So I am now unemployed.

[Pink Ranger]

Deacon, I hear what you're saying and one of the darkest periods of my life was a recent bout of unemployment a few years ago.

However, be very, very careful not to burn any bridges. From what I understand with your situation, the source of your problems is the new manager, not so much the company itself. The new manager displays all the signs of absolutely toxic behaviour, and experience and research shows that people like that don't last long in their positions. He will either be fired shortly or move on himself.

In most cases, you can simply hold on and outlast the toxic person (something I've done in the past, and it works for many others), so it is unfortunate that you were fired before that could happen. Still, once this manager gets the trashing he deserves, by not burning bridges with your former employer (the company itself) you could be in a position to get back in your old job, perhaps even the promotion(s) you were in line for.

The key is, be resilient, be classy, be honorable.

 

[BlackSymbiote]

Sucks you got fired, but welcome to the unemployment club. We had a secret handshake, but it got fired.

 

[Carcharodon]

You see that's what happens when people put faith in retail corporations. Are you in college? Do you have a skill that will ensure job security? I was talking with some loser kid on the train the other day who was complaining about not being able to find a job. I asked where he was applying and he mentioned such reputable names as Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc. Stocking shelves and getting ASM titles and promises of 40k a year (which isn't crap!) is just wasting time. Most store managers of such places are there because they have been with the company for several years and have kissed enough butt to get them there along the way. I used to work for Home Depot (which i now prank call weekly since i figured out how to call direct into the over head speakers ask me how and we can share the fun!) and they pulled the same crap with me. They don't care. Go to school if you aren't going. If you are, learn a skill that will be useful to people in the future. Degrees in business and management are just a waste of time and money spent on learning how to bend over and take it from the corporate ron jeremy. I told that kid on the train the same thing. Look for a real job, dude. Also, don't add to your loser status by getting unemployment. That is lame.

Which Home Depot did you work at? I worked at Lowe's in the Portland area.

 

[Hotwire]

Deacon,

I would check with your state's employment laws. You may has a good case for a wrongful termination lawsuit on your hands. I would at least look into it, because if you do, sue them.

 

[DarknessOfDeath]

You can take my job so I can work for Bestbuy. lol

 

[Aleena]

Sorry you were fired.

 

[The Guard]

Just in case someone from the store is on here as well. I don't want it gettong back to them that I am airing company business here. They have been known so take ex-employees to court.

Discussing company business that clearly involves some borderline illegal practices? I can't see them suing over that.

Sounds like a real ****ty situation. Perhaps you should look into some form of action? Because it seems like they had it in for you and it was completely unexpected.

It certainly does sound like someone wanted to get rid of you and did what they had to in order to make that happen. I would look into your legal options.

 

[psychocheeseman]

do you guys have any unfair dismissal tribunals you can go to in the states?
If not try sending a letter to a more senior person in the company complaining about the extremely unethical behavior of that new jerk guy.

 

[Raiden]

This is terrible. Sorry you got fired.

 

[jaguarr]

Well if you were fired you should get unemployment no problem. I really think you should have called the corporate office about your situation before you were fired. Since what your manager did was a complete dick move. You should go back and work on sabotaging the store, nothing illegal, just little things. Making let some rats in, put a few rotting fish in certain strategic locations, spread rumors, etc.

You should have complainned higher up and the moves they asked you to do is typical of those who want to completely change a team. It is unfortunate that you were caught in the middle.

I agree with AF and AM, you should have escalated to corporate. It's very clear that the new manager had a plan to get rid of all the previous management and put his own people in place. This is not an uncommon practice in some industries, but the managers who do it have to be incredibly careful about how they do it, otherwise they can get their butts in a sling. The way he went about it was underhanded and, I can tell you from what you have written about it, definitely not kosher at all. There could be some ethics law violations involved. If the other supervisor types at your old employer are also training their own replacements as you say, you will all have a legitimate complaint and should all band together to file a formal complaint with the regional corporate office. The more information you have about your previous #1 status before this new manager showed up and the more detailed specifics about how you were run out (the methods he used to do it, many of which you've detailed in this thread), the stronger your case. I'd urge you to reach out to those other affected supervisor/managers and any other employers that this new manager ran out with these methods and pull them all together to file that formal complaint. Probably wouldn't hurt for you to talk to an employment law attorney as well; there could be a mighty fine class action lawsuit in the makings, here.

jag

 

[Ring Deacon]

Deacon, I hear what you're saying and one of the darkest periods of my life was a recent bout of unemployment a few years ago.

However, be very, very careful not to burn any bridges. From what I understand with your situation, the source of your problems is the new manager, not so much the company itself. The new manager displays all the signs of absolutely toxic behaviour, and experience and research shows that people like that don't last long in their positions. He will either be fired shortly or move on himself.

In most cases, you can simply hold on and outlast the toxic person (something I've done in the past, and it works for many others), so it is unfortunate that you were fired before that could happen. Still, once this manager gets the trashing he deserves, by not burning bridges with your former employer (the company itself) you could be in a position to get back in your old job, perhaps even the promotion(s) you were in line for.

