Got a story to tell. Bit long, but I have a chest weight that needs to be dropped.
A couple of years back, I was working as a construction laborer for a local commercial company, building hotels and condos. Hired in 2017, left in 2019.
A couple of months before I quit. I was tasked one day, to haul off plumbing pipes and other necessities, to the underground parking lot, where all site equipment was stored. The day started at 7 am, and since we were not unionized, we were allowed to skip breaks if the task was pressing. So I hop onto our forklift, get assigned a crew to load me up, and I was to drive back and forth around the property. 3 hours in, I decided to pull over for literally seconds, to throw my feet on the dash and check my FB. Out of nowhere, pull up the company president, and fucking rips into me for slacking off on the job. Mind you, I was only 10 seconds into my break, after 3 hours of nonstop driving. I'm very unconfrontational, so kind of puss out to make a case for myself.
Side note: he was a known alcoholic, so when he approached me, he was eating a sub sandwich, and of course, I could smell it on him.
So after his belligerent spiel, he tells me to take the rest of the day off. I replied “yes Sir”, in the most mousey way, because, you know, I'm a pushover. Then he completely blows up, and fires me right then and there, in front of my crew, and a couple of dozen other trades. So I leave the site. Call the site supervisor, and he tells me to not worry about it, and just show up the next day.
Apparently, nothing happened. I was never fired, but the entire site, including people who weren't present, all heard what happened, and some pleaded my case, that I shouldn't be fired, as I was the only laborer for the GC that ever bordered to show up to work on time, stay overtime, and perform every task asked of me. So I kept working.
About a month later, a Tornado hit our city, and my neighborhood was left without power for 3 days. On day 4, I come back to work, a few minutes late, and the FIRST THING I HEAR OUT OF MY FOREMAN'S MOUTH, was “Why are you late? You're making a habit out of it.” Mind you, I've only been late once, even, and that's because the bus broke down that day on my commute.
So I sucked it up until the project was finished, and left the company without notice, in the middle of lunch, on a Friday.
TL/DR: got fired without cause, no apology. Got talked down because my house was without power for 3 days. Quit without notice.