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Have you ever been fired? Share your story

Mr.Brandtastic

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I've been fired twice in my lifetime and quit a bunch of jobs. I think it's important to share these stories to let people know that the Slowlane is not the "safe" way. Plus it's a good opportunity to hear some humorous stories.

Here are my two stories (not too glamorous or funny but....):

1) Internship for a book publisher: Over one summer of my college junior year I had an "online internship" with a book publisher.

I was told large promises of how while it was a free internship, I would eventually get a cut of the book sales. Of course, that never happened (And in my belief, was never going to happen). I was fired long before that was to occur (about 6 weeks before).

Honestly I got fired because I was wise even in college. The guy running it thought that paying for a bunch of SEO backlinks and cheesy Youtube videos (which got a max of 500 views) was the way to sell the book. I disagreed. I said people reading and leaving real reviews is the best way to sell it. He disagreed.

Eventually I just didn't do his impossible demands that changed every single hour with his mood. I would do one thing and two hours later he would change it again. Then I just stopped altogether, "is it really worth doing all this work for free with the carrot on the stick for later?" Nope. I was fired soon after.

2) Car dealership: The last firing is what really kicked my entrepreneurial spirit in gear. I "sold cars" which really meant sitting on my phone reading e-books for 6 hours a day.

I don't think I've ever worked at a place with a higher number of pricks. The boss was a prick, all the assistants were pricks, all the salesmen with the exception of 1-2 were pricks, the porters were pricks, and the finance guy was a prick.

Thankfully I spent a lot of time researching business. Right now I'm working a much easier part-time job and working on money-making ventures.

One day I just upset my boss by not doing the impossible once more(not closing a sale on an impossible client). I got fired right there on the spot. I smirked, gathered my things, and walked out with the biggest sh*t-eating grin on my face. I was delighted to not have to go there again.
 
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Ivan2BAlive

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I've been fired twice, but they were sh***y jobs anyway:

1.) Hardees
I really didn't think the manager like me anyway. I was going to college during this time and she kept telling me how to do my job for which I already been doing for the past 6 months now. Really, all I was doing was putting frozen meat on a grill, how hard could that be. I'm glad I left anyway.

2.) Electronics Warehouse
I was supposed to assemble computer parts on a conveyor belt. First day on the job and they already laid me off. I couldn't figure that company out.
 

ApparentHorizon

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Honestly I got fired because I was wise even in college. The guy running it thought that paying for a bunch of SEO backlinks and cheesy Youtube videos (which got a max of 500 views) was the way to sell the book. I disagreed. I said people reading and leaving real reviews is the best way to sell it. He disagreed.

- Got hired at dealership
- Owner buys email list
- Says to send it out, but do it from company email so people know its real
- Me: It's going to blacklist our domain if you do it this way.
- Him: Do it this way
- 3 days in. Why is no one receiving my emails? Fix it
- Left with 1 hour to go in the day without saying a word
- 3 more days later after not showing up emails me saying I'm terminated lol
 

MJ DeMarco

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Never been fired...

My guess as to why is something you'd read in book, Thick Face Black Heart. ;)
 
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Sagemoney

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Been fired once.

I used to work at a bank during my short stint in college. I was promoted very quickly to supervisor because I was able to sell accounts and numerous add-ons that netted me an extra 500 bucks per month.

Thing is these additions were targeting people who were poor and in general bad with money, so most of the people I was selling too would eventually return to the bank with negative bank accounts from overdrafts and missed loan payments. It started to take a toll on me morally and as a result my performance slipped. I went about 4 months without a sale and was axed for poor performance. I didn't care too much because I have an ethical line I refuse to cross.

Good thing is the bank and all it's branches went bankrupt and shut down in 2015.
 

Philip Marlowe

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Never been fired, but I did fire someone years ago and only after did I realize it's because I failed her as a manager. I do believe in (her) personal responsibility, but I know there was more I could have done. Instead it was easier to let the person go than take a hard look in the mirror and actually mentor this person. The world kept spinning but it does haunt me sometimes.
 

luniac

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Never been fired...

My guess as to why is something you'd read in book, Thick Face Black Heart. ;)

I've been thinking of reading that book, u recommend it strongly?
 
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csalvato

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Never been fired, but I did fire someone years ago and only after did I realize it's because I failed her as a manager. I do believe in (her) personal responsibility, but I know there was more I could have done. Instead it was easier to let the person go than take a hard look in the mirror and actually mentor this person. The world kept spinning but it does haunt me sometimes.

As employees it’s very easy to hate your boss. As managers it’s very easy to have high expectations with piss poor communication.

There’s accountability on both ends, and most of the time, imho the brunt of the blame is on the manager/hiring party, not the employee. This is a hard pill to swollow and a HUGE blind spot for most people because the only person who can give this kind of feedback is a subordinate... and by nature that’s insubordination unless you EXPLICITLY ask for that feedback. Even then, most employees will be reluctant.

