Rant by the Puppet

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Just got fired from my job... or as it was put, terminated. There are wrongs on both sides, but there is a part of me that still wants to complain to someone, even if I might have gotten what was coming to me.

Spoiler: Rant

There was a new coworker (we'll call them A) that had been pushing my buttons really well. A was constantly demanding which task I should move to, with a harsh and aggressive tone that set off my nerves like nothing else. It was so freakin' stressful, and I already knew how to do my own work. They were ordering me, and constantly asking questions about what I was going to do, micromanaging me to the Stars and back. They could be really blunt and biting, pushing me to move faster, and when I couldn't switch from what I was doing or asked them to do something, they got visibly frustrated. Led to more than a few panic attacks.

As a bit of context for A's side, everyone in the kiosk took longer breaks than normal a lot. It could be frustrating, but easily ignorable. It happens. In addition, everyone (but me, and including A) would leave the kiosk to have fun talking, take smoking breaks, etc. Things were pretty lowkey, so I thought it was ok to let my breaks get longer than the allotted 30 min and 15 min breaks at times for mental reasons, and at times, admittedly to get a bite more of food (which happens plenty among the coworkers). As a result, I frustrated the new coworker A. The first day they met me and I went over the time, they immediately started cracking down on me for it. So they had that frustration building up, because even after I promised to remedy that, I was admittedly not flawless about it.

Then, Saturday, things came to a head. I accidentally lost track of time, going 10 minutes over my break, coping with serious mental distress. And I thought that since there was two in the kiosk, the new coworker A and my best friend at the time (we'll call them B), I did not need to absolutely, desperately, take my suicidal self off my break. I mean, I was going through mental hell.

When I got back, A left the floor to calm down for a bit. B left the floor as well, "to ask them a question." I was expecting it to not be too long, maybe 5 minutes (max 10 even though I was alone, with no backup, while they had the normal amount of coworkers during my break, it would still make sense) since we were are in the middle of rush.

Then it got longer.

And longer. And the orders start piling up. The kiosk line starts getting longer as I get buried. Neither of them comes back. When B was going to ask a question, I was thinking it would be relatively short and they would be back even if A wasn't.

When they finally come back, AFTER 15-20 MINUTES, I'm quite surprised they both were gone for so long. So I do want an explanation, and I explain they can even say if the explanation is they don't want to tell me because it's not my business.

Well... they give an explanation alright. A says, and I quote, "Well, I was feeling petty...", shrugging, "You shouldn't have taken so long, and we would not have done this." B is silent (who I later find out was not in on this and just wanted to calm A). I am aghast and betrayed at the sheer immaturity and pettiness on display. I ask why on Earth they would be so petty! Why not even ask why?! I explain that I was trying to calm down and avoid walking out into traffic, trying to avoid killing myself and cutting myself! I had been near a panic attack on top of that!

Oh, and by the way, I forgot something. I drank coffee. And for those of who don't know, that's bad. Caffeine heavily exacerbates my medication's side effects, which include bouts of rage and anxiety attacks.

This is important, you know? Especially when A completely tells me to just shut up and deal with it. He diminishes my problems completely, saying "You know, I have problems too, but that's what comes with work. You need to come to work and deal with it. It's just not how this works. You just need to ignore your problems and deal with them on your own time."

I explode. All I can see is Mom saying I am being selfish, cruel, and thoughtless for my depression and suicidal urges. All I can feel is my older sister betraying me. I am so fucking pissed off, and I curse them out once the customers aren't around the kiosk for the store's sake. I have literally never told someone to fuck off at work. I left the kiosk to go sweep bakery like I was asked earlier, and completely melt down. Apparently sweeping was fucking ambitious in my state, because the broom because the cane I need to use to get to the chair. I am absolutely hyperventilating, with my chest burning agonizingly. My vision is blurry as hell, and I am not even coherent, rambling and rocking back and forth. By the end, I have cut myself so many times on the arms that my arms are just wet with blood. If I had been less coherent, I would not be here.

I regret my outburst so much. I regret taking longer breaks so much. I apologized so much. It was not enough, and then I'm terminated for profanity on the sales floor to coworkers.

It takes the store four days to decide to terminate me, where they send me home every time I go for my shift, but lead me on. "I think you'll be able to continue work. We just need a doctor's note." "We just need your side of the story for records, send you home for today." I call them so I don't have to waste money and find out I'm terminated.

