maybe I deserved it but want to vent wrote:
I worked a retail job. I was late for work yesterday (sunday) by 45 minutes. I was stuck in traffic on the freeway and had called ahead of time. I think there was an accident. I took pictures on my cell phone showing the time, location, the line of cars in front of me, and my speedometer at 0 etc. I had been in a town visiting my girlfriend 70 miles away and it usually takes about 70 minutes to get back from there to work. I gave myself 2 hours for the 70 minute trip so it's not like I was a slacker who didn't care. It ended up taking 2 hours and 45 minutes.
My friend said I should have just lied and called in sick when I saw that I was stuck. It would have been better than being late. Well, I may not be perfect but I'm not a liar.
I had been late 2 other times by about 5-6 minutes because of traffic from home and the ferry (even though I left with a huge cushion--and most of the time get there 30 minutes too early and have to browse around other stores) and had called ahead of time on those occasions as well, and the manager said " thanks for the heads up". There was no warning or indication that next time I was late I would be fired. Although I'm not sure I would have been able to predict being stuck on the freeway that long yesterday anyway.
I had expected a warning of some sort when I came in today, but was a bit surprised that I was fired for this. The form said I was repeatedly late for work and repeatedly late from my breaks. It made it sound like I was some slacker. I disputed the repeatedly late from breaks, and mentioned we often take breaks up front later than scheduled if we are busy so it might seem like it to the head manager who is mostly in the back. There was ONE time that I was ONE minute late from a break because I had been on the phone talking to my mom who had an operation.
I said I wished I had been at least warned about this possibility first. My friends later said on most jobs people usually get written up about being late first before something like this.
In a way, from their point of view, I get it doesn't really matter WHY I am late. The assistant manager essentially said I shouldn't be so far away on days I work. It's my responsibility. But I'm still a bit surprised this got me fired.
To be honest I wasn't really happy working there. I really liked the work itself. But, I just don't think I fit in there with some of the people, there was a lot of backstabbing politics. I'm a pretty friendly dude and at most places so far until this place, I'm well thought of as a good worker but at this place I think I just rubbed a couple people the wrong way right at the start and got in the dog house. I'm kind of thinking that is the real reason why I was canned. However, they assured me that it wasn't my performance on the job.
Not much I can do now, and I really just wanted to vent.
I hadn't been fired before. I really hope this doesn't damage my chances at future jobs. The manager said she doesn't tell future employers why a person no longer works there. She just refers them to HR who only mentions the work period and the pay.