I Got Fired Today (My Farewell Address)

I’ve been laid off and I’ve had companies that were looking for ANY reason to can my arse. It never really mattered to me cause I always knew there was no loyalty in this. It’s all about a dollar and if that’s how we’re going to play it then fine. My pops always used to call me a mercenary because even in high school if you were willing to give me $0.25 more than the next company I was up out that place. Ain’t nothin changed. I’m still just amassing what I can for the time being and when my time has arrived I will happily raise up and go on to the next venture. It’s just what I do.

@NakedWithSocks if it were not for expendibility you would need no faith and to work without faith means to work in fear

I've never ever been fired or laid off and i currently work in a large corporation where i've been for the last 24 years. I've noticed that there is no loyalty in a company like this. You break the rules and you have to go. If you have a title they won't hesitate to lay you off or force you to retire. This is why i'm here on time, make my numbers and don't go over and aboe because they don't appreciate it.

My first job out a college I worked at for 5 years, 5 soul draining years, like a lot of grads today, I came into the job market during a recession and drowning in bills I had to get to work sooner rather than later. On the bright side they paid for my grad school and I was out there chasing my dreams a few months after graduation.
I spent nearly 2 glorious years at my new gig, it was beginning to look like the start of the rest of the life I had dreamed of…I even went out a got real estate, put down roots preparing for my life to take off, 6 months after closing I went to work to find closed doors. A 50 year old top shelf advertising firm was out of business due to a petty squabble between the owners…..putting me and dozens of people, several with over 20+ years’ service out of a job. It was emotionally devastating, I had never been out of work before and I had a mortgage and not much savings. It was a scary few months and there were times I got so nervous I thought everything I had worked for up to then would come crashing down primarily because I was unprepared for unemployment, no income and the fact that NY State’s weekly unemployment sucks. That fear probably cost me one of the best relationships I ever experienced.
I survived, got another job in less than 3 months and ended up making about 75 percent more than I was making in prior situation. Life was better and a new world was opened up to me. First thing I did was start a hardship account, all that extra dough was going towards making sure I never feel that scared again, no one was going to leave me ass out. Which did not take too long because there I was 3 years later again getting another pink slip. Probably one of the best days of my life, I had begun to loathe the job and the people I worked with and walked out there to go book a vacation. Spent the next 2 years working for myself, there were times when it was worrisome because no money was coming in and I ended up depleting my savings to almost nothing but the knowledge and the experience proved to be invaluable because it prepared me for the next gig. The place I needed to be and again making more than in my previous situation and it’s been 5 year and I am feeling itchy to take a big step in the next phase of my life.
It is great getting a regular paycheck but sometimes we are going to have to take chances if that regular paycheck does not equate to feeling fulfilled in some ways. Everyone has to make their own path in life and the reality of today is that you have to enter every new position with an eye to your next position. Cutting workers, productive or not is now part and parcel of the bottom-line in most companies. None of us are indispensable to quote Charles De Gaulle: “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”
My mother worked 2 places in her life both jobs stretched over 20 years. She thinks I am flighty, I tell her you have to jump these days before you get pushed. Because for most of us in this generation it is inevitable you will be laid off, even public sector works are now vulnerable. But the truth is you can come back better and stronger but you have to have a plan of action so be prepared.

Yeah, it's just a job, but when you know you work your behind off on a daily basis and NO one shows appreciation, only criticism when you make a mistake, it just makes you soo angry. What about all the other good things that I've done??
I have not been fired before, but let me tell you, I cannot wait to be my own boss or at least to have more control of my work hour schedule. This 80-hr week thing is killing me, and I am no stranger to hard work. But this on top of being under-appreciated, it really gets me in the dumps sometimes. There are days that I go home soo depressed b/c of what happened at work, but I try to just block it and keep it pressing. I am tired of all the pressure though, but at the end of the day, I handle it much better now than I did before, b/c you know what? life is too short. My fam is much more important to me than this, even though it has taken me years to get to this point. As you age, you gain perspective, so I'd like to think I can prioritize a bit better now. Glad I could get that out. Maybe there are typos in this who knows??
Can someone tell me what is #FTW...I just can't keep up with the acronyms anymore.

After a year of being unemployed I got a job working for a great company...unless you count the two men I assisted. I have never been so miserable in my life. Rather than fire me the company found me a new position in a different department...I wasn't a perfect fit, skill wise but it was working. About 3 weeks after my glowing review and raise, and moving into a new apartment I got fired. Not only was it a shock to me it was a shock to everyone else. So much to the point that an email had to be sent out explaining that while I was a fantastic worker I wasn't a right fit for the department and the company had no other openings. I was hurt...but I had rent to pay so I took what I could find.

Where I work now the company is half we care and half we don't. You know that $$$ is the bottom line and the fire that fuels but I work with good people and I'm not micromanaged. It is one thing to dislike the work you do (which I have a love/hate relationship with) but it is a WHOLE other story to have zero interest in the industry. I'm on auto-pilot and lately it is killing me. I'm not the type that can work in an environment that isn't creative. The most creative thing in my day is purchasing supplies. I could look for another job but the fact is I would just end up in the same spot...working in an office isn't what will make me happy.

I am the type that gives 110% because I am a pleaser...Yeah I own up to it...but once I feel that I am being taken advantage of I will cut off that 10% and it shows.