 

[HelloHound]

that sounds deeply unfortunate, I hope things improve for you

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

that sounds deeply unfortunate, I hope things improve for you

Thank you. It is deeply painful, particularly as I have been on the up and up due to my medication. And then I have the most psychotic meltdown ever I have experienced.

 

[Seaspecter]

Losing a job always sucks but you'll get though it.

 

[Stealthy_Enigma]

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

*hugs back*

Losing a job always sucks but you'll get though it.

Thanks. It is the friends I lost along the way that stings the most. But I'll get through it. You're right...

 

[Kalliel]

I ain't reading all that, but hope you get better.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

I ain't reading all that, but hope you get better.

I had a feeling. That's why it's in a spoiler.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Take a break.

Rest well.

 

[Kalliel]

I had a feeling. That's why it's in a spoiler.

A wise choice indeed.
You have to adapt to people's attention span nowadays, even though you're just ranting.
What a world we're living in.

 

[Rhaps]

I want to say I feel sorry that you have to go through all of that. But I can't exactly sympathise since my line of works doesn't have/involve much office drama.

I hope things get better for you. Remember, when you are at your lowest, the only way is up.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Take a break.

Rest well.

Thank you. I'll try.

I want to say I feel sorry that you have to go through all of that. But I can't exactly sympathise since my line of works doesn't have/involve much office drama.

I hope things get better for you. Remember, when you are at your lowest, the only way is up.

It's ok. You don't have to sympathize. I should have been a better worker and less crass.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Just got fired from my job... or as it was put, terminated. There are wrongs on both sides, but there is a part of me that still wants to complain to someone, even if I got what was coming to me.

Spoiler: Rant

There was a new coworker (we'll call them A) that had been pushing my buttons really well. A was constantly demanding which task I should move to, with a harsh and aggressive tone that set off my nerves like nothing else. It was so freakin' stressful, and I already knew how to do my own work. They were ordering me, and constantly asking questions about what I was going to do, micromanaging me to the Stars and back. They could be really blunt and biting, pushing me to move faster, and when I couldn't switch from what I was doing or asked them to do something, they got visibly frustrated. Led to more than a few panic attacks.

As a bit of context for A's side, everyone in the kiosk took longer breaks than normal a lot. It could be frustrating, but easily ignorable. It happens. In addition, everyone (but me, and including A) would leave the kiosk to have fun talking, take smoking breaks, etc. Things were pretty lowkey, so I thought it was ok to let my breaks get longer than the allotted 30 min and 15 min breaks at times for mental reasons, and at times, admittedly to get a bite more of food (which happens plenty among the coworkers). As a result, I frustrated the new coworker A. The first day they met me and I went over the time, they immediately started cracking down on me for it. So they had that frustration building up, because even after I promised to remedy that, I was admittedly not flawless about it.

Then, Saturday, things came to a head. I accidentally lost track of time, going 10 minutes over my break, coping with serious mental distress. And I thought that since there was two in the kiosk, the new coworker A and my best friend at the time (we'll call them B), I did not need to absolutely, desperately, take my suicidal self off my break. I mean, I was going through mental hell.

When I got back, A left the floor to calm down for a bit. B left the floor as well, "to ask them a question." I was expecting it to not be too long, maybe 5 minutes (max 10 even though I was alone, with no backup, while they had the normal amount of coworkers during my break, it would still make sense) since we were are in the middle of rush.

Then it got longer.

And longer. And the orders start piling up. The kiosk line starts getting longer as I get buried. Neither of them comes back. When B was going to ask a question, I was thinking it would be relatively short and they would be back even if A wasn't.

When they finally come back, AFTER 15-20 MINUTES, I'm quite surprised they both were gone for so long. So I do want an explanation, and I explain they can even say if the explanation is they don't want to tell me because it's not my business.

Well... they give an explanation alright. A says, and I quote, "Well, I was feeling petty...", shrugging, "You shouldn't have taken so long, and we would not have done this." B is silent (who I later find out was not in on this and just wanted to calm A). I am aghast and betrayed at the sheer immaturity and pettiness on display. I ask why on Earth they would be so petty! Why not even ask why?! I explain that I was trying to calm down and avoid walking out into traffic, trying to avoid killing myself and cutting myself! I had been near a panic attack on top of that!

Oh, and by the way, I forgot something. I drank coffee. And for those of who don't know, that's bad. Caffeine heavily exacerbates my medication's side effects, which include bouts of rage and anxiety attacks.

