This happened in late summer probably 2 to 3 weeks before August –
I had kept my old boss up to date on medical diagnosis for at least 6 months in preparation for an inevitable thyroid removal surgery and when the time came my thyroid scans came back so badly that they notified me that day (Monday) and scheduled me for emergency surgery (on Thursday) I told my old boss that I wouldn't be able to come in after my surgery as I'm not allowed to move out of bed for 2 weeks. Keep in mind there's about 18 to 20 employees when there's only 14 shifts a week so it's not a inconvenience that I won't be there and she knew I was leaving 2 weeks later anyway as schools started in August in a different state (she was fine with it) . She told me that if I couldn't come in that Saturday, 2 ish days after my surgery ( i wasn't scheduled for the future yet) then I would be fired and not invited back to work the next summer once I was healed. I ended up not showing up for this shift the day of my surgery as I told her I wouldn't and I woke up from surgery to a text telling me that I was fired and that I was an awful person for not notifying her.
She and I had a really great relationship and I had worked for her for 2 and 1/2 years before this happened, now I'm trying to secure a position at a local science camp where I would be an instructor which she knows is one of my dream jobs for the last few years but she is refusing to write a letter of recommendation and my potential employer reached out to her to inquirer I work ethic and apparently my old boss told her that I had skipped shifts without notification and that I was disrespectful to her business.
( Keep in mind I'm in my last year of high school so I've been working for her since middle of freshman year to the end of my junior year which is when I had the surgery)
I don't know what to do other than to explain to my potential employer the situation but I also don't want to sound like I'm shit talking my past employer.