Terminated.

So, it's been a while since my last post. There is a good (or rather, sucky) reason for it.

On July 31st, I lost my job. It was completely unexpected. I had done nothing wrong. In fact, I was told I was up for a "promotion".

I went into work that morning and then my boss called me into an empty office and said something along the lines of, "Effective today, your position here is being terminated. You don't want to be a receptionist; you want to be a showroom consultant but I just don't see you in a sales role." I was stunned and I kind of peeped out, "Did I do something wrong?" to which he continued, "No. I like you. You're a good worker. But you want to be a designer. It's not fair to you to pay you twelve bucks an hour indefinitely."Then I started getting upset and said, "Well what am I supposed to do when I look for jobs? Pretend I didn't work here? I can't very well say that I was fired after less than a year for the first job I had out of college." And he said, "You can still use me as a reference. I'll tell them you had a great attitude and that you were a good worker." Then he left the room and I left crying. That was it. A two minute conversation. No formal letter. No written warnings leading up to the termination. No conversation that led me to believe this was coming. Just a normal Tuesday morning that disrupted my plans. Later that day, after I went to the unemployment office, I emailed him and asked for a formal termination letter so that I could give it to the unemployment office. He told me that he'd get me one. Then later he emailed me back and said Ferguson never gives termination notices in writing. Only verbally.

I gave myself one day to cry and feel sorry for myself, then I didn't cry about it again. The next day, I drove to Baltimore and spent a week applying and interviewing for jobs. I've continued applying since I got home. Aaron and I are moving up there on August 25th. I've been remarkably positive and optimistic. I've been choosing to look at this like a huge blessing because now I can move to Maryland with Aaron. We have housing lined up. I have four interviews the week we get up there. Things seemed to be working out!

Today was my unemployment telephonic interview. This is where things got rough for me. Come to find out, my former boss lied to the VEC about me! He told them I was fired for misconduct!!!! WHAT?! Misconduct??? I had never done anything worthy of being fired. I'd never even been warned about my work performance. In fact, I was doing training and extra work and volunteered to work more Saturdays so that I could get that promotion! Misconduct my arse! He told them all kinds of lies about me including the following:

-That I was told during my initial interview that I would be promoted to a sales position within 3-4 months. Nope. There was no such conversation. In fact, my former boss very clearly told me that he needed someone who could work in a reception role for 2-3 years because (and I quote), "I feel like we go through receptionists so fast around here." Now, I had hoped to move into a sales position, but he never had that conversation with me. In fact, a month into my working there, my supervisor took me out to lunch and told me she saw me in more of an administrative role and that she did not want to move me into a sales role. The first time anyone approached me about moving into sales was in late June or early July 2012, when a position opened and they told me they'd "train [me] into it."

-That management had met with me several times to warn me about my work performance. NOT ONE SINGLE TIME!!!!! I stayed late often and did whatever demeaning, crappy tasks that were asked of me (cleaning everyone else's disgusting messes in the break room fridge even though I never put food in it, cleaning the copy room, changing lightbulbs, filing things for other departments, etc.). I constantly sought ways to help my coworkers by helping them with their load when mine got light.

-That I had a bad sales record. I didn't have a sales record at all. I was a receptionist, not a salesman! I never had a quota. I didn't even have a desk in the showroom. I was told from day one that from 8-11:30 am, I would assist the showroom staff, and that from 1:00 (or whenever I finished my lunch breaks) until 5, I would sit up front and be the receptionist. I worked one or two Saturdays a month in the showroom and it was only during that time that I was expected to work in a sales role. By the way-- I had volunteered to work extra Saturdays so that I could learn more! I had a medium size job going and a whole house job going. A certain lazy co-worker never gave me time to work on them because she was busy dumping her work on my desk so she could take smoke breaks. (I still got all of my work done in a timely fashion though). 

This entire VEC situation has been infuriating! I can't believe my former boss did that and told those lies! What does he gain from that??? I'm going to report him to headquarters in a few minutes. Lying on official documents to the VEC is perjury. Lying about me in print is libel. I forgave when he fired me without just cause and then found out later that day he had already hired someone else for the open position. This went too far.