I was fired today....

I guess it hasn't entirely hit me yet.

I'm in the IT business and have been for 20 years. I started my own single member LLC in 1997 and business was GREAT until October 2001. It took me awhile to realize that the good days were gone. No more one call to my headhunter buddies and work in a couple of days. I got my house out of foreclosure twice by selling most of my assets. I took about every task I could to make money but it wasn't enough.

Finally, in October 2005 (5 months ago), I got a real job! Was I ever jazzed. I was 2 months behind on my house payment and thought there would be hope I could catch up before it went into foreclosure again. But I was wrong. Right after I started my job my car broke down. I rented a car for about 5 weeks while I got mine fixed. Then my dog got sick and I had to take her to the emergency room and then the hospital (she's fine now but was I ever scared). A process server visited me and a credit card company is suing me (two of them now). And, yes because I couldn't pay all my payments in arrears my house went into foreclosure. All that happened before the water started coming up in the middle of my bedroom closet.

So I had all this stuff going on but I tried to never let it impact me at work because I'm soooo happy to have an regular income. I wasn't there long before I figured out that my employers thought I should work a lot. That's cool because I usually do work alot. So since I worked there, even with holidays, I don't think there was ever a week I worked less than 40 hours. Most weeks I worked 50 plus. Most weeks that would be 50 plus billable hours.

I hadn't worked there long before I started thinking I realized what abused spouses must feel like. A few days would go by and everything would be great. The raise I was promised in 90 days was given to me in 60. Yet, about once a week I was IN TROUBLE. A lot of time about something I couldn't have known. I'd often ask..How would I have known that?

I frequently was getting beat up on about things that weren't my fault. Plus, they seemed to alway infer I was too slow (no one has ever thought I was a slow worker before). Of course, it didn't take long to figure out that they thought I was slow because I didn't cut corners.

The clients loved me. More than one client wrote to my bosses (did I mention this was a small husband and wife business..the wife was the BOSS...hubby the boss). I liked working with the clients and I liked the work. I really liked the paychecks. So I'd make different attempts at trying to stay out of trouble but it didn't really matter what I did. About once a week I was on the shit list.

My Niece asked me "how my day went?" not long ago and I told her that I must have cooked the right thing for dinner because my day had went well. It took her awhile to get it but she finally did.

As I mentioned, a lot of the time I was in trouble about things I really hadn't done, couldn't have known, and some things that were just imagined.

However, the things that I got in trouble for that were because of my actions really reflect what I was up against. I had been "demanded" to be at a client site for 3 Saturdays in a row at 9:00 am. I had registered letter I needed to pick up from the Post Office. When your house is in foreclosure and your trying to save it you sort of need to know what that letter might say. They told me on Thursday I need to be at the client at 9:00 am for the fourth Saturday in a row. I sent a friend to go pick up my mail on Wednesday, but he somehow managed to lose the slip of paper (it was a 2nd notice) and they wouldn't give it to him. I didn't see him until after work on Thursday. So I send an e-mail to my boss that I'm going to be late on Friday because I have to go to the Post Office. You wouldn't believe the e-mail she sent me (basically saying no be on time) and I'd been given "final warnings" before (when and for what I'm not sure they just threw that around alot along with "last chance").

Another example, I noticed the water in the closet one morning, but I dared not be late. So I sopped it up with a towel and turned the water to the house off. That was on Tuesday. and Wed. I called the insurance company on Thursday and asked how to proceed. They asked me when it started and I told them. They went through the roof and told me to get a plumber there immediately. You lose coverage with "on-going" leaks. Thursday Night and Friday morning I'm call plumbers. Plus, now I have an adjuster in the middle of things. Plumbers say I need a locater. If I wait until Saturday the $s go way up and the adjuster is saying no. So I call work and explain that I found a plumber and a locater and I pretty much have to do it this morning. They get here and find the leak is behind the vanity (technically it was a long term leak and the insurance didn't really have to pay) but the adjuster dropped everything to come over and look at it. He told me they'd cover it (but that's just because he's a nice guy..I'm familiar with the overtime water damage..he didn't have to cover me). He wanted to get a drying company out right then. They came and tore out most of the vanity and closet. So it no longer was a morning but it was turning into afternoon. I'm keeping my boss up to date. I'm trying to work between activities. She is getting furious because I'm not at work. She keeps telling me I need to "wrap it up" and come in (btw...I had busted my butt earlier in the week to do all the mission critical client stuff..there wasn't any fires at work). It ended up I never made it to the office on Friday. I did on Saturday. I worked on Sunday. I billed 56 hours that week. They docked my pay for the day.

