Fired for having an anniversary

Stanggirlie submitted 521 days ago

I worked as a cashier at a gas station as a second job one summer - the night shift 5pm to midnight every weeknight. My husband and I were saving up money to purchase a house. Before I was hired, I specifically asked if it would be a problem NOT to work Saturdays and Sundays. Since I worked my full-time day job from 7am to 4:30pm, and my husband worked from 8am to 5pm, I never saw my husband at all during the week. The weekends were all we had together - and being newlyweds, you can imagine how tough it was. The manager told me this would not be a problem since she had her 19-year-old son working weekends. I was then hired with that understanding between us.

Since I used to work at the same gas station in my hometown when I was 16, I needed little training and picked up everything quickly. I even helped out the manger's son when he needed time off on an occasional Saturday night. Even though I didn't want to work them, I thought to myself, the faster this money will come in and the sooner we can get the house. Well, the occasional Saturday night turned into almost every other one. My "real" job began to suffer because I was going to bed around 1am and getting up at 6am. The only rest day I had was Sunday and that wasn't enough - especially since that was my husband and I's "let's do someting" day because it's the only day I never worked.

After an entire summer of this, I was getting a little irritated, but it was my own fault because I never told the kid no. :mad: Well, I had had enough, and since my husband was doing free-lance work, we were saving up faster, so I could actually cut my hours down to only 3 days a week if I wanted to. The next Saturday, it was our 1st wedding anniversary and right on cue (the usual 1hr before he's supposed to be at work), the manager's son called. I told him no because it was my anniversary, I am going to have a wonderful night with my hubby. He hung up on me after giving me a few offensive remarks.

That Monday I came into work at 5pm and there was already an employee there. I looked on schedule and noticed my name was crossed out for the entire week and replaced with other workers. So I called the manager and she came to the store to talk to me. She sat me down and began to tell me that she didn't appreciate it when I refused to fill in for her son. I told her in a very professional manner that I have filled in for her son every single time he had asked me to, and that Saturday happened to be my 1st anniversary - a very special landmark in my life - and I couldn't think of any other thing that would get in the way of my husband and I spending it together.

Her face got beat red in anger and she proceeded to tell me that Saturday morning, her son's girlfriend had dumped him and he was too depressed to come into work - and how dare I shove my happiness of wedding bliss in everyone's face when her son is in agony. Then she told me I was fired for insubordination. I've never been fired from any job in my life so I took this extra hard - and my shock and anger of everything that happened clouded my professionalism, I do admit. As I walked past the register counter, I ran my arm along it and every display up there tumbled to the floor. Cigarettes, candy, those pre-pay phone cards, etc. I know this was a very immature thing to do. After I left the station, I wished I hadn't done it - I should have just walked out with my dignity - but a small part of my felt a tiny bit better at that moment.

In the end, we were only short $200 for the down payment for the house which our family donated to us. To this day, I still do not set foot in that gas station because she's still the manager. I guess that's my own way of holding a grudge. ;)