Word of the Day, and Other Reasons for Getting Fired

Word of the Day – COWARD (yep, that’s my boss)

Yesterday, my (insert expletive here) supervisor called and left me a voicemail (on the work phone) terminating my position within the company and claimed that it was “willful abandonment” on my part. Let me preface this by telling you that I have been disabled for the last month and have been regularly going to a doctor in attempt to better myself so that I could return to work (my back went out worse than it’s ever been). I’m on pain relievers and muscle relaxers, and I’m getting acupuncture, and it is on rare occasion that I know what day it is due to the fog in my head from said medications. The doctor wrote a note stating, “At this time she should be resting w/no work through this week.” I said I would get another note from my doctor. I had to fill out a Time-Off Request form up to a certain date. I apparently failed to fill out another request, and my doctor has yet to approve me going back to work, so no new note there. So, without a text message or voicemail or phone call, or even asking my husband who also works with this company what was going on with me, they decided to fire me through a phone call, email, and a certified letter I have yet to receive. Kick me while I’m down. That’s great. It’s not enough that I received no pay over the last month. These are the same men who left another company I worked for and begged us to come along. I took a HUGE risk following them, and I took that risk without benefits (though there was promise of them within 6 months—it’s been 7 months now) and without bonuses and a measly $25 extra per week (the beauty of not giving benefits—no short term disability to pay for—insert several expletives here). The workload more than doubled, possibly tripled to the point that I had to cut back on my schooling because I couldn’t fit it in with all the work I had to do now. Suddenly, I had to make phone calls, schedule my own clients for the workweek, fill out billing logs and plan life skills activities, and do assessments— things I never had to do before. All this for an extra $25? In one meeting, we were told they (the owners) would get more referrals. In the next meeting, we were told it was our job to get new referrals. What?! When I started, the one who fired me asked me to take care of some paperwork. I was excited about it, and I began to work on it, but then I had to maintain my regular schedule working with the kids and I was in the middle of taking 3 classes that term, so the work fell to the wayside. I worked on it when I could, but I wasn’t able to finish it. He never asked about it. Then they changed the form of the notes, so I asked if they wanted me to redo all the ones I did. They replied with a “no.” Okay, great, now I don’t have to worry about finishing all those notes. I had quite a few done, too, but now they’re worthless. Whatever. It’s their business and they know what they’re doing, right? Oh, where’s the person they were going to hire to do all the paperwork, the office manager?

My husband wrote an email the other night with a simple question regarding one of the new forms and how it works. It was a private email to the owners. One of them forwarded it to everyone else with his own explanation of how the form works. Not only did he forward this email, but his explanation rather belittled my husband and his intelligence in front of everyone he works with. Extremely unprofessional. Also, we were told not to worry about the points. We have to accumulate 100-130 points every week. Anything over 130 was overtime. Anything under 100 was unacceptable, which I have in writing from that meeting’s notes. Oh, but don’t worry about the points. The focus should be on the kids. I agree, but when you state “anything under 100 points is unacceptable” in red lettering, it kind of sticks in the back of a person’s mind when they are planning their week/weekend, so of course they are going to focus on that. You just set your employees up with a double standard you (expletive) hypocrite!

There wasn’t a point system when we started.

Mid-summer, a friend of ours was fired while driving across country to return home and back to work after taking care of his mother after her surgery. He was even complimented on his attention to detail and that he had all of his work finished and turned in, and still he was fired—something about his attitude. This man is one of the most chipper and energetic people I have ever been around. I think he bitched about the newly imposed point system. The moral here is don’t bitch. Don’t complain. Don’t even comment.

I guess I screwed up. I forgot to call or fax or email or whatever. It was completely unintentional. As I said, the meds have my head in a fog. So much so that I completely forgot my school term was ending on the 15th. I had to rush an email to my professor on the 13th and explain the situation so I could get a bit more time. My professors at Ottawa are wonderful. Perhaps this is the reason I thought I informed my supervisor of my situation. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not cover me because there are fewer than 50 employees with the company. But for Christ’s sake, if they needed a daily or weekly update from me, or another form filled out, a reminder would have been nice since I’m drugged 24/7. I honestly thought I let them know what was going on. Obviously, I didn’t and it’s cost me my job. The moral here is no matter how drugged up you are, keep track of everything, what you’ve done, dates, etc., all of it, or you’ll lose your job! I suppose if I were unconscious in the hospital, I would have gotten fired as well because I wouldn’t have been able to turn in a Time-Off Request form, even though the (insert expletive here) thing states to fill it out upon your RETURN TO WORK! This wasn’t a planned time off! My (insert expletive here) ex-supervisor is a (insert several expletives here) and a hypocrite. Why? Because I was the easy target. That email caused everyone to ask questions and pissed off the owners. I have never challenged my supervisors. I have not challenged what they wanted me to do. I did my job and I did it to the best of my ability. One girl I worked with won’t talk to ANYONE but me. She’s in tears tonight because she called me and I had to tell her what happened, that I no longer worked for the company and couldn’t see her anymore. All I did was forget to call or fill out a fucking form in my prescription drug-induced state. I was made an example of, and it may just cost me my house.

I am unable to drive due to the medications I am taking. I can’t stand up straight and can barely walk without a cane and not for very far without the cane. Walking and driving are painful. Sitting and standing are painful. If a job entails lifting, I am unable to do so. Who in God’s name is going to hire me after seeing me walk through the door all crooked and wincing in pain? I wouldn’t hire me in this condition.

All there is left to do is sell whatever I can on eBay, try to make something out of kindread clothing, keep my head up and keep my house, and NOT go back to smoking. Although, I gotta tell ya, I’ve never wanted a cigarette so bad in my life.

I really hate working for other people, but I do absolutely love the fact that I have the freedom of speech.

These guys are worse than the over-zealous Christians I used to work for. They did a complete 180 on me. They pretended to be friends, and when the time came, they took whatever opportunity they could to get rid of me. They used me to piss off the over-zealous Christians, and then used me again to start their own business, taking business away from the over-zealous Christians and claiming it to be for the kids. Now I understand. It’s not about the kids. These guys are worse than the owner of the previous place because it IS still about the money, but with the façade of caring. I wonder what the reservation would think of that?

I think I’m going to be sick.

UPDATE: And of course, due to stress from being fired, my back is worse than ever! Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!