So it went...things became more and more hostile. I knew this week I was going to be in BIG trouble. I'm heading to work and there is a big crash. The freeway is closed. They were routing people through to another freeway. Over two hours in bumper to bumper. I'm not sure how she expected for me to have been on time...maybe by helicopter but I didn't have one handy.

There's more but I doubt anyone is reading this long anyway.

So I was at a clients today. I could sense by the tone when I checked in that I was IN TROUBLE for God only knows what. 10 min after I walk in she calls a meeting and tells me they are letting me go (this is at 4pm). She then says she wants to keep this positive and I need to go over all my stuff with hubby and another developer, afterwords she do an exit interview. I remained professional. I did turn over and gave information on all my work. I did this until 9:00 pm. The exit interview consisted of her coming in and throwing a check list of items I need to return, to sign that I remembered that the no-compete I signed is still enforce, and other such...she didn't even stay in the room. So after I pack up my stuff I find her and ask if she has a check for me. She said no, they'd just pay me next pay period (AZ law says different...I think I'll send her an email to remind her). I then asked if she was giving me severance. She told me NO. Now do you think for one minute I would have sat there and acted so proper had I not thought I wasn't getting severance??? I mentioned about how I had worked 50-60 hour weeks and they hadn't hesitated to dock my pay and I had just spent my Friday evening trying to make sure they got what they needed from me and she wasn't going to pay me any severance?? She said she'd revisit it. Yeah, I just bet she does.

Okay...sorry to unload all of that. I guess I just needed to vent. I'm looking for a job now if anyone has any leads!!

Thank you!!!

I'm so sorry this has happened to you.

I also am in I.T. and unemployed.

I keep seeing this same behavior again & again of bosses acting psycho to employees b/c they know the job market is shitty.

I wish you the best of luck in getting another position soon. :hug:

I really appreciate the kind words. I appreciate it very much!

Truth be told I'm feeling a little guilty for feeling so relieved. I'm sure panic will set in soon but for now I'll just enjoy my weekend.

Hope you get a great position, too!!!

I've been a headhunter for 17 years, most of it in I.T. When that went down the tubes with Bush and 9/11, I had to learn to recruit for other things in a hurry.
I still dabble with I.T., but you're absolutely right--it's a buyer's market, and companies are getting away with treating people like crap. Nothing like it was in the '90s. There are alot of great candidates out there, who are unemployed thru no fault of their own.

The hors suck, most of the coworkers are assholes, the managers are pricks - but Toyota (or Honda, Kia, Hyundai) are IN DEMAND. If you can swin occasional 12 hour days, 60+ hour weeks, and can sell, you can make OK money.

Car sales is ok - and a good way to make sme decent money while figuring out your future employment options. Just a suggestion that's working for me.

Best of luck to you and sorry to hear about your asshole psycho boss.

:hug:

peace and low stress! mdmc

IT club. It gets bigger everyday. Our gov't people should be embarassed beyond belief over all those jobs going overseas and them allowing so many non-citizens in to take the jobs that are left.

Why don't you put flyers out in your neighborhood that you are available for in-home computer assistance. A lot of older people have ongoing computer problems, bugs, viruses and they need help. You could also offer to teach classes at a rec center or something. You could also offer to help people sell things on EBay if they don't know how to. I am always wishing that I had a good, local reliable IT guy I could call. Maybe you could also do home installations of wireless networks - a lot of families would love to have that for multiple computers in the home. I wish that you could work for yourself, earn decent money and be freed from the petty tyrants that you worked for previously. Good luck.

I am so mechanically and technologically challenged that I had to have an SBC guy come out and install my wireless network -- cost me $100 an hour. Took him fifteen minutes and of course I got charged the full hundred.
Wow, a local IT assistance guy -- what a concept. I bet it would go over big.

I thought this thread had died so I hadn't checked back for awhile. What a pleasant surprise that so many of you offered some great tips!!

Thank you!!!