So...it happened to me, I was fired! I recently graduated (9 months ago) with distinction from a reputable university in Vancouver, BC, with communications major. A milestone I was very proud of! 2 months before my graduation I remember feeling scared, unsure and a bit lost, if I may add, about life after university. You would think that 4 years in university would have given you all the tools and confidence you need to face life after school and your destined career path. But to me, it didn’t. You see, growing up as a child, I was told by my parents and relatives to go to school and get good grades, and that this will take me far career wise. They even pressured me to major in certain departments, like health sciences, business managements, law, engineering, computer sciences etc), because, according to them, that is where the money's at. WIth this in mind, I picked up computer science as a study focus because I thought it would help me sustain a decent life and even make me look cool, like a geek. Yes, a geek - I for one think they are cool and wouldn’t mind being called one. No, I do not embody the awkward stereotype often associated with geeks. I’m just a sucker for intelligent people who know their crafts. Anyways, back to my story, I got admission to study computer science in said university in my first year. I remember feeling so happy about it, daydreaming about what my future would be like, and picturing myself in a governing organization to help take out the bad guys ( yeah, I think I was more carried away by the Hollywood movies/series I watched, haha. For example, the TV series 24.hr was more like what I had in mind. I wanted to be like those cool computer geeks assisting Jack Bauer to catch the bad guys and save the world, haha - silly me :)). When the first semester started, reality kicked in. I realized that I didn’t enjoy the class, nor did I understand most of the programs taught. I guess I should have spent time researching more about the field and reflecting more on why I’d like to pursue it, in order to prepare and motivate myself through the hurdles and confusions. But, instead, I chose the course for money and daydreamt about how cool it would be when I become one. In other words, the passion wasn’t there for me. I was mainly taking the course because of an abstract thought of what it could materialize, rather than a passion for learning and truly becoming great at it. This is where I failed. I was miserable in the class, I thought it was boring, and quite frankly I wasn’t motivated to put in the hard work. That semester I got an F, which equals ‘fail’. I failed the course. It was a rude awakening for me, as someone who hates failing. Seeing an “F” on my result report for that class hurt me so much than I can explain. It was in that moment, I decided to utilize the career advisors we had in school. (people, this is important - ones in a while, try to make an appointment with them and talk to them about your career aspirations. They can direct you take a course or two, which may, in turn, give you more clarity on the path you’d like to pursue). If I'm honest, meeting a career advisor didn’t really help a lot in terms of what I have to do immediately or study, but they did listen to my frustrations and talked to me about the subjects I enjoyed and disliked. They also asked me about the things that interest me and makes me happy. Based on my interests, some courses were selected for me to try out and see what I like. One of the courses selected happened to be an introductory communications course. It was good and very relevant to our daily living. I learned a lot about the powers of the media and how technology has become a strong force that has impacted our lives. It was fascinating the things I learned. I wanted to learn more and was passionate about writing about the powers of the media in the ways they can break and make us. It was an amazing change in terms of career interest and I enjoyed every bit of it. So back to graduating. Yes, I was graduating in a field that I love and I'm passionate about, but when it came about what to do after school - I was scared. The media world of communication is competitive - I have been told this by some professors, peers, and have also done some research on my own. Studying Communications as a major is so broad in terms of places to work. It's different from people taking a law or engineering course because they want to be a lawyer or an engineer. Communications is a versatile field of study because the skills you learn from school are transferable in any job. Skills like analytical thinking, verbal, written and presentation skills (Microsoft office suite), problem-solving skills, the list goes on. While I was having struggles with coming to terms with a job I’d like to grow in, I also was not prepared for the paradigm shift in the job market. To explain further, I was told and grew up believing that a university degree is a golden ticket to a good job, most especially if you study a field conceptually thought of as lucrative. Nowhere did I imagine that practical job experience by far suppresses education. Do you follow? It’s like a gratifying stance of thinking you’ve reached the top of the totem pole (i.e., having a degree), only to realize that in actuality there isn’t that much of a climb in the totem pole as you kinda get to fall in the same rank as everyone searching for job, unless you have some experience. Experience matters in today’s job market. Having education is great, don’t get me wrong. But if you do not have any experience, it’s hard to get anywhere unless