Fired for taking vacation
About 10 years ago, I had a contract job doing I.T. support at the corporate HQ of a manufacturing company. I was responsible for keeping 170 desktop PCs up and running at all times.
10 months into my contract, I took 6 days of scheduled vacation so that I could attend my best friend's wedding out of state. At this point, I had not taken a day off since my contract began. Furthermore, since I was a contractor, I did not get any paid time off or holiday pay, so this vacation was unpaid. My my last day of work before vacation was the Thursday before the wedding. About an hour before I was to leave, my boss came to me and told me that instead of coming back 2 Mondays following, he would need me back in the office next Tuesday, after only 2 days off - basically, he cancelled my vacation with no notice.
I explained that I had nonrefundable plane tickets, I hadn't seen my out-of-state family in 10 months, and that I really needed the week off.
While I was out of state, I received a phone call from the contracting company, asking me to come in and "sign some paperwork" before going into work when I got back. Of course, when I got there, I was informed that I had been let go for "refusing to be flexible with my work schedule". I was also informed that since I was being fired for cause, I would not be eligible for unemployment.
BS to that. I went back over my timesheets and pay stubs, and found that over the 10 months that I worked there, I averaged 56 billable hours per week, whereas my schedule called for a normal 8-5, M-F schedule. I used that as evidence that I was perfectly flexible with my work schedule at my unemployment eligibility hearing, and won.
I ended up getting a better job a week later with non-insane hours, roughly the same pay, and full vacation and benefits. Getting fired from that sweatshop was the best thing that ever happened to me.
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