (got the whole quit or your fired threat) because they claimed I leaked company confidential info on the HTC One X because I was able to accurately guess it's release date by training material info they provided us.

Click to shrink...

That's pretty crazy lol.

 

[HardTimesFamilyPride]

I lost my hometown's Pizza Hut a few hundred dollars as a teenager because the district manager expected me to do a ton of work off the clock (I was naive and didn't know it was illegal); one day I was trying to get out before midnight and forgot to close the lids on the make table lol

 

[Stabi]

Coke but not the kind you drink.

Click to shrink...

I was waiting for the plot twist : insulin

 

[Tater]

I was laid off about a year into my first job when the dotcom crash happened. It was a good thing in hindsight, I will always remember the words from a coworker laid off at the same time: "No matter how much you love your job, it will never love you back".

You have to play ball a little bit and schmooze with management sometimes, but it taught me very early to draw a hard line between work and the rest of my life. The only reason to give more is if you're being compensated for it.

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

That's pretty crazy lol.

Click to shrink...

Yup can still find my post on XDA about it and even phonearena who stole the info and claimed their insider gave it to them.

 

[Charismagik]

Was just out of school doing contract job at some place. The owner came through(didn't know who he was) and asked what I was up to. Out of instinct I said nothing much. Didn't get a chance to really say anymore because he just kept on moving. Apparently he didn't like that answer and told them to get rid of me lol

 

[Jaymageck]

I'm gonna say yes but it was a paperboy job and i was like 14. Over 20 years ago.

I was really bad at getting up for it so the customers were often angry at late papers.

I was told i "had to quit" by my mum but in retrospect i was being fired. I had a huge nosebleed immediately afterwards as reaction.

For "adult jobs" - no

 

[Gr8one]

I got fired in high school from a grocery store. I also no-showed the week earlier and had another job lined up. So I guess it was performance related lol

Luckily in my field, I have been able to avoid layoffs/downsizing during the 2007 recession, and some more localized recessions in my province related to energy prices that typically lead to mass layoffs and company closures in my city.

 

[Akira86]

AT&T threatened to fire me (got the whole quit or your fired threat) because they claimed I leaked company confidential info on the HTC One X because I was able to accurately guess it's release date by training material info they provided us.

Click to shrink...

the many times I wish I had the wherewithall to think "lawyer up" when put in pressure positions by HR like that.

i mean, i think about it often, lol not that it happened often.

 

[AstronaughtE]

I wasn't feeling good and wanted to go home. My girlfriend, who I worked with and whose shift was ending, said I could come over ane relax over at her place, but her friend might come over. I told her I might, probably do that. I didn't end up doing that at all because I just wanted to sleep and feel better. Well anyway the owner's snitch overheard and told him I was playing hooky. He called me and fired me the day before my next shift. lol, I had a shitty flip phone and it cut out as I was angrily "wtf you don't even have the balls to say this to my face after blah, blah, blah" he called back all pissed off "Did you just hangup on me?!?!" I said "Nope, my phone cut out, I am now though."

 

[Reversed]

I got got in a red herring thinking I wasn't going to be next in the chopping board. Haven't heard about the company in a while so I guess it dissolved with their bad management.

I was laid off about a year into my first job when the dotcom crash happened. It was a good thing in hindsight, I will always remember the words from a coworker laid off at the same time: "No matter how much you love your job, it will never love you back".

Click to shrink...

Damn, I'm keeping those words in mind

 

[Brickhunt]

Never been fired, but I felt one was coming after three performance evaluations and corrective plan.

The first one sounded perfectly fair and I did my best to correct my flaws. It took a long time until the second one, so did became complacent about it. After I worked my ass off to improve all their criticism, item by item, and they repeated their dissatisfaction, without elaborating where did I go wrong and that they were giving one "last" change, that I've finally read the room and arranged a new job.

 

[dhlt25]

yes, back in high school for being too good at my job believe it or not. I was working for an insurance agent helping with data entry/paper work and what not and got so good at it that I basically finish my 4-hr shift in an hour and just sit there listening to music lol. He let me go because he didn't want to pay me 4 hr min wage for 1 hour of work. I even took on some responsibility of the receptionist/secretary there too and it was still not enough work. Learn not to give my 100% since, just do the bare minimum

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

the many times I wish I had the wherewithall to think "lawyer up" when put in pressure positions by HR like that.

i mean, i think about it often, lol not that it happened often.

Click to shrink...