I don't think employers really care once you leave the office and you are no longer on their clock. As a boss said "It isn't our (the company's) problem that people chose to live outside of Manhattan"...this was said doing a convo regarding whether the office should open the day after NYC's most recent snowstorm.

The best lesson I learned is that "Everyone is replaceable" and to ALWAYS keep your resume up to date

Inspiring post.

I was canned from my job at a music publishing company. It sucked because 1. Ive never been fired before and 2. I love music. That feeling of rejection still gets to me to this day but it is what is.

Im also an entrepreneur and it is motivating as truthfully if i was still employed by the company, a lot of things that I accomplished would not have happened. At the end of the day, I crave stability so it is what it is.

@NakedWithSocks No one would know a damm thing.

I'm glad that you stated that insecurity and jealousy led to your lay off. Oftentimes jealousy plays a role other than recession or company budget cuts. I too was laid off for the very same reason. I had perfect attendance & completed my work with accuracy before deadlines while everyone else just idly sat around playing Farmville. My work led to more positive attention from my male boss. The female manager directly under him who was also his best friend couldn't stand it, she would make snide comments and she began negatively critiquing my work, following me to the bathroom, & worst of all micromanaging me. When she saw that I would not break, she had me fired for incompetency. Currently, the bad thing is I'm still unemployed but on the flipside, I get to work as a volunteer in 2 fields that I love and I'm less stressed. The only thing that worries me are any negative comments I'll receive about me when other prospective jobs call to inquire for references. @ least I know God has a much better plan for me.

I was fired just last month from this really crappy job. I mean, the pay was lousy and I had to put up with crazy people. After three months of BS and really unimportant busywork, I reached the end of my rope.

I admit I was coming in late just about everyday. While I was having some personal issues and family emergencies, I was starting to hate my job and was expressing this in a passive-aggressive way. Last month I went to passive-aggressive to aggressive-aggressive, which freaked out my supervisor. He certainly wasn't expecting me to go off on him the way I did; I'd finally gotten tired of being written up for every little thing I did, tired of being watched and being called every hour to disclose my location and having someone come behind me to see if I was getting my work done. Shit, I told him I'd just about had it with that job and I was getting sick of hearing about my tardiness and my supervisor asked me what did I want him to do. I told him I wanted him to shut the fuck up and leave me alone; I still got my work done and even get it done ahead of schedule, so what was the problem? He asked me if I was going to be on time for work--I was distracted at the time and told him I wasn't thinking about him and to leave me the hell alone. He left the office shaking his head.

The next day, he called me and told me, over the phone, that they had a meeting and decided to take me off the schedule. So I was asked to come in to meet with him, but it wasn't going to change anything, so I told him to go fuck himself and hung up on him. He called back and told me I could come in the next morning, which I did. He explained to me how they held a meeting to discuss my chronic tardiness and the decision was made to take me off the schedule. I informed him that violated company because I was not present at this meeting and thus unable to offer a rebuttal and he said in this case it wasn't necessary. I blew up then and starting pacing the office--I guess this is when he started to feel threatened--and I came back to the desk and said, "Every time you scheduled me to work, I came in. I came in on my off days, I gave up my holidays with my family, you sorry motherfucker, to work so the other employees could have time with their families. Everything you asked of me, I did it, right?" No answer. "Right?" I asked again. Still no answer. "Answer me, motherfucker!" I shouted as I smacked the desk with my hand. "Okay, Shannon, if you are going to talk like that, I will have to ask you to leave." I stood there, knowing at that moment how employees could kill their supervisors. He asked me to leave and I refused. "No, I'm not going anywhere until I've given my side of the story." He just sat quietly and then said, "If you don't leave, I will call the police." I just stood there. "Call them," I said. "I'm not doing anything illegal here." So he went to the phone and called the police and I decided maybe I needed to calm down a bit. By this time, my supervisor wouldn't even acknowledge me when I spoke to him and one thing I hate more than anything is being ignored. So I went over and disconnected the call and he looked up, surprised that I would do such a thing and went to get his cell phone. I snatched it up before he could and threw it in the trash. He got up to leave but I was standing in front of the office door. "You need to leave, Shannon. Now," he said, but I could tell he was a little scared to be trapped in the office alone with me. "If you want to leave, then leave. I'm not stopping you," I said. I even stepped aside and he practically ran to the front desk and asked the receptionist to call the police. I hung the phone up when she picked it up and she put down the phone, saying, "Okay, I don't want to get involved here," and left the desk.

The police showed up and immediately this ghetto chick got right in my face, telling me I had one second to leave or I was going to jail. So I got right in her face and said, "Bring it, and you better come strong or not at all because you don't even know what the fuck is going on. All you know is what he told you and you don't even know if what he told you is true." She reached for some weapon and I grabbed her arm before she could take it out and the other officer intervened and talked to me, quietly asking me what happened. I told him what happened and left nothing out. He talked to his partner and then told me, "It would be best if you left right now, okay?" So I did. Right before I left, my supervisor told me, "We're going to go ahead and terminate you, Shannon. Don't ever come back or I will have you arrested." I walked right up to him and spit in his face and left.

Well, maybe that was extreme. There was definitely a better way to handle things, but I was fed up with the constant complaints about everything I did, from where I parked my car to when I took my lunch break. But I went back to my full-time job and have never been happier. Maybe this was the sign I needed to let me know I wasn't cut out for a field position. But that was a crazy experience, though, for sure.