It's been a few weeks since I was fired, so I'm finally level-headed enough to talk about this.
I work for a very small healthcare capital equipment company in the US that's the offshoot of a manufacturing business. My uncle owns the healthcare company and took over the manufacturing side 2 years ago.
I came on to work for my uncle/boss as a family favor. The pay wasn't good. The work wasn't something I wanted to do really. I didn't want to work with family. But he came to me, telling me he was drowning in work and he desperately needed help. He trusted me and asked me to come on board.
I started with freight coordination. Then inventory management, customer service, invoicing, estimating, accounting, admin, CAD, and everything else he'd once done. I run this company. I'm the sole employee, other than my boss.
Having 100% access to the financial software, I know how much he pays himself, and I'm ashamed to say I've never asked for a raise over the course of the last 5 years. While I was struggling to pay my rent during COVID because my partner lost his job, I was still loyal when I could've quit and gone back to phlebotomy to get a higher wage.
He's not an easy man to work for. Fits of rage. Super aggressive about any mistakes. Anal about the particular language used in emails. Insists on being cc'd on all emails actually, to check the language.
A few weeks ago, he told me that he was letting me go, and that his assistant on the manufacturing side would be taking over my position. “Restructuring”, he called it. Said it was the hardest decision he's ever had to make in business.
I've given my soul to this company. Killed myself making sure everything was perfect. Working for scrap wages. Grown into a position that I can't hold in another company because I don't have a degree. Keep in mind, he promised me tuition reimbursement, but nothing ever came of that.
He has fucked my future. I'm almost 23 and only have skills that look good on an application if you also have a degree. I've been rejected during the interview phase of so many jobs that I can't bear to look at Indeed anymore. I'm slamming through an online 9 month certificate program for Data analysis in 3 months in hopes that I can get something paying above 15/hr.
My boss gave me three months to train his assistant. It won't even work. I live an hour away from the office and work remote. She's honestly not going to be good at the job because she doesn't have the right personality or drive. Not to mention that three months isn't enough. She'll be totally hung out to dry. I kind of feel bad for her honestly.
Basically, I'm fucked. She's fucked. The company is fucked. My boss is completely swamped, running the manufacturing side, so he'll be no help to his assistant as she tries to figure shit out when I'm gone.
So I've decided that when he calls me back in a few months, saying shit is falling apart, I'm going to charge him double what he was paying me as an employee. That's the only thing I can think to do.
Thanks for listening to my confessional. I'm just pissed. And really sad that I didn't leave sooner.