Have you ever been terminated? How did you recover?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Why not let them quit. We call them my old job “involuntary leavers”.

HR verbally tells you and says you can quit on the spot voluntarily right this minute. You will get no reference good or bad but we will confirm title and dates of employment. Or don’t quit, we fire for cause, no unemployment and black mark resume. Plus we open full investigation.

This is illegal. You can't lie to prevent people from collecting unemployment. Unless you steal, beat someone up, etc, you are allowed to collect unemployment. You are a terrible person, too.

[Anonymous]

I was fired by my employer in April 2023. They told me I was the worst employee ever and that they couldn't wait to get rid of me. I haven't found a job since and have become super despondent. I've had 10 job interviews---no offers.

It's almost like I flushed my entire career down the toilet because my previous employer, which is totally circling the drain, wanted to scapegoat me for its poor financial performance and relevance in the marketplace. It sucks.

[Anonymous]

I technically was, but when a company wants to find a reason to can you, they will. In my case, all of the top sales reps were canned immediately after the quarter end and they refused to pay our bonuses for a plan that they wrote too rich of a bonus plan. (I was on track to make a 400K bonus and had already earned 200K and they refused to pay a dime of it.). I made the company 1.5 million dollars that year and they kept a lot more profit by screwing me.

[Anonymous]

julie73 wrote:I was fired from my job and it completely took me by surprise. I had never been fired before and looking back now, I should've seen it coming. My new boss was inexperienced, yet had great support and promise from higher up in the company. I kept her out of trouble and helped her along for the first 6 months. Soon after, she started to nitpick and criticize me in front of other employees. I made complaints about her, but unfortunately they were only unofficial, so all I ever got was, "Be patient with her...she's new and still learning." One day I was called in and told that I wasn't performing to expectationsand was unprofessional... boom...I was fired.

I was devastated and didn't get a new job for quite a while. I was doubting my abilities and my self worth plunged. I was just beginning to recover from my divorce when this happened and felt even worse as a mom.

As time has gone onward, I have a great job now and I have slowly regained my confidence and my realization that it was not about my ability and skill. I still get a bit nervous sometimes at work and wonder if I'm getting the sudden boot, but it's just my paranoia.

You sound a lot like me. My boss was such as coward to have never said anything negative to me about my work performance until my first review, when he told me I was the worst employee ever and that I had 30 days to ship up and ship out. As many people know, nobody can turn it around in 30 days. It means they're going to fire you.

The company went on to lay off 20% of its staff six months later. Healthy companies don't do that. But of course, it was my work performance that was completely unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why not let them quit. We call them my old job “involuntary leavers”.

HR verbally tells you and says you can quit on the spot voluntarily right this minute. You will get no reference good or bad but we will confirm title and dates of employment. Or don’t quit, we fire for cause, no unemployment and black mark resume. Plus we open full investigation.

This is illegal. You can't lie to prevent people from collecting unemployment. Unless you steal, beat someone up, etc, you are allowed to collect unemployment. You are a terrible person, too.

We did this two times only. One took his secretary and another women to a hotel did coke and drugs and came back to work three hours later high the other got into a fist fight on office floor. It has to be something horrible where clearly you are getting no unemployment

[Anonymous]

Been let go or counseled out a few times.

It just means you take high risk high reward jobs.

[Anonymous]

I do think in a lot of cases, maybe not the majority of firings but close to half come down to how well you fit in with the team and whether you are liked by management or are just seen as an asset because of something unrelated to performance.

I’ve seen so many awful employees stay and thrive with tons of support because management just likes them, maybe even relates to them— they went to the same school, they all are part of the same tennis club, are part of the same friend circle. Or they’re from money or are related to someone who holds a political office. I truly don’t believe success is always performance-based. Someone decides after three months, “ugh, she reminds me of that former employee who sued us ten years ago, ick, get her out of my face. And I hate her sweaters, too.” Or the employee hasn’t been brown-nosing enough and stroking egos, so out the door because the team wants to hire that person they just interviewed who’s dad is the head of some big corporation.

So yeah, I think it’s just who the person is or isn’t.

[Anonymous]

I am just surprised by how many people here we’re fired give no acknowledgment of any short coming.

It’s not easy to fire somebody in corporate America. You have to show a pattern of giving feedback and them not responding to it. I have fired handful of people in my career and what distinguishes them from everybody else is low, self awareness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am just surprised by how many people here we’re fired give no acknowledgment of any short coming.

It’s not easy to fire somebody in corporate America. You have to show a pattern of giving feedback and them not responding to it. I have fired handful of people in my career and what distinguishes them from everybody else is low, self awareness.

