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Antiwork

Boss laid me off with a phone call, whilst he was on the beach

Some background. I moved to Sweden almost 2 years ago to do an internship for my bachelors degree at this lab. I had a great time, graduated, and they offered me a job. I've been working for almost a year on temporary contracts. My work has the rule that after 1 year of temporary work you need to get a permanent contract or be laid off. For months my boss and I have been talking about keeping me on because I have basically taken on all the organizational tasks the 2 other permanent staff wouldn't get to on top of my own experiments and being supervisor to three bachelor students. It was always a lot but I learned a lot, my hours are flexible and I enjoyed my colleagues (only the pay isn't much, but i guess that is working in academia for you). Anyway, I have been told for…


Some background. I moved to Sweden almost 2 years ago to do an internship for my bachelors degree at this lab. I had a great time, graduated, and they offered me a job. I've been working for almost a year on temporary contracts. My work has the rule that after 1 year of temporary work you need to get a permanent contract or be laid off.

For months my boss and I have been talking about keeping me on because I have basically taken on all the organizational tasks the 2 other permanent staff wouldn't get to on top of my own experiments and being supervisor to three bachelor students. It was always a lot but I learned a lot, my hours are flexible and I enjoyed my colleagues (only the pay isn't much, but i guess that is working in academia for you). Anyway, I have been told for the past few months that he will take me on and that several other seniors have offered to help pay for my salary since they are happy with the work I done.

The problem started when he cancelled my meeting two weeks ago. This meeting we would sit down and go over the final contract. I messaged him to reschedule, but for the past two weeks he ignored all my messages. Out of nowhere I get a message from him last night that he was looking for me at the lab (I went home early due to an appointment I had let him know about) and that I needed to pick up my phone next day at 11. I was apprehensive but just happy to finally talk to him. 10 minutes before 11 the next day I get a message saying 'Busy, call this afternoon.' This is when I knew I was not getting a new contract.

When he finally calls me the first thing he says is 'Hi Im at the beach now but felt like we had to talk.' followed by 'I have decided I don't have the money to take you on.' He then continued to talk about how this is the best decision for me and how this will open up doors for me and that he will give me a two week contract extension so I can finish up all my experiments. And oh, if I can send him an email by the end of this week with all my protocols and task I've developed for the lab.

I'm pissed off and taking some days off. So much for all my hard work.

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