through good networking skills and connections. The bright side of things though for me was that while schooling, I had a part time job as customer service representative to pay my bills. The company I worked for wasn’t the most flattering place to work, giving the nature of my job and the emotional stress and sadness I faced daily, often stemming from the customers we serve. Here’s a clue, it was at a tow company and almost 80% of the people walking through the door was angry and sometimes verbally abusive to us CSR because their cars were towed. The experience at the company nonetheless was valuable to me and I enjoyed working with my co-workers. After graduation, I did what most people in my shoes would do. I submitted my resume to a bunch of companies through some famous job posting websites. I even took the job hunting a little step further by walking into some companies around me to drop off my resume. I was looking for a more challenging office job and was hoping to start as an entry level employee and climb my way upwards, while also contributing to the overall growth of the company. Some of the jobs I applied to never got back to me, others were kind enough to thank me for my application and let me know that I did not meet their requirements (i.e., no/not enough experience). All in all, as luck would have it, I got a job at a company as a CSR, though the pay was way lower than I had expected. But I was contented. The people were nice, treated everyone with respect, and I really enjoyed working there. Life started to look good. I was happy. With just a few months short of it being a year of me working at the company, I got another opportunity to work in a growing company as an office administrator/accounting clerk. I was given a short time to make my decision as the role needed to be filled asap. After much thought on my situation, I decided to take the new job. In thinking about where I wanted to be and would like to grow, I thought switching jobs will be the right move. I wanted to diversify my experience as I had, at the time, only had experience as a CSR for almost 3 years. I thought it was a good career move for me as it would allow me to grow professionally and the pay was also very good. Saying goodbye to my colleagues and managers was hard for me. I thanked them for all they had done, including their support and for believing in me. I told them how grateful I was for the opportunity to work with them and they were really happy for me and wished me the best of luck in my next job and future endeavors. The new job It’s important to note that when I interviewed for this job, the interviewer knew I didn’t have a strong background as a bookkeeper. She told me the position was newly created and that she was looking for someone she could ‘mould’ into the position. This, of course, made me excited, because I love to learn and thought it would be great for me. A few days after my interview I got the job. I was given an official start date and my nerves and excitement went through the roof. On the morning of my first day at the new job, I woke up early, was professionally dressed and made my way to the location. When I walked into the office, I saw and greeted the lady who hired me (she also happens to be the person I’d be working with and reporting directly to). She showed me around the office, told me a bit about the company, and explained what I will be doing. After the brief orientation, she made me sit in front of her desk, showed me how to record payroll hours in Quickbooks for about 15 minutes, and directed me to another desk with a computer, filled with employees slips and time sheet I had to manually enter. As with any new hire, the first day at a new job can be scary. I sat in front of the computer and started entering the information on the slips into the computer as shown. I noticed that most of the slips had different information, some of which I wasn’t informed of what to do. I tried getting her attention to ask for direction on how she’d like me to enter/code some of the information on the slip that I wasn’t previously shown. She showed me how to enter the slip I showed her, I continued the process, but soon found out that there were many different categories to code the information. I didn’t have a cheat sheet to reference, I was confused and didn’t want to enter the wrong information, so I went to her again. This time she snapped at me. She was short with me and was angry that I was asking her another question in less than 3 minutes since my last question. I was shocked and apologized upsetting her. She told me to go through the whole pile, enter what I can, and come to her with all my questions at once instead of coming to her a few times with different questions. I told her I understood and did as instructed. The truth is at this point I was a bit confused and wondered why she had to snap and be short at me for asking her a question. I didn’t mind her explaining what she would prefer in terms of me asking her a question, but her delivery was unprofessional. This should have been the first red sign, but I shrugged off the uncomfortable feeling. The slips on the desk were a lot and I didn’t get to finish them on my first day. The second day: I came into work, greeted her and asked her what she would like me to do for the day. She told me to continue with what I was working on the day before and proceeded to tell me how slow I was and how it would take her only a couple hours to finish the task, but it’s taking me a couple days. She told me to mind the phones and direct calls to appropriate persons. May I also had that