Maybe in your world. In the real world you just get canned. I have been canned three time.

1) April after receiving 120k bonus, notice and high rating and raise in March. Given 11 months severance. Plus 100k accelerated vesting.
2) Feb after getting 120k bonus notification but before March Review. Previous year rating pretty good. 60k severance
3) Feb after getting Raise in January no bonus but 60k severance. Never got a review as less than one year.

My current company raises and bonus come out in May. In April we will lay-off everyone with no review shared we want to get rid of.

All four companies only give good reviews and reviews are annual. We never put anything bad in writing.

I was on layoff Committee once we picked 10 percent of company in a one time verbal VP and up meeting. I did not see any reviews. HR and security let them go at start of day.

PIPs are dumb. Either they perform or not.

In all my cases they let me go no reason, made me sign agreement to get checks and waive right to sue.

First job I was way overpaid what I did. My second job they replaced me with a complete idiot at higher pay they hired two people to help her do her job. All politics. Third job I was goofing off as I thought underpaid and was spending 2/3rds my day job hunting.

Feedback is useless personal opinion. Just give me my check and and let me go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been. Multiple times. I have very severe learning disabilities and just screw up a lot. Unfortunately I can't change careers because I can only do this one thing to support myself. I also got fired as a teenager from part time jobs too. When I got fired from a clothing store I didn't really do anything beyond drive home crying. I didn't know why I got fired. I got fired from being a camp counselor and also didn't know why. I made up an excuse and quit at my ice cream shop job before they could fire me - I couldn't understand the instructions on how to make ice cream related drinks like root beer floats and whatever else there was. I went home hysterically crying from that.

At some jobs when they'd fire me they would be really kind and write me a letter of reference and let me know they wouldn't block unemployment. Basically, you go home, cry, then pull yourself together and start looking for a new job. The cycle never really stops.

Have you gotten a neuropsych test, diagnosis and proper treatment (meds, therapy)?

Not as an adult. I basically had terrible behavior and didn't learn anything all through school, then at age 19 was diagnosed with a ton of learning disabilities through my old school district and they recommended (I kid you not) that I become a cashier. Like as a full time job, as if that would support an adult. As a child I was forced to go to therapy where (somehow, the psychologist never noticed I had all these learning disabilities or connected that they could affect my behavior?) I was encouraged to be better behaved, follow directions at home and do my schoolwork. That was my "therapy." I wouldn't know how to go about it as an adult, and wouldn't trust a neuropsych test to be accurate since I've spent over four decades working around my self/brain.

It sounds as if the PP has managed to cope with these learning disabilities pretty well, all things considered. I salute you, PP. It sounds like you have already figured things out as you're in your 50's at least. For younger workers like yourself, one idea comes to mind -- when applying to a job, the applicant could be fully transparent about the learning disabilities and ask for some grace. It sounds like PP (for example) is more than capable of working, but just need some grace (such as extra time to learn new processes, extra explanations, etc). If you an applicant has integrity and is a hard worker, I am guessing that many employers would be willing to accommodate the person. They just need to be transparent up front. This is a question for PP -- how do you think we can help young people who are in your shoes, to make the working experience a little easier?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am just surprised by how many people here we’re fired give no acknowledgment of any short coming.

It’s not easy to fire somebody in corporate America. You have to show a pattern of giving feedback and them not responding to it. I have fired handful of people in my career and what distinguishes them from everybody else is low, self awareness.

Umm, not true. Most states are At-will employment.
“At-will employment is a legal framework that allows an employer or employee to terminate the employment relationship at any time and for any reason”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am just surprised by how many people here we’re fired give no acknowledgment of any short coming.

It’s not easy to fire somebody in corporate America. You have to show a pattern of giving feedback and them not responding to it. I have fired handful of people in my career and what distinguishes them from everybody else is low, self awareness.

Umm, not true. Most states are At-will employment.
“At-will employment is a legal framework that allows an employer or employee to terminate the employment relationship at any time and for any reason”

And at will why put anything in writing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am just surprised by how many people here we’re fired give no acknowledgment of any short coming.

It’s not easy to fire somebody in corporate America. You have to show a pattern of giving feedback and them not responding to it. I have fired handful of people in my career and what distinguishes them from everybody else is low, self awareness.

This is completely false. The only reasons companies "document" reasons for termination are to protect themselves in the rare occurrence of a serious lawsuit. At-will employment is a hallmark of the US labor system. If you're not under contract and you are not being discriminated against, you can be fired at any time at any moment's notice (or lack there of) for any reasons, or no reason whatsoever.