Have you ever been fired?

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by fleury

Let go while working as a 20 year old in concessions at the ACC, paying my way through university. Such a corrupt organization (MLSE) at the time where so many people at various levels were all in for themselves. My story was that I found a lost wallet, a coworker said he was heading to fan services so he could hand it in, so I gave it to him but instead he kept it. I go into work the following day, and I'm brought to the offices where I'm grilled for a couple hours by the head of security, and then cops. The officers were cool, but the head of security was an ass. Anyway, the coworker said we split the contents (which we certainly didn't), and we were put on unpaid investigation leave. A few weeks later, brought in, given a letter by management saying I was let go for cause, then they proceeded to give me a meeting with the union. I ask the union if they'll fight it for me and being the corrupt organization they are (Teamsters) said they couldn't do anything because another member made the claim against me. They also said the police could possibly be on their way up as we spoke, and the only way to get away from the firing was to quit right there and then. They also said I'd never get a professional job once school is done, especially for theft. I said I had nothing to do with it besides handing the wallet to the guy (which was the reason for the firing). I felt the immediate pressure, drafted a letter saying I quit, then left. Realizing I was bamboozled, I contacted my mom's employment lawyer friend, who said there was little recourse as it was a union who had to fight, but he would put in a letter for them to do their job, but they responded sarcastically. That letter cost me $500, and he was a top lawyer and said they were a bunch of bullies to respond that way. I just wanted an official apology letter back, but they never did that. Crazy that management was in cahoots with the union there. It was a fun environment despite the incompetence and cut throat coworkers, but the entertainment value and pay were excellent as a student.

Just a heads up, if that was their response then your mom's lawyer friend bamboozled you as well. If what you're saying happened is true you could have filed a duty to fair representation complaint against your Union. It sucks that trusting a coworker to do the right thing resulted in you getting fired, but in all likelihood MLSE probably had some sort of policy relating to this sort of thing and I doubt giving the wallet to a non manager was the protocol. So if that was the reason they gave you for the firing, then it would appear that they had just cause. Once that wallet goes missing and you've admitted to having had it in your possession after your coworker has told them you kept half before you ever brought the matter to their attention, you're in a tough spot.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by fleury

It was so many years ago so it's hard to remember all the details (though a lot just came back), but they were playing the prisoners dilemma with us during the interviews, and I think he cracked, but may have thought bringing another down would have lessened his guilt - really no idea. Talking with some other coworkers about him afterwards, I heard he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so that could simply be it.

How did they even find out he had the wallet?

edit: another story just came to mind (a lot of people were fired at the ACC during my time there). A lot of people started playing late night basketball in the Raps practice court after their night shift - security, concessions, ushers, etc. They weren't allowed to, but did anyway. One day they were caught red-handed, and given that most of them knew eachother, they decided to pin the blame on one guy (a new guy who was nice actually). He's the only one that was let go and the others get away scot-free. The new guy wasn't even involved with organizing, he was just playing as were the others. But everyone was out for themselves. So many stories.

How did they pin the blame on him? If they were caught red handed, did the guy get fired for Jedi mind tricking the rest of them to play on the practice court? I'm sorry I just can't see any scenario where a company would hold someone accountable for the actions of others like that. Stories like that seem to always stem from a game of telephone between coworkers which twists the story into gossip.

[Wormius]

Where's Squiggy on this? The team of Squiggy and the Iggy are on the case.

[lazypucker]

I guess I have experienced all types of job termination:

(1) I was doing computer sales at one of the shady places (think Visions-style under the table deals....), and I was doing ok there. One day the owner told me to work for another location of his and with that a fixed monthly salary (instead of no base/commission only). I took the fixed salary and start working at the new location. One day a few hours after I am off the owner called me and started to yell and scream at me. Apparently my "fixed salary" work is based on me being at the store at ALL hours (basically 9-9 Monday to Sunday), but the shift manager didn't know and only scheduled me 9-5 instead. Needless to say I knew then it was a scam and started to do the "work-to-rule" thing where I just leave at 5. A week or so later I was fired because I apparently skipped work.

(2) So I went to another slightly less shady computer store to work. It was pretty good as they were short-staffed (so a lot of commission can be made). One day a few months after I was at this new store, my mother became sick and needed to go to the hospital. I called my boss and told him that I need to take the day off to attend to my sick mother. He was really short-staffed (only him and I were scheduled for that day), and he got so upset thinking that I intentionally skipping work (it was a Friday before a long weekend), and he basically told me if I am that busy then my service is no longer required....

