This happened a few years ago but I saw a post that reminded me of it and ya know what? I'm still mad, so let's go.
Disclaimer: long post, I'm on mobile, blah blah blah, English is my first language so no excuse for poor grammer.
Fall semester of 2019 I was taking a fast track CNC certification course at a local college. For those that don't know, CNC machining is basically a trade job where you run a computer controlled machine to cut parts from stock material. While taking the course I got my first machining job but since I was still learning all they would let me do was load parts onto machining pallets. It was pretty boring and everyone else there seemed depressed but not the worst job I ever had. So while working full time and going to class, I found out my wife (gf at the time) was pregnant. I had a lot of other stressors going on at the time including some pretty severe depression and I didn't handle it all very well because we were in no position to have a baby. I ended up missing work and being late too many times so I lost that job. My fault, I'll own that.
I ended up just finishing the course without a job and since we couldn't afford bills, her parents were kind enough to let us move in with them while I hunted for a job. Unfortunately that's when covid hit and it seemed like a lot of places didn't want to hire. After a few months of continuous applying and interviewing I finally managed to get offered a job running cnc grinders. It only payed like $13.25 an hour and I had to drive an hour to get to it, but a little money was better than no money so I took the job. I actually ended up enjoying the job a lot, and I was picking up on everything really fast. I actually started getting compliments on how fast I was learning and by the end of the first week I could run the machine by myself. But sadly this was all going to be short lived.
On Thursday of my second week there, I received a call from another company I had previously interviewed at. They wanted to hire me starting at $18 an hour! Plus they were only a 20 minute drive from where I lived! With a baby on the way and still living under my future wife's parents roof, there was no way I could turn that offer down.
Now for added context since it is relevant, I was also in the Marine Corps Reserves at the time. Every year they send small groups from our unit on 2 week rotations to other Marine Corps bases around the country. We usually refer to these rotations as Annual Training (AT). My AT was coming up just 2 weeks after my first day in the grinder shop. They knew this when they hired me and it was all cleared and good to go. So when I got the call from this new potential employer it was really bad timing because I would be going on AT within the next couple days.
So after accepting the offer for $18 at this new place, I had to give the my current employer my “2 weeks” notice on the Friday before I had to leave for 2 weeks. So essentially I had no choice but to quit on the spot. My supervisor said he was sad to see me go but he understood and would do the same thing if he were in my shoes. He also said he would put me down as rehireable if I ever wanted to come back. And with that I was gone.
While I was on AT I stayed in contact with the hiring manager, who got me scheduled for a physical exam, health evaluation and drug test for when I got back. I know for certain I passed the drug test and I was in pretty good shape so the physical was fine. I suspect something must've gone wrong with the health evaluation when we started going through a mental health questionnaire. I was still dealing with some severe depression and I made the mistake of telling the nurse about it on the questionnaire. Idk if I thought this would lead to me getting help or if having it on record would help my employer understand my struggles if they start to show while I'm on the job or what. But it was naive of me to think anything good would come of it. I remember the nurse giving me some odd looks while I talked about it, but I just wrote it off because I'm terrible at reading people.
Anyways, after all that that I submitted all the documentation to this new job and I let them know I was waiting for them to give me a start date. Well a few days go by and I hear nothing. So I give them a call and they said they'd let me know. So I let it go for another few days and I still don't hear anything. At this point it's been about a week since I gave them all the documentation they need so I show up to the place the following Monday and tell the person at the front desk that I've been waiting for a good long while to hear back about my start date. They tell me their hiring manager/ HR or whatever is gone so I'll have to come back later. I ask when they'll be back and they said they don't know. So I give it another week. I come back and they act like they've never even heard of me and pretty much tell me to kick rocks.
So now I'm jobless again, my baby is due in just a few months and I have no idea what to do. I gave my old job a call to see if I could come back and the big boss man who never even saw me work told me no. I'm right back where I started!
That's pretty much the end of that shitshow. Luckily I think around a month later I was able to get an assembly work job at like $17/hr and saved up enough money to move into a duplex literally just a week before my son was born. This assembly job was toxic as hell and hated every second of it. They originally interviewed me for a machinist position but then decided I didn't have enough experience for it so they put me in assembly and dangled the machinist job in front of me like a carrot on stick. I can go into more detail in another post if yall want. But yeah fast forward to now and I'm happily married with 2 kids and in a much better job. It's not perfect but we've come a long way.
And for anyone else out there who's struggling with depression, you're not alone. I know it feels hopeless right now, but I promise you it does get better. Reach out to your loved ones, get professional help if you need, but no matter what don't give up! The good days are on the horizon. Just don't tell potential employers because that's literally the only reason I can think of for them ghosting me after they gave me the job.