The key is, be resilient, be classy, be honorable.

That is why I didn't mention Sears by name. I don't want to burn a bridge with them. I liked working there. The new mgr just didn't want me on the staff and wanted to get rid of me period. So they set me up to fail. Now my fight will be to get my unemployement. PA unemployement says I have to wait four weeks for them to look into why I was let go before they can start paying it to me. But Sears can fight it. So from what unemployement tells me I may have to take it to court, I will not know anything till next Friday if I am getting it or not.

In the mean time I have had loads of interveiws, maybe someone will hire me in the mean time. I know I may have to take a pay cut for now but a pay cut is better then no job at all. Like I said I have a family to take care of. I may have to cut back on things but we will get through this.

I do want to get training for something better though. There are classes for IT techs coming up in the spring and from what I am told it pays well. So we will see what happens.

 

[LondonGirl]

So here I am with out work and fighting for unemployment and to find new work in a struggling economy. This sucks. So if anyone has any ideas or job leads out there I would love to hear them. I would even relocate my famliy if I have to.

Omg I am so sorry. That manager is a jerk! How dare he?
That is soo out of order!

 

[The Guard]

I agree with AF and AM, you should have escalated to corporate. It's very clear that the new manager had a plan to get rid of all the previous management and put his own people in place. This is not an uncommon practice in some industries, but the managers who do it have to be incredibly careful about how they do it, otherwise they can get their butts in a sling. The way he went about it was underhanded and, I can tell you from what you have written about it, definitely not kosher at all. There could be some ethics law violations involved. If the other supervisor types at your old employer are also training their own replacements as you say, you will all have a legitimate complaint and should all band together to file a formal complaint with the regional corporate office. The more information you have about your previous #1 status before this new manager showed up and the more detailed specifics about how you were run out (the methods he used to do it, many of which you've detailed in this thread), the stronger your case. I'd urge you to reach out to those other affected supervisor/managers and any other employers that this new manager ran out with these methods and pull them all together to file that formal complaint. Probably wouldn't hurt for you to talk to an employment law attorney as well; there could be a mighty fine class action lawsuit in the makings, here.

Listen to this.

 

[Ring Deacon]

I am planing a visit to my old store next week just to see who is still there. I have the whole staffs phone numbers and if they are now gone too. i want to ask them if they want to team up and take the company down a notch or two.

On a good news ( well better news note ) I was offered a full time job at Target. It is an hourly pay cut and not a managment job like I want, but they are offereing me full time right now and they never do that to someone off the street. That and i have the chance to make bonuses when I sell accessories in the electrionic department (where the hired me for ). Also they wanted someone with mgr background because they are looking to promote a few of the ones they have to store mgr and will have opening. So there is good and bad to it. I am just waiting for my drug test to come back.

But I am still owed 4 weeks of unemployement, which I will fight for.

 

[jaguarr]

I am planing a visit to my old store next week just to see who is still there. I have the whole staffs phone numbers and if they are now gone too. i want to ask them if they want to team up and take the company down a notch or two.

On a good news ( well better news note ) I was offered a full time job at Target. It is an hourly pay cut and not a managment job like I want, but they are offereing me full time right now and they never do that to someone off the street. That and i have the chance to make bonuses when I sell accessories in the electrionic department (where the hired me for ). Also they wanted someone with mgr background because they are looking to promote a few of the ones they have to store mgr and will have opening. So there is good and bad to it. I am just waiting for my drug test to come back.

But I am still owed 4 weeks of unemployement, which I will fight for.

Glad you found something quick, and it sounds like there is some opportunity for you to move up in the company. Target has a pretty good reputation for how they treat their employees. Logan's Runt works for them and loves it, so you might ping her to see if she has any insider tips to share. Congrats!

jag

 

[Raiden]

Congrats on finding a job with Target, Ring. Target runs a nice organization from what I've heard and it should be great working for them.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I am planing a visit to my old store next week just to see who is still there. I have the whole staffs phone numbers and if they are now gone too. i want to ask them if they want to team up and take the company down a notch or two.

On a good news ( well better news note ) I was offered a full time job at Target. It is an hourly pay cut and not a managment job like I want, but they are offereing me full time right now and they never do that to someone off the street. That and i have the chance to make bonuses when I sell accessories in the electrionic department (where the hired me for ). Also they wanted someone with mgr background because they are looking to promote a few of the ones they have to store mgr and will have opening. So there is good and bad to it. I am just waiting for my drug test to come back.

But I am still owed 4 weeks of unemployement, which I will fight for.

Congrats on the new job, still think you should pull some pranks on Sears though, don't those b*tches down a notch or two.

 

[muertevilla]

Which Home Depot did you work at? I worked at Lowe's in the Portland area.

