I recently got fired from my job of 4 years with no reason provided, just a lie of “we're fully staffed.”
I worked for a local business basically running the entire place for $15/hr. I mean I did everything: got them into of tax trouble, managed the front and back ends, did inventory, cleaning, business development, contracted partnerships, sales, customer service, and HR kind of everything. I had raised their margins by over 200% and was basically the saving grace for the business after covid hit it hard.
Important context: Recently my husband left his position there (the owner knew and was okay with our relationship) for a better opportunity which the bossman encouraged him to take. My direct boss is the owner though he was transitioning ownership to his son in a position above mine (his son who I put money and effort into bailing him out of jail and whatnot). I had also just gotten a $3 raise.
In the past few months the son has been hiring his buddies instead of qualified workers which has become a big issue costing us a lot and one that I brought to the owner multiple times. They recently fired me via text with a message that said “we don't really need you anymore, we're fully staffed.” They had 5 workers total and no one did what I did except the boss' son who was on the same level as me before he convinced daddy to give him more power. We had talks just a week prior about recruiting more people because we were so understaffed but we were not to the point of shutting down, far from it.
The whole time I was working for them I was also doing University. I was sacrificing study abroad, internships, etc to work for them since it was reliable work and I needed it to pay for my university. They knew that and appreciated it (or I thought they did). I knew I was underpaid and I saw many red flags but thought I was important and valued enough to be kept since the owners wife and I had become good friends and he treated me like a daughter. For example, they 1099d me for a whole year without my knowledge which I ended up paying a lot of money for but it was his son's doing and the owner tore into him once he found out. The owners were people I trusted but now I see my foolishness.
I never even received a message or anything from the owner after his son let me go which is the most disappointing part of it. I'm not even certain he found out until much later. I was loyal and sacrificed a lot and earned them a lot. Now I'm homeless and frantically searching for a job living out of my car and they haven't even said a word. I feel used and betrayed and I know it was my own fault for not leaving earlier but I just didn't have the energy or resources.
I grew up being taught that loyalty and hard work would get you places but now I know it's all a big lie used to lead on workers who don't know better. Not sure what my next move is, hopefully I can afford to continue my education and move on but everything's so unstable now that I don't really know anymore.