bici_mania

I have been let go from my job. I was just shy of six months. The reason given was 'poor performance' but the root of the problem was the person I was working for simply didn't like me.

I have four other prospective jobs in the works but it has really bummed me out.

I am not the best or the brightest in my field, but I am highly competent and capable. And the one thing that any honest person in a position to know would have to agree with is that I take care of the people that I support.

You can call me short, fat, ugly, old, a bad dresser, weirdo or say that I smell funny. Whatever. I show up early every day and work hard. I frequently work late.

There was no task that I was given that was not done or in the process of doing.

It bugs me to know end that the reason given was 'poor performance'. It's insulting and flat out not true.

bikemig 

This is pretty crummy but you're better off not working for that supervisor. You'll learn something from this and move on and be even better in your next job.

ahsposo 

Good Luck with your next job. 'Poor Performance' would piss me off too if it wasn't true but if they were to tell you the truth it would probably be actionable.

himespau 

that's a bummer. best to be out of a toxic situation early enough that you can just tell the next person interviewing you, "it wasn't a good fit so I wanted something better."

Zinger

This happens alright. Sometimes it's better to walk away from that situation first but I haven't always done that in time myself. You sound like you'll do fine in the right fit.

monogodo

If you know in your heart that the reason you were given is BS, then shrug it off.

The reason I was given for being fired from my last job was that I wasn't producing the work fast enough. I was the only one in my department. My production numbers were regularly in the top 5 in the region, and usually top 3. The two that were always higher than me had full on staffs running production. I also learned from friends who still worked there that the guy he hired to replace me couldn't handle the work load, and they had to hire him an assistant. Oh, and the guy who replaced me? He was the former manager of the shop. He'd left to become a sales rep at another location, and failed at that. He asked our shop owner for a job, and they discussed where he could be put. The owner knew that if he brought him back as manager, almost everyone would quit. That left my spot as low man on the totem pole.

It worked out in the long run. I ended up getting my current job, where I've now been for over 10.5 years.

My wife was also let go from a job after a short period of time, and given the reason of, "it's just not going to work out." She later learned that the daughter of the president of the company replaced her. When my wife was working there, the daughter was still in college, and was working there as an intern. She figured that they hired her as a place holder for the 4 months or so that were needed until the daughter graduated college. At least they were nice enough to terminate her in the morning, which gave her all day to get her unemployment application in, and to line up 3 interviews for the next business day (she was let go on the Friday before Memorial Day). I think they also gave her a small severance package.

As bikemig said, you are better off not working there.

rumrunn6

good luck, you are not alone

leob1

Welcome to the world.
I lost a position because another unqualified person was the same ethnicity and went to the same college as the hiring manager.
I found out from the person that did the technical interview that the person that got the job really new nothing, and I was his and another persons first choice. The person that got hired lasted about two months.

Pamestique 

Lessons I have learned in my long life: Nothing is guaranteed. Most jobs are at the whim of some manager or owner so play "nice". It is better to be friendly and cordial than useful. Doesn't matter how hard you work or how skilled you are, it only matters if you are well liked and can get along with others. Use your experiences to your advantage and good luck in your job hunt.

10 Wheels

Very true....

Wanderer

Were you supporting your old boss? Or, hostile to them in any way? Yep, politics matters, even if you don't like them.

If yes, that is poor performance.

Artkansas 

That's the truth. No one is perfect, so they can always find a way that you screwed up and use that as a reason to let you go.

Bici_Mania, I think you'll just have to look forward and not use any energy on the past. And if you can, stop being old. I've discovered by experience that it really turns employers off.

Wilfred Laurier

This is why unions are important - they make it difficult to fire someone for BS reasons.

RubenX 

Learned it the hard way... One can be the best on the field, the guru... but if you can't get the "key people" to like you, you are as good as gone.

Artkansas 

Yeah, I remember one time the department I was in was in trouble. Our star guy ended up getting sacked while us lesser mortals went on.

genec

Been there done that.

The engineers I worked with thought I did a great job. I always delivered on time and went the extra mile to ensure that the designs were correct... but they let me go and kept the inept guy that was a late hire and friend of one of the directors. Now they keep calling on contractors to finish the job the inept guy can't do. They even contracted me (at much higher pay) to come in and clean things up, twice.

One of the engineers that had been with the company for 12 years up and quit after I was laid off... he couldn't stand working with the inept guy.

It is those sorts of decisions that kill companies. Oh well... I am close enough to retirement to just say F it.

bikebuddha 

This! It's one of the reasons that at ahem- 30 something I got out of HR and went back to school to become an attorney. I could lose my job at any day but if I did I would just start hustling for clients.

genec

Have to tend to agree with you... oddly that is also an anathema to good business practice. Having a bunch of yes men around at the whim of "some manager" does nothing to push businesses forward... this only works to put the manager on a pedestal from which they will eventually be toppled.

Sure, it is indeed good to get along with others, but not at the expense of hard work and good skills... those are all ideally well balanced in a good employee... yet so often the peter principal prevails. (people tend to rise to their highest level of incompetency.) Having a bunch of sycophants about doesn't get the job done.

Artkansas 

In the case I mention, the star guy was a genius, but he was also very arrogant and self centered. The rest of us stayed because we worked together. None were inept.

Blue Belly

The thing that makes or breaks a job are the people you work with. Consider yourself lucky! Ou have the opportunity to be happier

Sixty Fiver

My friend had a similar experience with the USPS... she was capable and hard working and was getting excellent performance reviews and then got transferred to a site where the supervisor took an immediate dislike to her and had her fired before she got permanent employee status.

genec

I worked with one of those guys many years ago... very self centered, hard for anyone to get along with, very intelligent, but arrogant. He demanded design tolerances that made designs cost much more than they should have. Later, after he left, we were told that the tolerances did not need to be anywhere near as tight, and the cost of the designs went down dramatically.

Meanwhile the arrogant guy went to another company... we heard from engineers at that company that he was a royal PITA, but seemed to know his stuff, so folks treated him with kid gloves when they had to work with him, but otherwise avoided him.

What it boils down to is there are generally three types of folks... those so good at their job, that they can get away with being a doosh; then there are the folks that fit in and get the job done; and last are the folks that buddy up to everyone... and brown nose bosses. Of course based on bell curves, the fit in and get the job done folks tend to be a bit more rare than the other folks.

gitarzan

Best of luck on your job search. Many years ago I was canned because the supervisor saw me as a threat. My intentions were excellence. Her intentions were schmoozing and boot licking. Turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to me.

fietsbob

Start a Worker Managed and Owned Co Operative ..

cafzali

Not disagreeing on that fact, but for better or worse, unions have no relevance to the vast majority of the American work force now and haven't for decades. Given that, our only option is acclimating to the work environment we live in, crappy or not.