Ever been sacked?

[Andy Hamilton]

I have been sacked from a few jobs. The worst time is when I sent an email about the antics of my female boss at a work do. She intersepted it and found another excuse to fire me. I did not say the nicest things about her so I understand why.

I was also sacked for being hungover at work, well I did come in hungover for 3 days in a row - not something I would do now.

I am sure that some of you have got up to worse

[funkypixie]

Nope, never been sacked

*whistles whilst polishing goody two shoes*

Anna x

[Merry]

In the early 80s I worked behind a bar and I got the sack for not charging striking miners for their pint.

[Chickpea]

I've been sacked twice. Once by a nutty psycho woman who had sacked every single person who had ever worked for her in the past, so I knew it was a matter of time when I took the job. And once from a restaurant where I got along really well with the owners but not with their mother/in-law. She ran the Sunday lunch part of the business and they ran the rest of the week. She sacked me from the Sunday shift so the daughter/son-in-law had to let me go from the rest, but they gave me the whole contents of the year's tip jar (which was normally shared between all the waiting staff at Christmas) as a type of severance-cum-no-hard-feelings thingy.

It's never nice, I cried afterwards both times.

I've also had to sack a cleaner who stole from us. That was equally hard. I cried after that too.

[Boots]

When I was 14 I told my career guidance officer I wanted to work in a nursery. Here in Aus we have different States and depending where you live you have different words for things. I hailed from South Aus, where nurseries held children. The CGO went and set up a job for me. I can't remember the name of the joint - but it was ambiguous - Something like Growing up green... not that, but like that.

So off I went to my first day at work.

I arrive at this gorgeous rainforest tucked at the end of a culdesac. There is a sign pointing to the office and I think what a brilliant child care place. I'm waiting for little elves to peek out, because the place was really dense with plants... gorgeous!

I go to the office, which is a small kiosk kind of thing and the Boss starts asking me all these questions and I'm telling her how much I like kids. She kept saying 'thats nice'. She asks me if I have a garden and I tell her "Nah, I have dogs and I live in a flat'. The yard is there's." Then she asks me if I'm any good at remembering the names of flowers and plants, and I look at her like she's a bit nuts and she looks at me the same way.

She offers to take me on a tour and we are traipsing through at least an acre of canopied plants and I am looking around confused. I ask her where the kids are, and she says she has none.

Suddenly it dawns on me that Queenslanders refer to plant places as nurseries too, so I just kind of wing it and go along with it all. I started in the florist section and had to design table centrepieces. I don't think I have ever been very frugal and she was not at all impressed with my GALA displays that used every flower and colour in sight.

At the end of the first week, she sighs and says, "You don't really like it here do you?" I assure her it is all really lovely and I like the place very much, but... well, I was thinking I'd be working with kids. She pays me and sees me out the door. As I am making my way through the jungle, I hear her and her offsider splitting their sides laffin.

Needless to say, I learned from that point on to ask for a job description!

[Chickpea]

Oh Boots, I love your posts, they always make me laugh.

[shiney]

I've never been sacked. How dull am I? I've always left before I became badly behaved, nearly always because of bad management etc, I've let them know and then I go!

Luckily, I have been self employed for a while and only have myself to put up with. I don't think I could work for anyone again.

[Wombat]

*sigh*

Retrenched from first job after 6 months, sacked from second job after 6 months for being hopeless, sacked from 3 rd job after 18 months after "disagreement" with one of the bosses.

Mind you things have improved and the last 3 jobs I have had I did not apply for, they approached me and offered. So am now kicking on after a somewhat shaky start!

[glenniedragon]

I walked out mid-shift from an agency job once as the boss had tried it on earlier in the morning, and then made my life a nightmare after I told him what he could do, and the horse he rode in on. I don't think he was expecting such a fiesty reaction from a petite (well I was then) blue eyed blonde. I announced why I was leaving to whoever would listen, ensuring questions would be asked and no doubt was held by any over my reasons.

He was sacked sometime afterwards for trying the same thing again

Kind thoughts
Deb

[The Chili Monster]

No, but I've come very close on more than one occasion ...

like the time I got two verbal and one written warning in the space of about 15 minutes!

[Stonehead]

Quite a few times when bosses changed, priorities changed, ownership changed. But, I've always had a lot of info that competitors would want so I've always collected "enhanced" benefits (read large to very large cheque) and gardening leave.

If the firm hasn't been clued up enough to make a decent offer, I've always been happy to remind them how much I know.

It's one of the advantages of working on project launches and relaunches, in troubleshooting roles, and on systems implementation.

It was quite good too - working for a period of time, getting sacked, and then having three to six months paid leave to travel or do whatever else I wanted. Then geat headhunted for a new job and do it again.

Mind you, it does show how erratic and fickle businesses can be.

One of the best/worst was a major corporation. They spent a bomb on a new service, put in a new team with plush new offices and all facilities (even had a games room for staff), paid big money to outside contractors, had a few problems, brought me into help solve them, and then managed to launch on time and only slightly over budget.

Forty-eight hours later, the whole thing was axed because the new marketing director (headhunted at vast expense) didn't like the service and demanded it be axed. Rather than admit they'd got her appointment wrong, they axed the service! Millions of pounds flushed away.

We got paid very well to keep our mouths shut and sign confidentiality agreements.

[Boots]

Gardening leave huh? Spose that's a pretty good way to fill the blanks in your resume...ROFL


Giggling my butt off here, imagining a corporate suit asking, "Ah, you have noted extensive experience in environmental restoration, how do you believe that will benefit your role as Systems Analyst?"

... and Stoney's unblinking response...

"Well, I am most defiantely here for the long haul. [insert visions of lumberjack hauling power poles] Rejuvenation of environmental processes is an art unto itself. [insert vision of scythe weilding hay maker] You can rest assured my knowledge of systemic and linguistic recycling is profound and deliverable. Can your company gaurantee that base line effects will be met using overhead projections? If not, my environmental processes will speak for themselves...."

[Stonehead]

Gardening leave huh? Spose that's a pretty good way to fill the blanks in your resume...ROFL

No blanks in my CV - that's the advantage of gardening leave. You can have three to six months doing your own things, but you're still officially employed.

You could even spend three months attached to a bong in a free-love commune and still be progressing your career. Hmm, depending on your career, that could well be what you're doing anyway!

If not, my environmental processes will speak for themselves...."

Yep, s*** always stinks, guaranteed!

[Millymollymandy]

I was sacked from a taverna in Greece because I didn't peel the spuds fast enough. Not my fault, they didn't have such things as potato peelers, they used knives!

My husband has been fired several times for the same sort of reasons Stoney mentions, only after the last 6 months 'gardening leave' he coudn't find any more work as it was just after 9/11. Bad time to lose a job. Anyway that's how we ended up in Brittany, as we were forced to sell up and move somewhere/anywhere as we couldn't pay the mortgage any more with no income and no dole.

[Boots]