the 15 mins training I received the previous day was the only training I got for the position. Most of the other tasks I performed luckily were straightforward enough for me, as I was already familiar with them (e.g, bank and mail errands, placing orders, making payments, arranging pickup of packages, filing and organizing documents, creating new customer accounts using Quickbooks etc). I didn’t receive any further training. She automatically assumed that I knew how she wanted things done (even without telling me), and when I did them differently in a way I was taught at former jobs, she gets mad at me, before telling me how she would like things done for her. An example will be with receiving phone calls. When a call came in for someone who wasn’t at the office, I tried to take a message for the person, including getting the name of the caller and where they were calling from. While doing this, she yelled at me to not take any messages, but the name and number of the caller (her desk is stationed directly in front of where I was sitting, forward facing me). All this was happening at the same time I was on the phone. I was flustered and quickly took the name and phone number of the caller, before ending the call. Her reason for interjecting was that taking messages is a waste of time. She told me next time to not ask for the name of the caller before transferring the calls and to just pick the call and direct to appropriate persons. (did I mention that there are no extension lines at the office? It was a small office with 4 desks and I shared a desk with one of the owners, who happen to not be at the office at all, he only comes in once in awhile. When people call, I would normally yell out their name and let them know that a call has been put on hold for them. (e.g Norla (fake name), line 1 is for you). If they asked who was on the line, I wouldn’t be able to tell them because I was told to not ask. Anyways, it dawned on me really quickly that I had made the wrong choice in working for this woman. Professionalism was not a common practice at the office. She was condescending to me, would yell at me to do things when she’s not happy and would sometimes laugh with me (yeah, this was a weird one; one minute she is good, the next she is angry). Below are some of the things I’ve had to endure since working there; she’s compared me to her adolescent child, saying he could do better than I do ( I was matching PLS with invoices as instructed by her). I guess, according to her, I wasn't fast enough. Whenever I greeted her in the mornings when I walked into the office, I don’t get a response. She goes straight to telling me what to do There was no set structure on my daily tasks. I have to wait for her to provide me with a task. And when I ask for what to do, if she’s busy, she snaps at me and tells me to give her a minute that she is busy. So, I often try to clean around the office in the meantime until she decides what I will be doing for the day. One time I arrived 10 minutes early to work and the office was closed, fair enough. When it was time for the office to be open and running, she wasn’t around and the office was still closed. I messaged her but didn’t get any response. I waited outside for about 50 minutes before she showed up. No apologies nor explanation. Just straight to work. I was 15 minutes early to work one day and decided to wait in my car to take a call. When it was 5 mins to work, I entered the office and she told me that henceforth I have to be at the office and ready to start work 10mins before my start shift. I was becoming overwhelmed, seeing as it was hard to be micromanaged daily by this woman, I had no friends or anyone to talk to at work, and would always have lunch in my car. The office was in a farmland area, no restaurant/coffee shops close by ( you have to drive for about 15mins to the nearest one). I noticed there was a girl coming to the shop lots and working there. During my break one day, I decided to go talk to her as she was taking her break also. The lady I work with happened to come to the shop and saw us talking. When I went back to my desk after my break, this lady, before I could sit down, in a hostile tone turned to me and said if she finds out that I mentioned anything about our work to the girl that I would be fired instantly. I was shocked and tried to let her know we weren’t discussing anything work related, but she cuts me short and didn’t want to hear what I had to say. She gets mad at me when I make a mistake and berates me (i.e, comparing me to her son again and telling me I am not good). I pride myself on being a hard worker and do the best I can to accomplish desired goals, but even when I have made mistakes in the past, I have been corrected and warned by my previous employers in a respectful way. Not yelled at and berated. I’ve worked almost 15 hours shifts a few times during the week (830am-11pm) with no overtime pay, just flat pay because that’s how they "pay their staff". She doesn’t even ask if I could stay and work overtime, she just expects me to do it which I’m okay with, but I feel scared saying no because I could get fired. She goes through my things without asking permission, and would sometimes rearrange how things are placed on my desks. Most days I would go to the washroom and cry. Oh, and one day when I had to frequently use the washroom because I wasn't feeling well, she questioned me about it because I used it lots that day. If I'm doing a task or matching up invoices, she micromanages the time I spend preparing an invoice and critiques me for being slower than her or