But If you can get good at this you will be able to build a company that goes to the MOONNNN and actually has an impact.
 

WJK

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I've been fired twice in my lifetime and quit a bunch of jobs. I think it's important to share these stories to let people know that the Slowlane is not the "safe" way. Plus it's a good opportunity to hear some humorous stories.

Here are my two stories (not too glamorous or funny but....):

1) Internship for a book publisher: Over one summer of my college junior year I had an "online internship" with a book publisher.

I was told large promises of how while it was a free internship, I would eventually get a cut of the book sales. Of course, that never happened (And in my belief, was never going to happen). I was fired long before that was to occur (about 6 weeks before).

Honestly I got fired because I was wise even in college. The guy running it thought that paying for a bunch of SEO backlinks and cheesy Youtube videos (which got a max of 500 views) was the way to sell the book. I disagreed. I said people reading and leaving real reviews is the best way to sell it. He disagreed.

Eventually I just didn't do his impossible demands that changed every single hour with his mood. I would do one thing and two hours later he would change it again. Then I just stopped altogether, "is it really worth doing all this work for free with the carrot on the stick for later?" Nope. I was fired soon after.

2) Car dealership: The last firing is what really kicked my entrepreneurial spirit in gear. I "sold cars" which really meant sitting on my phone reading e-books for 6 hours a day.

I don't think I've ever worked at a place with a higher number of pricks. The boss was a prick, all the assistants were pricks, all the salesmen with the exception of 1-2 were pricks, the porters were pricks, and the finance guy was a prick.

Thankfully I spent a lot of time researching business. Right now I'm working a much easier part-time job and working on money-making ventures.

One day I just upset my boss by not doing the impossible once more(not closing a sale on an impossible client). I got fired right there on the spot. I smirked, gathered my things, and walked out with the biggest sh*t-eating grin on my face. I was delighted to not have to go there again.
I've been fired a few times over the years -- one notable firing was when I was real estate broker working under another broker's license. I caught the my broker's partner stealing money from the company trust account. I told my broker what was going on, so he fired me. A few months later, that broker offered me anything to come back and work for him again. There was $30,000 missing out of his trust account, and yes, his partner had stolen it. No, I didn't go back.
 

Xeon

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Been working since 2006. Worked in almost a dozen jobs.
The only time I got fired was in 2015, when they had nothing for me to do.

Basically, they hired me for a position they don't really need, and I was busy for the first few months, and the rest of the entire year, I was reporting to work to surf the net and do self-learning on the job.

One day, the boss came and wanted to talk to me.
We sat down and he went "Sorry Xeon, you have to go because we have nothing for you to do".

That was the 1st time I got fired and it came as a complete shock, because it wasn't my fault anyway.

In my current job, my boss (who's the founder of my company which belongs to a larger chain of companies), is now in a sticky situation where the upper echelons are suspecting him of misuse of company funds. He did mis-use the funds, btw, and told us that if we're being questioned, we should lie to the investigators. So far, my colleagues have done what he said.......
Not sure what's gonna happen to me in the coming weeks. I'm just an employee he hired, but if this thing goes to court, I'm not sure if I'll be dragged into it.

One of my colleague has resigned, and a few have stopped working on the projects.

I'm thinking of abandoning ship but when I remember this thing that was written in Unscripted .
It's something like go against the flow. Similar to what Warren Buffett does.

If dumb money is in, get out. If no one is doing it, then get in.
If everyone quits, stay. If everyone stays, quit.
Always go against the tide.

I hope I don't get fired......

I caught the my broker's partner stealing money from the company trust account. I told my broker what was going on, so he fired me.

How can this be?! You told him about what his partner did, he should be very grateful and even reward you, but he fired you instead?! :eek:
 
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AnAverageJoe

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Been fired from one job. Every other job I've been a model employee for whatever that's worth.

Worked front desk at a hotel. Long story short, my manager didn't like a couple of the employees there. Pulled me into her office on my first day and told me that. Told me not to get "mixed up" with them, and that I needed to learn from the other employees.

One of the employees she didn't like is now my wife, haha. She fired me when she found out using bogus reasons. I got sick at work and went home "without calling her", I did call her, she just didn't answer, and the people I was working with told me to go but they called that job abandonment, and then they said I didn't reserve a room for a sales manager coming to town, even though I was never told to do so.

I hate the slow lane.
 

luniac

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fired from litigation support analyst job. Was paid 32k for 3 years with a unspoken agreement that im a junior level analyst, then we got new manager who increased my work expectation without any talk of big raise.
I was like nope i dont care, so they made the job higher pressure for me until i slipped up and boom fired. i guess i did talk a lot of shit over the years though lol
 

MJ DeMarco

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I've been thinking of reading that book, u recommend it strongly?

Lots of people recommend it. I found it validating, more so than enlightening.
 
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luniac

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