This was a while back. It was the home depot in austin texas managed by a completely incompetent store manager. I figured out a way to call into the store and punch in an extension to go direct to the over head speakers. yesterday i called and announced 50% off everything for home depot happy hour between 2&3. i have a friend that still works there and he says the managers still think it is someone inside the store doing it... haha they are too stupid to realize that by running their internal paging system off an extension, one can easily punch it in from an outside line. Thats the one way I get back to them for trying to fire me for being late 9 times in a year and a half of working there and running a department the entire time. screw them and screw corporate conglomerates. i shop local now. cool thing about portland is you can find a locally owned anything.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

So was it Sears? Cause I worked there for the first 5 months I lived in Maryland and it was the worst job experience I've ever had and when I was a teenager I worked at McDonalds, I also worked part time at Wal Mart one Christmas for more money....soo...you know that speaks volumes when I say that.

 

[Iron_Stark]

Sucks that you got fired, especially with this economy and right before the Holidays.

I remember getting fired from my last job many moons ago the first week of December, it was not fun at all.

Thank God for the job placement lady at the school I went to was willing to help me even though I had graduated from there a year or two prior.

Don't give in, look hard, since you've got experience with what you did, go to your former jobs competitors.

 

[muertevilla]

Glad you found something quick, and it sounds like there is some opportunity for you to move up in the company. Target has a pretty good reputation for how they treat their employees. Logan's Runt works for them and loves it, so you might ping her to see if she has any insider tips to share. Congrats!

jag

I've actually heard quite the opposite of what you say about the way target treats their employees.

TO RING: I am glad you found work fast, but I hope you learned your lesson. Don't put faith in these types of employers. I still think you should try to set yourself up with your own personal income, whether it be through your art or photography. Are you invested in anything right now? Is your 401k looking good? At what age do you see yourself retiring? Do you have enough money saved in a bank account that you can live off of for a year without income? These are all questions you should be asking yourself.

EVERYONE should be asking themselves this, especially you youngsters that are on this site. The newest Iphone or IPOD or 22" rims or your $50.00 hats and $60.00 shirts and $70.00 pants and shoes and all that crap that I see kids (12-17yr olds) obsessing over are meaningless. Its funny that ring mentions he used to work for sears. Most self made, first generation millionaires shop at sears. I am talking about net worth millionaires <if you dont know what that means figure this: Take your age and multiply it by your annual income then divide by ten. That is how much you should be worth for your age.. then compare that to your bank account and property you own and see if you are even close to what you should be worth... It will make you think twice before you buy that new 60.00 video game or expensive telephone.

Read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" & "The Millionaire Next Door" for further info.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I've actually heard quite the opposite of what you say about the way target treats their employees.

TO RING: I am glad you found work fast, but I hope you learned your lesson. Don't put faith in these types of employers. I still think you should try to set yourself up with your own personal income, whether it be through your art or photography. Are you invested in anything right now? Is your 401k looking good? At what age do you see yourself retiring? Do you have enough money saved in a bank account that you can live off of for a year without income? These are all questions you should be asking yourself.

EVERYONE should be asking themselves this, especially you youngsters that are on this site. The newest Iphone or IPOD or 22" rims or your $50.00 hats and $60.00 shirts and $70.00 pants and shoes and all that crap that I see kids (12-17yr olds) obsessing over are meaningless. Its funny that ring mentions he used to work for sears. Most self made, first generation millionaires shop at sears. I am talking about net worth millionaires <if you dont know what that means figure this: Take your age and multiply it by your annual income then divide by ten. That is how much you should be worth for your age.. then compare that to your bank account and property you own and see if you are even close to what you should be worth... It will make you think twice before you buy that new 60.00 video game or expensive telephone.

Read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" & "The Millionaire Next Door" for further info.

Okay, grandpa.

Let's not turn this thread into teach the young whipper snappers a lesson, whose to say we can't afford those 60 dollar videogames and the iphone and such and still pay our bills? Still pay our way through the necessary things in life.

Hell, where did that even come from?

 

[Darthphere]

Okay, grandpa.

Let's not turn this thread into teach the young whipper snappers a lesson, whose to say we can't afford those 60 dollar videogames and the iphone and such and still pay our bills? Still pay our way through the necessary things in life.

Hell, where did that even come from?

He's got a point, even though nobody cares.

Someone was complaining the other night on Livejournal that their family was going to get taxed under Obama's tax plan and that it wasn't fair because she could barely pay rent. Mind you, in the last two weeks, this person posted about buying a new MacBook, an iPhone and a brand new iPod.

 

[muertevilla]

Okay, grandpa.

Let's not turn this thread into teach the young whipper snappers a lesson, whose to say we can't afford those 60 dollar videogames and the iphone and such and still pay our bills? Still pay our way through the necessary things in life.

Hell, where did that even come from?

Well.. For one... Ring is 38. And why not try to teach kids a thing or two about money management. This is a thread about employment. I was just giving examples of status symbol products that people buy to project the image or wealth. And if saving money and building wealth makes me a grandpa, then so be it.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

He's got a point, even though nobody cares.

Someone was complaining the other night on Livejournal that their family was going to get taxed under Obama's tax plan and that it wasn't fair because she could barely pay rent. Mind you, in the last two weeks, this person posted about buying a new MacBook, an iPhone and a brand new iPod.

Well, she's just stupid and clearly doesn't know how to manage her money, that's not all of us however. Some young people actually know how to plan and spend their money wisely..aka Bills first, entertainment and goodies second.