As the title says, I (20s/M) was let go, or rather fired, from my local liquor store. A mom and pop place that is actually the biggest in town and since we're in a college town they get a lot of business. It is literally a mom-and-pop place, a husband and wife own and operate it and their son also works there. I had been working there since around the start of the summer, right after getting my Masters. I applied and interviewed and got a job that same day. I was pretty upfront that I was just looking for work to keep myself afloat. It pays 11/hour which is not great but I was told after a probation period I could get 13/hour, still not great but in the back of my mind I was not hoping to be there that long.
Well here we are, about maybe 3 months later, and one of the managers says the owner wants to talk to me in her office. I walk in and am told that its clear I don't want to be here, that it is reflected in my work and its just not gonna work out. She said she knows selling liquor is not my dream right after graduating college, which yeah no shit. She also wondered if I had found any full-time work yet (I have not) and part of the reason she waited so long to let me go, waiting until right before the probationary period ended, was because she was hoping I would find something and just move on. She handed me my last check, wished me luck and that was that and now I just need to rant a little.
I have a sneaking suspicion about why I was let go, which I will get to a little latter, but I just wanna be clear, I am not heartbroken about losing this frankly shitty job. I worked mostly nights and on top of not being allowed to sit down for the 7-8 hours our shifts were, I had to deal with the usual retail nonsense that people bring with them, only this time its over a $300 bottle of wine or someone coming already drunk and being obnoxious.
Anyways, around the middle of my time I told a couple of coworkers that I managed to get an interview for a full time position. A couple of coworkers that I kinda thought were friendly enough to share this information with without worrying about any harm. This news eventually reaches one of the owners who seems fairly agitated when I ask for one extra shift and she states “that means I will have to hire two people to replace you.”
Also, I got along with all the managers except for one who seemed to be pretty cliquey with other coworkers but froze me out whenever I tried to engage with them. They were also in most of my shifts whenever I was working. I don't think they were ever my fan and I always felt tense around them, since whenever I tried any friendly approach I was just met with one-word dismissive responses. I know there is maybe a ligament reason she didn't like me, it seemed from day one she never wanted to engage with me beyond asking me to do something.
The owner mentions how my not wanting to be there was reflected in my work, I don't know what that means and this is the first time anyone has said anything about my performance. I was told occasionally what I could do better or something I had missed by one of the managers, but its working at a liquor store so those issues are always fixed immediately and were never brought up as an issue again. And like everyone else who worked there who wasn't the literal owners I would complain about how bored, tired, and unenthused I was to be working and not home and always with each other and not to the owners. Maybe because I stood behind the register most of the time and didn't always mingle with other coworkers and I treated what we were doing as a job, I don't know.
Looking back I think maybe the plan was always to have me as a temporary worker, given the vague reasons I was let go with no real warning might be my biggest evidence.
Again, I am not heartbroken they kicked me out, I am a little angry because of how it was handled and I feel like I wasted near 4 months of working at a miserable place overseen by a manger that I never particularly liked but at least tried. As a friend stated after all this “its like you were planning on dumping your girlfriend, and then the day before you dump her she dumps you, so you're upset because its what you wanted to do.”
I am not gonna name them, because I know one of the mangers has a reddit account. But just as an aside, I have never felt more anger at the phrase “I know selling liquor is not your dream after graduating college.” Its not graduating college, I have a bachelors, a masters, and a decent amount of professional experience for my age including teaching abroad. There is a feeling that I don't know how to put my finger on but I am sure a lot of people here can relate too.