Fired to make room
I worked for a small family-owned company where myself and my coworker were referred to as the 'office girls'. I'm not a girl. I'm certainly not THEIR girl. Women work in the office, men work in the trucks. Men are superior. That is where I worked. So, me being the independent, modern, twenty-something that I am... this didn't float well with me. When one of the supervisors (not MY supervisor, mind you) strutted into the room and said, "Okay girls, we need to get something straight." I knew what kind of conversation that would be. Needless to say, he treated us like we were his office bitches and then left. I was a *tad* bit upset.
I took it upon myself to go to my supervisor (woman) and report this. I had to initiate this. She then tells me that she had previously had a private lunch with that supervisor where he was complaining about my work. She told me that I needed to work better with him. I was furious, but I did my job. Service with a smile. A few weeks go by and one day I get up to go to lunch and my supervisor stops me. She said that she had to let me go because I was too slow and made too many errors. What a load of crap. My coworker sits at her desk all day playing games or texting her boyfriend while I work and I'm the one getting fired? Not to mention I was there, working while I had the flu.
So, I called her on it. I said that is not the reason and it wasn't true. She did not respond, simply walked into her office and shut the door while I packed up my desk. Conveniently enough for them, one of the guy's wives was looking for a job and just *happened* to start exactly 2 weeks after I left. How nice for them. I feel certain that I was fired just so that they could hire the wife and because I didn't like being put in my place by all the men there.
That's my story. Enjoy.
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Hmmm, you may even have a case here. I would look into it with a lawyer
I think it's extremely unfair. I just turned old enough to get a job but this site made me more cautious about where I work
For you all young people here is some advice, be friendly and polite but never kiss A...
Write all incidents date it and the name of the person who is making the comments and if there is another co-worker who feels the same way you may join forces just in case you need to consult a lawyer.
IMO, small family-run business are the worst. You do not have the protection of a HR office in case they decide to get rid of you. The only person you can complain to is the owner, who may well be the one treating you unfairly. I had a 90 day temp to hire job with such a company last year. I worked my butt off and know I did a good job. But guess what? At the end of 90 days, I was let go because "my work was poor quality." Bull! Guess who was hired the next day as my replacement? The owner's sister-in-law, who had just moved to town and needed a job.