This happened nearly 20 years ago, yes, I'm old. LOL
I worked at a bank at the time, and was a good employee. I started as a teller, going in with two banks under my belt, so with my experience and speed, they promoted me within 2 months to senior teller, which came with more responsibilities. Now, I LOVED my job. I always thought that it was easy, and learned new duties quickly. One thing about teller jobs is that everything has a system and you just gotta pay attention during training and follow the rules, then you're golden. And if you don't know how to do something, there's always a procedure book (physical or online) to guide you through.
I met someone at the job and we became friends. I felt bad that she was raising three young kids on her own and did look out for her a bit more, like scheduling our shifts together so I could give her rides to/from work.
I was also a very naïve person at the time, in my mid-20's. I always believed (and still sort of do) that people are good, and to treat others the way I want to be treated and everything will be fine.
Then we got a new assistant manager, who soon brought in two new tellers. One I would call Pretty Boy, and the other Young Guy. The assistant manager, if I remember correctly, had no banking experience prior to this. She worked in retail before, I think. She met Pretty Boy while dining out (he was a waiter) and offered him a job.
Long story short, PB and YG gave me so much headache, especially PB. I don't even know how he passed training! He was always having trouble settling his drawer at the end of the day due to silly mistakes and required my help. I complained to the higher ups with no results. I was told to do my job and help out. I was a team player so I did.
I think the fact that I didn't enjoy working with PB and YG really bothered the assistant manager. Then I heard rumors that she (married) might have been romantically involved with both PB & YG. Yuck! She was old enough to be their mom (I think)! But if rumors were true, that would explain a lot about her obvious favoritism towards them.
Another thing to add is that because I was naïve, I thought that being honest was the best policy. So during branch meeting with the regional manager, I must have said something that pissed off the regional manager. No one ever said anything to me but I started feeling malice from her after a while. I injured my ankle and still went to work. She implemented a “no chair for tellers rule” so even with the branch manager's request to bring a chair from the storage room so I wouldn't further injure myself, she declined. That's how much she disliked me. I always thought that as long as I continued to do my job, went above and beyond, I would be OK. I should've just called in sick for a week with a doctor's note so I could let that ankle heal. But no, I still showed up everyday. Yeah, looking back, I was stupidly dedicated and naïve.
Now to the part where I think I might have been set up. The friend I mentioned earlier approached me one busy Friday night during closing, and asked me to reverse an overdraft fee for a client. I was in the middle of three things so I asked if she checked the account, was it usually in good standing, was it first time offence, etc? She confirmed all of the above, so I mistakenly didn't double check, and processed the fee reversal.
Two weeks later, I was called into a meeting, accused of committing fraud. I was shocked to find out that the account that I processed the fee reversal belonged to that friend's child, which was against company policy. She was immediately terminated, and I was given the chance to submit my resignation to not having termination on record. My immediate supervisor was besides herself, and so was my manager. I handled A LOT of responsibilities behind that teller line and was the fastest teller they have, meaning on a busy Friday afternoon, I could clear two customers while coworkers clear one. My supervisor really didn't want to lose me. She and the branch manager tried to talk to the regional manager on my behalf to keep me, but her mind was set. I didn't want to be terminated so the following day I showed up with a letter, finished my day, and that was that.
Why do I think I was set up? Well, usually if you've been terminated by a bank, it would be pretty difficult to get another bank job, especially for what happened. That friend, however, went on to work at other banks and credit unions for a few years. I often wonder if someone helped her get those jobs… someone also in the banking industry and can give her good reference, perhaps? But since I haven't had contact with any of former coworkers at that place, I'll never know for sure.