Just once (I don't consider being laid off the same as being fired--"laid off" means the company is having issues, typically financial, that forces their hand into letting people go to try and cut costs, but it's not the employee specifically. "Fired" means the company very specifically felt the employee was a problem.)
I'd been working at X company for seven months when another company approached me with an offer of 7K a year more to come work for them. I needed the money, so I regretfully told my manager that I was going to leave (I was truly regretful, at the time, they were a great place to work.) Manager offered to match what the other company was to keep me. I accepted. If I'd known then, I would've run and not looked back.
Change in personnel happens about a year and a half later, and I get a new manager....and this guy was slimy. Smart, though. He'd word things in such a way that you'd get one impression based off what he said (or rather, implied) and go that direction, and he'd WATCH you go off in that direction, and later, he'd take great delight in chewing you out. If you said, "But you said..." he'd come back with, "I never said that." And when you reflected on his exact words....you realized he was right.
It didn't help that some of our systems weren't working as they should, so I was running certain things manually. Asking to have our IT department fix some of the issues or write code got me nowhere. My work started going slower and slower and I fell further and further behind, plus new manager and his crony were giving me such a hard time I woke up some mornings thinking I'd rather be dead than go to work. I was going to the ladies room and crying in a stall every day. My friends were worried sick about me--most even offered to pay my bills if I would just quit. I didn't dare--the recession was in full swing, and I'd felt lucky to find this job (it had started off paying 10K less than what I had been making, but again, recession)....another factor was that because of the lower salary, money was tight. Plus gas was well over 4 dollars a gallon at this point, and this was a 30 minute drive one way, so that was another stress putting me into severe depression.
I was put on a PIP, and eventually, I was fired. I was devastated for the first fifteen minutes....then realized that I actually felt overwhelming relief.
And within two weeks, I was offered two different jobs, both of which paid *much* more than the one I'd been fired from. The first one offered was at a company I'd worked at before, most of the team knew me and was excited about working with me again, and I knew I had the job when the hiring manager started off with, "Well, you have one huge black mark against you--you were in the Army." (He was a Navy guy.) A joke like that, and you know it's going to go well. The other offer (the one I took) paid more money than the first and was three miles from my house. Funny thing is, the guy whose offer I accepted knew what happened at my old job--he had contacts pretty much everywhere in our industry in our city, and would call to get the downlow unofficially as well as officially. He heard all about my former manager, and told me that he thought this guy sounded like the world's biggest jerk (not the word he used,
). He said he also figured if in over 20 years, everybody else thought I was a great worker and one person didn't....odds were good that 1.) The one person was wrong, or 2.) The job just simply hadn't been the best fit, so best for all concerned and go on with life.
I eventually left that job after a few years (it was a great job, but contracting, and my contract was about to be up) and took the position I'm in now. My boss advised that she just nominated me for a promotion.
The manager and his bud who made my life hell? Well, the bud was eventually fired. (Though he did find another job.) The manager has had several complaints about his attitude from other employees, apparently, and is on a short leash, from what I hear. (While it's not illegal to be a jerk, enough employees complaining about his attitude towards them isn't going to score points.)
There probably were things I could've done differently, now that I'm away from that situation, but I think at the time I was too stressed/depressed/nervous to think clearly. Some things, that company needed to handle differently.
Things I learned:
1.) If you're that miserable, to the point of suicide, go ahead and quit. Not worth it to stick around.
2.) Sometimes a job is just simply a bad fit, for whatever reason. Let it go.
3.) You *can* bounce back from it.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