(3) Layoffs I had suffered a couple of times, never a good feeling...

(4) And one funny story that happened at one of my previous jobs. It was at a call center where they were many agents on the phone, and someone decided to organize a party/camp out and invited a bunch of colleagues to attend. Many have shifts on that day but they decided to all call in sick so they could drink there ass off..... And yes, all of those people (about 12 of them) called in sick and skipped work. But when they came back to work, they were all fired with cause. Management usually can't find any evidence as to workers calling in sick for no reason, but that group of idiots were dumb enough to post a bunch of pictures on their social media accounts and saying that they called in sick to party.....and even dumber that they forget that they have the managers as followers....

[Otto-matic]

I was let go from Safeway when I was at SAIT. They wanted me to work day shifts while I was attending school, I didn't show up to the ones they scheduled in the mornings even though I told them I was back in classes a month in advance. They even had my school schedule to work in shifts for peat sake.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Just a heads up, if that was their response then your mom's lawyer friend bamboozled you as well. If what you're saying happened is true you could have filed a duty to fair representation complaint against your Union. It sucks that trusting a coworker to do the right thing resulted in you getting fired, but in all likelihood MLSE probably had some sort of policy relating to this sort of thing and I doubt giving the wallet to a non manager was the protocol. So if that was the reason they gave you for the firing, then it would appear that they had just cause. Once that wallet goes missing and you've admitted to having had it in your possession after your coworker has told them you kept half before you ever brought the matter to their attention, you're in a tough spot.

Couple things on that. The lawyer warned that the union had to represent you, but the problem really lay in the resignation letter which they put pressure on to come up with (so they wouldn't have to represent me). He gave fair warning that he really couldn't do much aside from send a letter for an apology, and that's all I wanted so I agreed. As for the missing wallet, yup, it was my responsibility in hindsight, but at the time if someone is offering to do a favor while you're busy serving customers, I didn't think less of it and handed it over. I explained them that right from the start, and it was a good life lesson to be careful who you trust (especially with others' possessions). I doubt there was an explicit policy on it to that degree - it was moreso to hand to fan services.

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

How did they even find out he had the wallet?

How did they pin the blame on him? If they were caught red handed, did the guy get fired for Jedi mind tricking the rest of them to play on the practice court? I'm sorry I just can't see any scenario where a company would hold someone accountable for the actions of others like that. Stories like that seem to always stem from a game of telephone between coworkers which twists the story into gossip.

When they interviewed me, I let them know that I passed it along to him as he was volunteering to take it for me. So they knew it was in his possession last. Apparently it took awhile for him to admit to it, and I guess once I said I gave it to him, he had no choice but to admit to it.

As for the story of the coworker, I actually heard it from several people who were there that they pinned it on the junior guy. They claimed that was the first time they did it when the new guy organized the game. So my understanding is they went for the "mastermind" rather then reprimand the whole lot of them. Could've been a BS story, but I worked with a couple involved and they openly talked about it. Sad really.

[Snuffleupagus]

Learned a valuable lesson in my early 20's, don't sleep with the office gal if your boss likes her too

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Learned a valuable lesson in my early 20's, don't sleep with the office gal if your boss likes her too

Do tell more please

[snootchiebootchies]

Been fired? Burger King wants to give you a free Whopper

If you want to publicly admit you got fired from your job, Burger King wants to give you a free Whopper.

The fast-food chain kicked off a new advertising campaign Tuesday, saying it will be giving out its flagship sandwich free of charge to anyone who is willing to “confess to getting canned on LinkedIn.”

http://www.bnn.ca/been-fired-burger-...opper-1.841985

[Locke]

Ha! Thats awesome.

[iggy_oi]

I wonder if people who were fired from Burger King qualify

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

I wonder if people who were fired from Burger King qualify

Ya, "I was fired from Burger King for making sweet sweet love to the mayonnaise container" may not really go well with this advertising campaign.

[iggy_oi]

Double post

[Minnie]

Not even once. Never been laid off either.

[Looch City]

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

I'm sorry you're unemployed.

[Deegee]

I've never been fired, but did leave at first break after covering shifts and being the new person. It was day 7. Building dairy order lines at Saputo and we had two to a line. I was running back and forth sweating like a pig while my coworker was chilling. When I asked him what was up he said you have to work harder than me because you're in the labour pool and I'm in the union already.

I was done right then and there.

Looking back I should have roughed it out and gave suitable notice, but I was younger then.