I worked as the Entertainment Manager at a casino for nearly twenty years. My daughter was two years old when I started working there and now she's 21. I met her mother when I was 19 and we had been together ever since. 27 years together. She had bi-polar disorder and covid threw her for a loop. I was furloughed for six months when covid hit because we couldn't do concerts. When I went back to work my wife became very mentally ill. She became violent. My daughter had to call the police once when my wife attacked me for trying to get her help. She ended up intentionally eating a bottle of pain killers and died in spring of 2022. My daughter and I have had a hard time dealing with the loss and the trauma we experienced. I became closed off at work and would close my door because I often would just bust out in tears. Well, in September 2022, I was in my office, the new Advertising Manager walks by my open door and asks “what did you think about Parker's nipples on the zoom meeting?” while he pinches one of his own nipples. I just nervously smiled, got up and closed my door as he walked in his office next to mine. A few minutes later I can hear him having a conversation. He's a loud talker and it was annoying. I received a text from my kid that just said “Dad, I'm struggling”. She's five hours away from me at school. It upset me because there's nothing I can do. I began to cry. My neighbor continued his loud talking and I just broke. I yelled “shut the fuck up”. I knew I shouldn't have done it but I could-not-help-it. I was in pain. I just sat there and cried. I heard a knock at the door. It was my boss, a VP. He's awkward to say the least. HE looked at me while I was in tears and said “you wanna go for a ride?” like I was a pet dog. I looked at him confused and he repeated it. He said are you OK? I said “No I'm not OK. My wife ate a bottle of pills. I'm struggling and my daughter is struggling. I just need for everyone to shut the fuck up. Can I get one thing done and I'll leave? He looked at me with a confused expression. I said “do I need to quit before I'm fired?” and he said OK, get the thing done and go home. I left. I got a text later that night from my boss saying “don't come in tomorrow”. I asked if I was losing my job and he said we'd talk about it later. The next day I was told to come into HR at 9AM. I was hoping that we were going to talk about what I was going through but I was sat down and immediately fired with no questions asked.
It was devastating. An attorney is working on a settlement but I don't know if I should hold out hope for anything or not…