yells if I’m trying to gather enough information on an invoice to perform a task. (E.g when matching an invoice, if I'm trying to match up the dates of invoices or get rid of duplicates by cross matching the similar invoices at hand, she would yell at me for taking so much time to look at an invoice) I have tried talking to her about the way she snaps at me and how uncomfortable she makes me feel. She told me it’s an attitude flaw of hers and that she would stop, but nope - it continued. Another time I informed her I’d like to have a word with her when she is free, no pressure. But she brushed me off and told me she has no time. Some days were okay, especially if she was in a good mode, most days were terrible - I often looked at the clock and hoped it would quickly hit 5 pm so I could go home. My partner always had an ear full of how stressful my day was. I remember calling him one day during my break and balling my eyes out about the way I get spoken to at the office. He was not happy and wanted me to quit and leave because it was becoming a common occurrence and he didn’t think it was healthy. These are just a few of the difficult experiences I've had to endure while working there. The crazy thing was that a few people who came to the office knew of how badly she treated me but said nothing. They all told me to hang in there that she power trips, and would say all sorts of nasty thing about her (this was in her absence of course), but no one talked to her or came to my aid. After about 2 months of this going on, I had had enough and decided to take the situation one step further. I spoke with one of the owners who had initially contacted me after witnessing the way I was spoken to by her. He had told me that they do not treat their employees like that and that he would talk to her. Since he approached me initially to express his disdain for the way I was being treated, I felt comfortable to go to him to explain that the situation hadn’t changed since we last spoke and instead was getting worse. I told him I was beginning to get anxious when I get to the office because I do not know what to expect. I told him I think she is amazing, but I was hoping he’d talk to her about how she communicated with me. I told him I was open to constructive criticism and always willing to learn, but not happy when she yells at me for no valid reason. He fully agreed with me, confirming that he’d witnessed some of my concerns, and said he’d speak with her. About two days later, I was sent on an out of office errand and when I returned, my employer lady said to me that she needs to speak with me. We enter a private room and she says to me “.....I need to let you go”. I must say I was a bit surprised, but not surprised. I knew I wouldn’t be there for a long time, I was actually in the process of looking for a new job. But it kinda came as a shock to hear those words, because earlier in the day we had talked about some tasks that I had to do the next week and other errands she’d like me to do when she was away. So, I didn’t expect this. After she spat out the words of me being let go, I calmly asked her what led her to the decision and the first thing she said was that I spoke with the owner. She said she doesn’t think we could get along and blah blah. I told her I understood her decision and wanted to let her know that the reason I spoke with the owner was to get a healthy communication flow between us, nothing malicious. I told thanked her for all that she has done and for the opportunity. She told me I was wonderful to work with and very respectful, but that she’s sad it didn’t work out. She told me she’d be happy to be a reference and that I can always call her. Funny thing was that she had gone through my things, parked them and handed them to me as she was speaking. I took my things, thanked her again and left. I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulder as I walked out the door. When I got to my car, it hit me that I have been fired. I wasn’t sure of what to do or how to react. I called my boyfriend and told him about the situation. He was so supportive and it was during my conversation with him that I started to cry. It hurts. Being fired hurts. On one hand, I felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to deal with an emotionally abusive workplace. On the other hand, I felt a familiar feeling, lost. What am I to do? Where /how do I start to pick up myself again? Do I really have what it takes? Am I going to get a good job? Will being fired hurt my chances of securing a good job? These questions almost broke me into panic mode. Going online, reading stories of people who have gone through similar experiences as me and how they bounced back, as well as having a wonderful, supportive partner and friends have given me the push that I need. And like the famous line goes; what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I feel stronger, happier and ready to explore what’s out there for me. It may be tough, I know, but I wouldn’t give up. I believe a healthier, respectful workplace is vital to the success of employees. A workplace shouldn’t be run with a dictatorship spirit, but more of a place of openness and a free flow of ideas on how to enhance the productivity of workers, not suppress them. Thank you for reading. I want to hear your thoughts and stories. Have you ever been fired? If yes, how did you cope with it? Any advice, please? PS: Please forgive my typos. I didn't get the chance to go through all that I've written. I apologize in advance for this. Also, English is not my first language, but I'm trying my best.