I had worked for a law firm for over a year. I started off as a file clerk and helped other co-workers around the office in the beginning. Because of my journalism background, they assigned me to talk to every client to get their narrative about what they had gone through in their experience in wildfires. I really did love this job. I was helping their clients cope with the loss they had experienced in wildfires. I worked overtime and tried to show that I was a hard worker, that I was capable to handle any assignment that my boss gave me. Eventually, I was promoted and was told by my boss that he wanted to extend my employment longer than we had agreed.
A year into being employed my boss retired and had his daughter take slowly take over. We got along just fine (as a boss and employee should) and I had no issues with the transition. I continued working, taking in new assignments under deadlines all the time.
Finally, after working there for over a year, the necessary work that needed to be met was completely finished. All of us that had been working so hard to get this work done finally got to celebrate and relax a bit.
The next day, I received an email from the daughter's secretary that my time with them was coming to an end effective immediately. To say that I was angry and upset is an understatement. I couldn't believe that I was being let go, let alone in the form of an email instead of over a phone call or in person.
Fast forward a few months later, I got a phone call from her asking if I would be willing to come back.
My response effectively was “I would love to come back, but I have to say, the way you handled letting me go in an email was disappointing. If I do come back I'd prefer you tell me straight on instead”
It's small but I learned that you need to know your worth in the workplace. Standing up for myself in that way made me feel so much better at the end of the day. I know that what I've experienced is nothing compared to what I've seen on this sub. I was lucky in this situation to have a decent boss that listened and understood my issues. But If I hadn't read the posts similar to this on the sub, I wouldn't ever have considered saying what I said.