One of the worse aspects was that because they were threatening to fire me under conduct I couldn't claim unemployment and my union rep (fuck off CWA) didn't do shit.

 

[HeartlessNobody2134]

Fortunately no. I work for state government and it's pretty rare for someone to get fired.

 

[Skulldead]

Yep, once, budget cut for TI, it was hard... but i was able to get on my feet pretty fast. Been a programmer is pretty nice to find jobs.

But that night after the layoff... it was hard.

 

[sfedai0]

Yea. Boss got fired and new management came in and cleaned house.

 

[entremet]

Never been fired, but I felt one was coming after three performance evaluations and corrective plan.

The first one sounded perfectly fair and I did my best to correct my flaws. It took a long time until the second one, so did became complacent about it. After I worked my ass off to improve all their criticism, item by item, and they repeated their dissatisfaction, without elaborating where did I go wrong and that they were giving one "last" change, that I've finally read the room and arranged a new job.

Click to shrink...

Wow, you survived a PiP? They're usually made so impossibly hard to complete that folks use the time to find another job haha.

 

[Solid SOAP]

Kinda... I was priming to leave a teaching position at a charter school due to it being utterly insane and having management that did not get along with me, complete with a resignation letter prepared. They didn't like how I handled a behavior issue at one point and were trying to fire me, but I showed them the aforementioned letter of resignation and left on my own terms.

Was hired right after that and took a position elsewhere!

 

[Forerunner]

I've been a federal employee my entire career and no. It is difficult to remove someone unless it is egregious. I've seen people that resign, take early retirement, or transfer but I never seen anyone that was actually fired.

 

[turbobrick]

yes. Tried to do full time school and an internship at the same time, did poorly at both.

 

[Retromess]

Yes, I was (essentially) fired/laid off from my first job as a teenager.

I worked at a crappy little corner store/gas station for a few months and we were robbed at gunpoint. After that shift, I was written out of the schedule and quietly let go without any formality.

My next job, I was laid off for partial performance reasons (I was a cashier in a CVS Pharmacy) and partially due to an upcoming mandate that all cashiers needed to be technicians able to process prescriptions. Since I didn't have my technician training/degree, I was let go.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Only once, and it was a mix of performance and BS reasons.

I was in an editing position when I'm more of a writer and I would miss some little things that the second editor would catch.

Eventually got told I had 2 weeks to show improvement (and I was definitely starting to), but after 1 week I was fired.

At least one other person was also let go in a different department at the exact same time, so I'm guessing they were actually just trying to downsize without calling it that.
It was a miserable job, just editing and formatting endless business documents that are the most boring things I've ever read.
Once my manager scoped a document incorrectly. It was like 50 pages long initially so was given the time to edit 50 pages, but when I formatted it correctly (the font was super tiny originally) the document was actually 200 pages. Brought it up to my manager ASAP and they were like "whelp, too bad, make sure it's done on time."
Zero overtime of course.

On the plus side I got a month of severance pay and was already in a better position by that time.

 

[Stuggernaut]

Fire/Quit at same time count?

I worked for a remodel window company, shady as fuck owner who cut every corner, did not honor issues, etc... but he paid well, I was young, so did not rock the boat.

Anyway, above my desk was a faulty light that was always buzzing unless you flicked the switch a few times leaving it off for about 30 seconds before turning it on. I was closing solo one night, and the buzzing was driving me nuts because of no other noise in office. So, I turned it off, then on, then off... on the 2nd off I saw a car roll up to the driveway and stop, I left the light off cuz you can't see outside with glare. Car drove off, I am starting to flick the light again, then on another off cycle that car was back. I was like "WTF dude?" and when it rolled off again, I went back to work and closed up an hour later.

Next day my boss calls me and asked me what time I left work, I told him at close (8pm) and he said I was lying, and that he went there at 7 and I was gone. I said he likely drove by when I was flicking the lights. He called me a liar again and told me not to come in to work. I said fine, maybe I won't come in on the weekend shift I offered to do either, he told me that I should not come back at all.

The next day I called ALL my customers and told them what kind of company they were dealing with, gave them number of a competitor I knew was a good company, and called my co-worker and told him he should bail as well and told him how he was being severely under-paid because the boss knew he would not ask for a raise (others in office were getting paid upwards of $10/hr more than him).

Anyway, 4 months later he went out of business, and I felt great. Then two months after that he started the SAME business under a new name lol. Fuck that guy.