This is important, you know? Especially when A completely tells me to just shut up and deal with it. He diminishes my problems completely, saying "You know, I have problems too, but that's what comes with work. You need to come to work and deal with it. It's just not how this works. You just need to ignore your problems and deal with them on your own time."

I explode. All I can see is Mom saying I am being selfish, cruel, and thoughtless for my depression and suicidal urges. All I can feel is my older sister betraying me. I am so fucking pissed off, and I curse them out once the customers aren't around the kiosk for the store's sake. I have literally never told someone to fuck off at work. I left the kiosk to go sweep bakery like I was asked earlier, and completely melt down. Apparently sweeping was fucking ambitious in my state, because the broom because the cane I need to use to get to the chair. I am absolutely hyperventilating, with my chest burning agonizingly. My vision is blurry as hell, and I am not even coherent, rambling and rocking back and forth. By the end, I have cut myself so many times on the arms that my arms are just wet with blood. If I had been less coherent, I would not be here.

I regret my outburst so much. I regret taking longer breaks so much. I apologized so much. It was not enough, and then I'm terminated for profanity on the sales floor to coworkers.

It takes the store four days to decide to terminate me, where they send me home every time I go for my shift, but lead me on. "I think you'll be able to continue work. We just need a doctor's note." "We just need your side of the story for records, send you home for today." I call them so I don't have to waste money and find out I'm terminated.

For now, take a break from everything and heal up. Also, assholes won't disappear from every work, so we have to prepare for them.

You'll eventually move on from that, and you'll be okay. But don't hurt yourself coz of idiots. As our mantra at work, "Work is replaceable, but your life/health is not."

 

[PancakesWitch]

i have never lost a job because i havent started any, i just write and earn a lot of money! hahaha

 

[Bartun]

I've been there too. I'm sorry to hear that, those things happen sometimes. Please don't hurt yourself over people who don't give two shits. Hope you feel better.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

I've been there too. I'm sorry to hear that, those things happen sometimes. Please don't hurt yourself over people who don't give two shits. Hope you feel better.

Thank you. This is the first time I've been fired in the couple years I've worked, so it definitely hits different. I won't hurt myself. Just try to improve, both in work and health. Thanks.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

Well, that sounds like shit. As someone working in sales, though not a kiosk, but it's pretty much the same shit even if you work in a specialized field, I can tell you that if a new coworker comes in and pretends to be able to do anything better than a long time employee, they are already full of shit.
Even if you have god-knows-how-many years of experience in the field, every shop behaves differently, even if you go to another store of a chain you have been working on previously already. They will always have a new pace, differing work ethics and small twists that you, as a new hire, have to abide by, because that's how they have been doing it and they won't change it for you, unless it were necessary somehow.
I really feel bad hearing that, because it reminded me of a coworker I had at my very first job. She pretended as if she knew everything better, but I didn't have the confidence to actually tell her off for a while, eventhough she hadn't actually worked there much longer than I had and she wasn't in my field either. I was manning the counter, while she was service personnel (my first job was at a renowned café in the city I had just moved into back then; service and sales counter were strictly divided, so she had different tasks than I had).
Either way, you will find something new. Something better.

