I have a full-time job that does a mostly-decent job of paying the bills. Until this afternoon, I was also picking up occasional shifts at the restaurant where I worked before I got said full-time job. I really liked that restaurant, I liked the people there, and, while waitressing isn't exactly my idea of a great time, I do get something out of helping people have a good time while out to eat as long as they seem like nice folks (heh... gotta think about the implications of enjoying "serving" ).
Today, I came in and found that my name wasn't on the schedule. Ok, I thought. I must have been confused about which shifts I had signed up for. One of the girls who was there was working a double and was more than happy to give me her shift (I was there anyway, so I figured I might as well work). Then, just as the customers were starting to stack up, the manager arrives and tells me that I'm not needed.
What? The fuck? We went to the back to talk and she explained that she'd called me last week and left a voice message saying that there had been a mistake with the money and I needed to come in and drop off $16. She wasn't saying the mistake was my fault, mind, it was the fault of whoever was counting up the money that day (we share tips). The problem was that she asked me to come in and I didn't show or call back. I never got the message, I have no idea why not. But what the fuck ever, it was $16, right?
She also said that there had been some complaints about me, that people were saying they "didn't want to work with me." I was totally dumbfounded by this because I didn't think I had a problem with any of my co-workers.
She didn't even have the balls to talk to me in a straightforward way:
"So, you don't need to pick up shifts any more."
"So, I'm fired?"
"Um, yeah." <-- mumbled
I asked her if she could tell me WHAT sorts of problems people had had and she couldn't. Looking back I think she may have been lying about that, and I'm not as inclined to care anyway, but at the time it hit me kinda hard. One of the things I hate most is the idea of people having a problem with me and not saying anything, letting me think everything is cool, so that REALLY struck a nerve.
The three other chicks working the front of the house that shift happened to be people I get along with especially well and they all seemed really embarrassed and distressed about the situation. I hugged them a bunch, got my things and left, went to a friend's house and cooked sausages over a fire and felt a lot better.
Have you ever been in a situation like this? Been fired in a really abrupt/awkward way, for weird/random reasons?
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