Spoiler: I'm just going to rant along with you

And yeah, for this one, maybe you will find solace in the fact, but I will probably face the same fate some time next month at the latest. Recently, one of our stores in Berlin had all of their staff terminated because there was one person who stole a butt load of stuff from both stores in the city. Now, in our city, everything was fine, we have two stores, had a third for a very short time, which didn't survive the lock down though, and everything always worked. But when a lot of coworkers left as we got a new regional manger (who btw hates my guts for some reason), we had to struggle finding replacements, which led to the hiring of two complete bozos that are now no longer with us, thankfully.
Too bad, today we found out that one of them likely stole something from one of our stores. You know, those dust collecting things you just don't manage to sell because they are so overprized and not what people were actually asking for? That's what thermal imaging is for our store. People asked for night vision or the type of thermal imaging in which you can actually see heat levels and such, but we got the ultra bland version that can't even get through a window pane, let alone through concrete walls. I guess it's a legal problem, since Germany has a few strict laws regarding certain military articles in the hands of civillians. Anyway, those are mostly used by hunters, but not many use them, so we sat on fucking expensive thermal imaging cameras that nobody wanted, which also meant we didn't check up on them a lot.
Now three of them are missing, which accumulates to a damage of at least 8.000 € or more. That is enough to lay off the entire branch, at least that specific store. I have barely had any shifts in that store this year, because I was forced out of it, to work in the depressing second store that is located in a shabby alleyway that nobody likes to even go through, but I'm technically still listed as an employee of the other store, so I would go as well.
I don't know how they will handle it, I mean, it's christmas business and they wouldn't want to lose all of the staff here as well, especially not since they have already taken one of our's to help out in Berlin for that very reason, but who knows what will happen after that is over in January.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Well, that sounds like shit. As someone working in sales, though not a kiosk, but it's pretty much the same shit even if you work in a specialized field, I can tell you that if a new coworker comes in and pretends to be able to do anything better than a long time employee, they are already full of shit.
Even if you have god-knows-how-many years of experience in the field, every shop behaves differently, even if you go to another store of a chain you have been working on previously already. They will always have a new pace, differing work ethics and small twists that you, as a new hire, have to abide by, because that's how they have been doing it and they won't change it for you, unless it were necessary somehow.
I really feel bad hearing that, because it reminded me of a coworker I had at my very first job. She pretended as if she knew everything better, but I didn't have the confidence to actually tell her off for a while, eventhough she hadn't actually worked there much longer than I had and she wasn't in my field either. I was manning the counter, while she was service personnel (my first job was at a renowned café in the city I had just moved into back then; service and sales counter were strictly divided, so she had different tasks than I had).
Either way, you will find something new. Something better.

Spoiler: I'm just going to rant along with you

And yeah, for this one, maybe you will find solace in the fact, but I will probably face the same fate some time next month at the latest. Recently, one of our stores in Berlin had all of their staff terminated because there was one person who stole a butt load of stuff from both stores in the city. Now, in our city, everything was fine, we have two stores, had a third for a very short time, which didn't survive the lock down though, and everything always worked. But when a lot of coworkers left as we got a new regional manger (who btw hates my guts for some reason), we had to struggle finding replacements, which led to the hiring of two complete bozos that are now no longer with us, thankfully.
Too bad, today we found out that one of them likely stole something from one of our stores. You know, those dust collecting things you just don't manage to sell because they are so overprized and not what people were actually asking for? That's what thermal imaging is for our store. People asked for night vision or the type of thermal imaging in which you can actually see heat levels and such, but we got the ultra bland version that can't even get through a window pane, let alone through concrete walls. I guess it's a legal problem, since Germany has a few strict laws regarding certain military articles in the hands of civillians. Anyway, those are mostly used by hunters, but not many use them, so we sat on fucking expensive thermal imaging cameras that nobody wanted, which also meant we didn't check up on them a lot.
Now three of them are missing, which accumulates to a damage of at least 8.000 € or more. That is enough to lay off the entire branch, at least that specific store. I have barely had any shifts in that store this year, because I was forced out of it, to work in the depressing second store that is located in a shabby alleyway that nobody likes to even go through, but I'm technically still listed as an employee of the other store, so I would go as well.
I don't know how they will handle it, I mean, it's christmas business and they wouldn't want to lose all of the staff here as well, especially not since they have already taken one of our's to help out in Berlin for that very reason, but who knows what will happen after that is over in January.

It's crazy to hear that you had a similar experience. It is really surprising when new individuals suddenly try to force their preferred work culture on you so aggressively. I can't believe she would try to overreach from her department to meddle with your own work.
Yeah. It's so anxiety-inducing when they are constantly forcing you to follow their exact commands as if they are flawless even when you've got it handled. A would say, while I am making food, to make sure I restock one section, then grind what we needed, and not to forget to sweep... etc. etc. etc. etc... and then ask me what goes into this and how to do it.

Holy shit. That's terrible! The suspense and tension must be building during the entire time, creating uncertainty that's even way worse than how long I found out to get terminated. And it was not even within your control at all. They seriously are bankrupting the store branch through stealing of pointless stuff? That's insane. Absolutely mad. And of course they are waiting to get the most money out of you before giving up. Heartless bastards.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

That sucks. I hope things turn around for you soon.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Well, that sucks, or it's potentially good. A job lost is opportunities gained.

Reminds me when I fired a Margrave along the border territories. He used that opportunity to try and stage a noble uprising with the radical factions. To make a long story short, he's dead now, but at least he had fun. It was very memorable for me as well. Even have a chalice with his name engraved as a keepsake in my vault.